Like most gamers, I got the evil call from GameStop, notifying me that I will not be getting my Xbox 360 at launch, even though I pre-ordered in June.  As I recall, pre-orders had filled up at the EB Games I first tried to pre-order from, so I had to go down the line until I found a store with spots open.

And yet, in spite of having full pre-order lists and the numbers to go with them for the last 5 months, we’re about to experience a massive shortage - So much so, in fact, that the largest shipment Best Buy is receiving is in the 200 range for one specific store in Washington that my friends will be lining up at so I won’t tell you where.  The smallest shipment I’ve heard of is 7.  Yeah, 7 for the no-doubt 100+ pre-orders.

How much do you want to bet they’ll all be premium units?  Or bundles? (EB Games website doesn’t even offer the core or premium unit, just 2 bundles)

From a business perspective, it’s not a bad move.  By shorting supply, they’ll create more demand from people who hear about how so many more people want them than can get them.  Sony used the same technique with great success for the pre-holiday PS2 launch.

That doesn’t mean I like it any better.

If they can deliver on their promise to get units to everyone before Christmas...yay, I guess?  It’s hard to know.  My call came from a recording telling me it was “very likely” I’d get one by then, without the benefit of me getting to yell at someone.  I yelled at the recording and said some brilliantly choice things I can’t repeat in company, but it’s just not the same.

My advice is to go to Toys R Us, Costco, Sears, etc.  Go places that don’t focus on electronics or games, but that might have them anyway.  Tomorrow I fly down to the desert in Southern California for the Xbox 360: Zero Hour event.  I hear I’ll be able to purchase one while I’m down there.  Take that, pre-order!

- jinx

shes a lot like you