Or you can just Buy it Now for 1/2 a million bucks. I don't know about you, but I can think of better things to waste my money on.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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75% of the proceeds go to the Red Cross. I think it's a pretty good idea myself. There is actually a chance that he'll get it to sell, in which case he'll be rolling in the dough, and be quite the charitable person.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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True that may be, but there are a lot of the PS3's going on Ebay for resale. I guess I should have pointed that out as my main point. Then, I think the things are way over priced anyway.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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On the radio, I heard 440,000 went on sale, and 27,000 are on ebay. Although we don't know how many of them actually have the machines.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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In Orlando, six hundred people showed up to purchase sixteen units. Police love that type of quality entertainment...
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Yeah, so this itself is sort of bad. What I think is worse though is the stories of people beating up others, shooting others, etc. I mean it's a game console for crying out loud. It shouldn't be some sort of life and death situation.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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When I got home from university today, I hopped on my parents' computer for a little while. One of the headlines on the aimtoday.com homepage was that there supposedly was an auction won by a guy bidding $99 million.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Eldrad: When I got home from university today, I hopped on my parents' computer for a little while. One of the headlines on the aimtoday.com homepage was that there supposedly was an auction won by a guy bidding $99 million.
I could create my own superior console for that...
Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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The average going rate it seems for a PS3 (after a search and casual glance at the top page) is between $1,000 and $1,500. For anyone who waited in line for a day or two, and spent $600 on the machine, plus $100 for the games that seem to be bundled with most of these, I'd say it's still a pretty good investment. A lot of these people are going to get a least a grand for not really doing much of anything except having patience and endurance.
In other news, I've read a half dozen reports of near rioting, fighting, police being called to every Wal-Mart and Best Buy from here to California, and in once case, in Jersey I think, several people were held up at gunpoint for their PS3s, REFUSED to give them up, attempted to fight off the attackers, and were shot (no fatalities I believe).
Toys R Us thus far has claimed zero problems, citing the fact that they more or less told everyone that the chances of their being in store units for purchase is nil, and that most consoles were going to people who pre-ordered, and that for stores that DID have them, there was a well posted sign saying how many units they had, and people could count and see they didn't have a chance.
If you ask me, for people willing to spend so much money on these things, the best thing would have been to get a thousand in cash, go to the one of these stores 10 minutes before it opened, and pay the guy in the front of the line a grand to let you have his space in line. Guys in the back can't complain, it's not line hopping, it's spot replacing, and you get the unit that night, probably for cheaper than ebay.
quote: Police fired a talcum powder ball at the ground outside a Target store in Henrico, Virginia, to get the attention of an unruly crowd of about 350 people who were waiting to buy one of the shop's eight consoles, police said.
Sorry, but you have to be a bit of an idiot to be joining in the back of a 349 person line, thinking you're going to somehow get in front of 341 of those people.
The Genius Award goes to:
quote: A Best Buy store in Boston, aware it had only 140 of the consoles, got smart about the big sale -- its employees gave out tickets to the first 140 people in line so everyone could go home until the store opened.
Why EVERY store didn't do this is a mystery to me.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Yikes. Apparently the Best Buy in our quiet little town had a near-riot yesterday and the state troopers had to be called to organize things.
My husband and I are reeeeally wanting to get a Wii before we head down to Florida for a week at his family's place, since it'd be such a fun thing to play with the whole family. We're even thinking about getting to Target tonight and camping out until they open tomorrow morning. It's tempting after hearing all these stories about the PS3, but it's hard to tell if the demand is going to be anywhere near as crazy, since the supply is higher and it's not as geared towards hardcore gamers. Hmmm..... decisions decisions. I wonder if there's WiFi in the mall parking lot. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Zeugma: you might find it more successful to head to a Sam's Club, they tend to have many fewer campers and will be getting Wiis in. Be warned, though, they may have it as part of a larger bundle; when Sam's Club was doing a presale on their website, it was $300 for a bundle identical to the original + Twilight Princess.
Sears is another location likely to be less trafficked, though more than Sam's Club, and they'll have just the normal bundle.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Dang, that sounds great, but we don't have a Sam's Club anywhere nearby.... we do have a Sears though. Thanks!
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Why EVERY store didn't do this is a mystery to me.
