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[madara]

I'm definitely not reserving until I see what shitty promos Best Buy, Futureshop and EBgames/Gamestop are having. I'm sure demand will be high, but I'll just wait a few hours outside a Best Buy if it comes down to it.

Aye, no preorder without a price especially. I always been able to buy portable hardware walking in day one anyhow. DS, DS Lite, i was the only one even asked them. Better question is anyone in there 30's and 40's still blind buying launch systems with gusto like when they were kids? I've seemed to have lost that have to be first spark but I think Amirox is dead on with the point being software during launches just keeps getting weaker and more rushed every gen.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Not like you can't just cancel your pre-order and get your tiny deposit back if the price doesn't please you. Hell you can pre-order at gamestop now and be assured you'll get one and then if you see a better sale at best buy or something leading up to it then cancel the pre-order, if there isn't a good deal anywhere then you can relax and still get one.

 

[Android18a]

I've been saving a £50 play.com voucher I received three months ago for this damn machine. I hope I can pre-order it soon.

 

[Lkr]

Wii preorders were nuts. I just put up with the shitty day after Christmas shoppers today and got my preorder. No one in the store was aware of preorders either. As much as I despise gamestop and try as hard as possible to not go there, there really is no other choice for hardware preorders

 

[Dr. Pangloss]

Mo...ffat?

¿?

Check out this thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=412430

 

[FoneBone]

Put my money down, so I'm not complaining, but why is Gamestop doing the stealth approach? Isn't it going to bite them in the ass if some stores run through their launch allocations before the hype blitz even begins?

 

[MikeE21286]

Not like you can't just cancel your pre-order and get your tiny deposit back if the price doesn't please you. Hell you can pre-order at gamestop now and be assured you'll get one and then if you see a better sale at best buy or something leading up to it then cancel the pre-order, if there isn't a good deal anywhere then you can relax and still get one.

exactly....it's win-win. If you are even mildly interested in a 3DS, and have $50, I would recommend you to reserve yours.

 

[Lkr]

Put my money down, so I'm not complaining, but why is Gamestop doing the stealth approach? Isn't it going to bite them in the ass if some stores run through their launch allocations before the hype blitz even begins?

The employees were also upset because they have to keep doing it by sku in the system. Corporate didnt help them at all with this. I also commented that this was a perfect day to do the preorders and the employees started laughing. So many kids buying shovelware on the day after Christmas!

 

[Emitan]

Put my money down, so I'm not complaining, but why is Gamestop doing the stealth approach? Isn't it going to bite them in the ass if some stores run through their launch allocations before the hype blitz even begins?

Wouldn't that mean they just made thousands of dollars without spending any money advertizing? If it's something they can only get a limited amount of this seems like, for the moment, a good thing for them.

 

[Rich!]

Put my money down, so I'm not complaining, but why is Gamestop doing the stealth approach? Isn't it going to bite them in the ass if some stores run through their launch allocations before the hype blitz even begins?

kid: oh my god mum, I can't wait to spend my £130 xmas money on a DSi XL!
mum: Oh look, a new DS is out soon? (looks at huge amount of marketing and posters adveritising it). Let's wait until then.

Hopefully you can see what I'm trying to get at here. :lol No retailer wants a backlog of DSi's to sell. They're giving it another couple of weeks before they're forced to start promoting the 3DS.

 

[expy]

:lol :lol

I picked up a Wii on Launch day without a pre-order. You just have to look in places people usually wouldn't think of looking, or generally, around here, not many hardcore gamers that would pre-order or lineup for those types of things.

 

[Synless]

My Wii preorder went nicely. I just walked into ebgames and preordered it.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

If you have a membership to a big box store like Sam's or Costco, you're probably good to walk in on launch day.

 

[Bizzyb]

Wii preorders were nuts. I just put up with the shitty day after Christmas shoppers today and got my preorder. No one in the store was aware of preorders either. As much as I despise gamestop and try as hard as possible to not go there, there really is no other choice for hardware preorders

This was pretty much the exact same scenario for me too. In fact you said word for word exactly what I would have said.

 

[lachesis]

I just called:
GameStop
17 West Palisade Ave
Englewood, NJ 07631


and asked how much the deposit for 3DS would be. They said that they aren't taking reserves yet. I said something like "Oh, my friend works at GameStop in PA and he said they got an email today on how to take reserves". The girl was very nice to me and went to check. Pleasantly, she said that they are in fact taking reservations with a $50 deposit, but I would have to come in to make it.

I would give them a call or head over. They seem to be straightened out, and were very friendly.

