PS3 Pre-Orders Came and Went

Warlock7 writes "Well, it's official. The pre-orders have begun ... and mostly ended. I just got mine ordered and four hours later there are already units on eBay. Some acutions have already gone north of $1000 USD. The guys at EBGames told me that the most units going to any one store was 36 and that there were an average of 8 units being distributed to each store. The one I went to reported that they were going to be getting a total of 16 units. They waited this long to take pre-orders because they wanted to be sure that they weren't going to get burned like they did for the XBox 360 launch." The reports from across the internets are varied, with long lines netting nothing for some, and others reaping the sweet rewards.

Comments

Oooooh big fucking deal

[jbrader]

I have a better idea. I'll wait to get one (if I bother at all) and then when I do all the bugs will have worked out, there will be more games available, it will cost less I won't have to wait in any ureasonably long lines and I won't have helped fuel Sony's ridiculous hype machine.

Re:Oooooh big fucking deal

[twistedsymphony]

Yeah but don't you want to buy one to cook up some tasty low-fat Sony brand burgers!

Its silly to get a console on release

[tont0r]

How many consoles have we gone through that had problems on release? Everything from the DS Lite cracking, to the xbox controllers being the size of a small gorilla, to the xbox360 over heating, to faulting dvd roms of the ps2. Its almost at the point where its guaranteed to have a flaw in it. And i feel worse for people who buy it on ebay at an extra $500/pop.

And with all these horrid rumors of design flaws with the ps3, its more of a reason to just wait it out. Same with the Wii. I refuse to believe that 6 months down the line, they are going to come up with a much more accurate wiimote than the have now.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[HappySqurriel]

Personally, I have only ever had a single problem with a Nintendo made product and that was I got a disc-read error on my launch Gamecube about 8 months after I bought it. My dealings with Nintendo's customer service about my broken Gamecube were so good that I have no worries about buying a Wii at launch; essentially, Nintendo just told me where to drop off the Gamecube and they shipped a refurbished Gamecube overnight to their Depot so I only had 1 day without my gamecube.

The PS3, on the other hand, I would be worried about mainly because I have had bad experiences with Sony's customer service in the past and the PS3 has a first generation optical disc drive in it; my memories of first generation CD-RW and DVD/DVD-RW drives tells me that the most you can really expect from a drive like this is (about) 12 months of usage. I never want to have another system (like my PS2) where I own it for 13 months and have to go buy a brand new system (at full price) because of a disc-read error.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[drinkypoo]

I second the emotion on the subject of the original US Xbox controller. I have gigantic hands and the little controller is poop, it fatigues my hands to use it because I have to manipulate it with my fingertips, or else set it on my lap and poke at it with tweezers. I'm glad Microsoft brought out the smaller controller to shut up all the tiny-handed people out there, but I'm sad that they discontinued the old one... but then again, I'm glad that most people like the smaller controller better, because it means you can always find supplies of the original controllers used. Today, I have two large and three small pads (always have a spare!) and I use the small ones only for occasional emulated games that work better with a smaller controller due to some idiotic control scheme - and there are many like this.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[DrXym]

Anyone who buys a console on day 1 needs their head examined. Aside from bragging rights, or sell the thing on ebay, what is the point? If a console is THAT GOOD, it will be just as good a few months down the road. Then you can make an informed purchase decision in the absence of hype and with a good chance of getting a replacement if the thing turns out to be broken.

This applies equally to the Wii, or any other shiny overhyped piece of kit (e.g. anything made by Apple). Never buy version 1.0 of anything

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[Cadallin]

While you may think me deranged, I have a fair amount of faith in Nintendo as a company. So far this hasn't failed me. Nintendo has an excellent reliability track record, even taking into account DS lite problems. They almost always get it right the first time, and when they don't, they fix it. Also, I want to play Twilight Princess + a half dozen other release titles, and if my monkey instincts make me want to play them sooner, rather than later, well, what can I say?

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[Reaperducer]

Nintendo has an excellent reliability track record, even taking into account DS lite problems. They almost always get it right the first time, and when they don't, they fix it.

Whenever I heard "Nintendo" I think about how all of my friends had to constantly blow on their NES carts to get them to work.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[nullChris]

Actually, they are using cutting edge technology on their console, except, as stated in some recent interviews on the official site, they are utilizing these advances for their low cooling requirements and power requirements.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[Cadallin]

And? Electrical contacts get dirty, what's your point?

