Readers Wait for Wii
by Kyle Orland 
{ Oct 13th 2006 at 4:30PM }
Our readers, possibly inspired by this week's posts on our wait for PS3 pre-orderers, have sent in a small flood of tips sharing their experience waiting to pre-order the Wii this morning (oddly enough, we received no similar tips from PS3 pre-orderers). The stories are notable for the disparate numbers of pre-order units available and the number of people willing to line up in the morning's Wii hours (har har). Continue reading for quick summaries of some of these stories, and feel free to leave word of your experience with either pre-order in the comments.Joystiq reader Blake grabbed the eighth spot in line at his local EBGames at 8:30 a.m. only to find out at 9:30.a.m. that the store would only have three systems available (compared to 14 PS3s). He then proceeded to grab the 11th spot in line at a nearby Gamestop, only to find that they had 10 systems. Blake's comedy of errors ended at 9:55 a.m. when he took the 12th spot in line at a third store which only had -- you guessed it -- 11 systems.
Reader Peyton Gauldin found only four people waiting when he entered the line at his local store at 9 a.m. By the time the store opened at 10 a.m. the line had ballooned to nearly 40 people, mostly twenty- and thirty-something men -- waiting for 17 available systems. Despite the funny looks from passerby, Gauldin said he thoroughly enjoyed waiting in the 40-degree weather to reserve his system.
Reader Chris found ii suspicious when the manager at his Wilmington, NC store told the line there would be ten systems available, then amended the number to eight shortly after an employee arrived. Even stranger, another employee said all stores in the area were getting 18 systems. Hmmm....
Reader Tommy Hutchinson was 17th in line when he got to his local EBGames at 7:30 a.m. this morning. Unfortunately, the high-volume University of Pittsburgh store only had 14 units available for the 34 people in line by the 9 a.m. opening, meaning Tommy went home without a $50 pre-order receipt. Hang in there, buddy.
Reader Dignan17's experience was much better. He got in line at 7 a.m. expecting a mad rush of people, only to find he was the second person waiting. By 8 a.m. the line still had only four people, but by 9 a.m. there were 14 people who received pre-order slips. The 15 or so who arrived after that were unfortunately turned away.
Also see -- We Wait for Wii: Bible Belt edition; Boston edition; Maryland edition; Philly edition
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
evilcod @ Oct 13th 2006 5:44PM
Here in the UK most stores dont know how many systems they are being allocated, so many of us are now the proud owners of recipts that may not be worth anything!
M. Pino @ Oct 13th 2006 5:47PM
There were 13 people by the time i got to my EB at 2am. The line swelled to about 50 come between 7-9am. I think 32 units were available.
Melophonist @ Oct 13th 2006 5:48PM
I wan't able to go to a gamestop today because of school but when I called one of the 5 local gamestops in San Jose near my school at 10:10, they had already sold out of all 30 systems. All gone in 10 minutes! I was planning to buy one at lunch. If it were a saturday, then chances are I would have gotten one.
Jarrett @ Oct 13th 2006 5:50PM
Reporting from Elk Grove, California (near Sacramento).
I hit the local EB at 8 AM on Tuesday to find only eight people in line. More than a few mentioned plans to resell their PS3 on ebay. Employees opened the store early and took 15 pre-orders.
This morning I shuffled down the the EB around 9 AM to find 28 people in line ahead of me. They accepted pre-orders on 31 units.
AdvWar @ Oct 13th 2006 5:52PM
Boy, American console pre-orders are very different than here in the UK. Pre-orders have been open at our largest video games retailer, Game, for over two weeks now. Maybe they are allocated more systems per store over here? No queues, no forced bundles and no 30 minute sellouts.
thirty3baboons @ Oct 13th 2006 5:55PM
I wandered into HMV Newcastle (UK) at 10am on the day they started taking pre-orders and walked out 1st in the queue. Seems strange that the US is having such a fuss over pre-orders when it might be expected that a PS3-less UK would have more Wii demand.