Thanks Jetku. I went and made my reservation there. There were 2 girls - one black manager girl (very cute) and another sales girl. Apparently I was #2 pre-order for the store and #1 as a customer. (The sales girl reserved it herself)

Thing is, they are now insisting that they'll have to call the whole list of people who wanted to pre-order. After that, on launch day, the people who did reserve (and probably didn't reserve) would have to wait in line to get them. big wth?

Apparently they were new to a system launch, so they didn't know of "first come paid reserve = first ones to get them" and treating the whole system launch the same as any other games. I told them it's not supposed to be that way... unless their policy has changed drastically.

I'll just have to make sure to call the store in the morning again and make sure my #2 spot is secure. (And I think I'm supposed to be #1 if not enough system was supplied to the store and the employees would have to take back seat, IIRC)...

in 1 day, I've made 4 trips to the same GS. 8:30am, 9:30am, 11:30am and 3:30pm.
Nearly had an accident on the way there, because it's snowing so bad up here in NJ...
Crosses my fingers that I would be able to secure my #2 spot.

lachesis

 

[Rubius]

Any confirmation on what the start up color will be for America?
Only Black and Tilt?

 

[abstract alien]

Any confirmation on what the start up color will be for America?
Only Black and Tilt?

No word on colors, price, or date until the Conference. It should probably be added in the op from this point lol

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I don't think this will explode out of the gate, but supply can go either way.

On one hand, considering Iwata's comments a few months back, we can assume production has either started or is starting relatively soon. So they should have a decent amount of supply.

On the other hand, Reggie once pointed out that the weak dollar keeps NCL from shipping too many units to America (in the case of the Wii). The dollar's worse now, so they may be thinking that flooding the shelves with units means taking a huge bath on it.

 

[Rich!]

Any confirmation on what the start up color will be for America?
Only Black and Tilt?

You can bet it'll be the same as Japan. Two colours - Black and Blue.

 

[Roody]

Got my preorder in (at 3pm in the afternoon). They said I was the first one but the receipt had "#002" on it but whatever, doesn't matter.

Now the wait until the 19th begins. :lol

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I want the black one <3

 

[Neuromancer]

I want the black one <3

Yeah me too, that color of blue doesn't look so hot to me.

Also I hope Pilotwings is a launch title.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Out of a few launch titles I'm sure I'll be interested in I'm about positive I'll cave and get Ocarina of Time despite having beat it 100 times.

 

[Boney]

Check out this thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=412430

Dr.Who huh....

mm

 

[MidnightScott]

I only ever preorder/shop at GameStop for the following reasons:

• New Game System that I want day 1 (I bought the DSi at launch) (PS3 Slim I bought on Amazon)
• I want the game Day 1 and it's a popular game (Pokémon main series games)
• It's a niche game/GameStop has it first (Little King's Story, Muramasa, Ace Attorney Investigations, Endless Ocean 2 Bundle)
• It's a game I want that has a cool preorder bonus (Pokémon figures)

Otherwise, this year I pretty much bought most of everything at Amazon and Best Buy. Amazon has had tons of deals and I've gotten so much more for the same amount of money spent on just one game. `

 

[Litflynt912]

walked into my gamestop, asked the manager if they are taking 3DS reservations, he smiled and said "why yes, do you want to reserve one?" I asked how many have been reserved and he told me none, so $50 later I have my 3DS reserved and if I go get it from Amazon or whatever, no problem getting my $50 back...

he was pretty surprised I knew about it as his staff didn't seem to have any knowledge of it...

that's how it rolls in Arizona I guess...lol

thanks to the OP as I would have just waited for Amazon.

 

[lachesis]

Just to make sure...

GameStop's system pre-order policy is:
First customer to put down actual money is first one to receive.
If the store receive only 5 systems on day 1, first 5 customers who reserved the system would get.

..

This is correct nation wide, correct?

 

[Dreamwriter]

Better question is anyone in there 30's and 40's still blind buying launch systems with gusto like when they were kids? I've seemed to have lost that have to be first spark but I think Amirox is dead on with the point being software during launches just keeps getting weaker and more rushed every gen.

I'm 37, but it's not really possible for me to "blind buy" new game hardware anymore - I know just about everything there is to know about the 3DS, everything but the exact list of launch titles and a guaranteed price (though I'm 90% sure it'll cost $250 at launch, probably with a game packed in and maybe a movie/rental). I've even played some of the demos at E3.

And the Wii I waited in line with a friend for 8 hours or so to have one at midnight launch day, but again, I had read up everything about the system, and I had played all the demos at E3 (that year was the best E3 ever) so I went into that knowing what I was doing. However, I probably would not have done that without a friend to hang with the whole time.

 

[krae_man]

Got my Deposit in, don't know what number I am. $40 was the minimum here.

 

[richiek]

Goddamn snow storm in NYC. I'll have to wait till later in the week to preorder.

