The Elusive Nintendo Wii

Earlier today, I was ready to sue Nintendo for mental anguish. Ds1 and Ds2 have been anxious to own the Wii. We've been here and there and to and fro looking for the damn thing. I can't believe that Nintendo decided to release Wii's just a tinkle at a time. Come on! AGH!!! They can't tell me they don't know they would be wildly successful at anything they put out. We didn't even try for the new system on launch day, figuring there was no chance at all for getting one. Then it became apparent that Nintendo was planning to drag this out forever, not getting up to full production...

...until sometime in January. At which point, ds2 began to feel desperate to have the Wii sooner.

So on Sunday the 17th, I was up at 5:00am driving to the nearby small city which is 22 miles away. There were already 20 or so people in line waiting at the GameStop. I didn't even bother looking to see what was going on at the GameCrazy. I headed to the "big city" which is more than 50 miles from there. Ds2 was directing me by phone where to go and try. I happened to pass by a small gaming store, I believe it was a GameStop, but not even sure. At least six or so were in line already. I then went on to a Best Buy, where about 40 people were standing in line. There was a light hazy mist falling while we waited. Within moments, an employee from Best Buy came out to tell us that they only had 15 units and they had already given tickets to the first 15 people in line, most of whom had been waiting in line all night long.

I ended up going back over to that first little shop, and camping out for a while. We didn't have to wait too long, about 20-30 minutes, before the shop owner arrived. He came out within a few minutes and had tickets to give out. He gave out either 6 or 8 tickets. I was two people too late.

Ds2 and I were both very upset. Ds2 had gone back to bed, and I was very hungry. So I decided to stop by one of our local stores that has a pizza oven and makes pretty good pizza. I called ahead to order the pizza, but the pizza department never answered the phone. I went in to order and the lady asked me if I'd like the one sitting under the heat lamp because she was supposed to make only two pizzas, but got carried away and made three. The third one of which happened to be our favorite, pepperoni and black olives. So I felt like God was looking out for us, and felt very grateful for that.

I brought the pizza home and knocked on ds2's bedroom door. I asked him if he were hungry, he was. So I came in and we ate pizza together from the box. I also brought a piece of german chocolate cake. I knew we were both hungry and too depressed to spend time making food. He perked up a little after that, and told me it was a good call to bring home pizza.

So the next possible chance was on Thursday, yesterday. I stopped by a Toys R Us on the way home, to find they had sold out three hours earlier.

Ds2 and I found we had not communicated very well on this venture. He was actually surprised to learn that I'd be willing to "camp" at the small gaming shop. I told him I figured it was a given. And that I'd actually been looking forward to it, because it would be time spent that I wouldn't have to earmark for anything else. Dh is out town, has been for 4.5 weeks and so I've been very stressed, trying to do everything by myself. At any rate, I'd brought Christmas cards to address, and my crocheting. Because ds2 now knew I was willing to camp, he wondered if I'd be willing to camp early Friday morning. As he perused the "where do I find a Wii" boards, he started feeling the chances were slim to none and he told me he had given up on the idea of getting a Wii until end of January.

I had already decided I'd check the local shops in the small town we live close to, so I set out about 9:30am. I first stopped by Kmart and asked if they were expecting a shipment before Christmas. She said maybe Sunday.

I then went by the GameCrazy and asked them if they were expecting any Wii's today. They said I should check by around 3:00 to 4:00pm.

Next I stopped at GameStop. I was waiting in a line so I could ask, and the lady in front of me turns around and says, "That line over there is if you are buying something. This line is for the Wii." My eyes almost bugged out of my head, and I saw several Wii boxes... I wondered how they got hold of so many. After a couple of seconds I tapped the lady on the shoulder and asked her, "So do they really have the damn things?" She said they only had three, and there was a big line a while ago, but when they found out only three came in, everyone left. I waited around until the two people (#2 and #3) in front of me actually paid for their Wii, then I left. I wanted to make sure there wasn't some fluke with their credit card! I would sure be happy to buy theirs if they couldn't, for whatever reason.

Then I checked at Walmart. Then I stopped at Dairy Queen for a small cone.

