Yesterday’s post about the madness surrounding the 360 launch turned into one long diatribe against GAME, as many things can do, but it turns out it’s not only the independents who are getting a raw deal on this. I spent much of the day in my games proprietor of choice, the Video Game Centre, while my car was in for its MOT and got to see a surprising number of people looking for preorders (all were told that they’d be lucky to get one before February) and witness some of the existing orders being given the bad news. One was angry and all were disappointed, but most decided that their best chances were with the shop and decided to stay on the list.

Anyway, some of the more interesting titbits came from conversations with owners and managers of various other places. First of all, it appears that all small independents are getting the same package of two cores and two premium packs. They’re still getting fucked and it still sucks.

The other thing to note is that many of the big stores are getting fucked, so it seems that it’s Europe in general that Microsoft are bending over and violating. The manager of one of the GAME stores in Bournemouth (he’s a sound guy, even if the company isn’t) said that his store had taken 90 preorders and, although they don’t have exact numbers yet, have been told by head office that they’ll be lucky to get half that number. The other one was that even the huge Toys R Us superstore in Poole, a few miles away, can only get ten. Popular online retailer Play now has a message warning that they won’t be able to fulfill any more orders and, according to the SPOnG forums, have even emailed people who ordered months ago with the bad news.

Although I’m happy because I’m getting one on 2nd December, I saw how disappointed a lot of people were and you have to wonder why Microsoft have even bothered releasing it at this point when they can’t make enough to make it worthwhile. Surely it would have been better to have held off for a couple of months (they’d still have a head start on Sony) and then come here with 250,000-500,000 machines instead of the pitiful number that we’re currently looking forward to.

The logistics of a project as massive as a near simultaneous worldwide launch for a major new piece of gaming hardware was obviously very much underestimated by Microsoft who themselves said that if they’d known what a huge operation it was going to be they simply wouldn’t have bothered, but the scale of the shortage is starting to become apparent as independent shops around the UK find out their allocations of machines. We’d heard that the UK was possibly going to get 100,000 units in total (for perspective: we had 250,000 PSPs for launch and it’s still suffering a chronic shortage) with rumours that there wouldn’t be a major restock until March. It doesn’t exactly give a huge head start on Sony when only a few hundred thousand will have 360s, does it?

Anyway, back to my original point. While the major chains like GAME are getting around a hundred each, the independents are getting…fifty?

No.

Thirty? That’s the number of original Xboxes that the VGC got for launch, after all.

You wish…they’re getting four – two full systems and two core.

Is it any wonder that big business is suffocating the indies when they’re getting treated like that? They may not have the money to buy such vast numbers (although they’d actually pay more per unit) but they’re the heart and soul of the industry, filled with specialised knowledge and a genuine passion for games. Most GAME employees don’t know anything, and you could swap the games and consoles for pretty much anything else and find the knowledge of the staff was similarly lacking. I can remember going in there and being looked at like a madman when I asked for a DS case.

I’m lucky enough to be able to get one from an independent but only because I was first on the list (I ordered during E3), I had money down, and I’m friends with the owner. Everyone else is probably going to have to wait months or go and make a deal with the evil empire to get one, and possibly both, which frankly sucks.

I ordered a T-shirt from Pure Pwnage (watch probably their most famous creation, FPS Doug, if you haven’t already) which arrived this morning, bearing nothing but the indubitable mantra, “I pwn n00bs”. You can see it here, being modelled by Dave from Pure Pwnage. I know the geekiness of even buying such a thing is off the chart but I had to laugh when the senders’ address on the package carried the name A Noob.

I’ve just gotten around to finishing the review of Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in the States) which you can find here. I enjoyed it and think that it deserves attention and I think the review reflects that, so give it a look if you have some interest in the game. Of course it can be found permanently in the review index.