I can't chance our account with that kind of money, therefore I'm still on hold with Walmart CS.    

I am trying to get through to Walmart CS to ask if you can return parts of the bundle or not.

The wait time is ****25 minutes*****

Can you return pieces of these things?   There is a premium bundle for like over $1000 which is insanely crazy..,..

But it includes 3 games, a year subscription card, a SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM (!), and an extra controller.

If I KNEW I could return everything but the system and a game, I would jump on this.  

Does anyone know?   QUICK!

Interested in one after xmas?   I have talked to some of my local stores and they say their shipments are expected the 26th.  If I can nab one after, are you interested or was it a by xmas or forget it for awhile thing?

I'll talk to the wife when she gets a break at lunch and let you know.
Thanks!

Hey Msduncan: I've been following your x-box 360 saga since the beginning. I must say that as jealous as I am that there are those who can afford to buy one, I'm pulling all the way for you.

I have to comment on your wife's dedication to you and your hobby.

God bless her little cotton socks for being such a help and not a nagging hinderance..(not that my wife is the later by any means) :wink:

I'm sure you will, but make sure you get her something extra special this Christmas for being such a good sport.
 :lol:

All the best in you hunt for the wild and elusive 360....

Thanks for the great sentiments!   I'm afraid the game is getting less possible to win with each passing day.    Since I had to work this morning, my friend who is also looking out for me went up to Walmart last night and was going to call me at 2 in the morning if they followed through like they claimed and got some in on the truck.  (something they told him in the wee hours of Monday morning).    I didn't get a call, so I'm going to give him a buzz within the hour and I'll report back here as to what they told him when he showed up like they told him to at 2 am.

If he'd have called I had clothes laid out like a fireman suit to jump into them and run out the door....  

Ok I feel better this morning after that outburst.   I'm sure that employee didn't know what she was talking about.     At least I hope they don't.

I guess I'm still a little sore about Best Buy.

Well....

My wife goes to get groceries tonight at Walmart and she notices there is a truck there.      She flags everyone down she can find and finally talks to someone in electronics.

The lady in electronics tells her that they got 6 units in on Saturday and sold them all.   However -- and this is the part that pisses me off --  they said they found out afterwards they weren't supposed to sell them.   They were supposed to hold them in-store until the first week in January so that they could do another 'camp-out thing'.    

edited
<---lay off the cussing ---->

Sorry to lose my temper ....  but a month and a HALF after release -- and AFTER Christmas, and retailers are still going to be pulling this 'stockpile them for launch #7 and launch #8' bulls***?    This is un-***ing-believeable.



 :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x

Basically my wife would like for me to have it under the tree on Christmas.   If we don't make it in time to get it by Christmas (which means precious few days left) then we'll just hunt around here to avoid any shipping costs.    As of right now though, she's willing to pay shipping if it means having it under the tree.

Guys...     I have absolutely no hard feelings with Hetz or Tebunker or anyone else that has gotten one and sold it.   I realize it's a hugely tough decision to make, and those that have won an Xbox or managed to happen upon one have been very fortunate and they shouldn't feel the least bit guilty or sad about doing whatever they want to with them.

I've just been untimely, unlucky, and not in the right place at the right time.    On Saturday night had I left the Christmas party 1 hour earlier I would have an Xbox under my tree right now.    If I had preordered in May I would also have one.  (however I can't see how ANYONE would have predicted that you'd have to preorder a half a year in advance, but that's just me).

The bottom line is that everyone has to do what is best for them -- be it making some money to help them through Christmas, playing it themselves, or helping out a fellow gamer.      I harbor absolutely zero hard feelings toward anyone on this great site and in this great community for any of the 3 options.   Ok?    

That being said -- the wife is still willing to pay cost plus 2 day or whatever it takes to get it here by Christmas shipping if anyone finds one and wants to help out.    :wink:

The only people that should feel bad about this crap is partly EBgames for overselling, and Microsoft for fumbling this launch so badly.

Hmmm

I thought about jumping into this discussion to single handedly tip the scales back over to balanced......

But I'll just leave this message in here and you guys know what I would say.     There.   Balance achieved......  

Now back to looking on the internet for an Xbox 360....

