Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Save one insane lady (who threw her hot coffee at me when I informed her there were only 21 Wii's available the night of the launch) my experience getting a Wii for my girlfriend and I as well as my sisters was a pleasant one. All sorts of different people coming together in the quest for something similar. Certainly gave me hope for humanity haha.

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Getting one for a family friend was fine also. Everyone was huddled in the local superstore entrance chatting away about what Wii's actually were, and what they needed to buy. Everyone was analyzing the lack of chaos, completely opposite to that of tickle me elmo and furby.

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I got my Wii on launch day and had a grand time talking with the people around me as we regaled each other with our 8-bit childhood memories.

The diversity in the line was something that immediately stood out to me. There were a couple twentysomething guys (like me) who knew their Marios from their Metroids, and the lady in front of me worked for Buena Vista's games division and was on the art staff for the first Kingdom Hearts, but there was a surprising amount of casual gamers in line. I think about six people confessed that they hadn't played a video game since Super Mario Bros. or Duck Hunt.

I was also impressed to find that everybody around me seemed to be genuinely buying the system for themselves and not to flip onto eBay.

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I stood in line for six hours at launch with another 20 or so people. All of us got Wiis and there were plenty of blankets, hot coffee/chocolate, and stories to share. Very pleasant.

The stories I heard about the people waiting in line for the PS3 just a few days earlier were not pretty.

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I got lucky. I walked into a GameStop like I usually do whenever I get roped into going to the mall with my wife. I started playing the SMG demo they had setup, heard someone behind me go up to the counter and ask for a Wii. I turned around and saw the salesperson pull a box out from behind the counter. I couldn't believe it.

Also did anyone read the comments on that article? What a bunch of self-righteous pricks, calling people that buy a Wii consumer whores and how they are contributing to the trade deficit and . It's a video game console people. Sheesh, get over yourself.

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I've never had problems waiting in lines for Nintendo products. For the Wii, I waited with some friends at a midnight launch at walmart (since we could wait inside), in the back by the layaway area. Everyone just spent the hours chatting and playing Mario Kart DS. A few people who got there about midnight were mad that they couldn't get one, but they quickly left.

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From what I understand there's a lot more availability on the west coast. I got mine in San Diego on the way back to New York. You know what my problem looking for the wii is, though? It isn't the other customers; it's the employees. Gamestop employees, especially, are so over-the-top snarky towards anyone asking about wii availability. I mean, give me a break, you work at a video game store and you're offended that someone is looking for the hottest video game product? Other customers have been great though, God bless 'em.

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I got one last year in early December. For the most part, the wait was great, chatted with a bunch of people and convinced a couple to get a Wii instead of a PS3. There wasn't a problem until the store opened and one guy had a friend budge in line. It didn't affect me, but it did affect one of the guys after me. All the people in the line up signed their names on a list and there was a few copies of the list made to ensure that people weren't waiting 6+ hours in the Canadian December Freezing Morning (TM) for nothing. The guy who had a friend come even signed it and only signed in himself. His friend wasn't there until just before the store opened and the manager of the Best Buy ignored the list even though the entire line was against the guy and his friend. We all felt bad for the guy who had to wait all night for nothing. However, one of the people in the line up, who was part of a group and grabbed an extra Wii sold it to him for a 50 buck markup, which was alright I guess, but it shouldn't have been like that. This was actually the first of many scenes and events that I witness and/or heard about that convinced me never to buy anything from Best Buy again.

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Nintendo people definitely tend to be much more friendly/communal than Sony and Microsoft crowds. Instead of having a fanbase divided into a bunch of different hordes that bash each other, Nintendo focuses on trying to bring everyone together... uh yeah, Wii.

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Actually yes, the Wii launch last winter here in pittsburgh at a Best Buy in Rabinson Town Center was FANTASTIC.

We had an honor system set up where people wrote down their name on a list, up to 45 systems were available. But of course, we got there at 12am. So what did everyone do? Game on of course.

Everything from Melee competitions to Guitar Hero jamming, hacky sack, cards, EVERYTHING going on from the time of arrival to the opening of the store at 8am was epic. It was one big meeting of the entertainment fans, specifically gaming, but everyone was there with the desire for the Wii. No one got hurt, hell even some people made a few bucks selling a spot in line, but in the end, everyone gathered in line at 9 am to be led by a best buy employee to their Wii, as well as purchasing the games, accessories and everything they wanted. It was truly a meeting of awesomeness.

Of course, this was a LAUNCH story, not a hunting one down story.

