Shortages till april?

[jvd]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/666/666229p1.html

One short-tempered clerk at a Gamestop in New York estimated that Xbox 360 units will not be available for walk-in customers until April. That's right, April

Sounds like time square

At an EB Games in San Francisco, a manager said that of the more than 200 preorders his store took, he will only be able to supply 20% of those customers. Do the math and that's a paltry 40 or so units at launch.

Shesh where in the world did they get the idea they would get 200 units launch day ?

An employee at the Electronics Boutique in New York said they have 79 preorders and will receive only 30 units on the first shipment and he has no idea when the second shipment will come in. At a small EB Games in Los Angeles, of the 49 preorders, one employee expected 25 units at best, with walk-in customers out of luck until possibly February.

Yup 25-30 is what all stores should be getting

Of course walk in customers can get core units if they want .

At a Gamestop in Chicago, an employee scoffed at the idea that even one half of the 100 preorders will be delivered before December. A Gamestop in Miami took about 100 preorders, was promised 50 units from Microsoft, and reports that it will be lucky to get 30 units on November 22.

Dunno who at ms told him that , only people we get are reps and they allways say we don't have launch numbers. Only rms get the numbers from coprate .

 

[Bill]

Meh. I'll get mine. Wal Mart. 24 hours.
I know they start passing out tickets at ten. Should be easy.

 

[HappyBread]

50,000 consoles are said to be shipping to UK retail stores for launch >February, seems awfully low. Why so few? Yes, they're going for a worldwide launch, but you would have thought they'd have a sufficient supply to distribute a good amount of consoles in all regions.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Could available units be based on pre-orders? Could regions without large preorder bases get less units? We've heard lots about US preorders being high, but what about elsewhere?

 

[jvd]

well i believe its all of europe. SO the 50k units is just for the u.k but then there are other countrys that are getting units also .

I don't know what the demand is in the uk though

 

[digitalwanderer]

Dumb question: when does the 360 go on sale?

 

[Wunderchu]

Dumb question: when does the 360 go on sale?

Nov. 22 = launch day for North America
Dec. 2 = launch day for Europe
Dec. 10 = launch day for Japan

[source: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/press/2005/0914-xbox360launchdates.htm ]

 

[digitalwanderer]

Ah, thanks Wonderchu...I didn't think it was this close to launch!

Ah well, the shortage won't bother me much....I still haven't gotten an HDTV yet and until I do I won't be getting an Xbox360 nor PS3. (BTW-When is the PS3 slated to come out? Ever since I found out about GTA4 premiering with it I found out I have to get one...)

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Still haven't seen or heard of XB360 kiosks in the UK. Has anyone seen any outside of the US? ATM MS maybe be supplying XB360 hardware for sale all around the world, but I don't feel they're 'launching'. I'm not hearing any noises regards marketting outside the gaming press.

 

[Wunderchu]

Ah, thanks Wonderchu...I didn't think it was this close to launch!

Ah well, the shortage won't bother me much....I still haven't gotten an HDTV yet and until I do I won't be getting an Xbox360 nor PS3. (BTW-When is the PS3 slated to come out? Ever since I found out about GTA4 premiering with it I found out I have to get one...)

NP

about the PS3 launch .. there has been no public announcement about their launch date .. from all the rumours/speculation that I have read, the most likely time periods seem to be;

- spring 2006 for Japan
- summer or fall 2006 for North America
- fall 2006 or early 2007 for Europe

 

[MrWibble]

Still haven't seen or heard of XB360 kiosks in the UK. Has anyone seen any outside of the US? ATM MS maybe be supplying XB360 hardware for sale all around the world, but I don't feel they're 'launching'. I'm not hearing any noises regards marketting outside the gaming press.

There was one somewhere on Oxford street I think - maybe in Dixons?

 

[digitalwanderer]

Thanks again Wonderchu, muchly appreciate the info.

So it looks like I could pretty well coast until summer break without getting a new TV/console, I can handle that.

 

[psp111]

There was one somewhere on Oxford street I think - maybe in Dixons?

