PS3 to be sold via lottery?

[FantasiaWHT]

Interesting possibility... a good friend of mine that works within the Gamestop/EB system was at a meeting last week where they discussed the distribution system for the PS3 launch.

My friend says that instead of the old system of preordering and launch allocations that vary per store, they are considering doing a lottery. They would have everyone that wants a launch system register for a lottery to determine who is going to get one. He wasn't sure exactly how it would work from that point, but he doesn't think Sony would ship the PS3's directly, he thinks either the winners would be directed to the closest retail store, or the customer would get to pick which store he or she could pick it up from.

What do you think about the likelihood of this, and its pros and cons?

I think if it's done intelligently (preventing people from submitting large #'s of entries by tying it to a phone number or an address) it would be a good idea. I think the current paradigm for system launches needs an overhaul. This would cut down on hoarding for profit, eliminate overnight lines, and stop retail stores from saving systems for themselves and favored customers.

Of course the retail stores wouldn't want this, but refusing to go along with the system would mean they wouldn't get any launch systems, and fewer or maybe even no second shipments, costing game and accessory sales.

[exit]

A lottery? It's a console, not the $20 million jackpot, pre-ordering is good enough. If you pre-order you get your PS3 and everything is fine. If you don't, you have to stake it out and hope for the best.

[norkusa]

As if the $600 price tag didn't discourage enough people from getting a PS3 at launch, now they want to do a lottery system? What happened to the good old days when retailers just stocked merchandise on store shelves and it was sold to people on a first come, first serve basis?

Screw that. I'm buying a 360 instead.

[FantasiaWHT]

heh. I always thought they should skip the retailers and auction the launch systems off directly from their website. If they have 500,000 systems then the 500,000 highest bids get a system shipped to them. Prices wouldn't go for as high as the highest ebay prices, but the manufacturer would actually make a profit on their system that way without hurting sales hehe.

[s1lence]

So I can bid on a chance to spend 600 bucks? :/

[drewbrim]

So I can bid on a chance to spend 600 bucks? :/

No, basically it's like sony only selling them on ebay and whatever they sell for is what you pay.

[Richter Belmount]

win a chance to spend $600 dollars! alright!

[Anthony1]

Yeah, you would think the $600 price would be enough to squash some of the demand. I know that some people that were early in pre-ordering the PS3 from GameCrazy have cancelled their pre-orders and gotten their $50 back, when they found out about the $600 price.


Money talks and bullshit walks. Tons of people still want to get a PS3, but getting one, and actually shelling over $650 in hard earned cash, is another thing entirely. ($650 price is with tax added and rounded off).

paying somebody $650 is a helluva lotta money for what is basically a toy. I'm thinking that alot of youngsters just aren't going to be able to handle that, and they will turn to the 360 or Wii. The Ebay profiteers aren't going to budge though. They will buy each and every PS3 they can get their grubby little hands on. They know that older gamers with more $$ on their hands will pay the piper.

If Sony was smart, they would sell the PS3 only in special bundles. For example, you would be required to buy 3 PS3 games, from a list of 7 (of course, all 7 would be first party games). You would also be required to buy one additional controller, and another accessory. That would eliminate a ton of the problems right there. Ebay profiteers would have to think long and hard about forking over that much bank to try to flip it

[Bronty-2]

If Sony was smart, they would sell the PS3 only in special bundles. For example, you would be required to buy 3 PS3 games, from a list of 7 (of course, all 7 would be first party games). You would also be required to buy one additional controller, and another accessory. That would eliminate a ton of the problems right there. Ebay profiteers would have to think long and hard about forking over that much bank to try to flip it

So now you would have to buy 3 games too? I think they've done PLENTY to turn people off already, another bullshit $$$ requirement in the form of mandated games purchases sure as hell wouldn't help them any.

[tholly]

a lottery would be good....as long as im one of the ppl selected to get one.....yes, im actually gonna fork over $650 to buy a new ps3 at launch (or as close to launch as i can get)

[Felixthegamer]

I am not buying it at launch, but I always thought first come first served was the way to do it. How does this go over with pre-orders? Are they out the window? So anybody could just sign up at any time and have an equal chance of getting one? Seems to favour the fence sitters to me

[evil_genius]

As if the $600 price tag didn't discourage enough people from getting a PS3 at launch, now they want to do a lottery system? What happened to the good old days when retailers just stocked merchandise on store shelves and it was sold to people on a first come, first serve basis?

Screw that. I'm buying a 360 instead.

.

[Crazycarl]

interesting since i'm a manager at a gamestop, and i never heard of this. There have been talks about taking them in october though. It's ganna be real rough considering only 5 mil. shipping world wide for the holiday season. but yea never heard about this lotteray deal so take it with a grain of salt.

