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Reader Comments (117)

Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:49PM StormEagle said

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".......so rush out and get one while you can!"


Okay.....wait a minute. You almost got me.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:00PM SoulBlade said

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Dr Tea Bag... except that Nintendo was right and most people couldn't find a Wii for almost a year after launch.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:05PM copa said

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First off, Nintendo and Sony do not intentionally dry up supplies of their product to "create buzz." That would be an enormously expensive gamble, they do not have that much room for error, and their shareholders would not be amused.

Now, it is legitimate to ask why they don't invest in ramping up production in anticipation of perceived shortages.

In Nintendo's case, I think they were very conservative, and worried about ramping up production just as Wii demand started falling, and ending up with a glut of inventory. (In retrospect, that probably would not have been a problem)

In Sony's case, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Sony is STILL losing money on each PS3 made. And Sony's 3rd quarter results showed that while things are getting better, the PS3 is still a very expensive enterprise for them. So they have to strike a balance between not bankrupting themselves by doing anything to meet high demand, while at the same time not letting themselves fall behind too far in the sales race.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:05PM Churchbus said

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Here's to hoping that people won't fall for one of the oldest supply/demand tricks in the book.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 4:05PM Ridgecity said

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Isn't the Wii actually hard to find right now? The Best Buy and walmarts here are still waiting for supply refill since christmas...

I'm glad the PS3 is selling as well as the Wii, considering very few people buy Ps3, most have Wii and xboxes.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 7:12PM PhilipJWitow said

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@ Churchbus.

I'm confused. The supply/demand thing is that the more demand there is for the PS3, the higher they can theoretically raise the price and still have the same amount of consumers buying it when compared to before there was extra demand for the product.

If you're talking about supply, if there's less supply the price also generally goes up.

Now in both of these scenarios, Sony will never raise the price of the PS3, because that would be stupid. So how can people fall for the demand/supply tricks?

I think you may be referring instead to a psychological phenomenon of loss aversion, where people are worried they are going to lose out on buying a PS3, and thus they go out and buy it. The more worried they are that they will miss out, the more likely they are to go out and buy it as they don't want to risk buying it in a month's time as they may have missed out by that time.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:50PM pjskiboy said

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Almost impossible to find any in stock at Target stores right now.
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Posted: Feb 16th 2010 3:40PM (Unverified) said

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There are plenty of PS3's in stock around my city, though, Wii's are perpetually out of stock as well as the Elite 360's. Actually, the Meijer and Target stores near my house still has some of the 80gb PS3's. Maybe it is a regional thing?
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:51PM darrenhupke said

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yeah, Gamestop is doing deposits on PS3's and Wii's for future shipments.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:51PM Dr Blight said

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I've been seeing both PS3 and Wii shortages. Haven't seen 360 shortages since 2006, but that's probably because MS has lots of experience regarding demand.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:56PM MrXile said

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hence the RLOD that is still common place.

Throwing them out on a conveyor belt with cheap as chips components.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:02PM 216 said

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@MrXile

couldn'tve said it better myself
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:32PM (Unverified) said

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Xile, the RROD is not "still commonplace," idiot.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 4:08PM That Burning Sensation said

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Kiz, really? So for the remaining working 1st and 2nd generation 360 consoles, Microsoft as personally installed new motherboards for the owners? Must be wonderful in bizzaro world............ idiot.
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Posted: Feb 13th 2010 4:26PM Fermie Prime said

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@MrXile,
We are passed the RROD days friend, so nice attempt at trying to spread your propaganda. You must be saddened to hear that the issue is solved in current SKUs of the 360. The older units that were failure prone have either failed already and been replaced, or they are operating just fine. But while we're on the console failure topic, why don't we discuss the failure rates of early generation PS2's?
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Posted: Feb 13th 2010 4:47PM Fermie Prime said

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@That Burning Sensation,
So installing a new motherboard is the ONLY way to fix the problem? You must be some kind of XBOX 360 hardware engineer extrodinare, right? Whats it like to be full of shit?
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:51PM NutMan said

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I don't know if I buy this. The PS3 is in stock on all the big online stores(buy, amazon, best buy, walmart etc) except for GameStop/EB.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 10:18PM (Unverified) said

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The predict it's going to be tight and shortages may occur. That doesn't necessarily mean that all major online retailers will be sold out today...
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Posted: Feb 13th 2010 2:46PM (Unverified) said

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I bought a PS3 in early January (around the 10th) and originally intended to buy the 120GB model, upgrading the hard drive straightaway. However, there wasn't one in stock at any of the 8-10 online retailers that I consider reputable (Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Wal-Mart, etc.), and all the brick & mortar locations in my area of Atlanta were out of stock, as well.