Rob @ Oct 13th 2006 5:56PM
Just like to note I saw ALL kinds of gamers lined up for Wii at my EB
women and men, of ALL races and Age groups (except for over 50. yes, I kid you not)
One guy was standing in line for his son, we talked alot and he was telling me how he liked to play the old RPG like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG on the SNES and such (this guy was an AWESOME dad).
Then there were the guys my age (young 20's) again, ALL races.
There were a few Teens, some with their moms, some with their dads.
I got their at 8:30am and was already #15 in line. I had never seen anything like this for a preorder and by 9:30am there were at least 50 people waiting to preorder a Wii. No, I am not exaggerating. Lots of talking about games, some Sony and Microsoft hate, plenty of DSes and DS matches. Starbucks (next door) was kind enough to offer us free moccas and muffins. It was truly a thing to see. My only regret is that I haven't gotten a chance to upgrade my cellphone yet so that I can actually take PICTURES when I'm out
Anyways, that's my story. I'm letting you guys know now, that if this was any indication of the actual launch and you don't have a preoder by now you may seriously want to consider breaking out the camping equipment.
Cory Maddox @ Oct 13th 2006 5:57PM
Me and a friend headed to my local Gamestop in Clovis California, which was located in a Mall around 8:40AM. There were 11 people infront of us. The store had 36 units to give away, so we were set. They did not have to start turning away people till about 9:50, near opening.
I was able to notify another friend and a family member so they could both get consoles also.
About 10 miles away at another Gamestop, they had about 22 people waiting in line at 7AM, and that store was only getting 8 units.
Vercin @ Oct 13th 2006 5:59PM
I posted this comment over at Destructoid in a similar thread, and really wanted to share my pre-order story with you guys, too:
Our Gamestop had 8 Wiis available to reserve this morning (employees get first dibs - a perk I can't bash because I'd love it if it was I who worked there). All 8 people were there before 5am. The bulk of us got there last night. I arrived at 10pm and was 3rd in line. Several more people joined us, and we had 6 of 8 covered for most of the night, which was one of the most fun, nerdy nights spent talking about gaming that I can recall. I'm telling you, I had a good time with these total strangers even though we were all trying to sleep through a 40 degree THUNDERSTORM. I kid you not.
Perhaps I live in a better town than everyone else, or perhaps that cricket that showed up really did bring us good luck, but every person there was a gamer, and every person there was absolutely thrilled to be getting a Wii. No eBayers in our nerd party. DSes were brought, and Mario Kart was played. Sony was unanimously bashed for their PR fumbles and their asking price, and I was the only person with the other half of the Wii60.
People trickled in from about 7-9, most leaving when informed that the 8 spots were already spoken for, but a few stayed until the manager arrived at 9 and took their names to call them if they are able to arrange more reserves at a later date. At this time, he also gave us 8 our golden tickets. With mine in hand, I went home to thaw my toes and relieve myself with an urgency I cannot describe.
When I came back 15 minutes before the doors opened to make our orders official, there were 20 or so people gathered out front who stayed even though the other 7 had told them the news. They dispersed when the manager himself said it at ten. I've been in that Gamestop countless times, but this morning it felt much grander, much more beautiful an experience, like I'd been granted passage into heaven itself.
After 12 hours of laughing, shivering, and chasing sleep outside in the cold, wet night, the 8 of us emerged triumpant and rejuvenated. We EARNED our reservations, and I couldn't be happier about it.
Phoenix42 @ Oct 13th 2006 6:00PM
I got to EBgames at 7:30 because I heard that a guy was camping overnight, and a guy was getting there at 5 a.m. and stuff. When I got there, there was one car in the parking lot, so I got breakfast at the adjacent Sonic. I pulled out my camping chair and found out that my fellow Nintendoite had heard the same, and came at 6 just to find no one. We were joined at 8 am by a college student out for the day. There we sat until 8:30, when the manager came up, said hey, went in the store and locked up. In 15 minutes, 3 people came up and left because the learned the store didn't open til 10 (the non-faithful). At 8:45, the manager opened the metal windows, and let us in to pre-order because we were the "faithful". He then closed the store again until 10. I sure hope we get a midnight release!
