Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2006 > February > 22 > Entry
Xbox 360 drought almost over?
There are several reasons to believe that the shortage in Xbox 360s is soon to be over, the most compelling of which is that I found one on store shelves recently and bought it.
Since November, when the initial shipment of Microsoft’s new next-gen console dried up in a frenzy of pre-holiday retail partying, the only people have able to buy 360s are those on pre-order lists at game stores like EB Games and Gamestop, folks lucky enough to stumble upon the systems as they arrive in dribbles at retail outlets like Circuit City and Costco or those willing to pay loads extra for marked-up bundles online that include games, memory cards and extra controllers.
And then there’s always eBay.
I spent the last few months making calls and holding out for console arrivals at EB Games, where I was updated on the status of the number of people on the list for consoles. The number went from several dozen to 15 to 10 to about six at most stores in the last week. It seemed like I’d finally catch a break when one EB employee told me that the Barton Creek store had finished off its list of those waiting for Xbox Premium consoles. The reviled “Core” system, while $100 cheaper, is not a great deal; it’s missing a hard drive, for one thing; the hard drive is a necessary component for downloading games, demos, movie trailers and other goodies from Xbox Live, the console’s online service. If you buy a Core system, you’ll probably end up buying the detachable hard drive anyway, and that $100 easily makes up the price difference between the Core and Premium system. The Premium also includes a headset for trash-talking online, cables for hooking the 360 up to an HD set, a wireless controller and the ability to play games for the original Xbox. You’re much more likely to find the Core system than a Premium, though some desperate gamers are picking up Core systems and paying extra for the items it lacks.
Several Web tools for tracking down 360s have emerged. One site helps you find what online retailers are selling the Xboxes, but the only ones who seem to have consoles available are the ones in bundles.
One enterprising programmer created a Windows program that tracks inventory at Best Buy and Circuit City stores. Using the program last week, I found that the Best Buy near the Arboretum had gotten a late-night shipment. Next morning, I waited at the door with other shoppers who’d obviously downloaded the same app. The first three shoppers through the door got premium systems. The rest of us did not.
A friend who found a Premium console at a Target store in Los Angeles suggested I start making calls to Target and Wal-Mart stores. I’d heard tales of large shipments at those stores and even though several Target told me by phone they hadn’t seen a Premium system in weeks, an EB Games employee told a mythic tale, featuring everything but unicorns, about 30 systems that had somehow ended up at the Wal-Mart on I-35 and Ben White recently.
I printed out a list of Wal-Mart locations and went down the list, calling electronics departments. On my third try, I got lucky. The Wal-Mart at Slaughter and 35 had just put out four premium systems minutes before my Thursday evening call.
“Can you hold one for me?” I asked the retail associate on the phone, hoping I didn’t sound too desperate.
“No,” she said.
I hauled booty to the store and all four systems were still there, untouched, unfought for, in a glass case. Was this an alternate dimension where the laws of supply and demand don’t apply?
In any case, retailers and the poobahs in Washington state say such retail store findings won’t be so rare come mid-March. Now whether you still want to spend $400 on a videogame system is a whole other question, but for those with the money ready, it shouldn’t be too much of a struggle before too long to find the recently rare Premium system.
I’ll post again soon my impressions of the system and whether I think you should buy it. Maybe the delirium has gotten to me, because my current answer would be, “Start hammering that piggy bank.”
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