Honestly, I would think you'd be outraged. As a conservative, you've always been in favor of smaller govt. and upholding constitutional rights. This is obviously not small govt. and it directly violates the Constitution.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath and affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

To be honest I've been so damned wrapped up in this Xbox garbage that I haven't even payed attention to the wiretapping news.   I'll read into it and release a statement a little later....

Just in my part of the line, seeing 8 dejected parents go home at 5:20am empty handed stunk.  

LOL. They can get one on Amazon for $1200 for premiumw/ no bundle if they love their kids enough. LOLOLO.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000B43OY4

Too much sugar this morning CGBP?  Go easy on the donuts and pudding snack packs, or at least wait for the ritalin to kick in first.

We were "lucky" in that our line attracted a small group of profiteers scalping xbox 360s stashed away in their cars.  So concerning your very helpful advice, they didn't even have to click on the internet that night if they did in fact love their children enough, as you suggest.  All they had to do was drop 2-3 times the retail value of the 360 to demonstrate their love.  

I asked all of the scalpers individually why they were working the line in 28 degree weather, why not just sell on eBay?  They all said frustratingly that people were only joke-bidding on their units, or not bidding at all.  They had their units up for auction since a few days after launch.  When I asked why they were still asking 2-3 times retail value that night when they weren't getting any serious hits on eBay, they all seemed to think it wasn't worth their while to sell for any less than 2 times retail value.  Despite the disappointment early that morning, the scalpers left about an hour after the tickets were handed out, with no takers.  I guess we live in a world where parents just don't love their kids enough.

Roguetad -- this story made me day.

Thanks!    

Hmmm

I thought about jumping into this discussion to single handedly tip the scales back over to balanced......

But I'll just leave this message in here and you guys know what I would say.     There.   Balance achieved......  

Now back to looking on the internet for an Xbox 360....

DUDE EBAY IS YOUR FRIEND.

I payed 100$ over sticker for a premium I got games and a 2 year warranty...

It was worth it. The guy I bought it from was a college student who bought it at Circuit City and waited 15 Hours in line.

The way I see it is I payed him 7$ an hour to wait in line for me. I think its worth not going crazy for.

When did you grab that off Ebay?   What time of day?   I keep looking all day and when they get down inside a minute they jump from 400 something to 700 in seconds.

Yup; I really do wish you were able to get one without all this trouble, man.    I've been keeping an eye out myself, but I haven't run across any around here to pick up for ya.  Mind you, I'm also just not willing to sit outside of a Best Buy all night even for myself.  But if I run across one, it's yours.

And to be perfectly honest, while I've had zero interest in the 360 until the price drops at least $100, I'm sure I'll be as bonkers about the Revolution as you are about the 360.  

I'll preorder a PS3 and a Revolution IMMEDIATELY when they start taking them.  :p

Why is everyone giving him such a hard time about wanting to get one?  Obviously it's important to him and he really wants one now.  So telling him to wait til spring is going to have no effect and doesn't seem to be a useful statement.

I got mine waiting out on launch eve (thanks Myto!), but if I didn't have one yet I would be doing all of the same things and sharing my experiences with everyone here, hoping not to hear any non-helpful 'just wait' comments.  :roll:

It's called "friendly advice".  Isn't always what you want to hear, but it's not because we're trying to give him a hard time.  I'm not typing "just wait until spring" and then chortling maliciously to myself or anything.   :roll:

Right!   And I don't see it as that.   I'm trying within reason to get one.   If I don't then I'll just keep an eye out after Christmas and will eventually get one.

I just hate that I won't get to carry on the tradition of taking the system over to my family's big Christmas and hooking it up so we can all play.   That's always the best time to be had....

As a side note: my wife located one at the hospital where she works.... but the guy wanted $500 for a CORE system -- which means I'd have to buy a $100 HD and it would be a $600 system at the end of the day.

$200 to save how many hours camping in line?  You really want the system, why not pay more for it at this point?  How much time, effort, and suffering have you invested in this?

Of course, then there's the problem of locating a hard drive, which are more rare than the systems at this point.

Actually there are some on ebay for 100 bucks right now.   And Best Buy had some Sunday too.

I've seen them around so I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

As a side note:   my wife located one at the hospital where she works.... but the guy wanted $500 for a CORE system -- which means I'd have to buy a $100 HD and it would be a $600 system at the end of the day.

She told him no thanks.

