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Gamestop Not Taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders Yet 82

Posted by Zonk from the thinking-ahead dept.
Next Generation is reporting that Gamestop has declined to take preorders for the Wii and PS3, on the grounds that they don't know how many units will be available at launch. They're apparently trying to avoid a repeat of last year's problems with the 360's launch. From the article: "Analysts also inquired what would happen if PS3 launch quantities fell short of expectations. '[Last year,] the 360 in short supply had an effect of freezing the market,' said DeMatteo. 'But if you look at it, there wasn't anything new. I mean, there weren't any new platforms out there, so the 360 was the newest thing in the last four or five years. This year, there will be a Wii and there will be a 360, so I can't believe that it will have the same kind of impact that the 360 [shortages] had.'"
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Gamestop Not Taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders Yet More

Gamestop Not Taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders Yet

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  • In other news (Score:5, Funny)

    by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @05:06PM (#15930060) Journal
    Sears and JC Penny aren't taking Wii/PS3 PreOrders either. Keep up the great work, I don't know where I'd go to find out who isn't taking Wii/PS3 orders without ya!

  • Wait.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by MagicDude ( 727944 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @05:10PM (#15930099)
    Then ... who did I give my $100 to?

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by steveo777 ( 183629 )
      Me, thanks.
    • Yeah really, my older brother went in like 2 weeks ago to EB and they took his pre-order for the Wii. . . Man I think they need to stop hiring the useless nerds that they usually do. Last night I went in to buy a DS lite, asked the guy if it came with anything (The Walmart around the corner gave some extra accessories but were sold out) and he told me it came with a charger. When I was browsing in the store I saw some guys approach him with a copy of Oblivion and asked him if there was multiplayer in it. He

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nekura ( 600099 )
        When I was browsing in the store I saw some guys approach him with a copy of Oblivion and asked him if there was multiplayer in it. He told them that there was "probably some mod for it that gives online play."
        Well, there is, even though it's a WIP. [csu.edu.au]

      • How do you know they don't train their nerds to behave this way? After all, I'm sure it makes them money. They may lose all their smart customers, but today it seems companies just want stupid customers who are easy to screw over...

        • I've posted part of this a few times, but they don't "train" them to be idiots. A buddy of mine was a '3rd key' at a Gamestop (IE just under manager or something). They merely condition them. The managers are pressured by corporate to keep sales up, and generally couldn't give a crap about what they sell to who as long as they look good. I don't know if my friend can confirm it, but they do get a lot of bonuses (read 'kickbacks') when their stores do well. And corporate would often offer bonus stuff fo

  • GameStupid (Score:5, Interesting)

    by The_Pariah ( 991496 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @05:11PM (#15930114)
    What a snare preorders are.... I pre-ordered a 360 thru GameStop 6 months in advance, and they told me I wouldn't be in the first release group on their order. So I said 'screw that' and went to ShopKo and grabbed a Premium Bundle and only waited in line for 2 hours. Then, 3 months after the release, GameStop calls me to tell me my 'pre-order' is in. This is after the fact that Best Buy had units on the shelf at a steady rate.

    • Re:GameStupid (Score:4, Informative)

      by twistedsymphony ( 956982 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @06:22PM (#15930750) Homepage
      I've been burned too many times by pre-orders in the past I just stopped bothering... The very last pre-order I did was for the original Star wars Trilogy Box set. I was selling some used DVDs to EB and they had a promotion where if you give them X amount of DVDs they'd double their value towards a pre-order or something... I figured I'd put in for Star Wars because I was planning on buying it anyway and I was getting "such a great deal", with the DVDs I put in and the bonus the Box Set got paid for in full. Release day came I went to the store: "oh... we already gave out all our pre-orders, we don't have any more for sale"... this was aggravating because the store wasn't exactly anywhere near where I lived, quite out of the way in-fact, I browsed around the mall and felt pretty depressed that every other store that sold DVDs had them sitting on shelves yet I had already paid for it and somehow not yet had it in my hands. They called me the next week and told me that had it in, I showed up... they didn't have it... I WAS PISSED. Apparently some "new employee" sold it by accident. I demanded my money in CASH and they gave me the full value of the DVDs in cash so I could go across the hall and buy it at Best Buy (with cash to spare all said and done). I never bothered pre-ordering ANYTHING after that... the only thing a pre-order "guarantees" is that the store will get your money, it certainly doesn't guarantee that you'll actually get the product.

      For the Xbox 360 I Went to Sam's Club, they opened at 7, I hopped in line around 5 and even when they opened their doors they only had about 15 people in line when they had 20 consoles...