[segagamer4life]

win a chance to spend $600 dollars! alright!


wooo freakin hooo!!!!! what a country!!!

[chrisbid]

i do not really see the benefit retailers have for preorders, it just seems like a lot of extra work for a product that will sell out anyway.

[mailman187666]

I think that any future systems that come out should not ship until they have enough to go around. Its frustrating for everybody and for some people it can be unhealthy (waiting up all night in the rain/snow in front of a store). I'm sure people get thier asses kicked too whenever there are arguements at stores or anything like that. I'm one of those people who can't wait to buy systems at launch time, but i like to pre-order them when i know its gonna be a hot item. I hope they just use the usual method that they've been doing. I don't want to make purchasing a PS3 become a 3 day long headache with no sleep to find out that my number is 2 but only numbers 1 and 3 get PS3s

[Nature Boy]

i do not really see the benefit retailers have for preorders, it just seems like a lot of extra work for a product that will sell out anyway.

That's easy. If they get your money before they get the product, they can invest it say and turn it into more than what you'd pay.

(Not that retailers invest money in the stock market like this, but they do use it to buy other items that turn around faster and earn money that way).

Back to the topic at hand:

At first I thought it was really stupid. Like I need another reason not to want a PS3 (the price is more than enough, thank you).

After mulling it over, though, it doesn't bother me as much. If I did want one, I'd rather know ahead of time I might not get it (using this lottery thing) as opposed to putting down my $50 and finding out that I *didn't* get mine on launch day because of shortages.

It doesn't change my mind about buying one (I won't, not on launch day anyway), but it's not the horrible idea I first thought it was.

[rbudrick]

I'll shit myself if there's any shortages of this system or long lines, or stories of PS3s selling for$22k on eBay. Why would there be? Most people just can NOT spend $700+ for a system, a game, and tax..

-Rob

[SolidZach]

Gaimaga Blows Out Final Fantasy XIII
Popular Japanese magazine reveals several new details for both upcoming PS3 RPGs.
by Anoop Gantayat
May 31, 2006 - The latest batch of Japan's biggest monthly game magazines have made their way out following E3, and contained within are juicy new details on Final Fantasy XIII. The July issues of Hyper PlayStation and Gaimaga (the latter formerly known as Dori-Maga) provide new hints on what we can expect from the bothPS3 entries.



Motomu Toriyama, director of the main FFXIII title for the PS3, revealed to Gaimaga that scenario work for his project is 80% complete, with the game's visual engine, running on actual PS3 hardware, being nearly finished. "Now," he said, "is the time for the true start of FFXIII."


Final Fantasy Versus XIII appears to be trailing in development. "Absolutely nothing has been done on the actual scenario," director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura revealed to Gaimaga. "However, I've had the plot worked out for some time, so you could say I'm discussing the plot and concept with the staff. However, we've yet to start actual work on the scenario."

Toriyama and Versus producer Shinji Hashimoto defended the decision to release FFXIII on the PS3. According to Hashimoto, the development staff determined that one DVD would not be enough for the type of visual expression they were attempting to make. Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor.


Series producer Yoshinori Kitase pointed out that the use of shaders has caused some difficulties with development. Making a standard texture, something that would have been done with a PS2 game, would typically require the work of just one designer. With the switch to shaders, designers and programmers have to be paired up, resulting in some logistical difficulties.

Kitase has some insight into the differences in making a game for the PS2 as opposed to the PS3. As announced at the FFXIII unveiling press conference at E3, Final Fantasy XIII development originally started on the PS2. This was approximately two to three years ago. Following their work on the Final Fantasy VII technical demonstration from last year's E3, the development staff started anew on the PS3 -- tossing everything they'd created for FFXIII up to that point. "We're truly making everything from scratch," commented Kitase in regard to the game's White Engine. "We're currently at the step where we're attempting to make an easy development environment."

[videogameoverdose]

Be the first to own a PS3?
Why?
Can any one tell me why I would want to buy the beta ver. of PS3?

Just like the PS2 or 360, read disc errors or cooling fan issues, send it back to get warranteed, waiting for weeks/months to get it fixed & shipped back?.... @_@

[DonMarco]

Be the first to own a PS3?
Why?
Can any one tell me why I would want to buy the beta ver. of PS3?

Just like the PS2 or 360, read disc errors or cooling fan issues, send it back to get warranteed, waiting for weeks/months to get it fixed & shipped back?.... @_@
GameCube, PSP, etc... Be them bad lens, fans, poor wiring, or dead pixels, the firsts of any system in mass production are the most likely to have "kinks" in them. It used to be that this all happened in Japan, months or years ahead of the American or European launches.