Nuke @ Oct 13th 2006 8:49PM
College Station, TX: I showed up at the mall a bit after 3 AM wondering how to get in. I found an open service door and slipped in that way. I thought it was strange that I was the only one at the GameStop.
Closer to 4 am, a security guard came and asked me how I got in the mall, and informed me the mall is closed. I started getting some smart ass thoughts, considering there's a giant gate right there, but he was real cool about it. He let me know that some people are already lined up outside, and due to a bank and jewelry store robbery a few days ago, they're making us wait outside until 5:30 am.
I hurried out to find 7 people lined up, and they were already making their own unofficial lineup list. I was added on at number 8, and with 14 said to be available, I was fine. The manager validated the list when he arrived a few hours early to make sure everyone on said list was actually there.
I'm not sure exactly how many people we had to turn away after that, but a lot of people didn't expect such a big turn out for the Wii and therefore didn't expect to have to come so early. I think that's a good sign of the underdog's future. Whoop!
noxmad @ Oct 13th 2006 6:36PM
"Here in the UK most stores dont know how many systems they are being allocated, so many of us are now the proud owners of recipts that may not be worth anything!"
Heh same here, cept i was one of the first so even if they have 1 or 2 im getting one >)
Simon @ Oct 13th 2006 6:12PM
I hear ya evilcod, it'd be nice if some of the individual stores updated people with preorders closer to the time; knowing my luck, I'll race into GAME only to find out they've already just filled the last preorder.
MrHoju @ Oct 13th 2006 6:14PM
Redmond, WA
Went at 8:20 to the EB Games at the local mall. Was greeted to a line of at least 40. At the end of the line was an EB employee telling people that all the slots for Wiis had been spoken for.
I quickly went to the Gamestop and was the 22nd person at around 8:30... the line quickly ballooned to over 40. At about 9:00 am the manager came by with slips of paper will all the games you could prereserver. The slips of paper also indicated the number of unites they had available for pre-order.
After that, most people who didn't get a slip just left. One guy came late and got a slip because some idiot took two slips. We also turned away probably at least 25 people more before the store opened at 10.
Nao Lo Ding @ Oct 13th 2006 6:16PM
You can read my story about the preorder experience in Auburn, AL under the "Bible Belt" posts. I did want to make another point though. It seems like a lot of people are convinced that if they didn't get a preorder, they will not be getting a Wii on launch day. As I told people in line at EB this morning... This is not the PS3, the 360 or even the PS2. Any implied scarcity is a complete fabrication of EB Gamestop. There are to be around 2 million units in the US before Christmas, if not more, and these things are already being stockpiled in warehouses around the world waiting for Nov 19. EB Gamestop will very likely have another round of preorders available closer to release and there will be MANY units available at stores like Wal-mart, Target and Best Buy on launch day. You basically have a choice of when, and where, you want to wait in line. I thought it better to wait in line with a smaller group of hardcore Nintendo fans today rather than a line full of kids and over-caffinated, grumpy moms on launch day.
Trixie @ Oct 13th 2006 6:23PM
Los Angeles, CA
Around 8:30 am I headed to the Westside Pavillion, and I was 18th in line. 26 total units sold, and they went quickly. Around 9:00-9:15am they were gone. The 26 people recieved stickers indicating their number in the line. Non pre-order people were locked out of the store, until everyone who could preorder did. I was 1 out of 4 girls total waiting.
John @ Oct 13th 2006 6:24PM
Columbus, Ohio [On the campus of The Ohio State University]:
I got to EB at about 8:20 AM [this one opens at 10] I was number 18, too bad they only had 14 to sell. I drove to another store in Columbus to find that all the stores in Columbus were sold out by 11:15.
I called every store in the greater Toledo area [my home town], to see if my family could pick one up. Nothing there either.
Luckily in a small town called Kenton, Ohio they had several open slots. I made the hour and a half drive and my friend and I both got reservations at around 4 PM! What a stroke of luck.