So, I "settled" for the 250GB model for $50 more, as well as one of the last Tritton AX 720 PS3/360 headsets to be found *anywhere* at a reasonable price (at the time, at least).
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Posted: Feb 14th 2010 12:02AM (Unverified) said

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i went out to buy a slim less than two weeks ago and no stores in a 20 mile radius had them. 5 gamestops, best buy, target, meijer, k-mart, wal-mart and a few other local retailers were all out. i had to order mine through amazon. there's definitely a shortage at brick and mortar stores.
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Posted: Feb 16th 2010 1:53PM (Unverified) said

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From the amazon.com website link below

PlayStation 3 120 GB purchase limit policy
As you may know, the PlayStation 3 120 GB is in great demand. In an effort to provide as many customers as possible with the opportunity to purchase PlayStation 3 120 GB, we are limiting the total number of PlayStation 3 120 GB units that can be purchased. As a result, each household may only purchase one PlayStation 3 120 GB unit. See additional policy details here.

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-120-GB/dp/B002I0J4VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1266262712&sr=8-1
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:51PM Draco84 said

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I already have a PS3, but it is unusual, around christmas time walking through Walmart, Superstore, Best Buy (WPG MB Canada locations anyways) the only systems they had in stock were 360's.

I guess Microsoft planned ahead with the amount of systems needed.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 4:14PM (Unverified) said

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"I guess Microsoft planned ahead with the amount of systems needed."

[fanboy]Or maybe no one bought an Xbo----.[/fanboy] Nah, that's too easy.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:51PM Mazrael said

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..And they're still showing the old one.. and out of those games listed, I only want to play Heavy Rain..
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:57PM JasonGW said

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Err, I haven't seen a single store out of PS3's in my area (Orange County, CA). In fact, I was at both a Target and a Wal Mart yesterday, and they had plenty, in both 120 and 250GB flavors.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 5:44PM mahouneko said

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Seriously? It's sold out here in City of Industry and Pasadena last I checked.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:53PM (Unverified) said

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Ohh Noo!
I hope this wont lead to a Ipad shortage.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:56PM cbarrentos said

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i'm more concerned about iPad leakage.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:21PM Dr Blight said

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iDon't Have Leak Protection?
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 5:40PM Draco84 said

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You wouldnt have to worry if you got the iPad with Wings!
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:54PM Zachary said

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Amazon has been out of stock on and off for the past few weeks so maybe there's some truth to it.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:55PM cbarrentos said

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i live in Long Beach, CA. major retail outlets, including GameStop, Target, and Wal-Mart, have all had limited to NO quantity available for the PS3.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:58PM Deezul AwT said

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Stacks of them at Best Buy last I was there. Walmart and Target have only 2-3 consoles each of all of them out at one time anyway. They don't have the space like BB does.

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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:58PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

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I'm having trouble finding a 250GB in stores....but see 120GB SKUs everywhere....

Suppose I can just buy a 120GB and put in the 500GB HDD myself...hell it will just cost an extra $30-40 over the cost of the 250GB PS3 so I might as well
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:09PM Reaver Zero said

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Do it! It's super simple and they even walk you through it in the instruction manual. I swapped my original 60 for a 250 about 2 years ago, no problems. Just make sure you get the right size HD. It has to be laptop dimensions.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:10PM Dr Blight said

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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 4:39PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

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yea I know its easy...I put a320GB HDD in my 80GB Motorstorm model back in '08....down to 40GBs left now even AFTER deleting a lot of stuff....at least I'm not at 12GBs left anymore
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 5:01PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

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Blight after reading the reviews of people that say they got that for the PS3 I think I won't be getting that one.....scary....
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 5:28PM (Unverified) said

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@Chris D: What bad reviews? I red all the reviews at the New Egg site linked above and not a single complaint was from a PS3 user. Au contraire, the PS3 users seem wrapped with the drive.

