Launch Day Looked Like a Scene From Omega Man

On Tuesday, GameSpot staffers witnessed even more chaotic scenes at the local Target in Colma, on the peninsula south of San Francisco. There, a lone security guard spent most of the night shooing an increasingly unruly crowd away from the parking lot. The situation nearly spun out of control around 7 a.m., when the guard left his post for five minutes, prompting a mass influx of would-be customers eager to receive vouchers good for a 360.

When he returned, the security guard's attempts to get the 100-plus-person crowd to form a line were rebuffed until the arrival of police and a California National Guardsman around 8 a.m. A trio of veteran GameSpotters witnessed the Guardsman quickly take control of the situation and move to the head of the line--where he promptly turned around and asked for a 360 voucher himself. The Guardsman then promptly fled the scene, voucher in hand, leaving police, Target employees, and a visibly agitated crowd to fend for themselves.

Even more underhanded events were afoot at the Target in the East Bay suburb of Pinole. There, voucher-scalping was rampant in the parking lot prior to the store's opening, with some vouchers selling for as much as $300--not including the price of the 360. More enterprising profiteers purchased units and immediately resold them in the parking lot for as much as $800--over $400 more than the higher-end Xbox console's $399 sticker price. By midday, the console was fetching well over $3,000 on eBay.