Big Surprise: Microsoft is not nice to its loyal customers

Parents and Christmas shoppers beware.

I had heard rumours that Micro$oft was deliberately restricting supplies of Xbox 360's for release to drive the demand way up. While MS has denied this, it's pretty hard not to believe this is the case.

Case and point, read the article linked below, where the author speaks with several people that were forced to line up in different stores after being informed their paid for pre-orders would not be honoured. What a low thing to do. I find it pretty underhanded to take money from someone knowing full well you aren't going to be able to hand over the product you've just agreed to do.

And incidentally, I think this whole marketing strategy is a humongeous rip-off. For $500 (plus tax) you get no games, one controller and none of "accessories" that will probably cost you another $3-400 just to have this thing function the way you want. A wireless controller is great, but having to pay $30 for the cable to recharge it is not. Also, having to pay $75 for an extra controller so two people can play is also not cool. The big draw about the 360 is its online connectivity, so much so that Microshaft has required all games developed for the system to have some sort of online component. Well, be prepared to fork over big bucks for that. Not only will you have to sign up with a high-speed service provider (i.e. Rogers or Bell), but you will also have to sign up for Microsoft's "Xbox Live" service to play. And that's not cheap, something like $100/year just to play online. And what's more, unless you have your internet router (oh yeah, you need one of those too) set up right beside your television, or like a mess of cords running hither and thither across your floor, a wireless adaptor accessory for teh 360 will also cost you a pretty penny. These days, NOT having wireless connectivity in anything is just a silly marketing ploy.

Microsoft has deliberately crippled their own machine in order to force you to upgrade. Once you do that expect to continue to pay to do what most people do for free: connect to other players. Steer clear. Wait until next year, when Sony gets in on the game (pardon the pun).
Xbox 360: shortages no joke