The first was Mr. Squinty guy, Hal Halpin - founder of the Entertainment Consumer Association, and his little dissertation on how the EULAs (End User License Agreements) are getting out of hand and that we should do something about it.
EULAs are a real and tangible problem for our business. Quite simply, they're out of control. The best intentions of lawyers in the business aside, these contracts have become so unwieldy that they regularly infringe on consumer rights. Many would likely be unenforceable in a court of law. Others, consumers would be shocked to find out what all of that fine print actually meant.He is proposing a committee get together and discuss the problems and see if they can't work out some sort of standardization. At this point I would be happy if they just got them to the point that they are readable with requiring you to have a 4-year law degree and that they didn't require the sacrifice of your first born child. Anyway I guess will have to wait and see if he goes anywhere with this. I think it is exactly the kind of thing the ECA should be working on and that doing so will help increase its membership, legitimacy, and clout.
The second thing that caught my attention was KBC Securities Japan, which on Thursday downgraded Nintendo stock from a "Buy" rating to a "Hold" rating and cut its 12-month price estimate by 30 percent to 57,500 yen ($580), according to Bloomberg.com. The reason I latched onto this was that my friend Mike went through Perth yesterday trying to buy a Nintendo Wii. NOBODY had them in stock. How can they say Wii sales have peeked if they still haven't managed to catch up with sales demand 2 years after its original launch? Seriously, every console has always been hard to find during it's first Christmas season, but its 3 months after its second Christmas and you still can't find them in stock. Granted this is Australia. Anybody know the chances of finding a Wii in stores in the U.S.? Not just your local game store either, but in department stores as well.
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A friend of mine got his Wii about 2 weeks ago, he got it at an EB (he only went there because his game store of choice is a games-only store) and they were saying that they were getting weekly shipments of wiis.
My EB-employee girlfriend assures me it is very possible to get a Wii, as long as you put your name down and are willing to wait a few weeks. Which is better than around Christmas, when you had to pre-order four to six months ago to even think about getting one.
My friend Brad called around and was actually laughed at on the phone when he asked if the various stores had Wii's in stock. He eventually put his name on the list and got one a few weeks later.
But thats my point; they STILL aren't to the point (at least not in Australia) that they have caught up with demand enough that you can find them on the shelf when you go into the store. How can they say that sales have peeked?
Alright, another person heard from. My friend Eric who is too lazy to post here says he got his Wii at Fry's in Vegas. But that he got lucky because Fry's has a "No List" policy and he happened to get there when they were putting out the 12 they got in. They only get 12 at a time and they sell out before the next shipment.
A friend's husband had a whole bunch of them (10 or so) that he sold over November and December on Ebay and such.
He had to get them from somewhere...
Personally, Wii is banned in my house.
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