      I know where I'll be buying my Wii, Fsk Pre-orders.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        Heh, I remember walking into Media Markt on 360 launch day and there was a long line of people who had preordered, the last console was given out and people were complaining that their preorders weren't filled. Then I walked over to Karstadt and saw a pile of 6 360s sitting there.
        • Someone in Germany actually bought a 360??? I've been into the local stores (Karstadt, Toys R Us, etc.) in my area and it looks like they're collecting dust. Even at my local BX (Base Exchange) they aren't selling 360s all that fast. I figured they'd have sold out in no time but it's the opposite actually. So even Americans living in Germany don't want to buy the thing.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
            They did sell, at least for a few weeks. Of course now it's huge stockpiles everywhere and I keep wondering when we'll see a pricedrop or something equivalent.
    • probably the best bet is just pick them up in a bundled package at CostCo right before Thanksgiving.

      less problem, cheaper price.

  • I just wanted to let you know (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I just wanted to let you all know that I'm buying a Wii. I think that the PS3 is too expensive, and there are no good Xbox 360 games. Also, you have to pay $50 per year to use the Xbox 360.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by crull ( 221987 )
      The main reason I'm "switching" from Xbox to Wii is that I couldn't find one single game for the Xbox that I liked so much I kept playing it. I feel that there just isn't any fun in playing games that aren't games, they don't look like games. I'm sure there are good Xbox games it's just that every game have been trying to look like reality, it falls ofcourse short and becomes a lesser reality. But that's not even the point, I want games to be games, colorful and entertaining. Now I'm going for the Zelda and
      • While a large majority of xbox games go for the realistic look, there are a few good games that don't try to look realistic, like Jet Grind Radio, Panzer Dragoon Orta, or Psychonauts.

        Sure, Wii will be a much better bet, but if you still have an xbox lying around, you might as well get some good games until Wii launches.
      • The main reason I'm "switching" from Xbox to Wii is that I couldn't find one single game for the Xbox that I liked so much I kept playing it.

        Same here. And they'll have Spore on the Wii. Until then, I'll just learn how to fish and hop from star to star.
    • Thanks for letting us know about your future video-game puchase. Now what we really want to know is your sex-life. Dont' forget to include all the lurid details no matter how clinical or disgusting they may be. Don't forget relevant fantasies and therapy sessions. Lastly - no two line post please. We want at least 1200 words. Even if it's merely a schedule of daily autoeroticism sessions.

      Thank you in advance - and I believe I speak for all of Slashdot when we say - we look forward to your next share.
  • Next Generation is reporting that Gamestop has declined to take preorders for the Wii and PS3, on the grounds that they don't know how many units will be available at launch.

    For those who missed that:

    1) They're not taking pre-orders
    2) because they don't know how many units will be available at launch
    3) probably because Nintendo has difficulty making an estimate
    4) because they don't know how many people they can count on to buy
    5) because they aren't accepting pre-orders, which would tell them how many they c

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      They know they can buy as many as available. They also know that the preorders for the 360 vastly exceeded the supply that was available afterwards, probably reducing customer confidence in preorders and as such threatening one source of income for them.

  • This is news? (Score:4, Informative)

    by RyoShin ( 610051 ) <<tukaro> <at> <gmail.com>> on Thursday August 17, 2006 @05:39PM (#15930370) Homepage Journal
    I've known about this for about three months, during which time I've been trying to reserve not only a Wii, but change my Twilight Princess reservation to Wii. The only people who don't know this would be those who haven't tried to reserve a system yet, and even then they probably heard someone else complaining about it.

    I talked to a GameStop employee about it one day and got some info. I don't think this guy was a manager, but he seemed to know his stuff, so you can take this with a grain of sale if you like.

    First, according to the guy I talked to, they will start taking pre-orders, at soonest, after their next "manager meeting", which is taking place around the time of the Leipzig (sp?) thing where Nintendo will announce final pricing and release dates.

    Second, they will be raising the reservation price. Instead of just chunking down $25 or $50, you will now put down a good portion of the price. (The guy said "something like $300", and was probably referring to the PS3. Wii will probably be about $100.) This is to discourage people who aren't going to pick up the thing on release to shy away.

    One of the GameStops I visit normally had a "Registration Notification" thing you could fill out with your name and phone number, and they would call you once the systems go on reservation. Headquarters apparently put the kabash on that, stating that people might think they are actually reserving the system when they're just signing up for a notice when it's reservable.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
      Disclaimer: I've never reserved a console before, so I'm going to assume your quote of $25 for pre-ordering is accurate.

      you will now put down a good portion of the price ... This is to discourage people who aren't going to pick up the thing on release to shy away.