There are 3 in HMV on Oxford street, Nr Oxford Circul tube.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Forgive me for being cynical but I don't really rate a few showings in capital cities as much of a 'launch'. I mean, Gizmondo has a London store!

If the US has had XB360 kiosks across lots of game stores, at least hundreds if not thousands of kiosks I'd guess, for weeks before launch why aren't they mainstream in UK (and other countries?) game stores? Why aren't we getting as strong a showing as the US? We've seemingly a lot less consoles (assuming 1 million consoles for the US, the UK is getting 1/200th that number with over 1/5th the population) and lot less showing off of hardware. I'd have thought MS would be getting in hard and fast to gain market share before PS3 appears, and outside of the US is where MS really need to make the biggest changes if they want to gain a bigger piece of the pie.

 

[digitalwanderer]

If the US has had XB360 kiosks across lots of game stores, at least hundreds if not thousands of kiosks I'd guess, for weeks before launch why aren't they mainstream in UK (and other countries?) game stores?

Because US is #1.

 

[MrWibble]

Forgive me for being cynical but I don't really rate a few showings in capital cities as much of a 'launch'. I mean, Gizmondo has a London store!

If the US has had XB360 kiosks across lots of game stores, at least hundreds if not thousands of kiosks I'd guess, for weeks before launch why aren't they mainstream in UK (and other countries?) game stores? Why aren't we getting as strong a showing as the US? We've seemingly a lot less consoles (assuming 1 million consoles for the US, the UK is getting 1/200th that number with over 1/5th the population) and lot less showing off of hardware. I'd have thought MS would be getting in hard and fast to gain market share before PS3 appears, and outside of the US is where MS really need to make the biggest changes if they want to gain a bigger piece of the pie.

Well, quite.

On the other hand, whats the point in spending too much advertsing something that's going to be sold out for months anyway due to the lack of stock?

Perhaps they'll ramp up the presence when they ramp up the production and have more games to show.

 

[lefizz]

I have played on the ones in HMV oxford street for 30mins twice, was amazed at the general lack of interested by the general public. Sayign that I didnt think either call of duty, kameo or kong are really thats showy. Heard several people sayign i expected the graphics to better etc. Me too to be honest. I think PGR3 would have been a much better bet to stick on the HD since is looks visually to be the best launch title. Sorry people are shallow and you have to give them some wow factor. Saying that the PSP has got by so far simply by looking cool and playing a version of GTA3 which we have all played in various version to death. Wasnt enough for me to buy a psp but PGR3 might tip me into coughing up for my preorder.

Game in Canary Warf have some abosolutely obserd 360 packages. Two packs one for around £650 and £750 with loads of games and extras. The real icing on the cake was the fact the £650 version is based on the core system, to you guys in the states thats pretty much a $1000 bundle based on a Core system. Suddenly all that crap about there being plenty about and the fact MS was trying to manufacture a day 1 Sell Out sound like rubbish to me. The nly reason they would be build they huge bundles based on Core system would be because they dont have enough normal ones.

My 2p worth

 

[standing ovation]

You are assuming that 360 works; but I doubt the manufacturer has made this assumption, hence product rationing, low inventory, and manufacturing below capacity.

Before ramping up production, it only makes cents that Mr. Ballmer be sure that the latest Xbox experiment does not have an Achilles Heel. And the best way to gather this sort of evidence is to let early adopters play with it for a while.

 

[barnak]

I guess all I wanna know is, is it gonna be extremely hard to get a 360 on launch day? I live in a pretty average city in Arkansas around 30,000 people here. Where would be my best bet to get 360 on launch. Theres a Gamestop, Target, and Walmart.

 

[Corwin_B]

Still haven't seen or heard of XB360 kiosks in the UK. Has anyone seen any outside of the US? ATM MS maybe be supplying XB360 hardware for sale all around the world, but I don't feel they're 'launching'. I'm not hearing any noises regards marketting outside the gaming press.

I've seen one in Paris Friday.