[zerostar]

A friend called and Target has 48, they passed out tickets and had 20 extra so people are heading up there now... Since he woke me up I am going to try Amazon tonight and see if I can snag one.

[goMac]

Tried Fred Meyers. They had 90 available, about 150 people in line. Couldn't get one, will try morning launches tomorrow.

Costco is getting units in 2 days, and they will let anyone with a business membership in an hour early. Gamestop also receives a second batch of units in 2 days.

[zerostar]

ToysRUs in Times Square had/has 5K units, open till 3AM for anyone close by...

[starman]

5k???????????

Damn, had I known I would have swung by. Oh, well.

[itai195]

Thought I might have a shot at Target, but drove past 3 of them and there are already tons of people camping outside. I'll try Amazon tomorrow, not that I'll mind that much if I have to wait a few weeks to get one.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Hold on to your Wiimote... Red steal gets a score of 5.5:
Red Steel for Wii Review - Wii Red Steel Review

Dated graphics, bad controls, bad AI.

I see you sitting in the corner of a room, at your desk, pecking away at your keyboard. You're searching the Internet for each and every bad review of Wii hardware or a Wii game that you can before gleefully posting it on MacNN. As soon as you click "submit reply," you start cackling wildly, clapping your hands and bouncing in your chair.

I guess if 100% of the Wii games don't get a score of 75% or more, you count the Wii launch as a debacle?

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by itai195 

Thought I might have a shot at Target, but drove past 3 of them and there are already tons of people camping outside. I'll try Amazon tomorrow, not that I'll mind that much if I have to wait a few weeks to get one.

Yeah. I went by Wal-Mart at 8 since they advertised today that they'd have plenty for their midnight launch. It was already sold out there, and the people in line were like, "Well, you might be able to get one from Target if you hurry and camp there right now."

I do mind, but you know, whatever. It ain't as though my being pissed off is going to alter the order of the universe. I just don't get why nobody but one store in New York managed to secure a decent supply of the things. Apparently there were enough for one store to get 5,000.

[lasvegasgamer]

Currently camping out in front of a ::shudder:: Wal-Mart. Got here at 9 or so.

Various calls around shows the much preferred Target having 33 units. Sadly, the closest target has banned camping out lines for both their Wii and PS3 launch (leading to a riot almost braking out before the PS3 rollout when they announced to a crowd of 40 they only had 8) so Wal-Mart is the only option.

Early calls to this location revealed a guess/estimate of 60 units. Calls today promised a much lower 20. I'm #10, so I should be safe. Random stockpeople did a count of 30, so we've had some people willing to take a shot behind us.

After a fight (unrelated to Wii) breaking out in the parking lot (cops galore) and watching the Wal-Mart employees playing bumper cars with the handicapped scooter-carts in the cart area, it's VERY cold. We're hunkered down for the last few hours, somewhat pissed that 24 hour supercenter customers are already Wii-ing it up.

[Gamoe]

The stars were with me tonight. I was able to get a Wii thanks to my good friend. Sorry to those of you who've been going through so much trouble to get one, yet have not been able too. I really hope you can get your hands on one as soon as possible.

Wii Sports is fun. I'm headed out tomorrow to get a game or two more for the system as well.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Hold on to your Wiimote... Red steal gets a score of 5.5:
Red Steel for Wii Review - Wii Red Steel Review

Dated graphics, bad controls, bad AI.

A 5.5 from Gamespot is not good. Still, I didn't expect it to be a great game.

[zerostar]

FYI Amazon never got any up for order yesterday or today, sears.com is taking orders but I don't trust them enough to order one from there. I will check locally and see next week if I don't find one.

[goMac]

Got one at Target. Going to pick it up now. #32 out of 60.

[itai195]

Target, TRU, and Best Buy are no go this morning. Too many people I tells ya.

[itai195]

On a tip from GAF, I ordered one at microcenter.com. We'll see if that turns out to be legitimate... I guess Costco decided not to sell theirs at 8AM like they said they would.

Edit: Hmm now Costco has a sold out banner on their homepage. Guess this went the way of most online Wii sales and was over in like .03 seconds.

[lasvegasgamer]

Well, I'm back from my 9 hour ordeal.

Success, you ask?
Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

To give you an idea of how addicting the Wii is, let's put it this way. The 4 of us that went vowed to go right to bed after getting our Wii, we were DEAD tired. That was 4 hours ago, I have to pass out in a few because I can't handle any more Wii sports.

