2AM: The Wii/PS3 lines form and spots are for sale

Got 1 today (17th). At Nintendo World in Manhattan. Went to Best Buy first at 7:30 (they open at 8)--they had 20 consoles and 25 people already in line (and the manager said "just a couple of remotes"). Went to Nintendo World and there were HUNDREDS in line. Took a chance and waited (they open at 8)....So I was there at 7:50 and had the Wii in hand at 9:45). The employees said they have plenty in storage just no space to keep them at the store and they have shipments daily (long lines even during the week so get there before 8). They had the classic controllers but not the others (the employees verified they weren't getting too many controllers and have been sold out). Rumor had it that Toys R Us Times Square had 7000 consoles. There were supposed to be 2000 people in line at 8 already....again, line rumor. Hope that helps anyone in NYC area.

My personal guess is that Nintendo will almost reach their 4-million-by-end-of-the-year goal -- probably about 3.5m or so. The folks who try to compare the Wii's availability to the PS3's are ignoring the Wii's appeal beyond hardcore gamers; not everyone will cough up $500-$600 for a PS3, but with non-gamers actually playing the Wii and getting hooked, there's a sh*tload more people contending for the Wii that even 4 million won't be enough.

And I got mine two weeks ago (got up at 5am and was third in line), so now I'm glad I avoided the longer lines this weekend... ;-)

--R.J.

DUde I was # 31 in the *official* line "out side of todai (displayed on both the eb stores)at my local mall. But since mall doors were not opened til 8 and other lines couldn't see the sign(their excuse) first 12 in line for the 3 lines that formed around the mall got tickets to line out at the stores..


I am teh Sad.

Yeah I went out this mornign at 4 oclock to my local best buy only to find the line full, then I drove out to another nearby Best Buy in Ednia,MN and found that there were only 10 people ahead of me. I ended up getting a Wii, an extra controller and nunchuck, zelda and excitetruck. It was pretty cold, but totally worth it

I waited with the Wii crowd this morning.. the Gamestop had 4 nunchucks; 6 Wiis, and 6 of 6 buyers wanted one.. left there to EB games a block down, 5 Wiis, 5 nunchucks, was 7 in line and first 4 Wii buyers didn't buy a nunchuck, so I waited an hour for 1 chuck. At least now I can play 2 player boxing :)

Why are the Chucks so rare? I would think Zelda would be sold out, but every store has them. Finding OoT was a bitch back in 96 or whenever it was.

@ Jim:
Congrats...I tell anyone living in the 5 boros of NYC to go to Ninty world to get their Wii..You can't go wrong there and you don't have to worry about any bundle BS happening either..Hell, if you go on a weekday you might luck out and get to listen to a concert while you are waiting outside, since they tape the Today show concerts around the corner....

i went to my best buy at around 12:40 am and was 25th in line. during the night people started to leave so i ended up getting wii #21 out of 24. phew!

I love living in hick Michigan suburbia. No lines this morning at all. :)
We were able to score three Wiis and a PS3. Ebaying them tomorrow, keeping a Wii.

i was in Times Square yesterday and one of those cheezy electronic shops had a PS3 on display with a $1200 price tag.. my sis just hits on the gamestop geeks.. she got a Wii that way for her kids.. says she'll do the same for me.. go Sis! I guess...

That's weak, out here we had a full line for the wii yesterday at 4pm at best buy. Not one person was there for the ps3 until around 6am this morning.

Anticrawl

"At Nintendo World in Manhattan. Went to Best Buy first at 7:30 (they open at 8)--they had 20 consoles and 25 people already in line (and the manager said "just a couple of remotes"). Went to Nintendo World and there were HUNDREDS in line. Took a chance and waited (they open at 8)....So I was there at 7:50 and had the Wii in hand at 9:45). The employees said they have plenty in storage just no space to keep them at the store and they have shipments daily (long lines even during the week so get there before 8)."

This is true; I work near there and have been in the store a few of times since the launch just for kicks. (Still trying to convince myself I want one of these things.) Twice they had stacks of Wiis behind the counter. The other time they were just telling everybody to come back in the morning because they get shipments all the time.

I would bet this store alone has probably sold something like 30,000 Wiis so far. Maybe more, I'm just thinking they probably only have room for about 1,000 in the store, so I don't know if they're physically capable of selling more than that.

But yeah, between them and TRU in Times Square, New Yorkers really have no problem finding their Wiis. (Ok, I've gotta stop...)

