Posts Tagged “best buy”
Kinect May Be The Hot Item This Christmas Season
Now I have to admit, I chuckled a little bit when Kudo Tsunoda said that Kinect sales would, “blow away any of the sales you’ve seen with iPad.” But, you have to admit that selling over 2.5 million units in 25 days is extremely impressive. Moreover, it looks to be on track to actually be a good contender to blow out Apple’s impressive record with the motion controller. Furthermore, there appears to be a shortage… Read On »
Kinect Sold Out On Amazon/Best Buy – Resellers Taking Advantage
As reported earlier this week, Amazon and Best Buy appear to still be sold out on Kinect sensor pre-orders. As a matter of fact, checking on Amazon’s list of sellers under “See My Buying Options” reveals that their third party resellers have now upped the price over $200 for their Kinect pre-orders.
Another check on eBay reveals that sellers are doing the same there. Charging anywhere from $159.99 to $300 for a pre-order there.
Savvy Shoppers should know that if you instead go to sites such as Newegg, or Walmart with their $199, two game bundle, or Gamestop instead of these other third party resellers.
While I would like to believe that it’s the innovation in the new product and its easy to use interface, I’m much more inclined to believe that these sell-outs are largely happening due to the Oprah and Ellen effect.
Best Buy Sold Out Of Kinect Standalone Again
After hearing that Kinect was sold out on Amazon.com, I decided to check out the usual haunts and found that Best Buy is again sold out of the standalone Kinect unit, and still has not restocked their Kinect 250GB Console Bundle.
Newegg and Gamestop appear to still be taking orders however. Looks like Microsoft continues to underestimate demand for their product. This is the second time that the largest retailers of Xbox products have run short of Kinect Standalone units in just a few weeks.
Console News For Monday, October 25th
Remedy On Why Alan Wake Took So Long
A recent interview with Matias Myllyrinne of Remedy stated in an interview with VG247 that it, “could be that we shared with the world too early,” and, ““To be fair, we did not think it was going to take this long to get right, so when we announced we did not think folks would have to wait for so long.”
He goes on to say, “The first Max Payne was a similar story too, but I think as long as you can live up to the vision you set to build people will still be excited and welcome the game when it is done.”
Considering that both games are epic in their own fashion, I think it’s safe to say that in this case, it was well worth the wait.
Source: VG247
How To Fix The RROD – Marine Corps Style.
All I can say to this is…Hu-Rah! Apparently, the RROD is possible even in the middle of the desert. And one Marine shows us how the Corps fix that little problem.
Source: Unrealitymag.com
Sony recalls Shuan Wtihe Skatebaording Doo Too Speeling Error?
Strategy Informer is reporting that Sony has recalled the PS3 version of Shaun White Skateboarding due to a misprinted disc. SCEA had this to say regarding the issue:
“There was a manufacturing issue with a misprinted disc at Sony Computer Entertainment America and the wrong version of the Shaun White Skateboarding PlayStation 3 game was shipped to retailers. We’re working with Ubisoft to correct the issue.”
Corrected copies of the game will be available in stores by this Thursday.
Source: Strategy Informer
Activision hiring PI’s to stop Black Ops Pirates?
I actually had to double and triple check this one before posting it. Apparently, Activision has hired private investigators to track down pirates of the up and coming Call of Duty: Black Ops, and are “kindly” asking for the discs to be returned and to stop selling illegal copies of the game.
This is an unusual tactic for Activision, considering that they have a battery of lawyers ready to sue pretty much anyone and uses shady tactics when dealing with their own employees.
I’m positive no baseball bats were used in the recovery of those discs…right?
Source: Venturebeat
MS VP Says Kinect Pre-Order Numbers Are Good
Joystiq reports that during an interview with Phil Spencer, VP at Microsoft Games Studios, stated that Kinect, “Pre-order numbers are good,” and that, “The retail channel seems to be excited for what we’re doing. We feel good about our supply that we can build. I imagine we’re going to have to work hard to fill out the demand that’s out there, is kind of our sense, but we’re willing to work hard so that’s fine.”
Considering reports that retailers such as Best Buy, NewEgg, and Gamestop have had to resupply allocations for pre-orders, it might just be quite a sales rush come November 4.
Source: Joystiq
News for Tuesday, October 19th
AT&T Offering Free Month of Zune Pass With Win7 Phone
AT&T Wireless is offering a 30-Day trial of Zune Pass with the purchase of a Win7 Mobile Phone. Dubbed the “Entertainment Pack”, you also get access to 30 days of AT&T’s Uverse services, as well as ilomilo, a new, cutesy Xbox Live game.
Best Buy Still Doesn’t Have Any New 250GB Slim/Kinect Bundles?
Apparently Best Buy is still having issues with procuring the $399 Xbox 360S Bundle with Kinect for pre-order. With Microsoft stating that this is a bigger launch than that of the 360, you have to wonder exactly how many units have been pre-ordered, since the 360 only had 400,000 units available when it launched in 2005.
Source: BestBuy
Kinect To Launch With 17 Titles This November
Looks like the guys over at Wired UK have gotten the up-to-date launch list for Kinect this November. Not much has changed with the exception of a couple more games from Konami. With all of the sports and fitness games releasing at launch, there are going to be a lot of skinnier geeks this coming spring.
Source: Wired UK
Call of Duty: Black Ops Stolen From The Presses?