So, after 10 hours of wii searching, I finally have my receipt.
Al @ Oct 13th 2006 6:33PM
I got to Funcoland(one of the last) at about 9 AM. I was number 5 in line. The store only had 12 slots open. A few guys got turned away when they got in line at about 9:45. This store got as many Wii's as it did PS3's. What's up with that?
evilcod @ Oct 13th 2006 6:39PM
@59-Simon
Game started taking preorders long ago, ive had my £20 down there since 27th sept. The difference in the UK as to why we have no queues is our stores keep taking preorders even if we wont get the console at launch as the shops have no idea how many they are allocated, so having you deposit down and a recipt does NOT deffinatly mean you will get one at launch.
Dark Morford @ Oct 13th 2006 6:52PM
Bismarck, North Dakota-
I arrived at the store at 8:00am. Already there were 5 people (4 guys, 1 girl), two DS Lites, and a Phat. Earliest guy said he showed up at 4:45. One of the guys isn't even there for Wii; he had a couple of 360 games he was looking to trade in, and was there to keep his pal (who was after a Wii) company. I pulled out my own Phat (with flashed firmware) and booted up a DS Download Station image for the other guys. Nobody else showed up until 9, when a couple more people added to our line, and a few employees came in to get things set up. Around 9:30, the manager told us that he'd have 13 pre-orders available; so far everyone in line is in good shape. Someone mentioned that the store hadn't sold out their 16 PS3 units until 11:30 or so on Tuesday. People are trickling in by 9:45, so we start to form a real line. I ended up 5th. When the store opened at 10, I counted about 20 folks in line, so I knew a few people were going home empty-handed. Things went smoothly; we made our way one-by-one to the counter, put down our money, and got our receipts. No pre-preorder slips or anything.
After the counter, a few of us wandered to the rear half of the store just to chat for a while. One of the employees told us that they had four people at the door for the PS3 who were "obviously eBayers," so he was glad to see people there for the Wii who were actually excited about playing the thing. The staff had used some spare yellow stickers to make little "I reserved a Wii @ GameStop!" tags for everyone; for the Trader, they made one that said "I missed the opportunity of a lifetime @ GameStop!" All in good fun, of course... the staff here are great.
The last Wii pre-order sold at 10:25, shortly after which I went home to get some food. I had a nice caffeine headache going from two bottles of Bawls and nothing to eat.
Joshua Tompkins @ Oct 13th 2006 8:27PM
Norfolk, VA. I was the first one in line at the store. Not too surprising as I pulled up at 5:45am, then was approached by what appeared to be a hooker. Who woulda thunk. Anyways, I sat outside the store and the second person showed up with his bag of like 20 trade-ins at about 7am. Around 8:20 two other girls showed up, unfortunately they weren't there for themselves but one for a boyfriend, and the other for her friend. Around 9 the line started slowly growing with more guys until we reached 11 people at opening. I tried asking the guy at Gamestop how many units they had for presale and I was met with only "We aren't allowed to give out that information." To which I thought to myself, "hmm, I could always sit around here till you start telling people your out!" Anyways, I got my reserve and I can't wait for launch!
Vesty @ Oct 13th 2006 6:56PM
I went to an EB in Erie Pennsylvania. Its a small city and I'm just here for college, so I didn't know if there would be lines or anything, don't know what the gaming scene is like up here. So I left to check out EB at 8:30, in the freezing cold 30 degree weather. I got to EB around 9am to find no line yet. There was a dad sort of tailgating with his 6 year old near the entrance. It was pretty cold out so I just sat in the car. I was parked so that I can watch the entrance and either side of it from my rear view window. Felt like I was on a stake out of something.
