New Xbox in short supply, gamers want premium unit

[Phanto]

Yahoo news (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051122/tc_nm/media_xbox_shortages_dc;_ylt=ArglnB7V7VfQ9fif5uLX7 6IRSLMF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4ZnRnZjhkBHNlYwMxNjk1) has more on the shortages...

Some buyers hoping to get the advanced system were asked to settle for the cheaper one, and they were not happy. "Bad idea, bad idea," David Hornak, 32, said of Microsoft's decision not to release more of the $400 units. He was offered only the $300 system at a Best Buy in New York. "Hard-core gamers would pay up for a premium system and do not want to feel limited to a shaved down system," Hornak said. Microsoft acknowledged the shortages but did not comment on gamers' argument that the company should have focused early sales more on premium sets.
Is this surprising or not ? :cool:

Ed: Microsoft should realize that it is the hard core gamer that will be the ones who go wait in line for launch day release. They should have had focused more on the premium sets. Best way to create a demand is to create a shortage.

[nfwolfpryde]

But a shortage before Christmas doesn't help anybody. Consumers have to buy their family something for Christmas. It's in Microsoft's best interest to make sure that they can spend their hard earned money on one of their products instead of something else. Unlike the hardcore gamers, the average consumer isn't going to sit on ~$400 for 3 months after Christmas to buy their Christmas present.

[Reanimated]

MS should realize that nobody gives a shit about the Core package and just drop that shit alltogether.

[AniAko]

Here's the Question:

Do you think the console will ever leave this shadow of a boched launch?

I think this will be a perpetual sour note for the 360 unfortunately

[Worldcrafter]

It does seem silly to offer the core package to people willing to endure hunger and physical discomfort for a 360. Then again, you can make a core system a premium system by spending more money, so it's not a bad idea financially.

However, a shortage doesn't help Microsoft at all. They're going to be making money through Live subscriptions, Live's market place, and games, and people won't be buying any of those if they don't already have a system. There's only so much demand you need to create to sell your product, and I think the 360 has more than enough.

[Cha-Ka]

Here's the Question:

Do you think the console will ever leave this shadow of a boched launch?

I think this will be a perpetual sour note for the 360 unfortunately

This sort of thing only stands out in the minds of the elite hardcore audience. Your average customer is not aware of any current 360 crisis.

[kickmybum]

The should never have been a core system. That was retarded. Developers could have maximized the harddrive, MS would have made more money and the customers wouldn't have felt like they were buying a 300 piece of shit instead of the real deal.

[Brady]

Ummm I was kind of under the impression they did focus a little more on the premium package...

Did any of you happen to see the lists for how many units each best buy was recieving?... Usually it was about 40 premium and 10 core.

[KarmaGhost]

At the moment, the top three news submitions (including this one) have emoticons in them. They don't show up on the front page, and that's good, but let's get rid of them in the main news posts altogether, please.

Ummm I was kind of under the impression they did focus a little more on the premium package...

Did any of you happen to see the lists for how many units each best buy was recieving?... Usually it was about 40 premium and 10 core.But the point is that there were areas of the country where they had run out of premiums and were unloading cores on people who didn't want them. There was even less demand for the cores that MS (probably) anticipated.

[dr_wily]

woe to the man who waited 12 hours and was presented with the "core or nothing" conundrum.

says the man:
"shalt i enjoy my crashing overheating console now and suffer a blow to the wallet later when i have to purchase a hard drive, wireless controller, and cables? Or shall I shun this dastardly deed entirely and wait it out to save 100$"

[Knite]

Let's see,
Sell a premium for 399
or sell a core for 299, plus a hd for 99, plus a wireless controller for 39, plus HD cables for 29........

I don't think this has anything to do with "focus" and more about.... whip them into a frenzy, and make the ones who can't wait buy extra stuff.

[CapnS]

Best way to create a demand is to create a shortage.

No, no, no. That's the easiest way to create demand, or the way to create artificial demand. The best way to create demand is to make an excellent product, at an affordable price, that is readily available and has some advertising to raise initial public awareness. Is this really going to be the strategy from now on, waaay too much advertising, then a shortage that amazingly gets filled by Xmas? And two years later, half the customer base is having to replace their shoddy hardware, but they don't mind so much because it costs $200 less now, and they kinda have to since they have several games. How do these people get to top positions in multi-national corporations if they are this damn lazy? Answer: sadly you can be lazy as long as you're really, really fucking evil (I'm not just talking about Microsoft here).

[Nerv]

Here's the Question:

Do you think the console will ever leave this shadow of a boched launch?

I think this will be a perpetual sour note for the 360 unfortunately
Dude, I remember the PS2 launch, you couldn't go anywhere near the internet for months without hearing the whines of fanboys who were mortally offended because Sony couldn't meet demand on launch day, just like MS have done now.

