People don't realize just how annoying the Chinese New Year is for westerners who use Chinese production lines.

In the beginning of January, the entire country literally shuts down for a month. It's infuriating when you need to get product shipped out of the country or are launching a new product and need a line to start up.

Argh, I get irritated just thinking about it. 

I agree that slowing down and speeding up production is more then "pushing a button", I don't think this all has to do with overproduction in 2006. 6 months into 2007 there were no 360's for sale that didn't have an HDMI port, and they never made one with it in 2006. Also with all the new motherboards and cooling derivatives hitting the market, it's clear that a constant stream of 360's have been in production.

It could be however that they thought they pushed enough over Christmas 2007 to handle the next few months (because that’s how it worked in 2006), but to think 2006 production has spilled over into 2008 unit shortages is, imo, just wrong.

DK wasn't saying that 2006 production spilled over, he was saying that after stuffing the channel in 2006 and seeing retailers not accept any 360 shipments for almost half of 2007, MS scaled back holiday 2007 production and over compensated, shorting retailers in early 2008.

Compound that with the Chinese New Year in early January, where production lines shut down for nearly a month, and you've got yourself a shortage. Screw up holiday shipments and you're stuck until February when production lines fire back up and you can fix your mistakes from nearly two months previous.

I know so much about this because my last company tried to launch a new product line, spending about $50k on advertising in the process (my part of the job), and delayed production until the Chinese New Year hit, royally fucking that $50k right in the ass. All of it wasted because of delays in shipping and production due to Chinese New Year.

I'm actually thinking it may be a PR move.

Micrsoft understands that GTA4 will most likely put them trough the roof over PS3 (in NA) but are unwilling to lower the price or make a move until then. So the fact they are being outsold by ps3 without countering with bundles or price drops makes them look like they are losing control of the market...unless for some reason there was an excuse such as supply issues. "Supply issues" is just buying them time...

And I'm not anti microsoft at all so please Rocketpig, don't accuse me of being a fanboy. :)

 You are not bowing at the temple of MS and not accepting everthing MS tells you, you must be a fanboy of some other system and anti-MS.

I wouldn't do that. You have a point. It could be a PR move. I don't think it is but you raise a valid point.

I don't generally accuse people of being fanboys. I prefer to refer to such people as "stupid". Generally, these people don't come up with reasons for the shortage, they just flat-out deny that it ever existed. Reality is a tenuous thing for some people.

Shortages? If they had real shortages they wouldn't cut the price in Europe, don't you think?

EDIT: There were some shortages around here (Elites only) in mid-to-end-of-January but not in February. Also in February you could buy them online.

I know man. I was joking... anyone can smell fanboys on this site from a mile away.

Yes, because the 360 sells at the same rate in all regions and because MS ships the correct ratio to every country in the world.

Argh, this is getting tiring. There was a fucking shortage. Admit it. Even a moderator on this very site who works in retail admitted that they were not getting the 360s they ordered. All you had to do was check online inventory in any major American retailer in January to see that the 360 was sold out nearly everywhere.