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Palm Pre goes on sale to a select, drenched few
We just got to witness history, folks: Alfredo Rodriguez waited an hour in the miserable New York rain for the privilege of snapping up his Sprint store's very first retail Pre at this evening's invite-only Premier customers event. The man paid in cold hard cash, and after a tedious 40 minute purchase process that involved a bit of activation, some nice tutorials, a quick address book sideload from his old Touch Diamond and whole lot of peripheral upsell, Alfredo was one of the world's first satisfied Pre customers. The last time we saw him Alfredo was still playing with his new phone, and gives the device two thumbs up. He's particularly digging the keyboard -- what Touch Diamond user wouldn't? -- and the flip-up mirror. Word on the street was that there were about 80 units available at the store, but while we couldn't squeeze an official number out of Sprint, they did confirm that they'll have units available for the launch tomorrow as well. Be sure to let us know how your own local launch treats you! Update: We've swung by the Chicago launch on LaSalle Street to scope out the scene -- follow the break for the eye candy! Update 2: There's now also a video from the New York store after the break.
Palm Pre available at a single store in NYC on launch day? Unlikely.
The Pre launch continues to befuddle -- sure, we finally know that June 6 is when the magic happens, but the mechanics of actually snagging Palm's baby on that day are still pretty mysterious, and that's leaving a lot of room open for misinformation. Today's cloudy tea-reading comes courtesy of an ever-changing list of stores on Sprint.com that are marked as having June 5 "special hours," which some are reading to mean that only those stores will be blessed. We don't buy it. First, we've been told specifically that all stores will have Pre stock, even if it's minimal, and second, the special hours distribution just doesn't seem right to us if it's really correlated with Pre stocks: New York, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco are each currently showing just one store within 50 miles as having special hours, and Philly, Atlanta, and Houston have none listed at all. That's a way different list than when our friends at jkOnTheRun checked earlier, and it's a recipe for total launch chaos if it's true -- but we're guessing the real deal is that all stores will get stock, but only one flagship store in each major metro area will be going all out on launch day with special hours.Oh, and if you're planning on avoiding all the drama and just rolling into Best Buy on the 7th, we'd say think again: Boy Genius Report says that the Blue will go "weeks after launch with little or no replenishment." Ouch -- guess Sprint CEO Dan Hesse wasn't kidding around about shortages. Bottom line? Keep calling your local Sprint store to see if they get any information about the Pre, and keep it locked right here as we lead in -- we'll be working hard to let you know exactly when and where your best bet'll be.Read - Sprint Store LocatorRead - Boy Genius Report on Best Buy stockRead - jkOnTheRun post
Sprint puts a vacation blackout on May -- Palm Pre launch likely?
Well, we're circling in, folks. Hot on the heels of learning that Sprint employees have the Palm Pre in hand for training, there's word from all sides that Sprint has put a vacation blackout on the month of May for retail employees, which would seem to imply that the Pre will be launched sometime in there. We saw similar vacation freezes on AT&T's end for both iPhone launches, and those ended up fairly accurate. We haven't seen this memo personally, or threatened any Sprint employees for confirmation with shivs fashioned out of Samsung Instincts yet, so we'll keep an eye out for any other information to confirm or deny. Meanwhile, check out this Pre holster![Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The Daily Grind: Paying to play... in beta?
While Richard Garriott only recently figured out that open betas were more for marketing, and less for testing, it is a strategy that's been in use for some time. The Matrix Online was also one of the titles that did the "put $5 down for a pre-order and get a beta key" deal -- and while theirs felt more "finished" from a bug standpoint -- it came back to haunt them as well. Several people we know won't even try it again due to that experience, even with large changes to the game including a complete overhaul of the combat system. More recently, the folks at Flying Lab finished their beta and then entered a "pre-launch" phase (wisely avoiding calling it "beta" at all) and allowing people to level to 20 before today's launch of Pirates of the Burning Sea. (We can't speak for you, but several of us have had a blast in the pre-order.) So this morning we ask you -- have you ever "paid to play" in a MMO beta by going the pre-order to get in route? What was your experience like? Do you think that the idea of paying even a nominal fee to get into a beta makes you evaluate a game more harshly? Are you also unlikely to give a game a chance later after a bad beta experience? For that matter have you ever bailed on a game pre-reservation after a bad beta?
Flying Lab banning for RMT already
In an almost "news of the weird" situation, word came out yesterday evening that the fine folks at Flying Lab are already seeing grey-market gold selling in their still-in-pre-launch game Pirates of the Burning Sea. While any MMO veteran knows just how pervasive gold selling is in any game, this is perhaps the first time we've heard of them opening up shop quite so openly before a game is even officially launched. As Aether states, "we will [be] following up with the appropriate disciplinary actions, which could include confiscation of the resources in question, and ultimately banning accounts that sell or buy these illicit resources." We certainly wish Flying Lab the absolute best of luck with stamping it out -- and hopefully keeping chat channels clear of the spam that seems to be everywhere these days. But you have to admit, the fact that the gold-selling companies are getting this brazen before official launch isn't exactly a good sign.
Arr! Here be yer pre-order bonus item's stats
Flying Lab Software's Aether has taken a moment to pull himself away from all the pre-launch craziness surrounding any MMO only a couple weeks away from retail. Why, you ask? To give us some information on pre-order bonuses, I say! All silliness aside, these items are pretty hot.What you'll be getting for pre-ordering is three swords -- one for each style of combat -- that all share the same stats. The Musketeer's Matching Blades (Florentine style), Old World Cutlass (Dirty Fighting style) and Swedish Rapier (Fencing style) are all level 1 swords that are equivalent to the power of a level 20 weapon. We're pretty sure that we haven't heard of a pre-order item this powerful in quite some time, if ever. Pirates of the Burning Sea is set to launch on January 22nd, so if you want this pre-order bonus it may be a good idea to do it now rather than later.
