Now that I’ve given you a show of what kind of silliness you can expect out of me on an occasional basis, let’s get down to something a little more serious… NEWS!
Hard to believe there’s even anything worth reporting this early in the year, but there’s always something, and thus, here I am… Wayne Phinney, your main man… your main man Wayne. Wayne, your main man. Oh wait… I said that already.
First piece of news today I’ve seen at various sources, but I feel like pulling it from [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/03/used-games-a-marginal-business/]Joystiq[/url] just because they have a cool name. Looks like a vice president of marketing over at EB made this statement recently.
[i]”Used games are keeping the entire ship afloat. EB and GameStop make basically no money from new product.”[/i]
I’m not sure if I entirely believe that. I do know that a large portion of their profits are from used games, which I’m ok with. Doesn’t even bother me that they pay so little for them. If you know how to use a computer, then you shouldn’t be complaining about what they’ll pay you, because there’s always ebay. Still, I don’t think they make as little off of new titles as they imply. Sure, in order to compete with the Wal-marts and Targets of the world, they have to be tight on pricing, but I’m sure they still make enough off of new titles to cover operating costs. Let’s not forget about accessories and player’s guides. Those I’m sure are high-margin items.
Perhaps you think EB is out to screw the consumer or you believe them 100%. Me… I think there is a fair bit of truth to what was said, but I’m not completely confident in that statement. I think it oversimplifies what I’m sure is a more complicated overall process.
But that aside, I’m sure it’s not surprise to anyone trying to find one that the Xbox 360 is still in short supply. [url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141761.html]Gamespot[/url] thinks that Microsoft won’t be able to meet it’s projections of 2.5-3 million units in the first 90 days after release considering they have only shipped 1.3 million thus far. The aggravating part is that this is not a problem with demand, but rather, supply. Part of me thinks it’s a big marketing ploy just to keep demand going. After all, if your friend has a 360 and you can’t get one, you’ll want one even more, right? Well, there is a part of me that thinks Microsoft may have just not planned ahead well enough too. Either way, there are not enough 360’s out there, and more need to be shipped ASAP.
Lastly, the DS has been a major success, which is no surprise. Nintendo has the games that people want. This year it was Nintendogs and Mario Kart sharing the throne for the must have DS games. This helped contribute to the total worldwide sales of nine million DS systems. That’s quite impressive. Of course, this coming from a Nintendo fan makes it seem less special, but I don’t care. There’s a reason I’m a Nintendo fan. They know how to build a profitable business, and I can appreciate and respect that.
Source: [url=http://www.gamesradar.com/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=38533&subsectionid=1588]Games Radar Dot Com[/url]
There I go rambling on and on again. A word to the visitors of Snackbar… get used to it. Once I get going, it’s hard to stop… it’s like a disease or something.
Well, I’d better get back to work before I get fired. Until next time!
