More on the fishy Xbox 360 scarcity thing

We’re not sure what’s up with all of this Xbox 360 scarcity stuff, but something doesn’t smell right about it. We have conjectured in the past that the whole scarcity thing is faked to incite demand, but we’ve also noted that perception of a shortage is enough to make that shortage real. At this point, it’s probably all academic, because the meme is loose and it appears to be running rampant through the 99.9999% of the world that doesn’t read video game blogs.

However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to follow it, because we figure Sony and Nintendo will likely pull the same maneuver that Microsoft may have successfully pulled off here.

Here’s what’s fishy: (a) There’s a very big incentive to fake a shortage. More on this later. (b) There are whispers that it’s being faked. Read Slashdot story here. We have received similar emails, but we have no way to verify their authenticity. (c) We’re still receiving emails from Barnes and Noble (sources through GameStop) that Xbox 360s are available for pre-order today. In fact, we got such an email just this morning.