Good point Dryden. I went shopping for Oblivion for PC a couple weeks ago, saw it was still $100 for all the content, and picked up Morrowind and both its expansions for a total of $20 instead, no-brainer IMO. It pays to be behind the curve a bit. :P

@Bodhesatva

Good job here in this thread, and keep up the good work. It will be interesting to see how the numbers start to shake out later this year when more popular (Long awaited) titles start to roll out for the Xbox360 and the PS3. I'm sure that the Wii demand will continue for quite a while, but it will be good to see how the 360 and ps3 start to pick up. Especially when Halo 3, Lair, GTA4, etc come out and to see how much those numbers begin to get closer to each other.

I'm a current owner of a xbox360, xbox, ps2 right now, and I just can't convince myself that I need a Wii, but I can't wait for some games to come out so I can justify getting the PS3.

 Yep, I'll be as forthright as I can. There is another Toys R Us employee in almost the same boat as you, by the way, in terms of consoles owned and planned future purchases. Okay, on to the news.

I got back from my shift today a while ago. The big news is: I did pick up my Wii today! I'm very happy so far. My girlfriend loves it, and we're actually playing games together, which is an enormous shift. We got 25 consoles in total -- much less than I had anticipated -- and to combine with that, we got many more people waiting in line this time around. We had to turn many people away at the door, and we were sold out 15 minutes after we opened (would have sold out instantly, just need time to check peopel out at the register). I had mentioned before that the Wii sales seemed to be waning slightly -- slowly approaching the point where we didn't sell out on day 1, and from there perhaps heading towards equilibrium -- but that trend seems to have reversed itself again, at least at my store. We're recieving as many questions about the Wii in the last couple of weeks as we were receiving back in January ("Do you have a Wii? Any chance of getting a Wii? Hey, how can I get a Wii?") and the sell out time is just as fast as ever. 

The PSP has decidedly picked up sales in our store since the price cut. It took me this long a time to confirm that I wasn't just making it up, but now I'm sure. We sold two more today, and I'd say we now sell 5-6 a week. We were selling 3-4 a week, so that's a mighty big pickup, 25-50 percent.  

We marked Call of Duty 3 Wii edition down to 19.99, and we sold out of them very quickly when we sold our Wiis this morning. If you know a local Toys R Us and wanted this game on the cheap, now is your chance. Assuming they didn't sell out like we did.

We're still sold out of Forza 2. Waiting on another shipment there, and have no idea how long it will be: perhaps tomorrow, but I'd say 1-2 weeks, based on personal experience.

Just like Circuit City, we have extended warranties (which we call Buyer Protection Plans). Ours are 24.99 for a year long extension on the Wii, and 39.99 for the 360 and PS3. This covers accidental damage, not just manufacturer fault. I'd be curious to know what the Circuit City prices are!  We sell warranties on about half of Wiis and 2/3 the 360s. And yes, we hammer the customer with stories about 360 defects -- not because we hate the system, but because we are trying to sell those warranties in any way possible. We gamely try on the Wii -- I focus on the sensitive nature of the Sensor Bar -- but there aren't as many direct or anecdotal stories to draw from without simply lying.  

I'm really surprised your xbox 360 protection plans are so cheap.  Do you know if TRU is making a profit on those?  I would never consider buying a protection plan for a Wii -- the 15 months Nintendo gives you is pretty good and I've never had a Nintendo console fail.  But if I had a 360 I'd buy the protection plan for certain. 

Hi there. I'd like to ask about PSP's software sale... anyone buys games? Current site's data shows a big decrease in software sale... How does it look like in Toys R Us? Thanks.

Yep, I wouldn't buy one on the Wii either. And yes, I'm quite sure they make a profit, because they have us push them so hard. We can earn bonuses and such for selling enough of them. That's not something most companies do unless they're making money too :p

Thing with the protection plans is...unless it Breaks the price is 100% profit to the company.

i purchased extended warranty on 3 items in the past 30 years. of all the extended warranty items- not one broke and needed to be fixed. of the hundreds of other items that i have purchased, not one of them broke within the warranty period, not one broke within the extended warranty period (if i had bought one)

i am still using one of the VCR's that i bought the extended warranty on... i got said vcr in 1990 works like a charm still. the TV still works as well, the 3rd item finally died, after 14 years of use (another tv)

for the VAST majority of electronics, it will break within the first 90 days,,, or it will last years with normal use.

It probably helps that if it is a manufactures defect (aka red eye of death), then TRU will just get it replaced by Microsoft at no cost to TRU.  That way they only have to cover 'accidental damage' claims.

Do any people buy protection plans for the PS3?

 you mean: Do any people buy PS3? 

)

 sorry... 

I wouldn't buy protection plans. it's way too expensive for the probability. (except 360 from what i read).