Ever wait in line overnight for concert tickets? There'd be people selling the tickets themselves for a few hundred bucks. Not to mention people that are just dying to print them up in bulk on their color printer and hi-res scanner.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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First off, the whole situation ticks me off because it is fueled by greed and capitalism, combined with horrible orginization and planning.
The people who do want a gaming system, but actually have a life and responsibility end up having to pay through the nose if they want one. Granted, as Tom said in the other thread, if they give in, they have more money than sense. It's just really disheartening as a gamer to hear of someone standing in line for days to get one, ONLY to sell it on ebay. And if it doesn't sell on ebay, they can always return it and get their money back.
Really, though, I've browsed Ebay and about 35 to 40 percent are selling more than one unit. And heck, they are playing by "the rules" and being capitalists, but that doesn't make me any less upset.
What really needs to happen is this:
1) People need to stop buying them for more than retail costs, and be patient.
2) Console makers need to more accurately predict the market, and supply the demand
3) Stores need to be better organized in this event.
Something that I think should be done, and this is only my opinion, is that if a store gets a returned console after two weeks, to take 100 dollars off of the refund. In conjuncture with that, EBay and things of that nature should not allow any auctions of systems until a week and three days after the launch.
That gives people four day if they don't want to lose that 100 bucks to try to sell it for profit, it encourages some people to think about if it's worth standing in line to sell it, and still gives people the oppurtunity to return it if there is a system glitch for a full refund.
Thats just my idea, though.
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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My understanding with the whole scarcity of PS3 was because of a problem with one of their manufacturers for US components; some sort of plant failure prevented them from meeting the necessary demand.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I've personally been hearing that the chips themselves aren't getting a high enough yield, meaning from each batch they make only a certain few can actually go into the consoles. This leads to shortages worldwide.
All these news stories about people attacking each other over the PS3 sort of depress me. I mean I love video games; they're one of the few things I spend money on. I don't get how people can get to the level though where they are willing to physically fight and hurt each other over one. I mean c'mon, it's just a video game. It's not the end of the world if you don't get it. *sigh*
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I dunno, I understand being pissed off about the whole situation if you're one of the folks who really wants to own a PS3. I really want to own a Wii, so I sympathize! But, in the event of a product shortage like this, the whole "waiting in line for 2 days just to sell it on ebay" situation allows everyone involved to decide for themselves what their priorities are, to a point. If your priorities are having a system no matter what, you can scrounge up $8k or whatever and buy one off eBay. If you don't have that much money, you can free up 2 days of your life to sleep in front of Best Buy to make sure you get one. If your highest priority is earning money and spending time with your family, then you can choose to be patient and wait until Sony produces enough of the things to buy one for retail.
So yeah, I think the scarcity of such a high-demand product is a really crappy situation, but I think this sort of response is totally appropriate. [edit: the high prices on ebay response, NOT the physical violence!]
Now, I'm off to go buy some supplies for tonight's campout in the Target parking lot. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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No, I fully get the high prices. That's just typical supply and demand stuff. Supply is low, demand is high, prices off the market go up insanely. The violence just doesn't make sense to me.
I've been really anticipating the Wii (pretty much since it's first mention as the Revolution) as I'm a big Nintendo fan. I realized earlier (say September after the price was finally announced) that I didn't have the cash available to get it though (well I did, but it meant not buying anything besides bare essentials for the whole of this semester). So while I'm a diehard fan and it's almost painful to watch others get it while I can't, I'm standing by the sidelines and watching it go. That being said, I would never raise a finger against someone to get one, even though I am such a hardcore fan. It just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, waiting around to get one isn't so much fun, but I mean it's just a game system. I would hope there's more in people's lives than just that.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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"I don't get how people can get to the level though where they are willing to physically fight and hurt each other over one. "
It's not about the console itself, it's about the money one can recieve reselling it.
Zeugma, I understand where you are coming from, and to a degree, I agree. I mean, it really is showing people their priorities, no doubt about that. But to a different degree, I disagree- I don't think it's fair that the rich should be the first to get it when many more people can afford it at it's retail price. Second, people's priority to sell them and make money, their greed, have led to riots and shootings. Is that really appropriate?
There have even been cases of people paying 50 homeless people 100 dollars a day plus food to stand in line for them so they can get a console. Is that appropriate?
