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How Bad Will The 360 Shortage Be?
shrouded writes "Rumors have been growing the last few days about hardware shortages for the launch of Microsoft's new video game console this month. No one is speaking about it officially, but off behind-the-scenes whispering makes it sound like initial supplies won't even cover people who have pre-paid for their machines. eToychest spent the weekend asking retailers what they anticipate for the Nov. 22 release date, and its not pretty."
If getting your child a 360 for Christmas is that important and you can't find one, just set the money aside and pick one up when more are made.
... not the promise of stuff. As an adult, yeah ... I can grasp the idea of getting something when it's available, but that just doesn't compute for kids. Is it right to have a kid so hyped up over materialistic things? Maybe not ... but when I have a kid, but I understand.
You either don't celebrate Christmas, or you've forgotten what a Christmas morning as a little kid is like. I'm 28 and I still rememeber not being able to sleep in anticipation of what I'd find under the tree the next day. To a kid that's fortunate enough to be able to celebrate Christmas, that day is magical because he or she gets stuff
If you check on the articles past year, you will notice every single article on the PSP predicted a shortage. Sony predicted a shortage, IGN, slashdot , etc. They even pulled "anti -shortage" schemes one psp per customer ,no change of PSP for dead pixels, etc.
Does anyone remember having any problem to find a PSP on xmas?
They do that based on PRE-SELLS only, and yes I bet there will be a "shortage" on pre-sells, since fans buy their stuff on those, but Alas regular people dont. Stores have bundles of those in the ware houses, and it turns out regular people wont buy them. So if you want one, dont "pre buy" it , just walk to any store and buy it, Im sure there will be plenty to go by.
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
Let me preface this by saying I'm not a console gamer. I had PONG and an atari 2600 when they came out. Since, I have found the console gaming experience lacking. Ok, Halo and Halo2 are badass, but hardly worth the cost of the Xbox and assorted other accessories... Maybe I outgrew them...
I have been reading and hearing about the 360 for a while. The hardware seems impressive. I can see a lot of potential for impressive physics, good graphics, and complex models. By and large, it seems the magic spell that Microsoft's PR department is casting is working. Gamers are abuzz with speculation and news of the 360.
There will be no shortage.
I worked at Best Buy when the PS2 was released, and I remember the same rumors of ps2 shortages. People were standing in line the night before. Families split up and stood in lines at different retailers around town. There was genuine concern that demand would not be met. My store had 80 to give out for opening day. Management told the prods (sales reps, product specialists.. whatever) that they were not to sell a ps2 without at *least* an extra controller, and a PRP (Product Replacement Plan). Best Buy is incredibly numbers oriented. Its not enough to sell a box, you have to sell a box "with cheese" i.e. with the higher profit items cables, controllers, PRP. Why else would a Prod recommend a "Monster Cable" surge supressor to ward off dead pixels? BTW Monster Cable costs about 25% of retail price. But I digress.....
My point is that the shortage was artificial... Every store got an allotment of PS2s (80), and the next truck had more (for us, 130). People were so relieved that they got a PS2 opening day, that they coughed up the dough for all of the extra crap that they were told they *needed*.
Maybe I am wrong. Time will tell.