We wait for Wii (Maryland edition)
by Kyle Orland 
{ Oct 13th 2006 at 2:58PM }
At 8 a.m., these four hearty souls waited with me in the near-freezing weather for the Wii preorders to open up at the EBGames on Route 198 in Laurel, MD. University of Maryland students Adam McClure (second from left) and Tristan Edmondston (far left) had been driving by the store to check for potential lines since midnight, finally parking to stake out the location at 5 a.m. Their main motivation for coming out: There was nothing better to do. "It's more of an adventure than anything," McClure said.
At 9 a.m., EB clerk Fernando came to open the store doors and get ready for the day. He said that the pre-orders for the PS3 and Wii went much more smoothly than those for the Xbox 360 thanks to coordinated announcements and procedures from the corporate HQ.
Minutes before opening the doors to customers, Fernando hands out lists of pre-orderable Wii games -- available at or just after launch -- along with a glossy flier for the Wii.
The twenty or so people in line right before opening carefully consider what games they want to reserve. Fernando said he hoped to accommodate pre-orders for everyone who showed up early. The turnout just barely beat the 16 or so people that lined up at this location to reserve a PS3, 11 of which actually got to reserve a system.
Part of the line outside the Gamestop on Route 1 at 10:20 a.m., after eight or so people had already gone through the store two at a time. Soon after this picture was taken, the manager cut the line off after the 19th pre-order, sending one late-waiting family off to look for a system elsewhere.
A helpful sign in the Route 1 Gamestop notes what games are available for pre-order. The store offered to call customers who pre-ordered a game with early news of the system reservations -- or they could have just read about it on Joystiq yesterday.
A surprisingly deserted EBGames at 10:45 a.m. today. Store manager Jennifer said that there were "several" people lined up for Wii pre-orders when she opened, but she still had some to give away, even 45 minutes after opening. Perhaps equally surprising, Jennifer said her launch allotment for the Wii was actually smaller than that for the PS3, but she expected product flow after launch to be much greater for the Wii.
More notes:
- The overlap between Wii and PS3 pre-orders was not that great -- only four people came out for both line-ups at the Route 198 location.
- Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the most popular game among pre-orderers. Red Steel and Call of Duty 3 also attracted some attention.
- Rumors of $59.99 first-party games were much-discussed in the crowd, but all the launch titles were available for pre-order at $49.99 or less.
- EBGames was also offering pre-orders on accessories, including a 512MB Sandisk SD card for $39.99.
- Funniest exchange -- Person 1: [referring to the pull-down cage protecting the store while it's closed] Do they really need these metal grates? Person 2: Have you been to Laurel before?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
stag @ Oct 13th 2006 3:16PM
"Have you been to Laurel before?"
hahaha, i used to live right across the lake from the mall. laurel sucks...that's why i moved to columbia.
i did a drive-by of the gamestop near my office in silver spring around 9:30, but there were a gaggle of people milling about, so i decided not to bother. i popped in on my lunch break to ask how things went down this morning, and dude said that if i had lined up, i probably could've gotten a preorder (they had one more person in line than preorders available at 9:45).
oh well. the plan now is to camp out at the BB in columbia for the ps3 (for sellin') and wii (for zeldain'). should be fun.
Nick @ Oct 13th 2006 3:25PM
Yeah, I was at the Gamestop on Route 1, good times. What was funny was the reason that there were two people going in at a time was that one of the employees had come in with a backpack full of various games to trade in in order to preorder the Wii. The guy that was actually opening the store made him clock in and do it himself, and then help out with taking care of the preorders :P.
Shadow Hog @ Oct 13th 2006 3:32PM
I WANTED to be at the Route 1 GameStop, but unfortunately, classes at UMCP tkae higher priority. I suppose I could call Billy (Route 1 GameStop manager - used to work there) to see if any are left, but I really really REALLY doubt it.
But hey, that's why Nintendo was making so many, right?
Jigsaw G4L @ Oct 14th 2006 8:48AM
YO thats crazy you have man tru with the 81 jersey on in the pic you iam nyc he is from MD that my xbox live best bud yo i was on the line for the wii in brooklyn. i was 8th so i paid for the system and some other stuff GAMER 4 LIFE..............................
teknotom @ Oct 13th 2006 3:47PM
Love how the GameStop still has the N64 logo. Then again, once the Wii is out it'll be current again...
