UK PS3 Pre-Orders a Record Breaker or Not?

[wraggster]

Digital Spy is reporting that pre-orders for the Playstation 3 in the UK has "broken all records, with high street stalwart Woolworths revealing it has been taking one order every 20 seconds during the past week."

The head of games for the retailer called the console the hottest gaming system since the PS2.

But then you look at Charles Arthur's anecdotal story of PS3 sales in the UK for the Guardian's Gamesblog.

At a local games shop there's a notice suggesting people pre-order their PS3 before March 29, when.. you know.
So how's business, I asked the bloke behind the counter? What sort of interest is there in the PS3 compared to the Xbox 360 and Wii?

Very low, he replied: with, what, six weeks to go before the launch, half their pre-allocation had not been taken up. (Of course you could go glass-half-full and say half had been.) That compared to pretty much all taken up for the Xbox 360 a year ago, and huge over-demand for the Wii before last Christmas.

So what sort of ratio of demand was there between the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360? Demand for the Wii was more than 10x greater than for the PS3, he said, and had been about 5x that of the Xbox. And he personally didn't think any of the PS3 launch games were worth the bother. "Sony has been promising this for two years and people have just got bored with it," he suggested.

So which is it? Are UK gamers fevered over or bored with the PS3 launch, or is it a bit of both with a dash of eBay grey market boosting the early demand?

via kotaku (http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/uk-ps3-preorders-a-record-breaker-or-not-236193.php)

[Shrygue]

This is interesting to know. Maybe I should think of pre-odering the PS3 fast soon before all reservation slots are taken.

[Accordion]

without the allocation figures for stores preorder claims mean nothing.

[muffinman]

i got mine down. Ps3 perorders for game only opened yesterday and they didnt send me an email. So i doubt no one knows :p.

that is if that is your local game store.

[Xiofire]

Game are robbing b*****ds with the PS3. I put my name down on the email alert list, and they send me one today saying pre-order now, with 3 games! Yew can only buy bundles! Each with 3 games, coming to about £565. I have now preordered with argos, meaning i wont get it for launch, but probably about a month after.
-Xiofire

[muffinman]

yeah i just checked my email. I just got one lol.

Lucky i did it with my local import store garanteed day 1 console.

Anyways if you know the workers in game a bit or just start up a conversation with them theyll put you down for console only. They've done it for me for every console i've got there even though they always have bundles.

[Shrygue]

GAME only accepts PS3 pre-orders in bundles at £565? Total rip-offs! I was thinking to go there and reserve one but then again you wind up paying a big deposit for it.

[steve-b]

I got mine ordered from woolworths...1 ps3 and 1 game. not so bad.

ROLL ON MARCH!!

[cal6n]

Personally, I wouldn't trust a word that Charles Arthur writes. Over the years, he has proven himself to be one of the worst Microsoft apologists in the UK media. Quite how he holds down a job at a quality paper like the Guardian, we can only guess. It's probably because the Guardian were comparatively quick off the mark regarding the inclusion of a computer section and Microsoft managed to get their mole in there early.

[Darksaviour69]

Game are robbing b*****ds with the PS3. I put my name down on the email alert list, and they send me one today saying pre-order now, with 3 games! Yew can only buy bundles! Each with 3 games, coming to about £565. I have now preordered with argos, meaning i wont get it for launch, but probably about a month after.
-Xiofire

could you post that email?

[Xiofire]

could you post that email?

Dear Customer,

We are delighted to inform you that you can now pre-order PlayStation 3 at GAME.co.uk!

As you signed up for Updates, you will have a head start to get your preorder in before we promote it, so please act fast to get yourself an early space in our priority allocation queue!

We are working closely with our partners at Sony toensure the launch is as smooth as possible, so get your preorder in at GAME.co.uk as soon as you can.

We will fulfil orders in a fair and clear first-come, first-served basis.

Discover the power of PlayStation 3!

Read the PlayStation 3 Preorder FAQ

Preorder Now!

The Team
GAME.co.uk

That then links to Here (http://www.game.co.uk/lowdown.aspx?lid=7068&cm_mmc=update-_-wk0307ps3preorder-_-general-_-PS3+preorder)
Ripoffs
-Xiofire

[Darksaviour69]

hmm looking around both gameplay.com and play.com are only doing £550+ bundles.

amazon.co.uk open their pre-orders tomorrow

[Xiofire]

Chances of getting one with amazon? Id say highly unlikely at the rate the Wii's disappeared.
-Xiofire

[Darksaviour69]

well there are 3 factors:

1: Xmas, the wii and 360 had the huge xmas demand (60%-70% of console/softeware sales are made in the 3 months be before xmas)

2: its much dearer so its going to have less willing buyers (just to recap, wii £190, x360 £300, PS3 £425- £550+ because of forced bundles)

3: its not a world wide launch, ebay selling will not be as big as an issue this time.

still it should/could sell out, but not at the record pace the wii did ( unless there are not many units)

[irongiant]

"And he personally didn't think any of the PS3 launch games were worth the bother. "Sony has been promising this for two years and people have just got bored with it," he suggested."

What a load of bullsh*t, i suppose he believes the 360 and Wii both launched with amazing games?? Aside from Zelda the Wii games were average at best and don't get me started about Perfect Dark, Kameo etc.

I'm very happy with my 360 but i'm also very excited about getting a PS3, i'm soon to be getting my first HDTV and will be buying Blu Ray movies to get the best out of it. MS have done well so far with the 360 but i believe Sony have got their long term strategy right for once!

[Accordion]

i also got the email from GAME..and its not a bad offer at all... but at this time i just cant justify buying it, of course MGS 4 and FF:XIII are what i am waiting for, but i expect to pay the full price either way.
all those waiting for a price drop have a very long time to wait, that price isnt moving anywhere other than up until all the prospective killer apps are released.

whether i could delay MGS4 till a price drop is a hard question, i am totally obsessed [ and greatly appreciated the feature in EDGE !] so at the moment i will hold off till release and hope i have the funds ready...