Nintendo's Wii launch party (Times Square, NYC)
by Christopher Grant 
{ Nov 19th 2006 at 1:30PM }
We were joined by our friends at Engadget and Nintendo Wii Fanboy at the Times Square Toys "R" Us last night to partake in the midnight launch of Nintendo's little, white console. Eager fanboys and girls were wrapped around the entire block, from 45th St. down 8th Ave, to 44th St. and back up 7th Ave (peep Engadget's fancy map). When Reggie took the stage at 11:40 to preach to the choir, he said over 3000 people were lined up, but they were prepared with over 4000 consoles (we'd heard over 5000 and even over 8000 from various insiders). Everyone in line got a white wrist band guaranteeing them a Wii; however, not everyone got the baby blue Wii shirt and white knit-cap (things apparently got a little out of hand, so they stopped handing 'em out). We gathered a ton of pictures and video (coming soon) of the event, which you can hit up after the break. Any 'stiqers in attendance?
The Wii branding was omnipresent!
Like OMG! The Wiiiiiiiiii! People were actually counting down, following a long standing Times Square tradition of counting while looking at bright, blinky things.
We'll take the bait. Show us your glove love!
Where's your DS Lites? Somebody call security, these aren't gamers! (We keed, we keed).
G4 took the bait too ... now we feel predictable.
The 2nd floor Wii department in Toys "R" Us, located conveniently next to the Barbie display (insert "OMG Wii is fr liddle grls ROFL" joke here).
Alright, we're not helping things with our image selection but she was playing the Wii at the time. Don't shoot the messenger.
Reggie's here to show folks that not only is Wii for little girls, but grown men also. Nice form Reggie!
He just threw a ninja star at a Sony fanboy.
Okay, we know it seems like we're looking out for this stuff, but someone at Toys "R" Us is making a very concerted effort to pair Wii promotional materials with doll products.
Video displays inside the store show off the on-stage festivities happening outside.
STAY BACK!
We actually taught this guy how to throw up the Wii sign. Let's give 'em a hand!
Sooorrryyyyy!
SegWii!!!!
We think those are car batteries powering this whole rig.
Lovin' that tape job.
Reggie's final Wii secret: every Wii comes with it's own Segway.
Segway + Wii = nerdiest mode of transport ever devised.
Folks loved this Super Mario Brotha.
The last guy in line. How long have you been waiting? "2 seconds." Nice.
Scantily clad women with hoola hoops. We don't get it either.
This guy's back has got to be sore this morning.
A Japanese news crew surveying the scene.
That's Reggie's chair. We tried to touch it and they sawed our hand off. Actually, we're not sure who's chair it is, which makes the whole hand sawing thing even more upsetting.
Gamespot asks the tough questions.
They brought this family of three who'd been camping out up on stage so they could run down a list of canned responses about how great Wii is for people of all ages. The only way we knew they weren't plants is because their responses when asked what games they were most looking forward to. Mother: Zelda (okay, she's fine). Daughter: NBA Live 07 (wha?). Son: Metroid (you may be waiting awhile then, friend).
The crowd files in to claim their Wiis!
Reggie bags up the very first Wii purchase. Paper or plastic?
He's taking names.
... and there, the guy's name is actually Triforce. Seriously, he changed it.
Wanna Wii?
Bucket o' Red Steel.
Bucket o' SD.
Bucket o' Zelda.
Bucket o' Wiimotes.
Notice the mutagenic Xbox green leaking out from behind this Wii kiosk. They'd partitioned the entire Xbox section off behind curtains and kiosks.
No, thank you!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean @ Nov 19th 2006 1:49PM
Triforce? LOL...
Adam @ Nov 19th 2006 1:52PM
Holy Crap i cant wait for wii to come to eu or norway i will get wii and tp on the day ^^ that guy that got hes wii signed by reggie wounder if he removed it XD
Franchise @ Nov 19th 2006 2:02PM
yea went to bestbuy today..I was 25 and there were only 24 wiis.. suck but im hoping by at least wed. there will be more. Cant complain to much but i put the blame on myself for showing up so late.
Damian G. @ Nov 19th 2006 2:13PM
My mom waited for two hours in the cold for my Wii - and was the last person to receive a ticket!
Our Target had 81 consoles available.
raging_evil @ Nov 19th 2006 2:11PM
They need to send some of those Wii's down here to south Texas. Wal-Mart got only 20, Best Buy got 15, and following the recommendation of Joystiq, I went to Sears. I was the 4th person in line, but they only had 2. Even CompUSA had on a sign out that they weren't going to get any. What makes it worse is that a lot of the people in line and buying them are people who come up from Mexico for their spoiled obnoxious children.