Same thing wih cars, too. You never buy the first year.

[Slate]

This Might Work, But i'm thinking it won't.

[PentiumMMX]

As if the $600 price tag didn't discourage enough people from getting a PS3 at launch, now they want to do a lottery system? What happened to the good old days when retailers just stocked merchandise on store shelves and it was sold to people on a first come, first serve basis?

Screw that. I'm buying a 360 instead.

Ditto! Except I'm more likly to buy a Wii (Not enough games on Xbox 360 I want yet)

I wanted a PS3, until I heard it will be $600. Not woth it considering most of what I'll play is PSX games that might not run (Like "Wild Arms 2", "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", "Final Fantasy 7", "The Misadventures of Tron Bonne", and "Mega Man Legends")

[Chuplayer]

My friend says that instead of the old system of preordering and launch allocations that vary per store, they are considering doing a lottery.

That's the stupidest idea ever.

[CosmicMonkey]

Sony seem to be going for the whole 'exclusivity' thing.

I mean, how special would you feel with your £450 console that few people have, whilst wearing your uber expensive Playstation T-Shirt and supping champers from your PS branded Wine glass. And that's after you've uncorked said bottle of champers with a PS branded corkscrew.

Wow! How special are you, with your uber console that only the 'rich' can afford? Or if you're a filmstar/pop star/of some media importance, I'm sure Sony will give you one free.

And that's what Sony seem to be going for.

But they are having a laugh with the price of their PS branded crap. Those damn t-shirts are more expensive than Ted Baker or Deisel clothing, and on a par with Paul Smith or D&G. Seriously, they're taking the piss.

Methinks I'll be sticking with Paul Smith and Dreamcast.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, I think CosmicMonkey is onto something.

Hmm, who was that guy who lived in a sea of sealed PS2 variants, with the "I got it, you don't" sig? He'd call up all sorts of special favors to ensure he gets one...ahh, that'd be amusing enough to make the whole debacle worthwhile.

[ROBOTNIK666]

How interesting. Sony thinks that there will be so much demand for a system with a launch price as high as the Neo-Geo, that they have to do a LOTTERY to determine who buys it? O_O

[ismokeblunts]

i'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that virtually every sony console came with a pile of flaws on it's launch. everyone might as well wait out a price drop, and for sony to release a ps3 v2.0 with the almost guarenteed list of problems associated with with the launch consoles fixed.

[Sothy]

Sony can enter a lottery to lick my balls.

[rhiohki]

Yeah, you would think the $600 price would be enough to squash some of the demand. I know that some people that were early in pre-ordering the PS3 from GameCrazy have cancelled their pre-orders and gotten their $50 back, when they found out about the $600 price.


Money talks and bullshit walks. Tons of people still want to get a PS3, but getting one, and actually shelling over $650 in hard earned cash, is another thing entirely. ($650 price is with tax added and rounded off).

paying somebody $650 is a helluva lotta money for what is basically a toy. I'm thinking that alot of youngsters just aren't going to be able to handle that, and they will turn to the 360 or Wii. The Ebay profiteers aren't going to budge though. They will buy each and every PS3 they can get their grubby little hands on. They know that older gamers with more $$ on their hands will pay the piper.

If Sony was smart, they would sell the PS3 only in special bundles. For example, you would be required to buy 3 PS3 games, from a list of 7 (of course, all 7 would be first party games). You would also be required to buy one additional controller, and another accessory. That would eliminate a ton of the problems right there. Ebay profiteers would have to think long and hard about forking over that much bank to try to flip it


Yup, it's the older gamers with the $$ that will spend the money and the thing to remember is that the PS3 is a BLU-RAY PLAYBACK machine as well. Considering that the Lowest Priced CE stand-alone Blu-Ray player is the $1000 being released by craptastic samsung, the PS3 is a fantastic deal for those that are both gamers and involved in High Definition and home theater. Whether it does true 1080p processing is another point altogether.

