Gamestop, EB Wii preorders starting this week?

by Blake Snow { Oct 10th 2006 at 12:25PM }

Recent online rumblings suggest gamers can expect Wii preorders at Gamestop and EB later this week. Such rumors are in line with an unconfirmed email sent to Joystiq by an individual who claims to work at Gamestop. Our tipster tells us that a meeting was held yesterday, and that consumers can expect Wii preorders to begin either this Thursday or Friday for an unspecified number of systems. Furthermore, EB Games has updated their Wii website stating that "Online console preorder info [is] coming soon!"

With PS3 preorders being announced yesterday, it's likely the games retailer will announce Wii allotments and preorder dates soon. If true, let's hope availability is more than eight systems per store.

[Thanks, sushi-x]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Flash @ Oct 10th 2006 12:28PM

Who ever buys a Wii is a jackass, its a peice of crap with no games.

clo1_2000 @ Oct 10th 2006 12:32PM

Well, Wii will launch with at least 1 million units compared to Sony's 400K, so that averages out to 18 units per store.

darryl @ Oct 10th 2006 12:29PM

You won't need to preorder considering they'll have so many available. Just walk in and pick one up.

Mike Cohen @ Oct 10th 2006 12:33PM

@Flash

thank you for being so insightful

Brock @ Oct 10th 2006 12:40PM

Didn't Joystiq just post last week they could have up to 9-12 MILLION consoles at launch?! There is no way in God's great world you are going to have to pre-order! If you want one, just waltz in a grab one from the giant stack at your local wally world or BB.

Vincent @ Oct 10th 2006 12:37PM

Hey, I already told you guys that I'd let you know as soon as I get word from my several EBGamestop manager friends.

Anyway.. my friend and I have 4 pwiiorders at Nintendo World. Can't wait for the campout party this time 'round. We're bringing like a case of Bawls for the first night, and a few bottles of Sake for Saturday night/Sunday Morning (if no midnight launch).

JimmyHACK @ Oct 10th 2006 12:37PM

gamestop preorders were crazy this morning in my lil nothing town in FL... 5 kids were their at 5 am

i was there @ 8 and they opened at 10 am,
by like 9:15 all teh people were already there for what amount of preorders they could offer.... afterwards i drove a while and figured i would stop by the mall store.. they were out of course but guy commented and said their regional manager called and said that ALL eb/gs stores were out of preorders for ps3 by 10:15 AM..... CRAZY, only people that knew were people that saw it online last night... there is no instore promo warning people its coming...

I don't see teh Wii being this crazy with teh amount of units but man preorders are crazy if they over preorder, and they are crazy if they preorder last second telling noone

BMWM3P @ Oct 10th 2006 12:39PM

Who gives a shit, I got my PS3 preorder early this morning so all I have to do is wait until 11/17/06 the day the real next gen starts.

Logan @ Oct 10th 2006 12:38PM

Didn't Microsoft plan on shooting for a million units last year?

Anyhow, when I was ordering my PS3 this morning, Gamestop said that Wii preorders would likely occur on either Friday or Monday.

ChrisBo @ Oct 10th 2006 12:39PM

You're right, darryl! Nintendo is right on track with their production of the system, making sure there's no shortages, so you *can* just walk in and pick one up!

JimmyHACK @ Oct 10th 2006 12:40PM

ALL florida stores to let me clarify the guy's comments.

just crazy in my little nothing town area, can't imagine the madness in like NY or CALI this morning

FOAMY89 @ Oct 10th 2006 12:53PM

uhm... the gamestop store at my mall had signs up and stuff for the past 3 weeks saying that they would start taking preorders at the end of this week...
and the EB Games store clerk said the same thing when I asked.

Jose @ Oct 10th 2006 12:52PM

I've called like every day for the past 3 weeks. Yesterday, they said "later this week" and seeing as how they are being so vague about it, and technically, today is later in the week than yesterday, I have no qualms about calling in about 15 minutes, about 5 minutes after they've opened.

Rask @ Oct 10th 2006 12:50PM

@ #9 - BMWM3P

You're a bit late on the start date of real next gen (slightly under a year).

It started on 11/22/2005.

But hey, welcome to the now.

Judd @ Oct 10th 2006 12:50PM

I posted this on the PS3 pre-order page, but since I was post #92, I guess not many people saw it. I guess this would be a better place to post it:

RUMOR:

I went back to Gamestop this weekend, after I quit about a month ago and my assistant manager asked me if I knew about the Wii. I said yea, I heard that there'd be millions of Wii's available compared to hundreds of thousands of PS3's. He informed me that he was talking about how the Wii would require $50 worth of trade-ins. I told him that this was just a test they were doing in Hawaii.