[*Legion*]

Ed: Microsoft should realize that it is the hard core gamer that will be the ones who go wait in line for launch day release. They should have had focused more on the premium sets.

They DID focus most of all on premium units. By like 4-to-1.

Just because it happened at some retailers that the ratio didn't PERFECTLY match the demand of that store doesn't mean anything, except that Microsoft is not psychic. It's not like there are tons of Core units sitting on shelves. Each are being gobbled up, and statistically you're going to have situations where someone goes to buy a certain type, and only the other one is left.

Damn Microsoft for not having a psychic army to predict the exact numbers needed for each retailer. How dare they.

[*Legion*]

Here's the Question:

Do you think the console will ever leave this shadow of a boched launch?

I think this will be a perpetual sour note for the 360 unfortunately

Like someone else pointed out... have you ever heard of a gaming system called the PlayStation 2?

And saying "botched launch" is just plain stupid. Nothing has been "botched". If they don't keep putting units into stores over the next few weeks, then you might have an argument. The fact that a hot item sold out when it hit shelves is not "botched". God, that's just such a stupid thing to say that it's hard not to be frustrated by reading it.

[AniAko]

Like someone else pointed out... have you ever heard of a gaming system called the PlayStation 2?

And saying "botched launch" is just plain stupid. Nothing has been "botched". If they don't keep putting units into stores over the next few weeks, then you might have an argument. The fact that a hot item sold out when it hit shelves is not "botched". God, that's just such a stupid thing to say that it's hard not to be frustrated by reading it.

The PS2 was the champion almost out of the gates in the last console generation, a shortage didn't affect it's status. However the 360 isn't entering this race in the pole position. Also, there wasn't nearly as much contraversey in the PS2 launch, A-hem.... armed robbery for two 360's much? This is all bad publicity, and in the eyes of the general public, this launch could indeed seem botched. Not botched by Microsoft, but by the media coverage.

[baz]

Like someone else pointed out... have you ever heard of a gaming system called the PlayStation 2?

And saying "botched launch" is just plain stupid. Nothing has been "botched". If they don't keep putting units into stores over the next few weeks, then you might have an argument. The fact that a hot item sold out when it hit shelves is not "botched". God, that's just such a stupid thing to say that it's hard not to be frustrated by reading it.

While not botched, they did miss out on a lot of sales. The pre-orders were under fufilled, which means that the lack of units has cost them some guarenteed sales. You won't be able to get a 360 in britain till after Christmas if you didn't preorder about 3 months ago. Some guys at work aren't going to get them now as they missed the launch, and as the UK populace seems rampantly biased towards sony (fuck knows why), they are now waiting for the PS3.

So not botched, but far from perfect.

[Murmillo]

MS should realize that nobody gives a shit about the Core package and just drop that shit alltogether.
You are wrong, the Core package is a very marketive, just not anything near or around launch day. They shouldn't have had one Core system shipped anywhere for launch week.

[pdeupree]

I seem to remember that the numbers posted up here showing the # of units each Best Buy was going to get showed that far more premium units were shipped to retailers than core units, so it would "seem" that Microsoft did hedge their bets toward the hard core gamer.

The fact is, though, that short of not shipping any core units at all, and given the shortages Microsoft had, some of these people were going to get core units. It amazes me how anyone can act so surprised at all of this. The news has been all over saying supplies would be short. Best Buy's sales circular said "quantities limited", and every other console launch has had shortages.

I'm not making a case for whether or not this launch was handled right or wrong, but I'm just saying there were no surprises here and Microsoft did skew unit numbers toward gamers that wanted the premium units.

Heck, look at other launches. The PS2 launched and nobody could find memory cards since they didn't make enough to accomodate demand. The PSP launched and nobody could find higher capacity memory stick duo's. The XBox launched and people were pissed that they had to buy a remote control to play DVD's. The fact of the matter is that it is likely impossible any launch can make everyone happy.

[Phanto]

You are wrong, the Core package is a very marketive, just not anything near or around launch day. They shouldn't have had one Core system shipped anywhere for launch week.


Just tell me one thing if MS is talking and everybody is talking about this is the next generation console the future bla bla bla e.c.t why they sell a core system and plz don't bother replying with the words "to make more money or profits" because i don't buy that cr@p if you know what i mean. ( No offend by the world)
If they said that this is the future or the begininng of it why in 'Gawd' name
they do that it makes not much sense.

[NACIONAL]

Just tell me one thing if MS is talking and everybody is talking about this is the next generation console the future bla bla bla e.c.t why they sell a core system and plz don't bother replying with the words "to make more money or profits" because i don't buy that cr@p if you know what i mean. ( No offend by the world)
If they said that this is the future or the begininng of it why in 'Gawd' name
they do that it makes not much sense.

your grammar is disastrous........and your point, Absolute crap. How old are you?

You just writed all the things your were thinking witout giving them any sense.

[Murmillo]

my.head.is.bleeding...