GameStop details PS3 preorders

In-store program starts Tuesday morning; $100 deposit required, most stores expecting only eight systems.

GameStop has unveiled its in-store PlayStation 3 preorder campaign to GameSpot, and the retail chain looks to be bracing for a shortage of systems at launch day. Starting Tuesday morning, GameStop and EB Games stores will begin accepting "limited" preorders for the system with a $100 deposit. The preorders are "limited" in that very few will be received, and customers will not be guaranteed a PS3 on its November 17 US launch day.

"Most stores will receive a preorder allocation of eight units, while a few select stores will receive 16," a GameStop official said. "In either case, employee purchases will be restricted to a total of no more than two systems per store."

As for how the $100 can be paid, the company will accept cash, credit, or trade-in. Last month, the company conducted a test-run of preorders for the Wii and the PS3 at its Hawaii stores. In that one-day campaign, the company required that customers pay for the systems' $50 deposit with trade-in credit.

Reservations for the retailer's in-store program will be limited to one per household. The company's online preorder program will be revealed at a later date, "after software and accessory availability dates are confirmed."

975 Comments

  • serenidi

    Posted Nov 27, 2006 11:14 pm PT

    thats realy stupid that they would do that gijoe, does anybody have an idea about the preorder price for playstation 3 in Australia at Electronics Boutique and when it will be available?

  • gijoe24jp

    Posted Nov 13, 2006 6:53 pm PT

    Gamestop left a message in my answer machine at 5:30pm, telling me to call back regarding PS3. I called at 6:15pm, and guess what they told me. They said "if you come here right now and pay the rest of the money, it's yours. But there is only 1 20GB and 1 60GB left." WTF? I speeded to my local Gamespot, but the last 60GB was already taken by the woman before me. So I had to settle for the last 20GB one. No big deal. But, apparently, my local Gamestop doesn't give a crap about the ordering of the preorder. I was #8 on the line, but today is like, whoever got the message first and pays the money first gets the console. That sucks! I feel bad for the #1 guy on the list. Apparently, he couldn't make it in time. I can imagine that he's going to be so pissed off when he comes to the store. I think it's unethical for Gamestop to pull such a cheap move at the last moment. C'mon, the top 8 people who lined up on 10/10 will pay their money. Why does it have to come down to this race to the store? At least be fair, call the people after the shop closes tonight so they can line up again tomorrow morning. Not everyone is available at 5:30pm to answer the phone and run to the shop. Shame on you Gamestop!

  • SteveN GameSpot staff member

    Posted Oct 20, 2006 3:12 pm PT

    My sentiments exactly. With $600, I could buy a new PC instead and have money leftover to get a couple games.

  • jburna

    Posted Oct 16, 2006 9:12 am PT

    Ps3 sounds great and I love Playstation but I think Im just gonna go with an Xbox until the price drops. 600 is a little rich for my blood.

  • gimlifn

    Posted Oct 15, 2006 9:25 pm PT

    Ps3 seems like a great system, too bad it only has a few good games scheduled on it. Sony needs to start keeping their promises and deliver the original amount of units that they promised at E3. My Xbox 360 is running great and I can't wait for Gears of War to come out, now that is a sweet game!!!!

  • Clsmoothest1

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    I want one but i'll wait for the price to drop and them to actually have enough that I won't get killed for one in the parking lot.

  • pacman6152005

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 4:45 pm PT

    all i have to say is KUDOS to DaleJrFanFreak ...i feel the same way bro ....i love my xbox 360 ...but the ps3 is gonna blow it out the frame ....and anyone who cant see that is just plain dumb....plus its going to have a six axis motion sensor controller...and the WII only has a 3 axis nunchuk? ...have to see side by side comparisons on that though....my vote is to the ps3 all the way ...might not start off strong...but will dominate the console war ...and thats the opinion of a ps3 fany boy

  • humugabu

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 12:47 pm PT

    Arguyle sed:
    Well those 8 PS3s you'll get by waiting 24h in line is a PS3 full of bugs. I'll get one cheaper, with no bugs at a later time. my response to that:
    this guy is right. im not an super uber fanboy like some pplz that will stay 69 hrs outside a GAME store to buy a faulty console so i aint gettin one till (most likely) 8 mnths after UK&EU launch (thats november nxt yr)

  • abdullrahman

    Posted Oct 14, 2006 10:51 am PT

    I will wait 6 months after launch then i will buy ps3

  • Kasiam

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 3:13 pm PT

    I live in a small town near SF, and the ps3 and Wii pre-orders were gone within 5 mins of the store opening @_@ Luckily I was the last person to receive a Wii pre-order ^_^ 13 Wii's and I was lucky number 13 O_O, and on Friday the 13th too =O

