Hong Kong International Airport installs PS3 game poles, delays more flights
By Richard Lai 
posted January 26th 2010 7:56AM
posted January 26th 2010 7:56AM
Grrr... It's not fair, is it? You'd think Hong Kong's award-winning airport already has enough to keep travelers jolly (there's free WiFi too), but as the old Chinese proverb goes: "Those who don't move forward will only go backward." As of this week, Hong Kong International Airport has 14 free-of-charge PlayStation 3 game poles that are preloaded with Final Fantasy XIII, Avatar, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, etc. Hey Sony, too bad you didn't start from the top of the "world's worst airports" list -- passengers at London Heathrow would've been forever in your debt.
"Hey Sony, too bad you didn't start from the top of the "world's worst airports" list -- passengers at London Heathrow would've been forever in your debt."
damn right.
@brrip
Just so everyone knows, London also has the world's worst underground service.
@wywywywy you talk balls
@brrip But they still got the world largest airport..
I'm sure I have seen a few PS3's in Copenhagen Kastrup Airport..
@wywywywy
Really? Then you must have not been to Boston.
she can touch and play my ps anytime.
@brrip
Terminal 5 is quite alright...
@Jakob Yeah, saw them too when I arrived in Kastrup. Sadly, had to go directly to the plane, plus someone was there, so no gaming for me.
What really annoys me about Heathrow airort is that the new terminals built for flights within Britiain & Europe(for mostly Europeans & British passengers) is way better than the old & unrenovated international terminal which is for flights going specifically outside of Europe(looks like an international terminal of a worst 3rd world country you can imagine!). People from around the world visiting England expect equal treatment...
@brrip
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/worst-airports.htm
@brrip Terminal 5 is definitely pretty nice, though. The rest of it, yeah, I agree with you.
i'd let her bide her time on my game pole
I wonder if there's a time limit or something...
@Nubee
i imagine an irritating 9 year old hogging it for hours before someone tries to wrestle the controller away only to make the kid cry and police coming to catch him and be charged with child molesting.
Er... what is that girl wearing? I appreciate the effort to show a little skin, but neither sex should ever wear anything that cinches just under their boobs.
@Captain Justice
.....
WTF are you talking about? O.o
@Blackstar
The girl in the frumpy skirt chatting on the phone.
But, reconsidering, I think I see what they're doing here. Contrasting the clearly hipper, sexier chick and the fun she's having with the less fashionable girl taking part in another activity you might consider while waiting around at the airport. Point: Sony.
@Captain Justice Nerds giving advice on clothing, that's a new one.
@SarnGate
Sorry if I hit a little too close to home. I may not know art, but I know what I like.
@Captain Justice As Hong Kong local, neither of them are dressed in a style I find appealing. That dress/skirt on the right is just weird, and so is the blue dots shirt on the right.
@Captain Justice It's actually some kind of weird fashion trend and not a Hong Kong only one or anything, I've seen celebs wearing weird bag-like skirts like that and personally I think they all look terrible wearing those skirts.
So technically it's "fashionable" but also hideous.
@Captain Justice - You've never been to Asia huh? Girls here wear all sorts of odd thing and that's fairly normal to some of the stuff you see here...
Also, if Sony was to do this at Heathrow, they'd all be broken in about 5 minutes, or stolen...
And the WiFi at HK airport is really slow and has a stupidly annoying login page, but yeah, it's still free, same goes for the main international airport in Taiwan, albeit the terminals don't really compare well with HK...
@TheLostSwede Yeah the login page is annoying, but I don't find the Wi-Fi slow at all :)
@TheLostSwede I remember playing on World of Warcraft over the free WiFi once, and it was smooth. (Sorry if you were there.)
@TheLostSwede
Ehm.. why would they get broken at Heathrow?
I was once broken at Heathrow...
I love it when engadget reports on new stuff coming out of asia... the girls in the photo's are way more interesting than any underlying story.
keep up the good work fellas
Is there still no phrase, "As beautiful as an airport," or has that changed?
@ColonelKernel
Long live Adams.
I live right next to the airport. Sometimes after school I just pop down there to get a burger and some game time. :D
HAHA, i actually saw one of these a couple of days ago when I went to Hong kong, pretty cool!
Me too, and I'll be going through HKG again next week. Sweet!
I saw some free-of-charge PS3 stalls in HKIA in October '09... not really new I suppose.
That's GT5 - going to Hong Kong, BRB.
Hmm, we always had free stuff at HKIA (which always amde us a great airport)
Free Airport-wide Wi-Fi - tick.
Free Computers with Internet Access - tick.
And now Free PS3's to miss my flight trying to beat GT5 - tick.
@joshl don't forget the place with free 24Mbit 3G, although for some reason the computer only had a trackball and no keyboard, not exactly easy to use...
@joshl Pak Lok Chiuchow Resturant TICK
@YpoCaramel Sorry dude, never been there. I always eat Burger King at the airport.
Am I the only one who was surprised to see a payphone?
@loadedlarry plenty of those still in Asia
@loadedlarry
It's mainly for foreigners... just because each Hong Kong citizen has 2 mobile phones (on average i mean)
@(Unverified) Doubt it -- it's more of a phone-PSP/DS combo.
@brown like dookie with Hong Kong's notoriously conservative sexual moral standards? The one that got a university magazine wrapped in a 18+ cover because it asked the question, without graphics, "have you ever fantasized about bestiality?"
No.
They had the PS3 poles set up in the Paris (France) Airport that I had a layover at in 2008. Didn't really think it was a big deal. Plus knowing how may people have touched that controller makes me not wanna touch it.
@SNESimon
As many as those typically visiting a game store?
@onlymyrailgun Since some folks in Paris might not know that simply spraying on Chanel No. 5 or Thierry Mugler's Angel is not an appropriate substitute for washing daily with Dove and then putting on the perfume, maybe what's on that Dual Shock is worse than you imagined.
Trust me, I was in Paris and flew through CDG last summer...
@SNESimon yep, I saw these up in CDG last year as well. Is this really news?
ingenious. sony has some great ideas sometimes.
"Ahh, this is your captain speaking. We're delaying our gate departure because one of our passengers is currently on the verge of breaking the world record in Donkey Kong.
Of course, the fact that the passenger was able to amass that many points was due to the fact that our plane is, well, 12 hours late, as usual.
Thank you."
Good to see that HK is right on top of the fashion scene.
I saw this saaaaame setup at Guatemala's main international airport while I was on business back in October of last year. It was at the American Airlines gate all the way at the end of the terminal, but I didn't get a chance to play it while I waited for my delayed flight...damn kids...