Anyone get an X-Box yet?

I know there were some midnight sales . . .anyone get one yet? If so, what’s the Straight Dope? :slight_smile:

Give me 1/2 an hour.

Wal-Mart opens at 8 and its now 7:30.

:slight_smile:

My friend is picking hers up today. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it tomorrow!

I had considered buying one, but after playing it at Circuit City, I wasn’t really impressed. I’ll just stick to my big xbox (my computer)

Its sitting in my office right now…

Damn, its suprisingly heavy and large.

I am thinking that since I have a PS2 I am not going to be opening it and probably end up selling it on the net.

But then again, I am a sucker for video-game systems. :slight_smile:

So bernse… give us the scoop. Was there a long line, did they have lots or only a few, etc.

I’m asking because I want to get the Gamecube on Sunday, and I want to know if I need to camp out or just drop in sometime that day.

Well, since my cat is named Spud I’ll tell ya :wink:

I live in a small city (45K), so YMMV.

Wal-Mart opened at 8AM, I got there at 8:05. Went right up to customer service (a fellow that just bought one told me to go there) and asked for one and got it. I got #7 (lucky 7) out of 24. Limit of one per customer. Damn! :slight_smile: No lineup either.

My read in the situation: That is about how many PS2s they had a launch as well. And I think everyone remembers the pain-in-the-ass it was to get one of those. I noticed that they are already going for around $700 US on ebay.

Unbelievable.

My best guess on the scenario - Limited units before Christmas… really limited. Most other cities (larger than mine) lineups at stores and dissapointed consumers. I know that MS was going to try to ship over 1,000,000 units for Xmas but most experts say there is no way in hell thats going to happen. Hence, there will always be the Mommy and Daddy that have to get one for Jr no matter what the cost lest he be dissapointed. So, I think it’ll be another “grey” market like the PS2 last year this season. I wouldn’t be suprised if they go for $800+ US by the end of the month/December… and really, who could blame anyone for selling theirs if they could make that kind of money?

Gamecube:

Don’t bother waiting. Word was yesterday Nintendo lifted their sales restrictions on selling them before the launch date. Stores are allowed to sell them as they get them in stock. If you want one, you may want to try picking one up today. I know that my Wal-Mart didn’t have them in stock yet but yours may. Give it a try.

I’m trying… damn it.

Went to Walmart last night for the midnight sale.
Showed up around 11:00- no line. Felt kinda stupid for getting there so early. About 11:30 I got impatient and asked the kid behind the counter if maybe he’d just sell me one then. Found out that they were all sold out already. They gave out reserve tickets around 3 that afternoon. So no dice.
Been calling around today, everywhere is either sold out or only selling in bundles. And I don’t want a FEAKING BUNDLE!
It’s expensive enough as is, without having to buy 2 extra games that I don’t want.
The only places selling it by it’s self are the department stores like Wal Mart, Sears, etc. And every one I’ve called sold out first thing this morning.
I was hoping to grab an early lunch and snag one, but looks like I’m outta luck.
I suspect that they will start selling them non-bundled soon.

Not until next year, I would wager. The reatilers have learned their lessons well after the PS2 launch – they know the early adopters and die-hards will do anything to get a system, and that definitely includes buying a “bundle” with low-grade games and overpriced accessories. Bundles won’t show up until supply exceeds demand, I’m afraid.

OK, here’s what I did to get mine:

Went to Toys R Us. After hearing the hard sales pitch of the kids trying to convince me to buy 3 games, which is the only way they’ll give you the system (bundled at this point), one salesperson finally spoke to me in confidence.
Said “You know, you can always just return the other two games… (wink)”
So that’s what I did. Bought three games, an extra controller (which I was going to do anyways), and the system itself.
Went across the street and bought a sandwich.
Came back 20 minutes later and returned two of the games, no hassle. Mind you, to avoid any complications, I intentionally paid for the two extra games separately to get a separate reciept.

