DarkD said: Hmmm I guess the sales have been boosted a fair bit. Considering that they were selling zero for the past month. Guess those releases helped a little than. Oh and remember to ask your manager for more shifts. I want a daily article from you!!! Infact take up a second job at the local Best Buy. Oh and have you tried out that Nyko Battery Charger for the Wii motes? I hear its really good and am planning on buying one soon.

Speaking of that Nyko battery charger, I was thinking the same thing the other day.  Anyone buy it and have some first hand experience?  I've been chugging through batteries like mad the last few weeks...

Kytiara said: DarkD said: Hmmm I guess the sales have been boosted a fair bit. Considering that they were selling zero for the past month. Guess those releases helped a little than. Oh and remember to ask your manager for more shifts. I want a daily article from you!!! Infact take up a second job at the local Best Buy. Oh and have you tried out that Nyko Battery Charger for the Wii motes? I hear its really good and am planning on buying one soon. Speaking of that Nyko battery charger, I was thinking the same thing the other day.  Anyone buy it and have some first hand experience?  I've been chugging through batteries like mad the last few weeks...

 I use them. For the most part, they're pretty good, the rubber grip is actually and improvement, doesn't feel odd at all, batteries hold a charge for a good while and recharge in short time. Biggest issue is the stand is VERY sensitive to how you set the remote in the stand at times. Sometime I got to nudge and reset the remote a bunch of times for the damn LED to finally come on. Doesn't always act up, but when it does it's very annoying. You can take off the wrist strap, that helps a little, as does cleaning the connectors with alcohol and Q-tips.

I run a Magic card shop... one of our major draws is our flatscreen HDTV with a Wii. I already own 7 games for it (Madden 07, Zelda, RE4, Wii Sports, Wii Play, DBZ: BT2, Mario Party 8) and 4 controllers, 4 nunchucks, 4 classic controllers. I don't charge people to play the system, so for our first month and a half of business we burned several batteries a week. I ordered 2 of the Nyko chargers, and they work great. You can play literally all day and run the controller down to around 50% playing Zelda with the chuck, speaker, and vibrate on. Even if I bought cheapass batteries, I've already saved a ton of money with the chargers. I'm not sure how long it takes to recharge, since I just leave it on the stand overnight while my shop is closed. The only small issue is the design of the base was made for the original thin wrist straps. The replacement thicker ones make the controller sit a little off in the base, so you have to kind of jiggle the controller a little bit to get the light to show that it's charging. Also, you can't charge the controllers if you have any of those rubber grip skins on them. Anyway, the chargers are great and I definitely recommend buying them if you play at all, they'll eventually pay for themselves no matter how little you play.

Bodhesatva said: We've sold two Playstation 3s in the last week, since I've been gone, and only one Xbox360. We've got more Forza in, and sold one of the six copies we recieved last week. We recieved ANOTHER shipment of Wiis -- giving us three shipments of 25, 18 and 15 (The most recent) in the last 10 days. The 15 were sold in a few hours, as were the other two shipments.

 I'm trying to get an idea here: is it the case that you sould well over 100 Wiis in the past two months and only two PS3s.

I keep hearing all of these anecdotal reports of stores selling 10-30 Wiis per PS3, and yet the NPD estimates don't reflect that.  What's the deal with this -- are there certain areas of the country where PS3s sell really well or something?  Lately it's been closer to 5-to-1 in favor of the Wii in the US according to the NPD.

TheBigFatJ said: Bodhesatva said: We've sold two Playstation 3s in the last week, since I've been gone, and only one Xbox360. We've got more Forza in, and sold one of the six copies we recieved last week. We recieved ANOTHER shipment of Wiis -- giving us three shipments of 25, 18 and 15 (The most recent) in the last 10 days. The 15 were sold in a few hours, as were the other two shipments. I'm trying to get an idea here: is it the case that you sould well over 100 Wiis in the past two months and only two PS3s. I keep hearing all of these anecdotal reports of stores selling 10-30 Wiis per PS3, and yet the NPD estimates don't reflect that. What's the deal with this -- are there certain areas of the country where PS3s sell really well or something? Lately it's been closer to 5-to-1 in favor of the Wii in the US according to the NPD.