  • koopatroopa1015

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 2:50 pm PT

    i don't know, i don't even want a ps3, i want a wii and hopefully this crap isn't the same with wii

  • Big_Will

    Posted Oct 13, 2006 9:31 am PT

    my family doesn't have the money for a next gen system anyway, so it doesn't affect me that much. gotta suck for those ppl who preorder it, and then the store sells it to someone else (i hate when something like this happens)

  • BonziBoce

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 7:53 pm PT

    catch me if I'm wrong... didnt sony say this WOULDN'T happen. even the channel g4 is saying sony is a lying peice of garbage... well to be fair they also said i may deserve a second chance.

  • Arguyle

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 6:56 pm PT

    Well those 8 PS3s you'll get by waiting 24h in line is a PS3 full of bugs. I'll get one cheaper, with no bugs at a later time.

  • DeathgiverX

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 6:13 pm PT

    When I was talking with the guys at my store they said I could expect more around 4. Anyone dumb enough to even go wait at midnight had better move that wait time up a day. Oh, and since this small lack of information seems to have been ignored, they have NOT specified how the supposed 8 PS3s per store will be divided. That could be 5 premiums and 3 cores or whatnot. Be ready to fight for your systems $ony fanboys.

  • Zennious

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 5:52 pm PT

    yea its not that big a deal

  • _Sam_

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 5:33 pm PT

    well it's not like it's $100 extra

  • Andy7546

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 4:44 pm PT

    It's all supply and demand. Sony doesn't have any supply, and we demand it.

  • Freer

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 8:57 am PT

    Well at my local Gamestop, they made us pay the whole $647.99 for the premium version up-front to even get the pre-order, so I doubt I'll be getting screwed in any way, or they'd have some very pissed-off people on their hands.

    The way they are going about it suggests that they already know how many they are gonna get, I mean, they can;t just take $647 from you and then say sorry later, they just wouldn't do that, it's bad for bussiness.

    Basically, I think everyone is being way too freaking paranoid about it but hey, the media will do that to ya...

  • bradius

    Posted Oct 12, 2006 7:39 am PT

    sony go F urself

  • MONTE_BLK

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 10:49 pm PT

    Sony talk all that ying yang that they were going to have 3 million units of the PS3 ready for release day reason why they push the release day back a year. And they still could not deliver. PS3 fans, here this! This will be the last system you will see from Sony because you will be really madd come Christmas when you don't have a PS3 under the tree. So ask mom and dad for a Wii or 360! The price is too much and now there won't be enough units for release day! I love my XBOX 360... GO MICROSOFT!

  • clovy

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 10:05 pm PT

    YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    PS3 Rules GO SONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • XGxAxMxExRX

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 5:48 pm PT

    all i have to say is poop

  • HerofJustice

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 5:18 pm PT

    Not caring, they need to announce WII pre-orders, SO I CAN FINALLY GET MY HANDS ON THIS THING!

  • halofreak3487

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 4:54 pm PT

    i'm just going to wait, probably a month or so after so the line will clear up and just incase if the system turns out to be defective then i can wait on that to be fixed too.

  • edub272

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 4:45 pm PT

    8 huh...
    600 bucks...
    wii and xbox 360 cheaper...

    i think ill just wait

  • eegeeg

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 4:45 pm PT

    I THINK THAT MOST PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GET IN LINE THE NIGHT BEFORE AT BEST BUY AND CAMP OUT I WILL AND THE WHOLE PRE-ORDER THING IS SCAM HOW CAN THEY ONLY GET 5-8 PER STORE GIVE ME A BREAK

  • nyczfinest2300

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    only 8 per store, that sucks

  • tigerfan1993

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 3:46 pm PT

    I got my pre order at a store that got 12 ps3s, i am 8th on the list. I am pretty sure that they have already fixed the bugs from the system, since the TGS accident.

  • xraystar

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 2:43 pm PT

    no surprise, did someone actually think they can reserve a PS3 with five bucks?

  • swirskytheman

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 2:25 pm PT

    Do you need an HDTV to play the PS3? If yes why?

