People Selling Online Video Game Preorders Is Worse than Ticket Scalping

This morning during an online news conference, Nintendo announced that they were going to have a limited edition 3DS XL handheld video game system featuring their new Legend of Zelda remake of 'Majora's Mask.' Fifteen minutes after this announcement, all of the preorders were sold out -- mostly due to resellers looking to make a quick buck. What's worse is that people are actually selling these preorders on eBay when the system hasn't even come out yet -- and plenty of people are buying them.

Now, in my day, a video game system would come out and I would get it eventually. I think the GameCube was the first video game system I ever bought the day it was released and I have most game systems from Atari 2600 through to current systems like the Wii U and Playstation 4.

I believe this all started when they weren't making enough Xbox 360 systems to keep up with the demand for the holiday season -- so people were buying them when they could, only to resell them and make a quick buck. Same when Wii and Playstation 3 hit the market. Remember when people would camp out in front of Best Buy for weeks just to buy one? Insane.

People are just now realizing there's money to be made in buying all of the limited-edition versions of games and gaming systems as collectors will spend money to have it in their hands. Especially if anyone has an 'in' with a company or retail market.

This idea is nothing new. People have been doing it for years with concert and sporting event tickets. They even did it a little with whatever the popular holiday toy for Christmas was for any specific year including Tickle Me Elmo and even Cabbage Patch Kids in the '80s.

The solution sounds simple enough -- just make more systems, but that also loses the 'limited edition' value of something in particular. The bragging right of saying, "only 100 of these exist and I have one." I have a few things in my personal collection that are like that.

The other idea might be a lottery system where if you want one, you're only allowed one. Then, when the system is released, they draw names to see who gets them.

Only time will tell. I don't see this idea of scalping limited edition games changing anytime soon. In the meantime, I'll always have a friend in the video games I already have.