 He works at a Toys R Us, which most "hard-core" players typically wouldn't visit since it is a "kids" store. I imagine that EB/Gamestop and Amazon.com contribute to reducing this 50:1 sell rate.

Dolla Dolla said: Everyone has a bias. And Bodhesatva doesn't attack and criticize Sony in EVERY thread, I fear you are stretching it a bit far. And you're right, a lot of sellers in the stores do have favorites, and sometimes that comes through when they are selling. I've noticed a lot of them suggest getting something other than a PS3 simply because there aren't many games that appeal to casual gamers, and the 360 and Wii have a better lineup for cheaper. I'm not sure what your purpose is in even posting that, Diomedes. The NPD verifies most of the observations Bodhesatva has made, whether he is biased or not.

Maybe I did lose myself somewhere but until my remark Bodehstava was saying they sold each week 2-3 complete Wii shipments (30+ units ) while they sell 1 or 2 X360 and none PS3 .After NPD data the Wii is outselling X360 2-1 and PS3 3-1 .For Bodhestava shop verifiying NPD data some 15 X360 units and 10 PS3 should be sold while the 30 Wii.So no ,I dont think that what Bodhestava says reflect NPD data at all .Maybe his shop is "special " somehow ,maybe he is one of those sellers that does his best to put you aways of the PS3 .I dont know .But seeing as he attacks Sony and the PS3 in most (I was exaggerating with all the threads just to put clear my `point ) and the only PS3 sold in his store are sold when he doesnt work I wonder if it isnt the second option .

Dio, no one ever claimed his data reflected NPD at all. It's merely a piece of the puzzle. I can go into a EB/GS and see Wiis instock, and no one is clamoring for them, while PS3s and 360s are doing very brisk sales. There are 2 sides.

Appearently you don't understand what Toys R Us is to know why his sales reports are the way they are. Hes not attacking PS3/Sony in the store sales, its a friggin' Toys R Us - PS3s and Wiis are next to Carebears and board games. Which one is the 8 y/o going to buy there?

Bodhesatva said: Munkeh said: Do any people buy protection plans for the PS3? I actually didn't want to mention this, because it seemed a little insulting -- but I haven't sold one in over a month, so... I don't know. I'd say based on the previous months, about 1/2 do, Munkeh. My general feeling is that people have a perception that the Wii and PS3 are reasonably solid machines, while the 360 has some issues. That is entirely editorial and based only on my perceptions of how people behave, though.

 Slightly off topic but I use to work in Geek Squad, and let me tell you, not buying the protection plan for any system or item is fairly silly.  People use to come in all the time with broken shit (iPods, cameras, PC's, printers, PS2's, TV's, vacuum cleaners, ect.) and always got pissed off when I told them they had to pay if they wanted me to do anything for them because they didn't bother buying any kind of waranties.

Also, buy buy warranties on MP3 players, especially iPods.  All of those break all the time and you'll save yourself a fair amount of grief.

/off topic 

twesterm said: Bodhesatva said: Munkeh said: Do any people buy protection plans for the PS3? I actually didn't want to mention this, because it seemed a little insulting -- but I haven't sold one in over a month, so... I don't know. I'd say based on the previous months, about 1/2 do, Munkeh. My general feeling is that people have a perception that the Wii and PS3 are reasonably solid machines, while the 360 has some issues. That is entirely editorial and based only on my perceptions of how people behave, though. Slightly off topic but I use to work in Geek Squad, and let me tell you, not buying the protection plan for any system or item is fairly silly. People use to come in all the time with broken shit (iPods, cameras, PC's, printers, PS2's, TV's, vacuum cleaners, ect.) and always got pissed off when I told them they had to pay if they wanted me to do anything for them because they didn't bother buying any kind of waranties. Also, buy buy warranties on MP3 players, especially iPods. All of those break all the time and you'll save yourself a fair amount of grief. /off topic

 When you  buy a protection plan from Best Buy, Best Buy is effectively selling you overpriced insurance.  A good rule of thumb is to never insure something you can afford to write a check for.  So, for example, if you buy a Wii and it is a cheap enough item for you to write a check for and replace yourself, you "self insure".  This means you don't pay Best Buy for insurance -- if you buy a lot of electronics that have a normal failure rate (maybe 3%), you'll come out way ahead if you don't buy the protection plans.

