Forthcoming 2009 Black Friday Prediction

Hey folks,

All through the year we are tempted to buy our electronic solutions for our digital lifestyles. For the last few years we now have a very legitimate reason to wait; what has now been dubbed "Black Friday". (the Friday following American Thanksgiving) On this day the best deals can be had on the net for all kinds of items; just log in and enjoy you shopping spree.

The following article by Ron Schenone explains some of the price-points we have to look forward to this upcoming Black Friday. Whet your whistles and read on!

Dell Offers Xbox 360 Elite For $300 And Arcade For $179

For some of you luck bastards that wanted to wait for the best price for an Xbox 360, its time to jump on the band wagon. Dell is offering the Xbox 360 Elite for $300, which is a steal. But if you're one of those absolute cheap penny pinching gamers, you can pick up a Xbox 360 Arcade, bundled with Madden '09 for $179.

Just go to Dells site and plug in the coupon code (5Z051006DSW7DJ) for the Elite, and (GNZ5SVNKLJ8924) for the Arcade. Hey Dell will even throw in free shipping, so you've got no excuse for not picking one up.

[Dell via Gizmodo]

Dell Offering Xbox 360 Elite For $299 (WSL)

If you're looking to pick up a Xbox 360 Elite, you might want to head over to Dell's site. For a while Dell was bundling up their XPS M1730 machines with the Elites, but if you didn't have $3000 you were out of luck.

Not anymore.....

Now Dell is bundling up the Elite all by itself for $299, and throwing in two ugly faceplates, Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. That's a savings of $150, but you better get over there quick while they have them.

Thanks to Engadget for this info..

EA: PS3 Will Out Sell Xbox 360 In 2008

Electronic Arts released their "Supplemental Segment Information Third Quarter Fiscal 2008," and it has a little interesting tidbit in it. According to the report, the PS3 will out sell the Xbox 360 in 2008. Both consoles are said to sell about 5 to 6 million each in North America, but the report states that the PS3 will sell another 5-6 million in Europe, while the 360 is projected to sell only 1.5-2.5 million.

Now I've heard these predictions since the next gen console war started, so forgive me if I take this with a block of salt (especially after the performance of the Wii). But it will make for an interesting 2008.

Supplemental Segment Information Third Quarter Fiscal 2008 [EA via G4TV]

Two-Hour Sale At Best Buy This Sunday

All right people, if you've been looking for a Wii, this might be your best chance at picking up one. The people at Gadgetell have said that Best Buy will have a two-hour sale this Sunday November 11th starting at 8:30pm. Each participating Best Buy will have 30 units in stock for $249 each, so get there early. There will be gift cards, giveaways, and product drawings every hour.

Not sure what else will be on sale, but it might be worth your time to go check it out.

Best Buy 2-hour sale leaked [Gadgetell via Crunchgear]

"Transformers" Breaks HD DVD Records

Well either everyone just loves this movie or every geek with an HD DVD player ran out and bought the "Transformers". As it became the biggest HD selling movie of all time, not that it's been a long time since these formats have been out, but it's still impressive none the less. In one week, "Transformers" sold more than 190,000 HD-DVD's. Of course that still pales in comparison to the 4.5 million units sold on regular DVD.

It's looking more and more like I may be a future owner of a HD DVD player.

[Mania]

Xbox 360 Out Sells Wii During September: World Wonders Why?

In the most shocking news this week, Xbox 360 out sold the Nintendo Wii for the month of September. The 360 moved 527,800 units compared to the Wii bringing in 501,000 for the month. Of course everyones favorite game console the PS3 took a slight dip during the month, only bringing in 119,800 for the month.

No word from Microsoft on why they think their console performed so well this past month, as I'm sure they're stumped too.

Halo 3 Propels Monthly Xbox Sales Above Wii For First [Seeking Alpha via Crunchgear]

iphone Hits The 1 Million Mark

Now that didn't take long!!!

The iphone has hit the million mark in sales already, after only 74 days from launch. That is impressive for a gadget that had a price point of $600, which goes to show that people will pay for good technology.

I wonder how long it took Sony's Playstation 3 to hit the million sold mark, considering they were at the same price point?

Press Release [via Crunchgear]

Woot Off Going On Right Now!!!

Alright people, start heading over to woot.com!!!

There is a Woot off going on right now, and if you're not familiar with Woot it's a cool site that has lots of tech stuff at low prices. Once they sell out, that is usually it for the day. But with a Woot off, once they sell out of an item, it's replaced with another item.

So check it out for some low price techie stuff!!!