Funny thing... as I took the first lick, it tasted kind of like it burned my tongue and had an acidic bite to it, almost like alcohol, but more like fermented something. I took 3-4 licks, and decided it was spoiled. If it were my own fermented concoction, I'd have eaten it, but since it was from a fast food joint, I didn't want to take any chances of getting sick. Hopefully the kefir I've ingested in the past year will keep me from getting ill from that little bit of spoiled ice cream that I had. I did go back and get another cone. The lady apologized and got me one from the "front" machine.

There was another Walmart 20 miles away, so I went there next. This is a small town and you can tell most people are poor there. I walked in the store and had walked about halfway into it, when I heard this over the intercom, "Attention: There are 2 Nintendo Wii's available in Electronics." I noticed a man in front of me lurched to the right and started walking very fast. I could have sworn I heard one or two people whoop somewhere in the store. I anticipated finding dozens or hundreds of people trying to get those TWO Nintendo Wii's. When I got back there, I was #3 of 3 people. Total. Just three of us. And of course, #1 was the man I'd seen walking fast, and #2 wanted the other Wii.

I again waited, in case their credit cards didn't work for whatever reason... but they both worked just fine. I then just asked the lady if they were expecting another shipment by Christmas and she said that was the last one they expected until after Christmas followed by, "Sorry, Sweetie."

I had some shopping to do. I forgot to charge ds2's cell phone last night, so his battery was totally dead. My car charger wasn't working, so I had no cell phone. I was so distraught that I went to find a pay phone. I called ds2 and told him, "No Wii's here. None." And then I told him what happened. I was really upset about it, and crying, and mad at Nintendo for doing this.

I'm using ds2's phone because he had 2600 anytime minutes, and I was down to about 160 with eight days left until the cycle ends. So I've been carrying his phone. We each get 3000 anytime minutes. A grandfathered plan from T-Mobile from 5 years ago.

So I was pretty upset, actually crying in the store. I did a bit of grocery shopping and paid. I had to stop at another store, to pick up the "shred". Did that, and headed back to the small town. I had plans to go to the GameCrazy and ask if they got their shipment in, if they had not, I was going to ask if I could be #1 in a line someplace in the store.

There was a lot of traffic in the small town. Very congested, very unlike this small town to have this much congestion and traffic. I finally got to the GameCrazy and went in. The same young man was there.

Me: "So did your shipment of Wii's come in?"

Employee #1: "I'm noooooot surrrrrre."

Ambles over to Employee #2 who says to me: "What was the name?"

Employee #1 to Employee #2 (barely discernable): "She came in asking earlier today."

Employee #2 motioning toward cash register: "Go ahead, give her that one."

Employee #1 walking towards me: "We have ONE left. We just got our shipment about half an hour ago."

Me, incredulously: "You're kidding!?"

Employee #1: "Nope. It's yours."

Me: "YOU'RE KIDDING!? OH my gosh, I'll take it. And one of those and one of those. And do you have those nunchuck things? What does it come with? I have to buy some games, but I don't know which ones and my cell phone is completely dead."

Employee #1: "Here you go, use our phone."

I notice they didn't try to push that GameCrazy membership card on me. Had I thought about it, I would have bought one, because I think it takes something like 15% off your first purchase!! Dang! Anyway. I'll list off everything I bought. In case you think we're rich, we aren't. The initial purchase was paid for with plastic and this is the only Christmas present anyone is getting this year. Ds2 has been saving his money toward this game system, and had $160 for me when I got home. Also, my MIL has generously agreed to pay for half, which I don't know for sure how much "half" will be, since the console itself costs $250 before you add anything else to it.

• Wii Sports Bundle $249.99
• Wii Points Card $19.99
• Wii Game - Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess $49.99
• Wii Nunchuck $19.99 (an extra, so two can play)
• Wii Remote Controller $39.99 (an extra, so two can play)
• Wii Classic Controller (2) $19.99/each (to be used for playing "classic" Nintendo, which apparently the old controllers should work, if you have them)
• Wii Game - Call of Duty III $49.99
• Wii Game - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 $49.99
• Service Contract through GameCrazy $29.99 (1 year add'tl warranty for 2 years total)
• Tax $47.30

Grand Total -- $597.20. OUCH.

Ds2 paid $160, so that leaves $437.20. If MIL pays half of that, that leaves us responsible for $218.60. My mom will probably give us some money for Christmas, so maybe we can apply that directly to the Wii fund.

I was so happy that I was thanking God for this small miracle. It will really take a load off my mind.

Until next time.