The math is simple.  Say the Wii has a 3% failure rate during the life of the protection plan (let's say 3 years).  Say that 2% of Wiis fail within the first 15 months and 1% fail after.  Under this scheme, you have a 1% chance of your Wii failing and Nintendo not covering it, and you have a 0% chance of having a problem in the first 15 months that Nintendo won't cover.  Since the Wii is currently a $250 item, this means self insurance would be $2.50 for that item if you *assume* that you'll have to buy a new console at $250 when your Wii fails.  It's unlikely the Wii will still be $250 by that time, of course, and it's unlikely you won't be able to get it repaire by Nintendo for even less, so $2.50 is really a worst-case guess.  The Best Buy coverage would cetainly be 10x that because they make a HUGE profit on their protection plans.

For consoles like the Wii, the protection plan from Best Buy is valueless because you will not be able to keep your virtual console games, etc.

Of course, you're playing probabilities.  You could get unlucky.  You could have to send your Wii in to Nintendo when it is just 16 months old and they might charge you to repair it.  

The Xbox 360, quite obviously, doesn't have a normal failure rate.   Still, you have a one year warranty from Microsoft and at least they let you keep your hard drive when you get a repair from them.

TheBigFatJ said: twesterm said: Bodhesatva said: Munkeh said: Do any people buy protection plans for the PS3? I actually didn't want to mention this, because it seemed a little insulting -- but I haven't sold one in over a month, so... I don't know. I'd say based on the previous months, about 1/2 do, Munkeh. My general feeling is that people have a perception that the Wii and PS3 are reasonably solid machines, while the 360 has some issues. That is entirely editorial and based only on my perceptions of how people behave, though. Slightly off topic but I use to work in Geek Squad, and let me tell you, not buying the protection plan for any system or item is fairly silly. People use to come in all the time with broken shit (iPods, cameras, PC's, printers, PS2's, TV's, vacuum cleaners, ect.) and always got pissed off when I told them they had to pay if they wanted me to do anything for them because they didn't bother buying any kind of waranties. Also, buy buy warranties on MP3 players, especially iPods. All of those break all the time and you'll save yourself a fair amount of grief. /off topic When you buy a protection plan from Best Buy, Best Buy is effectively selling you overpriced insurance. A good rule of thumb is to never insure something you can afford to write a check for. So, for example, if you buy a Wii and it is a cheap enough item for you to write a check for and replace yourself, you "self insure". This means you don't pay Best Buy for insurance -- if you buy a lot of electronics that have a normal failure rate (maybe 3%), you'll come out way ahead if you don't buy the protection plans. The math is simple. Say the Wii has a 3% failure rate during the life of the protection plan (let's say 3 years). Say that 2% of Wiis fail within the first 15 months and 1% fail after. Under this scheme, you have a 1% chance of your Wii failing and Nintendo not covering it, and you have a 0% chance of having a problem in the first 15 months that Nintendo won't cover. Since the Wii is currently a $250 item, this means self insurance would be $2.50 for that item if you *assume* that you'll have to buy a new console at $250 when your Wii fails. It's unlikely the Wii will still be $250 by that time, of course, and it's unlikely you won't be able to get it repaire by Nintendo for even less, so $2.50 is really a worst-case guess. The Best Buy coverage would cetainly be 10x that because they make a HUGE profit on their protection plans. For consoles like the Wii, the protection plan from Best Buy is valueless because you will not be able to keep your virtual console games, etc. Of course, you're playing probabilities. You could get unlucky. You could have to send your Wii in to Nintendo when it is just 16 months old and they might charge you to repair it. The Xbox 360, quite obviously, doesn't have a normal failure rate. Still, you have a one year warranty from Microsoft and at least they let you keep your hard drive when you get a repair from them.

You say that now, but when you have to pay to have something fixed you're going to be that guy yelling at the poor Geek Squad employee who in the end is still going to tell you you're going have to pay because you didn't buy the warranty.  Also, what I was saying wasn't specifically for consoles, but for every piece of electronics you buy (not the piddly little things, but anything $100+ area).

Plus the warranty lasts much longer than a year.