Nintendo World also has always had a huge number of nunchucks, at least when I've been there. If they don't have Wiimotes, I'd bet it's because the packages with the new strap just haven't made it through the channels in large quantities yet.

The funny thing is, downtown at a Zellers here, there are like 4 ps3s that have just been sitting there since launch.

I was there yesterday, and wondered if they were still there, and a woman asked me "Is this the thing that people are going so crazy over?" lol, I simply said "Yea." Too bad I don't want one.

Toys R Us (in the UK) had 57 on Saturday.
I work there, and arrived at 6:15am, all of them had been allocated by then (they were all allocated by 5:10am)

They may get more in towards the end of this week, I prey there are some available (in no rush though, it isn't a present or anything! Just for me =P )

In Chicago(Gamestop at Clark and Diversey) there were about 18 of us waiting for the Wii from 6am to 10am. There were some shinanigans such as a black guy trying to buy a spot in line for 100 dollars and an endless parade of crazed homeless people.

I went out at 7 this morning both Best Buy and Gamestop were full (same shopping center) went across the street to the mall with a EB Games and there were 5 people in front of me. At 9:00 a guy came up and said they didn't get a shipment yesterday, 9:45 the manager came and told us they got 7 units that night, I was so fucking happy.

I got one!!

I went to Target first, about 6:30 AM. There were about 60 people. So then I went to Best Buy, and there were at least 50 people (for 15 Wii's). Then I went to Circuit City, and there were 15 people and 12 Wii's. So THEN I went to Toys 'R Us.

I was #19 or 20 (I thought) and no one knew how many Wii's they would have. So I waited from 6:45 AM to 7:30 AM until the guy finally came out and passed out vouchers. I got voucher #17 of 18. So close!!

Then we got it home, hooked it up (with component cables I pre-ordered from Nintendo.com) and set up the WiFi. Everything's working like a charm. Toys 'R Us even had plenty of controllers so we got an extra remote and nunchuk. The graphics look great on my HDTV (what's everyone complaining about??) And the Mii's we made even look like us!

My GF has beaten me and everything we've attempted except for boxing. I'm good at boxing. :-D

I walked into our local Wal-Mart and lo and behold they had 1 20gb PS3 in stock. I wanted a Wii, so I'll sell the PS3 on ebay and hopefully make a little extra to put toward the purchase of a Wii.

I strolled into my local wal mart this after noon and they had three ps3 sitting on the shelf still. I didn't buy one cause im a 360 fan, but still it was neat to see a rare item just sitting there.

Detroit--Ann Arbor area--at 4:00 am a friend and I drove to Best Buy, where we ended up being 29 and 30 in a line for 24 Wiis, according to the manager. So we left and drove by Target, which had a line of about 20 for 12 consoles. Then we passed Game Stop, which was swamped. We checked out Meijer, but they didn't hold any for Sunday. On a whim, after already conceding our defeat, we dropped by the Sears and called our girlfriend's to wake them up and see if Sears were on NintendoWiiSeeker. They weren't, and we couldn't figure out the store's hours.
Once again, we were about to concede, when I suggested that we play at least one game of networked MarioKart on my friend's Dual DS's. While we were playing, at about 5:30, a mom dropped by with a chair and said that somebody at the EB games in the Briarwood mall heard a rumor about some Wiis on Sunday.
So we stayed and I started studying for my copyright exam, which is Monday morning at 9:30.
At 7:00, Sears opened, and the 6 of us who had gathered by then at the entrance went in to make sure there were no Wiis being sold at Sears. There weren't, so we walked through the mall to EB Games, which was still closed. There we met a secuity guard who told us that we were not allowed to walk the mall yet because it doesn't open until 8--we had to wait outside at the nearest entrance where...THERE WAS A LINE OF PEOPLE. My friend had taken a drive around the mall at around 6:30, concerned that the line was so small by Sears, but there was nobody at any other entrances. We knew that everybody in that line had come at least 2 hours after we had gotten there. The two of us and the four moms in line behind us were worried that we might incite a riot if we went out there and told them that we were there first...but one of the moms did that, with a heavy measure of politeness and calls for fairness and pity, so the people outside agreed to maintain our order. Mall security then decided to let everybody form a line inside by the EB games. My friend and I were first. But we soon found out that the store didn't open until 10. Rumor had it that there would be 6 or 9 units. People also started showing up for pink and black DS units.
A little after 8, the manager showed up and spent about 20 minutes "counting the units" in the back. He finally emerged to report that there were only 5 Wiis, 3 pink DSes, and 7 black DSes.
We waited another hour and a half and finally got our hands on our Wiis. I got an extra remote/nunchuck and DragonBallZ / Madden (for my dad).
But I promised myself not to open it until after my final tomorrow....