 

[Glix]

Goddamn snow storm in NYC. I'll have to wait till later in the week to preorder.

I drove to work today in this!! You can get to a gamestop!!

 

[richiek]

I drove to work today in this!! You can get to a gamestop!!

It doesn't help that I'm also watching the Giants game now. :lol I'll try going to Gamestop tommorow.

 

[Father_Brain]

Goddamn snow storm in NYC. I'll have to wait till later in the week to preorder.

Good thing I live in Manhattan where subway service is relatively unaffected.

 

[lachesis]

Goddamn snow storm in NYC. I'll have to wait till later in the week to preorder.

Geez. I drove back and forth to the GS 4 times today! LOL... (Englewood NJ here)

 

[bucsfan0210]

I went to my local GS. Asked how many people had reserved the 3DS. Guy said none. So I was number 1. So I got my money down. but ultimately will weigh my options between Amazon and everything

 

[Glix]

I hope the thing has some neat built in stuff...

I'm so broke these days, I'm not sure I can even afford a game on launch day

Haha, guess It'll be Picross 3D and PRETENDING its in real 3D

 

[tenchir]

I went to my local GS. Asked how many people had reserved the 3DS. Guy said none. So I was number 1. So I got my money down. but ultimately will weigh my options between Amazon and everything

Same here. I ask if I was the first and she said yes, so hopefully I am gauranteed to get one on launch day. The only snag is by the time I went home and took a good look at the receipt, the customer's name was my brother's name and not mine, hopefully that doesn't cause any problem since I used my credit card.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Preorder made - pretty sure I wasn't in the first few, though, as my Gamestop is close to both Nintendo and Microsoft HQ, along with Digipen game school and a dozen game developers. And the cashier looked practiced at looking up and entering the SKU, and another retailer walking the floor knew about it.

 

[Scuba Steve]

I just called my local Gamestop, they said it was $5 to put down for a 3DS

I clarified again saying a Nintendo 3DS, to be sure

$5.00

I'll be right back I'ma go reserve this suckas!

 

[GDGF]

I can't preorder until Thursday

Nobody has preordered at my local GS yet (as of two hours ago anyway) so I'll be fine. But now I want Thursday to hurry its ass up.

 

[Somnid]

Plopped $50 down. I guess it's a matter of waiting until January to see what exactly I signed up for. Should be awesome none-the-less and I'm going to need that US region system for Pokemon Black.

 

[MidnightScott]

I just called my local Gamestop, they said it was $5 to put down for a 3DS

I clarified again saying a Nintendo 3DS, to be sure

$5.00

I'll be right back I'ma go reserve this suckas!

I find that hard to believe since last year when I preordered the DSi it was $25 down...but whatever. I'm paying $50 now that I may not have later. :s

 

[PistolPete]

I just pre-ordered one though I'm not really sure why. Is anyone really antipating a shortage or a huge demand for these? Particularly at the expected price point?

 

[Scuba Steve]

I find that hard to believe since last year when I preordered the DSi it was $25 down...but whatever. I'm paying $50 now that I may not have later. :s

It's what the guy told me on the phone. I'm heading over there now so I'll show you the receipt if it's legit.

 

[Lkr]

I just pre-ordered one though I'm not really sure why. Is anyone really antipating a shortage or a huge demand for these? Particularly at the expected price point?

the "expected" price point is as accurate as any other "expected" price point - pure bullshit. Of course there will be a shortage and a demand. Did you miss the Wii or DS(fat) launch?

 

[antonz]

I just pre-ordered one though I'm not really sure why. Is anyone really antipating a shortage or a huge demand for these? Particularly at the expected price point?

They will sell out. Just the way these things go. The real issue becomes how is the production line going to be. Supplying 3 Regions can be tough if production isnt steady.

It could be a case of smooth sailing after the initial sell out with the ability to stock frequent enough to not be horrible or it could be a case of deep regret not preordering and stuck waiting on shipments

 

[MidnightScott]

I just pre-ordered one though I'm not really sure why. Is anyone really antipating a shortage or a huge demand for these? Particularly at the expected price point?

Nintendo said they delayed it in order to make sure they have enough for launch. But I believe it was so they could still sell more DS systems this holiday...

 

[mattiewheels]

Can I safely assume Amazon won't be listing this until the price announcement?

 

[Demigod Mac]

Called them on the phone and they said they weren't taking them, but riiiiight before they hung up, one of the employees chimed in that yes, they just started taking them today.

So I went there to put $50 down and am probably #3 or #4 on the list. Surprising, given I went in at 2:00.

 

[Grok4Spock]

Nintendo said they delayed it in order to make sure they have enough for launch. But I believe it was so they could still sell more DS systems this holiday...

All of the above...