Topic: The amazing thing about Wii Launch.

[UncleBob]

At our store, we had 2 and 2 PS3's, with 8 spots for rainchecks.  From what the people in line were saying (including one who had his laptop with him in the store and had waited 30+ hours in line and had his unit sold for $2,000+ before he actually purchased it), only one of the 12 people were actually there to get themselves a PS3.

And yet, with 20 people in line (more actually, but we only had 20 Wii), I don't think anyone there (espically the cute Russian chick that was #2 and, we found out through the course of the evening that she's my wife's friend's sister in law and was really excited about Trauma Center) was planning to sell their system on eBay.

Also, I haven't looked at the numbers (because I'm off today) but the Tie-in ratio must have been better.  You know, we didn't sell a single PS3 game... and there were tons of Wii games being purchase.  Of course, I think everyone pretty much got Zelda, but even second party titles flew - one mother got about 5 titles for her kids while waiting in line (I'm proud of her, I talked her into getting her kids one about a month ago... she tried to preorder, but... well, missed out on that)

It was a fun night.

[Nick DiMola]

My experience camping at Walmart was honestly awesome. Everyone in line was there to buy a system and go home and play it all night. I was number 6 in line and when I got there a list was started. As morning came I started taking control of the list and organizing people for the sake of sanity. I was able to get all the launch numbers for systems, games and consoles from Walmart sales reps. As people came they signed in and listed what they wanted with their Wii. As the day went on, we were able to turn away all the extra people looking for a Wii (about 60), and at the end of the night we were really organized and we really helped out the Walmart manager with our list. Everyone had a fun time, though we were all in the freezing cold all day, and everyone was there helping each other out, we really formed a little community while we waited. Great memories for years to come and I can't wait to do it again.

Only thing that sucks is that Pale was supposed to hop in line with us but by the time he got out of work the line was full. Also, someone wound up pulling out of line 10 minutes before the ticket handout at 10. I called Pale and he almost made it to Walmart when someone came up and snagged the last spot (Sorry Pale I was trying my hardest to get you a spot on that line).

All in all though, great launch experience only topped by the sheer fun the Wii has been since I got it.

[NWR_DrewMG]

I noticed the same thing.  I can't imagine that Wii's will go for any more than $50 above retail value, if that, on eBay.  Not with the quantity Nintendo has spoken of.

[UncleBob]

PS3: 4 units + 8 Vouchers.
Games sold: 0.

Wii: 20 units.
Games sold: 38.

[King of Twitch]

"we believe people who like games will, without question, purchase it."


I guess the extra house mortgages and overtime pay didn't cover the cost of a game??

[MANTI5]

They were going for $650 on launch night, tempting but I got mine to play.

[Crockinator]

I have to say that, even though my wife will not shop at Wal Mart, that is where my son and I ended up waiting for the Wii (Technically it was for me, but I brought him along for bathroom breaks and a little DS competition with Elite Beat Agents).  Wal Mart set us up in the lawn & garden section (which was completely enclosed and heated), provided free fried chicken, cookies and soft drinks and in general were very considerate.  Everyone in line (24 systems available) bought Zelda and at least one other game in addition to extra controllers and nunchucks (I was #23 and got the last extra wiimote).  I would say that there were only a few college kids in line ... all of the rest were parents getting it for their kids or adults getting it for themselves (and acting like they were getting it for their kids).  

Overall, It was a great experience.  Nobody in line was planning to sell theirs; however, several people had purchased a PS3 and sold it to use the extra money for their Wii (mostly the college kids).

[couchmonkey]

In my Wii lineup of the first 20 people, two were planning to sell.  The local newspaper reported on the PS3 lineups and claimed that most people in those lines were planning to sell.  The experience was pretty fun, except for those hours around 3-5 AM where some people started crashing out so there was nobody to talk to (and it was too cold to read or play DS).

The funniest part was when we were getting really close to 7 AM and suddenly the lights all went out.  You could hear the groans for miles around.  They came back on after a few seconds.

There still must be a fair amount of demand for PS3 since it's selling so well on Ebay, but my uneducated guess is that Wii actually has equal or greater demand.  I can't wait until Sony straightens out its issues so we can see how badly people REALLY want it.