Nintendo's Wii, touted as an affordable, quiet and compact home console, has been expected to take on the Australian market later this year, head to head with Sony's contrasting PlayStation 3. Retailers across the country have, for some months, taken preorders for both systems too, although Toys 'R' Us stores have spoken of Wii preorders significantly eclysping those of the PS3.
Reports have come our way today though, from Toys 'R' Us stores, who've been instructed by the retailer's head office to cease taking PlayStation 3 preorders of any kind and to remove all advertising. Further, whispers from EB Games stores are indicating that they may follow suit shortly.
"With the people that have already left a deposit... we have to follow up with them when we get an email from head office and until then we just have their names down, but we are no longer accepting anymore [PlayStation 3] pre-orders," said one TRU employee.
It is unclear whether this is a result of an impending Australian delay of the PS3 hardware or whether Sony simply will not have enough inventory to commit to the number of pre-orders that have already been completed, no matter how few. The company is set to display the product at the Leipzig Games Convention 2006 in Germany next week, although it will not be playable.
Log onto http://www.toysrus.com.au and any mention of the PS3 preorder promotion has recently been removed, whilst the Wii promotion advertisement now takes up almost half the entire homepage.
Also from the TRU store that I reserved my Wii, the sales rep informed me Wii preorders are in the hundreds (mostly older teens & mums), whilst the PS3 is at about 50 units.
yeah same story at the TRU i preordered at - something like 300+ preorders for wii, while ps3 remains below 50
"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion" - L. Ron Hubbard
Maybe it is the price tag. Maybe the casual gamer and parents, who by the way makes up the larger percentage of the market, decided that $1000 is a stupid price tag for a gaming machine. just maybe.
Media says Xbox 360 is good but might be worth waiting for other consoles - Xbox 360 has a slightly successful launch but the masses stay away
Media says PS3 is shit and overhyped - people avoid
Media says Wii is amazing and the second coming - people go nuts
Looking forward to being able to make an informed decision myself once they're all out, although if I get a job here soon I'll probably just get an Xbox 360. Mind you, a PS2 with Guitar Hero and Karaoke Heroes (or whatever it's called, stupid PAL only SingStar) might do me for a while.
"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion" - L. Ron Hubbard
Any EB people heard anything yet? They (Sony) may wait til the EB vendor show to make a proper announcement tho...
Or has there been anything on Ars/Slashdot/etc about delays in Blu-Ray hardware? Maybe they just can't supply enough units world-wide...
Or we could be just getting screwed over by SCEE, as usual...
Gr8ness
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Sony's ONLY job over the last 6 months was to spin shit, their trademark hype and a little more bullshit to make people stop and think and not jump on the 360 or Wii and just hope they hold off for the PS3. I guess that has worked in a way.........but come Xmas time...........FARKED THEY ARE!!!
The company is set to display the product at the Leipzig Games Convention 2006 in Germany next week, although it will not be playable.
WTF, a couple of months away from launch and still can't show anything playable.
The wii won't sell well here, it'll be like the gamecube but I think on even less of a scale, when it's seen in stores against 360 and ps3 I can see it flatlining quick no matter the price tag. In the meantime Boomy and Selfish can rub themselves hard thinking that because the one Toys R Us in Adelaide has 300 pre-orders everyone wants one, word of mouth among school kids will kill the Wii.
mech wrote:Um, there were heaps of playable games at E3.
And Microsoft got fucked with the 360 last Christmas too due to lack of supply, so don't think Sony's the only one fucking up.
MS were also behind where Sony are now at this time last year. Final dev kits came out VERY late.
We know the same thing happened, but MS never came out and said 'WORLD WIDE LAUNCH'. It was never gonna happen, Sony new it and everybody else new it, except fanbois. It was typical Sony arogance and bullshit hype.
Not surprised, sony reckon that they'll have 2m worldwide available for launch, but somehow I don't believe it, they've only started production now and currently they can only pump out 200k good blue laser diodes a month. They'll probably have around 1m available worldwide. They'll suffer the same supply demand woes as ms did, since the components they're using are even harder/lower yield than the 360.
It's only good news for ms, a lot of disappointed shoppers who can't wait will probably be swayed over the to 360 side. Also probably good news for wii, i don't expect nintendo to have shortage issues so they should clean up too on the ps3 shortage.
Indeed, when the 360 had it shortages there was no other option for a next gen console. This time around there are 2 choices for pissed off potential buyers going to a different "next gen" console.