From 9-9:30 a couple cars pulled up but I couldn't tell if they were for EB or for the hair salon next door. Around 9:30 someone walked over and stood by the door, which caused about 5 of us to jump out of our various cars and form up a line. I ended up being #6. I didn't really care that I was that far back when really I should've been 2 or 1, I figured there would be a lot of Wii's so it doesn't matter. Infront of me was the dad with his 6 year old playing with some matchbox cars besides him. Then a college student, another father, and 2 more college students. Nice crowd. A conversation about next gen consoles and games formed while we killed half an hour. One of the fathers talked about how he was surprised this store wasn't getting many Wii's, how it was only getting 8. That seemed rather low and really surprised me, I started thinking I'm sure glad I'm 6. He also said the one in the mall was getting around 14 Wii's. So I guess it was just this store that was getting a low amount.
Around 10 a high school student and father got behind me, and another college student. The manager opened up the doors at 10, stating they only had 7 Wii's. This made #8 guy rather mad because he said he called last night and was told there would be 8. The manager said they had a number change last night and there was only 7 now. I figure he took one for himself but I can't blame him for not wanting to say it. The 8th person grumbled but stayed in line incase someone didn't have money as the Manager let us in. As we were waiting in line more people trickled in and waited. Manager didn't say anything until the last Wii was sold, not making the 5 people or so behind the last person too happy. So I got my preoder. I asked about a midnight launch and he said they didn't know if they were going to do it yet or not. I guess if only 7 of us will get it there's no real reason to. But if there is I'll be there.
Aphony @ Oct 13th 2006 6:56PM
It is incredible how much the internet has changed events such as this. Imagine how many people are avidly checking the web in order to determine when the system will come out. The country only had less than 24 hours notice for this pre-order and yet lines are forming all around the country. I find it spectacular.
Though I'm also a little disturbed at the idea of the entire country being a monster consumer, throwing money around and devouring products left and right. Oh well, at least the games will be a nice and entertaining distraction from life. :)
QuesoSupremo @ Oct 13th 2006 6:59PM
I went to the Gamestop in Del Amo Mall here in Torrance California at 7:30 am. I left at about 7:10am. When I got there, i was the fifth person in line. There were only four other people there: a kid you looked about fifteen, a woman in who looked like she was in her 50's, another woman in her 40's and an old guy in his late 40's. We waited for about and hour till the Gamestop employee opened the store. He came out about 15 minutes later with 12 sheets attached to little reservation papers. He handed us each one sheet/reservation paper. More people began to arrive and about one hour later there was 20-25 people waiting. 30 minutes later we all went inside to reserve our Wii's (Finally :) WIIII!!!). I later went to eat some pizza with my brother, then went back to the store to ask some questions about Launch Day. As I was waiting in line, some guy asked if he could reserve a Wii. It was surprising to hear that they had already filled up all the orders. There were about 25-30 Wii's, and they had all sold out in about half an hour! I thought it was kinda sad that the guy didn't get a reserve, but that's what happens when you sleep in.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the total for the Wii Console plus tax is $271.66 (I know it sounds pricey, but a Wii is TONS better than a $400+ Xbox 360 and a $600+ PS3).
James @ Oct 13th 2006 7:06PM
Calling yesterday around to EB and GameStop stores in my area I received the answers from three employees at different stores that they were not pre-ordering. I decided to assume they were liars and went to an area with both a GameStop and an EB within the same shopping center. I decided to sit down at the GameStop making myself tenth in line. I sat down at around 9:10AM. Within 20 minutes the store manager let us out of the cold giving us numbers and stopping the pre-orders at 14. After purchasing my console at 10:05AM I went over to the EB in the same shopping center (the one that told me yesterday they weren't doing pre-orders) and asked about their pre-orders. They let me know that only one person was camping when they arrived and everyone else had just showed up within ten minutes of opening the store. One of my friends camped another GameStop and he had to camp 5 hours and was at the end of the pre-order line (number 17). Strange how that works out.
melcrose @ Oct 13th 2006 7:09PM
I showed up about 10:30 in Lincoln, NE..
They said they had "quite a few" Wii's but they all sold out "within just a few minutes" . .
Here's hoping Nintendo loves Wal-mart or Target. . .
