Desperately seeking a Wii
Finding a Wii in the remaining few days before Christmas may be nearly impossible. You could always just go play on one at a retailer.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Ever wanted to know what it's like to get laughed at for a whole day? Try finding a Wii this week.
That was my task Tuesday: to comb the San Francisco Bay Area for one of Nintendo's elusive video game consoles. And let me tell you, the results were not pretty.
All told, during a long day of driving through Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties, I hit 10 different retailers in person and called 2 others, all in hopes that I might be one of the lucky few who stumbled onto the opportunity to fork over $250. And how many Wiis did I find? Read on.
I began my morning driving through a raging downpour to the Best Buy in Marin City, a few miles north of San Francisco. I actually remember thinking that getting to the store early and in the middle of a near flood might mean I'd be alone in my quest.
But this is the week before Christmas, and the Wii is the hottest could-be gift around. So when I walked over to the video game department, a woman was already asking a salesman if the store was out of Wiis.
"Oh, yeah," he said.
As she left, I wandered over to make sure I'd heard properly, and indeed, the salesman confirmed that the store had sold out its most recent shipment of 40 Wiis in 30 minutes on Sunday.
"I don't think we're getting any more before the holiday," he said.
Although you probably won't find any Wiis for sale before Christmas, there are plenty of games and accessories available.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)With that, I hopped back into my car and headed out to Lake 101--I mean Highway 101--and drove north, to San Rafael, where I knew there was another Best Buy and a Toys "R" Us.
At the Best Buy, I passed a stack of several dozen Sony PlayStation 3s for sale, a $399 bundle that included a Blu-ray copy of Spider Man 3.
Still hopeful about Wiis, I nonetheless asked a salesman if they were out of the Nintendo devices.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "We had a shipment on Sunday, but that's the last one we're getting."
Fine, I thought. But he must have some idea how to get one, right?
"The only thing I heard was that GameStop (stores) on (December) 21 are taking preorders and that they're guaranteeing delivery before the end of January."
Ooh, I thought. How great would it be to get a coupon for a future Wii on Christmas Day? Let's spend the whole day playing a coupon!
Well, fair enough. But as I started to leave, it occurred to me that maybe some people who had come to this Best Buy to get a Wii might feel pressured to grab some form of video game system to ward off the anger of disappointed kids on Christmas Day.
So I asked if anyone was buying PlayStation 3s since plenty of those are available.
"Not a lot," the salesman said. "But I'm sure some are, definitely."
It looks like Sony has some thanking of Nintendo to do.
Back to the car I go and a quick jaunt down the frontage road to the San Rafael Toys "R" Us.
There, it's more of the same. No Wiis: there was a shipment last Sunday, and it sold out immediately.
Once more I asked for advice on how to get a Wii in these dwindling pre-Christmas days.
"Call everywhere in the world every single day of your life," the salesman, who looked exasperated at being asked again about Wiis, told me. "If you really want one, that's the only thing I can say."
OK, I thought. Enough of this Marin nonsense. I'm headed into the City.
The first stop in San Francisco was a GameStop store in the Mission District.
I walked in and asked the clerk at the counter if they had any Wiis.
Hopes lifted, dashed
He paused for a moment, as if pondering the question. My heart leaped. My hopes rose. Half a second went by. Then another.
And then the body blow: "No. I don't even know why I had to think about it."
Argh! What was this guy trying to do, give me a heart attack?
So, what did he suggest, I asked?
He told me about GameStop's preorder campaign, but he had a warning.
"You're going to have to line up early for it," he said, "because it's been all over the news."
At this, I was dumbfounded. I've been to plenty of midnight madness-type events where rabid fans of things like iPods, Xboxes, and yes, even Wiis, line up for hours for the chance to be among the first to buy something. But I've never heard of having to stand in line to preorder. I think this, finally, may be the proof we've been waiting for that civilization has officially lost its mind.
The next place to give me a brief moment of hope was another GameStop, out near the ocean in San Francisco. There, a harried salesclerk told me the store didn't have any Wiis, but that it's worth checking in every day, because UPS deliveries arrive at noon.
Not a chance, dude!
I asked her if that meant there might really be more Wiis this week. But she had no sentiment for my plight: "I don't know. There's really no way to know."
In other words: not a chance, dude!
After a quick stop at another GameStop--sorry, no Wiis--I hit a Target in Daly City, Calif.
If you can't buy a Wii in a store, maybe you could win one through a Circuit City promotion.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)The verdict there? A clerk told me the store had gotten a shipment of 185 Wiis on Sunday. And guess what? They were gone in an hour.
By now, it had become abundantly clear that last Sunday was the last, best chance to get a Wii anywhere in the civilized world. Of course, you hear stories about finding impossible-to-find products tucked away on a back shelf in a five-and-dime in some backwater town. But I didn't see this happening here, especially after a quick call to Nintendo revealed that it appears only huge retailers like Best Buy, Target, GameStop, Sears, Circuit City, Toys "R" Us, and Kmart were getting the machines.
But I was committed to this project and there were still at least two more stops on my journey.