More telling, in my opinion, is the number of original (>20 year old) NES machines that can still be made to work perfectly with just this trick. Your PS1 still work? How about your friends'? Hell, how many people do you know that have had to replace a faulty PS2?

Granted the NES design could have been better (by "better" I mean a top loading cartridge, like the SNES and the famicom in Japan). However, the NES was designed that way in order to get it into stores in the USA. They couldn't build it correctly, or stores wouldn't have carried it. In reality the solution that they came up with didn't compromise the system too badly (see point about original NES's still working), and the system survived that flaw to become an enormous commercial success.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[grammar fascist]

And? Electrical contacts get dirty, what's your point?

Turns out it's not so much dust as electrical contacts losing their spring.

Re:Its silly to get a console on release

[DrXym]

You presume that there are enough games to have 3 months worth of fun, that the kit works faultlessly, that the controller is as good as the hype, that the online services (are there any?) don't crash under the load, that the Wii is going to be "better" subjectively than the other consoles. If it's that much fun then it will be that much fun in a few months time when there might be a few more titles. Meanwhile as you say, you've got an XBox360 so I assume there are plenty of titles popping out around Christmas for that (e.g. Gears of War) to keep you going.

If you have a 360 I don't see the point of getting a PS3 as well since most of the port / franchise games will play almost identically on both. But if I had neither and assuming the PS3 provides the goods, then I wouldn't have any objection to paying $500-600 for something which is far more than just a games console.

Really over $1,000?

[Junta]

At the time of my looking at it, sure amounts were at 1,000 bucks or higher, but that was the starting bid and no one has yet bid on it. Not saying it won't happen, but at the time of story posting it is misleading.

Re:Really over $1,000?

[CaymanIslandCarpedie]

Here is at least one completed and seems sucessful acution for a PS3 for $1,250.

Re:Really over $1,000?

[drinkypoo]

People were paying almost that much for consoles in the previous generation, and inflation has marched on since then. A fool and his money are soon parted, regardless of how much money he might have - it's the amount of foolishness that determines how long it takes, not the amount of money.

Re:Really over $1,000?

[hords]

Heck, I saw some PS2 auctions go for more than $2000. I kicked myself for opening my system after I discovered that insanity.

Pre-orders are a scam

[The_Pariah]

GameStop now takes your $100, puts it in the bank, gets mad interest off of your cash and another 400,000 reservations, and you're left with nothing. Instead of just having customers pay when the product is physically here.... Sorry, but I want a product when I put cash down.

Re:Pre-orders are a scam

[Vokkyt]

Close, pre-orders are hype-machines. The fewer machine they put out means the easier it is to declare that all pre-orders sold out, and the bigger hype they can get from envious users who want to be able to claim that they have a PS3 pre-ordered as well. Think about it; would there be that much hype over the damn things if Sony released like 3.0 million world wide and every store had ~ 50 or so to shell out to people? (more in cities with higher populations) Hell, in that scenario, people would be more surprised about the fact that they actually had enough units on release to satisfy the initial rush. In that scenario, people would care about the release for about a week, then be busy playing because most everyone who was going to get one would have one already.

Re:Pre-orders are a scam

[ChildeRoland]

The entire continent is getting 400k units. GameStop/EB is not going to get them all. Best Buy, Circuit City, WalMart, and more will be selling them without preorders.

It's not really a scam to me. The way I see it, I am forfeiting the interest from that $100 in exchange for a) waiting outside in the chilly October cold rather than the frigid November cold and b) not having to wait for more than 24 hours outside.

Re:Pre-orders are a scam

[thefirelane]

The product launch is about a month away, you put down $100. Lets say you could get 4.40% (currently what I get on savings). ($100*.044)/12 = .36 So you are paying a .36 "fee" to be certain to get a system. Ripoff? hardly.

Re:Pre-orders are a scam

[Warlock7]

First, EB isn't getting 400k units, they're getting a percentage of the 400k available.

They're also not making that much sure they'll make some interest, but it's less than 45 days away, it's not like they've had the money for months. They're certainly not making "mad interest" as you suggest.

