Originally Posted by soxxx Im confident Bestbuy will have extras for people that didnt buy. When wii launched I camped 14 hours, I was #40 out of 82 I believe. By the time they started handing out tickets at 8 a.m. their was over 600 people their.

I'm calling BS on this, 600 people in line outside a TRU would be a damn near riot, the Police would have shut the store down. There were not 600 people in line waiting for a Wii anywhere, ever. Wii was available of the shelf beginning with the second shipment. They didn't become hard to get until maybe a week or two before Christmas, but they weren't selling for anything close to a premium.

I honestly have very little to no worry that Gamestop will be able to fill all their stock. I have never had a single problem with a pre-ordered console there, even with the Wii/PS3/360 chaos.

Uh.. I worked at Best Buy during the Wii. As soon as a truck came in they were gone before they even made it to the shelf, lol.

Guys, one more place is accepting preorders! I updated it with the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

If you have useful info to add (prices, availability, or even if you can pre order at the mart) please add it!

Originally Posted by spmahn I'm calling BS on this, 600 people in line outside a TRU would be a damn near riot, the Police would have shut the store down. There were not 600 people in line waiting for a Wii anywhere, ever. Wii was available of the shelf beginning with the second shipment. They didn't become hard to get until maybe a week or two before Christmas, but they weren't selling for anything close to a premium.

I can't speak to the 600, but living in Southern California and actively looking for a Wii for myself and a couple of friends with kids in the period running up until Christmas that first year, I can state unequivocally that they were hard to find and whenever even a rumor of a store getting a shipment got out, people lined up. They also sold for well above MSRP on Ebay and Craigslist up until Christmas. In fact, the Wii wasn't readily available on shelves for almost 18 months after launch and consistently sold out within hours every time a local Target, Walmart, Best Buy, TRU, etc...got them in.

The problem Im seeing with almost all pre-orders going on is that it seems like everywhere over ordered by a lot. What are the chances of 1 bb store getting over 50-100 consoles? I just get the feeling theres gonna be a lot of upset people when launch day rolls around. Im just hoping the people who actually like Nintendo and want to play this thing get one for their families before the guy ahead of you who pre-purchased 7 of them to try and flip on ebay.

Also for a fun story about the Wii launch....i was promised a Wii for xmas that year but we had no idea about preorders so my brother and I went out to get it. We went to Meijer but there was a line that wrapped all the way around the outside of the store so we gave up. Luckily K-mart was across from us and only two people were waiting for the wii. I was beyond excited as we stood there at 8pm waiting for midnight. Hours passed and the line got much longer, I didn't care tho since I was number 3 in line and guaranteed my console in my eyes. So after a few more hours it was around 11:30 and the night manager came out and started handing numbers to everyone in order. Now i was super pumped. Shortly after we were led into the store...all 200 or so of us and asked to gather around the electronics department. We were told they had 10 Wiis in stock...by now I could taste Zelda. Then my world came crashing down....in the name of "fairness" she told us that she will be pulling 10 numbers out of a bin and that those people would be getting a console. I was devastated but the people who waited in line in front of me, i still remember the look on his face when he said "F*** me...".

Of course, I lost...so I got to hold onto my copy of Twilight Princess and the stratedgy guide for over 9 months before I happened to go grocery shopping in Meijer one day and strolled passed the electronics section to see them putting 2 consoles in the case. I stood there holding the console for a hour while my mom finished her shopping then purchased it for me when she was done. This was in september of the next year, this is how rare the consoles were in my area.

I called stores every single day asking if they had any and the answer of course was always no, I did this for like 4 months before i gave up and dumb luck got me my unit finally.

Originally Posted by Deader2818 Uh.. I worked at Best Buy during the Wii. As soon as a truck came in they were gone before they even made it to the shelf, lol.

I had a friend who worked Geek Squad during the months before and after launch and he had to answer the store phone for a few hours a day and if you really wanted to get him upset when he was off, all you had to do was call his cell phone and ask if they had any Wiis in stock. He said at one point literally half the calls he received were from people asking if they had the Wii and trying to find out when the next shipment was coming in. The demand was serious and unrelenting for a very long time.

Yeah, I worked at customer service. Every freaking call was asking if we had Wiis in stock.

Didn't they have Wii tracker websites? I swear I remember seeing one. I do know that I camped out on black friday to get a Wii and by the time the store opened we had around 100 in line...for 4 Wiis

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Originally Posted by bsesb2003 I wonder if something is up between Amazon and Nintendo -- Amazon doesn't have the 3DS XL yet. Only available from 3rd party sellers.

Something’s Not Right Between Nintendo And Amazon

"We don't talk about our specific business practices with individual retailers, and so you're not going to get any more information from me specific to Amazon or any of our different retail partners," he told me last week in an interview. "What I can tell you is they are selling software, and [there] are resellers that are on the site selling hardware as well, but you're right: Amazon as a direct sale company currently does not sell Nintendo hardware." Fils-Aime wouldn't say more than that.

The 2 times I camped out for a Wii, I was the very last person to get one. Felt bad for the other people waiting just behind me. Most went on to buy other stuff. The best one was when I called Walmart one time and happened to walk up there to buy the last one. Even though I resold the Wii's I bought, I did donate one to a children's hospital to keep some good karma. lol

Originally Posted by prmtyme I was told by best buy representative that not all customers are guaranteed a system and thats at any store....now mind you best buy is not doing a midnight release at least in my area but i will be there 10 or 11 am whatever time they open november 18th

So does that apply to preorders too? I was in there the other day and they said they would set preorders aside?

