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Gamestop Managers Worried Over PS3 Launch 93

Posted by Zonk from the i-would-be-too dept.
The Opposable Thumbs column has commentary today from some managers who attended the annual EB/Gamestop preview event. The reaction from the attendees to the PS3/Blue-ray presence is not inspiring. From the article: "The difference between HD DVD and Blu-Ray was striking as well. 'Blu-ray had a tiny presence in the very back of the show floor, while Microsoft had large displays and surround sound systems in their hospitality suite so you can take a look at what their HD DVD drives would look like. It was impressive, and gave the feeling that HD DVD was real and Blu-ray wasn't ready for the show.' I asked him his feelings going into the PS3 launch with no word on allocations or preorders, and no news on what will happen towards the holidays. 'It's going to be ugly, there is no way this launch is going to go well.'"
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Gamestop Managers Worried Over PS3 Launch More

Gamestop Managers Worried Over PS3 Launch

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  • Very Relevant (Score:2, Funny)

    by ack154 ( 591432 )
    Between blu-ray concerns, possible crashing issues mentioned the other day, and still availability concerns, I never noticed how true this was:

    Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
    • can't wait to see when all these consoles are finally out and after the christmas rush to see how things go really

  • It's going to be ugly, there is no way this launch is going to go well.

    But that's retailers fault more than Sony's. Even if Sony supplies enough quantity, and it does what they say it will, Gamestop and EB have been selling the short game, what they have on their shelves, all year long, and as a result, consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase.

    In addition to that, Microsoft fucked up whatever trust the retailers ever had in suppliers int he industry.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by dontbflat ( 994444 )
      consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase
      Um you must be not reading the news or the offical sony reports. Well....here it is Just for you: http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/about.html [playstation.com]

      It clearly says there will be a $600 configuration and a $500 configuration.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Dr. Eggman ( 932300 )
        I must point out the following flaws in your post:

        1. He said "potential;" He did not indicate alternatives to this potential
        2. PS3 is shipping 80/20 [slashdot.org] $600 units to $500 units
        3. Since Sony is planning on shipping 400K units to North America, only 80,000 $500 units will be available.
        4. Therefore, the vast majority of Gamestop customers will "potentially" face a $600 purchase.
        • Actually more since it seems like near launch you have to buy a bundle with games, controllers, memory cards, etc... To get a ps3 at or near launch will probably cost closer to $800-$1000

    • Re:Look In The Mirror (Score:4, Funny)

      by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday October 05, 2006 @01:57PM (#16325765) Homepage
      But that's retailers fault more than Sony's. Even if Sony supplies enough quantity, and it does what they say it will, Gamestop and EB have been selling the short game, what they have on their shelves, all year long, and as a result, consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase.

      Wow. You mean to say that Gamestop has been trying to sell real products that exist instead of trying to sell products that don't? They must really be crazy!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by skorch ( 906936 )

      But that's retailers fault more than Sony's. Even if Sony supplies enough quantity, and it does what they say it will, Gamestop and EB have been selling the short game, what they have on their shelves, all year long, and as a result, consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase.

      Yeah that makes sense. Because retailers have a habit of downplaying hype for products they hope to sell for potentially huge profits. For no reason. Gamestop are just more sony-haters. They're

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
        Yeah, cause the retailers hate MS too now. Which is why they're praising the HD-DVD format over the relatively unprepared Blu-Ray showings.

        Yeah dude, there's like dozens of news stories every week about how all retailers love HDDVD and hate Blueray. I wonder how anyone will be able to buy Blueray, I mean 'cuz all the retailers hate it so much there's no way in hell they'll stock it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by amuro98 ( 461673 )
      What exactly is EBGamestop and others supposed to be selling?

      Information on the PS3 has been fairly scarce. There's been almost no playable demos at tradeshows, and people still doubt they've actually seen a "real" PS3 in action.

      About the only thing we DO know is that there is a $500 and a $600 model, and that approximately 100,000 $500 models and 400,000 models will show up in the US for launch day.

      With Sony using every available blue laser diode they can get for the PS3, there aren't even a lot of Blu-R

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by rob1980 ( 941751 )
      consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase.

