It's Sunday, which means at this stage you've either gotten your Wii from your retailer of choice or you're still bitter about how hard they are to come by. I was kind of skeptical about how much of a demand there could still be for the fast-moving system, but it appears as if this morning saw lines and disappointed consumers again. Let's take a look at two very different experiences from our forums. First, the happy news from Ars Staff Writer Matt Woodward:
I showed up at my local Target at 7:10am this morning (they open at 8am) and saw a few people walking up to the front door to talk to two employees in red shirts. So I went up to the front door and they were handing out tickets.
These tickets would only hold you a Wii until 8:30am. After that time, they would sell whatever they had left on a "first come, first serve" basis.
I think I managed to get ticket #22 (out of 24?) -- lucky me. I decided to wait around anyway. At around 7:35 - 7:40, people started showing up in droves and lining up at the door.
So at around 7:45, I got out of my nice, warm car and into the bitter freezing (14F) cold and walked up to the line and asked "So are we lining up by ticket number?" And got a lot of puzzled looks. Doh! Guess they didn't know about the ticket system.
By the time 8am rolled around, there were probably 50 to 60 people lined up for Nintendo Wiis. Then a red-shirted Target employee popped his head out and said that everyone could come in, but only people with tickets would be allowed to purchase them.
Despite having ticket #22, I think I was the first person to actually purchase a Wii from them that morning. It was pretty cool to saunter up to the front of the line, buy my Wii, extra Nunchuk (didn't have any extra Wiimotes), and Zelda game and waltz right out in front of all these people who didn't have tickets.
The upshot of this all is that the Nintendo Wii still appears to be in short supply.
And then we have the not-so-happy endings:
So they promised (in person) 20 two days ago, when in reality they had 4.
Had I known that I wouldn't have even bothered attempting.
Anyway, as I'm leaving one of the kids who got a ticket knocks on the window of my car and says, "If you still want one, I'll sell you my ticket for $50."
I told him no thanks and drove off. I refuse to support the scalpers, and if I had any intention of doing so I'd have bought one from ebay or elsewhere several weeks back.
I'd sworn off attempting for a Wii after my last experience missing by 1, but was lured in again by the promise of 20 in stock without having to camp out for 8 hours.
This time though, I'm truly done. Unless it's there in the case or my hand, I'm not going to even consider buying one, and even then, I'm no longer sure. I'm sick of the petty lies and the stupid "Nintendo forces us to hold them" bullshit.
I'm sure I'll have one eventually, but at this point I could basically take it or leave it.
Yikes. Nintendo is in a tough spot right now. They can get more factories moving cranking out the systems to meet demand, but then once things level off they will be stuck with expensive manufacturing facilities they don't need. On the other hand people are getting tired of waiting, and after this many bad experiences in lines or with shady retail folks they may just spend their money elsewhere.
How did you do this morning? I just found out that yet another Ars staffer, Jeff Smykil, was able to find a system. From now on inter-journal arguments will be settled with games of Wii Bowling.
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