What’s the big news of the day? The PlayStation 3 pre-order debacle. This morning Gamestops across the nation finally started accepting pre-orders for the system and its been a cluster-fuck of immense proportions. Those who had been following along knew that with only about 400,000 system would be available at launch (though once again, I’ve heard it was as low as 300,000… the parties involved aren’t saying anything… more on that in a bit), so many diehard gamers decided to camp outside in front of their local Gamestops as early at late last night according to some reports.
But in the end, things were actually worse than expected. On average, most stores only got about ten or less systems. But here’s the best part… check out this quote from the huge-ass PS3 pre-order bitch-fest thread over at Gaming Age Forums…
“[I'm] Number 7 and they only took 6. It’s really stupid that they’re giving 2 to employees when they’re only going to get 8. 400,000 is such a stupidly low number. My hate for Sony’s incompetence has me boiling.
Well, I guess I’ll be camping in November…
It’s getting more and more evident that the real launch of this system is March 2007 and Sony is just getting this out the door in November just so that they can say it launched during the holidays.”
But it isn’t just at NeoGAF, folks all over the internet are bitching about the insanely low numbers of pre-orders that Gamestops are giving out, which is made even more severe by their own employees. In fact, it seems as if the official average of systems to store allotment is 6, and that 2 can indeed be held for employees. Which means over 30% of all the PS3′s available will be wiped out before the general public gets their chance to get one. And there’s been at least one report of cocky employees boasting out loud, and in front of the buying public, how they intend on buying as many of the systems themselves to sell on eBay.
Speaking of eBay, also from that same thread…
“Was #4 in line after waiting in line at 6 AM. I talked to most of the people and they all said they were going to sell it on ebay. Gave me pitiful look when I told him I was keeping mine.”
Though my fave has to be the one guy who said…
“just remember to those ebaying… only 1 reserve per household at eb and gamestop… they check their database for both
anyways…
eb/gamestop for 1
walmart.com for 1
amazon.com for 1
maybe some others
i’m looking to get around 4 or 5… what about you guys?”
Which made more than a few people feel like tearing his head off his body, which led to a response off…
“whatever…
if people are willing to spend 1k+ for a ps3 (and they will), i’m going to bend them over.
capitalism at its finest, bitches.
seriously… i missed the money train for 360 and there’s no way i’m letting that happen again.
$1500 or 2 grand..however much profit i make is huge for me as a college student.
(and there’s lots of others here doing this as well so don’t be hypocrital please)”
Unfortunately, as fucked up as it is, he does have a point. People are willing to go to insane lengths for the latest toy. But it still pisses me off that people who have been waiting for the console for months, those who actually want to play the damn thing, will be taken advantage of. As one pissed off person responded with…
“Ebay whores are the worst scum of this gaming community, ebay whores are the north korea of gaming.”
But, It’s already begun…
Here’s another notable quote, this one some friendly “advice”…
“When you purchase your PS3 on launch day, make sure its in a bag and walk directly to your car. Do not taunt the people in line who were unlucky, or taunt the people in the parking lot with your new PS3. Some guy did this at Best Buy on PS2 launch day and got his car windows kicked in.”
Hell, I remember when the PS2 was launched and some woman who had just picked up her system was brutally assaulted up by four teenagers right in front of a huge line of folks waiting to get theirs and no one bothered to help her because they didn’t want to loose their slot. This happened btw at the Herald Square Gamestop and no one who works at that store will talk about the incident since they too didn’t do anything except stand and watch (at least at the time; I’m not sure if any of those folks are still working there today).
Though as its been indicated, measure are being taken by Gamestop to ensure that people don’t have multiple reservations, but aside from keeping track of names via a computer system (which can obviously be circumvented), you have the awesome people who work there, which as we all know are total retards. I guess depending on the store you go to, if you ask for information, such as how many systems that location is getting, they will remain tight-lipped, because its all ultra confidential. Like they’re actually not just dealing some overpriced kids toy. But also, it would seem that different info is being given to different stores, and a few are genuinely in the dark. It’s a friggin video game console, what’s with all the smoke and mirrors? Gamestop’s already piss-poor manner of handling business once again going to be a huge problem, but as I’ve already mentioned many times before, Sony totally eats shit up like that linked eBay auction. As they say, there’s no such thing as bad press.
So yeah, this is actually going to be much worse than the Xbox 360′s launch.
By the way, I heard that Wii pre-orders begin this Friday. But unlike the PS3, I believe there will be far more systems available at launch (there had better… if Nintendo wants to actually have a shot at taking the top spot). Which to be honest is becoming more and more doubtful in my mind. In a perfect world, people will realize that there’s more to gaming than having the best graphics, the most polygons, or the highest resolutions. And you’d think that folks would have wised up now by all the crap being shoved by all the major publisher, primarily EA, since now more than ever their regularly updated games are just becoming obvious cash-cows (I’ve heard nothing but apathy and complaints regarding the latest Madden and NBA games from folks with half a brain). But when I was at a Gamestop yesterday, all I saw were people going ga-ga over the Madden, and no one could take their eyes off the latest NBA Live that was on display at a Circuit City, despite the fact that all the players moved, and especially looked, awkward. It was shiny, and most importantly, the latest thing, and that’s all that matters with people.
(… Also, I went to the Gamestop yesterday to look for Chibi Robo which just went down in price, and got sneered by one of the register monkeys for wanting a new copy, one that wasn’t unopened. I was apparently called a “snob”, and yes, it was the manager by the way….)
Anyway, despite all the hype and critical praise that the Wii is getting, in the end, I guess all that matters is the perception of if its “cool” or not. Which has always been the case really, it just feels so… crazy and out of control, perhaps due to the scale of it all, how cutting edge the technology is, and how big video games in general have become. It sure is a far cry from all those blocks moving about, and spinning around, during the Genesis vs SNES days. But then again, we are still dealing with children’s toys, ultimately speaking. Hell, take the DS as another example; we all know how amazing it is, how top to bottom superior the games are to the PSP. But if you go on any subway train, though primarily in Brooklyn, you’re sure to see at least three or four folks, mostly thuggish teens and tough guys, playing a PSP. You hardly see any DS players, and if so, its usually a female (either with New SMB or Brain Age), or an obvious gamer geek. I remember one time I pulled out my DS, and I got sneered at by a gaggle of teens. But what does this anecdote have to do with anything? Maybe nothing… or maybe its another example that Sony still has the mindshare of gamers, and that Nintendo has to pull a miracle if they want to be viewed as a “contender” and that no matter what Sony does, people will take it and ask for more.
Eh, I eventually got my copy of Chibi Robo, and when the PS3 comes out, I’ll be too busy with twenty other PS2 games that have yet to come out, so don’t mind me… I just feel like bitching. And feeling old to a certain degree.
But in brighter news, Robin passed along a totally hawt David Sugar music video.
On a related note, and another bit of not so awesome news, Google just bought YouTube. And for those who have wondered how YouTube is actually profitable, aside from the recent sale, here’s some proof.
And of course, Here’s a YouTube video of the founders talking about the acquisition. They seem like nice guys. Though I will say that I fear for the future… a lot of us might have to kiss many of our favorite vids good-bye. I guess I’m also trying to lay claim to the inevitable Google-backlash before the rest of the world hops on the bandwagon in 2008.
Back to video games, I haven’t had much chance to look around much, but over at Insert Credit, someone passed along info on a neat looking new indy game, Between Heaven and Hell. You know, its sorta crappy looking, but in a good way. The screens are rather creepy and rather effective.
