It resembled a Dublin taxi-rank on a typical Saturday night. A 50-strong queue at Virgin Megastore on Aston Quay waited patiently in the numbing cold yesterday morning for that elusive Christmas present, PlayStation2.
Ms Dawn McGrath from Bray wasn't taking any chances. First in line at the Virgin store, she had been there since 4 a.m.
"I knew there were just 50, and that's why I came early. I'm big into PlayStation. Myself and my boyfriend have 90 games from PlayStation1," she said.
Terence McAleese from Mount Merrion was queueing with his teenage son, Eoin, outside HMV in Grafton Street. He didn't share his son's enthusiasm for the game. "To me it's a crazy fantasy world. I've never played it. I think it stops reading, conversation and study in general, but I have to acquiesce," he sighed.
But not everyone left Virgin happy yesterday. Ms Ciara Murphy from Mount Street arrived too late and left empty-handed. She had been hoping to buy a console as a Christmas present for her boyfriend and was leaving to try out some of the other games shops around the city. She conceded it was an expensive gift.
"But wait until he hears what I'm looking for," she added.