XBox 360 shortages? The joke’s on us

Ken “Caesar” Fisher over at ArsTechnica has lived up to his nickname by venturing out into the cold November air to mingle with the “droves” of frustrated shoppers seeking to buy an Xbox 360.

His verdict? “In a word: chaos.”

It seems that some people believe that Xbox 360 scarcity is just a veiled publicity stunt. But, says Julius Ken, “The shortage is very real, and it has plenty of people angry and frustrated.”

In the store he visited there were people who had pre-ordered from other outlets only to be told, “Sorry, but we cannot fill your order, and will not be able to do so until after Christmas.” The order in question was placed in July.

In Best Buy, he was able to survey the damage. “In short, the Saugus Best Buy north of Boston looks like a bomb went off. You can see where the chaos went down last night. There’s accessory racks that look like they were hit by one of those ‘grab as much as you can in 60 seconds’ shopping cart gimmicks. The Xbox 360s were, of course, long gone.”

Interestingly, the language of drug dealing is creeping in. You don’t “buy” an Xbox, there are none to buy, instead you “score”.

So what do you do if you really, really must have one by Christmas? Caesar suggests patience, which seems a touch out of character. However, a savvy gamer he meets comes up with the obvious answer : “If you want an Xbox 360 before Christmas, you should go to Japan.”

Sayonara.