      Dude, it is going to be a $600 purchase - that isn't baseless FUD, that's straight from the horse's mouth. In fact, once you tack on games and accessories, sales tax, etc, I would not be very surprised if some people break the $1,000 mark just at launch.

      • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by JordanL ( 886154 )
        I was talking about the price, I was talking about the product, what they are getting. Consumers have been hearing FUD about what their $600 will and will not buy for the last 6 months. Is it any wonder then when the retailers turn around and try to sell it to them, they are somewhat skeptical?

        Retailers dug their own graves on this one.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
        Dude, it is going to be a $600 purchase - that isn't baseless FUD

        I think what the GP meant is that it's impossible to be an educated consumer regarding the PS3. There is so much spin that it's really hard to make any sort of informed choice. Let's look at the major players.

        Sony's being arrogant, elitist cheerleaders. Of course, they're always this way, it's just that they usually don't say much after their systems launch. We were promised the stars before (PS2 will do Toy Story!!), so it's hard to know

  • This is like Microsoft last year (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday October 05, 2006 @01:51PM (#16325629) Homepage

    Remember last year? Remember Microsoft botching the XBox 360 launch? Booking too much retail shelf space and not delivering product? Furious retailers? A product with heat dissipation problems? A weak selection of games at launch?

    That's where Sony is this year.

    2007 for the PS3 will probably look like 2006 for the Xbox 360. The PS3 will slowly launch over the next year, and finally start to sell in volume for the Xmas 2007 season. Probably at a lower price. This will give developers another year to get the Cell processor figured out, so the games will be better.

    This is the price of increasing console complexity - the launch phase has more problems.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by powerlord ( 28156 )
      I agree with all of that, and even wish Sony well (I hope to purchase a PS3 either this year or next).

      One concern on a lot of peoples minds is "But the XBox360 had no competition, while the PS3 will have to compete with the XBox360 which is much more established, and the Wii."

      I'm not sure if this is an issue, because you could also say "The XBox360 had the PS2 and GameCube to compete with". Yes, the XBox360 was the first "NextGen" console, but the PS2 is still going strong (THIS year) with lots of great ga
    • I agree. In addition, the poor launch will undoubtedly bring about the use of brand recognition in-game to the next-gen consoles. When I first heard about this idea, I was strongly against it, but after giving it some thought, I'd say it benefits the consumer greatly. "The price of increasing console complexity," as you mentioned is going to be high, both in man hours and overall development cost. Adding in logos to backgrounds of cityscapes, ads on the sideline of a basketball court, or billboards on v

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by fitten ( 521191 )
      I think it's going to be worse, but similar, yes. With Microsoft releasing the XBox360 "early" and the Wii coming out now, Sony had no choice but to launch now, even though they really wanted to launch in 2007 so they could take advantage of 60nm and maybe 45nm processes for Cell as well as full production Blue-Ray. This was also timed well with the Blue-Ray expected rollout so there'll be a bit of competition for supplying the PS3 and the set-top BR players. Of course, no one could have foreseen the bat

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MikeFM ( 12491 )
      How many consumers really care how the launch goes? Die hard fans are willing to wait and shell out the big bucks - others just sort of pick the stuff up when they see it on the shelf or see a sale. As long as the systems don't actually suck then it's worth any wait.
  • I have been calling EB Games daily and you still can't pre-order. With the launch 6 weeks away it's kind of disconcerting. I plan to pre-order the Wii and a bunch of controllers myself but I have been asking about the PS3 pre-orders out of curiousity. I wonder when that will be decided, does anyone have any inside information?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crossmr ( 957846 )
      I have a friend who works for ebgames. He's been told that PS3 pre-orders are for regular customers only at the manager's discretion.

    • Re:Still no Pre-Ordering (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Grave ( 8234 ) <awalbert88@[ ]mail.com ['hot' in gap]> on Thursday October 05, 2006 @02:20PM (#16326189)
      Nobody knows, because Sony doesn't know how many they can really promise to each retailer yet. Sure they claimed 400,000 units at launch for the US. Other companies have claimed higher numbers much closer to launch dates only to change their figures at the last minute.