"If you don't have that much money, you can free up 2 days of your life to sleep in front of Best Buy to make sure you get one."
Now, if I had the time and effort to stand in line for two days, do I really want to risk getting hurt, or even shot for a PS3? No. So if I'm poor, then really, it's just easy pickin's for the rich. Which, I know, is capitalism, and such is life, the poor working so those with money get what they want, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Either way I had planned to wait for it later when it's cheaper, or get a different console, I just really hate the situation in general due to empathization, and my love of gaming. Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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While I don't like how high these things get on the resell market, I'd rather there be a resell market than not. I wouldn't want a company or anything to begin to say what I could and couldn't do with the product I just bought.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Yeah, I hear you, and I totally agree that the greed-related riots and shootings are abhorrent. I do see that as a separate issue from the business side of this, though.
quote:Now, if I had the time and effort to stand in line for two days, do I really want to risk getting hurt, or even shot for a PS3?
Of course not, but again, in most areas it was simply a matter of being willing to sacrifice 2 days to this endeavor, the out-and-out violence was relatively rare, and probably not anticipated by the people who did decide to camp out for this so long in advance. Most of them just decided that they were willing to do whatever they needed to do to be available to stand in front of the store for 48 hours, and I think that absolutely earned them their console or their $8k or whatever they chose to do with it.
Sure the rich people are the lucky ones in situations like this, that's how it works. What's great, though, is that we all, rich or poor, have time, and are pretty much free to choose how we use that time however we feel is appropriate. The rich can choose to use their 2 days skiing in Aspen and then go home and buy a PS3 in 5 minutes off ebay, the less rich can choose to get a sub at work and sleep on a sidewalk, and the less rich than that can wait until they don't have to take time off work.
And besides, when we're talking about a system that costs around $850 before you can really use it, just how "poor" are we talking here anyhow?
Oh, and I wanted to add, I think that whoever thought of paying homeless people to line up for them was freaking brilliant, and I love that it allowed homeless people to choose to earn some good money doing something that, presumably, they probably would have been doing anyhow.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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When there's significant scarcity in a highly-demanded product, there will be high prices, shortage (long lines), or both. There isn't some other way of doing things that will make everything better.
Of course, it would be nice if there were no scarcity. But its pretty clear the scarcity in this case isn't artificial, Sony needs this console to succeed and a big launch would help a lot with that. Given the scarcity, the best that can be hoped for is that it be dealt with civilly. Sadly, that isn't the case here.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Yeah, that's the problem, fugu. Scarcity is rarely dealt with civility by people. Think of any fad stuff: Furbys, Tickle-me-Elmos, etc. People go nuts over this stuff, and while most times it's just minor pushing and shoving, it can get pretty bad. It's a real shame.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I seriously doubt that any of you all looking to obtain a Wii will have a problem. There are supposed to be approximately 1.4 million available for sale in North America when it launches at midnight tonight; every Wal-Mart in the country will be getting at least 20 units for sale, and that's just Wal-Mart. I'm sure there will be people in line and whatnot waiting to get it, and the demand for it is almost certainly higher than for the PS3 because of the increased availability and the much, much lower price, but the Wii launch shouldn't be nearly so problematic as the PS3's.
Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Think again. I have a few friends (in 3 different cities) who waited to go see if there was a line at 9AM today. Every place around them already had a full line (i.e. they were getting 20 and there were already 20 in line). It looks like the Wii may sell out quite quickly. Although if I was to fathom a guess, I'd say many of those people in line are probably just looking to resell them rather than actually being excited about the Wii. Still, I think the Wii will sell out fast and if you aren't in line already, you may be out of luck (unless you just live somewhere where there are fewer gamers, then maybe not as much).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Scarcity is frequently dealt with well; nearly everything is scarce. What is infrequently dealt with well is shortage.
There's a 'simple' remedy for shortage, too -- higher prices. This is how it works for most things. This doesn't happen in stores for anticipated releases because the company, in what's likely an effort to avoid bad PR, makes retailers not increase their prices.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Yeah, that's how they did it in Japan for the PS3 (at least that's what I heard about this second hand through an importer friend). Retailers were allowed to sell it for whatever people were willing to pay. So the price went up to the $1000 range even on the regular market. Kind of crazy to see.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Okay, just went and checked out the mall situation. There's currently 3 people in front of the Best Buy, and no one in front of Target. One of the Best Buy guys (who all looked very cold) said a bunch of his friends would be arriving at one of the two stores later tonight.
