Joystiq poll: Did you get a Wii yesterday?

by Christopher Grant { Jan 22nd 2007 at 9:58AM }

After an extended (and difficult to understand) period of Wii shortages, Nintendo finally managed to get the consoles onto store shelves, where they were eagerly grabbed, shoved into bags, and thrown into the backs of various vehicles. As promised in Sunday's circulars, many box stores (like Target, pictured above) had systems in stock. What was the scene like? Were there lines around the block; a small group of dedicated fans huddled together for warmth; or a curious manager wondering why you were standing outside the store three hours before opening? And what about the specialty game retailers, did they get any? More importantly, did you manage to finally get your hands on a Wii?

[Update: added poll results as of 2/15/2007.]

[Image credit: Wii Warriors, from Flickr user xnd144]

Tags: Wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Imadogg @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:06AM

My dad really wants a Wii (He hasn't played video games since the SNES/NES days, so Nintendo's plan is working!), and he woke up around 9 to go to Best Buy for a Wii. They had tickets or vouchers or w/e for reserved spots, and whatever was left over would go to the people in line. At the end there were 4 Wiis left, with my dad 4th in line.
Then... another fat voucher lady comes in late and gets a Wii... so my dad missed out by 1 Wii... he came home pissed.

That's my story, we don't have a Wii yet. My 360 doesn't interest my dad, so we must get a Wii soon!

Chimpotle @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:10AM

After seeing the circulars story on here and then seeing the actual ads on Sunday, I decided to go out and try to get a Wii. No luck. I went to 2 Best Buys, 2 Circuit Cities, 2 Targets, Comp USA and Sears and none of them had any left within less than an hour of opening. One of the guys at Best Buy said they almost called the police due to a fight breaking out over places in line prior to opening. This is in Kansas City by the way.

Steve @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:13AM

I managed to get a Wii on launch day (it was defective so I can't brag), but I went to a couple Wii retailers yesterday afternoon. I didn't see any Wiis but in both the Gamestop and Target stores I visited both of them had wii controllers. What I mean by controllers is that they had all three portions of the controller - remote, nunchuck, and the classic controller. I hadn't seen that since people tore into the Wii display on launch day.

Seeing them on the shelf surprised me so much a gasped. I don't need any more of them, but it surprised me anyway.

Nik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:14AM

Why is there no option for "I camped out and didn't get one"?

My local Best Buy had 51, and I was number 53.

Also, Mark B: kill yourself.

Person @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:16AM

Must not be a lot of real gamers out there, as I see PS3s and 360s coating the shelves.

Tom Strong @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:18AM

The Wii is for mentally slow people. I've never met an intelligent adult who played anything by Nintendo. It's kids stuff.

Hell2Pay @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:20AM

I also went to various Bestbuy, Circuit City's, Target's, and Walmart's and to no luck; I did not get one. My strugle here in Austin, TX are as follows. I went to my nearest Best buy one hour and half before opening and they did not get there shipment and by the time i went to the next best buy a line was already in place and I was way back and couldn't get any. I went to several circuit city's and all wii's were gone within minutes of opening time. I guess demand still sky rocket. Congratulations to all the ones that got one. Keep on gaming!

awiifemale @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:20AM

Kmart had a sign up that they didn't have any, even though they advertised they did.

Target- none. People who went there then stormed elsewhere.

Best Buy- a line of 10 overnight campers at 6 AM. By 10AM, there was a line all the way in front of the store and out into the parking lot for only 45 Wii's.

I got in line at Circuit at 6 AM and was #2 for 16 Wii's- anyone who came after 7:30 AM missed out. Store opened at 10 and they gave out tickets at 9:15 AM.

From what I saw, demand still exceeds supply, at least in the Baltimore area. There were some people stupid enough to come at opening and then get hissy that they didn't have any left...

Gianni Gotti @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:23AM

No interest in the flagship console of the mentally feeble and infirm.

I'd like to see how long Link would last if parachuted into the world of R:FOM....

Buwahahahah

Nik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:24AM

#7, I want a Wii and have an IQ of 132. So it's not just for mentally slow people.

Anavel @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:28AM

After 3 failed attempts I finally got a Wii. No camping out, just showed up plenty early. Seems like people aren't as desperate now, as there was only one person there before me, and nobody camped out at the area stores.

Circuit city got 40 Wiis and handed out vouchers a little before 9am. When the store opened at 10am they still had extra vouchers left but the systems were all sold by quarter to 11.

So, i really could have just shown up at 10am instead of 5:30am but I really wasn't sure what to expect, and am just glad I finally got one

Nik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:29AM

#10, no interest? They're being bought as soon as they hit the shelf.

Link would survive in the world of R:FoM because there's nobody playing who could shoot him.

