Console Debut Stokes Student Gamer Interest

The residents of Mower A-21 are no strangers to late nights spent over gaming consoles, and their room reflects it. Hundreds of DVDs and games for various systems jostle for space with such ponderous volumes as War and Peace and a molecular biology textbook, while Nintendo 64 cartridges occupy their own floor compartment.

When it comes to the contests that play out on the room’s 32-inch Sony television, the Mower suite’s residents have many means of sorting out the true champions from the mere dabblers. Their collection of consoles includes an X-Box 360, a Nintendo 64, a Super Nintendo, and a PlayStation 2.

They will soon have options for adding even more.

The Sony PlayStation 3 will arrive in Cambridge stores this morning, boasting a 60-GB hard-drive in its premium version and commanding a top price of $599. The $249 Nintendo Wii will follow on Sunday morning, bringing with it a revolutionary remote control-sized game controller whose three-axis motion sensor will allow on-screen action to respond directly to the movements of a player’s hand.

“We’re going to go out to Best Buy...eight hours or so before it opens—about midnight,” said Kevin P. Bartley ’10 of Mower A-21, describing the Sunday morning camping excursion that he and his roommates believe will be necessary to acquire the Nintendo Wii. “We probably won’t have a tent. We’re just going to sit out on a curb or something.”

Indeed, demand for the new game systems is considerable. In the CambridgeSide Galleria, Best Buy had seen about 40 people queue up before its doors in anticipation of the first PS3 shipment by last evening, though its opening was scheduled for 8 a.m. today.

“PlayStation appeals more to older gamers, because it has more mature games, while the Wii appeals more to a larger audience,” said Aaron Calloway, an employee in Best Buy’s games department. “PS3 would appeal more to college students.”

While the American folklore textbook resting next to the empty bowl of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup on the Mower suite’s coffee table served as a reminder of the difficulties of reconciling gaming with the academic realities of life at Harvard, Bartley, when asked, appeared unconcerned about the prospect of spending hours in line to make his purchase.

It was Bartley who claimed ownership of four of the five A-21 consoles. And yet, he insisted, there was ample reason for adding another.

“We need more game systems to put off work and to push it off further, and I need more games so I can stop thinking about school and work in general,” Bartley said.

“I would like to secure a game system because I know they’re going to be sold out,” he added.

“So I think it’s worth a few hours of my time just so that I can bring it home and not worry about shortages or anything.”