Don't underestimate the Wii

Post by **melancholy** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:37 am

Today, I put my name on a call list. This list was for a local Game Crazy that would call whenever they began taking preorders for the Wii. The reason I put my name on this list is because I did not secure a preorder with Gamestop. And neither did about 20 other people that were waiting in line since probably 6 this morning. With this comes the realization that the Wii might just be as rare as a PS3 on November 19th. It shouldn't be so surprising that a launch console would be hard to find, but with Nintendo, things are a bit different.

It is no secret that the Gamecube did not exactly move many systems at launch. I walked into a store a week after the launch and was easily able to pick up a system. They had an abundance of them. Same with the DS. Granted, it became more rare as we approached Christmas, but within the first 2-3 weeks of launch, snagging a DS or Gamecube was no real challenge.

As we look at the Wii over the course of the past few months, we saw a trend. Most companies were overlooking the system. Nobody really knew what it was outside of the gaming community. Amazon still has yet to take preorders for the PS3, but freely took Wii preorders. Toys-R-Us in other countries provided free games with a preorder, a move that really signifies that they believed the system would not sell. Best Buy will be opening 2 hours early on November 17th for the PS3 but will be opening at it's normal time on November 19th. The media, the retailers, and even the general public do not believe this thing will sell very fast. Even us, as hardcore gamers, have made posts stating we will be able to walk in at any time into any store on November 19 and probably pick up a Wii.

But as we rapidly approach the launch date, it is becoming clear that we have perhaps underestimated the selling power of the Wii.

Today, all across the country, people filled lines that would inevitably sell out Wii preorders hours before the stores would even open. Amazon was forced to shut down it's preorder system a day after offering them. In order to combat this, I went to a store that I thought for sure would be free of the Wii buzz. A store where, after every retailer in store sold out of MGS3 Limited Edition, still had 4 copies laying around. A store that never filled up the preorder list of Xbox 360's, and therefore had some laying around on launch day. It was a 20 minute drive to get there, but upon arriving I was instantly greeted by an employee who was on the phone with a customer telling them that they were not taking preorders yet and had no idea when they would be. He would get two more calls in the 10 minutes I was there taking with the employee.

And that is when I put my name on a call list. A list with about 20 names, next to a PS3 list that had about 8. I used to have great hope of aquiring a Wii on the day of launch. Now I am researching the price of lawn chairs for when I camp out in front of Wal-Mart hours beforehand.

ian · Post by **ian** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:47 am

i'm hoping in australia toys are us still have the free game offer cause i want one. i've gone from "meh" to "WOW!!!" in a month

i just hope i havent left it too late

i go to my parents on sunday and they are a 10 min drive from toys r us so if i can i'll make an order

Darksaviour69 · Post by **Darksaviour69** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:53 am

but world wide there are going to be 500,000 ps3's and there could be between 6-9 million wii's ready for Q4 2006, acording to reports

ian · Post by **ian** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:56 am

better to have too many than not enough

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 pm

Darksaviour69 wrote:but world wide there are going to be 500,000 ps3's and there could be between 6-9 million wii's ready for Q4 2006, acording to reports

Yeah, that's a big part of the reason I don't think they'll be super hard to find. There will be regular large shipments every week before Christmas, I suspect. It won't be super common, but I don't think it will be ultra rare either.

On a side note, when do people start lining up for systems at Best Buy? Is there an earliest possible time or anything? I'm planning to do it, probably to scalp one. I'm probably going to take work off so I can get there before Best Buy closes...

Post by **|darc|** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:14 pm

I remember going to get an Xbox a few days after launch and going to a dozen stores just seeing Gamecubes laying around, but no Xbox...

I think Nintendo has definately made a good move with the Wii. Although I don't ever really consider Zelda my favorite game series, I just noticed that I've owned every main Zelda game, and I cannot pass on Twilight Princess. I guess I'll be camping out next month...

TyBO · Post by **TyBO** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:23 pm

Darksaviour69 wrote:but world wide there are going to be 500,000 ps3's and there could be between 6-9 million wii's ready for Q4 2006, acording to reports

Yes indeed. I think most stores are taking a really conservative number of pre-orders so that they don't overpromise like they did with the 360. Nintendo's really churning out a ton of Wii's before launch, so unless it becomes a Tamagotchi-esque craze here in the US (who knows, it could be), it probably won't be too difficult to locate.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:29 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/NINTENDO-Wii-1-on-P ... dZViewItem

Jesus christ. It's going to be hard to resist selling my Wii reserve over the next 5 weeks. I may just sell it and camp out, as that profit margin covers the cost of the Wii itself.

Post by **melancholy** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:13 pm

Lartrak wrote:On a side note, when do people start lining up for systems at Best Buy? Is there an earliest possible time or anything? I'm planning to do it, probably to scalp one. I'm probably going to take work off so I can get there before Best Buy closes...

