You ready to hit the road and pre-order a Wii and PS3? Wait right there sonny, you ain't getting them yet...
If you recall, the Xbox 360 pre-order system at Gamestop and other retail stores was very inaccurate and lead to many gamers cancelling their order. Why? Because they had a better chance of getting the hardware at a random stop at Target than at Gamestop - even with their downpayment and promise of a system.
So what is the point of a pre-order if you order before the common gamer and get it after them? Well, that's the rub; there is no point. So Gamestop is being proactive this time around with the Wii and PS3. They are not taking pre-orders until they have an estimated ship count from Sony and Nintendo. Smart move.
VP and CFO David Carlson, of Gamestop, was quoted saying:
So when can you pre-order? When they have some type of figure. He's predicting less than half of what Sony originally promised. No surprise there, many gamers were saying 'yeah, right, we'll believe it when we see it Sony' when Sony announced their shipping figures a few months ago. Gamers were correct in being skeptical.
So, for those that waited six months for their 360 pre-order while I and my buddies were playing our non-pre-orders bought on the Internet... this time all shall be equal. Although, given the predicted short supply by Gamestop, chances are good that Ebay will be lighting up with overpriced next-generation consoles (at least PlayStation 3's).
Get out your wallet and setup your PayPal account because here comes the boom...
If you recall, the Xbox 360 pre-order system at Gamestop and other retail stores was very inaccurate and lead to many gamers cancelling their order. Why? Because they had a better chance of getting the hardware at a random stop at Target than at Gamestop - even with their downpayment and promise of a system.
So what is the point of a pre-order if you order before the common gamer and get it after them? Well, that's the rub; there is no point. So Gamestop is being proactive this time around with the Wii and PS3. They are not taking pre-orders until they have an estimated ship count from Sony and Nintendo. Smart move.
VP and CFO David Carlson, of Gamestop, was quoted saying:
"...We're looking at around a million units of PS3 in the US, which is somewhere around half or less than what Sony has said [would ship worldwide]. With the Wii, we're looking at around 750,000 in the US. We believe at this point, that could be a light number. It's hard to say, though. We remain conservative until they actually show up at our warehouse."
So when can you pre-order? When they have some type of figure. He's predicting less than half of what Sony originally promised. No surprise there, many gamers were saying 'yeah, right, we'll believe it when we see it Sony' when Sony announced their shipping figures a few months ago. Gamers were correct in being skeptical.
So, for those that waited six months for their 360 pre-order while I and my buddies were playing our non-pre-orders bought on the Internet... this time all shall be equal. Although, given the predicted short supply by Gamestop, chances are good that Ebay will be lighting up with overpriced next-generation consoles (at least PlayStation 3's).
Get out your wallet and setup your PayPal account because here comes the boom...