On top of that, if the item doesn't show up, you get your deposit back.

Re:Pre-orders are a scam

[Karma Farmer]

So you are paying a .36 "fee" to be certain to get a system. Ripoff? hardly.

Is this some wacky new definition of "certain?"

Re:Heh...

[jayhawk88]

Now there's a gamer -- standing in line at GameStop from 6:30 to 9 qualifies as "camping out".

In the guys defense, that's probably about how long the battery in his PSP was good for.

Uh... what?

[ack154]

Some acutions have already gone north of $1000 USD.

No they haven't.

The linked auction search only shows LISTED auctions for the PS3. The starting bids for a couple are $1000 or more. NONE of them (as of this post) have any bids.

Re:Uh... what?

[Dr. Eggman]

I would guess some of them edge over the fine lines between what ebay allows and doesn't. Possible candidate violations include:

Contracts (Pre-orders may be non-transferable and thus restricted, but the service of purchasing a PS3 on the day of launch with a "guarentee" through the seller's indicated pre-order, might not.)

Misleading titles (PS3!!1!11 versus PS3 order)

pre-sale item (This is probably the big one, must indicate item will be obtained and shipped no more than 30 days after the listing's end and clearly indicate so.)

Electronic Surveillance Equipment *insert Sony rootkit joke*

Heh

[Iamthefallen]

They waited this long to take pre-orders because they wanted to be sure that they weren't going to get burned like they did for the XBox 360 launch.

Allow me to express some mild scepticism, but I predict shortages and many unfulfilled pre-orders.

Why send an email about pre-orders...

[TD-2779]

This morning I received an email regarding pre-orders sometime after 10am GMT-6. I immediately called the six closest retail locations & they were ALL already out of pre-orders.

Why not send the email out DAYS ahead of time?

Oh well, I was just going to use the EBAY profits to fund my Wii.

A sufficient bunch of suckers apparently was born

[suv4x4]

A sufficient bunch of suckers apparently was born for this.

So, $1000 eBay auctions for PS3 pre-orders. How do I describe this.

- it's a preorderm might not even happen
- they are willing to be the guinea pigs to try out the first (possibly faulty) batch of PS3
- how do you call something that's overpriced, and then overpriced again? But yea, that too.

So keep it going. If I ever buy a PS3, it'll be in an year or so when I'll get it for less than its current retail price, with rich game selection, stable performance (all major software and hardware bugs fixed), and if it flops I might even just save myself the $500 or so, and just play with my xbox.

Thank You, Beta Testers

[thatguywhoiam]

We are pleased that so many of you have volunteered your hard-earned time and money to be the first to work out all the kinks in this first generation of PlaysDISK READ ERROR

Re:North of $1000?

[Warlock7]

eBay started cancelling the auctions, no idea why.

At least one of the units was over $1300. There are now more that are at $1000 and going up...

Rewards?

[Daemonstar]

reaping the sweet rewards.

Wait, so, standing in line in order to get something that you're just going to resell to get more money while the person behind you wants to buy the same item for her kids for Christmas, and then realizes her checkbook was empty and has to leave, is a reward?

I guess on the bright side, it saved her lots of cash to buy other (hopefully less expensive) things for her kids.

Re:Rewards?

[chris_eineke]

Oh, stop it already. That story of the mom in line to pick up a brand-spanking new console for her kid is a hasty generalization at best.

Why don't you think of the hard working widower Dad that needs to work 12 hours a day to pay for his Son's cancer treatment and wants to make his son's life more cheerful by buying him a PS3 from eBay because that's the only place he can get his hands on one?

Won't someone think of the fallacy?

Re:Heh...

[Leviance]

Isn't it the point that he didnt really need to camp out at all?

Re:Heh...

[iotashan]

Camping in the same spot for nearly 3 hours... he's probably just afk.

I'll be your token troll for this thread

[Matey-O]

Okay. I've bought LOTS of Sony stuff. Thousands of dollars worth.

Trinitron Tube'd TV's
Disk- and Walk-men
Standalone home theatre speakers
nifty AV receivers
a Laptop
A Camcorder.
several pairs of headphones
countless Sony branded movies and albums, I'm sure.

And I'll never buy another Sony product again. Why?

