In a convoluted story involving beer, hard rock, and t-shirts, one man recounts his experience in Holland where Phil Harrison of Sony Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios stood up and tried to auction a PS3 for charity — and failed.

It seems there’s a band called Marillion and they’re big gamers. At a recent event, they introduced Harrison who proceeded to offer a PS3 for a minimum bid of 600 euro — more than $700. Cue crickets…

What next ensued was the one lowlight of an otherwise well-intentioned, and extremely excellent weekend. For several minutes Harrison attempted to cajole an entirely silent crowd of several thousand people into bidding for his console. Terribly, but somehow inevitably, the bidding never moved beyond Harrison’s starting price. Indeed, he became increasingly desperate as it grew clear that everyone just wanted him to go away, and nobody was going to indulge his tasteless attempt at publicity.

This actually sounds more like a misplaced effort at marketing to a bunch of folks who were already marketed out, but why is it that Sony always hits these ham-handed events whereas 360 and Nintendo either stay out the limelight completely or are greeted to waves of fanboy love? So strange.

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