IN WOODSTOCK, GA., northwest of Atlanta, two eager customers were ticketed for disorderly conduct late Wednesday night by police as they waited to buy PlayStation 2 at Wal-Mart when it went on sale at midnight. “If you’re a gamer, you have to have one,” said 30-year-old Gabrielle Aldort of New York, one of the many people who pre-ordered the $299 console back in February. Sony had already warned that a parts shortage would limit its initial …showed first 75 words of 352 total…

…showed last 75 words of 352 total…entertainment.” Sony faces a double challenge next year, when Microsoft, armed with a $500 million worldwide marketing budget, launches its Xbox video game player and Nintendo unveils GameCube. All will be battling it out in the $20 billion video game market worldwide, where Sony now is the leader. The Sony launch, which includes 26 new game titles, is considered the most ambitious in video game history. But an industrywide shortage of little electronic processing parts has slowed production.