In any event, since there will be Blu-Ray supporters in on it as well, ebay profiteers will profit as the $1000 blu-ray mark won't die down within the 2-3 months that the initial batch of Samsung blu-ray players are on the market before the PS3 is released, and it should prompt many people to jump on the bandwagon for not only PS3 gaming but a Blu-ray player. So, this may increase bidding to $1000 since for many who missed getting a PS3 for Christmas and was waiting on Blu-Ray player's prices to fall, a smiple minded scenario for ebay frantic Christmas bidding is thusly presented below:

Step 1: Ebay Seller: "I will list my PS3 with HDMI at $600 on ebay as soon as I can in time for the holidays, with my good feedback and pretty pictures, I'm sure to make some money"

Step 2: Ebay seller lists his machine and bidding comences


Step 3. Winning Ebay Sniper (Joe Schmo who's into A/V and HD but also has a son who wants a new PS3 for Christmas): "Hey, if a regular Samsung blu-ray is $1000 and I'm thinking about buying one anyway, why not just bid on a PS3 on ebay and my max will be $1000. Either way, I'll be getting a Blu-Ray deck for the same cost of the samsung but I'll also be getting a PS3 for all my and my son's gaming needs"

Bidding goes to $1000 or may be more for the shortages of Cheap (Samsung) Blu-Ray machines.

For those that pre-order a PS3 for profit, I see no lose situation.

[Nature Boy]

and the thing to remember is that the PS3 is a BLU-RAY PLAYBACK machine as well.

That's a good point.

If you're in the market for a new console, do you spend $100 more and get a Blu-Ray player over a 360? I don't see why not if you're into that sort of thing.

Personally I think the next gen DVD players are much less intriguing than next gen consoles. At least with a console the extra hardware can be pushed to produce different genres, improve AI, run more smoothly, etc. A next gen DVD player just looks better, which makes it hard to justify buying everything all over again.

[Beefy Hits]

I've got an idea - why don't they just plan ahead and make enough to satisfy demand in the first place?

[Oobgarm]

If I read the original post correctly, isn't it the retailer who's deciding to do the lottery distribution, NOT Sony?

I can understand why a retail would do that, but not the company that manufactures the product.

However, any retailer who goes that route is going to see their business dwindle as other retailers attempt to capitalize. If they have inventory to sell, that is. :)

[j_factor]

I don't think the Blu Ray thing really makes a difference. Blu Ray is brand new. The people who buy new media formats right when they come out are accustomed to dropping a grand. There's already a reputation from PS2's DVD playback being of decidedly low quality; the "home theater enthusiasts" who would be looking to get a Blu Ray player would be looking to get a high quality one.

[FantasiaWHT]

At least with a console the extra hardware can be pushed to produce different genres, improve AI, run more smoothly, etc. A next gen DVD player just looks better, which makes it hard to justify buying everything all over again.

Extra processing power COULD be used to do all those things, but in reality, all it's ever used for is to make prettier pictures :P Not so big a difference between the two after all.

[Anthony1]

and the thing to remember is that the PS3 is a BLU-RAY PLAYBACK machine as well.

That's a good point.

If you're in the market for a new console, do you spend $100 more and get a Blu-Ray player over a 360?



Actually, it's $200 more, and that's if there isn't a 360 price drop, which most analysts are privately expecting the premium to drop to $349.99 and the core to $249.99. At $249.99 the core matches the Wii price exactly. You have to get the HDMI version because of the fact that the ICT flag will be used "eventually". And you don't want to be the guy with no HDMI when movies have the ICT flag.


So actually, it likely going to be a situation of spending $249.99 more to get the PS3 with the Blu Ray player over a premium 360.

[Anthony1]

I've got an idea - why don't they just plan ahead and make enough to satisfy demand in the first place?


It actually has alot more to do with chip yield, than anything. Microsoft was really hurt by poor chip yield, and the same thing will likely happen with Sony. Sony really isn't going to be entering the game till 2007, because they aren't going to have supply till 2007. Sure about 1.7 mill will be sold worldwide in 4th quarter 2006, but Microsoft will have six times the installed base, and I think the Wii will actually be in decent supply.

[Nature Boy]

Extra processing power COULD be used to do all those things, but in reality, all it's ever used for is to make prettier pictures :P Not so big a difference between the two after all.

Actually, I find that it *is* used to do all those other things, but nobody *notices* because it looks prettier.

[rhiohki]

...You have to get the HDMI version because of the fact that the ICT flag will be used "eventually". And you don't want to be the guy with no HDMI when movies have the ICT flag...

"Eventurally" is the KEY WORD. From what accurate sources say on AVS forums the ICT flag will most likely not be implemented for the next ~5-6 years, or possibly never (a BIG possibly at that though).

However, with that time frame, the HDMI output is a non-issue for the PS3 because the next big thing on the block woule be the PS4.

[NeoVenom]

How interesting. Sony thinks that there will be so much demand for a system with a launch price as high as the Neo-Geo, that they have to do a LOTTERY to determine who buys it? O_O

PS3 is gonna be like NeoGeo, the system is good but only Rich people can afford it. LOL

[SolidZach]

i do not really see the benefit retailers have for preorders, it just seems like a lot of extra work for a product that will sell out anyway.

Preorders benefit us people who dont like to wait in line.