Comments on: Desperately seeking a Wii

Wii-weary CNET News.com reporter Daniel Terdiman drives 62 miles in search of the impossible-to-find holiday gift.

[Hoodgrown_Magazine]

I feel your pain...

There was a sale at Kmart stating they had Wii's and the store
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.

[ps_martin]

You have been going about it all wrong...

You should have started sooner (say October) and used one of these sites:

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.

[ibeetle]

Must be a regional thing

I live in north east New Jersey (about 20 miles NW from NYC)
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.

[oldmanwoerle]

Nintendo is not controlling inventory release

I read this all over the place "Nintendo is Controlling inventory release" and I've looked at the facts and what is going on and I just can't believe it. So lets break down the bullet points for everyone.

-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).

[Mystakill]

Do yourself a favor and buy a PS3 or Xbox 360

You'll have more fun playing almost anything on the PS3 or Xbox 360 than you will playing the mind-numbing number of flail-a-thons available on the Wii. There *are* a few decent titles (Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid, Zelda, and Zack & Wiki), but most of the titles released this year are poor GameCube ports with motion controls tacked-on, or are variations on the mini/party-game thing.

[jeffreylebowskijr]

100's of Wiis available on eBay

Just a thought...yes, you will pay about $400 for one (maybe more like $450 now), but consider that a) you'll get one for sure, b) you won't waste a ton of hours (how much is your time & stress level worth to you?), and c) when you figure in the fact that you won't be paying tax, the price difference is mitigated a bit.

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.

[gsmiller88]

People who buy PS3s..

Are only doing so because they can't find a Wii.

[Mystakill]

Hardly...

I bought a PS3 because my fourth dead 360 was at the service center.

I own all three & the Wii gets far less playtime by the entire family than the other two.

[ctrue]

PS3's are directed at a slightly different crowd

We purchased a PS3 and a Wii for Xmas. The PS3 for our teenager and the Wii for our 9 year old. The PS3 and Xbox 360 systems and games are what the teenagers want. I just had a conversation with someone that they sold their Wii that their teenager played about 2 times from nearly a year ago and bought him an Xbox 360.

[markusfarkus]

Got one on Sunday

A few months back I heard about a big shipment of Wii's at Best Buy on a Sunday. So I decided to get there about an hour before the store opened. I certainly underestimated the demand because people had been lined up since 8am to get vouchers and none were available by the time I got there.

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.

[OokiiMamoru]

Ugggg

I wish someone would cover the prospective of the poor retail worker who has to repeatedly tell the desperate customer...

"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.

[jungle-eddie]

funny you mentioned "courier stalking"...

..as I recall what a few GameStop / EBGames employees told me
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...

[RainCaster]

Many retailers use questionable tactics

As you found out, ToysRUs and Best Buy get their shipments in late in the week, and hoard them until Sunday morning. They announce it for weeks in advance through every employee who knows what to tell prospective Wii buyers- "look for the ad in the Sunday paper and get here early".

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.

[binaryspiral75]

I got one using...

Wiitracker... I wrote about it here:

http://binaryspiral.com/2007/12/01/how-to-get-a-wii-before-christmas/

[DoohanOK]

How long is your arm?

There it is - there is your arm - more than two shakes is a w^%k of course. But Onya Nintendo for the success you really needed but do not discount the 360 or PS3 over Xmas.

[walkon]

Supplier's revenge....

All the Manufacturers have spent the past decade squeezing
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.

[jadimaria]

Desperately seeking a Wii

I got a PS2. Half the price for the unit and the games and the technology is still supported.

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.

[bdaughtry]

Got one Wednesday at Target

Just walked in a Target store yesterday as a shipment was being put on the shelfs. It really is a hit and miss thing, but they apparently are arriving every couple of days at major retailers.....you just have to be there when they arrive.

[cjbsdad]

wiialerts.com has notified consistently...

...and helped me buy without all of the driving and calling and standing in line.

My original post is here...http://www.news.com/5208-13772_3-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=33873&messageID=359096&start=-1

[stalexone]

Go to Ebay and camp for new listings

Go onto ebay, search list of Wii Consoles, sort by "recently listed" and then hit the refresh button every hour. Eventually someone will list one at a decent buy-it-now price less than $400. Check the listings and specs, then make the move. I got one within an hour of it being listed (people usually just focus on the auctions that are just about to end) for $300. It arrived yesterday and I also have the warranty card and receipt from the seller's purchase.

[Lucky Lou]

Craig's List

You can also try Craig's List. There are tons of them for sale.

P.S. Why didn't the author just call around to the various stores instead of wasting all that time and gas?

[GreySkies01]

I was Lucky

A While back, I was shopping for baby formula at a Myers when the overhead speaker started talking.

"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.

[thefilebunch]

Wii Availabilty

Get to NYC and stand in line each day at Nintendo World. They
usually have enough to last until noon each day.

[brief]

Too close to the Christmas rush

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.

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.