      GameStop is taking the sensible approach of waiting to do pre-orders until Sony (and Nintendo) give them guaranteed allocations. Nintendo is likely to be able to restock all retailers pretty quickly (relatively speaking). However, I expect if you don't get a PS3 on launch day, you will not see another one until January. Unless of course for some reason they can't move 100,000 systems at the midnight launch in Japan. If THAT happens, the US will get the next batch rather than Japan, I expect. Either way, the 360 launch was smooth sailing in comparison to what Sony is facing. I just hope we aren't reading about murders or deadly stampedes on the morning of 11/17.

      A lot of people who would otherwise buy a PS3 are turned off by the sticker shock, especially since the general expectation for so long had been that it would be close to the 360 in pricing. No doubt the first 2-3 million units will fly off shelves without problem. It's May/June of 2007 that we start seeing real indicators of public reaction to the system. If sales aren't surpassing the 360 by that point (presuming production volume is high enough), then it's time to start really questioning the ability of Sony to retain that #1 spot.
    • When I was at Best Buy a month or so ago, I asked about pre-ordering the PS3 and was told that they weren't going to allow pre-orders for any new consoles anymore after the problem with the XBox 360. A local retailer told me the same.

  • Inside Out (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ectal ( 949842 ) * on Thursday October 05, 2006 @01:59PM (#16325807) Homepage
    There seems to be a big difference between the industry's perception of the PS3 and the public perception. Most average Joes I run across seem to be anticipating the PS3. But they can't explain why beyond the branding. "Oh, I really like the PS2, so..." Industry people and industry watchers are talking more and more about Sony's lack of strategy, Blu Ray concerns, hardware problems, price, etc. More and more, the assumption that Sony will once again dominate is dissipating. So I think the most interesting thing about the PS3 launch will be watching what happens with word of mouth once the console is out. Should we expect, "Oh man, the new Playstation might be expensive, but it's so cool! You need it!" Should we expect, "Oh man, my brother got a PS3 and all the games suck." What's going to happen? Is the PS branding going to crash and burn? Will everyone just save up to buy it because PlayStation has become synonymous with game console to them? Will it just do okay? I'll be sure to read all about it during my short breaks from the Wii.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by skorch ( 906936 )
      I'd say pretty much anyone who actually buys the PS3 is going to say it's awesome (and obnoxious fanboys and Sony's arrogance aside, it probably will be) and people who don't bother will say it's eh. The question really is is it $600 awesome? Is it really $200 to $300 more awesome than the competition? Some people will think it is, and some won't. Just how many is what we're all waiting to see, but it seems most of the savvy and informed people are pretty apprehensive, and most of the people who don't care

    • Well part of the problem they have (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Thursday October 05, 2006 @02:36PM (#16326437)
      Is even at that price, they are likely to sell out almost immediately. Ok great, except that means that many people will be left contemplating another option. The word of mouth that will be dangerous is word of mouth about the Wii, but particularly the 360 (since it's more expensive and a more direct competitor). If they miss out on the PS3, but they hear great things about the 360, maybe they decide to take the jump. Once they do, that's probably it. For most people, 1 expensive next gen console will be it. They might get a Wii as well because of the price but the 360 and PS3 market will be pretty small.

      That I think is the real concern here. It's not that the launch has to meet up to some certain standard of Sony quality, it's that it has to be good enough to convince people to hold on to their dollars and wait for more PS3s to come out rather than get a 360. I'll bet you MS drops a $100 price reduction and Halo 3 on the launch as well.
      • It's not that the launch has to meet up to some certain standard of Sony quality, it's that it has to be good enough to convince people to hold on to their dollars and wait for more PS3s to come out rather than get a 360.

        This is the very place I am sitting right now. I am getting a Wii on release day. At its price and potential, it is an easy buy for me. But for my hardcore system, I'm going to have to wait.

        This is no small statement. After purchasing a playstation halfway through its lifecycle I was hooked

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by conigs ( 866121 )

          I hate Microsoft for trying to come into video games and buy a slice.

          I'm not defending Microsoft here, because this is exactly what they are doing. However, you are aware that Sony was doing the same thing with the Playstation, right?

          It's really a moot point, though, since any new console maker will be trying to "buy into" the gaming market. (You have to spend money to make money.) The recent trend of the loss leader/razors and blades business models in gaming is even more evidence of this.

          • oh yeah. I was trying to illustrate my fanboi-ness.

