Turn off your TVs, turn down your radios, pull down your shades and lock up your youngin’s, because that is the only way you’ll be avoiding the marketing blitz for consoles this holiday season. With reports of pre-Black Friday sales from the nations' heavy retail hitters Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Circuit City, the trio of console makers Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will be feeding their product in your head for the next three months.

Who is buying what?

Wielding a fancy new price cut, Sony is offering a very competitive 40GB model. What used to seem like an endless stock of Playstation three units; time will show if most of those units finding a new home. Although, the PS2 isn’t completely out of sales, expect to find less of those models available, with retailers and Sony alike, selling customers to the premium PS3 device.

Most gamers falling in the 12-24 age group are typically looking to gaming to be as economic as possible. Constantly hunting for good deals on games, cheap or secondhand accessories are sometimes essential for building up a collection. Luckily, the holidays push that aside as parents bankrolls are in check, but not their own. Look for whiny kids to “want, want, want”, without necessarily knowing what is best. Some may argue that this is not the best time to purchase a PS3, but tell that to a 14-year-old kid that needs something to fill on his Christmas list. Kids need to buy something, and if it is new and hot, nature takes its course and retailers see more customers; Sony goes from troubling sales and abundance of units, to saying “I told ya so.”

A small crowd of peaceful shoppers politely enter a Best Buy.

For those who will still scream “too pricey”, consider this: $435 billion dollars is spent annually in the United States alone on holiday shopping. No words, right? The average American household (two divorced parents = two Christmas's YAY) will spend around $1500 a year on holiday gifts. Break that number by the average number of American children per household, it becomes a maximum of $750 each. But then take into account the other spending, so let's say around $500 per child, that’s $1000, plus $500 to spare. Aunts, uncles and grandparents throwing in their two cents a piece, outlook for a console and some games are pretty good. 

Marketing and Purchasing Blitz

For someone who does not watch a lot of TV, I can tell you Sony has caught my attention with their round of holiday commercials. Very innovative and very clean looking demos of Heavenly Sword and Call of Duty roll through the screen and display the inside of the PS3 box -- perfect recommendations for any Sony user.

Nintendo, in my opinion, shouldn’t waste their money on advertising. Even the whisper of a Wii in stock can spark lines of angry parents who aren’t getting the console, and a brief backlash from customers who have been waiting patiently for one. I’m not sure when the Japanese fiscal year ends, but I hope it's soon, because customers will not wait come Christmas time. If you’re lucky enough to even get the console, you’ll be certain to pick up Super Smash Brothers: Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy.

Microsoft is sitting pretty with a heavy game lineup, (which isn’t solely on 360) of Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty 4 and Rock Band.

It seems like a few days ago we were in the blazing heat, but at the beginning of November, Thanksgiving sales approach and holiday gift lists get planned and purchased. There is no doubt that those who choose to wait till the last minute to pick up any of the three console systems, plus handhelds should already start to feel the hurt as smart shoppers pick up things now, rather than later. However, if the pre-holiday spending doesn’t get you completely, the post certainly will. This year, American shoppers plan to spend $35 billion dollars in gift cards, that is a 25 percent increase year after year. With gift cards available in grocery and drug stores, as well as their own retail locations, giving a gift card is easily outperforming cash as a gift. The bulk of that business will be seen in January 2008 to redeem those gift cards, that is, of course if we all remember to spend them. Approximately 17 percent of all gift card sales go unredeemed, that means we’re sitting around with money in our pockets: let's spend it!

Regardless of your holiday spending or holiday receiving this year, this is crunch time. Get as much as you can in a short period of time and relish in the upcoming holiday lineup, which will be discussed in a future article by Microsoft Department Head Robert Rodriguez in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned.

Sources: Spending on Children , The Numbers