      I think this is more likely to combat the "Ebay effect" that we saw with the PS2 and the 360. I don't know what percentage of the launch-time units were resold, but I'm sure that retailers don't like the fact that people are doing it.

      By raising th

    • The guy said "something like $300", and was probably referring to the PS3. Wii will probably be about $100.) This is to discourage people who aren't going to pick up the thing on release to shy away.

      That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, since many of those slimey stores are just as likely to sell your unit to whomever walks in the door flashing enough cash, or the manager takes a few home himself to plaster up on eBay.

      Pre-orders used to be a guage for interest in a few high-visibility products. The

    • Would it also be the possibility they are waiting for concrete information on what games will be available on release day. Then force to preorder a bundle (2? 3 games) instead of preordering a console without games? It would help their revenue instead of selling just a console or console with a single game.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by RyoShin ( 610051 )
        I wouldn't say so. While they aren't reserving the consoles themselves, they are reserving many games. Not ALL of the launch titles, though; you can't reserve Twilight Princess or Metroid Prime 3 or Super Mario Galaxy, for instance.

        They will try to push bundles, no doubt, but I don't think that's their tactic this round. IIRC, Best Buy forced bundles with the 360 launch, but GameStop/EBGames didn't.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by PKFC ( 580410 )
      Sure I'm a week late to the discussion, but my manager at EB Games in Canada said that there might even not be preorders on PS3. It would just be first come first served. Not having enough systems for preorders just looks bad for them. M$ short shipped the 360 for the store and for the launch, he went to the trouble of scheduling pickup times and including all the games and accessories you wanted. Only two people out of at least twenty came at their time and even then they wanted to change their order.

      Wii s
  • My local Gamestop was not taking preorders for the Wii last time I checked, but they where putting together a list of people that would like to preorder: so I'm in the pre-preorder list.
    The idea was that they will call us when starting to take preorders. Will this be maintained in the view of the news? Who knows!
    • Two weeks ago I asked them if they would do exactly this for me (have a pre-preorder list and call me when it's available) and they wouldn't :-(
      • Two weeks ago I asked them if they would do exactly this for me (have a pre-preorder list and call me when it's available) and they wouldn't :-(

        Don't forget these stores are franchises and thus policy will vary slightly between stores. You can also have one store where they are jerks and another where they will do everything to give the best service.
        • Except I don't think it was an issue of them being jerks. I had been there a few days before to replace an item, and they couldn't have been more helpful. The same guy was there and he was very nice, still, but wouldn't even let me pre-preorder.
          • Except I don't think it was an issue of them being jerks. I had been there a few days before to replace an item, and they couldn't have been more helpful. The same guy was there and he was very nice, still, but wouldn't even let me pre-preorder.

            Sorry, I didn't mean to indicate that he was a jerk. I should have just said 'you mileage might vary', since what I meant is that you aren't always going to get the same service in each store. Sometimes the initiative, or lack, of one person can make a big difference
  • I've been in the video game retail arena, preorders are just a shitty excuse to take your money and lock you into making your purchase with them. There is no guarantee they'll have a box with your name on it on launch day.
  • I'll take your order for a Wii or PS3 right now. Just send me a $250 deposit, a $250 handling charge, and $50 to cover packaging and shipping, and I guarantee that as soon as I buy one in a store I'll send it to you. But that's not all. If you order by responding to this email within 45 minutes I'll send you a special bonus gift guaranteed to be worth at least $19.95. Hurry now while stocks last!
  • After excitedly heading down to the local gamestop the day Dead Rising was released, and being told in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't sell one without a pre-order in hand (despite a huge pile of them sitting in the counter behind the desk) I fired off this email to both Gamestop and Capcom:

    ----
    I just wanted to let Gamestop know how grateful I am
    about their store policies for not selling new-release
    games without a preorder. I was in Store #1049 on
    Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, NY yesterday to purchase a

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by PhoenixOne ( 674466 )

      And the guy who's job it is to read these letters added a check mark to "positive comment on preorder policy" and then chuck it into the trash. You may have even got a form letter with a coupon for your next preorder (if the minimum wage employee enjoyed your irony).

      It's fun to act witty but, if you really want to do something, make your letters short and serious. "Due to your preorder policy I will no longer purchase software from your store. I will instead take my business to one of your competitors wh

    • FWIW, my girlfriend works at GameStop, and at her store (nowhere near yours), they were only given as many copies as were preordered, so if they sold a copy to somebody who hadn't preordered, somebody who did wouldn't get their copy. In a case like that, it's the manufacturer's fault, not some evil GameStop policy.
      • Well then, it wouldn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to say "NEW CONSOLES HERE!!!!! GET YER NEW CONSOLES!!!!!!" and have them prominently displayed when the only people who are getting them have already decided to purchase one ... now, would it?