Apparently, some guy (or gal) in Alabama swiped a few copies of COD: Black Ops from the presser not too long ago. Shortly thereafter, the enterprising thief sold the copies to a few upstanding gentleman on some of the forum sites dedicated to cracking and copying software. One person in particular, “Ungodly Leaker”, who was responsible for the leaking of Halo: Reach apparently had posted that they received a copy as well.
With almost 1.8 million pre-orders placed, this looks to be yet another very hot download for the less than ethical gamer.
Halo: Reach Stats Updated By Bungie
Bungie released updated statistics on gameplay and matchmaking this last Friday. Some interesting numbers:
If only the real world economy was based on Halo dollars…
Source: Bungie.net
Console News For Thursday, October 14th
Playstation Move Moves 470,000 Units In The First Month
VGChartz is reporting that 470,000 unique Move units have been sold in the first month since it’s release with over 600,000 individual Move controllers (including bundles and standalone) having been sold. Doing the math, that means 130,000 second, third or fourth controllers have been purchased for the 470,000 new Move users worldwide.
While this does seem like an impressive number, I think that the momentum from Microsoft’s ad campaign, and recent reports of retailers actually selling out of pre-orders might indicate that as far as launch goes, Kinect will have a major advantage over the Move.
With the information available to us right now (which isn’t much since everyone seems to be keeping a lid on Kinect pre-order numbers), I would not be surprised to see Kinect ship out well over 1 million units in it’s first week. Only time will tell, and November is rapidly approaching.
Source: VGChartz
Crazy Taxi Coming To Xbox 360 and PS3
Sega is remaking the Dreamcast hit Crazy Taxi and putting it out on XBLA and the Playstation network in 720p goodiness. Sega’s site is currently reporting that it’s available now. But we know that’s not right because everyone else is reporting a release date of November 23 for PS3 and November 24 for XBLA. Those crazy kids at Sega…
Now if only they’d release Shenmue. And a Seaman remake for Kinect would be quite exciting.
I’ll let you all think about that one for a bit.
Track List for Dance Central Released
And it looks to be a doozy. CVG reports 32 intial tracks for us to sweat and boogey to in our living rooms, bedrooms and parent’s basements are being packaged for delivery. Of course, we know that Harmonix probably has quite a stockpile of audiophile ammunition in store to release as DLC on day and date of release as well.
Source: CVG
Gran Turismo 5 Delayed…Again
Can’t say I didn’t see this coming. Looks like GT5 is pushed back to “sometime around Christmas”. If Duke Nukem comes out before GT5 does, I’m officially calling it Vaporware.
Halo Waypoint Announces New Noble Map Pack for Halo:Reach
Halo Waypoint has just released some screenshots of the up and coming Noble Map Pack for Halo: Reach. The new maps are Tempest, Anchor 9, and Breakpoint. Release price is to be 800MS Points and will have the opportunity for you to add an additional 250 gamerscore to your tally.
Personally I think that ten bucks is a bit stiff of a price to pay for new maps. But i’m sure that sales of this will do well. According to Bungie.net, the map pack will be released on November 30.
Source: Halo Waypoint; Bungie
Follow-up To Yesterday’s Best Buy Pre-Order Stoppage
Best Buy has managed to wrangle some additional allocations for the standalone Kinect package. However, the 250GB 360S Bundle is still not available. The only word that I’ve received from Best Buy is that they have requested more from Microsoft and should hopefully have some soon.
Netflix App Finally Available On PS3 On October 18
Joystiq has just confirmed that an app for Netflix will now be available for the PS3 starting on October 18. Users will no longer be required to insert a disc to run the Netflix application on PS3. Video details here.
Source: Joystiq
As always, comments are welcome.
~W75
Kinect Selling Out All Over The UK. What about US?
Reports that Play, Amazon, and other retailers in the UK are selling out of Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 are big news on the web. But what about at home?
A quick websurfing does show that online retailer Newegg is sold out of the standalone device (stock# N82E16874103199), the 4GB Xbox 360S bundle (stock# N82E16868105044) and the 250GB Xbox 360S Bundle (stock#N82E16868105045). However, Gamestop, Amazon.com (not to be confused with Amazon.co.uk), and most other major retailers are still offering pre-orders.
What does this mean?
While it’s fantastic news that the Kinect sensor is doing so well in the UK, this most likely means that the number of Kinect units that have been allocated to the UK was significantly lower than what has been allocated in the US.
Newegg is not a huge retailer of Xbox items in the United States. And thus, they have most likely not received a large portion of the units allocated for the launch. So they most likely have just hit their limit. However, the larger retailers who make up the bulk of Xbox console and software sales should be granted the largest share to hand out to the consumer.
A twist!
However, after surfing BestBuy.com. I found this:
Updated 1:18PMEST
I called Best Buy and verified that they have indeed stopped taking pre-orders for the Kinect 250GB bundle, and the standalone unit. They did say that they have gone to Microsoft and requested additional units to be allocated. So while this is not likely a long term issue, it does look like for the time being they are out of stock. However, the 4GB units are still available.
Continued checking does show that Gamestop is still accepting orders. More news forthcoming.
While I was going to say that it’s most likely just going to be the smaller retailers that would sell out, it would appear that Best Buy has thrown a monkey into my wrench.
Update 7:04PM – Best Buy now has the standalone unit available for pre-order, however the 250GB consoles are still sold out.