The holiday season has arrived and that can only mean one thing: Parents will do anything to get this year’s version of Tickle Me Elmo.

And looking back, Tickle Me Elmo made headlines in 1996 when parents waited in line for hours and fought for a stuffed animal that vibrated. Or consider Furby, the electronic doll that had parents practically swinging from toy store shelves to snatch in 1998.

While parents battling for the perfect toy during the holiday season is nothing new and has even been dramatized by Hollywood movies like Jingle All the Way, the waiting game has been brought to a whole new level this shopping season.

This year’s hot item is the Sony PlayStation 3. Some shoppers waited more than 24 hours in line to purchase the $600 video game system.

At one store, the fight to be the first on the block to purchase the new console turned dangerous when 21-year-old Michael Penkala was shot while waiting in line at a Wal-Mart in Putnam, Conn.

Another shopper was robbed of his PlayStation 3 and beaten at a store in Manchester, according to CNN.

And unlike the cinematic battle between Schwarzenegger and Sinbad, it is no longer just the parents in a heated race for the coveted toy. Lines are getting longer and struggles more heated now that twenty-somethings want in on the action.

In fact, 66 percent of most frequent game players are over 18 years old and 40 percent of most frequent game players are over 35 years old, according to a May 2000 Interactive Digital Software Association survey.

The children who demanded a Furby or Tickle Me Elmo in their stocking a decade ago are now young adults who will pay or do just about anything to get their hands on a PlayStation 3 controller.

New high prices reflect the spending power of our generation as we grow up and drag our toys into adulthood. Now, PlayStation 3 consoles are fetching a cool million dollars on websites like eBay.

Some consumers are profiting off of the hype by purchasing the video game systems and reselling them for far more than they are actually worth.

But competition between doting parents and obsessed gamers are only part of the equation.

Game companies release a limited numbers of systems, driving the demand and prices up for everyone. Sony released only 400,000 units in the United States one week after the initial Japanese launch. And each time a fight breaks out or consumers wait hours in line for a system, the company gets free press.

So after this year’s violence and seemingly endless lines to get PlayStation 3, we are left to wonder: How many hours of games will consumers actually have to play to make their efforts worth it?