ARA_07 @ Oct 13th 2006 7:28PM
I'm from Puerto Rico; I went to a Gamestop in a small city called Barceloneta. I didn't expect many people so I went at 2:00PM. The employee told me that there wasn't any preorders left (he said the store would recieve around 32 consoles). This is really surprising because Nintendo isn't so poular around here compared to Sony and Microsoft. The salesman was very excited and told me that everyone is expecting the Wii launch.
funkonaut @ Oct 13th 2006 7:53PM
Thank God for the Nintendo World Store. :D
Mike @ Oct 13th 2006 7:47PM
hey somewhat the same here from Chandler, Az
got to Gamestop, waited for abouit 30 min. manager got there around 9:30am we had about 18 people in line, he told us he only had 7 and to try the chandler mall, so some of us made a mad dash, my self included, 1.5 miles to the mall, and just in time for them to hand out some paper, letting us know that we would be getting it. by the way i was about number 25 our of 33 system they had for pre-orders hehehehe rock on!
Rinku @ Oct 13th 2006 7:53PM
@73 ARA_07
Im from Puerto Rico too, almost the same happened to me, I went to a Gamestop in Rio Hondo (Bayamon) around 12pm and there were no preorders left (36) I used my computer to go to gamestop.com to use the store locator and find some other store nearby me.
Found one in Plaza del Sol (also in Bayamon) as soon as I got there I got in line, and luckily, got one of the last Wii's, I asked the clerk and he said there were also a max of 36 reservations.
To me this looks like good news, with so many people excited for the Wii. :3
Tom @ Oct 13th 2006 7:57PM
I woke up around noon *yawn* and went to work. I'll stand in line on launch day, a Sunday.
jaunt72 @ Oct 13th 2006 8:27PM
Didn't get to the local Gamestop until 4 PM. They only had 4 total when they opened at 10 this morning. I was there on a bet that they were all gone, and they had one left. I lost the bet, but I don't care. I'm gettin' a Wii!
pacokorn77 @ Oct 13th 2006 8:00PM
Well, me and two other employees at my Best Buy are going to be lining up at one of our other stores for the Wii launch, since that one got the OK to do a midnight launch.
Even though it's...about a month away (!), rather than me being the one selling the system (360 launch), I'll be able to see how it is waiting in line.
I'll probably be working launch at my store, so you're probably going to get two reports from me: one from the line and one from the register.
Backslider @ Oct 14th 2006 5:26AM
I got to EB's about 11:30 last night when 2 people were already there. They were the EB employees who had nothing better to do than camp out. There was a total of 4 of them who eventually came to wait. I was the 3rd person in line, and later 3 of my friends came. I was planning on sleeping until about 6 when I would wake up to wait, but since I brought my PS2 and Starbucks let me use their outlets, I ended up playing games with people all night. At about 7 in the morning one other person sat in line infront of us (since we were a bit off to the side because of a tent). About an hour before opening 3 more people showed up. At 9:30 the manager handed out 8 tickets (representing the only 8 consoles they had.. besides the managers and the other employee scheduled to work) to the 8 of us who camped out. About 7 more people showed up between then and about 9:45 when they let the first ticket holder in. Wii reservations were sold out a few minutes after 10. As we left, a few people every minute or so stopped by to see if they could grab one.
Doom @ Oct 13th 2006 8:04PM
Milwaukee, WI
Called store at 4 PM, guy said he wasn't sure if the remaining reserve was going to be taken by an employee or not. Told me to call back in 2 hours. Do so, delighted to find the employee elected not to reserve. Ran 2 miles down to Gamestop, reserved 1 Nintendo Wii and 1 Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Nice experience.
Mgs0lid @ Oct 16th 2006 10:27AM
I got in line at 6am at gamestop.... it was 33 degrees outside and I was number 4 in line. The first three people in line got there at 5am. Our store got 18 preorders, really it was only 14 but 4 were for the employees. by 8am there were 10 people in line and when they opened there were probably over 40 people in line. I bought coffee for the first 3 ppl in line from mcdonalds about 1 hour befor they opened. Before the store opened they brought out a huge box of candy and gave some to everyone in line. Nintendos preorder launch was alot better then the ps3 deal.
