So we are in the midst of the consumer mania of a console launch Christmas season in which thousands of people across the country are camping out in front of stores in a ritual of material worship. I think it is pretty obvious this phenomena is not going away, but is actually getting exponentially worse with every hyper-mediated launch year.

If you are like me then you probably have ambivalent feelings about the whole thing. Sure its great that gaming is now national news, but are these overpriced jumbles of electronics really worth such devotion? I think the answer is an obvious “no” but we are sure told, and apparently are obeying, the assertion that we must have these things immediately, even if it takes a plunge into debt and a week off work or school.

But before you get depressed about the whole situation I have a catharsis to offer you thanks to the brilliant minds at SmashMyPS3.com:

I give you a new ritual, the symbolic destruction of a brand new PS3 outside a Best Buy. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this concept.