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360 Sells 400k Units, New Stock This Weekend
Next Generation is reporting an estimate of 400,000 units sold for the Xbox 360 in its first week on the retail shelves. Microsoft is planning on having more stock available as of this weekend. From the article: "It seems even the biggest retailers are in the dark. Speaking to USA Today, Circuit City's Jim Babb said, 'We knew demand would outstrip supply for some time. I have been told we'll get additional supplies, so I can only advise customers keep checking back with stores and on the website.' Microsoft is gearing up for its European launch this weekend, but many believe the shortages could be even worse over there. Retail supplies are said to be tiny, and many customers who have pre-ordered have been told that they may not receive their machines this side of the New Year."
No other company has artificially restricted supply so ridiculously low as Microsoft, either.
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
There's roughly 280 million people in the US, there are less than one million users on Slashdot. Even if no Slashdot user bought it that number would be quite attainable.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Ok, I could see how MS would love the idea of 360's being "sold out" in every store, obviously... but don't you think they would rather sell more, cement a higher user base and take advantage of being the first next-gen console available, rather than simply knowing that 360's are in high demand? People on eBay are profiting more from this situation than MS.
With the news of faulty power supplies and other hardware issues, I really believe that they were rushing to get them out there, and they would have more available if they could. The whole "shortage on purpose" scenario just doesn't make sense to me, especially if it continues through Xmas season, which would be like a candy store limiting its supply right before Halloween, but then promising everyone that there would be more available in January. At least they would be sure to sell out all their candy, yippee!
Call me an MS fanboy if you must (I don't plan on buying a 360), I'm just trying to figure out why so many people really believe that this shortage was on purpose. Maybe I'm just naive and blind to the fact that MS would rather stab puppies and shoot chlidren than have happy consumers. Because they're evil.
That and the fact that the price of games and the systems (aside from what Nintendo is saying about the Revolution) themselves are higher than they were the last time, and they're gonna see less of their target audience (teens and college students) with their "disposable income" not being able to allow them to buy the amount of stuff they're expecting them to buy. I see game prices going up, but I don't see a raise in the future for my college workstudy job.
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