Gamers shell out up to $10,600 for Xbox 360s


At midnight on Tuesday morning Microsoft has started selling its nextgeneration Xbox 360 gaming console in the US.




In a well orchestrated marketing assault, the vendor had invited 3,500 hardcore gamers to an airport hanger in a desert outside of Los Angeles for theofficial launch party. The company also had encouraged 4,500 US retailers toopen their stores at midnight.

Shops quickly sold out of the gaming consoles or had taken advanced ordersfrom consumers. Others handed out tickets and raffled off the privilege to buyone of the $300 basic game systems or a $400 premium set with a wirelesscontroller and hard drive.


Microsoft has predicted prior to the launch that it will sell 3m units in thefirst 90 days after the unveiling. It is not clear, however, if stores will berestocked in time for Christmas.

This loomingXbox shortage drove some determined buyers to the Ebay auction website, where pricesquickly skyrocketed.

Thehighestprice paid on Tuesday was $10,600. A gamer placed the bid in a 1-day auctionending Tuesday afternoon that promised overnight shipping so the new owner wouldreceive his premium unit on Wednesday.

While the $10,600 is an exception, dozens of systems sold for around $3,000,mostly in auctions ending early in the US morning on Tuesday. One listing wherean Xbox premium was sold for $3,050advertisedthe system with the comment: "Buy early and save money."

About 18,000 Xbox 360 listings were put up on the auction website in thehours after the launch, although not all items sold due to high reserve prices.By Tuesday afternoon premium consoles on average were selling for $800.

The auction website is one of the only ways for European or Asian buyers toobtain an Xbox 360. The console is set to go on sale in Europe on 2 December,followed by an Asian launch on 10 December.

The first Xbox was launched in 2001 as Microsoft attempted to get a chunk ofthe now $28bn video gaming market. The console put Microsoft past Nintendo, butSony is still leading the gaming market with its PS2.

Both Nintendo and Sony are scheduled to unveil their responses to the Xbox360 next year. Sony'sPlaystation3 is expected to be technologically superior to the Xbox through the use ofthe newCellprocessor that the company developed together with IBM and Toshiba. Nintendomeanwhile is believed to position its new Revolution as a low cost gamingconsole.



From:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/23112005/17...xbox-360s.html

This shows that gamers are rich people by playing too much games

Yeah, I heard about this. It's rediculous. Good news is that is the one-time record, the average is about $3,000.

Sort of makes me feel that I could have bought 2 360s ,sold 1 and the extra £££ gained will have paid for the 1 I kept. Why did Microsoft bother making 2 versions? The cheaper option without a hard drive is a waste of time. Ill give it til easter for a price drop. I hope.

I remember reading somewhere that Microsoft deliberately gave small amounts of 360s to retailers, allowing them to reach their goal of selling a million+ consoles.

That doesn't make much sence , the more they want to sell , the more they have to distribute to the retailers..