Jesse @ Oct 14th 2006 12:00AM
I went to my Gamestop in Bristol, CT today at lunchtime. Both myself and another guy both came in at the same time to preorder and the clerk told us that all 16 pre-orders were gone before he opened the store. He thought that Nintendo would open up more later, but couldn't give any details. He said PS3 preorders sold out just as fast.
pangit @ Oct 13th 2006 9:25PM
Temecula, CA (socal) population:100k
EB in the mall had around 28 people in line at 830, same with the GameStop accross the street. both stores were giving out 36 pre-orders. i am 26 at gamestop. i am hoping that the gamestop will get at least enough for me to get one on launch.
Super-Jesse-Mario @ Oct 13th 2006 9:25PM
I got a full blog of what happened here:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=79530936&blogID=180010588&MyToken=77e1c830-a4f3-4035-bb58-0fc8801024ea
and here's the direct link to the video I took, it's really not all that interesting..but meh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9od6me21ns
Marcus @ Oct 13th 2006 9:34PM
Hey, I'm from Laurel, MD so I went to the EB in Laurel and met with Kyle Orland from here and was in the line that he took pictures of here: http://mac.joystiq.com/2006/10/13/we-wait-for-wii-maryland-edition/
I got there at about 8am and became 7th in line for about 20 or so. However, I don't really know because that manager wouldn't tell me how many exactly what they had. It was cool talking to the fanboys and others in the lines about our gaming experiences. We had one Mom who was about 9th in line and one other guy who had his Mom wait in line while he sat and read the newspaper 10 ft away! Apparently, this guy has like some underground bootleg network of games/anime/DVDs as per one other guy in the line that literally look like he wanted to strangle this guy for ripping off people. It was fun to say the least. Went to Laurel Mall just to see what they had and there was no one there!! A buddy of mine told me Gamestop @ Greenbelt filled up their pre-orders soon after at about 11:30am! Long live Wii!
-Marcus
Brian P @ Oct 13th 2006 9:39PM
I walked up to one of my local GameStops at 9:45 with one person in line. 2 more people showed up by the 10am opening. I was #2, though the receipt shows transaction #005, meaning they sold 3 internally.
I was #1 at the same store on Tuesday for the PS3 preorder. Only 1 person showed up behind me that day. Being #1, I had transaction #003, so they sold 2 of those internally.
We'll see if I get them on launch day...
anti-fanboy @ Oct 13th 2006 9:41PM
I got to Gamestop in Chicago, Il. at about 8:50 there were 5 people in line about 9:50 the line grew to about 16 after those the manager turned people away. I got mine so I'm happy.
wstrinz @ Oct 13th 2006 9:52PM
Hah, i overslept, called my local stores, found out a lot of them had more people than systems alread, but then called the mall of america, who said they had plently (32, which is apparently more than most of the other stores most other place). So while other people had to get up early and wait outside in our 10-20 degree minnesota weather, I got up late and stood inside a warm mall, and still got mine pre-ordered.
Ryan @ Oct 14th 2006 6:22PM
My girlfriend, friend from work, and I went to the eb games right after I got off of work, a little after 3. We almost began feeling foolish as no one else showed up until 5:00, but the store left a note on the door stating that they only had 7 systems. One of the most sadistic parts of the morning was when people after the 8th started waiting in line after we told them the good news.
Takeo Rey @ Oct 13th 2006 10:31PM
Sugar Land, TX (suburb of Houston)
I posted my comments here http://www.gamercastnetwork.com/forums/index.php?topic=802.msg11463#msg11463
But I'll go ahead and share my story here too.
I went to a Gamestop near my work at aroung 9:30. There was about 30 to 40 people already waiting in line and an interesting fact, a good half of them were girls. The first five people in line were women, one was a mother getting one for her son in college, one was getting one for her husband and the other three said they were buying them for themselves. They had mentioned that they were there since 6 or 7 in the morning, I noticed that they had Starbucks and lawn chairs while they were waiting. They also said the store only was getting 12 on the first shipment, so I decided to go to the mall and try the Gamestop there.
