November 28, 2005
Microsoft's carefully orchestrated "midnight madness" introduction of its Xbox 360 gaming console has left a lot of consumers mad at retailers who for once had more customers than product.
Thousands of avid gamers slept on sidewalks in front of local stores, many of them braving sub-freezing temperatures, rain and, in some cases, sleet.
"What happened to me and a dozen other people on Tuesday November 22nd at the Freehold, NJ, Sears store was simply disgusting and quite frankly misleading," said Rick of Freehold. "I stayed out overnight in a Noreaster to be first in line at the Sears at the Freehold Mall for one of 6 XBOX 360 units that I was told the store would have at 8:00 AM when the doors would open on Tuesday."
"Two different sales people told me and several others on the line that they already received the XBOX units," Rick said, but then, "Gary, a manager came to the door 15 minutes before the store opens to tell us 'We didn't receive our shipment from UPS and do not have any XBOX units for sale today.'"
Sara of Fayetteville, GA, had a similar experience at her local Best Buy.
"This store falsly advertised the Xbox 360, flyer stated first-come first-served with a limited quantity beginning at 10pm to be handed out at 12am. They stated there were no reservations yet the quantity on hand was already dispersed on a list prior to 10pm, allowing more than 50 people to stand outside for over 6 hours," she said.
"We wasted over 6 hours standing in 30-degree weather with cold winds and rain, with management knowing that they were not going to have enough product."
Eric of Bronx, NY, didn't stand out in the cold but is disappointed anyway.
"I entered an XBOX 360 sweepstakes with Gamefly.com a week ago. I received an email stating I won an XBOX 360. I called Gamefly to make sure everything was ok. They told me that I was not the winner and that they sent out the email by error."
Perhaps the most outlandish incident occurred in Virginia, where guns are legal but radar detectors aren't. A gun-wielding gamer robbed an Electronics Boutique of two consoles just before they went on sale. Police nabbed him shortly afterward, according to GameSpot.