            Actually, Sony was trying to get back at Nintendo for a business deal gone bad. Sony was actually in partnership with Nintendo to make a disk based gaming system. Nintendo decided to drop it and left Sony holding the bag. Sony was like "ok fine. Watch this shit" and dropped the technology as the Playstation. Kicking Nintendo out of the top dog slot and making them regret the decision ever since.

            • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

              by MeanderingMind ( 884641 )
              Actually, I doubt Nintendo regretted jumping ship but more regretted not paying attention to their stupid lawyers.

              The whole thing with Sony and later Phillips came long before the term "Intellectual Property" was coined. Nintendo's lawyers didn't seem to have the understanding that Mario, Link, Samus and crew were important and valuable assests that shouldn't be thrown around. The contracts they drew up (both times no less) would have granted Sony complete control over everything released on the new systems
              • I agree.

                But it still makes me wonder how Nintendo reacted internally when they saw their group effort used against them. They were the king at that point and lost their position to a spurned conspirator.

                Nonetheless, My original point was how I, as a loyal and fanatical Sony fanboi, have changed into a more objective consumer based on multiple events that individually don't create a significant opportunity for competition, but in the aggregate are worth more than the sum of their parts.

                If Sony really does ha
      • "I'll bet you MS drops a $100 price reduction and Halo 3 on the launch as well."

        Not a chance. Maybe if the ps3 were even $100 less (400-500), Microsoft might think about a $50 price drop. But at the currently stated prices, they have a $100 to $300 lead already.

        At the very best I can see a $450 bundle of premium system, extra controller, and a 2-fer pack in like the one in '04 (NCAA 05 / Top Spin). And thats if we sacrifice forty two virgins to the gaming gods...

        • Ahh but don't forget that 65nm is coming to the masses. Both IBM and ATi are looking at shrinking the chips for the 360. That reduces costs. MS is quite willing to take a loss on hardware if it means winning out the market (or at least they seem to be).

          Do they need to drop the price? No but it'd really fuck Sony and I'm betting they are thinking along those lines. Wait until Sony commits to a release date, make sure your sources have confirmed that everything is go, the units are going to distributors wareh

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
      You forgot one key fact: people are stupid. If you simply remember this, many things make sense without lots of complex logic and speculation (like you just posted).

      Perhaps related to the first point, we should also remember that there is often one product or implementation of something that is seized upon and becomes synonymous with it, no matter if it's the "best" or anything like that. Cases in point: Microsoft Windows, Kleenex, and the Ipod. These things are near-synonymous with the ideas they repre

  • Sony will not mess up that bad... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RexRhino ( 769423 ) on Thursday October 05, 2006 @02:03PM (#16325897)
    Sony has a huge mindshare... there are a whole generation of kids who use the word "Playstation" interchangably with "Game Console". There is a huge Sony fanboy presence on the internet. Sony is in decent shape.

    They might lose a lot of ground to the 360, but they are not going to be wiped out of the market. The console race will just be more of a split, instead of Sony dominating everything like the last generation.
    • There is a great article in last month's Wired you should read about how Sony has effectively put all it's eggs in one basket. If the PS3 doesn't do fantastically well in worldwide sales, Sony could be in serious trouble.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sony has a huge mindshare... there are a whole generation of kids who use the word "Playstation" interchangably with "Game Console". There is a huge Sony fanboy presence on the internet. Sony is in decent shape.

      This sounds so familiar ... where have I heard this before ...

      "Nintendo has a huge mindshare... there is a whole generation of children who use the word 'Nintendo' interchangable with 'Game Console'. There is a huge Nintendo fanboy presence on the internet. Nintendo is in decent shape."

      The fact is th

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

        The only reason Nintendo has survived is that Nintendo has an excellent track record with producing high quality games...

        Actually, this isn't true. While I do agree with your first statement that there's a whole generation (my generation or parents of my generation, 1979 baby!) who grew up with Nintendo and uses or used "Nintendo" interchangably with "video games".

        Anyway, back to point. Nintendo's golden age, the '80's, was the Microsoft of the game industry. They strong armed retailers and forced the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shawb ( 16347 )
      And before that was a generation of kids who used "sega" interchangably with video games (I remember hearing the sentence "You wanna come over and play some Sega? I just got the new Bond (Goldeneye for the N64.) Before that even parents were referring to the "intendo the kids are playing these days." Before that, it was Atari. And now? It's Xbox that's the generic term.

