As sickened as I am by fatally rampant consumerism, this makes me want to “invest” in a bunch of PS3s to take advantage of the flock of idiots.
My sentiments exactly. I didn’t like the first one, I have no desire to buy the new one.
Heading out now to attempt my Get a Box in 2005[sup]TM[/sup] goal. Update later. Or a new Pit thread. Or elation. Or suicide. Don’t know. Story developing…
Good luck, duff-man. I’m playing the “Mission Impossible” theme for you right now …
Not that I’m coming to the defense of idiots who spend this kind of money, but a slight hijack:
Last year I started a thread about the ridiculous prices people in the UK were paying to get an exclusive license plate for their cars.
So stupid spending for seemingly trivial articles is not limited to America.
Well, Playstation blows, I’ve found Xbox to be much better… although I used to like Sega… so take that for what it’s worth.
I find that overpaying may not be the smartest thing to do, but people tend to throw money at things they want and are too lazy to really go out of their way for.
I’d bet my own ass that the seller won’t get anything near $12,900 for that thing. I find it hard to believe that anyone would actually give him that much for it, despite having won the auction.
My guess is that people out there are bidding high with new accounts to drive the price range completely out of anyone’s reach - that way the asshole seller who put it up for over $1,000 won’t be able to sell it because the price was driven up by people who had no intention to pay that much. Then they have to relist it and have the same thing happen, which could happen until they either give up or sell it for $500.
Apparently they don’t work all that well.
In this, they’re certainly not getting what they paid for.
Wow, that’s even the shitty “core” system…
EBay closed that auction, but here’s a similar one that I came across.
Note that this e-mail address is “GUARENTEED to Increase Sales!!”
It has two exclamation points, so it must be true.
Crikey, duffer, that was a general observation about the Pit as a whole, not aimed at you. Sheesh, look at the context – Sweet Mercury is humorously complaining about YOUR response being rational rather than vitriolic, fer chrissakes! Nor do I make a habit of taking swipes at you – hell, I’ve said nice things to you from time to time.
Whatsamatter, you having an attack of Liberal-ism or something? 
Eh, you know duffer, if you’re not with him you’re against him.
The funny thing is that for most of this thread he was actually acting like a human being rather than the SDMB’s smallest mind.
Guess the effort was too much for him…
-Joe
What a fucking stupid pit.
You’re actually pitting people for being too consumerist when these bids are obviously goofs?
Are you that fucking stupid? Well, are you?
And yes, I’m throwing in extra FUCKs just because this is the pit.
Don’t like it? Fuck you.
Sadly enough, I know that this is nothing new. I suppose in the end it’s more funny than anything else to me. No offense taken (and, I’m sure, none was intended).
First of all, though they may be joke bids, they are legally binding. So I suppose the joke is on them.
Secondly, the “obvious goofs” aside, there are still a whole host of legitimate bids hovering around the $1,000-2,000 mark. Which is still absurd.
Ah yes, and a jovial “Fuck you” to you as well :eek:.
Problem is, nobody’s ever with me. Oh well, what’s that saying about genius not being appreciated it it’s own time? 
Anyway, no Box. After 87 calls to stores as far away as Des Moines and Omaha I found one (yeah, like I’m gonna tell you all where!) that hadn’t gotten the shipment yet. So yesterday I hauled ass to the store to wait for the truck. The shipping clerk told me nothing was accepted after 4 pm. So I sat out back watching for the truck and went home at 5.
Played other games (even looking for codes over in CS to go back online) until 3am. Went to bed at 3:30 and was up at 6. Hauled ass again and and got to the storejust as it was opening. Incredibly, I was the 2nd in line. SCORE! I can see my domination of the NFL online world taking shape. Christ Almighty I can smell those individual blades of grass!
Around 11 the guy behind asked what they were expecting. She said 2 of each models. I’m 2nd in line. DOUBLE SCORE!!!
3pm the manager came back and told us she started making calls. The truck is always there before noon, we’re still waiting, so she tried to find out what happened. Turns out her allotment was “diverted to more critical sites.” Yeah, apparently her store and our money somehow weren’t the same as the more important locations. :rolleyes:
Anyway, being the polite and amicable folk we pride ourselves on being (trust me, I’m much more agreeable to most of you if we were actually face to face) we started to, I’m not kidding, try to make her feel better about it. We understood this was in no way her fault, but she was just livid over the fact that nobody bothered to tell her she wasn’t getting any of the promised units. I was quite impressed with the fact she went to the trouble of finding out what was going on whereas just about every other store manager would have said “Well, they’re not here yet. Better just be patient.”
So she took our names and numbers down, noted priority based on length of time in line and promised to call the moment she knows of a shipment. Now, there’s no idea of when that may be, but she’ll call. And I will buy one from whomever I can the moment I can whether her store or elsewhere.
But due to the service I felt she did us in getting the info on the status of the shipment, no matter where I happen to buy the system, I’m driving way the fuck out there to buy my first 3 titles. That simple act just guaranteed at least a couple hundred dollar’s sales that would have never been an option prior to today.
I’d be more upset about not getting one, but it’s sort of like my hopes of buying a Diablo tonight. It’s just not going to happen. The finality makes it a lot easier to accept, but it’s still pretty damn disheartening. The one mood lifter in this is that I can’t get more upset about not pre-ordering. At least my money is still in my pocket.
I waited this long. There’s food in the house, the bills are paid, everyone in the family is healthy and happy so I literally don’t have much to complain about. But damn I can’t shake this disappointed feeling.
And one more thing. I’ve been one of the biggest Bill Gates apologists for years. I’m hoping this is some sort of strategic move to ratchet up the frenzy and make everyone “realize” the $400 unit is a steal. Fine by me as I planned on paying it anyway. But if this is truly such a massive fuck-up on supplying stores a product so hyped that even those units paid for back in June or July (read: number of units they damn well knew were needed before the fucking thing hit the shelves) aren’t available, fuck them. I swear if I have to await until March to buy one I’m going with the PS3. As much as I hate Sony. And if given the chance I’ll beat the shit out of all Mac lovers just to be the first to kick Gates in the nuts.
Then there’s the Armageddon scenario. If a Parisian gets one of these before me, there will be hell to pay. I can’t say what the plan is, but it may involve me moving to Berlin, shaping my facial hair and…ok, maybe not. Or maybe. I’m still drawing up the plan. 
No offense intended. Keep in mind I was in the frenzied mindset as well. I tend to come up with a good basis for a post then fuck it up by letting me post it. Most understand and have learned, others haven’t. Either way I still don’t have a fucking 360. I need to rest.
For the record, should anyone be inclined, I will happily receive any Xboxes that would otherwise have gone to either of these distinguished posters.
Dibs on the other one!
“They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at Gallileo. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
Pretty good company. Except Einstein and Gallileo looked a little odd. I’m much prettier.