I went to 2 Gamestops, Target and a Super Walmart this morning. At every single store it was Wii60 & DS mania.
At 5 am Super Wal-Mart unleashed a small mountain of 360 arcade bundles with a bunch of extras for $299, instantly gone. The Wii and Wii Fit mountains cleared out in less than a minute as well. The white and green game boxes were in everyone's hand at the cash register. I was buying other electronics so I was not able to count, but there were tons of games and systems being sold.
We left and went to Target, who opened at 6am. Same situation. Target seemed to be selling a LOT of Guitar Hero (both 3 and World Tour) in various holiday bundles as well.
Then at 7 am I hit Gamestop #1. Suprisingly huge lines in stores. They handed out sheets of paper with "Wii" or Wii Fit" on them to people wanting those as they came in. Those were gone immediately upon store open. Saw lots of GH sales there as well (Wii & PS2 Aerosmith were on sale fro $20 and blew right out the door), and quite a suprising amount of people with Samba de Amigo (it was also a Black Friday deal for $20. They sold a large stack in 15 minutes, hopefully it will have nice sales this week). Wii's & Wii fit were gone, and a lady actually sold her "Wii Fit" paper to someone in line behind her for $20!
Left and went to a Circuit City (a closeout store), and they had no BF deals, just clearance, so I went to another Gamestop that was still in the first hour of Black Friday sales. Wii Fit, Wii both sold out. Guitar Hero DS : gone, Samba : gone, GH Aerosmith : gone. 360 :selling. Lots of green and white software boxes in hands. This store had 2 clerks helping parents pick out DS games, 2 in the Wii section, and 2 in the 360 section, 1 girl helping PS3/PSP.
I did see Gamestop selling a few used PS2's (they were on sale for $49.) A few used 360's sold at this store during my visit as well.
Gamestop is offering a buy 2 get 1 free used games sale this entire weekend, I saw a lot of PS2 software moving (people had stacks of them), as well as Wii, DS & 360.
Overall: Nintendo & MS scored big today; hardware, games, & accessories were flying of the shelves. I think the 360 might sell much closer to the Wii than normal this week, there was a ton of product available, and was selling briskly. I didn't see and NEW Sony systems or games selling at any of the Big Box retailers, except for a bin of $9.99 PS2 Black Friday deals at Wal-Mart. I certainly don't look forward to seeing Sony's hardware numbers next week, though I am sure they will increase from last week.
The mass market price of the 360 really moved a lot of HD product today, and I don't see how Sony will compete in the North American game market without a significant price reduction, and fast. Every 360 sold might take away a possible PS3 purchase. This will slow bleed Sony, as it takes away the long term royalty money that Sony really needs right now, and could have made if the consumer bought a PS3 instead.
In my experience today Wii>360>DS>PS2>PSP>PS3. I am sure for the week it will stabilize a bit and change to Wii>DS>360>PSP>PS3>PS2.
Expect software sales sure to be massive, GH>RB. A bunch of older titles will show movement (especially GH3 & GH Aerosmith, both GH DS titles, even some bundles of GH1, and GH2. Call of Duty 4 was on sale for the best prices I've seen since it came out last year, and was selling well). I was hoping to see movement of LBP & Wii Music, but didn't.
Oh 1 odd thing I didn't expect to see : a lot of parents were looking at the Nerf Wii game bundles with a Nerf gun (can't recall the title). I don't know how it translated to sales, but I was surpised by the amount people picking it up and looking at the package. Sleeper hit? I didn't think it would sell at all, but who knows?
Wii Code 3456 7941 4060 2924
