Two: Console Shortages Mean Holiday Headaches

And you thought relatives were a pain in the ass at Christmas

I was one of the suckers. Although I never really expected to line up for a Nintendo Wii, or any console for that matter, you could have found me and a whole lot of other nuts out front of Best Buy in the cold, cold, morning hours of December 8th. Unfortunately, the big box store had just 25 units and I was about 30thin line, meaning I wasted a whole lot of time bundling up, driving to my destination, and standing in sub-zero weather.

Luckily for me, as a writer for Gizmo, I got the hookup with a system later in the day. However, many gamers, including all of those behind me in line that fateful morning, never got the chance to play a Wii or PlayStation 3 this Christmas. The console shortage was a headache for everyone but Microsoft, who made sure retail shelves were well-stocked with the Xbox 360 and all its fixings.

And yet, it was only a year ago that Mr. Gates' company put all of us Xbox 360 owners through the same misery. Although I had a preorder and didn't have much trouble picking one up, Microsoft's console put almost as many parents and gamers through hell during the tail end of 2005. Making matters worse was the fact that many of the launch units were faulty, leading to the dreaded Red Circle of Death. Both Wayde and I fell victim to this horrible affliction.

Although it's an arguable point, I'm tempted to say that many of these shoddy systems were put together as Microsoft realized it simply wouldn't have enough Xbox 360s on hand. Unfortunately, the PlayStation 3 we tested locked up a few times, indicating Sony may have put the same kind of problematic pressure on its manufacturers. 2007 could be a year of PS3 fixes and foul language, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

The difference between the Xbox 360 launch and those of the Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3 this year is that the latter companies effectively made console shortages a trend, and not just the one-time aggravation we had hoped the 360's launch would be.

So, get used to this crap.