Sony: We Were Only A Little Off With PS3 Sales

Matt Richtel from 'Bits' wrote an interesting article about the 3 next-gen console sales war. And how Sony has fallen from grace in terms of NPD sales numbers putting the PS3 in third place, far behind the Wii and Xbox 360. Check this outtake below:

"Dave Karraker, the Sony spokesman who predicted the PS3 would overtake the 360, told me that: (1) He was only wrong by a bit, and (2) NPD doesn’t provide an exact count but estimates some portions of the market and (3) No, he would not care to make a prediction about August’s sales figures."

Funny how Karraker was all about making predictions earlier this year, and that he was only off by a bit (nearly 6 million units off). Well with Halo 3 coming out soon, Sony better have another price drop in the works to offset that bold prediction.

Sony Defeats Truman [Bits via Crunchgear]

No End In Site For Wii Shortage

In the never ending argument of which next-gen console is better than the other, in terms of sales there is an already clear winner- the Nintendo Wii. Sales are through the roof and even now it's hard to find the unit in any stores. And the drought is likely to continue:

From Digitimes: "Due to the tight supply of components such as IC chips and PCBs, Nintendo's plans to expand production of its Wii games console, originally set for June, have been delayed, according to Taiwan-based component makers,"

So expect long lines this holiday season and for the Wii's price on ebay to continue to be high. Most likely this will again be the must have, but hard to find gift.

Nintendo delays Wii expansion plans [Digitimes via G4TV]

Amazon: Sales For Xbox 360 Way Up

People love things on the cheap!!! The PS3 is benefiting from this theory as their sales have gone up 135% since dropping the price. Now it looks like the Xbox 360 may be getting some of the same cheap love.

Amazon.com is reporting that the Xbox 360 Premium has jumped to #11 in sales in video games. The Elite and Core have also seen a bump in sales as well. The racing game Forza 2 for the 360 has jumped from #94 to #1, obviously benefiting from the surge in sales of the 360.

It's a little early to see what kind of impact the price drop will have on the 360, but signs are pointing to a big hit.

Hopefully Forza 2 isn't becoming more popular for other reasons.

[Amazon via Gizmodo]

EMI’s DRM-free Sales Are Working

Most of the record companies looked disgusted with EMI’s decision to turn its catalog of music loose, free of DRM. Now it seems the tables have turned, as EMI’s DRM-free approach to selling digital music is working out quite well.

According to reports, Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon has seen a sales increase between 272 and 350 percent, while OK Go’s Oh No has increased 77 percent. Those are huge numbers and could mean the difference between a paltry paycheck and a big fat one.

So with increased sales and widespread praise from just about everyone, will other record labels follow suit? Is this what the industry needed to realize that DRM just isn’t the way to go anymore? Looks like it to me.

It's funny that the record companies or movie industry rarely knows what's good for them. The movie industry thought that videos would kill there sales, now they count on them. The recording industry thought that music downloads would ruin them, now it is a huge source of income for them.

Maybe they just need to sit back and let their customers tell them what we want and just shut up.

Check out the article after the jump. [BoingBoing]

Blockbuster's Blu-ray Endorsement Having Major Impact on HD DVD Player Sales

It looks like the decision for BlockBuster to only carry Blu-Ray DVD's have had a bigger impact than it seems.

The kicker? It's all because of BlockBuster!

With the announcement of the major video suppliers decision, the sales for HD-DVD players have taken a big hit. A tipster at an unnamed retailer tells us they've had more HD-DVD player orders canceled over the last few days than they've seen over the entire life cycle. The kicker? All of them were canceled because of the Blockbuster announcement.

The new HD-DVD player sales are now nonexistent, with the Blu-Ray player being the only thing moving now.

Planet Earth: Highest selling HD DVD and Blu-ray media

You remember DiscoveryHD's highly touted show Planet Earth right? The one nature show that I highly recommended a while back? The show was produced in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats, and the sales have been off the charts.

According to Warner Home Video, it has pulled in more money than any other title. This $70 box set has generated $3.2 million dollars since April 24, which easily surpasses Scorsese's The Departed (2.8 million).

This goes to show that consumers want high-def media and are willing to spend good money for it; maybe the fact that a BBC-created show is topping Hollywood says something about how important quality is.

Read more after the jump.

Sony Down and Out in Japan

In an another episode of PS3 bashing, Sony had its worst sales month ever in Japan.

Although sales figures for May in the states aren't out yet, the numbers coming in from across the Pacific paint a bleak picture for the future of the PS3.

Beleagured by problems, the PS3 pushed only 82,000 units, while the Wii 360,000 systems. To add insult to injury, the Nintendo DS outsold the Wii 5-1.

But, you wanna hear something even more ridiculous? Coming in a distant third was the Xbox 360 selling only 11,082 units.

Sony: At least our sales suck a little bit less than Microsoft's...in Japan.