Sat out in front of my BestBuy for 13 hours. I was first in line, it was 10F. Jesus christ it was cold.

Good luck everybody. I managed to snag a Wii on Black Friday and it was worth the two hour wait and hassle. But if you don't get one today don't get discouraged and just keep at it...they'll be coming around again soon. Whatever you do don't waste your money buying one on Ebay for twice the price.

My friend suggested that I bring over my Wii and we play video games all night (yep, I got mine at launch). I only had a single controller set, so we had to go running around to find another. Gamestop had a few remotes, so I picked one up. No nunchucks were to be found. Meijers had 2 classic controllers, so I picked one up also. When we stopped in to Circuit City, there was about four people already camping out--this was before 9PM. That's pretty hardcore, man.

i went with my friend to our local gamestop at about 6 am i told him we should go a 5 but no so anyways wae waited like 3 4 hours but only 5 wii's so too bad for my friend cause i got a wii and LEGEND OF ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCESS

ok i couldnt get a wii this morning (sunday). i called my local target and they said they are getting a shipment of wiis every night this week and they are selling them in the morning. so im thinking about going to target tommorow at around 7:15 AM. if the store opens at 8, do u think there will be long lines. or is 7:15 not early enough? im guessing there wont be alot of people since its monday morning and people are at school or work. what do u think i should do?

Gosh, i feel sick for you guys.. Here in Italy i got Wii at launch, i arrived at 9 am and the EBgames was Empty... I was the first. There is still a plenty of wiis in the stores after 10 days, and even though my mediaworld has about a one-metre shelf for the Wii, it is still full of games and accessories..
The meaning is: if you wanna play Wii, come to Italy XD

Best Buy in San Francisco, got there at 4am, was number 30 something, waited 4hours, only 24 tickets handled out, at least 100+ people waiting when the doors open.

At 3:30 a.m. in Lafayette, Louisiana: 19 in line at Best Buy for 15 Wiis, 9 in line at Circuit City for 8 Wiis, 7 in line at Toys 'R' Us for an unknown stock. Didn't even bother counting at GameStop, but there was a line.

I'd easily bet more than 3/4 of those people are eBaying, though - I spoke to maybe a dozen people, and three were buying games or accessories after camping. A handful even game me their eBay SNs to watch for them.

I'd be a lot more upset if I didn't believe that at some point after Christmas, the other colors will be coming out.

Congrates to anyone who got one. I was #1 in line for 12 hours to get one so if you left at 3am to find one you might of not got one. Congrates to those who did, them are the heros. Merry Chistmas everyone.

I camped out 9 hours for a Wii. As I walk out of the store, a guy offers me $500. Of course I took it! I'll just wait till after christmas to get one. for free on my $250 profit

Waited 10 hours for 1 of 6 Wii's.

Worth every minute. And thank god the weather was decent.

http://prguitarman.livejournal.com/803104.html?nc=15
My story there.

"My guess is we'll have 3.2-3.5 Wiis sold by January 1st"

Ya Riiiight! They had better start shipping a heck of a lot of systems for that prediction to come true. At this point I would say they would be pressed to have sold 1M systems. I have been checking dozens of stores in my geographic area (midwest US) since Nov 19, and there are no Wii's to be found. Anywhere. Even after this big Dec 17 "relaunch" cr*p, I don't think any store had more than 20 systems, with the average really more like 12. And this is with stores "stockpiling" systems for over a week.

Nope, it looks like Nintendo really cr*pped out on the Wii shipments. I know a lot of parents that are left wondering, what happened to all those 4M Wii's Nintendo promised? Didn't they say everyone would get one this year? HA, looks like Nintendo fell on their own sword.

eh...... rcme....
nintendo already sold more than 1 million systems.... those 3-4 millions everyone is talking about are worldwide numbers. Besides i'm pretty sure they are stocking a lot for the real week of christmas that is comming right now.

I got to the Target at the Crossroads in Irvine California at 5am on Saturday. It was 15 hours before anyone else showed up :) They only got 15 units and it was fun telling people to leave once it was full at 2am.