You might score a Wii on Amazon for $79
by Candace Savino 
{ Nov 15th 2007 at 5:00PM }
Sure, you'll have to be really, super, awesomely lucky as we expect tons of people will be voting, but well, it's worth a shot.
As of writing this, the Wii was leading the vote with 55%. The PS3 was in second with 32%, while the Xbox Arcade trailed with 13%. With the popularity of the Wii and the expected shortages this holiday season, it's not hard to believe that the Wii will get the most votes.
[Via CAG]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
vidGuy @ Nov 15th 2007 5:12PM
Damn, I was really hoping to snag another 360 for $99. Oh well, hopefully I get a shot at the Panasonic HD camcorder. That thing is a beaut and at $1000 off MSRP?
Jim @ Nov 15th 2007 5:35PM
Logically you wouldn't want to buy a Wii...
379 USD X360 for 99 = 280 saved.
399 USD PS3 for 139 = 260 saved.
249 USD Wii for 79 = 180 saved.
Does not compute!
Tristan @ Nov 15th 2007 5:36PM
Wait wouldnt this mean that Amazon, has been saving up its Wii supply and has been hoarding 1000 units!? If this deal comes to pass?
outforprophets @ Nov 15th 2007 5:40PM
Aw man I was looking forward to getting a PS3 for cheap to complete my collection of "next gen" systems.
Michael @ Nov 15th 2007 5:54PM
Simple subtraction is no way to "logically" compare these deals. That's like saying if I could get a $150 PlayStation Portable for $1, it would "only equal $149 saved", so "logically I wouldn't want to buy one" when compared to the other deals? Umm...No. Not to mention, the regular price for the X360 Arcade is listed as $279 - not $379 as used in your calculations.
Percentage saved is the way to go...
279 USD X360 for 99 = 65% off.
399 USD PS3 for 139 = 65% off.
249 USD Wii for 79 = 68% off.
You also have to ignore the fact that these are "neutered" versions of the PS3 and the X360 against the one-and-only edition of the Wii.
RupeeClock @ Nov 15th 2007 6:18PM
Forgot logical, you're saving a SHITLOAD of money on a system that shouldn't have cost so much in the first place.
Seriously though, 80 bucks for a wii? That's awesome, infact, that's CHEAPER than what Nintendo wanted to sell it for!
AmitZ @ Nov 15th 2007 6:32PM
Damn to bad Amazon doesn't ships to where i live V__V
HawthorneKitty @ Nov 15th 2007 6:56PM
Amazon has the ability to instantly gain 1000 Wiis... ._.
Joshua @ Nov 15th 2007 7:38PM
Don't even bother. I tried for the 360 last year...What a waste of time.
Joshua @ Nov 15th 2007 7:39PM
Hey, don't bother reading my above comment, if you didn't already.
cmichaelt @ Nov 15th 2007 8:53PM
i would much rather vote for the 360 since i want one. but knowing the wii is gonna win i'll vote for that.
I have a wii already. so i'll try to win a good price at onr for my little brother.
StckFigure @ Nov 15th 2007 9:23PM
Can anyone clarify something for me? The "losing" items (relevant here being, presumably, PS3 and 360) will still be offered at "great deals" according to Amazon, albeit not AS good as the proposed one, for the winners. What I can't tell is whether those "still good deals" will only be open to people who voted for them, as with the winning item, and whether it will be randomly offered to those voters, as with the winning item. Any idea?
Lucy @ Nov 15th 2007 10:21PM
Wait, the rules on the Amazon site for this voting special are baffling me.
So there are 6 rounds of voting (for 6 sets of items, I assume), and you can vote on each set. But this is where it gets confusing:
1) "You must return to this page on the buying day for each round to find out whether you were randomly selected to be offered a deal on the product you voted for." --- Does "randomly selected" mean if you were lucky enough to get through the bandwidth bottleneck or does Amazon ACTUALLY randomly show the offer to limited visitors?
2) "You're only eligible to be offered a deal on the products that you vote for." --- So if you vote for the Wii, you can ONLY buy the Wii?
If they follow those rules, voting for the item that gets the fewest votes (the 360 in this case) would mean the highest chances of you being "offered" the deal.
Was this how it worked last year? Anyone there last time? (Joshua?)
Lucy @ Nov 15th 2007 10:30PM
...Don't you hate it when the link to the "fine print" is actually in fine print itself? (And also when you read something and don't fully realize what you've read? Hi, StckFigure... you totally preempted me and my poor reading comprehension.) Well, I actually found and read it (http://promotions.amazon.com/gp/holiday/amazon-customers-vote-fine-print).
It seems users will be issued "claim codes" which will allow them to purchase the item at the cheaper price. This seems to mean that they WILL be doing the whole "randomly chosen" thing, though I don't know if they choose who the random people will be according to who visits the site on the correct date or according to who actually votes for the items. So I guess it still means we'll all be fighting a bandwidth bottleneck.
Oh well, I have a Wii already, so I'm going to try my fake odds prediction method.
StckFigure @ Nov 15th 2007 10:43PM
Lucy, that was my "method" (such as it is), too.... I want a 360, and I already have a Wii, so I voted for that because I'd probably get it even if the "not RIDICULOUS but still really good" price was $175 or so. But a Wii, I don't need. And I assume a zillion people are voting for Wii, but only, what, a third of a zillion for the 360... so I, too, am going to play the probably non-existent odds.
Incidentally, last year, if I remember right, the sale was voted on the previous day (or maybe well ahead of time; I can't recall) and then at midnight EST, the sale went live, and the first X number to get in received the offer. That was the cause for the bottleneck. What it sounds like now is that they've spread the bottleneck out from 12:01:01 to the entire day... and also, they probably hope this eliminates people with auto-page-refresh bots. It SOUNDS like everyone who votes for the Wii (the obvious winner) will be entered into a hat, essentially, with 1000 names drawn and sent "congrats!" messages. I still can't tell if this will be true of those who voted for the losing 360 or PS3... but I voted for 360 on the off-chance of that. If this isn't the case for the losing items, then maybe they ARE doing the bottleneck at 12:01:01 for it... but if they've got the random-chooser in place anyway, it seems silly to me. But, then, when have major merchants around holiday time done not-silly things?
FM @ Nov 15th 2007 11:09PM
Hah,I remember the bandwidth hoopla over the core 360 last year. The hilarious thing was after the event, hilarious trolling in the amazon forums. Wah wah you didn't win etc..