        I guess they want to be cockteases.
      • >it's the manufacturer's fault, not some evil GameStop policy.

        no it's still gamestops fault because they only order enough copies to fill pre orders so they can get people to see the 'need' to preorder.
    • The problem my store and many other stores had in my area [again, not near yours, but related] is that we only recieved an initial quantity of dead rising that matched our reservations. I cannot vouch for the store you went to, but typically at my store we unload stuff at the front counter because we don't have any other place to do it. So they might have just had them out there in between processing the shipment, or like some stores in my area are told to do, display reservation copies prominently so cus

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xero314 ( 722674 )
      I went to an EB Games once to pick up a game first day and they said I had to have a pre order. So I walked to the other end of the mall, bought the game I was looking for, walked back and informed the manager of EB I would not be purchasing anything from his store in the future. I have stuck to that to this day and that was a few years ago. I'm not a capitalist at heart, but I know how to vote with my money and word of mouth.

  • Pricing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Midnight Thunder ( 17205 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @06:01PM (#15930563) Homepage Journal
    Surely until there is an official price tag, taking pre-orders will be a little tough?

  • Slow News Day? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Rhonwyn ( 49658 )
    First I find out that I have to use the Wii controller with a Wii game, now I find out places aren't taking pre-orders.

    Maybe next we'll hear that the sky is still blue, except when there are clouds.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by xtracto ( 837672 )
      Maybe next we'll hear that the sky is still blue, except when there are clouds.

      Is it still blue?, since I moved to UK I havent been able to corroborate that :(
  • "the 360 in short supply had an effect of freezing the market [...] This year, there will be a Wii and there will be a 360, so I can't believe that it will have the same kind of impact that the 360 [shortages] had."

    Okay, it certainly won't have the same effect on the market as a whole as the 360 shortages (might have) had. However if not having enough of a product to sell people is bad, not having enough when there are two competing products is _really_ bad. Convincing people to buy a $500-$600 console is

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by zordac ( 738157 )
      "......but there's a 360 and possibly a Revolution there in stock there's probably going to be at least some temptation to get one or both of them instead"

      Yes there is that possible temptation but its not likely nor a very strong temptation. For the people that are unsure as to which one to buy that walk into a store and see three displays they will go with the one that has sold the most. The thinking is that "well if everyone else is buying that one then I need too also". Obviously this is not always th

  • meh why preorder (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by grapeape ( 137008 )
    Im a game junkie but have never bothered to pre-order any console. I did happen to be at a walmart in a small town near me the day after the 360 launch and picked up a premium because I read about all the nuts paying stupid amounts of money for them. I turned it around for several hundred more than I paid within a half an hour of posting it. I still havent bothered to buy one for myself, its just not a high priority. I'm planning on getting a Wii as well, but will probably buy one after the initial hype
    • I wouldn't call your post "offtopic" like whatever learning-impaired mod did, but I do have to wonder by what measure you call yourself a "game junkie?" "Game Junkies" would be the guys like the shmuck you sold it to for $(retail+(k*100)) just so they can have it first.
      • Well I've owned and mostly still have just about every major console since the Atari 2600 (never bought a jaguar, lynx or a virtual boy) but im not in that big of a hurry. 99% of the friends I know that camp out for a first day console or overpay if they dont get one are pirates more than gamers. The first versions are usually the most hackable from their experinece. Very few of the even bother to play a game more than a few minutes.
  • Projected #Wii available at launch: 5.5 Million Projected #PS3 available at launch: 1.0 Million

    Chances of getting PS3 without questionable ethics: slim Chances of getting Wii: 5.5 times slim (stout?)

  • Bah! No playable Wii at Leipzig GC :( (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Knuckles ( 8964 ) <knuckles@@@dantian...org> on Friday August 18, 2006 @08:44AM (#15933797)
    I got my hopes up with the Wii announcements [qj.net] due on the first day (industry-only) of the Leipzig Games Convention [gc-germany.de], bought tickets for the first public day and took off a day from work. Only to find out a little later that there will no playable machinese [gc-blog.de] (German). NINTENDO, I WANT MY Wii!!
  • You know I haven't been to the store and asked them about it days after E3, I haven't wanted the Twilight Princess Zelda game so bad it hurts, I haven't desired to make sure to that I get a Wii at the front of the line. I am so uninterested in the system that I haven't even heard this, and because I hear this... what? I want one now?

    If you like these two systems you already have tried to get a pre-order, and the store employees have told you the score. If you don't like these two systems you don't car

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