X-Box 360 Release Day Fallout

[Dameon Angell]

Alright, any stories from your hometown, personal experiences, etc* on how it all went down?

Apparently all the 360s that they had in my area were sold out before they went on sale, and they didn't have enough to give to all the people who pre-purchased it. I went into the local Best Buy and called a load of stores in the area at around 11:00 pm and they were all sold out. I think every 360 in the state of California was sold.

Anyone actually get one, or waited to get one and they ran out?

[Darius Winds]

http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/...yEHasmrPqu.php

Microsoft quality at its finest. I can only hear it now when the PS3 is released, " at least my console didn't crash."

Anyways, the XBOX360 is nice, and it is smaller than I expected. However, I need to purchase a HD-TV to fully appreciate it's savory graphical prowess, and I am waiting for next-gen games before the system can actually be called next-gen. All in all, if I were a robot, I'd tap dat shi'. I haven't gotten the chance to play on-line. I really wish I could speak about this in terms of me owning the console and not my neighbor/newly-found friend.

[Superted]

Apparently all the 360s that they had in my area were sold out before they went on sale, and they didn't have enough to give to all the people who pre-purchased it.

I've been hearing similiar stories around the 'net, no stories from personal experience though.

[DoTheFandango]

My cousin was #79 on his local Gamespot's list.

They received 75.

dang. christmas is going to suck.

[Liquid Blue]

Saw this on another forum:

My 360 crashes 15-20 minutes into gameplay or a dvd.Complete system lock up. Have to turn off the system and power it back on, only to have it happen 15-20 minutes later....

"on hold w/ customer service waiting to speak to someone for about 45minutes now."

"Yesss, all of my games freeze, and tech support has been no help. I first e-mailed them no response. Then I called and was on hold for an hour and a half(probably due to problems with this machine) then spoke to a representative who could had the deepest accent I could barely understand her. I eventually had to tell her I would try the website again. NBA Live 2006 freezes every time I play it. I used to get past a quarter now I will be lucky to make a basket before it freezes. Have not even made it to a halftime yet. Call of duty freezes everytime I pause it. I have spent nearly 600 dollars and am very upset."

"WOW I just removed the game from the system and it had a huge ring burned in it. I went down to target and they gave me another game. Looks like Ill have to just wait till they get more so I can swap them. Let me know if anyone else ran into this problem....."

"Having same problem with lockups... It doesnt matter if I am playing PDZ or PGR3, both lock up at random times. However, on my PGR3, if I try to go into Online Career mode, its an instant lockup, every time, right after I select my car and hit A, it just locks... Now that I am seeing others having this problem, I am guessing its hardware sad.gif Everyone is sold out, so I cant exchange or return and get another, but I really dont want to have to wait another 1-2 weeks to play the games I bought and such lol..."

"same happened to my premium system. intermitent lockup every 10-15 minutes no matter what game it is. Microsoft said when they recieve my defective system in the mail, they'll mail out a replacement in 8 days.

With units breaking down and no store to simply just go to swap the unit out, people have been calling 1800-4-MYXBOX for technical support. For the most part customers were told that the units would need to be looked at and that MS would send a pre-paid box to send the 360 to be fixed.

Turn around time? 1 to 2 weeks.

The screams of xbox gamers can be heard from miles.

Someone has stated that the 360 has officially been recalled, but that can not be confirmed. It could be just pure BS at this point. Rumors are stating that the reason the first shipments of Xbox 360's were cut in half is just for these reasons: Technical problems. With thousands or more units going bad, MS needed a back up plan.......is it true?

[PredatoR_FNM]

Played in a store today, cod2. Gameplay still sucks on FPS games with gamepads, also the demo did not use AA at all, so it wasnt that great looking as it could have been.

Release day in here..9 days left.

[geekbot]

It's all curiously like early reports that Microsoft was intentionally ramping down production in order that stores sell out. All in the name of marketing.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051101-5510.html

Illegal? Of course not.

Consumer friendly? Not a chance.

[ajaxee]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=8235917501


me and my roomates are crying our eyes out that we didnt think of this, and i was working inside a wallmart before they opened up yesterday, so i could have bought one,, when i got to my next stop at about 9:30am, they had all sold out.

[BleakFuture]

I called zellers on release day 1/2 an hour before they opened, and asked if they were all sold out, etc
The dude on the other end of the phone said there was something like 50 people lined up, and they only had 5 core systems that weren't already sold.

I laughed and hung up the phone.

[Nethila]

read off Gaf... apparently alot of people are complaining that the xbox360 is extremely loud and heats up really fast.

[Ephemeral]

Posted On Arstechnica.com 3 weeks ago, why is anyone surprised at the rollout?

"More Xbox 360 launch and technical details
11/1/2005 3:30:28 PM

We reported a while back that signs from retailers indicated that the Xbox 360 console will be in short supply on its 11/22 launch date, and now that information has been semi-confirmed by Microsoft. In addition to quoting various analysts on Microsoft's plans and reasons for limiting the launch date supply, this Reuters piece quotes Microsoft's CFO to the effect that the Xbox 360 won't face the same spike-then-slump phenomenon that plauged Sony's PS2 launch. The idea seems to be that would-be Xbox 360 buyers will be less unhappy with a steady but limited supply of consoles than a massive sell-off followed buy a drought.

I think there's some significant merit to this idea of doing a kind of rolling, first come, first serve thing where the consoles are steadily and predictably doled out to buyers than having a ton of lucky gamers take home units initially followed by a period where nobody can get their hands on one. That being said, Microsoft's has other motives for restricting the launch supply than what they're stating publicly. As it turns out, a complete launch date sell-out would generate a ton of positive media coverage for the new console.

The average store can expect to have between 25 and 50 consoles the first day, but it mentions elsewhere that this number can be as low as 10. This is all determined by average store volume. I checked the computer and the consoles, games and peripherals are already in the system, so if you have a generous Target employee they can check to see exactly the amount of consoles they have in when they get the shipment.

Every store will print up tickets representing the number of 360's and core systems they have in stock. They are also supposed to print a large sign informing customers that the store has sold out and keep it on hand."

Other interesting XBox360 things.....
Peter Moore (MS VP) "In the first 90 days, I believe we'll be somewhere between two and a half and three million units worldwide."
Guess the 'issues' that poeple are reporting aren;t enough to stop people from running out and buying them.

MS losing money on each one it sells....
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...122_410710.htm

[DoTheFandango]

http://forums.xbox.com/530545/ShowPost.aspx

[Squeezer]

Holy shit, I had stock in Microsoft last night, and I sold!!!! I made $456. I sold all but 3 stocks, which I'm saving for when the second batch of X-Box's hit shelves, then I'm gonna sell those stocks, and put em into Sony, so that when the PS3 comes out, I'll make even more money. I see myself coming out of these two releases somewhere in the range of about $600.

[Kyace]

Holy shit, I had stock in Microsoft last night, and I sold!!!! I made $456. I sold all but 3 stocks, which I'm saving for when the second batch of X-Box's hit shelves, then I'm gonna sell those stocks, and put em into Sony, so that when the PS3 comes out, I'll make even more money. I see myself coming out of these two releases somewhere in the range of about $600.

Thats enough for 10 gamecubes.

[Darius Winds]

XBOX360 now sold with birth defects.