3.5 Wiis have sold for each PS3.

Fanboy.

joe @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:31AM

I picked up a second one for my daughter from Target. Got there about 45 before opening and was 27th in line. They had 27 of them... I saw 4 PS/3's on the shelf. Manager said they'd been there for 2 weeks.

James @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:31AM

#7 - Most of the people who want the system are adults.

eax @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:31AM

Got mine after showing up at Circuit City at 9:40AM. Everyone was huddled in their cars due to the freezing cold weather and we only got out of the cars to form a line after someone approached the entrance. 21 units total and we had approx 15 people in line when they finally opened the door. It was very civilized and people even cracked jokes while waiting in line.

In case anyone was wondering, there was no shortage of PS3 consoles at the store.

Bill @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:32AM

I took a different route for all of this. I walked into my local Target at 9:00 Saturday night (they close at 9:30), and the place was dead. I took the Wii sku off the shelf and went to the CS desk. The girl working was either new or not that bright, because when I asked her to run the sku she chirped "oh, we have 113 of them in the store."

Her manager overheard and came over and told me, "but those are still on the truck." Do they really think people believe that? Anyway I went back to the electronics section and it was pretty much empty except for the 2 guys working who looked like hardcore gamers themselves. I asked him about the 113 Wiis and he said that since CS goofed and wasn't supposed to tell me they had them, he would get me one from the back. He put it in 3 bags to hide it, and after I paid and insisted I take it straight to the car.

Got very lucky with this one!

The Intangible Fact @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:34AM

I was playing Ninja Gaiden Black last night and to tell you the truth that is one of my favorite games to come out. It is a great challenge to even the hardest of the hardcore gamer. It would be awsome to port this to the Wii and have the motion controls.

TheKingInYellow @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:34AM

Camped out in November. IQ of 151.

Your hypothesis about 'mentally infirm' is somewhat lacking there, Tommy.

Richard Mitchell @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:36AM

My local Wal-Mart had none when I went. Interestingly, they had no 360s either. They did, however, have 4 60GB PS3s. I went to my local GameStop, too. I asked the guy when was the last time they had a Wii in the store. He didn't know, he just said it had been a long time. So, I'd say everyone's best bet is to go big box, skip the boutiques.

Nik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:39AM

#21, I'm a "Nintenbot"? Would a "Nintenbot" own an Xbox 360 and PSP?

Dave @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:42AM

Interesting situation here: Best Buy had 45 and Circuit City had 15. Best buy opened at 11, no vouchers, Circuit City at 10, passed out vouchers at 9. I decided to try Circuit City first since I'd know how I'm doing sooner (The stores are across the street from each other) Stopped in at around 8:30, was number 10 of 15. Oddly enough the Best Buy line was already full. On a 12 degree morning folks were waiting longer or simply being turned away when there was room in my line that got you your wii sooner. Go figure.

Anyway I got one. Quite pleased with it, though I don't know that I'd like traditional games on it (I plan on getting the gamecube version of Zelda for example) Mini games and party games, however, rock on this thing. I can't recomment Wario Ware enough

Paul @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:44AM

Mark have you played one? They are popular because they are FUN! gimmicky? perhaps. A real fun gimmick that has be interested in getting one once they are more available? very much so!

Iscariote @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:44AM

I checked five stores yesterday and didn't get one.

Cam'ron @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:45AM

I got a Wii after freezing in the wind for two hours outside a Best Buy near Sacramento. About 40 people showed up and I was seventh in line, everyone was pretty cool to each other and laughed at the speculations of what the employees were doing inside. The Wii was pretty much everything I expected - if only I could get a goddamn wireless connection. I don't wanna wait for God knows when for the official Wii LAN adapter.

Anyhow, I'm seeing more and more PS3s collecting dust on store shelves these days.

Durg @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:45AM

Friend of mine finally got one on Sunday.

After playing it, I can see why these things are so popular. That machine is a BLAST to play. We all played it last night and it is just amazingly fun. I'm a huge 360 fan, but I'll be picking one of these up when they're finally in stock. I'm not going to camp out like he did, but I'll certainly get one eventually.

Alex Keen @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:45AM

We needed two for work. After seeing people freezing their asses off three hours before opening, I almost drove away and decided to just buy them on Ebay. Little did I know, my girlfriend was so set in her decision to buy one... we did "camp out" (stood in line) for two hours and bought three (two for work, one for her). We were thirteenth in line :)

Oobgarm @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:48AM

There was a quickly-accumulating snow here in Cincinnati Sunday morning. There were a good number of vehicles in the parking lot around 8AM, but no one brave(or stupid) enough to stand at the door. As soon as someone took the initiative, folks piled out of their cars and into line.

No idea how many our store got, but there were a lot of people in line at 10:30, after the employee meeting had dispersed.

