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Activision's action figure-driven Skylanders: Sypro's Adventure was a huge holiday hit last year, with parents buying up starter kits in droves. Now, with hundreds of thousands of children demanding additional figures, empty Skylanders displays have become an all-too-frequent frustration for haggard parents. More »
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Yes, we know that the annual Christmastime Wii shortage is always unintentional on Nintendo's part. They're just constantly shocked, for three straight years, at how popular their console is. More »
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Game store employees around the world broke down weeping as Taiwanese chip manufacturers poke their heads out of the ground and see their shadow, ushering in umpteen more weeks of Wii shortages. Nintendo's plans to up Wii production, originally slated for June of this year have been delayed thanks to supply issues with components like IC chips and PCBs. Component makers say the the continuing shortages indicate an unlikelihood of the Wii drought easing up anytime this year. With the console selling over 10 million units worldwide, one can only imagine how large that number would be right now if they had consoles to sell. All I know is game store workers can look forward to several more months of endless, "Is the Wii in?" phone calls, followed by death at the hands of angry parents as the holiday season comes to a head. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! More »
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Kotakuite Howard L. wrote in about his harrowing "Zelda-like quest" throughout the greater Atlanta area to find the elusive Wii Nunchuk Controller. His journey took him to 2 Targets, 1 Wal-Mart, 2 Best Buys, The Fry's in Duluth, 1 Circuit City, and a Comp-USA where Wii-motes were plentiful, but nary a Nunchuk was to be found. During his 7 store trek, he inquired about the availability issue and was told by various employees that very few nunchuks were actually shipped. It seems that they averaged about 1 Nunchuk for every 3 Wii-motes. Finally, at a Best Buy in Duluth, GA. he found one that was being returned to the shelves by an employee. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=215918&view=rss&microfeed=true A Circuit City source tells me that, company wide, their shipments of Playstation 3 20GBs have been completely canceled. The rumor is that this is something happening nationwide. More »
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Ee hee hee! I like the headline "Shortage of Blue Lasers". It makes me feel like I'm living in the neon-grit future that I crave, instead of this obese, mooing present. More »
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Alright! 4 Color Rebellion is reporting that the Japanese Nintendo DS Lite shortage is officially over, where the proper degree of officiality is determined thanks to online retailer Lik-Sang, who are shipping off DS Lites to overseas consumers at last. No news on whether this means Ashcraft will finally start sending out DS Lites to his Kotaku co-workers, though. All we can say is god help both him and his scrotum if he doesn't. More »
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Still can't find an Xbox 360? Dean Takahashi offers an explaination over at Mercury News. He cites Microsoft's use of a German memory maker, Infineon Technologies, as one reason for the lack of availability. Takahashi's piece levels the barrel at Infineon, when Peter Moore and Microsoft have both been reluctant to target a single factor in explaining away the shortages. Takahashi's piece will likely stir some controversy up, it's one of the first big fingers (other than the all-popular middle finger) that's been pointed at the shortage mess. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=154700&view=rss&microfeed=true According to USA Today, the 360 will continue to be scarce until spring. Microsoft initially hoped to have 3 million units shipped by February. However, the company only got out 1 million by the end of last year. It's estimated that MSoft sold 600,000 consoles from launch to December 31st. Compare that to the 1.4 million original Xboxes that were sold back in 2001. More »
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It appears as though the shortage just overwhelmed them. Next Generation reports that according to an article in the Financial Times, Microsoft is changing its focus to meeting the long-term shipping goals it outlined at CES, rather than the 90-day shipment totals (which it will not meet). Now, by June, Microsoft hopes to have sold between 4 and 5.5 million units. More »
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Man, there is egg on my face. Remember when I said that the Ballmer family wouldn't be scoring a free Xbox 360? Well that part holds true, but they sure got one easily enough. The manager of a Best Buy in Bellevue, Washington alerted Microsoft employees of a shipment coming in the following day, Ballmer says many Microsoft employees shop at the store, so it's not that big of a deal. Which may be true, but that doesn't mean I can't still be a little jealous, right? More »
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Rather than looking at the 360 shortage through gamer-tinted eyes, Slate studies the shortage and other shortage phenomena in terms of economics. Recognizing the very nature of shortages with console electronics, author Tim Harford questions why Microsoft would start pricing at just $300 when the console is fetching $700 on eBay? He likens picking up a 360 in the store to getting a $400 voucher, because that 400 bucks is what you would've spent in addition to the unit's price to nab one on eBay. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=143723&view=rss&microfeed=true Microsoft sent out their first official summary email since the launch of the Xbox 360 today. More »
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Man, these Xbox 360 shortages are harsh. Even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was left out in the cold for an Xbox 360 this holiday season. Sounds like he should've pre-ordered. Oh wait, that might not have helped, either. More »
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And by "experts" we mean Crecente. He was interviewed for an article on the Xbox 360 shortages. One of the things Crecente pointed out? Some stories from you, the readers, speculating that game store employees were snatching up replenished units and selling them on eBay. ABC also looked into the 360 technical issues that seemed to plague launch systems, but in the last week or so, reports have died down considerably (the red phone at Kotaku HQ isn't lightning up with Xbox 360 complaints, of late). More »
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Without knowing the size of the GameShout readership, their readers have done some serious legwork into finding out how many systems Wal-Mart stores will be getting. Their findings? Pretty unsettling. According to their research, Superstores were only receiving 10 units and smaller Wal-Marts were receiving three units. Any Kotaku readers out there who are planning on getting their 360s from Wal-Mart should probably call ahead now and see if your store is sporting single-digit 360 quantities. If these numbers are true, folks better pack up the Eureka tents tonight and start camping Wal-Mart like the next Star Wars movie is going to open there. Yes, I know we're allegedly finished with SW flicks, I don't need a bunch of emails that read, "Episode III was the last one, newb," thanks. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=138321&view=rss&microfeed=true Gamers Reports has some statistics and breakdowns as to our northern neighbors, the Canadians, can expect from their Xbox 360 shipments at Futureshop. Glancing over the numbers it's pretty similar to the gimped shipment figures U.S. retailer Best Buy is expecting. It's even colder to camp out in Canada than in the U.S., that's harsh. More »
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