To be fair, they may be doing this to cover their own asses. When I worked in the toy biz, oh these many long years ago (back in the days of Cabbage Patch Kids and Tickle Me Elmo) our home office would sometimes schedule advertising a month in advance. And even though we would have the toys in the back room, we knew we’d get in more trouble if we advertised them and didn’t have them rather than if we just refused to sell them until a certain time. Where BB went wrong was in telling you they had them but couldn’t sell them. If I had done that with a Cabbage patch Kid, I would have gotten my ass kicked from here to next Friday.
So essentially, BB was in a no-win place. They could have either refused to sell you one yet (which pissed you off) or they could have lied to you about having them (which is a bad business practice to get into, morally speaking.) They did the right thing in a business sense, but it was still a crappy thing to do.
I don’t know what “artificial demand” is supposed to mean exactly. It’s in their interest to sell as many units as possible, as fast as possible. The wider the user base, the sooner, the better. So getting these units out is whats in their interest, not in creating shortages. They reap none of the windfall profits from scalping and so forth, and the publicity you get from high high demand is nowhere near as important as having lots and lots of units in homes… where they create demand for more games and more services to buy and download.
I just missed the last one at Toys R Us by 1 minute, literally: the woman who bought it apologized to me.
One thing that does annoy me is the response of many sales clerks about when they get them in.
“We get them in randomly” - Probably either said because the storeperson cannot keep track of basic patterns in dates, or is complete bullshit. Shipping schedules are rarely random. Best Buy is at least honest enough to say that they get them in generally on Sunday.
“Probably by the end of Jan” - You’re an idiot who doesn’t even know what month it is.
From the sounds of the Wii’s popularity with the fairer sex, if he wants to get laid he’ll get neither since the Wii will turn his wife into a gamer and everybody knows gamers would rather play than screw.
When I worked retail, our shipments came in pretty random. The bigger the box store, though, the better chance shipments are very regular, but smaller stores like GameStop the truth is often that they’ll get random shipments of 2 or 9. Another possibility is that shipments are regular, but the inclusion of Wii units is not.
The demand isn’t artificial, and a policy of postponing selling of units is a choice made to make things easier on people. At the moment, you either have to be lucky enough to walk into a store that still has stock, or wait in line. If you don’t want to wait in line, visit the stores that sell them whenever they get them, like many Targets do (not mine though )
Actually “randomly” is fairly accurate. And a Best Buy that told you “Sunday” is full of it.
Best Buy gets their Nintendo stuff one of two ways.
From a Best Buy distribution center. Nintendo ships mass quantities to this place which then puts them on semi trucks with other stuff to be delivered to individual stores. Most stores get 2 trucks a week, set days, but random among the stores. This time of year (the season) stores can get 3-4 trucks per week.
The store receives a manifest of what will be on the truck about 48 hours ahead of time. So ‘random’ describes their shipments pretty well. Trucks are unloaded after the store closes and product is out on the floor the next morning.
Random drop ships direct from Nintendo. These arrive the same way as you get a package from UPS or Fedex. They’re shipped by various carriers (UPS, Fedex, RPS, etc) direct to the store and literally come unexpectedly any day of the week. The stores really don’t know they’re coming at any given time. Just a UPS driver knocking on their back door with a “sign here please” and suddenly they have 50 to sell.
It’s not uncommon for stores to get in product marked “ad hold”. This is so when they do advertise a product in a flyer they actually have it to sell on the first day of the ad. Every large retailer does it.
Let’s see: February release date or “late summer”? Late summer or February. Hmmmm. Allow me think about that one for about a millisecond.
Heaven help us. The sad thing is when VF5 finally gets ported to the 360 sometime next October, XBOX button-mashers will wail en masse “it’s teh haaaaard!” and sell it back for ten bucks if they’re lucky. That’s Sega’s problem, not Sony’s.
As for Sony, the PS3 kicks ass. Anybody who says otherwise isn’t (for one reason or another) able to procure one.
VCO3: If you really want to be a Wiinie badly enough I mightcould get you one. Last I checked one of our local Gamestops has a glut every Friday.
Honestly though, considering your nick you should hold out for a PS3. It’s a true entertainment solution. Plus, in all the time I’ve been playing mine I’ve never ended up feeling like a nutbag desperately swatting at imaginary living-room fruitbats.
Further, when I want to “play tennis” I’ll scurry out into the actual outdoors, serve an actual screaming yellow zonker to an actual opponent and procure, you know, an actual ace. When I want to break my TV I’ll put my boot through it, thankyouverymuch.
To everyone keeping track at home: word on the street is the PS3 will be plentifully released via Best Buy over the weekend. Look for the next weekly ad online whenever it comes out.
I don’t want a PS3 because there’s nothing on the console appeals to me, as of yet. My 360 and Wii are serving me just fine, thank you very much.
Since when have fanboys invaded the SDMB? Why are you apparently taking personal offense to one’s console preference? I’m not offended by your PS3 loyalty, but I do take issue with the ignorance you’re vomiting all over the thread.
Was there an “entertainment problem” I wasn’t made aware of that would necessitate an “entertainment solution”? I’ve already found more entertaining ways to invest $600+ than to purchase another (redundant) video game system.
Hopefully you’ll take this to its logical conclusion and yell at people on the street as opposed to on a messageboard, where you’ll then rightfully be arrested for disturbing the piece.
Furthermore if the boxes from Nintendo are the first thing placed on a 40’ truck they are going to come off at a later time then if they were the last thing put on the truck just before the door was closed.
