
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!




















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Our Target had 81 consoles available.
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LOLLAHHAHAHAHAHALOLOLOLHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAH
I AM THE FUNNIEST MAN ALIVE
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Must... get... money
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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.
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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.
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Great Coverage Joystiq ;)
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Oh dear.....
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:(
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.
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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.
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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. =)
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Not to mention less incident packed.
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In europe/Germany we have to wait until December...
Thanks for the pictures Joystiq...so funny
But I preordered mine...
Long Live Nintendo!
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