Vader582 @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:48AM

What is the deal with these Wii shortages?! Anyone have any word from Nintendo on why this shortage is occuring? Other than to manufacture a fake shortage to drum up demand, I can't understand why it's taking Nintendo so long to satisfy their customer's needs. If that is the only reason Nin is not supplying Wiis to its customers than shame on Nintendo and now we see who the real bastages are of this console generation. I can't imagine the components in the Wii are hard to come by/manufacture. :shrug:

Tom Wilson @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:48AM

Orlando, FL. Got to the Circuit City on East Colonial Dr. (closest to downtown) at 8:55 a.m. (store opened at 10:00 a.m.) - I was 16th in line. Manager came out of store at 9:40 a.m. and announced that they only had 5 Wii's (at this point, there were about 25 people in line - he couldn't have just come out earlier and saved everyone the trouble of waiting in line). Jumped in my car and drove over to the Best Buy about a mile away, got out, hopped in line at about 9:50 a.m. I was about 30th in line. At about 9:55 a.m., Best Buy workers came out and started handing out tickets - they had 35 tickets and there were exactly 35 people in line, so everyone who was in line got a ticket. They told us all that we could return any time between 11:00 a.m. (when they opened) and noon to purchase the Wii. Happy ending. My opinion of Circuit City is slightly diminished following this poor demonstration of customer service...

Harbinger @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:48AM

On the advice of a friend, the girlfriend and I got in line Sunday morning at the EBX at Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax,VA. Fortunately we got there after sleeping in and still came in at #19 (they had 20). Very reasonable line and excellent staff. "Fanboy" is the new "Zealot", anyone not reasonable enough to accept people are going to buy what they want needs to get over their own self importance.

I own a 360, a Wii, and play Counter Strike Source with my simulation-developer coworkers on the Windows side of my MacBook Pro...oh my.

Vincent @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:50AM

"The Wii is for mentally slow people. I've never met an intelligent adult who played anything by Nintendo. It's kids stuff."

I have been playing games since 94, i can understand that you feel that the Wii is not a real gaming machine. But the only thing the PS3 offers now is Resistance, and i have played too many schooters in my life already. Its just like doom 3, its the same game as when i played doom back in 94 on my 486, but only it looks nicer. And in 2011 they will bring out another doom, doom 4? That will also be the same game and yes, will have superior graphics.
I think its more the opposite: adult games don't spend much money on a PS3 because we know that we have to work a week for it and at that price you just have to be dissapointed.
Thats where you missed your point, what do you call an adult? Some will say a 16-year old, others 21 others 24...
Besides about the Wii being an 'Lamecube', in the beginning of 3D games we had weird shapes of boxes that were called spaceships, today PC's and consoles are powerfull enough to actually show you what is what. So the Wii is indeed not as powerfull but it shows what has to be shown, i always have the feeling that game makers want their games to look so good its actually diverting the attention from the game away. Consider it like looking at a movie with no sound, only children love to watch it because they fill in the dialoge themselves. So i think the PS3 is more a toy for children, after all: every 11-year old can play resistance.

TwilightKnight @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:50AM

The real gimmick Mark B is the Xbox brand and its utter failure to make a single profitable cent for Microsoft. Until that is reversed Xbox fanboys have no standard to call either the PS3 or a Wii a failure.

Moving on to real gamers, congrats for people who managed to get a Wii yesterday. Good timing too, with Comix Zone coming out today hopefully. As I am typing this it is 10:49 and I am waiting for the shop channel to update.

E.J. @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:50AM

got one at the GameStop in Fountain Valley, CA. first in line at 7:30 a.m.

JodyAnthony @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:52AM

"Only a NINTENBOT would be so defensive of every single post that goes against the Pii. Or Lamecube 1.5 your choice."

and only someone with a very small penis would go into a nintendo-centric comment thread to badmouth nintendo.

Nik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:55AM

#32, I just really don't care about your opinions. If you hate the Wii so much, why are you even posting in a Wii thread? Go to one of the "PS3s collecting dust" and complain about how that's not true because this is a blog.

Bruce @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:56AM

Both of my soon-to-be-brother-in-law's picked up Wii's yesterday. They were originally going to go to Best Buy or Target, but at the last minute decided to go to Meijer because they open at 7:00.

fawazr @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:57AM

Hoorah for shills! I haven't seen this many in quite some time. I hope you're all getting paid. What's the going rate nowadays to troll on your company's competitor's?

I think the popularity of the system was a tremendous surprise to everyone involved. I've spoken with a few store managers who weren't too confident that the Wii would sell out of it's initial shipments until much later in 2006/2007. As the hype mounted, they scrambled to get adequate supply, but Nintendo was under-equipped to meet demand.

It was supposed to follow the model set by the DS: a slow rise to popularity. So despite all of Reggie's blue ocean strategies and intentions on widening the market, Nintendo expected the adopt rate to be far more gradual, especially when faced off against Sony and Microsoft. They were full aware of their perceived novelty status and the difficulty inherent to teaching dogs new tricks.

