Story Photos
 Photo by Roger Werth Longview resident John Bradley, 28, checks out the features of the new Xbox 360 on Monday afternoon at EB Games in Longview. Bradley planned to be in line outside the store Monday night to get his reserved gaming console when it was released at midnight. |
Boxed Out: Shortages may leave many waiting for Xbox 360
Monday, November 21, 2005 11:41 PM PST
By The Daily News and AP
Printable version
E-mail this articleClatskanie residents Matt Young, Jeff Vancamp and a friend stood behind Longview resident Donald Zeller in a line outside Wal-Mart on Monday night in near-freezing temperatures waiting for the store to close at 11 p.m., then reopen 61 minutes later.
The four were among a handful of customers who were waiting to buy one of the holiday season's hottest items: The Xbox 360, Microsoft Corp.'s brand new video game console. Aside from playing high-definition video games, it can show DVDs, play music, view pictures and host video conference calls.
Microsoft has said it plans to sell 3 million of the new $399.99 Xbox 360 consoles worldwide within 90 days. But it has conceded that an ambitious plan to launch the console worldwide within a few weeks --- rather than staggering releases over months and months, as is typical --- will mean fewer consoles initially in North America. A slimmed-down version without a detachable hard drive and wireless controller will sell for $299.99.
Zeller had his name on a waiting list at another store but found out Monday that the demand was so high and the stock was so low, he wouldn't receive it until January.
"It's cool. It's faster than my computer," said Zeller, 17, who had been waiting outside the Ocean Beach Highway store since 2 p.m. after finding long lines in Vancouver.
Local Target, Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer employees all said they were experiencing increased call volumes for the past few days from people asking about how they can get their hands on the new Xbox.
The bad news: Area stores are all expecting limited quantities, which could sell quickly.
But there's good news: Local retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, Fred Meyer and other regional stores, say they expect to get more consoles weekly leading up to Christmas, so people who don't get consoles immediately need not despair.
Fred Meyer opens at 7 a.m. today but will hand out tickets to the people first in line at 6 a.m. for however many Xbox 360s they received.
"The supply problems are there in as much as the demand is unbelievable," said Peter Moore, a corporate vice president in charge of marketing for the Xbox.
But he denied production problems and dismissed "conspiracy theories," including that the company is purposefully bottlenecking supply to intensify interest.
"None of those are true whatsoever," he said.
GameStop and EB Games, both units of GameStop Corp., planned to open hundreds of stores at midnight, including one in the Triangle Center and one in the Three Rivers Mall, to welcome the console -- but don't show up expecting to get one.
The company is only handing out actual consoles to customers who pre-ordered months ago, and spokesman Chris Olivera said even some people who pre-ordered more recently may not see a console until early January. The company hoped to sell games and other add-ons at the midnight event.
Longview's Game Crazy, located at 720 Ocean Beach Highway, also waited until midnight to distribute pre-ordered consoles.
Amazon.com Inc. is sold out of Xbox 360s, but company spokeswoman Tracy Ogden said the online retailer expects to be able to get consoles to those who pre-ordered them relatively quickly. Ogden would not say when the company planned to again begin taking orders.
Other Web sites also have announced they are sold out, such as Wal-Mart.com and CircuitCity.com.
Bids on eBay reached as high as $4,100 last week, according to PortalIT, an information technology news Web site. On Monday, eBay bids were close to $2,000.
Wire from here on down
Other sites such as Buy.com also did not seem to list the unit, and a search on Froogle, Google.com's shopping search engine, turned up sites that said the system was either “out of stock” or “temporarily unavailable.”
Circuit City and Costco say they will begin selling the consoles when their stores open for business at the regular time Tuesday.
Circuit City spokeswoman Amanda Tate said the retailer plans to hand out vouchers on a first-come, first-serve basis and will put a "sold out" sign up so people don't waste their time waiting. She said not to expect too many consoles at each store on launch day.
"I would like to say hundreds, but in actuality it's dozens," she said.
Costco Wholesale Corp. will have consoles available at some stores, but don't expect elaborate launch events like those planned at some Best Buy locations. Rick DeLie, Costco's vice president for toys, said he's hoping that consumers just stumble happily upon them.
"We're a treasure hunt," DeLie said. "Do we want people lining up outside our doors? No."
Xbox 360 local availability Tuesday
Target: Did not take pre-orders. Will have consoles available at all stores starting at 8 a.m. today.
Wal-Mart: Took some pre-orders on Web site. Will have consoles at all locations today. The local store opened to start selling them at 12:01 a.m. this morning.
Fred Meyer: Did not take pre-orders. Will have consoles available at all stores after opening at 7 a.m. this morning. People had to line up line up for vouchers starting at 6 a.m.
GameStop/EB Games & Game Crazy: Even customers who pre-ordered may not receive consoles until early 2006. Will not have any consoles in stores today.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories