It’s that time of year. The holiday season is upon us and kicking off the Just How Crazy-Stupid Are People? Contest 2005 is Microsoft with the launch of its new pretty-damn-sweeeet gaming console, the XBox 360, which had nerds waiting for the stroke of midnight last night when the 360 officially went on sale.
The XBox 360 isn’t just a next generation game console; it’s this year’s Tickle Me Elmo. Remember a few years back when people were spending $600 for a $30 Elmo toy? People just had to have one. Ahhhh, isn’t it worth the extra $570 just to see the look on your child’s face when he/she/(it?) unwraps it on Christmas morning?
Uh, no.
You want to see a look? How about this: when the kid grows up, assumingly into a responsible adult, tell them you spent $600 on a frakkin’ Elmo doll. Let’s see what look they give you then. It never occurred to some people that, maybe we should wait until next month? In the meantime, $600 while buy a hell of a lot of toys. Why squander it on one stupid item?
A quick search of eBay shows the XBox360 selling for ridiculous prices. Thousands of dollars! These idiots can’t wait until January? Stores will be restocked floor-to-ceiling with XBox 360s by then. And the “extra” $1600 you spent on the console would have bought a nice library of games.
Check out this article:
By mid-morning, though, one premium system sold for $3,050, with well over a dozen following suit, coming in between $3,000 and $4,000. By mid-afternoon, one buyer was so eager to own one of the new systems paid $5,100 for a hard-drive enabled machine and a copy of “Need for Speed: Most Wanted” – and the eager beaver will have to wait another two weeks before the console is shipped, according to the seller.
Okay, if the market will bear that, then there’s no reason people shouldn’t spend that kind of money if they’re willing to, right? Well, no, not really. But that’s not the point. Of course they have the right to be stupid with their money. It’s their money. That’s not in dispute.
The point is they are idiots.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree!! Years ago, my boyfriend Conrad stood in the pre-dawn light in a line in front of Toys-r-us to get me a Furby. He had to do that for several mornings until he got one. But it was for regular price.
That’s as far as I’d go for an item, I think. I’d wake up early, drive an hour, something like that. But 5K for a gaming system?? No freaking way.
I remember when we went to the Wal-Mart in Stillwater at 1 AM to buy the Playstation 2. We looked around and couldn’t find then, and finally asked the sales clerk where they were. He told us that they hadn’t arrived yet, but when they did, they were going to put both of them right out.
Both of them?
Then when we noticed the gaggle of geeks waiting for PS2 we agreed there was no way in hell we were waiting around for hours and fighting a bunch of nerds for a PS2.
It’s been 5 years, and the price of the Playstation 2 has dropped from $299 (or was it originally $399? I can’t remember) to $149 and I still haven’t gotten one.