I just dont get it...

VR3

Microsoft wanted to get a head start on the competition... and they expected alot of sales. Then why didnt they ship MORE consoles???

I should of bought one... 600 bucks on EBay... LOL - yeah, I should of bought one

BlueMDPicker

Is this a pun?

BIZILL

i can't imagine the under-supply of units would serve to create any type of gain for microsoft. there can't be a grand scheme in which they have done this for any purpose other than kick themselves in the **** and piss folks off. wonder if there is truth to the rumor of faulty units.

lanion

The reason is pretty simple: it launched simultaneously in the US, Japan, and Europe.

hoosier21

always happens, PS2 had huge shortages last year.

BIZILL

lanion wrote:

The reason is pretty simple: it launched simultaneously in the US, Japan, and Europe.

please elaborate. us maket should have been of utmost importance. but i can see the reason for shipping units overseas. snatch that market before their consumers have available to them their own country's product. mainly speaking of japan.

organ

I was expecting that. I don't plan to get any of the new consoles until there's a price drop. Can't really blame Microsoft. Maybe the demand for 360 was much bigger than expected. I'm sure they'll have more on the shelves real soon.

I was one of the lucky ones to get a PS2 on its launch day. They only had half a million for all of North America.

Maurice

Jstas

Actually, Microsoft is delibratly limiting availability to keep crowds and such down. They publish limited numbers so that they didn't have lines of people waiting at stores and causing problems. If you know the store only has 16 units to sell and you are person number 17 in line, you might as well go home and wait for the next release because there is no way in hell you are getting one.

Smart move IMO. Keeps the nerd-herds from clashing with the pushy parents and competing for the same product in everything from verbal hissy fits to physical confrontation.

Funny thing is though, people are already complaining that the XBOX 360 is unstable and crashes while running most of teh new games for it and quite a few old ones too. Kinda neat to pay over a grand for a box worth 400 to be nothing more than a paper weight that reboots it's operating software when you ask that it does what you bought it to do.

Demiurge

Deliberate hype. There's no shortage.

BIZILL

anyone stating fact, or only opinions?

hoosier21

BIZILL wrote:

anyone stating fact, or only opinions?

This is the Polk forum, no facts, just opinions. It helps to keep the pot stirred.

BIZILL

Demiurge wrote:

Deliberate hype. There's no shortage.

i just want to know more about this...that's all. i too, wonder if it is deliberate.

Willow

I'm sure they have tons in storage they just wish to create hype. I won't buy one till a MOD comes out.

Shizelbs

My understanding is that with the time left over after all the contracts with other companies were signed and final product specs were determined, there just wasn't enough time to adequately meet all the demand for the new console and also meet the deadline.

VR3

Im sorry.. but I wont buy the whole "unstable console" that sony and nintendo fans will put out. I just do NOT see Microsoft, a huge huge company effing up a major part of their success this go around - ya know... the actual machine.

I just cant see it happening...

BIZILL

general public would wish for price drops during the xmas season but are willing to pay full price now. why not sell 'em now? perhaps they want to short-hand folks at realease and then come through with volume just before xmas and come out looking like a hero? i'm sure the price will remain constant over the next few months as there is no competition. but why not just cash in now? i know they pay market strategists tens to hundreds of thousand dollars to do what they do. but everyone's curiosity is begging for an answer. and if indeed there is some sort of flaw with the units, i'd like to know about it. ah, eff it. i'm gonna wait never the less.

Willow

http://www.xbox360-hacks.com/

there is an issue of games freezing

Demiurge

BIZILL wrote:

i just want to know more about this...that's all. i too, wonder if it is deliberate.

This is a tactic that's been used for years. It's got nothing to do with Microsoft not wanting to create problems in stores. As you can see this causes WAY more hype than no shortage does, correct? This hypes the product in a way that plays off the base it's directed to, and that base is the 'Gotta have the first one on the block crowd.' Nothing wrong with those folks at all, I remember doing that with the first XBox and PS-2. You grow up and realize you can wait for these things. If you have kids, well, then it's more difficult if you're trying to buy your kid a gift for Christmas. With the average age of gamers now topping out at 30 years old, there not really concerned about appeasing this base.

This is free adversiting, if you've listened to the radio or watched TV lately, have you heard about the XBox 360 being released nearly every hour, all the long lines, etc? I have here. It's genius on the part of Microsoft. Tells the listener "Hey! This system MUST be great if people are willing to stand in line for 24 hours!."

This has also happened every time a system is released. Sony, remarkably, has these same 'shortage' issues. Like I said man, it's planned, and it's a brilliant marketing strategy. There's something in people's craws that tells them they have to have something that's in short supply, they go into a frenzy, and the business gets loads of free advertising.

They'd have fixed the shortage problem after the first gaming company had a 'shortage' issue after they released they're console. This 'shortage' is a good problem for them to have, so they don't.

