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[Doc Savage]

I live on Long Island and I have seen few Xbox systems for the past 2 months. I've heard that Microsoft had a really good holiday season and they just haven't caught up yet, but does it really take 2 months to manufacture and stock systems. Is Microsoft still manufacturing any of these in Mexico? I've searched around google and it seems pretty wide spread.

I have come across Slim PS2's in Wal-Mart and EB Games, it just seems like when stores do recieve Xbox's they get like 4 at a time. Oh and the friggin Xbox communicators are a tough find as well, what the hell is going on?

 

[SickBoy]

I couldn't really say, but I'd imagine it has something to do with not having the manufacturing capacity to keep up to demand. I would assume they don't have to contend with any sort of part shortages.

 

[Doc Savage]

Guess I posted this in the wrong forum, thats what I get for posting at 2:30 in the morning.

 

[Doc Savage]

It sucks that my Xbox is having troubles and I want to get a new one but it is a pain in the ass finding one around here. There are too many games coming out in the month or so and I would like to play them online without any friggin dirty disc errors. I really do not want to get a used one.

On top of all this the PSP is launching, too much money............ wallet crying.

 

[ChrisReid]

I live on Long Island and I have seen few Xbox systems for the past 2 months. I've heard that Microsoft had a really good holiday season and they just haven't caught up yet, but does it really take 2 months to manufacture and stock systems. Is Microsoft still manufacturing any of these in Mexico? I've searched around google and it seems pretty wide spread.

I've heard a bunch of people talking about how the Tsunami damaged the factory where they were made. :lol

The real answer goes something like this: You only have a set production amount, systems per month. This systems per month production capability actually isn't very high, but if you produced at this capacity all year long, you'd have more than enough systems to go around. As fluctuations in demand happen, you try to anticipate how much of your max capacity you should utilize to keep enough systems in the retail channels a few months down the line.

Well, for this Christmas, both Sony and Microsoft didn't predict high enough. So as early as August, they should have been maxing out production for Christmas and they weren't (in Sony's case, it was bleeding the world dry of big PS2s so they could cleanly introduce the slim one). So when busy Christmas hit, all the systems that had been built were sold in November. Maxing out the factories in November and December just doesn't physically produce enough to meet Christmas demand. They needed to have been running these things all out in September and October. Now in January and February, we have yet to catch up, and we probably won't until March.

 

[Blackace]

Microsoft is going to stop making Xbox all together pretty shortly here... that might have something to do with it... They are not giving people the option to buy the old xbox instead of the new Xbox 2 from what I hear...

 

[Blimblim]

Microsoft is going to stop making Xbox all together pretty shortly here... that might have something to do with it... They are not giving people the option to buy the old xbox instead of the new Xbox 2 from what I hear...

If so, why do they keep doing bundles here in Europe ? There is one for DOAU, and there will be another for Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.

 

[pj]

Microsoft is going to stop making Xbox all together pretty shortly here... that might have something to do with it... They are not giving people the option to buy the old xbox instead of the new Xbox 2 from what I hear...

Xbox 2 isn't coming for at least 9 months, there isn't enough supply to satiate the market for that long. They're not bleeding the market in preparation for xbox 2, it's just way too early.

 

[Tortfeasor]

Microsoft is going to stop making Xbox all together pretty shortly here... that might have something to do with it... They are not giving people the option to buy the old xbox instead of the new Xbox 2 from what I hear...

Yeah... this make zero sense. They will maintain the original Xbox as a value SKU long after the Xbox 2 comes out. If they didn't they would have a hard time find ANYONE to develop games for it that had ship dates of 4th quarter '05 or later.

As far as shortages goes, I had a really hard time finding one last week after mine broke. I could not find a store in the chicago area with any in stock and eventually found on from Circuitcity.com. It was a recently manufactured system with a 12-2004 manufacturing date and the back of the box was full of games being released 1st and 2nd quarter '05. They are making them, it is just that demand has far outstripped supplies.

 

[Blackace]

Yeah... this make zero sense. They will maintain the original Xbox as a value SKU long after the Xbox 2 comes out. If they didn't they would have a hard time find ANYONE to develop games for it that had ship dates of 4th quarter '05 or later.

As far as shortages goes, I had a really hard time finding one last week after mine broke. I could not find a store in the chicago area with any in stock and eventually found on from Circuitcity.com. It was a recently manufactured system with a 12-2004 manufacturing date and the back of the box was full of games being released 1st and 2nd quarter '05. They are making them, it is just that demand has far outstripped supplies.

I know it doesn't make much sense... but that is what I heard...

 

[Kobun Heat]

By "here", of course, Blackace means "Japan", which had enough Xboxen to fill demand by about the end of one year's worth of manufacturing.

EDIT: Not that they won't do a similar tack in the US. It makes perfect sense -- if they lose money on the Xbox, why would they want to keep selling units? Once Xbox 2 comes out, any further expansion of the original userbase is moot (especially if it's not backwards compatible).

 

[ChrisReid]

Yeah... this make zero sense. They will maintain the original Xbox as a value SKU long after the Xbox 2 comes out. If they didn't they would have a hard time find ANYONE to develop games for it that had ship dates of 4th quarter '05 or later.

You guys took him seriously? Wow, he actually said that seriously? I thought for sure he was mocking the people who thought the xbox factory was wiped out by the tsunami. The XBox 1 isn't going away any time soon.

EDIT: Not that they won't do a similar tack in the US. It makes perfect sense -- if they lose money on the Xbox, why would they want to keep selling units?

All the XBox 1 games aren't going to suddenly disappear. The division operates at a loss, but selling someone an XBox and a stack of games over a couple years is individually a profitable scenario. Halo 1 sold 100,000+ units in December 2004. There will be plenty of people buying XBox 1 systems and games a couple years from now.

 

[Blackace]

By "here", of course, Blackace means "Japan", which had enough Xboxen to fill demand by about the end of one year's worth of manufacturing.

EDIT: Not that they won't do a similar tack in the US. It makes perfect sense -- if they lose money on the Xbox, why would they want to keep selling units? Once Xbox 2 comes out, any further expansion of the original userbase is moot (especially if it's not backwards compatible).

Exactly... They wouldn't be the first console company to do it also....

Up until the PS2 they all did it...

 

[SantaC]

I saw 8 crystal xboxs at my local VG store yesterday.