      But then again, I also thought the 360 was going to utterly fail. Realistically, there are ome pretty cool games for it. I really
  • 1. Sony has already slashed the number of units being delivered, due to anticipated lack of demand in the US and EU. This will create an artificial shortage so that they can try to spin it into buzz about how people want PS3 consoles. They already figure that the Wii will sell four times as many consoles in the US and EU as the PS3 will. Shipments prove this.

    2. If you don't have a really big HDTV that currently uses 1080p, you probably won't care one whit about Blu-Ray for at least three years - by which
    • Um, no, it's not due to lack of demand, it's due to lack of components. Apparently the US government ordered too many for their special operations sharks.
    • Yes the sets that do 1080p are still a few k (but dropping).

      However people have been buying sets for some time capible of at least 720p, with 1080i input allowed and downsampled.

      Even at 720p HD content looks WAY better than DVD's. So there are a lot of people who are going to benefit from the new content, even if the displays they have are not the latest thing. For those that do have 1080p... well I envy them. But I'll not have to for long as display prices are dropping pretty rapidly.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Osty ( 16825 )

      Sony has already slashed the number of units being delivered, due to anticipated lack of demand in the US and EU. This will create an artificial shortage so that they can try to spin it into buzz about how people want PS3 consoles.

      They slashed the number of units being delivered because they can't produce enough units. Sony is still in their magical Kutaragi bubble where everybody will get a second job so they can buy a PS3. If it was just a matter of anticipated lack of demand, Sony would be full spe

      • And this is why it's stupid for Sony to try to shove Blu-Ray down our throats. That said, the extra graphical horsepower of a PS3 or Xbox 360 will still be impressive on an SDTV simply due to more polygons and more budget for effects. You won't get the benefit of higher resolution textures, but PS3 games will still look much better than PS2 games on the same TV (just as 360 games look better than Xbox games).

        Agreed, but I just can't see an ad for the PS3: "Now, with extra polygons!"

        Yet another FPS or sports

        • Different trends among consoles: Sony picks badly (Score:4, Interesting)

          by jchenx ( 267053 ) on Thursday October 05, 2006 @03:44PM (#16327467) Journal
          I see some different trends among the next-gen consoles.
          • 360 - Tag line is "Jump in", emphasis on all the Live services, and being part of a "living, breathing" community (Gamescore, achievements, Live Marketplace, Live Arcade, etc.)
          • Wii - Emphasis on innovation, being "Mom-friendly", brand new control scheme found nowhere else
          • PS3 - Focus on Blu-ray and "HD only begins with us!" (1080p, HDMI)

          (I'm ignoring the PS3's attempt at their own network service, as they haven't really talked much about it, or their own motion-sensing controller, as those don't really distinguish themselves apart from the others ... it seems too much of a "me too" approach)

          Network services for the 360? Big hit for a lot of folks, especially considering broadband penetration in the US is rapidly increasing. New control scheme for the Wii? Very popular, particularly with gamers that are becoming disillusioned with the current type of games (more graphics, less gameplay, and less fun).

          The trend that Sony is focusing on, unfortunately for them, is something that the vast majority of users won't care about. They don't have an HDTV, much less one that does 1080p or perhaps does HDMI.

          What Sony SHOULD have done is just focus on their massive developer support, and on the games themselves. They've certainly talked about it with the PS3, but that message is diluted too much with the rest of the Blu-ray, 1080p, SIXAXIS talk going on. If all they did was thump their chest and focus on the games, they would have sold a lot more people on the PS3 (myself included).

    • 1. Sony has already slashed the number of units being delivered, due to anticipated lack of demand in the US and EU. This will create an artificial shortage so that they can try to spin it into buzz about how people want PS3 consoles. They already figure that the Wii will sell four times as many consoles in the US and EU as the PS3 will. Shipments prove this.

      I agree with your last two statements. But the first one? FUD!

      It's the same thing folks threw out with the 360 launch. They couldn't imagine that peopl

      • Hey, I'm just going off the articles in my print edition of the Wall Street Journal. If you have some magic story in GameStop that has as good research into the supply chain, please post it.