Jstas

Go look for yourself if you "don't see it happening".

http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/11/23/138200.shtml?tid=128&tid=211&tid=10


Microsoft is notorious for releasing products that are either buggy, unsecure or just plain don't work and then releasing a slew of fixes for the products just so they can be the first to market or something silly like that.

The real sad part is that they will probably make the fixes only available on XBOX Live and then require everyone to sign up to a subsciption fee for XBOX Live just so they can get thier $400 game console to freaking work the way it was designed and intended. If they don't start making fixes available soon, the government is going to step in and require Microsoft to issue a product recall and fix it all at thier own cost.


As far as the quantites of available systems goes, Microsoft intended to do a world-wide release on the same day. That required them to have a full inventory of what they could have made by a certain date. They then shipped systems to all the places selling them and only handed out a small number to each place so that inventory would be adequate to ensure each store had units to sell. They gave many reasons for this including keeping 1st day crowds and problems to a minimum so that retail locations were not adversly affected. Is there a shortage? Not really because they are already preparing to ship millions more of units world wide. Currently though, there is a temporary shortage and it has caused a great deal of hype that has no doubt made Microsoft very happy. Only problem is, Microsoft is taking roughly a $126 hit on each XBOX and hoping to profit on games. That is a problem because it is becoming apparent that the XBOX 360 can't play the games it was designed to play. If the games don't work, people won't readily buy them and Microsoft's XBOX profit margins go down the tubes.

Mjr7531

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Im sorry.. but I wont buy the whole "unstable console" that sony and nintendo fans will put out. I just do NOT see Microsoft, a huge huge company effing up a major part of their success this go around - ya know... the actual machine.

I just cant see it happening...

Have you ever used Windows...?

VR3

Yes..every version of it... (from 95 to current)

avelanchefan

Mjr7531 wrote:

Have you ever used Windows...?

LMFAO

lanion

I don't beleive the shortage is intentional because most xbox360 developers did not get their final development kits until october. That means that the first units were produces in october, and Microsoft only had about 1 month to physically make units for the launch. They estimate about 3 million have already shipped, and to have 10 million shipped by christmas. to me it sounds like they are producing them as fast as they can.

michael_w

Ever seen that south park episode where cartman buys the theme park for a million bucks and doesn't let anyone in? Okay, if you've seen that this'll make sense hopefully With so much hype and only a few offered to the public it creates that whole rarity thing. If people are lining up for them they must be good right? If everyone could easily get one on the first day there wouldn't be half the hype of being able to snatch one up or having to do that pre-order months before crap. Limiting the supply only helps their sales in the future as well as keeping the level of people in stores for those opening days sane.

Demiurge

lanion wrote:

I don't beleive the shortage is intentional because most xbox360 developers did not get their final development kits until october. That means that the first units were produces in october, and Microsoft only had about 1 month to physically make units for the launch. They estimate about 3 million have already shipped, and to have 10 million shipped by christmas. to me it sounds like they are producing them as fast as they can.

You don't need to believe it man, but it is. This isn't a new marketing strategy, and well, it's brilliant. There's no shortage.

...And who says South Park doesn't have real life value to it? I love that show, and it's the perfect reference as to what MS is doing.

bknauss

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

Microsoft wanted to get a head start on the competition... and they expected alot of sales. Then why didnt they ship MORE consoles???

MS had X amount of days to get product made and ship it out. When you can only build Y amount of consoles a day, you're limited. Major Nelson just mentioned on his website that they will be replenishing stock once a week. Sounds like they're spending a major bundle taking all the consoles they make in a week and shipping them to the US. All this to get as many consoles sold before Xmas as possible.

punk-roc

every launch has problems, some sony consoles didnt work when the ps2 launched, i'm sure nintendo has had issues, although i dont know for sure. Which is to be expected when you ship a brand new system out the doors... MS is taking care of the problem units, so its not a big deal. I've purchased things that didnt work as advertised initially, good companies fix the problem, MS is attempting to fix it.

Jason

danger boy

I own two consoles myself... PS2 and Gamecube.. i'm just an occasional gamer player.. owning maybe 6 games per console.

Honestly, I don't know what all the hype is about in not only the XBox360, but any given new console that comes out.. next year we'll have two more of these game console premiers to contend with.

Really, in the scheme of things.. how important is the launch of a new game console? Honestly?

Unless you're a serious gamer.. it's all hype. Driven by consumers.. and this time you can't blame the media. ha ha ha.

danger boy

Hello,

I am a Federal Way dentist who is willing to trade his dental services for a new or used-in-box Xbox 360 Premium edition.

I will offer either:

(a) $1000 in dental services and procedures (cleanings, exams, fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions) OR

(b) Professional dental bleaching for 4 persons ($1600 value). May be willing to visit home/work in Seattle area for impressions.

Please email soon. Looking to purchase soon.


found this listed today. it's not me.

oooo sign me up for a root canal and take my XBOX360. if i had one. ha ha

AsSiMiLaTeD

Mjr7531 wrote:

Have you ever used Windows...?

beat me to it

AsSiMiLaTeD

Is the XBOX using an ATI or Nvidia chip?