I hope its not too late to pre-order at BestBuy or Gamestop. Going to attempt to pre-order later this week.

I'll be fine if I can't though since I will most likely get bored of it and resell it but still.

I just hope that during launch there is 100's of people in line trying to get the console that didn't pre-order it.

^ I hate to tell you, but you are a few weeks too late, especially for Gamestop. And it looks like Best Buy has at least stopped taking preorders. It could be that what that rep meant wasn't that they were cancelling people's existing preorders but that they were cancelling the notion of taking more preorders. At this point they probably realize they want the systems in the store to get people to come in (and buy other stuff when they can't get a Wii U).

Originally Posted by spmahn I'm calling BS on this, 600 people in line outside a TRU would be a damn near riot, the Police would have shut the store down. There were not 600 people in line waiting for a Wii anywhere, ever. Wii was available of the shelf beginning with the second shipment. They didn't become hard to get until maybe a week or two before Christmas, but they weren't selling for anything close to a premium.

Wow - you must have lived in an alternative universe. While the hysteria over the Wii didn't pick up till December, they were definitely sold out before that. When GS had preorders you had to camp out jsut to get the preorder. They announced it a little more ahead of time back then. I'm so glad it kind of slipped under the radar with the Wii U and I was able to go in at 11 am the first day and get one no problem.

And they sure as hell sold for a premium through Christmas and well beyond. They were selling for about double retail even on eBay (which was flooded with them) through most of December.

Originally Posted by Paladinion Shortly after we were led into the store...all 200 or so of us and asked to gather around the electronics department. We were told they had 10 Wiis in stock...by now I could taste Zelda. Then my world came crashing down....in the name of "fairness" she told us that she will be pulling 10 numbers out of a bin and that those people would be getting a console. I was devastated but the people who waited in line in front of me, i still remember the look on his face when he said "F*** me...".

I couldn't tell you how angry this would have made me if I was in line for 4-5 hours. That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. What they should have done was come out around 9-10 and let people in line know they only had 10 so the people who came later didn't waste their time. Instead they made 200 people waste various amounts of time, then crammed them into the store, and then let (most of) them down? That manager would have been fired on the spot if I was her boss.

As for GS preorders, as others have said, they should be pretty solid. They took so few of them just so that they can fulfill them The Wii launch went just fine 6 years ago. And that was also a Sunday launch, right? They definitely did the midnight thing then. I have fond memories of picking up that system and setting it up late at night to show the family the next day. Those were innocent days when Miis were shiny and new and playing old Mario (Virtual Console) games on the TV was a cool new concept.

Don't forget that GS has tons of experience with preorders (much to the annoyance of many customers ) and knows how to do them. Chances are some local manager won't pull some BS like that Kmart manager and in the interest of "fairness" just start handing out everyone's preorders to whoever walks in the door. Preorders are GS's bread and butter a least with respect to new products (used games are obviously their primary money-maker). They will do all they can not to screw that up - otherwise who would preorder anything from them again?

Originally Posted by scblueeyedguy The 2 times I camped out for a Wii, I was the very last person to get one. Felt bad for the other people waiting just behind me. Most went on to buy other stuff. The best one was when I called Walmart one time and happened to walk up there to buy the last one. Even though I resold the Wii's I bought, I did donate one to a children's hospital to keep some good karma. lol

Imagine their relief after they actually played the Wii and exclaimed, "What a hype machine! This things sucks ass!"

Luckily for Nintendo there are enough people that haven't learned a hard enough lesson from the first Wii that they are willing to gamble on the Wii U...that or 6 years time has made their memories a little hazy.

Originally Posted by wyatt8 Imagine their relief after they actually played the Wii and exclaimed, "What a hype machine! This things sucks ass!" Luckily for Nintendo there are enough people that haven't learned a hard enough lesson from the first Wii that they are willing to gamble on the Wii U...that or 6 years time has made their memories a little hazy.

Or, you could not be a fanboy. The Wii ended up being disappointing to a great many people (me included). But for the first year or two it was good for what it was. And even at the end of its life, it still had some great games. Xenoblade Chronicles is top 2 or 3 for me this generation and it was on the lowly Wii.

And maybe some of us have actually played the Wii U and see the potential. At the very least, it is a system on par (if not better) than the oh-so-wonderful PS3/360 but yet will have first-party Nintendo games (finally in HD). And that alone makes it worth a purchase.

If Best Buy opens at 10 am, what do you think would be a good time to get there and line up? An hour before? More?

Sorry, I've never bought a major console day-of release. Thanks.

I would check in 10-12 hours before and look at the line

Originally Posted by wyatt8 Imagine their relief after they actually played the Wii and exclaimed, "What a hype machine! This things sucks ass!" Luckily for Nintendo there are enough people that haven't learned a hard enough lesson from the first Wii that they are willing to gamble on the Wii U...that or 6 years time has made their memories a little hazy.

We get it. You are poor and cannot afford to buy one. No need to hate one those who can.

I definitely remember the hysteria around the Wii and that is why I pre-ordered a WiiU thru GameStop. I have no problem with the fact that I am going to flip that sucker. In fact, I might even decide to sell it to a CAG for a decent amount below ebay prices but we will cross that bridge later. Anyway, according to a local GameStop employee in Cincinnati, Toys R us was the last retailer that had any WiiU consoles available for pre-order and those are all gone too. I tend to believe him because this was after I pre-ordered the WiiU from him a week earlier.