Supposedly they've been arriving to Walmarts on the overnight trucks for some reason.   At least that's the story I've been hearing on the internet.

In any case the lady seemed to know what she was talking about.

Well.....

A friend of mine went by my local Walmart and the clerk told him that they were supposed to get 360's on the shipment this morning but they had none.     She said they would most likely be on the shipment tomorrow morning.    

For the record:  The truck comes in at 2 AM.    

Now I'm faced with a decision:

360's may or may not be there tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning.
There may or may not be a line.
*I have to work all day tomorrow and thus can't be dead tomorrow

Do I go up there at midnight and camp hoping they come in?   Do I go up there at 2 am and camp hoping people aren't camping too?    Do I just get up a little early for work and go by there at 5 hoping that they still have some and they haven't been camped?    Or do I just forget about it so I can function at work tomorrow?

I HATE THIS SHIT.

[NEVER]

See now, I think that is just wrong. To just wait in line so you can sell it? You could have denied someone like msduncan a Xbox 360, just so you could make a little profit. Come on. It's not all about the almighty $$.

Am I misremembering or did you not sell your free Xbox on Ebay?

EDIT- I see Stimpy's quote now.  And while I generally agree with your sentiment Hetz, I do find it mighty hypocritical when you could have come onto here or OO and offered to sell your free unit for MSRP.   And its not like you didn't know there was going to be such a shortage since you've repeatedly quoted your amazing prophecy from May about the need to preorder one at the earliest possible moment.

Yeah, but at the time I sold it (which was before the release date), I had no idea it would be so hard to find it for so long. I thought people would be able to find one within a week or so. Had I known that it would be over a month before units would be available again, that would have been another story.

Also, people, since many of you don't remember, I had a guaranteed preorder at Gamestop that I gave up freely to someone else....that cost me a lot of money, but I did it to help someone get one. Like I said, it's not all about the allmighty dollar.

I would NEVER just stand in line for something to just turn around and sell it screwing people that really wanted it out of their system....but that's just me.

I agree with Hetz too.   He did have an extra WAY before we realized that nobody on even the mid summer preorder list would be unable to scrounge one up a MONTH after release.    We had not a clue how badly mismanaged this launch was going to be.    

I also had no clue how much of a negative impact Ebay has had on this sort of thing.   Half the people in line in front of me were there to make a buck on Ebay and they didn't hide it.    Did it piss me off and make me sad at the time time?  Yeah it did.    But in the end if they put in the time in line, they deserve to do whatever they want to with it.    

I now work all week so there will be almost nil chance that I'll stumble into one before Christmas.   I have to be at work at 8:00 -8:15 each morning, so there is simply no way for me to get to stores as they open before I come to work.       Looks like I'll be staring at my Xbox peripherals on Christmas.   Best Buy saturday night was really my last shot and I blew it because I had a company Christmas party I had to attend and should have left just an hour and a half earlier.   Had I done that I'd have one now.

If you read my posts you will know that it wasnt my intention to go stand in line specifically to get one to sell. I wanted to see If I could score one.
Once I did, I decided I didnt want it bad enough at this time to hang on to it.

As for selling it, I dont see the problem. People buy things and sell them for profit all the time. I'm sure even you have bought something, had it increase in value and sold it. What makes things valuable is the fact that they are rare or hard to find. This is no different.

I didnt knock some kid down to grab it before he did. I didnt grab it out of someones hands. I stood in line and got one. If someone wanted it worse than me, they would have been there before me. I didnt know if they would have 2 or 20 when I got in line.

I didnt post here to rub it in anyones face that I scored one and what I am doing with it. Just stating my experience.


Oh and before you throw stones....

Yep, that's what I did. I sold my everytenminutes one for over $1,000!  

Come on. It's not all about the almighty $$.

Where was your sage wisdom then?
Where was YOUR concern for all your helpless fellow gamers then?
Seem pretty hypocritical to me for you to come and preach shit to others.
Or do you not have to live up to the expectations you have for others?

Speaking as a Republican Capitalist ( ),  I think you did fine.    You braved the elements and you managed to get one.   It is yours to do whatever you want.    Good luck!  

Well, at the urging of my wife a friend and I went to Best Buy at midnight and pitched chairs to camp.    We camped in the cold (and rain - though we were under a shelter) for 8 hours.

