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.
I'm so digging how this ended
Ugh, I stayed around in the Cambridge area and my Jeep wouldn't start back up at the Micro Center. My friend picked me up and we zoomed up to the North Shore to check out all the stores. NOTHING. We went back to Cambridge and got my Jeep tower. I'm putting off repairs for a week so I can get a Wii on Wednesday.
it was a dark and stormy night when my phone rang. i knew who it was before answering; 'you know how to use a ds mic, don't you?' she asked, 'you just put you lips together and blow'. we both knew she wanted to get her hands on my wii. but only i knew that a night as cold as the devil's heart stood between me and that eventuality, that and whoever was ahead of me at toys r us. i checked my hip holster for my best friend- and extra ds battery, and realized that jack had inheritted the spirit of mickey spillane.
I'm digging the obscure reference (although Spillane isn't that obscure). "I don't have fans. You know what I got? I have customers. And customers are your friends."
I was the first person out of the store with mine at midnight. Oh what a happy day that was.
My wife somehow got one online in a pack (extra remote, 2 nunchucks and Zelda) and gave it to me for Christmas. I almost crapped my pants since I was expecting a little sheet of paper that said 'A Wii when we can get one'.
Jack, my story is nearly identical. The only difference is that my savior store was Costco, and luckily my friend was a member at the time.
Also, I didn't realize you were so close to me! I'm in the Cambridge/Somerville area.
I paid someone else to stand in line and scored my Wii on week 2 of release.
I preordered my Wii, there wasn't much of a line for the preorder at Gamestop. Then I picked it up at midnight on Nov 19th 😀
Good times…
I picked up my wii on Nov 25, one week after its release. It was also the last one in stock at the EB games. Wasn't expecting to have one in stock and I was debating whether or not to get a current gen console too. My friend still hates me for getting a wii four months before he did! XD