“Camping out” for a Wii in May
My brother-in-law and I went and waited in line for a Wii this past Saturday. Well, I say waited in line, but it really wasn’t like that.
Pete’s been looking for a Wii for a couple of months… basically 20 minutes after he started playing mine. We found out that Wal-Mart was going to have an undetermined stock at stores in the Kansas City area at 12:01 this past Sunday. The Wal-Mart by his house had a sign up in the game section announcing their availability, so we anticipated the possibility of long lines of people who have been searching for months as well. Around 10:30 on Saturday night we gave up our turns at Wii Bowling at my place and headed over to the nearest Wal-Mart. Luckily, there was no sign at this location, which meant we were the first to arrive. We felt a little silly being the only ones in our little waiting line, but we knew if we were to leave and come back even 15 minutes later we’d probably lose our place. We stayed.
We waited around for about 45 minutes before someone asked if they could help us, and once she learned we were waiting for a Wii, she gave Pete a slip of paper that reserved one of the units for him. After that, we went to a bar across the street for a few beers before heading back around 12:10 to pick up one of the four units they received. The search had ended, and now I wouldn’t have to pack up my Wii and all its accessories any time we wanted to go over to Pete’s house on a Saturday night. Plus, he bought Trauma Center: Second Opinion, which I’ve been wanting to try. Bonus.
Does anyone else find it slightly odd that it’s a little over 7 months since the release of the Nintendo Wii, yet they’re still nearly impossible to find?
A month or so ago I was trying to make small talk with an EB Games employee when I went in to ask if they had any Wiis available, and I suggested that perhaps Nintendo was sitting on a large portion of their stock just to reinforce how popular this console has been compared to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I expected a polite yet awkward dialogue about the subject, but this guy acted like I had made out with his mom right in front of him. I finally had all of his bitching and fanboy posturing that I could stand and left the store mid-conversation.
What do you think? Other popular gaming consoles have overcome their stock shortages in less time than this. Especially with the Wii being made of more commonplace components, what could be causing this shortage, if indeed there really is one?
Incidentally, I’ve stopped going to that EB Games location. Big tip… don’t treat your customers like schmucks. Being socially inept doesn’t excuse poor customer service.
// RELATED UPDATE: Ad Age published an interesting article about the wait for Wiis and when that might end.