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TalkBack / RE:SPECIALS: Nintendo World Report's Wii Launch Adventures
« on: December 06, 2006, 03:55:54 PM »
I moved to Florida from Puerto Rico (this is relevant later in the story) a little over two years ago. I am an avid PGC/NWR reader, so I knew when EB/Gamestop would begin their Wii preorders. I stroll by a local EB come pre-order day, only to be told that they had already sold all the pre-orders, fourteen in total. I was also informed that they had been sold out by noon that day, and that all the other EB/Gamestop stores in the area (about 6 in a 10 mile radius, I know, excessive) had similar pre-order numbers and were also sold out. I went ahead and pre-ordered Monkey Ball and went on my way.I was dissapointed. I had pre-ordered my Gamecube five years earlier, and it felt good to know that I had a console guaranteed. Not trusting the EB Games employee, I had my girlfriend drive me over to the EB at the mall, where I asked if they had any pre-orders. None, all sold out by noon. I went ahead and pre-ordered Zelda at this store.
A few days later, I was informed that Toys R' Us would be preordering some systems on a Sunday morning when they opened. My girlfriend had to work that morning, and not wanting to deny her a good night's rest, I decided to forego getting up around three in the morning to camp outside of the store. It was starting to look as if Wal*Mart would be my only choice (I have read/heard about how crazy Best Buy can get). Lucky for me, most of the Wal*Marts in the area were open twenty-four hours a day, so I could make the midnight launch and still get a system. Wondering if my friends in Puerto Rico had snagged a Wii pre-order, I called one of them only to find out that his local Gamestop was to recieve 36 Wiis. THIRTY SIX. Apparently Puerto Rico is some sort of videogame hub or something.
Come launch day, I forego showing up at Wal*Mart too early. I was planning on showing up around 10:00pm but recieved a call at 6:00pm from my girlfriend's friend, telling me that his younger brother called Wal*Mart and there were already about fifteen to thirty people waiting in line for a system. My heart might as well have stopped beating. I got ready, snatched up my DS, and had my girlfriend's friend drive me and his brother to Wal*Mart. We got there sometime around 6:30pm where we promptly rushed to the electronics department, only to be told that we had to wait by the gardening section on the other side of the store. We ran back and inquired about what we had to do. A nice woman, who was waiting for a Wii for her children, told me that an employee was jotting down names, and that I should have them call for her over the inter-com. I had my girlfriend call a Wal*Mart in a less populated area in town (one which none of the people I spoke with had thought of) and as of 7:00pm, had nobody waiting in line for a system.
Fifteen minutes later, the employee shows up, and my friend's brother and myself get our names on the list. I was 21 and he was 22. A later Wii count showed that they had thirty two systems in stock, but not enough Zelda titles, or Wiimotes for every system. I was relieved, and we talked with a few other people, some who had been there all day, some who had been there on and off since Monday, a full six days before launch. Around 7:30pm, we were explained how we would recieve our consoles. We would walk, single file, to the Layout counter, and would recieve our systems and games. We then had to call our rides out to the back of the store (where the Layout employe exit/entrance is) where we would recieve our systems, and would be escorted to our cars. Why all the security? Aparently, around 7:00pm, some people had tried to break into a different Wal*Mart's storage room to steal the systems.
The wait wasn't too bad. We spent about five and a half hours in line outside, and we were the only ones new to the line until about 9:00pm, when all of a sudden ten more people show up and snag the last spots on the list. They gave us all lawn chairs, drinks, sandwiches, and snacks to tide us over, and would come back every hour to check up on us. The only rule was that if we left the area (to get food, or to browse through the store), we'd be called on our contact number, and we had to be back there in five minutes. It was pretty mellow, and other than the people that had been waiting for a few days, everyone else was friendly to each other. I was surprised by the number of adults playing on DS Lites, but most everyone had one.
Incidentally, the EB Games I had preordered Monkey Ball at was in the same parking lot as the Wal*Mart I had bought my Wii, so I got the game that night, along with a nifty Monkey Ball T-shirt (since they did a Midnight launch). Oddly enough, even though they had opened at midnight, they still had 8 Wii systems in stock (people who hadn't picked them up yet). The EB Games where I had preorderd Zelda was apparently the only one in the area that had recieved extra copies of Zelda, and it was apparently swarmed by the people that had gotten their systems at midnight, so I decided to skip that one until later on Sunday.
