This past weekend saw two very different launch strategies for two very different game consoles. These two launch strategies, in my opinion, displayed just what each company thinks of its customers. Sony, who seems to think that all should bow down to them and be in awe of their greatness, sent out an infintesimal number of PS3s to stores for the official launch on November 17. Many people camped out for days just to have a chance of being allowed to spend $600 on Sony's latest game console. Sony officials have been quoted as stating that consumers are "getting a bargain" at this price point. Because there are so few PS3s available, many (if not most) of the ones purchased at the launch will be sold (and resold) on auction websites, such as eBay, for several times the purchase price. This point probably says more about fools and their money than it does about Sony. The PS3's Blu-Ray issues are also well documented and led, in part, to the severe cut in the number of consoles available for the U.S. launch. These issues are sure to come back and bite the eventual owners of these first PS3s, as they did the first PS2s when they came out a few years ago. In fact, it seems that severe shortages are part of Sony's launch strategy and they see the discussion of these shortages as a part of the publicity campaign for the new console. Nintendo used a different strategy. First, they made sure their new console worked. Then, they made sure they had a significant number, 100 or more was not uncommon, of consoles available at stores for the launch on November 19. Yes, some of these will also end up on eBay, but the desperation factor in the bidding will be significantly lower than it is for the PS3. While not everyone that wanted one got one, a significantly larger number of consumers went away from a Wii launch with a console than did those seeking a PS3. Add to this the fact that the significantly larger number of Wii consoles also sold out and it's easy to see which launch was more successful from a consumer's point of view.