In terms of the problems caused, I'm also on the side of the employees of various stores being complete asses. They seem to be annoyed that everyone is asking for one but come on. Just get over it. So you're being bugged like many department stores were for freaking furbies back in the 90's, times change people!

...However, the issue with gamestore employees being assholes varries... Most of the gamestops near where I live have fairly nice workers.

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I picked my Wii up last January after spending the night outside a Best Buy in Las Cruces, NM. The folks that were in line with me were remarkably pleasant and exhibited not of the a-hole-like characteristics that I've heard about in other lines. We even took turns going to get coffee at the nearby McDonald's that night while saving each other's spots in line.

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exhibited not= exhibited none


Oops. :)

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Picking up my own wii and one for my girlfriend wasn't an experience worth mentioning - we were at Target at 7:30 ish, and at 8 we were let in to get our wiis and go home. That was in February.

However, just last month she and I stood in line again, this time at Toys R Us in order to get one for her parents. They were originally only going to do 30, but when they saw the line they decided to sell all -90-. The guy in front of us didn't really know anything about it, so my girl and I spent the entire time explaining what the system was like, what games would be best for his kids, how the controllers work and what he should buy with the system, and all of that.

As we were leaving, the guy thanked us profusely, and it felt good to set someone straight on the path of videogame righteousness.

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I have a couple of stories about launch and pre-launch Wii hunting/waiting. My friend and I waited outside of ToysRUs for preorders, we arrived about 24 hours early and had 6 of the rudest a**holes I have ever met ahead of us, all trying to get a PS3 to sell on ebay. MY friend ended up getting a 20gb PS3 preorder that he sold, and we both got our Wii's. About 10pm the nintendo fans started showing up, and they were all very friendly and nice, while the people who showed up and found out the ps3 preorders were already claimed were just as rude as the ones waiting with us.

I planned on keeping mine, but after seeing how much they were going for on ebay, and being a poor college kid without a job, i decided to sell my preorder and chance waiting in line again on launch day. My parents and my bank account were very happy I made this decision. On launch day I decided to wait at Wal-Mart, since they would release theirs at midnight rather than 8am. I arrived about 2am, 22 hours before release with my cot/sleepingbag/woll socks I had used before (my Wal-Mart made us wait outside) and after chatting with the 12 or so people ahead of me got some sleep. The whole next day everyone was swapping stories, playing DS games, and genuinely being very friendly. It was very nice since this time I didn't have a friend waiting with me. They passed out a list to sign up for the games/accessories everyone wanted, and since everyone got to know each other we stuck to an honor system and people went on runs for food and such. The Wal-Mart employees even gave us free coffee and cookies all day. When midnight rolled around all 25 of us got exactly what we wanted. I walked out with and extra controller and chuk, as well as zelda and red steel.

After I got my Wii from Wal-Mart, I drove by Best Buy since I knew that my 8 year old cousin wanted a Wii very badly, and when I worked at Best Buy in High School I had helped him get a DS during that launch month. I arrived to find that Best Buy had passed out vouchers to everyone and they had to arrive back before 8am or else surrender their Wii to someone without a voucher. I woke up at 7 the next morning and thought i might try just for the heck of it. I was the first one there who hadn't waited all night, and in the hour I waited the Nintendo fans were all just as friendly as in my previous experiences, and I even met this very cute girl who was a year behind me in the same major. She ended up helping to set me up with her equally attractive best friend because of it. Best of all when the store opened and everyone claimed their Wii, one person had not shown up and at 8:30am their Wii became my cousin's.

Other than launch I haven't known anyone who had to wait outside to get one, all of my friends who have them got theirs just by getting lucky and seeing one on shelves.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part. When my friend went to pick up the 20gb PS3 he had ordered, he was there right when they opened with the jerks who had been so rude to us waiting for our Wii preorders. It turned out that ToysRUs only got in a couple 20gb units, and the six guys who were ahead of us had all been given 60gb preorders. They all started yelling and screaming at the employees because they had already sold the preordered 60gb units on ebay, and ToysRUs could not promise them a unit before March. One guy and his two high school age sons had used the money from their preordered PS3s to buy a new bigscreen TV. My friend said as he was leaving with his PS3one of them yelled at him to wipe the smirk off his face, to which he replied "have fun refunding that ebay money you've already spent, douche bags!" It was the first mean spirited I had heard coming from a Nintendo fan regarding the entire launch weekend, but we both felt it was quite justified.

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Since no one's posted it yet:

http://xkcd.com/186/

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