Rootkits
Proprietary Media - MD, DAT, Memory Sticks, little odd writeable DVD's for their camcorders, PSP's oddball media, Beta, and now BluRay. I'm sick sick sick of the intentional fracturing of the market at the expense of the customer.
A Laptop installed with XP that _couldn't_ take SP2 due to a crappy memory controller.
Decisions for music players that just flat seemed STUPID (ATRAC?)
The fact they're betting the company on this one, expensive, item that has a cobbled together controller at a price I don't care to spend, forcing a media format I do not want.

Coupled with my moving away from physical media for entertainment purposes (I'll probable not get either competing format. I shifted from record and 8track to cassette, then CD's, from VHS to laserdisk to DVD.) I'm tired of re-buying the White Album, catch my drift?

Are you guys really falling all over yourselves for this company? Haven't they screwed you enough? (And by you, I mean the Customer)

Sony is an example of a machine that's gotten so large, it cannot move without standing on itself. I see no reason my money should reward it for its actions.

Re:I'll be your token troll for this thread

[oGMo]

Are you guys really falling all over yourselves for this company? Haven't they screwed you enough? (And by you, I mean the Customer)

On the contrary. SCE has delivered two solid platforms already, each with thousands of games, hundreds of those being of excellent quality. Too many to play, too many to choose from. This isn't what I call "screwing over".

Does Sony/BMG do stupid stuff? Yes. Does Sony Pictures do stupid stuff? They're MPAA---yes. Does Sony Computer Entertainment do stupid stuff? Probably, but less so. What they have done is deliver a solid platform with a solid library. Have they secretly funded organizations to undermine the Linux community? No. So, yes, I'm "voting" with my dollar; I may "vote no" to Sony/BMG, I may "vote no" to Sony Pictures, but I will "vote yes" to SCE. May they set an example for the rest of the company.

Re:I'll be your token troll for this thread

[oGMo]

None of the excellent games on the playstation and ps2 were made by Sony.

Wrong. Just out of games I own (minus ones in parentheses, which are not out yet):

• Ape Escape 1, 2, 3
• God of War 1 (, 2)
• Gran Turismo 1, 2, 3, 4
• ICO
• Jak and Daxter 1, 2, 3
• Kinetica [Hey, this was one of the first ps2 racers and it was pretty neat]
• Ratchet and Clank 1, 2, 3
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Sly Cooper 1, 2, 3
• Syphon Filter 1 (, Omega Strain)
• Twisted Metal Black
• Wipeout Fusion

Additionally, Sony has fostered the relationships and provided the expertise to make their platform attractive to developers. They listen and respond. The PS1 was all SDK, and devs wanted to code the metal, thus they got the PS2. Yeah, it was harder, but they asked for it, and got it. The PS2 was hard to start, so they've got a huge library of code and APIs for the PS3. Their developer-friendliness was the reason that they attracted development houses from Nintendo in the first place. Being developer-friendly results in third-party games, which are what really sell the platform. This has been a hard lesson for Nintendo that's been a long time in coming. They seem to have learned it to an extent with the Wii, but we'll see how it works out.

But the point is that Sony deserves credit for attracting third-party games; hype doesn't sell a console to the people who are doing the coding. And "public relations disaster" is mostly in the minds of forum dwellers who will spin anything to rationalize the fact their parents might not buy them a PS3.

Re:Is it silly to get a console on release?

[drinkypoo]

If I were looking for early-adopter flaws, I'd select some that have actually been fixed. Even slimline PS2s suffer more drive failures than any other optical-drive console I've ever used.

Well, yeah, but if you didn't leave it on the rug where your cat sleeps, it would probably last a bit longer.

Actually, I'm allergic to cats, and I have stands that hold all my equipment. The PS2 is on top of the switchbox is on top of the Xbox, all in a cubby in my TV stand; All my stereo equipment is in one of the usual stands for that purpose in another corner of the room.

The simple fact is that Sony makes the least reliable game consoles with optical drives in them, period. Sony has seldom been able to make a reliable optical drive. I have a car discman that has fared quite well in the face of abuse, which is an absolute requirement for any portable hardware, but I've lost a PS1 and a PSOne, and seen countless PS2s fail.

In fact, Gran Turismo 4 is notorious for killing the optical drive in the original (thick) PS2. It's a Sony game in a Sony system! Only the best. Personally I think it was intentional.

