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Technology Stocks : Electronics Boutique (ELBO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ratherbelong who wrote (547)	9/16/1999 3:11:00 AM
From: Top Jim	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 779

Thanks RBL. In the context it sounds like a ramp up for this calendar year. Also read some posts on Yahoo that indicated 2 games per console and $26M first day sales. I know my #'s were conservative but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Cheers, TJ

To: ratherbelong who wrote (547)	9/16/1999 3:34:00 AM
From: Mad2	Respond to of 779

More fodder from the rag's mad2 Copyright 1999 Phillips Business Information, Inc. MMWIRE September 10, 1999 SECTION: Vol. 6, No. 175 LENGTH: 558 words HEADLINE: Hardcore Gamers Line Up for Dreamcast Launch BODY: After months of waiting, hardcore gamers across North America rushed to retailers, some of which opened at midnight, to pick up their pre-ordered Dreamcasts. We managed to roll out of bed early to visit a Baltimore-area Electronics Boutique [ELBO] store at its 7.30am opening. About 30 weary gamers lined up at the store's checkout counter to plunk down their cash for the system, games and accessories. Not all of the expected 18 launch titles were available at the store, most notably Namco's Soul Calibur, which many reviewers are calling the "system seller." Another title due for the launch date that was missing from EB's shelf was Red Storm Entertainment's Rainbow Six. One gamer expressed his disappointment at the fact that there are no RPG titles at launch, but did say he was looking forward to Shen Mue, due this fall. An EB employee told us the rest of the launch titles would arrive today. However, most customers were excited to pick up their machines. The majority of the people we spoke with said they did not purchase Saturn when it launched, due to the $400 price tag and few launch titles. Most agreed this launch is Sega's best, with the problems of the Saturn launch nonexistent yesterday. Shortly after noon, we paid a visit to a Washington, DC suburban mall. There, EB and Babbage's had long since run out of available units (this EB's 255 units were all spoken for in August, while Babbage's reserved the last of its 146-unit allocation last Saturday). EB promised mmWire a unit in the next shipment, due Sept. 24, while Babbage's was unable to promise a delivery date. Additionally, Babbage's had not received a single copy of Sega's NFL 2K, but had sold 40 copies of Soul Calibur, its best-selling title of the day. EB did receive copies of the NFL title, and had sold a copy for almost every one of the 110 DC pre-ordered units it had sold by noon. It expected to sell out of Soul Calibur by day's end. We fared somewhat better at KB Toys (sold out of units, but promising more within 7 days) and Sears (it had only seven units to begin with, and had not sold a single one by early afternoon). While the lines at game stores might please the Sega brass, in the end it's the mass market consumer that makes or breaks the success of a console, says Fairfield Research President Gary Gabelhouse. His July survey of 4k consumers showed only 13% were aware of Dreamcast. Additionally, the survey showed a 47% and 29% brand awareness for PlayStation 2 and Dolphin, respectively. Additionally, the survey showed only 1.1m people intend to purchase Dreamcast in its first year. "Sega has to clearly differentiate and give gamers a reason to purchase a new system, when in all likelihood gamers are content to play the quality titles on PSX and N64," Gabelhouse says. We got our hands on NFL 2K yesterday. On the evidence of a 20- minute test, it's a Madden-killer. We especially liked the play selection option on the VMU, and the seamless play-by-play. However, our Web browser experience was slooow, although we set it up without problems (a keyboard is a must, though). However, a few worrying messages are emanating from newsgroups about defective browser discs...(Fairfield, Gary Gabelhouse, 402/441-3370) LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: September 10, 1999