Soapyshoes @ Nov 19th 2006 2:18PM
DID SOMEONE PULL THEIR WII OUT OF THEIR PANTS
LOLLAHHAHAHAHAHALOLOLOLHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAH
I AM THE FUNNIEST MAN ALIVE
Jack @ Nov 30th 2006 10:50AM
((sees bucket o' Zelda, dies))
SID SPACE @ Nov 19th 2006 2:25PM
Sadly, I wasn't able to get a Wii in West Lafayette, either. Everyone is sold out. Does anyone know if there is an online tracker for Wii shipments, similar to the one that was made for 360s?
Allstar @ Nov 19th 2006 2:44PM
Where are these magical mystery stores you can just "walk right in" and pick up a Wii located? I was up at 6:00 AM and in line by 7:00 AM for the 8:00 AM opening of the Best Buy/Circuit City/Target/Toys R Us stores (all right next to each other) and couldn't get one.
60 sold out at Target. 62 at Best Buy. 60 at Circuit City. 40 at Toys R Us. Those stores were all within 1 mile of each other. If 202 can sell out in a 1 mile area, I can only imagine that these stores people are just "walking right into" to pick up a Wii are located in an entirely different realm, or in the future when more are in stock.
Both Best Buy and Circuit City checked their computers for other stores in the area and all Best Buy and Circuit City stores within 30 miles of Minneapolis Minnesota were sold out.
Desperate, I called my mom who lives in a rural area 2 hours North of me. She checked Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart and Fleet Farm and all sold out as soon as the stores open (Wal-Mart sold out at midnight). That was in a town of 5,000 people and the Target and Wal-Mart there got 24 each.
So no, despite what analysts and Nintendo and some posters on this very blog have said, this isn't a console you can walk right in and pick up. Although there are clearly a lot out, clearly a lot more people want them. And by 9 in the morning at least 50 stores that I checked had sold out.
Kenny @ Nov 19th 2006 2:23PM
Man, I actually caught myself drooling there for a second looking at all those pictures.
Must... get... money
A life @ Nov 19th 2006 2:27PM
Wii's launch>PS3's launch fiasco
pinsleric @ Nov 19th 2006 2:37PM
I got the first Wii in my town! But apparently no one in Illinois got extra wiimotes, nunchucks, or VC controllers
DSX @ Nov 19th 2006 2:37PM
i got my wii today and ill tell ya its awesome. i got it at target went at 5 am this mornin. i was number 39, they received 51 wiis.
Darkness @ Nov 19th 2006 2:39PM
I stood in line at Walmart for 16 hours to get a Wii. It was well worth it. The people in line were nice, gamers, and we played some Mario Kart while we waited. The whole experience was great and since let allowed us to wait inside it was all the better. Having a blast with Red Steel, and Wii Sports.
The Walmart I was at only got 30 units in, and each person was only allowed to get one of each game, one controller and nunchuck, and one classic controller. Those 30 were gobbled up by 8am. Not sure why some stores got more than others, but I hope everyone is able to get one sometime soon.
TK-Linx @ Nov 19th 2006 2:46PM
Ahhh they shouldn't have put the games in buckets, there will be drool all over them :(
Great Coverage Joystiq ;)
TaPasao @ Nov 21st 2006 5:30PM
MAN!!! I WISH I WAS THERE.
Benjy @ Nov 19th 2006 2:51PM
Triforce????
Oh dear.....
burn @ Nov 19th 2006 3:09PM
i tried to get in on launch last night. The guy in front of me got a ticket for purchase, I didn't
:(
SOOO i tried again this morning at a Target that was supposed to get nearly 150 of them.
They gave out all of the tickets, I was about 5 people back in line when the manager ran out.
t3h suck x2
maybe it just wasn't meant to be. at least this weekend.
Werbal @ Nov 19th 2006 3:17PM
Did they ship fewer units than promised? Or is it just that 4 million systems divided by thousands of retail stores equals not very many in the long run?
Disco D @ Nov 19th 2006 3:18PM
got mine... waiting 5 hours before midnight and was number 27 outa 28!
Falsoman @ Nov 19th 2006 3:31PM
@ Werbal
Nintendo said 4 millions until december 31, and they said 4 millions worldwide... so expect about 1.8 millions top for America, and I mean the whole continent.
Osman @ Nov 19th 2006 4:24PM
My brother just went to Times Square to Toys R Us, and they wouldnt let him buy one. I dont get why since they said they have a ton extra, they said he needed a white wrist band but werent those only given out last night? i really dont understand the process
Cry Havoc @ Nov 19th 2006 4:33PM
pinsleric:
Untrue. I'm from West-Central IL and the local Wal-mart received 20 Wiis, 14 Remotes, and 7 Chucks. I was 14 in line, but luckily most of the people in front of me were younger and didn't know exactly why they needed a Chuck, so I got one of each.
