RETAILERS AWAIT IMPACT OF SELLOUT PLAYSTATION 2

RANDY WEDDINGTON

FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- Supermarket video specialists expect little immediate impact from the instant sellout of 500,000 units of PlayStation 2, released on Oct. 26 from Sony Computer Entertainment America here.

For now, specialists vary in their levels of commitment to PS2 game and deck rentals.

"We definitely won't rent PS2 games until after Christmas," said Bill Glaseman, video specialist, Bashas', Chandler, Ariz., "and perhaps even later than that depending on how many units they get into the country. If it's only 1% or 2% we would barely feel it, and so far there is little talk about it here."

"We're renting the games," said Paul Richardville, director of video/photo, Reasor's, Tahlequah, Okla. "But I doubt if we'll rent the players. I couldn't get one if I wanted one right now anyway."

"We have nine game titles," said Leith Haines, video manager, at the Reasor's store in Tahlequah. "So far the best renters have been 'Smuggler's Run,' 'X-Squad,' 'Unreal Tournament' and 'Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore."'

"We have two players and two dozen games," said Theresa Daniels, manager, McMaken Super Market's McVideo, Brookville, Ohio. "They came in on launch date, and we had customers waiting for us to label the games for rental."

Console availability has varied as well. "We've only had one customer who had a deck," said Daniels. "Everyone said all the stores had posted signs that they were out of stock."

"There were 32 PS2s sold in the local Wal-Mart," said Haines. "A few people were able to get them in other places, so there may be 45 in town at the most."

Product shortages should ease during the quarter, as the number of software titles doubles and as Sony ships a projected 100,000 more units weekly into the North American market.

Whether initial consumer fanaticism -- "One person stood in line at Wal-Mart for 10 hours to get a deck," said Haines -- will ease as well remains to be seen. An Oct. 30 search on eBay.com, where there is a booming PS2 resale market, returned over 12,000 items, with many decks selling for $400 to $500 and some listed for starting bids of $3,000 to $4,000.