He said, no. He heard straight from the district manager that they will be taking Wii pre-orders only with trade-in money. I live in New Jersey so if this turns out to be true it will probably apply to the continental United States. Like I said this is just a rumor, so this might not end up happening, but don't be suprised if it does.

Sam @ Oct 10th 2006 12:52PM

My local GameStop is saying Friday. You probably won't need to preorder because there will be so many, but i'm going to reserve it anyways. You won't have to worry about it. And for me, throwing down a little every paycheck instead of a lot at launch makes it easier on the wallet.

Natiahs @ Oct 10th 2006 12:52PM

The manager at the store where I preordered my PS3 this morning said he'll have 50 Wii's available for pre-order Friday morning. His store, by contrast, had 18 460s and 14 PS3s. He also said the $50 deposit didn't require trades, but trades are appreciated.

JET

Flash @ Oct 10th 2006 12:52PM

Like i said before, next get starts 11.17.06 xbox is half nextgen, and wii is the most powerful last gen system.

Ps3 is the way to go is you want a real system.
forget what ever xboxstiq says
ps3 is better than the wii and 360 in EVERY way!!!!!

Adam @ Oct 10th 2006 12:57PM

Flash is just upset that 360 sucks and it's just an upgrade and there is about 4 games. He wished he saved his money for Wii and games like Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, Excite Truck and much more.

Rask @ Oct 10th 2006 12:55PM

Flash - If there was such a thing as Deluded Fanboy Anonymous, I'd have posted the link for ya.

Enjoy your 600$ PSP.

nick @ Oct 10th 2006 3:07PM

its a rumor. i had a good talk with a manager today. Hes pretty cool i usually stop and to talk about the latest stuff around. We got on to talking about the PS3 and how most of his employees bought them up. i also asked him if hew knew anything about the Wii and he said it should happen by the end of this week.

gameclu @ Oct 10th 2006 12:57PM

Even though I probably could have made a fat profit on ebay from pre-ordering a ps3, I didn't. However, I'm definitely going to be at my local gamestop first thing in the morning to pre-order my wii. Because I want one.

GlitchCog @ Oct 10th 2006 1:04PM

If you're really serious about getting a Wii on launch day, don't preorder. Find a WalMart in a small to mid-sized town and show up at midnight. That's all it will take. If you pre-order, you won't get it until the next day, and that's only if the store didn't pre-order more than their supply, which they almost always do.

Also, by preordering you're encouraging the employees to sell you their company's stupid offers of game club membership, free subscriptions to crappy magazines and more preorders for games that will never be sold out. They lie to you to meet their preorder quotas. If there aren't enough, then your pre-order won't get you one anyway. If there are enough, then you'd get one without having locked yourself into a specific store. Please don't support such a worthless system.

DocWho @ Oct 10th 2006 12:59PM

I am about to Wii my pantys. No, not really. Yawn.

Adam @ Oct 10th 2006 1:36PM

Well my bad Flash...ps3. Well good luck with your $600 george foreman grill! Save me a burger!

Enjoy watching PS3 try to copy Nintendo more and more and there is no way you can say Sony didn't copy their controller after Nintendo.

BMWM3P @ Oct 10th 2006 12:59PM

Rask
That was the .5 gen, the real next gen starts 11/17/06 if you didn't preorder this morning looks like your staying in the .5 gen. Anyways better late than never so your still have a chance to join the real next gen.

DocWho @ Oct 10th 2006 1:01PM

This gen started last year.

Welcome to the show, well, come Nov. Noob consoles.

Carmel @ Oct 10th 2006 1:03PM

In regards to comment #13.... I saw an add in my Game Informer magazine for Gamestop that says that you can use trade-in money to put towards Wii accessories. I highly doubt that rumor is true about only being able to pre-order the Wii itself with trade-in money. That would be a huge mistake on EB/GS's behalf and it would generate a lot of negative feedback.

Scott @ Oct 10th 2006 1:33PM

Y'know, I was planning to buy a Wii on launch day, but Flash's amazingly constructed argument has swayed me! Why be content with a 360 and Wii when I can drop 600 bones for the TRUE next gen?! And I'm sure it will be easy to find one this holiday system. I'll probably wait until mid-December and then try to pick one up then. And if I wait until then, there should tons of great PS3 games available. Thanks Flash!!! WOW!!!

Jose @ Oct 10th 2006 1:09PM

And I'd personally firebomb every GS/EB in town if I have to trade in my precious precious games... oh wait, I still own an original Xbox, that might fetch me like $5, I'm on my way!

moofree @ Oct 10th 2006 1:07PM

I've been playing games in HD for a long time now. PC games were 'next gen' years ago.

The Wii is going to be excellent, and all your loser fanboy "omg wii is like a gamecube 1.5" comments won't deter me.

