I hate to admit this, but I’ve been trying to find a Nintendo Wii for the past four days. What a sad, sad tale I must tell. May of you know me as the anti-console guy. No denying that. My defense is that my youngest daughter and I started playing Legos Star Wars II and Open Season on our old Xbox. Since she (unlike my oldest daughter) seems to be hooked, I figured a nice Nintendo Wii this Christmas would cement our father/daughter relationship forever.
If only the damned college students here in College Station, Texas would give me a break!
I decided to try and find a Wii on Monday – when they physically sold out at Toys R Us on Sunday (I found this out Monday morning). Ok, no problem, the kid can hang. So I start visiting every retail store I know of that sells the game. Nothing available, so on to Tuesday.
Walmart decided to let the world know they will have Wii’s on December 6th. Every college/high school age kid in College Station is in line the evening of December 5th at both our Walmart and Super Walmart stores. The store let everyone know that they would go on sale at 8:00 AM. I thought I was being smart by heading out of the door at 6:00 AM and driving to the Super Walmart. I arrive at 6:30 AM and another bleary eyed older person (another dad) was in the electronics department. I asked one of the sales clerks about the Wii and she informed us that a line had already formed. Ten boxes were arriving and 13 college/high school students were in line. Crap!
Wednesday – I am so disgusted with Walmart I decide not to buy a Wii.
Thursday – I decide to give it one more shot. I visit all of the retailers again, and nothing is available. I walk into Best Buy and there must be 20 PlayStation 3’s in a stack. Not many people are buying them. The floor sales person seems insulted when I ask him if any Wii’s have come in. I don’t know who is buying PS3’s, but if they are available in my town, then that is not a very good sign.
Friday – one last shot. Ok, technically I am going to Houston tomorrow (where there is a larger non student to civilian ratio) and will look. But I have little hope. Gamestop had three come in and, you guessed it, eight scruffy college/high school students in line to get them. One of my store clerk buddies at Toys R Us (I’m a regular visitor at this point) tells me that he thinks some are coming in today, but not sure when during the day. I hang out for an hour (man, toys have changed since the 1970s) and decide to give up.
There you have it. I hate Circuit City. If you have a friend working there, you will know exactly when the Wiis are coming. Same with Gamestop, although they claim not to know when they are coming in when you chat with the floor clerks. I have no friends working at Circuit City or Gamestop. Toys R Us seemed to be the only store that non-college/high school have any hope finding a Wii during a random visit.
You know the main reason I want a Wii? Nintendo understands that for a certain demographic, we just want a few fun games to play with our children. That’s it. Take a look at the “family” games offered by Xbox 360 or PS3. Not very many, if any at all. I will stay with the PS2 and Xbox for now and wait for a Wii to magically appear at this point.
But, you never know!
Chis, I think the best way to get a Wii right now is to know someone at the stores that will call you and ‘hold’ one until you get there to pick it up. I plan to get a Wii, but I am not going to worry too much about it until early next year. In other words, no Christmas rush for me, and I will NOT be forced to buy one of those damn bundles.
I have yet to see a PS3 in stock in Columbus, but there were plenty of Xbox 360 systems in stock at the local Best Buy. While I was looking at the game section yesterday, I over heard 3 mothers (I assume they were mothers) ask about Wii availability. I wonder how many 360s are going to move because some parent settled for a 360 (over a PS3 or Wii)?