12.5 hours in line with an upper-respiratory infection. I am not a healthy pup today, but I'm very happy. =)
Kriskb @ Nov 19th 2006 5:50PM
I was not worried about scoring a Wii on launch. I was lucky enough to get an Amazon pre-order and it comes tomorrow. What I was worried about was scoring an extra wiimote and classic. The local Walmart had 29 Wiis, 9 wiimotes and 5 classic controllers. How dies that make sense. Anywho my local Walmart was going to open up at 7:00AM. They were selling all the Wii stuff in the layaway section in the back of the store. So I got to the main door of the Walmart at 6:50. They opened my door up before the line door. I dashed back to layaway before the line showed up and scored my wiimote and classic. I stuffed them quickly into my back, and walked away as the manager was escorting the line to layaway. I tried to keep my silly grin off my face while I walked out. I dont' think the line would have liked it knowing i had scored an extra wiimote w/o witing in line. Muwhahaha. Hell I am lucky i even have the component cables already.
Reeve @ Nov 19th 2006 6:47PM
I was there! We were the tiny group by Foot Locker playing 8-way Bomberman on DSes. A very fun night XD
NJBeetle @ Nov 23rd 2006 12:52PM
I ended up at the Toy's R Us in Times Square for their Sunday morning opening. By 11am the line was a full block long. They gave out green wrist bands to everyone and said there were a lot of Wii's to go around. Once the store opened at noon it was still a long wait to get to the lower level. Lots of games, controllers and other stuff on sale. Mad line to pay. They were turning away people who didn't wait on the very long line outside. Basically ToysRUs handled the morning crowd very well. And great for Nintendo to have lots of units for this super huge location. As a side note, when Game Cube was scarce at laugh this location had a constant stock. So check here if you are still looking. It's a flagship store so they like to have stock of everything.
Jesse @ Nov 19th 2006 10:23PM
In response to Osman #20, they were giving wristbands to people who were waiting on line. I arrived there at about 5:30 PM and they started handing out wristbands about an hour later. They gave out about 5,000 wristbands last night. Your brother probably got there to late.
Sean @ Nov 20th 2006 12:59AM
My son and I were there in Times Square and had a blast. We came up from Birmingham, Alabama because we wanted to be part of the excitement. We were also in the pen between Foot Locker and the Swatch store. We met a bunch of cool guys who literally stood in line for between 10 & 14 hours. We've Wii'd all day and even called "Tin-Man" from Brooklyn (whom we met in line) to compare notes on our findings thus far. My son Conor has created Miis of the guys we met in line. I thank each of you whom we were fortunate enough to meet for making it such a great experience. Aside from getting bombed by pigeons a couple of times, I couldn't have asked for a better life experience for myself and my son. NEW YORKERS ARE AWESOME! Special thanks to Yosef for keeping an eye on Conor when I stepped out for food etc., and to the kid (wish we had gotten your name!) who got an extra DVD for Conor when I wouldn't let him go up there on his own. We'll keep an eye out for the video "Gator" (Jason?) & Doug shot!
S-deep @ Nov 20th 2006 1:42PM
I am so jealous...
In europe/Germany we have to wait until December...
Thanks for the pictures Joystiq...so funny
But I preordered mine...
Long Live Nintendo!
Skillster @ Nov 20th 2006 8:04AM
Why do I get the feeling the Wii launch was full of friendly (non profit making) fans then the PS3 launch?
Not to mention less incident packed.
Palermo @ Nov 20th 2006 1:31PM
Wii launch was sweet; friendly people and zero chances to get stabbed in the line.
el nico @ Nov 21st 2006 5:12PM
i just came from the toys r us at times square (nov 20th, 12:00pm ish) and they had a ton of wiis. I came in, waited 15 minutes and got one. :)
Benjamin @ Nov 22nd 2006 10:09PM
I was there with Connor and "Tin-Man" who is actually my neighbor. 10-15 hours on line and playing the Wii at home the instant was awsome. Getting the experience and yet alone meeting with all the people on the line aside at Foot Locker was great everybody had a DS and played Mario Kart or Mario DS. Pigeons took dumps above us but hey it was worth it once i got home lol (*lucky enough i didnt get hit*) its actually great and awsome that it wasnt as violent as the PS3! well just had to post something here being that i was there :p
Alvin @ Nov 24th 2006 9:02PM
hey, that's me in the inflatable couch! hi everyone.