I can deal with (relatively) low resolutions. So long as all games support progressive scan, I'll be happy.

Jose @ Oct 10th 2006 1:10PM

Personally, I don't support Wal-Mart's business practices, I haven't set foot in one in over three years, and I never again will, unless of course I just stepped in a heaping pile of dog shit, after which I'd be glad to walk allover the goddamn place. Fuck Wal-mart.

Also, I happen to like GameInformer, so getting a year of that basically free (I buy lots of used games so the cards always pay for themselves) is a bonus. I just wish Gamecrazy was doing pre-orders because they give free game/movie rentals with any console purchase.

Firegirl @ Oct 10th 2006 1:10PM

So is anyone planning on getting the Wii because of the piddly 400k units of PS3s that Sony is putting out? Or will you fight the crowds or save your money to get a PS3?

gamerx @ Oct 10th 2006 1:17PM

Nintendo reinvented gaming with the NES(dpad), N64(true non-digital analog stick and rumble), DS(touchscreen), and now Wii(true motion sensing).

Dont doubt Nintendo.

Every competitor copied the dpad.

Every competitor copied the true non-digital analog
stick and rumble features.

Every competitor WILL copy the touch screen(PSP2 and Xbox handheld, im looking at you).

Sony already copied motion sensing.

Once again, dont doubt Nintendo.

When i use the word "copy", i dont mean it in a negative way. afterall, Nintendo has also copied. My point though is, motion sensing controllers have already become the standard in the console video game market with two of the three main platforms offering motion sensing(Wii and PS3).

However, the difference this time around is that Nintendo's latest innovation(the Wii Remote) is actually superior to Sony's motion sensing controller in every way. This has never happened before. For example:

Nintendo creates the dpad for the NES: competitors start making better dpads such as Sega's superior dpad with which you can rotate and hit diagnals more easily.

Nintendo incorporates one true non-digital analog stick in the N64 controller: Sony adds two true non-digital analog sticks.

Nintendo learnt from these past mistakes of letting competitors copy and evolve their innovations. So this time around, they made sure Sony didnt incorporate any DS-inspired innovation in the PSP. Likewise, they made sure Sony didnt offer an evolved motion sensing controller. They even went many steps further with DS and Wii exclusive innovations such as dual screens/voice recognition and WiiConnect24/Wii Channels, not to mention the DS Rumble Pack and Wii Remote speaker.

I'll be picking up a Wii at launch: i wont have to worry about preordering/not being able to find one, and I know I can trust Nintendo hardware quality. Beautiful.

Silver @ Oct 10th 2006 1:14PM

Anyone wonder why the Wii haters fly around these threads like angry buzzards? Could it be from boredom because all the 360 games out there right now are tired regurgitations (but in hi-def, whoopee!) of old games they've already played a million times? Could it be from resentment because they realize they aren't going to get their hands on their precious PS3 until spring?

The Wii will have outsold the 360 by the time the PS3 is even available in numbers on the shelf. Time to buck up and face reality, haters.

bv @ Oct 10th 2006 1:14PM

EBGames are a bunch of fucks. I called this morning about the PS3 preordering and here's how it went:

EB douchebag: "Hi, thanks for calling EBgames where you can trade in all of your old games for new ones. This is *douchebag* how can i help you?"

BV: "Hi *douchebag*, I heard that pre-orders for the ps3 start today?"

EB douchebag: (In an enthusiastic tone). "Yes, that's right!"

BV: "So how many people have pre-ordered so far?"

EB douchebag: "Only 6 people so far."

BV: (Me getting excited because 6 seems like nothing). "Awesome, can you put me down as number 7?"

EB douchebag: "No, sorry. We have filled our pre-orders".

BV: "But you just said you only had 6 pre-orders taken down."

EB douchebag: "Ya, but we only have 6 open slots and they are already full"

BV: "So, why didn't you tell me that in the first place when I asked you about pre-orders"

EB douchebag: (total silence)

I then hung up, lamenting that i wasted 5 of my cell phone minutes on that bitch.

MosquitoControl @ Oct 10th 2006 1:17PM

Can anyone here tell me what the PS3 can do that the 360 can't, in order to make it "last-gen?"

You can't argue graphics, because the 360 has the better chip.
You can't argue online, because the 360 has the better integrated online platform.
You can't argue high def, because the 360 does high def and most PS3 launch titles are only 1080i, aren't they?

PS3 has a more powerful processor. Which will edge it out slightly over the 360s more powerful graphics card.
Net result - tie.

Shut up.

virtua @ Oct 10th 2006 1:19PM

@13 Judd,

Hawaii Gamestop's did take Wii preorders on 26SEP06 for $50 worth of trade-ins only. The event was announced only the day prior with only a in store display!

