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Nintendo blamed for pre-order ambiguity
Customers at Virgin Megastores interested in preordering a PS3 are being told that they may or may not actually get the console they're reserving, thanks to Nintendo. Yeah, our reaction was very like that "what-huh" you've got going on there. Now, we know there were Wii shortages in the UK (as there are now everywhere), but there are often shortages at launch. It's part of the rush to be an early adopter -- you get out there and fight your fellow gamers and everyone has a grand time. No, we're just confused as to why this is an issue. It's pretty much SOP around here to assume that pre-orders aren't a guarantee. Most places even remind you of that fact either on a receipt or in person at the time of preorder. So instead of pointing the finger at Nintendo, why aren't they just saying, "That's the way of preorders, old chap! We'll keep our fingers crossed for you." Instead, they're all trying to instigate some problems between Sony and Nintendo. Good game, Virgin... let's get everyone amped up to fight!Outside of all the finger-pointing drama, there is an interesting underlying issue in this story regarding the shortages. Nintendo denies any shortages, and seems to have delivered on their year-end numbers. Virgin says they didn't receive what was promised. Nintendo swears they released all allocations in October and met them on time. Certainly someone's at fault here, but it's hard to tell amidst all the finger-pointing.
UK gets countdown clocks to Wii launch
Originally posted in the Wii Chat forums, there was supposedly a memo sent out where it was revealed that select UK Virgin megastores would be receiving countdown clocks, set to count down to the launch of the Wii. The memo says that Nintendo would be contacting the following stores from today onward about when to expect their clock's arrival: Megastore Piccadilly Liverpool Cribbs Causeway Kings Road Bournemouth Leeds Meadowhall Birmingham Over at Joystiq, Ross brings up a good point. With Nintendo's keynote at this month's Leipzig Games Convention, it's a natural venue for them to announce the date, which would see these stores having their clocks installed and functional on that date of August 23rd. While we'll chalk this one up to rumor at the moment, consider it an unusually interesting one.[Note: The graphic does not convey a believed release date. It is entirely made up on our part.][Via Joystiq]