    Thanks for answering

  • CoolCarlito07

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:43 pm PT

    that was bull crap yesterday iget home and i found out they called at ten in the morning i was in school and now they turn me away thats stupid

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:34 pm PT

    8 PS3? Isn't that too few? Well I'm not going to buy it in the near future so...

  • reallaughingman

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:06 pm PT

    i dont get the link booney

  • thesand212

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 10:51 am PT

    I wait until there get the bugs out the system before buying a playstation 3

  • b00ey

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 8:28 am PT

    Well , i guess Ebay isnt cracking down so hard.. check this one out...

    Ebay Ps3 Link

  • Autolycus

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 5:56 am PT

    SpearX
    Does anyone notice the lag in Dead Rising when you hit several zombies at once? Framerates are bad for the most part in most 360 games, sans the ones I mentioned.
    -------
    it was written to use only one "core". also to all systems. The "cores" in these machines are about 20%-30% of the power of a 3500+. the only benifit is you can excute more then one line of code (the thing that makes up the game) per instruction set. to bad the instructions only have 2 memory paths to travel on. so if you send 6 instructions to the ram, they start a traffic jam. but not every execution goes to ram... just something to think about. and how the PS3 works is they have 1 core controlling the six other cores, either way...still ahve to wait for the traffic jam to clear up. and that something developers dont even know about yet(in actual life experience) because they are only writting for 2 processors. I properly running engine or code wouldn't care about the amount of "cores". it would code manage properly.

    Oh yeah and PS3 doesnt have a MUST HAVE TITLE either...Wii all the way is going to win.

  • Autolycus

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 5:49 am PT

    SpearX
    I wish I could say the same, unfortunately my xbox360 died from the 3-red light error. I just have to ship it out to ms to get it fixed.
    --------
    at least they will fix it and accept their error. wrtie down the serial number before you send it out

  • Benshki

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 4:10 am PT

    Septwenty5-88 says

    "screw price if you want something better it will abously cost more
    but worth it."

    - Considering you haven't even played it yet, can you inform me how its "worth it"? and Blu-Ray isnt classed as "worth it" so don't Even try it.

    "FREE ONLINE!!!! YES X-BOX live WTF name is that
    but they still gonna come out second I still give my respects to the 360
    but Ive always loved the playstation brand since day one."

    - Only the service is free, you'll still be paying for the internet going through the console. And, as for loving the company since day one: a) your a conforming tard b) i want hit you with a 'Capital letters for dummies' Book.

  • payback_56

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 2:22 am PT

    ninjafoot, nice on the preorder hopefully they will all get 8 per store, also, the rst of ur message was really funny

  • Septwenty5-88

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:53 am PT

    FREE ONLINE!!!! YES X-BOX live WTF name is that
    but they still gonna come out second I still give my respects to the 360
    but Ive always loved the playstation brand since day one.

  • Septwenty5-88

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:48 am PT

    You just have to admit japenese technology is better than that of America sorry Microsoft but you still got it sort of.

  • Septwenty5-88

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:46 am PT

    PS3 Already sold out preorders despite its high price wow amazing
    I knew it will sell as much or better than the 360
    anyone who ever doubted the PS3 In your face ha !!!

    screw price if you want something better it will abously cost more
    but worth it.

  • DanC1989

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 12:40 am PT

    I'm thinking that the March UK launch isn't too bad after all...

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 11:10 pm PT

    Im #7. I hope like crazy that the minimum 8 units part is true. If it is, Im set. And dyne12, if you think a free online service in its infancy is going to compare to XBL and its 4 years of experience, you are smoking some serious crack my friend. I wish Gamespot would make a subsection called fanboys.gamespot.com and let all the totally biased mouth breathers go there with their run on sentences, misspellings, and general inanity. This is getting ridiculous.

  • antecedent0411

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 9:50 pm PT

    Just to let you guys know. Ebay has started banning all sellers attempting to sell the PS3 and Wii. And they are implementing a plan to block all future attempts at selling the item due to extreme amounts of consumer complaints. LOL! I guess all you scalpers just got scalped!! LOL!

    EDIT: Actually, they will allow people to sell them when they become available in large quantities to the general public...but not before so as to curb potential price gouging.

  • Luis612

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 8:42 pm PT

    all i got to say is http://www.smashmyps3.com/

  • dyne12

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 8:34 pm PT

    all i have to say JoetheMoe is ps3 will have all the same stuff as xbl but free and ps3 is the ****

  • bgonz

    Posted Oct 10, 2006 8:14 pm PT

    I preorder mine at 10:10 this morning, hello ebay!!!!! I own a 360 and at this point it seems like the much better system, but if others are dumb enough to spend big bucks on a lesser system I'll take advantage of them. I love rich Sony fanboys. LOL.

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