TRUEST ONE @ Oct 13th 2006 3:45PM
I was one of the four people, in that first pic! I have to say...it was fun times with my fellow Wii pre-order hopefuls. Shout-out to my boy Jigsaw G4L up in NYC...peace!
-Truest1
Kai Cherry @ Oct 13th 2006 3:58PM
Ah...Maryland fun!
I was able to get my pre done this morning a bit further north. The EB I went to in lovely Woodlawn at the (in)Security Square Mall had 12 units allotted to them...but it appeared that 3 were deferred to employees.
We had a good time hanging out. I goth there at 9:10 and there were a couple of people already there...by 9:30 the queue grew a bit from folks racing over from other EB/GS stores in the area (there are about 4 within 3 miles of this location).
A good time was had by all :)
-K
Brandon @ Oct 13th 2006 6:19PM
Ooooh, Maryland!! Too bad I don't have enough money to preorder... I wouldn't do it in the Bowie one anyway, the time I went there to buy Meteos, the dudes at the counter started laughing >_> Apparently, it is shameful to buy anything other than Halo 2 there. >_
Anonymous @ Oct 13th 2006 8:35PM
I actually considered going to the Laurel GameStop after the reporting that was done there with the PS3 pre-order so I could meet the reported, but I opted for the largest location in the district, the store in Rockville, which is two minutes away from work at the Best Buy down the road.
The location had 42 units allocated to them and there were slightly more than 20 people lined up by the time all of us were given pre-orders. I got at the store at 8:15 and was eighth in line, quite a bit better than I expected. It was a cool group and that had a few *gasp* girl gamerss in line as well.
SteveZ @ Oct 13th 2006 9:55PM
definitely camping out at Columbia's Best Buy for Wii
LOVE how 18th/19th is a saturday night so i have plenty of opportunity
Chip @ Oct 14th 2006 12:26AM
I'm the sullen looking child on the far right of the third pic! major props to kyle and every one who helped keep our minds off the COLD with Entertaining conversation. best two moring hours spent in the cold ever!
kildjean @ Oct 14th 2006 9:53PM
I did my Wii reserve at the EB Games in Arundel Mills. At 7:30am when I arrived, there were 3 women waiting on it. They told me the line at the Gamestop was at 10 people long, but in the next 30 minutes it topped at 14 people.
At the EB Games I played some nintendo ds with some people, talked about the Wii, ps3 and xbox360 games and by 10:14 I had the number 4 spot, with my reserve on hand.
Now to wait.. gonna have the PS3 and the wii pretty much on the same day... sweeetah!
Dave @ Oct 14th 2006 9:52PM
Here in Baltimore, the lines weren't too bad, at least, the one on Charles St. wasn't bad... Not too sure about the one down by the harbour, but I got in first place at around 8 in the morning.
goosedude @ Oct 15th 2006 3:33AM
I was in the Wii Pre-order line for the EB at the Annapolis Festival Location...and I have to say that I possibly met the most annoying Nintendo Fanboy of all time.....
He was ranting and raving about how the Wii would be the greatest system of all time....and refused to give any kudos whatsoever to Sony or Microsoft's sytems.....he even went so far as to proclaim that the GAMECUBE was a much better system than PS2 or XBOX.
I suffice to say was flabbergasted by such an altered view of reality.....as an owner of all systems....I realize that each system has its strengths and enjoy owning all the systems.
The funniest anti-other company rants he had were:
1) "Can you believe the lengths that MICROSOFT will go to make money.....I heard they are going to start streaming ads on Billboards during games?? Nintendo would never do this!!"
My response to this rant: "Do you seriously think Nintendo isn't in to making money as well??"
2) "Playstation 3??!! The systems is 600$....I can never afford that.....and I don't think any of my friends will ever afford that?? Same for XBOX...I'm not paying $400. Heck...nobody will buy those machines. I don't care for any of the games on those other systems anyway."
My response : "So you have never owned any other game system your entire life but a Nintendo System?? What about Final Fantasy? Metal Gear? Halo? Guitar Hero?"
His Response: "Those games suck.....SUPER SMASH BROS...I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE WII!!"
Suffice to say....the FUNNIEST end of this ranting Fanboy story is.....HE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO PRE-ORDER a WII as the # alotted to the store cutoff right at me!!!
Watching the look of anger in his eye....and then the way he rambled off in complete anger and frustration could have been one of the most surreal fanbioy experiences I've witnessed....It was absolutely hilarious.