It was a different story there, the line was short and the manager was only letting one person in at a time to order. I was about number 11. There were older folks there standing around and I was pretty sure I was the yougest person there (being 25). I husband and wife got one order each and they had said it was for there sons, one at home and for the other at college. The guy in front of me was telling me how he was going to sell what he can on ebay for his online store, saying he made a killing last year for 360's.
I saw an old childhood friend from my neighboorhood Monica and she was number 8. I said hi and asked her "When did you start liking games? When we all hung out as kids, you never like playing video games with us." She said her boyfriend plays 360 all the time and that she loves her DS and wants her own Wii console. I tlucked out that she also worked at the mall and knew the manager, but she still had to wait just like everyone. When it was her turn, she was pretty excited and yelled out WIIII as she walked in.
I walked in and asked the manager how all the preorders were going. He said he got a lot of phone calls about them and after I told him about the other Gamestop I went to, he was glad he didn't have to deal with the people and long lines. He told me that his store was getting 20 Wii's and that 2 is going for his employees and all the other are first come, first serve. I ended up being number 11 out of 18 and was pretty happy. I ended up telling people at work about this story, so it's still fresh in my mind. I still am going to try to walk in on launch day at Best Buy to try to get another for my brother. I still didn't think I was going to be caught up in all the hype, until I saw it myself.
Nerds With Attitude @ Oct 13th 2006 11:52PM
I live in Australia. I preordered my Wii at Toys'r'Us 3 months after they started taking preorders. I got there at 4pm in the Afternoon. I was first on the list. I get a free launch title with my Wii ON TOP OF Wii Sports.
Sometimes it's a good thing to live in the technological backwaters downunder.
Mr BoomStick XL @ Oct 13th 2006 11:26PM
AWSOME 3 day span for me!! Got to the local EB 3 hours before for BOTH launches and scored a PS3 and Wii. It pays to NOT sleep the day before. And NO, I'm not selling these on E-Bay. I hate that S**T!!!!
caselogic @ Oct 13th 2006 11:46PM
I guess i will post mine:
Los Angeles, Ca -- (Well, El Segundo near my work) I had an 8:00 a.m. meeting that seemed to run long. At my first chance of getting up I excused myself and booked it to the nearest gamestop.
I got there at 9:15 a.m. I was about 22nd in line behind a dad that just happened to be driving by and a dad that his kid has been bugging him for months.
By 9:50 the manager came out and said he had 30. There were about that many people in line.
(What I don't understand is how people could be waiting for 2+ hours in line and still have questions...should i get a game? a controller? what does it come with? seriously. you couldn't have figured that out at 9:30, 9:45.)
Anyway, buy 10:35 i had my reciept for 1 Wii. Zelda, Trama Center, and extra Wiimote w/ Nuncuk.
Hurry for me. Could not share my nerdiness was anyone. I just hope my dad doesn't steal it.
YOu would think at 25 i wouldn't have to worry about my dad stealing my games but he would.
JohnnySoprano @ Oct 13th 2006 11:56PM
Here in Ventura California I got to my EB at about 8:30 AM. I was already 13th in line at that point (a suprising turnout) and from what I heard the first guy was there since 3AM. The second guy got there after 6, and everyone else had been steadily showing up after that.
As we got closer to the 10AM opening the numbers grew to around 25 and right at 10:00 we hit the 32 mark, the cutoff for how many reserves were being taken.
Most people in the line had either a DS or a laptop to keep them busy. The majority were 20-something y/o guys, with two women. One wife waiting with her husband, and one awesome grandmother who was pre-ordering for her grandson.
Since only one register was up it didn't go as quickly as it might have, but nevertheless, we sold out within the half-hour.
Raphael M. @ Oct 14th 2006 12:46AM
My story is simple, went to a Gamestop in the mall in Leominster,MA at 12noon and was told they were sold out so i drove to a new Gamestop thats about 7 minutes from that one (this store just oppened about 2 weeks ago) and the guy told me i got the last available reserve slip, i promptly called my friend who i knew was stuck in class to brag about the fact that he didnt get one.