Ask American retailers which system would be making them the most money back in early November, and I doubt many, if any, would say the Wii. No one could have predicted this kind of demand and a lot of people are currently confused as a result.

DaveExile @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:57AM

Want a wii? Don't be an idiot and go to big box stores centered in districts with high levels of disposable income. I went to a Circuit City in a lower-rent area after calling for availability when the store opened at 11:00. I doubt they had 50+ units like the other stores, but I walked in to no line at around 11:50. Moreover, I got Madden, Zelda, and an extra nunchuck and wii controller. They were just sitting in a stack behind customer service -- I couldn't believe I actually had one that easily until I was pulling away from the store!

k1llm3kwik @ Jan 22nd 2007 10:58AM

Yeah people own the DS just for the price. Not because it has one of the best game library. Plus the PSP only takes 1-3 mins. to load a game.

BTW I have a PSP but play my DS 4x more!!

TrollBait @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:00AM

Sorry, Nik. But, you fell for the troll bait.

Devil's Advocate @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:02AM

I don't understand why stores had to hold on to them when they clearly (as Bill pointed out) had them by Saturday? A second launch type event? No one besides me thought that this is a piss poor way to sell something? So are they just making a bunch and not shipping them out till they fill the warehouse? Why not ship them as you make them? I guess they are trying to appease the overly fanatical consumers first. To me though, it sounds sort of bogus.

Spilt_Milk @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:04AM

The line at our Best Buy snaked all thru the store. There must have been 100 people waiting. It snaked right past the poor poor stack of ps3 gathering dust on the shelves.

SO SAD PS3! SO SAD!

saboola @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:07AM

Kind of funny to see all the Sony Fangirls scramble as their world crashes around them. It's more entertaining than reading the news itself.

Dipset @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:08AM

Hey TOM WILSON.
i was at the East Colonial Best Buy store in ORLANDO FLORIDA , i camped out over night with some friends , there was about 10 people who did overnight.

funny story, we were waiting in line, until around 2:00 am cops stormed all over down Colonial Street, A police man drove up to the people in line , an asked "have you seen a guy dressed in all black with a gun"?
WHen we heard that , everyone spent the rest of the night in there cars, ready to jet just in case. But we felt farily safe, There was a police helicopter circling the area several times, and about ten police cars with search lights searching the area. The cops parked in the parking lot for about an hour, and then they all left, i think they found the guy somehwere else. We stayed in our cars till about 7am when more people showed up to wait in line

We got our vouchers at 10, 10:15 ate Sausage egg and cheese Biscuits at Burger King, and got our wiis at 11:00. Good times the rest of the day

Brent @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:09AM

I got mine back on launch day,
(sat around in meijers for 24 hours, mooching off their free refills in the cafe)

anyways, here in columbus, one of the radio stations had one of their guys on talking about how he went to a few places and couldent get one because they all had lines and/or were sold out ...

Flit @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:10AM

I, for one, will never get tired of "nintenbot" "xbot" and "ps3 revolution" statements. Always hilarious.

So funny to see people defend any mega-corporation who is just trying to milk you for every bit of money you have.

Stephen G @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:10AM

EB Games opened at 11. Only two people ahead of me. Got there at 11. Left with Wii at 11:20, the people ahead of me had trade-ins. :(

Crashless @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:15AM

The first Target I went to had a sign out saying they had no systems and didn't plan on having systems for a while. The second Target was slightly different. About 30 minutes before opening, with roughly 50 people in line, the manager came out and said, "We have ONE Wii...so only the first person is getting one."

Nice stockpile.

Luckily, I knew the area and went to a Circuit City. They came out at 9 (1 hr before opening), handed out 26 vouchers, then let us in two at a time to pick out accessories, games, and the system before the store opened.

It would have been the best organized way of doing it I've seen, except they handed out too many vouchers, and they only actually had 23 systems. Luckily, I was #22. :)

Brent @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:17AM

oh, and last time i got tested, i had an IQ of 139 ...

sigh, apparently thats mentally feeble enough to love the wii,

Atracted by the awsome controls,
hooked on my new favorite way to play FPS games, and the virtual console
(im a shooter fan, gradius, R type 1 & 3, super star soldier, soldier blade, etc.)

wilbz @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:20AM

I was number two in line at a Target that ended up having 69 of them!. Finally scored it after having been 31st in line at a Circuit City before X-Mas when they only had 30 of them.

The interesting thing was that I was behind a couple of grandparents who were buying the system for THEMSELVES after having played it at their son's house. I think this is why the system has taken off so much: the viral nature of the game-play itself. It's fun and it's inexpensive enough most people say "Hey, I can get one of these for $250? Count me in!"

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