So, on the goadings of one of our gamer friends (who happens to get off work at 9 tonight right next door to the Target), we'll be spending the night in front of the store. Not alone, though.... our friend talked a bunch of his friends into waiting with us, too. So it'll be like 6 or 7 of us waiting all night for 1 Wii.
This is going to be fun. Weird, but fun. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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People do realize that when they first release a lot of these consoles they have bugs? I've already heard people complain that some of the PS 3s can't play old games right. So why spend thousands on that instead of waiting for the price to be more reasonable and waiting for them to work out the bugs?
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I think 500-600$ is too much to pay for a gaming console, but people are willing to pay it. It's not an extraordinary leap to think someone might pay half a million dollars for it. I'll just content myself with my cheap, bug-free SNES.
Posts: 280 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I wouldn't say a lot have bugs. A small percentage do, but not tons. I still have my launch SNES and my launch GameCube, and both work perfectly well. Never had a problem with them. You just happen to be in the unlucky small percentage if you do get a launch console with a bug. That being said, Sony is notorious for shoddy hardware. More or less all PSX's break over time (typically the disc stops reading). PS2's had a lot of consoles with DRE messages throughout its lifetime. Now some PS3's are having DRE messages as well. So maybe that's pointing to a problem with Sony stuff and not as much launch stuff in and of itself.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I think it'll be easy to get a Wii since all the die-hard console grabbers will be recovering from the effect of a good police tazering or tear gas cannister. The herd's been thinned; only the weaklings will be in line now. Who's with me? CHARGE!
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk: In Orlando, six hundred people showed up to purchase sixteen units. Police love that type of quality entertainment...
Something similar happened here. There were people camping out at the Best Buy for a long time, and they hung around even when the Best Buy employees had already taken down the names of the people who were going to get the (I think) 36 units. My friends and I were joking about making a killing selling hot chocolate and stuff for $3 a pop.
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Why EVERY store didn't do this is a mystery to me.
Ever wait in line overnight for concert tickets? There'd be people selling the tickets themselves for a few hundred bucks. Not to mention people that are just dying to print them up in bulk on their color printer and hi-res scanner.
Wha? Firstly, if someone wants to buy their place in line, bully for them. I say more power to them. But print up what in bulk? You buy a roll of raffle tickets and hand them out, until you run out, then tell everyone in the back they either have to buy a ticket off someone, or take a hike. How are they going to scan those and print them off? Especially when there's only ONE, and you aren't exactly going to have a printer with you.
It's really not that complicated.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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13 hours on the sidewalk in front of Target wasn't so bad after all, we got to meet some interesting new people, witness a fascinating social event, and try out our new tent (also from Target!). And now we're plugging in our Wiiiiiiiii!
Target rules, they couldn't have been more organized or professional about the whole thing. Everyone was thrilled. Well, maybe not person #25, but they hadn't slept out in the 35 degree rain all night, so nuts to them anyhow. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Well, I ended up having two friends who lucked out. One (one of the ones I mentioned before that checked lines and realized it was too late) actually ended up getting one because his wife's mother went and waited for it (knowing that he wanted it badly and that he couldn't get it). Talk about having awesome in-laws. The other, after talking to me at like 10PM last night and hearing that some Best Buys do lotteries for the systems, went looking for a lottery. He found one and managed to get a system. Both called me up early this morning to rub my face in it. Dang friends. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I bought a Wii today, and it wasn't as easy as I expected. The friend who I was planning to go with called me around 11PM last night and said there were already 50 people lined up at Best Buy. That Best Buy was getting 250 Wiis. So we drove by again a couple hours later, and there were at least 100 people!
We decided to go to Futureshop, where only one other pair of friends were waiting. This was around one in the morning. So we went back to his place, and came back around 5AM, at which point there were about 30 people waiting.
By the time that store opened, there were 150 people in line, and only 92 of us were able to get a Wii. I'm not sure if this is similar to what people in the states will experience. You could get one if you were willing to put in a little effort.