First up, a Circuit City in Daly City, 11 miles south of San Francisco.
There, the Wii section of the store looked like it had been ransacked by crazed holiday shoppers, what with scattered accessories and games and a general sense of having had all the meat picked off the bones.
It was clear there weren't any Wiis, but when I asked a salesman, he told me he thinks they'll be getting more on Sunday. Maybe call ahead to be sure, he suggested half-heartedly.
Holy cow. Could this be the place? Should I get in line now and wait?
But something didn't seem right. Why would this one Circuit City be getting more when every single other place I'd visited had told me they probably wouldn't be?
I asked another salesman.
"No, I don't think we'll be getting any more until January," the second clerk told me. "Sorry about that."
I thought so.
Twist the knife, why don't you?
I decided to make one last stop, at another Target, in Colma, Calif. As I walked in, on the sales brochure in the entrance way, a little tease, surely intended just to twist the knife a little more: Wiis for sale, just $249.99.
But of course, not a Wii to be found in the store. Guess what? They sold out on Sunday and wouldn't be getting any more before Christmas.
I bet you're as surprised as I was.
You may not be able to find a Wii anywhere, but there are no shortages of Sony's PlayStation 3.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)With this, I hopped in the car and pointed wearily toward home. My last chance, I thought, was to call a couple of Sears. Maybe, just maybe, they'd have a Wii available, and if they did, I'd make my way there, no matter how far I had to go. But, alas, not a Wii to be found at two different Sears.
So, after 62 miles of driving and nine store visits, I came to one final conclusion: there's simply no chance. If your kid is demanding a Wii for Christmas and you haven't procured it anywhere, you could actually go on eBay, where there are some to be had for a premium. Whether you'll get it in time is another matter. Or, you could take the kids to a retailer and let them play on one of the demo units.
The other option? There are plenty of PS3s available. Let me give you directions to a store where you can find one.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
would open 7am. So I arrived there at 6:30 thinking I'd be ahead
of the game only to find out that they only had 10 in stock and
that the manager gave out vouchers for those 10 at 6am.
Then they had another sale at Best Buy.. but this time I got there
early and convinced one of the people in the front of the line
that if they get one.. can they pick one up for me as well.. and to
call me and i'll come and get it and give them a little something
for their trouble...
Well I have one now... can't wait to see my children's faces when
they open it Christmas morning.
It would have been so much easier if they only wanted a PS3 or
Xbox 360.
http://www.refreshthing.com/index.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.refreshthing.com%2Fwii%2F&timeout=30
http://wiitracker.com/
I picked up one for the kids before Thanksgiving, using those sites. I had to buy a bundle, but since it included a second controller/nunchuck (which I would have had to buy anyway) and only forced me to buy one game (which I would have bought for the kids anyway), it worked out well for me.
Good luck.
and have never had a problem finding a Wii. Last year on release
day the Best Buy I went to received 150... number of people in
line 30. When my family met my brother, and sister-in-law in
the city the Tuesday before Thanksgiving we went into Toys R
US Times Square. They had 1,200 of the little white boxes, and
nobody in line. They actually had to call a couple of radio
stations to tell people that they had Wii's.
In the past month I have bought 4 Wii's for family members,
friends and coworkers of my wife's (easier for me to do it.. I am
a stay at home dad)
Now we find out that Nintendo is going to pad their 2007 sales
with vouchers. Brilliant! From a investment stand point. But also
proof that this so called shortage is nothing more than controlled inventory release. We don't have any Wii's today, but
if you give me your money now I will have hundreds in 2 weeks.
Is that what they are saying? Nintendo is either sitting on a
mountain of Wii's, expecting a huge increase in production
using magic or Santa's elves, or a dramatic drop off in sales immediately following Christmas.
The guarantee of a Wii by January 29th is also another sign there
is no shortage. If GameStop or Nintendo could not delver the
goods there would be unbelievable outrage and possible law suites against the two companies.
This is a company that has been sued twice for price fixing and
is also a master at marketing. Nobody knows why they have to
have a Wii... they just know they have to have it.
-Of the last two generations of systems (PSone, PS2, XBOX, Game Cube, N64), Nintendo has consistently sold the least amount of systems.
-Historically systems that have been the first to bring a revolutionary piece of technology have failed (Virtual Game Boy, Sega CD, Sega Dream Cast etc).
2 major reasons why Nintendo would not expect the frenzy of the Wii
Combine that with
-Wii has sold more units in 1 year then the XBOX 360 has in 2 (so using XBOX 360 as a benchmark of the gaming market and how many units should be produced, Wii should have only manufactured 3/4 the amount that they have assuming that the majority of sales are from the first year)
-New technology means new suppliers and less availability of said supply for an affordable price and good quality (Nintendo probably could buy their components from unreliable vendors, but do you really want a product that will break after a couple months like what happened to the PS3 on many of the first shipment, I believe it also happened with the PS2 on their CD Drives).
Furthermore Nintendo is the most affordable game system on the market right now (its only $250 compared to $400 and up). How much do you really think they are fixing prices here? If they were playing a game of price fixing wouldn't they have raised the price of the system closer to what Sony or M$ is charging?