About Wii Sports specifically, I don't know why people are hating on it. It's really fun and a great way to orient yourself to the Wiimote. Gamespot misses the point with the review, it's not meant to own the world and get a 10, it's meant to get people playing with their new console and having fun, and it works.

If anyone else has any questions about the console, I'll try to answer. One thing for those of you who live in dorms (like me) or small studios...this console loves space. I tried to play it through a TV tuner plugged into my BlackBook and it didn't work well. I headed over to a big screen in the next, rather spacious, room and it worked like a champ.

[lavar78]

Originally Posted by itai195 

On a tip from GAF, I ordered one at microcenter.com. We'll see if that turns out to be legitimate... I guess Costco decided not to sell theirs at 8AM like they said they would.

I ordered at Microcenter, but I have a feeling they're going to cancel. Amazon sold out in a minute.

Guess I'll be waiting...

[kman42]

Do Costco stores have them or just online?

[ort888]

Sounds like the Wii sold out right away. I'm fairly surprised.

[itai195]

I really should've known better. It's getting next to impossible to get a console on launch day in the Bay Area unless you camp out the night before.

[Chuckit]

There's more shipments expected very soon. My local Target is getting more either today or tomorrow. I'm expecting tomorrow, since then I'll be at work.

[MaxPower2k3]

Toys R Us in Times Square had 5000 units. I didn't go to the midnight launch, but apparently 2500-3000 people did. Store re-opened at 11, so I wouldn't be surprised if the rest are sold out by now. I'm still debating whether to get one or not. I'm in a very small dorm room, so if there's 3 people in here all trying to play, I just don't think it's gonna work

[funkboy]

It sold out here. Quite a bummer, it seems to be quite popular. I really didn't think availability on launch day would be a big deal. Since the tech is not nearly as fancy as what's in a PS3 or even XBox 360 (correct me if I'm wrong), shouldn't Nintendo have been able to push more out the door?

I sure hope I can get one in the next couple of days, it looks really fun.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

There's more shipments expected very soon. My local Target is getting more either today or tomorrow. I'm expecting tomorrow, since then I'll be at work.

Really, tomorrow? Hmm, maybe I'll stop by some places. I have trouble trusting what anyone at Target, Best Buy, etc tells me though. I'll probably end up waiting until I can order one online, it's going to be a total crapshoot trying to get one from a store.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by funkboy 

It sold out here. Quite a bummer, it seems to be quite popular. I really didn't think availability on launch day would be a big deal. Since the tech is not nearly as fancy as what's in a PS3 or even XBox 360 (correct me if I'm wrong), shouldn't Nintendo have been able to push more out the door?

They did push way more out the door than either of those systems. They apparently had even more ready, too. It sounds like most stores just ordered too few.

Originally Posted by itai195 

Really, tomorrow? Hmm, maybe I'll stop by some places. I have trouble trusting what anyone at Target, Best Buy, etc tells me though.

Eh, I don't think the manager would make up a truck being on the way.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Eh, I don't think the manager would make up a truck being on the way.

Ahh, well in that case I might trust it

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

I see you sitting in the corner of a room, at your desk, pecking away at your keyboard. You're searching the Internet for each and every bad review of Wii hardware or a Wii game that you can before gleefully posting it on MacNN. As soon as you click "submit reply," you start cackling wildly, clapping your hands and bouncing in your chair.

I guess if 100% of the Wii games don't get a score of 75% or more, you count the Wii launch as a debacle?

If you feel better thinking that go nuts but it doesn't change anything about the game. Sorry.

I went to a few stores this morning. All sold out but they are getting more mid week.

[kman42]

I went by costco to get gas and saw a line outside about 30 minutes before they opened. I parked to see what was going on and got ticket #40 out of 48. I now have a wii in my trunk and I'm just waiting to finish up at work to check it out. Came with Zelda and Excite Truck.

kman

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ort888 

Sounds like the Wii sold out right away. I'm fairly surprised.

Every system always does dude no matter the price or quantity, it is all hype driven.

a month from now there will be wii's all over the place for sale. Prob not PS3's though until sony gets their ass in gear.

P.s. I got Zelda but no wii

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Tried Fred Meyers. They had 90 available, about 150 people in line. Couldn't get one, will try morning launches tomorrow.