        After all, WalMart is saying they can't even do well because gas prices are too high, and they have some of the cheapest supply contracts in the industry ...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jchenx ( 267053 )
          You can read more about SCEA's official response [ign.com], which blamed the reduction on the component shortage. Notice, however, that Sony is still sticking to their final fiscal year numbers. I'm pretty sure they would have gotten slammed pretty hard in the stock market if they reduced that estimate. But having the launch shortage will obviously make it harder to "catch up" to those finale estimates. That's why I'm saying an artificial shortage is crazy.
  • Well, considering the fact that at every Gamestop/EB games the official party line seemed over the last 1.5 years to be that the 360 was the end all be all of gaming systems and the PS3 was horrible, why am I not surprised. Seriously, when he was off the job the local gamestop manager actually was talking about how he was looking forward to the PS3, and yet go in and ask him, and suddenly he attempts to push 360 superiority. Recently this changed, but for a while, they basically bashed the PS3 as store poli

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) *
      They're not fans. They're salesmen. Think about it.

      KFG
    • Seriously, when he was off the job the local gamestop manager actually was talking about how he was looking forward to the PS3, and yet go in and ask him, and suddenly he attempts to push 360 superiority.

      I am shocked--SHOCKED!--that when an employee of a game store is on the clock, that he would recommend that you spend $300+ on a product that he has in stock instead of spending $0 on a product that he does not have!
    • This sort of reminds of when the DS and PSP first came out. I remember the local EBgames manager was constantly trying to convince me that the PSP was going to destroy the DS, how pathetic the DS was, how the PSP was the future, etc.

      I guess it's easy to understand why they thought this at the time, but they've really done an about face now, and it's nice to walk in there and be able to buy a DS game without getting a bunch of dirty looks from the employees.

      • Last time I was in a Gamestop the clerk tried to convince me the PSP was the number 1 selling portable game system of all time. Then the next day I was in with my girl to get some DS games. We were talking about importing a DS lite from Japan since I don't want white, black, or pink (I want Navy Blue it looks hott!). The clerk tried to convince me that I can't us a DS lite from Japan in America. Needless to say I will not go back there heh.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Dev59 ( 953144 )
      I can testify to the same thing at all four EB/Game Stop locations in my area. Every single person that works there who's been asked by a customer about the PS3 hears about how horrible the system is going to be and why don't they buy a 360 instead? I'm sure it'll calm down quite a bit once PS3 games start appearing on the shelves and suddenly it'll be the best thing "evar".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by The-Bus ( 138060 )
      They bashed the PS3 because they wanted to sell the existing system. In four months, when the PS3 is in stock commonly, they will not bash it. They'll bash the Xbox, the PS2, etc. Because it's time to upgrade.
  • " 'It's going to be ugly, there is no way this launch is going to go well.'"

    "The room was filled with geeks drinking Rum-and-Jolt, ready to participate in the console unveiling ceremony. At last, the moment arrived: a giant mecha burst through the styrofoam wall, and walked in a straight line until it met the side wall where it could walk no more. The top opened: and inside was a dead nerd., clutching a bloody joystick. Our intrepid investigators arrived mere minutes later."

  • Might be a bit off-topic, but I noticed many of you still bring up that crashing "issue" from that article posted a few days ago. A UK-based PS3 magazine, PSM3, was given a Playstation 3 to play with for a day. Here are the links of the write-ups:

    http://www.psm3mag.com/page/psm3?entry=ps3_power_u p_pics_and [psm3mag.com]
    http://www.psm3mag.com/page/psm3?entry=ps3_meets_p sm3_the_aftermath [psm3mag.com]

    They talk about impressions, heating, noice output and stuff like that. Given that it's a Playstation magazine site, it is a pre

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Dev59 ( 953144 )
      From the pictures, the $500 unit looks matte black (same texture as the PS2), which for me is just another reason to get it over the $600 unit. WiFi and the memory stick ports (not PS1/PS2 memory card ports, which would have helped sell me on the $600 unit) don't matter to me at all and I'll likely stick a cheap 250 GB hard drive in my PS3 so the 40 GB space difference in hard drives doesn't matter to me either.

      There is a lot of cool technology at play in the PS3 and the games I care about (Final Fantasy, M
  • My local EB manager today was being grateful his isn't an inner city store. There's really a potential for people to become violent as this thing is released. Given the 360 stories I was hearing this morning (while waiting to preorder my Wii), I think these guys have some very legit concerns...

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