Xbo-

See, this is the thing, I don’t think it is worth buying one now. The general consensus that I have seen so far is that the launch titles are OK but, by and large, nothing killer. Add to this the high price, low availability and the impending release of the PlayStation3, and I fail to see why anyone would buy one now rather than waiting to compare the Big 2 and no doubt getting a better price. I believe I’ve made my feelings clear that I don’t much see the point of the new consoles but rushing to buy the 360 when the PS3 is so close to release seems kinda barmy to me.

I’m guessing that the big selling point for the 360 is that it’s first and anyone who has bought one can brag about it to their friends. There’s no doubting that Microsoft was hoping that they can take advantage of this mentality but they’ve evidentially had real supply problems. This isn’t a great surprise since I was watching a documentary on the BBC where they were following the launch and there were a few scenes of rather depressed Microsoft executives being given the news of supply shortages from the Far East. Kudos to them for trying to launch the console globally at the same time (Europe is typically 1-year behind an initial Japanese launch) but I think they pushed it a bit far so that they could hit the critical Christmas buying period.

Anyway, as noted in the “Load of DS” entry, I’m going to wait for the release of all the new consoles before making a buying decision. Most likely it will be a Revolution, if the controller turns out to be as good as it looks, or a PS3 because we need a new DVD player and it might as well be a Blu-Ray one. Still, if the Revolution and PS3 are complete turkeys and the 360 is sold at a reasonable price then Microsoft is still in with a shout with me.

Oh and this is great as well: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6140176.html

Be glad you’re getting them at all. MS isn’t even thinking about releasing them down here until March. You all know my opinions regarding the exporting of games/consoles to Australia, so I’ll spare you the diatribe.

Realistically though, buying one at launch is not only a complete rip-off (last I heard the core system will be retailing for about AU$500 - bugger that), but any launch titles will be fiarly average anyway. Considering what they’ll be able to do with the system 6-12 months down the track, I’m waiting until then so I can get the hardware cheaper with a better game selection, assuming I buy a console at all.

As mentioned before, the shortages are more likely a consequence of MS’s global launch. They stand to gain more by getting these things into people’s hands on launch day impulse buy hype than letting them have 2 or 3 weeks to mull it over.

This is why I tend to avoid buying consoles at launch. I like to wait usually until the first price drop. By then, the quality, number and variety of games has gone up and there is no chance of them selling out.

I really,really,want one but I’m going to have to wait till after christmas. This makes Vermouth sad. But fortunately my DS and Dragon Quest 8 are here to save the day.

i should have mine within three weeks. i stopped by EB when the real figures had been sent out, and they showed me that i’d just made the second wave. fact of the matter, when i preordered in August, I was pretty sure then that I wouldn’t get one day one.

i don’t believe the conspiracy theories for the simple matter that everyone who pre-ordered didn’t get one. think about it, if they’d just made enough to cover the pre-orders, they still sell out and they’ve got more people to say how great the console is. that many of the people who queued up over night at stores were people who had preordered and been told they’d be in the second wave, is proof to me at least that it’s a genuine shortage.

why someone would queue up all night in the freezing cold to get their 360 three weeks earlier (in the case of the pre orderers) makes little sense to me, but hey. right now i’m looking at a stack of great games on my current systems that I haven’t finished yet. in a way i’m breathing a sigh of relief. i get to spend time with the games i’m still working on, and grab the new prince of persia game with all the time to properly digest them.

since early october I’ve been buried with games, review copies and the like. this quiet is much appreciated, and i’ll get my 360 in a few weeks with all the knowledge of the game reviews and so on. the interesting thing is going to be to see how many x-box 360s microsoft can make in a week, and how long it takes before there’s units readily available on shelves.

The lines for the 360’s were only at major retail chains that do not preorder. Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart etc. Those are given on a first come first save basis. Stores like EB and Gamestop actually informed their preorder people who would get theres and who wouldn’t (with even more rumors that those who preordered more accessories would move lower on the list).

EB and Gamestop had no 360’s to sell to average Joe and those who preordered knew whether or not to even show up (they probably did anyway in a vain hope but meh).

I’ve never been tempted to purchase one myself, and the general concensus of gamer friends I know tend to swerve to Sony. I think 360 is only really ‘big’ in the US at the moment; Japan is an entirely different land to conquer. Reasons behind this being, my PC is powerful enough to handle 360 performance, and in that case, the games I want from the XBox (Splinter Cell, Elders Scrolls) will be on the PC anyways.

But that’s why I can see the mass appeal behind it; it’s basically a cheap, awesome, gaming PC. I’m not surprised that you had all the hype about people camping out and such over there, and I can only imagine Microsoft didn’t plan these shortages, but will make them work to their benefit. For example, they most likely know PS3 won’t hit the US till April/May, and have 3 more months to snap up as many people as they can.

Sad that people will pay more than $100 from the retail price on eBay, and you’re one lucky son-of-a to get it for the retail price.

More than $100 from the retail price is a “good deal” on Ebay. Ebay has become so popular that it is no longer a viable route to get things cheaper than retail. The standard selling price for the 360 on Ebay is $7-800 premium, yeah, double the retail price.

However, I lucked out. I won an Auction on Yahoo! Auctions for $399.95 for the premium edition xbox 360. Mine was a special case scenario. The seller had preordered and received 4 xbox 360s. One for himself and 3 for his friends who didn’t have the money at the time of preorder. However, his friends also lacked the money come november 22nd and showed no sign of paying for them. So he sold them, at cost, on Yahoo! Auctions. Why at cost? His wife would not let him profit off of them (it was a Buy It Now only auction).

Anyways, enough about me being charmed. I figure that with the PS3 launches Xbox 360 will not go down in price all that much. The best guess for the PS3 launch right now is $399-499. Many sources seem to think that with all of the PS3’s touted capabilities (DVR, DVD burner, media hub) they might follow suit of the 360 and release 2 versions. A barebones version and the full version (remember the PSX?).

Even if Sony can match microsoft and sell at 300 and 400 Microsoft has no real reason to drop its price. They will have more games out by then and since Microsoft is loosing around $130 for each Xbox 360 sold I doubt they will want to increase that margin.

Basically, I am a consumer whore that somehow feels I got a “good” deal buying a console at full price. Oh well