Costco is getting units in 2 days, and they will let anyone with a business membership in an hour early. Gamestop also receives a second batch of units in 2 days.

I went to the Fred Meyer (Bellevue/Overlake store) yesterday evening. I got there by 5pm and I was #42. The store had 54 console in stock. Some people got here like 11:30 pm or even mid-night and wish to get a hold of the Wii.. not a chance.

Since the store is right across the Microsoft campus, there were some Microsoft folks came down and gave away stuff to us. They even gave out a Xbox 360 to a guy who stripped down to his boxers and the a copy of Gears of War one dude who wasn't even waiting in line. Later, they had pizza and drinks for us.

After I got the Wii at around 12:30am, I drove down to BestBuy (Bellevue store) and saw about 15 campers. The store wasn't opened till Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, I love the Wii. The remote is fantastic. My Xbox 360 is jealous.

BTW, I have problem connecting to the network. It discovered my linksys wireless router but failed to connect after I typed in my WPA2 passcode.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

If you feel better thinking that go nuts but it doesn't change anything about the game. Sorry.

I went to a few stores this morning. All sold out but they are getting more mid week.

Just for clarification: I don't hate you at all.

[goMac]

Here's my impressions so far. I'm on around a 36" SD tv.

As far as I can see, my Wii did not come with an update disc. However, upon taking it online it downloaded two updates. The menu structure for the console changed after the updates.

Remote works well. Adding my second wiimote was kinda a pain. You have to hold down the sync button on the remote and console at the same time, but they're both working now. I browsed the Wii online store and it doesn't look fully populated yet. I did buy Wii credits and a classic controller but have yet to try both.

The first game I tried was Rayman Raving Rabbids. Overall the game is pretty fun. Graphically it's good, although there are some lapses, mostly in the stadium. The stadium almost looks like it came out of an N64 game, but the rest of the game looks great. Overall it's a good party game. Some reviews noted that it doesn't have simul multiplayer. This is not true. Almost all the games have simul multiplayer. A select few don't. In fact, it's a lot of fun playing the shooting games in simul mode.

The second game I got was Zelda. The world is huge, which does cause one issue. On Zelda 64, within the first hour potentially, you can be out on the fields of Hyrule in a nice open space. In this one, the world is so big the game really doesn't want to let you out into it yet. So, I'm still stuck in the starting forest area, but I've started the first temple. Controls again are good. You do have to finish your motion for the sword swing to register, which isn't a huge deal. The button is still in place once you Z-Target to hack and slash all you want. Also, the speaker in the Wiimote is not high quality. The remote plays a lot of sounds, and they sound ok, but not great. If you want you can turn these off.

Edit: Oh, also a weird thing, you can only have one secondary weapon at a time, but you can have 3 in que to swap to your B button.

The graphics are gorgeous. I mean, sure, if you look really close you'll seem some seams, but the direction and the graphics themselves are great.

I also bought Monkey Ball but I haven't started playing it yet.

Hopefully I'll come back soon with VC info and Monkey Ball info.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Here's my impressions so far. I'm on around a 36" SD tv.

As far as I can see, my Wii did not come with an update disc. However, upon taking it online it downloaded two updates. The menu structure for the console changed after the updates.

Remote works well. Adding my second wiimote was kinda a pain. You have to hold down the sync button on the remote and console at the same time, but they're both working now. I browsed the Wii online store and it doesn't look fully populated yet. I did buy Wii credits and a classic controller but have yet to try both.

The first game I tried was Rayman Raving Rabbids. Overall the game is pretty fun. Graphically it's good, although there are some lapses, mostly in the stadium. The stadium almost looks like it came out of an N64 game, but the rest of the game looks great. Overall it's a good party game. Some reviews noted that it doesn't have simul multiplayer. This is not true. Almost all the games have simul multiplayer. A select few don't. In fact, it's a lot of fun playing the shooting games in simul mode.

The second game I got was Zelda. The world is huge, which does cause one issue. On Zelda 64, within the first hour potentially, you can be out on the fields of Hyrule in a nice open space. In this one, the world is so big the game really doesn't want to let you out into it yet. So, I'm still stuck in the starting forest area, but I've started the first temple. Controls again are good. You do have to finish your motion for the sword swing to register, which isn't a huge deal. The button is still in place once you Z-Target to hack and slash all you want. Also, the speaker in the Wiimote is not high quality. The remote plays a lot of sounds, and they sound ok, but not great. If you want you can turn these off.