Personally I use a Seagate Momentus 500GB 7400rpm drive, despite the faster spindle speed noise and heat seem just fine. I wouldn't say anything has sped up, but I'm noticing less of the odd jitter with my Play TV HD recordings.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 6:19PM Flat Rook said

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@Chris D.

I also looked at the reviews and did see a few bad reviews from PS3 owners but that was out of about 30 or 40 PS3 reviews for the HD. I would say it is safe to buy that HD for the PS3 if you only have reviews to go off of.

To see all the reviews for the HD being used on the PS3 set your reviews per page at 100 and press ctrl+F and type in PS3 that way you can just look at the people who used it specifically for the PS3.
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Posted: Feb 13th 2010 3:22PM (Unverified) said

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Re the hard drive upgrade issue:

1) Folks considering the process of upgrading can check this thread for descriptions and a lot of pics. You might want to scan the entire thread, I think there were more pics added after the original post: http://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-games-playstation-3/112248-ps3-slim-hard-drive-upgrade.html

2) I once read a comment on Newegg from an IT guy who had, over time, bought over a 100 hard drives from them. Eight failed (if memory serves), all shipped via UPS. None of those shipped FedEx had, regardless of manufacturer. He laid it all down in exacting detail, but the point is don't take the free shipping offer on a hard drive...pay extra for FedEx Ground.

That's good advice. Every standard-sized UPS package takes a 6 ft drop, and Newegg only wraps bare drives in a single layer of 1/2" bubble wrap. When I used to buy & sell guitars, no one in the community would ship any method other than FedEx.

Also, one might hesitate before buying a hard drive from Amazon. I'd say 5 out of my last 10 packages were never properly sealed for shipping, and the last electronic item's exterior box was *completely* open when received (I even got someone else's packing slip inside). Total "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" tape jobs.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 2:59PM docstrange said

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Sort of a couple of years late on copying Nintendo's 'self induced' hardware supply shortage tactic, isn't it Sony?

Or are we thinning the marketplace supply in anticipation of yet another PS3 hardware revision with even less functionality than the PS3 Slim sometime soon?
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:10PM Johnnynumber5 is powered by cell said

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bitter party of one. lol. In all seriousness I would hope that they aren't just creating an artificial shortage like people accuse Nintendo of doing. That'd be terrible.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:00PM dogmaticatheist said

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I imagine it has to do with a lot of 360 warranties expiring and people just getting fed up with the RROD and switching to Sony.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:07PM McBrick said

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Too many good 360 exclusives for people to just put their 360s aside, RROD or no; this (the PS3 shortage) is probably just a combination of really good PS3 exclusives plus a price drop. Cheap blu-ray movies can't hurt but that's just speculation on my part.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:20PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said

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Don't forget PS3 is dominant in the East (Japan, China etc) and is spiking here in Europe. So while stocks may be quite full in America, its contrasted across the pond. I'm guessing its down to the flood of 'stupid-to-miss' exclusives coming out recently.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:33PM (Unverified) said

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Personally, I know a couple of people that have switched because of reliability issues. And I won't buy another 360 for that very reason.

It's a shame cause there are a ton of games I'd buy if I had one.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 3:37PM Spunky Monkey 190906 said

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Some say its just a matter if switching to the newest models, but if its not covered, thats more cash to fork out for a new one. I don't mind, but others can't afford that. Saying that, if you were really determined to play Halo Reach for example, you'd make sure to have a 360 in any way possible.
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 4:55PM Nekki said

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@ PS3 dominant in Japan: wat?

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/31/japanese-hardware-sales-jan-18-jan-24-behind-the-scenes-ed/


(Yeah i know, couldn't find a sales report closer to this date.)
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Posted: Feb 12th 2010 5:58PM (Unverified) said

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@nekki : Wat?

The post you linked to actually DOES prove the PS3 is dominant in Japan, at least compared to the 360 - which is the point of this sub-thread.
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