Long-time Infendo fanman Jack Loftus tells the story of how he bought a Wii on launch day.
It’s dark. My alarm is going off, and I can hear my cell phone ringing on volume level 5, the highest setting. It’s my friend Fitz, the driver for today. He’s outside already. Great. I throw on yesterday’s clothes and bolt out the door. Same shirt, different day. I double, then triple check my wallet. I’ll do that again when we finally reach the store. Nightmare scenario: Waiting in line for hours to get a Wii, then check your back pocket and you grasp nothing but air. It’s there though, so I jump in the car and we tear down the road to the Watertown Best Buy/Target plaza.
We had decided to forgo the waiting overnight plan in Framingham in lieu of a foolhardy break of morning jaunt to a Best Buy just outside of Boston. Should have listened to Reggie. The spin wasn’t spin this time — there were actually going to be shortages today. The line at Best Buy stretches down and around the mall’s outside walls and reaches the Target on the opposite end. I guessed 150 people, but you’d be pretty safe betting the over on that one. Target is empty, because they already gave out all their tickets. Only a handful of kids remained behind, telling people like us the bad news: “There is no Wii for you here today.”
We burn out of the parking lot with a squeal of the tires and a wave to the local cop, who was probably there because of the rowdy PS3 launch days earlier. He would be largely unnecessary with all us “Wii hippies” keeping the peace today. Make fun, not war, right?
Thirty minutes later we hit Toys R Us in Dedham, because Fitz lives that way and the line had been only a handful of people when he left an hour earlier. It was bigger now, but nowhere near the 84 consoles the store had been promised. We run into the line so fast that I forget my DS Lite and phat in the car. No time for games. We wait.
Three hours after that, I’m bowling.
Originally published November 20, 2006, the day after Wii launched in America.