Mr Viscoso, grow the fuck up. This isn’t Gamefaqs. Christ, you talk as though Mario and Luigi mugged you in an alleyway. Bitterly angry, much? Do I sense a little buyer’s remorse? That’s the only valid explanation that I could think of for your dumping over other people’s ‘nutbag’ enjoyment. If the PS3 is so kick-ass and enjoyable to you, why do you begrudge the ‘Wiinies’ having fun with their own console?
As for the logic presented in your post, I think Red Barchetta covered the basics. The ‘actual tennis’ example would make me laugh if it weren’t so pathetic.
Jesus, what is it about these damn console wars that turn people into such aggressive, childish shitcocks?
I think it’s because they don’t have the intellectual or rhetorical chops to effectively fight over the relative merits of Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
A lack of a strong sense of self and well-defined personality leads to a confusion over who they are as people, and what they like. Then when someone criticizes the thing they like, they interpret this as a criticism of themselves.
Geez, Cid, all I was saying was that it was a major loss of a headlining exclusive. I’m horribly devoted to VF4 (I like AI mode and Vanessa as in VF4 too much to change to Evo), and have been playing since I saw it first in the arcade.
The PS3 is in trouble insofar as exclusives are concerned, I think. Costs too much to develop for it, relative to amount sold. People are going to have to develop for the 360 as well to subsidize the PS3 games. I remember someone from EA saying it required them to sell 400,000 copies of a game to break even on any nextgen title.
Too much Jackie in my post I guess. Didn’t mean to seem like a dick. I’m sorry. By the way I generally play Lion (snigger away), and will take your unevolved Vanessa any day.
If (IF) Sega ports to the X-Box, I’m all for it because more people should get into this beautiful, deep and compelling game, for which I hear there’s a million bucks up for grabs in the next arcade tournament. If Hori builds a stick for the 360 that’s even better. Nothing gets you closer to the arcade and competitive experience. By contrast, flailing around with some kind of virtual wand is – to me – contrapositive to computer gaming.
My “entertainment solution” was a riff on the “source” goof, by the way. Undoubtedly, the PS3’s a DVD player and a gorgeous, gorgeous computer. I can park this sleek black thing in my living room and do Linux shit in a PIP during my wife’s soaps. Or she can check email or IM from the couch while I cook dinner. This thing is cool.
Umm, you obviously don’t know shit about what comes out on Microsoft systems. First off, button mashers? This is the preferred system of Ubisoft, makers of Rainbow Six, the system of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and KOTOR. This is the console that blurs the line between console fun and PC challenge. Since Sega has chosen to go whole hog (pun not intended) in support of MS, I think they know what they’re doing.
More like, in a few months to a year, it will kick ass. Right now there’s not much for it, and aside from Assassin’s Creed and “White Knight Story,” (in dev’ title) I haven’t heard of anything coming soon that really appeals. Face it, while the PS3 is the best system in terms of pure hardware, it’s got a lot of work to do to justify the price tag.
Honestly? If VCO3 is a multimedia nut, he probably already has his “entertainment solution” unless it’s a $600 DVD format that might not even be worth shit in a year or two. As for the fruitbat bullshit, the Wiimote’s sensitivity can be set so that players can sit down and just make small hand motions to accomplish the same thing for those who don’t feel they’re sedentary enough.
Yes, but the point of videogame sports, as I understand it (I never really got into them in the first place though), is that sometimes people wnat to play as though they’re some famous star athlete, or they just want to have fun without having to go out, etc. At any rate, playing tennis on the Wii is no different from videogame sports in general.
As for the breaking tv line, Wii have a problem’s stories are in many cases suspect. Especially lately, the site manager has been adding stuff that’s downright absurd, and it casts into question the validity of the earlier stuff if he cares so little about the integrity of the complaint. What? you can’t keep a firm grip on a remote? Oooh, so challenging! If you’re really worried, Nintendo took out some idiot-lawsuit insurance and offered free replacement wristbands with double-thick elastic.
To everyone keeping track at home, word on the street is the Wii is the fun system for hanging out with family and friends, the Xbox 360 is the system for top quality on-line gaming, and the PS3 is for introverted types who only game by themselves.
PS. If you want to evangelise a console to gamers, it’s best not to insult them with wisecracks about going outdoors or deriding how they play games.
Hmm, on one hand I should pre-emptively apologize for my tone, since I was the one who failed to see there was already a second page and missed his apology.
But on the other hand, this is the Pit, after-all.
Sorry, El Cid Viscoso. I stand by all my points, but I could have said it nicer.
My main issue is that
1.) The Wii is not some VR thing where you stand around like an idiot all by yourself. If you’re just playing Zelda or something you can set the remote so you don’t have to make with the big gestures. But when you’re playing with other people it’s fun, and it makes the experience kind of silly and enjoyable in a way that can reel-in non-gamer friends and family.
2.) While Sony has been the absolute monolith of the business, they’ve done so almost exclusively because of the great third-party support, so every time a major brand moves away, or is ported to a competitor, it’s a big issue for them.
Sony ain’t going anywhere, because they’re a giant corporation, and they’re videogame business won’t disappear overnight because of a lull, but they aren’t anywhere as dominant in Japan vs. Nintendo as they (used to be) here in North America. Plus, while Xbox is a very small player in Japan, it’s their most dangerous foe world-wide, because MS can easily compete with Sony for big-shot corporate spending. Too make a long story short (too late), I think this generation is going to see a much more even distribution of user bases amongst the three consoles.
)