By the way, the Wii is insanely fun. I love playing with the Wii-mote and the nunchuk. Too bad I have to put it away for a couple weeks and study.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Yeah, our Target got 24, and by 8pm Saturday all 24 slots were filled on our list. (This was really cool, the first people who got in line made a list and posted it on the "line starts here" sign, telling people to sign up in order of arrival, and then stay until the store opened with breaks no longer than 15 minutes at a time. Really made the whole experience a lot more friendly and respectful!) We ended up turning away about 15-20 people before the store opened, not counting a big group of people, mostly parents, who showed up 5 minutes before 8 and then got mad at US when we politely explained that there were none left because we'd all slept out on the sidewalk in the cold rain to get them.
On the other side of the mall, but in a totally different world, over 50 people waited at the Best Buy in a long line with no list, for an unknown number of systems. When it started to rain, very few of them had any sort of shelter or even umbrellas, and a bunch of people showed up trying to join the line in their cars. I don't know what happened to them when the store opened at 8, but we swung by at 8:30 on our way out and only saw about 20 people still waiting in line outside, looking grim but relatively unharmed.
I think the moral of the story was that, if you're going to something stupid like spend the night in front of a store with a bunch of strangers waiting for a silly video game system, at least do it right and organize as a group instead of just waiting in solitary hostility for 15 hours. The 24 of us in front of Target ended up having a pretty darn good time together, we shared extra blankets and tents, allowed each other to leave for bathroom and meal breaks, played cards and chatted all night, and walked away this morning feeling good about the whole ridiculous experience.
Anyhow, in other news, the Wii is freaking awesome! We got the Super Banana Blitz game in addition to the WiiSports that comes with it, and they both drive home how really, really cool the remote control is. Both games have us totally hooked, which is saying something for us, and what's really hilarious is watching us play them, especially the WiiSports. I was sore all over and determined not to move from the couch when we got home, but darn it, my bowling arm just isn't the same sitting down. So during all of bowling, golf, and boxing (boxing was hilarious and exhausting), we ended up standing up every time it was our turn to play.
I can't wait to bring this sucker with us to Thanksgiving tomorrow, the whole family is going to have such a blast with it. Wiii!
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Yeah, it's funny, I never thought I'd see the day when it was easier to play a video game standing up than sitting down. Well, DDR, I guess, but not a baseball or tennis game. I'm really loving that I don't have to grip the controller tight with both hands and mash buttons until my thumbs hurt.
Just now I picked up one of the cordless phones to place a call, and for a moment started rolling it around, thinking that was how you operated it. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Word of mouth is going to be the best advertising Nintendo could hope for. It's free, first of all, and really it's what would make or break their unit. If everyone talked about how glitchy it was, and how it kept failing, no one would buy it. But reviews like what I've read here is what will guarantee everyone wants to play with one.
I was excited about this beforehand, now I'm even more anxious to get my hands on one in the next round of shipments. They should have plenty of time to pop these things out, given how relatively uncomplicated they are (no high graphics, no DVD players), and how slow Sony is in producing PS3s. Plenty of time to gobble up part of the market, or creating a new market.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Oh, totally. Word of mouth is going to be good for Nintendo this time. I'm actually the one who sold my friend (the one who won his in the lottery at Best Buy) on the Wii. I kept rambling about it to him and he slowly became interested in it.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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If you're curious about what we all look like playing these things, Nintendo has posted a bunch of videos they shot of people playing the Wii for the first time:
I didn't think the Wii was going to do anything different but I think Nintendo has figured out a way to extend gaming to people who wouldn't consider themselves gamers.
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: The average going rate it seems for a PS3 (after a search and casual glance at the top page) is between $1,000 and $1,500. For anyone who waited in line for a day or two, and spent $600 on the machine, plus $100 for the games that seem to be bundled with most of these, I'd say it's still a pretty good investment. A lot of these people are going to get a least a grand for not really doing much of anything except having patience and endurance.
Your calculations are different from mine. Let's say you waited in line for 48 hours to pay $700 for a PS3 and are able to sell it for $1500. That comes out to $16.67/hr which constitutes a living wage but hardly a good investment of your time. If you are only able to sell it for $1000, then your down to $6.25/hour.
I was at a conference in San Francisco last week and there were people camped in front of the Sony story by the Moscone center already on Sunday night when I arrived. That means that many people spent 5 days in line, not two which bumps the pay rate down to considerably below minimum wage.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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