terpfan1980

Join Date 08/2004

+13

Darn you to heck Microsoft..360 supplies woefully inadequate

Well, pre-paid or not, EB Games has told me they won't have my Xbox 360 Premium system on launch day.

Turns out that the 360 is way under supplied for it's launch. Promised numbers of delivered systems to retailers are much lower than they were supposed to (which has been rumored for about 2 - 3 weeks now), and the 360 will of course be the "hot" toy of the season.

Prices from 3rd parties will of course go crazy as laws of supply and demand kick in and panic strikes the hearts of parents of spoiled brats that must have the 360 for the holiday and can't be guaranteed of when they'll get one if they wait from most retailers.

I wish I had pre-ordered just a bit sooner so I'd have the box in my hands tomorrow. I'm told I'll get one before Christmas, but no guarantee of when. I'm a bit disappointed at the local EB Games for not calling me to tell me where I was on their lists. The best answers I got, at least until today when I called them again to see if I needed to drive out to the store tomorrow, was no news was available, wait for a call, check back later, blah blah blah. It would have been nice if the store had at least told me I held spot number xxx of xxxx in their line. I'm sure some juggling of the list is going on, which is part of why they won't tell me exact info, but still.

Anyway, at some point in the future I'll get to play Call of Duty 2 and Madden 2006 on the 360. Hopefully soon after release and not months from now. Good luck to those that did get a system and please post reviews and pics asap!

gaming

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I've heard it said several times that this is purposeful scarcity. I can't see why they would have had a difficult time making a standard size console release. They probably want to drive up demand and cause a lot of buzz from all the old ladies beating the hell out of each other trying to get this years "cabbage patch doll"...

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"cabbage patch doll"...

I worked for a retailer back then! They did beat each other up!

As for this one, that is why I told my son "not now, later". I have seen many of these in the past. CPK, Merlin, Simon, etc. At least they say you will get one!

The estimate I hear is that 3 million will be sold in the first 90 days. At $400 a pop, that is a nice $1.2b in revenue for microsoft for a quarter!

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Cordelia

Join Date 07/2002

We went out at 11 last night only to discover that people had begun lining up at 8 am that day for their chance to get a system. Plah! We have no desire to wait in line for a whole day in order to buy one.

Although, now I begin to wonder if I'll get one before Christmas. Hmmm. Maybe I should pay some kid to save me a place in line next time.

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I never buy anything as soon as it comes out, with the exception of GTASA. I loved vice city and I felt I deserved a nice gift, specially something just released. I don't like those long lines, people killing each other type of scenarios. I will just wait and see what people have to say about the system and it's games and then, when I have money, I will get myself one.

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I'll probably pick one up (have an Xbox now), it looks to be a good system. I'll definitely wait until after Xmas though. Want to hear some solid reviews of the system and let it get some games behind it. And with any Microsoft product, you ALWAYS wait for the first patch to be released before you buy.

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Nakor

Join Date 03/2001

+41

It's rather frustrating that one can have pre-ordered months in advance, yet it's the people standing in line at Target who are going to be able to get one.

I asked about allocation at my local EB Games last week. They expected to have 18 of the premium systems today, whilst I was #30 on the pre-orders.

At least they called yesterday to further dash my hopes a day in advance.

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The rumor is that the third parties are giving priority to the people who orded the most peripherals/games (giving them more money).

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I've been getting e-mail updates from my friend on system availability for quite a while. He had been asking if I was gonna cancel at EB and go elsewhere, or just chance it at another store. I stuck with EB, as my money was already commited and they've usually treated me well.

I'm still a bit miffed that they couldn't tell me in advance where I stood in their lines, but I know that the supply wasn't what was expected, probably as Baker said, and I've believed all along, because MS wants to pump up demand and keep tricklin' out systems while they are "hard to get" and still "must have."

At $300 or $400 a pop for a system, MS is bringing in piles of cash. On the old system it was claimed all along that they lost money on each one they sold. They should be making money on the new one, or at least much closer to break-even. If they are losing money, I hope they sell billions

On the other hand, the few shares of stock in Microsoft that are in my wife's IRA would probably be nice to see increase in value for a change.

Either way, I do feel a bit bad that I have two games in hand here with no way to play them yet. Hopefully the resupply will be much quicker rather than later, and in a week or two I'll have the box in hand.

As to my friend, well his e-mail this a.m. tells the tale of driving around from place to place, including some neighborhoods he didn't feel too safe to stand around in, only to find that the best he could get was up to something like 28th in line with something like 30 systems only guaranteed at that location, only half of which were the "must have" premium systems. He did the math, figured out he'd never get the premium system that way, and left dejected. He had a backup plan of a "core" system he had ordered from Best Buy's online store which he did get confirmation of shipping on. So he'll be playing on that system for a while, probably selling it off as he gets the premium system in the future.

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Zoomba

Join Date 11/2002

+114

Even if your preorder got bumped to a later shipment, that's probably not going to be more than a week or two in most places. Also, the launch titles aren't that stellar anyway, so we're not missing a whole heck of a lot. A good number of the 360 titles are PC games too.

My EB called me weeks ago to tell me that I wouldn't make the launch shipment. They knew back in Oct what their quantities were going to be, the fact they didn't warn you well in advance shows poorly for your store's management.

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My EB called me weeks ago to tell me that I wouldn't make the launch shipment. They knew back in Oct what their quantities were going to be, the fact they didn't warn you well in advance shows poorly for your store's management.

Yup, that is the part that disappoints me. They were finally honest with me yesterday, though they had given me the warning that shipments were not what they expected a few weeks back, they couldn't or wouldn't tell me exactly where I stood on their list, and never bothered to call to tell me that I needn't bother to come there today until I called them yesterday.

All I really wanted to know all along was when I should expect the box, or at least whether I need to get out to the store this a.m. to get it. Knowing that took the pressure off a bit, as I can figure just wait a few weeks and see new supply.

I figure there's probably going to be about 2 weeks or so between first shipment and second, and then about the same, if not longer before one big Christmas push of inventory. After that, MS may take the better part of a month to ramp up shipments to full speed again.

I do know it will make almost no sense to pay for any sort of "insurance policy" on the systems since the stores won't have any inventory to do any sort of over-the-counter swap with anyway. At least I can save some $$ there.

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Have to love what some lucky 360 buyers have done with their boxes.

Of course there's the lucky folks that bought and resold them at big mark-ups, but then there are also the type that are referenced at the link that follows.

Link

Definitely a case of someone with too much money and not much engaged and functional gray matter.

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Then there is the guy in Stafford who robbed a store. Took no money, just some Xboxes!

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MS is bringing in piles of cash

Actually it's been widely reported they are losing about$150.00 (USD) a pop on this one. Reports are circulating on the gamer sites that the system is already crashing. It seems to be a problem with the power supply overheating.

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Even MS hardware is going down now? Man... anyway, can't wait to see the class action suits from this one. If you pre-ordered, they are under contract to sell you one right away... that's why you pre-ordered it.

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Zoomba

Join Date 11/2002

+114

They aren't under contract to give you one on release day... If anything, your individual retailer is obligated to provide you with your preorder box in the order the orders were placed, and before walk-ins can get theirs. They are limited by shipment quantities from manufacturers.

Pre-orders, unless you are the first in line, don't guarantee delivery on the day of release. MS especially is under no obligation to the individual customer since Microsoft sells to resellers like BestBuy, EB, GameStop etc...

Gotta love people who are completely ignorant of how retail works and the legal obligations therein.

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