PS2?? More like PS None!

well another thing i heard while still continuing on my search today...

supposedly, sony has been having a lot of trouble with the newer, slimmer models because they weren't built with an internal fan like the older models, thus causing overheating. i was also told that some of the systems weren't reading games properly. so instead of having a massive recall, sony has stopped distributing the newer ones in hopes of fixing the problem. well, that's what some guy who refurbishes ps2's told me.

blah. still annoyed. it's more for hubby than for me. but hearing him bitch and moan about it irks me!!

I was just lamenting about this last week.

Oh well. I'll just go and be productive instead of having a PS2.

I've seen plenty in pawn shops and video game stores that sell used consoles.

Once you get it,, march out and buy 'Katamari Damacy", one of the best games I've played in a long while.

Sony had production issues. They threw the new slimmer PS2 onto the market BEFORE making sure they could produce enough to keep up with the demand. Well, they couldn't. Lucky for them though, Microsoft also had issues keeping supply up. And Nintendo well, they aren't much of a factor in the US anymore. Though they got their ass kicked a lot less than people expected this holiday season, due to the supply issues of the other 2.

i'm going to have to call bulshit on that one.

sony sold between 80,000 and 100,000 ps2s a week in the run up to christmas last year, in the UK alone. this year you couldn't find one on store shelves anywhere, and they were selling less than 7,000 a week. nobody does that to their business on purpose. especially when sony had just had their credit rating dropped to an A instead of an A+ (which is a very big deal - the financial times called it 'an embarassment'). the last thing they needed this holiday season was shortages.

click here

if only it were that easy. we want a PS2...not Xbox.

I'm going on the word of my brother, someone who sells these things for a living. So call bullshit if you'd like, but that's the story he got when trying to get more for his store to sell.

As another videogame retailer I echo your brother's sentiments. It was a marketing ploy by Sony.

Not this time around it wasn't. It does NOT help to have a shortage when the Xbox is gaining more and more steam against the PS2.

Companies have been known to create shortages to drive up demand, but this generally happens when A. they have no real competition yet... read: PS2 launch, perhaps the DS launch, etc. and B. they keep the "shortage" in check enough that they are really missing out on THAT many sales. You know, if 500k sales are expected they ship 480k and it sells out pretty fast and it creates hype and demand, but the company didn't really lose many sales. In this case both the PS2 and the Xbox lost a potentially significant amount of sales, and I can guarantee neither of them would have created a self-shortage with the race so tight right now.

In the PS2 case I KNOW it is due to the new model, I have read articles on certain production problems Sony had with it. They simply didn't plan out the launch of the slimmer PS2 well. Xbox, I have no idea where the shortages are coming from, but I highly doubt they are Microsoft doing it to themselves when they are finally catching up to Sony in US console sales.

*ahem*

found one. bought it. staring at box debating whether or not we should open it (because of all the hooplah surrounding the slimmer models).

advice?

The slimmer models are fine. Just make sure you leave some space in the back of the system. I have one and love it. Then again, I dont have the HD. But I do have alot of games and it doesnt have a problem reading any of them.