Edit: Oh, also a weird thing, you can only have one secondary weapon at a time, but you can have 3 in que to swap to your B button.

The graphics are gorgeous. I mean, sure, if you look really close you'll seem some seams, but the direction and the graphics themselves are great.

I also bought Monkey Ball but I haven't started playing it yet.

Hopefully I'll come back soon with VC info and Monkey Ball info.

So the question is...do you like it?

[Gamoe]

Originally Posted by goMac 

However, upon taking it online it downloaded two updates. The menu structure for the console changed after the updates.

My friends and I set up my Wii first and we wanted to get right to playing, but I decided to set up the Wi-Fi connection first, which was really easy to do, as I just added the Wii to my router's list of MAC addresses. Unfortunately, we were then forced to wait through various minutes of online updates. Seriously, these things keep on getting more complicated, and that's with the "least complicated" of the three new gen. consoles.

I was debating whether to place it horizontally or vertically, but I decided on placing it vertically as Nintendo wants you too, as it looks very nice besides my mac mini.

I browsed through the online store, but I also saw nothing of much interest there either. It's too bad.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

So the question is...do you like it?

I've only played it for a few hours so I haven't passed judgement on it yet in relation to previous systems. But it's definitely fun. I wouldn't worry about picking it up and not having fun. I've just scratched the surface on the games really, so I can't really extract any deeper thoughts on them right now.

And I'm pretty tired after standing in lines last night and this morning.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Gabriel Morales 

I browsed through the online store, but I also saw nothing of much interest there either. It's too bad.

It almost looks like the online store is running late. They were missing quite a few VC launch titles, and Opera wasn't ready.

And the VC titles they have are still a little pricey at this point. What was it... 7 or 8 bucks for Genesis games?

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

They did push way more out the door than either of those systems. They apparently had even more ready, too. It sounds like most stores just ordered too few.

I don't think it's a question of them ordering too few. I was traveling in the Chicago area today and so I went by a few stores to see how things were. Of course I already have my system on its way from Amazon so I wasn't trying to get a console, but I was looking for an extra remote. By chance I happened to stop by a Kmart exactly as they were opening. Strangely, they already had signs up saying that they were sold out of the Wii, but I found out that they actually did have two systems (their entire shipment). I saw them both getting immediately bought, even though Kmart was apparently forcing them to buy two games and an accessory. However, they only had one remote and one nunchuk, so the second guy had to buy a Nunchuk with no remote to connect it to.

Best Buy had a temporary area near the front for the WiiI, accessories and games, but they were all sold out of systems and controllers, although they had plenty of games. I think they said they got 30-some systems. Target was the only place where I actually saw systems, although they were all already spoken for by people who had apparently been given tickets. They wouldn't let me buy any controllers or games while there were still people with tickets checking out (which was fair enough). I think someone said they got 63 systems, which they sold easily.

Later I went to Sears and they said they got 2 in (maybe not surprising since Kmart and Sears are the same company now). The woman acted like they were in great demand. They did have one nunchuk, one classic controller, and one remote on the shelves. I snapped up the remote just as someone else picked up the nunchuk. I decided to also get the classic controller too since it's not that expensive and I wanted to see how it compared to the Gamecube controller.

Anyway, everywhere sold out within minutes after the system was made available. I'm sure Kmart and Sears would have liked to have more than 2 , and I'm sure all of the locations I visited could have sold a lot more of the systems than they got.

By the way, I also finally located some Wii Target gift cards (the ones that light up blue). They are easily the coolest gift cards around.

[Kenneth]

I found out that the Wii doesn't like B or G-only mode. It works fine with mixed mode on most wireless routers. That's strange.

Anyone having problem with the News/Forecast channel?

[kman42]

Where do I find the bait to catch the big fish so that I can lure the cat back?

[goMac]

Originally Posted by kman42 

Where do I find the bait to catch the big fish so that I can lure the cat back?

You don't. Here's how you fish:

1) Cast your reel.
2) Wait until your level indicator reaches the top red mark. This means a fish is pulling on it.
3) Pull back on the line by pulling back the Wiimote.
4) Reel it in by turning the nunchuck like you were reeling it in.
5) After you catch it you let it go, and the cat grabs it.

