A few of our members up here in New England plan to get our hands on some PlayStation 3's during this years PS3 launch. Do we all want to keep them? No, probably not, however it's the challenge that inspires us. No, we won't get 300 gamer points for waiting in line and reaching our goal - but it's a goal.
Hunting came early today as a few of us (except for me, was busy) hit a Wal-Mart in hopes of getting an inventory count. Luckily, standing in front of the store was the same manager that hosted last years Xbox 360 line waiting event. Figuring we could get an "inside scoop," our folks hit him up for some figures.
Two. The magic number was two. This is not good, last year they had 16 xbox 360's. This year Sony announced their launch numbers to be roughly half of the Xbox 360 launch. Doing the math, sixteen divided by two... does not equal two. So half? That would be being generous. Maybe Sony just doesn't like Wal-Mart.
Realizing we have at least three dedicated gamers that plan to wait in line, the local Wal-Mart is no longer an option. Our only saving grace: Wal-Mart is scattered across the US like a hostile takeover. Calling Wal-Marts in a fifteen mile radius should yield better results.
After a few calls it is clear that some Wal-Mart stores will be getting two figure values set around "10 or more" (so, probably 11). That's a bit better, however, the Wal-Mart in question screwed up last year and released the systems a day early. That leaves this Wal-Mart in our "risk" category. Will they do that again, before we arrive for our camping session?
Now, the controversy begins. Calling up some local Best Buy and Circuit City stores give us results that we did not exactly expect. They won't tell us the figures at all. You're probably thinking,
"well it's too early to release inventory figures," but no. They won't tell you at all. If you want to wait out in line for 24 hours so be it, if they only have two systems most folks will be left out in the cold (quite literally.)
Best Buy and Circuit City seem to be playing a bit of hard ball. Perhaps they're embarrassed about the short supply and they want people to wait in line anyway hoping their disappointment will cause them to make a 360 purchase? Or, maybe they just like evil gamer riots? It's hard to tell at this point.
This camping session will probably end like last years Xbox 360 camping session: Calling stores for inventory counts up until the hour we leave to get in line. Many locations across different franchises were lost and confused about the system launch. Some employee's didn't even know what a 360 was, forget answering the question "are you guys passing out tickets?" The response would simply be "tickets for what?"
We're hoping the confusion and disorganized launch from the Xbox 360 will learn these stores some skills. You have to think ahead, plan for a mob and react accordingly. This means organizing police to be aware of the crowds, preparing customer service for the "frequently asked questions," understanding policies on the launch window and any ticket systems being put in place.
Case in point, last year another local Wal-Mart told the folks waiting in line that the launch would be at 7am to then receive a memo from HQ a few hours later saying they're doing a midnight release. All the line waiting folks had left for other opportunities to arrive back in line the next morning (roughly 3am) and find the store "lied" and sold the systems at midnight. This was not done on purpose to make angry customers, it occurred because the store was ill prepared for the event.
Let us hope this year they've grown smarter because its going to rain and wet angry gamers are a hard bunch to please.