Also production is something that is not easily ramped up and taken back down. I take their guarantee of a system as I sign that they want to ramp up their production, but need a guarantee themselves that they won't have 1,000's of product sitting on their shelves and 1'000's more in stores. Again I point to bullet points one and two. There is no definite amount that they will be able to sell. They are leading sales for the first time since SNES (If they were even leading then. I think they were).
If you use their "buy it now" feature you can have one on its way to you this afternoon -- I've bought a half dozen on there as perks for my employees over the past month, and haven't had any issues so long as you buy from sellers with 100% satisfaction scores.
On a side note, I walked into my local Costco a week ago and they'd just put a pallet of 50 Wiis out with no advance notice (I was *just* too late to get one), but the 50 people who'd randomly happened to be there at the right time all were walking arond looking kind of happily dazed :-)
Good luck everybody and Merry Christmas to all!
The Dude Abides.
I own all three & the Wii gets far less playtime by the entire family than the other two.
Lesson learned.
So this past Sunday I got to Best Buy at 6am and stood in the freezing cold with snow blowing in my face with about 100 other Wii seekers. The store had 57 available. I was number 48 in line.
My parents better appreciate the sacrifice.
"I'm sorry, Wii don't"
"No idea when we will receive more, but traditionally we get shipments on ,,,, at ...
?No, wii don?t offer a waiting list, and/or I don?t except bribes.?
Now that our courier is being stalked our answer is...
"We no longer discuses our delivery schedule due to security reasons."
I've had to be really testy at times to get the point across. Not something I enjoy. Its not in my nature. I do realize the desperation of the parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. I won?t; however, knowing endanger another?s life to make a customer happy. Safety is my #1 concern for all parties involved.
My job is to sale, not tell people I'm out. I take no joy in it. I also take no joy in repeating myself 300 times a day.
It?s frustrating on both sides of the transaction.
OM, a 11 year retail veteran.
when I was in search of a Wii this summer. They told me that
people would stakeout their stores waiting for the
UPS/DHL/FedEx delivery truck to roll up and (seeming to know
what size/shape box held the much desired bounty) would then
"storm" the store hoping to secure the elusive quarry. Me, I just
called around to a few stores in August and was lucky enough to
find one (store that is) that wasn't being "stalked".
Best of luck to all who are trying to get one and Happy Holidays
to all...
So the poor sods camp out in the parking lots on Saturday night, generating extra buzz for the stores in the local media. Then when the store opens Sunday morning, they find out that there were only 8 Wiis available.
Other retailers sell out immediately because the underpaid employees are buying them up and them reselling them on eBay.
I got mine, but it took thinking outside the box- literally. I found out that it was FedEx locally who was shipping all those Wiis around. So I started asking the FedEx drivers about shipments from Nintendo to the various stores in my area. I ended up arriving at a store with teh FedEx truck, so the employees couldn't hide that box of Wiis from me, and sold me one before they could call all their eBay reselling friends.
http://binaryspiral.com/2007/12/01/how-to-get-a-wii-before-christmas/
their suppliers to sell them more for less that now the suppliers
are getting even. Nintendo says they can get 10,000 or more in
January. Why not now? Because their suppliers have put them
at the back of the list. If Nintendo would pay 2 cents more for
each part, they would have the games now. Nintendo needs to
stop the commercials until the units are actually available in
more than sample quantities. The competitors need to get on
the band wagon and make motion sensing controllers for the
PS3 and PC to steal Nontendo's failing momentum. The Wii is
cute, but the graphics are average and the competitors need to
take advantages of Nintendo's failings.
Don'r forget, once you DO find that Wii and shell out the $250, the games are $50 -- $60. Last I looked Amazon has them for $450.
My original post is here...http://www.news.com/5208-13772_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=33873&messageID=359096&start=-1
P.S. Why didn't the author just call around to the various stores instead of wasting all that time and gas?
"Have you been looking for a Wii with no results?"
I turned to my wife, and stated... "Yea"
"We are proud to announce we have the Wii console in stock today. Stop by and pick one up before the Christmas rush."
I looked at my wife, and then made a bee line to electronics. I was the first of four people that took them up on their offer. The guy said they had just gotten them in about half an hour ago. I asked how many they had, and he stated "Four". About then, another guy came strolling up. He waited until all of us had paid, and then asked for one. "Sorry". I thought he was going to mug me!
Just funny how it worked out. Didn't even have a thought about looking for one that day.
usually have enough to last until noon each day.
- Too close to the Christmas rush
- by brief December 24, 2007 3:22 PM PST
- Nintendo consistently makes fewer Wii units than Microsoft's 360s and Sony's PS3s, so of course less than a week before Christmas, the Wiis will be much harder to find than the other consoles.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (28 Comments)Not quite the same story if you had been looking just a month earlier. Just prior to Thanksgiving, my brother decided to get one, so he went to Best Buy, and picked one up without any fuss. Another friend bought one at the same time, as well.