Neither of the EB's I had been to had any Nunchuck adapters, but I did manage to snag an extra Wiimote. So far the console has been a big hit, specially with my girlfriend's mother and father. They actually considered getting one themselves! They were particularly taken with Wii Sports. I guess Nintendo is doing something right after all. I guess in the end I didn't go through much of a hassel to get my system, but for a few moments, I was afraid I'd have to wait for a few weeks to get one. Now comes the lengthy wait for SSBB...
A few days later, I was informed that Toys R' Us would be preordering some systems on a Sunday morning when they opened. My girlfriend had to work that morning, and not wanting to deny her a good night's rest, I decided to forego getting up around three in the morning to camp outside of the store. It was starting to look as if Wal*Mart would be my only choice (I have read/heard about how crazy Best Buy can get). Lucky for me, most of the Wal*Marts in the area were open twenty-four hours a day, so I could make the midnight launch and still get a system. Wondering if my friends in Puerto Rico had snagged a Wii pre-order, I called one of them only to find out that his local Gamestop was to recieve 36 Wiis. THIRTY SIX. Apparently Puerto Rico is some sort of videogame hub or something.
Come launch day, I forego showing up at Wal*Mart too early. I was planning on showing up around 10:00pm but recieved a call at 6:00pm from my girlfriend's friend, telling me that his younger brother called Wal*Mart and there were already about fifteen to thirty people waiting in line for a system. My heart might as well have stopped beating. I got ready, snatched up my DS, and had my girlfriend's friend drive me and his brother to Wal*Mart. We got there sometime around 6:30pm where we promptly rushed to the electronics department, only to be told that we had to wait by the gardening section on the other side of the store. We ran back and inquired about what we had to do. A nice woman, who was waiting for a Wii for her children, told me that an employee was jotting down names, and that I should have them call for her over the inter-com. I had my girlfriend call a Wal*Mart in a less populated area in town (one which none of the people I spoke with had thought of) and as of 7:00pm, had nobody waiting in line for a system.
Fifteen minutes later, the employee shows up, and my friend's brother and myself get our names on the list. I was 21 and he was 22. A later Wii count showed that they had thirty two systems in stock, but not enough Zelda titles, or Wiimotes for every system. I was relieved, and we talked with a few other people, some who had been there all day, some who had been there on and off since Monday, a full six days before launch. Around 7:30pm, we were explained how we would recieve our consoles. We would walk, single file, to the Layout counter, and would recieve our systems and games. We then had to call our rides out to the back of the store (where the Layout employe exit/entrance is) where we would recieve our systems, and would be escorted to our cars. Why all the security? Aparently, around 7:00pm, some people had tried to break into a different Wal*Mart's storage room to steal the systems.
The wait wasn't too bad. We spent about five and a half hours in line outside, and we were the only ones new to the line until about 9:00pm, when all of a sudden ten more people show up and snag the last spots on the list. They gave us all lawn chairs, drinks, sandwiches, and snacks to tide us over, and would come back every hour to check up on us. The only rule was that if we left the area (to get food, or to browse through the store), we'd be called on our contact number, and we had to be back there in five minutes. It was pretty mellow, and other than the people that had been waiting for a few days, everyone else was friendly to each other. I was surprised by the number of adults playing on DS Lites, but most everyone had one.
Incidentally, the EB Games I had preordered Monkey Ball at was in the same parking lot as the Wal*Mart I had bought my Wii, so I got the game that night, along with a nifty Monkey Ball T-shirt (since they did a Midnight launch). Oddly enough, even though they had opened at midnight, they still had 8 Wii systems in stock (people who hadn't picked them up yet). The EB Games where I had preorderd Zelda was apparently the only one in the area that had recieved extra copies of Zelda, and it was apparently swarmed by the people that had gotten their systems at midnight, so I decided to skip that one until later on Sunday.
Neither of the EB's I had been to had any Nunchuck adapters, but I did manage to snag an extra Wiimote. So far the console has been a big hit, specially with my girlfriend's mother and father. They actually considered getting one themselves! They were particularly taken with Wii Sports. I guess Nintendo is doing something right after all. I guess in the end I didn't go through much of a hassel to get my system, but for a few moments, I was afraid I'd have to wait for a few weeks to get one. Now comes the lengthy wait for SSBB...
