PS1 + PS2 Equals. . . ?

While we were at Best Buy last night picking up WarioWare: Smooth Moves for our Wii---which we haven't yet played, but which, I understand, does not support a 16:9 aspect ratio, much to my dismay---we poked through the Sony section as well. No PS3s, naturally.

We were about to leave with Wario in hand when I spotted a sales rep wandering by. We hailed her and asked if any PS3s were in stock, and she told me they had some---they were just stored in the manager's office for safekeeping. She hustled us up to the register and called a manager to bring us a PS3 from the office. Meantime, hubby ran back to the game section to grab a second Sixaxis and the sales associate eyed my copy of WarioWare as if wondering whether or not he should break it to me that I wouldn't be able to play it on my shiny new PS3.

Once we had all converged on the register---me with WarioWare, hubby with the spare Sixaxis, and the store manager with our PS3---a quick scan of the box revealed that there was no HDMI cable in the box. Now, I wasn't really expecting it to come with an HDMI cable. But I hadn't heard any Internet tales of people complaining about no HDMI included, nor had I heard about anyone buying an HDMI cable for it, but there you are. So off runs hubby to grab an HDMI cable, leaving me with the sales associate and the store manager.

"Hmm," said the manager. "There's an available two-year warranty on this item."

"No thanks," I said. I don't need a Best Buy warranty for a PS3 that is guaranteed by Sony. On principle, I never buy a store warranty for an item that is freely guaranteed by its manufacturer.

"I would highly recommend it for this item," she continued, taking an ominous tone. "You know---because it has the blue ray." What is that even supposed to mean? I need a warranty on my PS3 because it has the blue ray? I think she may have been trying to instill an image of the PS3 malfunctioning, the awesome power of the blue ray technology breaking loose from its shiny plastic holding cell and running amok, destroying all in its path. . . . Noticing my rising ire, the sales associate made a quick break for it.

"Let me go get you a blue bag," said the sales associate. "It's not see-through like the yellow bag, so you'll have a better chance of making it back to your car without getting robbed."