Re:The party's over.

[Ender Ryan]

The only real sport to be found through a computer nowadays is trolling message boards.

Which you seem to be pretty good at indeed. You injected the perfect amount of truth, in this case quite a bit, just with (mostly) wrong (well, IMO) conclusions. Ie. gaming isn't dead, it's just kinda sucky at the moment.

This "gen" won't be a writeoff either, even if what you say is somewhat true. The Wii will prove useful, even if it sucks for traditional games(not enough evidence at this point to say with 100% certainty), it will be fun for some things. There's some great titles in development for the 360 -- Gears of War(doesn't look like my cup of tea, but looks good nonetheless), uh... that one Action RPG, Bioshock, and etc. The PS3 is expensive indeed, but the price will come down, probably sooner rather than later, or as soon as it's not selling out -- they've already reduced the Japanese launch price, and there's some excellent games in development for it too.

Some growing pains perhaps, but not a total bomb for gaming.

Re: Rootkits

[Anonymous Coward]

Any why not? Its a division but its still eventually run by the same people. Personally I don't buy anything Sony now because no matter what division they are from they all seem to think that they can do no wrong. I'm sorry but I've seen to many comments from people at Sony for the PS3 that I thought were condecending and lost them my bussiness for ever. I will buy a Wii and Possiably an xbox360 but I will never own another Playstation.

Re:Heh...

[rifter]

"After hearing chatter about PS3 pre-orders at GameStop in #ps2 on efnet, I checked your site in order to see if it was true. I figured since it was my night off, I might as well waste it camping out for a few hours...Once I got to my nearest Gamestop, I saw there was only one guy camping...He had gotten there at 5 a.m."

Now there's a gamer -- standing in line at GameStop from 6:30 to 9 qualifies as "camping out".

Too right! after all clearly the guy going there at 5am was a camper, but what the commenter left out was that *he* was a loot ninja just waiting to strike :D.

How about some REAL discussion?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't care if you're not going to buy the ps3. I also don't care if you're going to use the hypothetical money you set aside for a ps3, to now buy a Wii. I don't care that you feel so persecuted by one company that you take every chance you get to tell everyone about your Sony boycott.

...The mere mention of the word "rootkit" should not mean you automatically get modded "funny".

Slashdots games section is next only to Gamefaqs when it comes to trollish/childish behaviour. And now since I'm adding nothing to this discussion, I'll leave to start my own boycott.

Re:Heh...

[Karma Farmer]

Actually, "camp out" means to "camp" "outdoors".

The proper term to use for standing in line three hours is "standing in line."

Re:So get one here

[Psycosys]

Not anymore it's not!

Here's why eBay listings vanish...

[The Last Gunslinger]

eBay has a fairly clear policy regarding pre-sale auctions...I'd imagine any PS3 listing that get pulled probably don't satisfy their requirements.

From the eBay rules site:
Pre-sale listings are those that describe items for sale that are not in the control or possession of the seller at the time of the listing. These listings generally consist of items that are sold in advance of a delivery date to the public.

eBay permits Pre-sale listings only on a limited basis. The seller must guarantee that the item will be available for shipping within 30 days from the date of purchase (i.e., the day the listing ends or the date the item is purchased from a store front listing). The seller must also clearly indicate within the listing the fact that the item is a pre-sale item with a delivery date that indicates the item will be shipped by the 30th day from the end date of the listing. Additionally, this text must be no less than the default font size of the eBay Sell-Your-Item form. Currently, the default font size is HTML font size 3.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

* Listing cancellation
* Limits on account privileges
* Account suspension
* Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
* Loss of PowerSeller status

Re:Big sellout

[crankyspice]

Big sell outs expected in stores across the country!

Dude, Sony already sold out, big-time. I remember when they were an unsigned console manufacturer, setting up at dive bars for 20 people to play a few games for a quarter each. Yeah, PlayStation (back then, that's all it was; there was no PSP or PS2 or PS3) was primitive and unpolished by their standards of today, but you could tell there was passion behind it. It used to be about the gaming, man, it used to be about the gaming. Now, it's all corporate and sterile and 'how-can-we-leverage-this-product-to-increase-plat form-dominance' bundled Blu-Ray and stuff. They've changed, man. They've changed.