Almack64 @ Oct 10th 2006 1:20PM

The world must be coming to an end after seeing this quote. #9"You're right, darryl!" Never thought I would ever see the likes of those words in any context...

Daniel @ Oct 10th 2006 1:24PM

bv - I'm pretty sure it's in the job description for EB employees to A) be assholes and B) be completely clueless about all things video games.

I don't know how many have told me that EB WILL NOT be accepting Wii pre-orders. When they do, I'll be going back to each employee who told me that and slap them upside the head.

BMWM3P @ Oct 10th 2006 1:25PM

MosquitoControl
360 is not last gen bitch, it's .5 gen there's a difference. You can say whatever you like to make you feel better about the bad purchase you made. But the truth just plain hurts the PS3 is better than the shitbox 360.

jason @ Oct 10th 2006 1:26PM

what i say is wait for a system cuz there is usually only one decient game at launch and the better graphics in games start a year later with better accessories and better games for example GRAW for 360 was the only game i liked and i bought a 360 on day 1 staying over night. so i had to wait months before a game i really wanted. also at the people saying ps3 is when next gen starts if you want a over priced powerhouse system like a computer then its next gen, if you want a revolutionary different system with fun party games then choose nintendo wii, and if you want an established system with good games(gears of war, 3 halo coming soon, and online games 160 total games) with a dominant online software and pretty good graphics then choose the 360

itsasecret @ Oct 10th 2006 3:32PM

Its 12, 24, 32 per store

starts thursday or friday
i work there

jason cubs bear bulls rull 4life @ Oct 10th 2006 1:29PM

i meant to say wait a year or so for comment 39

KEvin @ Oct 10th 2006 1:35PM

EBgames/Gamestop will not be getting my money. I decided to try and cash in the the PS3, hoping for results like the 360 got on eBay. Please save me the garbage some of you people were spewing in the PS3 thread about not getting returns on it. I tell you this, I could buy the $600 PS3 and have it sold before I get to my care for at least $800. Anyhoo...

I stroll into the mall at about 9:30. One guy waiting for the PS3, he has been there since 1:00 (psycho) and one guy waiting for Armageddon oblivious to the PS3 preordering.

The guy who had been waiting since 1 says they only have one spot left (which is obviously going to him). I didn't believe it. So I waited til they opened.

10:00am store opens. I go in, the one guy starts the paper work. I ask the associate how mnay slots there are. He says one.

Another guy comes in, asks the same thing, associate says just one. He was pissed. The associate continued to say "we have to take care of our employees first, 7 employees wanted it, so that leaves 1"

At this point I was a little ticked. So I called corporate to see if this was SOP. It isn't. So their District Manager has been alerted and I should be getting a call back which hopefully leads to a preorder for me, considering their shady practices.

So yeah, EB won't get my cash unless I get a preorder.

Inferno @ Oct 10th 2006 1:34PM

Looks like some people actually take to heart the BS that comes out of Ken Kutigaris mouth like the Xbox1.5 thing. If you believe that the PS3 is the start of the next gen race, you are not a gamer. The PS3 has one feature which I feel MS should have made standard on all 360s, that is HDD on all versions. MS was extremely smart to leave out the HD-DVD drive, for many reasons. But BluRay is Sonys biggest mistake. As far as computing power, devs and tech geeks alike has stated, and show proof that the 360 and the PS3 are almost exactly the same in processing power. I haven't read all of them, as most are many pages of technical jargon, but from what I understand, the 360 can edge out the PS3 in AI/physics processing due to larger cache and has huge data piplelines could allow for procedural systhesis. The PS3 has larger storage capacity cause of bluray and a slight edge in floating point operations per second. But when you take all the stuff that games require, then technical advantages start to become void cause the machines aren't being dedicated to just number crunching, the different cores are being used for different things.

Anyway, if you do your research, the PS3 and 360 are pretty much equally capable. If you don't care about HD movies, there really is no reason to spend the extra $100-$200 for a PS3. When we get the price drop Japan got, I will buy a core PS3 for the Sony exclusives. Until then, I will be playing XBL and a Wii and enjoying the great gaming experience I am having while you Sony fanboys spend the next 6 months trying to track down a PS3.

moofree @ Oct 10th 2006 1:35PM

BMWM3P, how can you quantify the difference between the console 'generations' without the 'true next gen' system not being out yet?
Sure, I don't have a 360, and probably won't ever, but come on, ".5 generation difference". What is that even supposed to mean?

Rabidkeebler @ Oct 10th 2006 1:40PM

When I went to Gamestop today I talked to guys (and manager) and we discused the Wii and PS3. They said the exact same thing that the info says "Wii Preorder some time this week."

The numbers being tossed around are at max 36 Wiis at any one store. BTW the max PS3s at any one store was supposedly 16 (that was what the Gamestop in town did atleast)