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Gamestop Not Taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders Yet
Next Generation is reporting that Gamestop has declined to take preorders for the Wii and PS3, on the grounds that they don't know how many units will be available at launch. They're apparently trying to avoid a repeat of last year's problems with the 360's launch. From the article: "Analysts also inquired what would happen if PS3 launch quantities fell short of expectations. '[Last year,] the 360 in short supply had an effect of freezing the market,' said DeMatteo. 'But if you look at it, there wasn't anything new. I mean, there weren't any new platforms out there, so the 360 was the newest thing in the last four or five years. This year, there will be a Wii and there will be a 360, so I can't believe that it will have the same kind of impact that the 360 [shortages] had.'"
Sears and JC Penny aren't taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders either. Keep up the great work, I don't know where I'd go to find out who isn't taking Wii/PS3 orders without ya!
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Then ... who did I give my $100 to?
What a snare preorders are.... I pre-ordered a 360 thru GameStop 6 months in advance, and they told me I wouldn't be in the first release group on their order. So I said 'screw that' and went to ShopKo and grabbed a Premium Bundle and only waited in line for 2 hours. Then, 3 months after the release, GameStop calls me to tell me my 'pre-order' is in. This is after the fact that Best Buy had units on the shelf at a steady rate.
Future ruler of a small Asian-Pacific island
Does anyone know who's taking pre-orders? Is anyone taking pre-orders yet?
I just wanted to let you all know that I'm buying a Wii. I think that the PS3 is too expensive, and there are no good Xbox 360 games. Also, you have to pay $50 per year to use the Xbox 360.
When has unknown quantities ever stopped them before? I've seen them take pre-orders for games just announced, nowhere near completion and without even a tentative release date. I remember Gamestop took pre-orders for Sam and Max: FreeLance Police even after Lucas Arts cancelled the game!
I don't see how this could be different than the 360 launch, since it's doubtful that someone who wants a PS3 will buy a Wii instead simply based on availablity, and vice-versa. Just because there's more than one 'new' console coming over the holiday season isn't going to matter much. People will save their money until there's more available, or watch eBay for their chance at the console they WANT.
Next Generation is reporting that Gamestop has declined to take preorders for the Wii and PS3, on the grounds that they don't know how many units will be available at launch.
For those who missed that:
1) They're not taking pre-orders
2) because they don't know how many units will be available at launch
3) probably because Nintendo has difficulty making an estimate
4) because they don't know how many people they can count on to buy
5) because they aren't accepting pre-orders, which would tell them how many they can count on to buy.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
I've known about this for about three months, during which time I've been trying to reserve not only a Wii, but change my Twilight Princess reservation to Wii. The only people who don't know this would be those who haven't tried to reserve a system yet, and even then they probably heard someone else complaining about it.
I talked to a GameStop employee about it one day and got some info. I don't think this guy was a manager, but he seemed to know his stuff, so you can take this with a grain of sale if you like.
First, according to the guy I talked to, they will start taking pre-orders, at soonest, after their next "manager meeting", which is taking place around the time of the Leipzig (sp?) thing where Nintendo will announce final pricing and release dates.
Second, they will be raising the reservation price. Instead of just chunking down $25 or $50, you will now put down a good portion of the price. (The guy said "something like $300", and was probably referring to the PS3. Wii will probably be about $100.) This is to discourage people who aren't going to pick up the thing on release to shy away.
One of the GameStops I visit normally had a "Registration Notification" thing you could fill out with your name and phone number, and they would call you once the systems go on reservation. Headquarters apparently put the kabash on that, stating that people might think they are actually reserving the system when they're just signing up for a notice when it's reservable.
My local Gamestop was not taking preorders for the Wii last time I checked, but they where putting together a list of people that would like to preorder: so I'm in the pre-preorder list.
The idea was that they will call us when starting to take preorders. Will this be maintained in the view of the news? Who knows!
I've been in the video game retail arena, preorders are just a shitty excuse to take your money and lock you into making your purchase with them. There is no guarantee they'll have a box with your name on it on launch day.
I'll take your order for a Wii or PS3 right now. Just send me a $250 deposit, a $250 handling charge, and $50 to cover packaging and shipping, and I guarantee that as soon as I buy one in a store I'll send it to you. But that's not all. If you order by responding to this email within 45 minutes I'll send you a special bonus gift guaranteed to be worth at least $19.95. Hurry now while stocks last!
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
After excitedly heading down to the local gamestop the day Dead Rising was released, and being told in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't sell one without a pre-order in hand (despite a huge pile of them sitting in the counter behind the desk) I fired off this email to both Gamestop and Capcom:
----
I just wanted to let Gamestop know how grateful I am
about their store policies for not selling new-release
games without a preorder. I was in Store #1049 on
Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, NY yesterday to purchase a
few XBox360 games, most significantly the new title
Dead Rising. However, despite the box being
prominently displayed for sale and a multitude of
copies behind the counter, I was denied the sale
because I had not pre-ordered mine.
Not only did this save me the 59.99 for the new game,
but I was able to save even more money by not buying
preowned copies of Tomb Raider: Legend and Condemned
as well. My impulse purchases left behind, I went
home and signed up for a much less expensive
Gamefly.com account.
Thanks again!
Loyal Gamestop Customer since it was called Babbages
in 1985.
---
Surely until there is an official price tag, taking pre-orders will be a little tough?
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
First I find out that I have to use the Wii controller with a Wii game, now I find out places aren't taking pre-orders.
Maybe next we'll hear that the sky is still blue, except when there are clouds.
http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/060810.html
dang dang dang dang!
Must have Wii!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
probably the best bet is just pick them up in a bundled package at CostCo right before Thanksgiving.
less problem, cheaper price.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Okay, it certainly won't have the same effect on the market as a whole as the 360 shortages (might have) had. However if not having enough of a product to sell people is bad, not having enough when there are two competing products is _really_ bad. Convincing people to buy a $500-$600 console is hard enough, but if they show up at the store to buy one and the store is out but there's a 360 and possibly a Revolution there in stock there's probably going to be at least some temptation to get one or both of them instead.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Im a game junkie but have never bothered to pre-order any console. I did happen to be at a walmart in a small town near me the day after the 360 launch and picked up a premium because I read about all the nuts paying stupid amounts of money for them. I turned it around for several hundred more than I paid within a half an hour of posting it. I still havent bothered to buy one for myself, its just not a high priority. I'm planning on getting a Wii as well, but will probably buy one after the initial hype has died down.
Chances of getting PS3 without questionable ethics: slim Chances of getting Wii: 5.5 times slim (stout?)
I got my hopes up with the Wii announcements due on the first day (industry-only) of the Leipzig Games Convention, bought tickets for the first public day and took off a day from work. Only to find out a little later that there will no playable machinese (German). NINTENDO, I WANT MY Wii!!
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
You know I haven't been to the store and asked them about it days after E3, I haven't wanted the Twilight Princess Zelda game so bad it hurts, I haven't desired to make sure to that I get a Wii at the front of the line. I am so uninterested in the system that I haven't even heard this, and because I hear this... what? I want one now?
If you like these two systems you already have tried to get a pre-order, and the store employees have told you the score. If you don't like these two systems you don't care about pre-orders. If you don't pre-order games and instead have a highly complex but legal system of acquiring games early that you won't share with me, you suck.
How do you know they don't train their nerds to behave this way? After all, I'm sure it makes them money. They may lose all their smart customers, but today it seems companies just want stupid customers who are easy to screw over...