For some, this day started very early - even yesterday. As the lines lengthened, many waited with much anticipation in hope of receiving a Nintendo Wii.

Not every retail stored had a infinite about of units - some, only a few. If you were number 40 in line and the store only had 39, then you were out of luck. Hopefully, you’re not one of those people. Around 7AM there were a ton of people in the Best Buy line patiently awaiting their new Nintendo Wii. Although, I think Best Buy only had a certain amount and not everyone in that line is going to get one - I wouldn’t be happy if i were one of those in the end!

My approach was a little different. I’m generally up to date with the latest on Nintendo and their development schedule for new products. When I placed my pre-order at Toys R Us, Nintendo had not released their official name. At that time everyone knew Nintendo’s next-gen console as Nintendo Revolution. Personally, I did like this name and was shocked when they called it the “Wii”, but like many others, I’ve adapted and really love the new name. You can’t go wrong with Nintendo - they have a good history of making their customers happy. I’ve never had a hardware issue with any of my Nintendo consoles - ever! Well, except for the fact that I had to blow in the games for the original NES, but that was the game and not the system. Who knew if blowing actually worked or if it was just luck - blowing could have been one of those fancy trends that went around!

Today, I woke up at 6:45AM and went into the pre-order line at Toys R Us at about 7:15AM. I believe i was in position 25 - 30 (not sure) and I got my Zelda: Twilight Princess, extra Remote, extra Nunchuck and my Nintendo Wii by 8:15AM. In no time I was home to unveil the goodness and begin my journey in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

What about the people who didn’t pre-order…well, like in the picture above, you’d have to start really early. I drove by that Best Buy around 9PM at Saturday night and there were about 5-10 people already outside (first in line) with a tent set up! That is about 12 hours before the doors opened - that’s nuts! This could have been avoided if gamers stayed up to date with launches and pre-order news in advance. I’m going to do my best of informing gamers through our podcasts on the newest developments.

Of course, I also had my name down at EB Games for the pre-order of Wii, but never got a phone call. Luckily I did the Toys R Us deposit thing early because I didn’t want to end up Wiiless. Needless to say, I’ve lost a lot of faith in EB for their loyalty to their customers. I even called to triple check I on the list and before I knew it, they were doing first come first serve pre-orders with not even 48 hours of notice. This probably isn’t EB’s fault entirely, but they could have at least called everyone to let them know - i found out through the grape vines.

Tom decided to go the Wal-Mart route and started lining up around 3AM Sunday morning; not a bad price to pay to get one of the first 30 Wii’s given from Wal-Mart. When I drove by around 7AM to say “hello” his hands were freezing as he was waiting patiently for this new console! My hat goes off to him for going through this all and my heart goes out to all you gamers who stood by it to support Nintendo. This continuous support will ensure future development of games and consoles from Nintendo.

At Toys R Us, they were only letting in 10 people at a time (or so it seemed) and I was almost through, when I was halted as first in line in the new rotation. Almost got it, i thought. About 5 minutes went by and I initialed my name on the official “pre-order list” and was let into the store. I lined up behind a person who was finishing their transaction so I could begin mine.

I stepped forward and slammed down my pre-order receipt. As I did so, she asked, “is that all”. I paused and thought, “surely I didn’t come this far just to purchase the system only”. I said, “ZELDA PLEASE!!!” And I also picked up an extra Remote and Nunchuck. I almost hit my limit capacity because I was allowed another game. Red Steel is something I would have got, but I think I would be happy with only Nintendo Wii and Zelda…

I had no problem getting everything I needed, but some of my friends couldn’t get extra Remotes or Nunchucks - there is a shortage and they will be shipping more.

I hope to see another shipment of consoles/accessories with in the next 2 weeks. I really need those components cables for my HD TV! Hopefully, more Wii’s will become available for others to enjoy!
This wraps up the launch of Nintendo Wii, the experience and (most importantly) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess! I hope everyone got what they wanted and everyone is happy with the results.

I got mine, did you get yours?