[Daveecee]

Originally Posted by Kenneth 

I found out that the Wii doesn't like B or G-only mode. It works fine with mixed mode on most wireless routers. That's strange.

Anyone having problem with the News/Forecast channel?

Forecast channel is coming Dec. 14th, and the News channel is coming Jan. 27th.

[starman]

Went to my local GS. No Wiis until Wed.

Figured out the lag problem. When you start the system, the remote has to be in a relative area to where you're going to use it. If it's off, you get lag. Resetting the system fixes it.

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by Daveecee 

Forecast channel is coming Dec. 14th, and the News channel is coming Jan. 27th.

Thanks for telling.

[idyll]

well, i got a few.. i don't think i'm too crazy about it and will sell it
i'm not too fond of the controls. i knew what i was getting into, but they do require some energy from you.. i just realized i prefer to sit and relax when playing my games. i haven't had a gaming system for at least four years now and i'm starting to get back into it. i think i'll get an xbox 360 instead, gears of war looks amazing..

[Gossamer]

Okay, I just got back from a friend's (who waited outside BB for 18 hours to get it) and I'll give my review:

-Wii Sports
--Golf: Pretty fun, a bit tricky
--Tennis: Quite fun once you get the hang of it
--Bowling: A blast, but occasionally had problems letting go of the ball. I think I hit 180 or so my first time
--Baseball: Pretty fun, but I wish there was some fielding involved instead of automatically deciding your base. Also, the straight behind view makes the ball hard to hit, it would be easier from a bit higher up
--Boxing: Not bad, hitting was occasionally difficult, but it was easy to work up a sweat

-Red Steel (multiplayer)
--Very steep learning curve, we had to set sensitivity down to low to be able to do anything at all. Controls were very hard to use, close combat fighting was nearly impossible. Hitting targets was fairly difficult, grenades were hard to throw correctly, if I could get it off at all it usually just went the opposite way and killed me
--Novel game, not very good. Maybe if I played a lot I could get used to it, but not after 10-20 minutes.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Gossamer 

-Wii Sports
--Golf: Pretty fun, a bit tricky
--Tennis: Quite fun once you get the hang of it
--Bowling: A blast, but occasionally had problems letting go of the ball. I think I hit 180 or so my first time
--Baseball: Pretty fun, but I wish there was some fielding involved instead of automatically deciding your base. Also, the straight behind view makes the ball hard to hit, it would be easier from a bit higher up
--Boxing: Not bad, hitting was occasionally difficult, but it was easy to work up a sweat

Yeah, I just got done playing Wii sports. It's ok. Not great.

Zelda and Rabbids and my favorite so far.

[Gamoe]

Originally Posted by goMac 

It almost looks like the online store is running late. They were missing quite a few VC launch titles, and Opera wasn't ready.

And the VC titles they have are still a little pricey at this point. What was it... 7 or 8 bucks for Genesis games?

Yep, I looked for Opera as well and nothing. And the VC games are too expensive in my view, too, specially for something you can't sell off or trade later (which I have a fundamental problem with).

I picked up Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Red Steel (in spite of the low review). I haven't played either much, but so far I am more satisfied with Wii Sports than with either of these titles. I wish I could trade these for other games instead. Red Steel I'm still going to give more of a chance too, but Ultimate Alliance doesn't do much for me

[ambush]

So does red steel suck?

It looked damn fun in the videos on IGN................

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by ambush 

So does red steel suck?

It looked damn fun in the videos on IGN................

The general consensus seems to be, "Yes, it sucks."

From what I understand, Call of Duty 3 is much better on Wii. Some of the editors on IGN said that the control scheme worked out for Metroid Prime 3 is MUCH better than the one on Red Steel, but we might not see that game for a while.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

The general consensus seems to be, "Yes, it sucks."

Reviews seem to be mixed. Some good, some bad. But it's definitely not the next Goldeneye, and it wasn't part of my launch plans.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

The general consensus seems to be, "Yes, it sucks."

From what I understand, Call of Duty 3 is much better on Wii. Some of the editors on IGN said that the control scheme worked out for Metroid Prime 3 is MUCH better than the one on Red Steel, but we might not see that game for a while.

Please keep in mind that the media and many people here claimed the recent builds of red steel "had all the control issues worked out and handled like a dream". Also according to the scathing 1up review they said it wasn't the same graphic level they originally promised, the graphics are so bad you can't spot snipers and the AI is dumb.