Memorable PlayStation Moment

I picked up IGN’s PlayStation podcast this past week, and they discussed their most memorable PlayStation moments. They mostly talked about waiting in line for hours for the PS2 launch, which I didn’t do, but it made me think of my most memorable PlayStation moment and it isn’t exactly a fond moment.

When the PS2 came out, I was not into gaming, but Shawn was. When we moved to the Dallas area, he missed having friends with an N64 and PlayStation, especially the PlayStation. Around Christmas time, I thought about getting Shawn a PS2 as his gift. We didn’t have a DVD player either, so hey, it seemed like the most perfect all-around gift for us. PS2s were nowhere to be found in retail stores so I hit ebay and Yahoo! Auctions. The cheapest console on ebay started at a whopping $450.00 so I made the horrendous move of shopping on Yahoo! Auctions. I found a brand new console for $250 and I snatched it up. The seller only accepted cashier checks and money orders, but that didn’t faze me, because at the time, most sellers on ebay only accepted those methods as well. Paypal was very new at the time and many didn’t trust it.

So anyway, I mailed off the cashier’s check for $288 and waited. And waited. And waited. Two weeks later, I started e-mailing the seller. Nothing. I went to the seller’s page and found she had gone from a positive 15 to a negative 4. She suddenly e-mailed me about a day later, saying that she was arrested for auction scamming, but she swears she shipped out everyone’s consoles. She offered to refund my money, and I accepted. I never saw it. She was banned from Yahoo! Auctions shortly after that, so I had no way of contacting her and the auction site said there was nothing they could do. The funniest part of the whole situation was that another scammed buyer in the DFW area found my name and number and called me to lament what happened between us.

I found another seller, a bit more reputable this time and unfortunately a bit more expensive. At least they accepted Paypal, and sure enough, my second PS2 arrived.

Shawn was delighted when he opened it, but the curse wasn’t over. It was missing the cable that connects the console to the TV, so he couldn’t try it out. He took my car to drive to a local Best Buy to find one and on the way, he was hit by an uninsured motorist who lost control of his car and my Blazer was totaled.

I can laugh at all of this now, but at the time, it really wasn’t funny. We still have that PS2, and it makes me snicker a little bit now knowing that I paid more for that PS2 than I did my PS3.

Ah, memories.