Joystiq recently had the opportunity to spend time with New York City Nintendo World Store Manager, Paul Gonzalez, and unlike the marketing-jargon spin-meisters we typically deal with, Gonzalez was refreshingly forthright.

Gonzalez told us Wii pre-orders for the November 19 launch will certainly be filled, and there will be "enough for walk-ins as well." We gave him a chance to take back that quote -- last thing we want to do is get him fired -- but he backed it up saying, "I'm not expecting to sell out on Sunday. Monday -- no promises."

There are currently no playable Wii demos available at the store. Gonzalez said they are expecting them the first week of November and an email blast will be sent out letting people know.

Gonzalez is happy to see that the Wii is bundled with Wii Sports, "It's the best way to explain the system. It is a great tutorial ... I enjoyed the boxing, you got your rights and lefts in there, it's certainly a work out." And what about Zelda: Twilight Princess? "Zelda is good, there's a bit of a learning curve." He went on to say conceptually the gameplay is all so new, but players will get used to it.

Specific Nintendo World store Wii launch details will be released next week.

See also: Nintendo Fusion Tour: Nintendo World store video



Gonzalez also put to rest a random rumor that he had heard and people have consistently asked him. Does the Wavebird controller receiver point in the wrong direction, making it impossible to use on the Wii due to the flap? He opened up the Wii display unit and had an employee bring over the Wavebird receiver -- it would have been the design error of the year -- but the Wavebird receiver does point in a direction allowing it to be used on the Wii. You can also see that your Gamecube memory cards stick in the top of the Wii behind a second flap. Essentially, once the flaps come up, the top of the Wii is the same as the front of the Gamecube.