When the Best Buy folks emerged to hand out the tickets just before opening....  I found out that I was 3 spots away from the last guy to get one.     So once again I've come up empty.

This has been a LOOONG and very cold night.   I'm headed off the bed now.    

It's ok Tebunker,  no hard feelings.   I thought it was nice of you to try to get one for me in the first place.    Hopefully the money will help you out with Christmas!

My local best buy reports:

Opening at 8 am.

They will have around 20 units here in Savannah.  

Sounds like if I wanted one I might have to camp out in the freezing rain and die of a disease or something....

Best Buy is going to have a bunch in stock this Sunday. Get in early and be prepared to camp. Looks to be your best possibility at that point.

Define early?

If I have to camp overnight in the cold rain (forecast for Savannah this weekend) then it will be impossible.   I already am fighting a 3 week daycare cold and have been prescribed Biaxin and Predisone.   If I went camping in cold wet overnight I'll give myself pseunomnia.

If I could get up at 5:30 and go up there at 6....   I could handle that.   I wonder if that would be no hope though.

I SOOOO love how they are showing up all over store shelves in small numbers but Ebgames and preorder places are getting JACK SHIT.    I love it.

Blame EB and Gamestop.....not Microsoft. Your preroder is available right now online for $1000 in one of their bundles that are in stock!

I KNOW!!!!!!!!     :x  :x  :x

Makes me not want to ever shop there again!  The jerks told me in Sept when I preordered that I'd have it on launch day.    :x

I SOOOO love how they are showing up all over store shelves in small numbers but Ebgames and preorder places are getting JACK SHIT.    I love it.

I walked into ToysRUs this morning....

They got 4 units in last night.   Sold two last night and two right before I got there.

       

I almost had one....my wife was severely disappointed when I told her.  I guess I shouldn't tell her because she already hates the machine for this whole fiasco in the first place....

This really disgusts me.    I'm outraged for the first time in months.   Truly outraged.

 :x  :x  :x  :x  :x

I'm still looking for you!!

Thanks!!! <3

Some sort of Space Exploration/combat/strategy game where the game generated all sorts of interesting worlds using an algorithm so that each world was truely unique and had unique challenges, life, and scenery.   I mean limitless but very detailed and seemingly un-random worlds.

Does that make sense?

I'll bite the leather strap and wait a couple days for releases from now on from Best Buy.

I just asked about my preorder based on the information that 300K additional 360's are shipping this week, and they told me that preorders won't begin to be filled until late January.

They must have utterly oversold beyond comprehension.    M$ and Ebgames both are on my crapola list right now.

For reasons I can't fathom, EBGames and Gamestop are both getting jack squat as far as resupplies go. I talked to my 'contact' inside my local Gamestop a few weeks back, and he told me they're expecting exactly one reshipment between now and the end of the year (and it's due next week I think).

Overall, I have no idea why Microsoft is shunning EBGames/Gamestop so much. I really don't.

It may very well be because they oversold so much...

Can you say in clinical terms what it was?

I dodged the bullet this time.


I have my theories on who it was.

I'll bite the leather strap and wait a couple days for releases from now on from Best Buy.

I just asked about my preorder based on the information that 300K additional 360's are shipping this week, and they told me that preorders won't begin to be filled until late January.

They must have utterly oversold beyond comprehension.    M$ and Ebgames both are on my crapola list right now.

Thanks guys!  That means a LOT to me and my wife!

Okay, I've just talked to the wife, MSduncan, I am going to camp out at my best buy Sunday Morning and I am going to get you a Premium Console.

I can't let you go sad this christmas. If I see one before hand I'll buy it and contact you with the info for payment, shipping etc.

 :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  

I've been going to stores until I'm sick of it.   I also have a family that needs dropped off to daycare and a job to show up to at 8 in the morning.   I can't play M$'s bullshit game of running all over the fucking place looking for a system every fucking day.

FUCK Microsoft for putting me in this situation.    :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x

I called my local Target and asked to be connected to Electronics.  I was asked what it was for, told them Xbox 360, and they immediately said 'we don't have any'.

So that is that.

Not to throw my fellow gamers under the bus, but does anyone else find this consistent '360 sighting' threads a wee bit pathetic?

There will be plenty of them in a few months.  Just wait.

A few months does not help my wife out for Christmas.

There -- that ought to spark a gold old fashioned GG type discussion in here....