At the Best Buy I work at, for the Xbox 360 they had enough people by 11:00pm the night before to buy us out for the next morning.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:29 pm

melancholy wrote:
Lartrak wrote:On a side note, when do people start lining up for systems at Best Buy? Is there an earliest possible time or anything? I'm planning to do it, probably to scalp one. I'm probably going to take work off so I can get there before Best Buy closes...
At the Best Buy I work at, for the Xbox 360 they had enough people by 11:00pm the night before to buy us out for the next morning.

Hmm. I'm perfectly willing to wait 14 hours in the cold to make $500 (enough to clear off my credit card debt, yeehaw). Maybe that's just me. I'll line up around closing hour on the 16th, that should do it I think.

Sounds like a plan.

Ceeg · Post by **Ceeg** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:10 pm

Yeah for not being able to reserve a Wii BECAUSE LIKE MOST PEOPLE I HAVE WORK! >_<

Im so pissed right now.

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:02 pm

Lartrak wrote:
melancholy wrote:
Lartrak wrote:On a side note, when do people start lining up for systems at Best Buy? Is there an earliest possible time or anything? I'm planning to do it, probably to scalp one. I'm probably going to take work off so I can get there before Best Buy closes...
At the Best Buy I work at, for the Xbox 360 they had enough people by 11:00pm the night before to buy us out for the next morning.
Hmm. I'm perfectly willing to wait 14 hours in the cold to make $500 (enough to clear off my credit card debt, yeehaw). Maybe that's just me. I'll line up around closing hour on the 16th, that should do it I think.

Sounds like a plan.

No one will pay that much for the Wii/Don't deprive one for someone who actually wants to play it for themselves.

Skynet · Post by **Skynet** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:34 pm

I hate people that jack up the prices and sell them on ebay because those people obviously really want one, or their kids just won't shut up about them.

They then end up losing way more than what they should on a console. Especially bad for the PS3 pricing.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:40 pm

atf487 wrote:
Lartrak wrote:
melancholy wrote:
Lartrak wrote:On a side note, when do people start lining up for systems at Best Buy? Is there an earliest possible time or anything? I'm planning to do it, probably to scalp one. I'm probably going to take work off so I can get there before Best Buy closes...
At the Best Buy I work at, for the Xbox 360 they had enough people by 11:00pm the night before to buy us out for the next morning.
Hmm. I'm perfectly willing to wait 14 hours in the cold to make $500 (enough to clear off my credit card debt, yeehaw). Maybe that's just me. I'll line up around closing hour on the 16th, that should do it I think.

Sounds like a plan.
No one will pay that much for the Wii/Don't deprive one for someone who actually wants to play it for themselves.

I was talking about the PS3, not the Wii. The Wii comes out the 19th, not the 17th.

I hate people that jack up the prices and sell them on ebay

The people you should be hating are the people who bid against each other. They end up going way over retail whether the starting bid is $1 or the full MSRP.

Caboose · Post by **Caboose** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:55 pm

I'll be waiting until after Christmas to get one. I'm pleased with what I have I don't really need another console.

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Lartrak wrote: I was talking about the PS3, not the Wii. The Wii comes out the 19th, not the 17th.

Ah, read 16th as 18th, cause this is the Wii thread.

But even so, everyone and there mother are putting the PS3 on eBay. Come launch time, they'll be a heavy saturation of supply on there. I don't think you'll get as much as you're hoping for.

Jeeba Jabba · Post by **Jeeba Jabba** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:09 pm

I've never understood the complaints regarding inflated prices for rare hardware. It's supply and demand. Not a big deal. If someone wants to pay that much money for something because they can afford it, more power to them, and more power to the seller.

Hawke · Post by **Hawke** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:58 pm

I'm just going to wait till the hype dies down before I get mine. Probably february of next year is when I'll start looking for one

atf487 · Post by **atf487** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:10 pm

Mr. Jeeba wrote:I've never understood the complaints regarding inflated prices for rare hardware. It's supply and demand. Not a big deal. If someone wants to pay that much money for something because they can afford it, more power to them, and more power to the seller.

Let's say you camped out for a PS3, and the person in front of you was the last to recieve a console. He blatantly tells you, "Yes, now I'm going to make a fortune off eBay!." Wouldn't you be a bit pissed off?

It's not unlike a scalper buying tickets to a concert you really want to see, and inflating the price so you cannot pay. It sucks, and should be discouraged.

Post by **melancholy** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:26 pm

atf487 wrote:
Mr. Jeeba wrote:I've never understood the complaints regarding inflated prices for rare hardware. It's supply and demand. Not a big deal. If someone wants to pay that much money for something because they can afford it, more power to them, and more power to the seller.
Let's say you camped out for a PS3, and the person in front of you was the last to recieve a console. He blatantly tells you, "Yes, now I'm going to make a fortune off eBay!." Wouldn't you be a bit pissed off?

It's not unlike a scalper buying tickets to a concert you really want to see, and inflating the price so you cannot pay. It sucks, and should be discouraged.

Another example; my wife works a Kohls. They had a contest for that new stupid Tickle-Me-Elmo this year, where they put their names in a raffle and the winner was given the opportunity to buy one. Well drawing time came and a guy that worked in their loss prevention area won. He bought it, and then promptly attempted to sell it back to the employees for $100. Needless to say, everyone was pissed.