Quote Originally Posted by Groundbeef
1st. Yes, BB was having a "Massive" sale on the PS3 across the country. Here in Springfield IL, they had 25 for the big sale. As of Tuesday they still had 17 on the sales floor. Even the electronics Mgr said they couldn't move them. Was in Target getting stuff and they had 3 in the case. Meijer also had 2 on display. Had them for over a week and no ones biting.
Springfield's also a much smaller market. Hard to judge how things are going nationally and globally based on anecdotal observations. If supply catches up with demand, that's not necessarily a sign of a floundering format. Stores have been awash in Xbox 360s for months now. Does that mean that the Xbox 360 has bombed out in the market, or that their production has reached equilibrium with demand? A lot of the early supply shortfalls with the Xbox 360 occurred because stores were playing catch up filling preorders that Microsoft could not deliver by the launch date. Did not occur with the PS3 because stores did not take preorders this time around, and Sony made no promises on how many units stores would get.

Quote Originally Posted by Groundbeef
2nd. Are those Fanboy sites youve been reading on the down low? I thought you wouldn't lower yourself to that
Doesn't matter to me if they're gamer sites if the articles are posting actual data or analyses by professionals who actually study the market rather than equate rumors with facts.

Quote Originally Posted by Groundbeef
As for writing the death notice for Sony? No, not at all. Its just funny that the market for PS3 doesn't seem as strong as it should be. At this point there should be NO units out for display. The WII is being practically purchased off the back of the truck before being unloaded. The PS3 sits, and sits, and sits......

It could be a death notice if they dont catch on though....
I've read that Nintendo underestimated the demand for the Wii, and have been playing catch up ever since, even though they had far more units available at launch than the PS3 and supposedly held back thousands of units so they could phase in the distribution and ensure a supply of units right before Christmas.

Sony supposedly "solved" their production woes before December and the units produced after ramping up to full production are only now starting to get into retail channels. Like I said, if people read the same newspaper articles that I did, then they fully don't expect to see PS3s until June. Hard to gauge how the market will react if the PS3s become readily available this much sooner than expected.

If the market reacts the same way as it did to the DeLorean automobile in the early-80s, then Sony will have a disaster on its hands. In the case of the DeLorean, ther publicists put the word out that the entire first year production was sold out before the cars even arrived in showrooms, hoping it would stoke demand. Instead, prospective car buyers wound up ignoring the DeLorean and staying away from the showrooms, figuring that they'd have to wait a year to get their hands on one. On the other hand, if there's enough pent up demand, the PS3 will move once word gets out that stores have them in stock. If anything, Sony has been trying to put the word out that they're now in full production on the PS3 and will supposedly have 6 million units shipped by the end of March.

The Wii looks like an early hit, and it's already outselling the Xbox 360 worldwide, and came close to the Xbox 360's U.S. sales figures for the Christmas season despite supply shortages. People I know who've played it love it, but those analysts I linked to earlier seem more skeptical about whether Nintendo can maintain momentum over the long haul.