Only regret is that the advanced AV pack to hook up the game to my surround sound speakers isn’t out yet. Gotta wait till next week to hear Halo in wonderful 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Though, for the record, Sears, Walmart & Kmart are all selling non-bundled versions, and the guy at Sears said that they were expecting more in tomorrow, so there’s still hope for late comers.
On a marketing note, I wonder if this “shortage” isn’t intentional. By limiting the intial numbers available, you create greater want and buzz for it. People naturally want what they can’t have. And if they see that it keeps selling out, they’ll probably figure it must be good.

I know that the company I work for just increased sales of it’s holiday collectables by a huge amount by limiting the numbers available. Last year they saturated the market, and consequently, the logic goes, people found them less valuable, and didn’t buy as many.
I know collectables and video games are different animals, but I think there’s something to this theory…

Just a thought.

Well, the one at Wal-Mart that I bought was by itself… no bundle either.

I kind of think the same thing about the artificially low supply to create a demand/buzz but from what I understand is that there is actually troubles making the units.

People accused Sony of the same thing last year and actually made a lot of people pissed off at them because of the limited number that they put out. I doubt they did it in purpose as the last thing they want is really mad, dissapointed customers.

Just my $.02

at 4:18pm thursday im looking at dozens of unsold xboxes on ebay.com Also no bids on dozens of them (they probably want too much money).

Just search there for ‘xbox’ then select ‘highest prices’ first. I only looked at the top 4 pages out of 81 but have a look see. I didn’t check completed auctions.

HAS WHO HAS BOUGHT IT ANYONE PLAYED THE FUCKING THING YET??? :smiley:

HAS ANYONE WHO BOUGHT IT PLAYED THE FUCKING THING YET!!! :o

LMAO that’s exactly what I was thinking Vinnie. I live in Australia, so there’s no chance of me playing one for about another half a frikin year. Stupid technological backwater we are.

No. I haven’t yet. Tons of people on game sites and newsgroups could probably quench your thirst, though.

Normally, Vinnie, swearing like that is not allowed in IMHO.
On the other hand…Will one of you yahoos take the damn machine out of the damn box, plug the damn thing in, play the damn thing, and tell us about it, Damnit!

Well, I was in WalMart last night at midnight looking for thumbtacks (of all the useless things you’d need at midnight, of course), and picked one up. My saga of the mad rush of people is related elsewhere in MPSIMS.

Project Gotham Racing is badass, for lack of a better descriptor. As is Halo. Oddworld, bleh.

I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for in terms of descriptions… it didn’t quite get me off, but I smiled as I deducted $500 from my checkbook register this morning.

WalMart had a crowd, but not too large. 25 units.

Some friends of mine were having a sleepover at Target, they got 3 of the 30 units Target had.

Best Buy’s 84 units were gone by 11 AM. Not quite as bad as PS2, in which a similar number of units were gone 15 minutes after the door opened, but tragic nonetheless. We now have a huge gaping hole in our media department where the Xbox display once stood. ;>

Word to the wise- if you want an Xbox, go to Best Buy Tuesday morning. That’s the next scheduled influx for BBY.

I have been playing it for the better part of the day, and as I said in another thread…It KICKS ASS.

Some random thoughts:

This is the first console I have ever played, that was on the same level as a computer.

The “cartoon graphics” era of gaming is behind us.

One word: Smooth. the graphics are incredibly smooth.

I have mostly been playing Gotham Racing, and the attention to detail is amazing. I could sit here for an hour writing out the little things that make this game visually stunning.

Trees: Even on the PS2, trees looked like cardboard cutouts, not here.

Con: The controller is somewhat cumbersome. I noticed my wrist feeling slightly sore after a few hours of playing. I am sure after-market controllers will address this problem.

Pro: The controllers have in-line break points, so if your drunk housemate trips over the cord between you and the TV, it doesn’t pull the box off the shelf.

I can honestly say folks, that I am impressed. I don’t think there was any hype as far as advertising goes…If anything, they didn’t praise it enough. Also, since first generation games for a console always suck, I can’t wait to see what they can do as far as graphics & gameplay in 1-2 years.


Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!
~And I know I wasn’t right, but it felt so good… -Better Than Ezra

Czar, you spelled “dammit” wrong.