My Wii Timeline:
Week of Nov. 13 – Decide I want a Wii. Speak to friends about lining up to get one. Really getting hyped up.
Friday, Nov. 16 – Nick and I plan on going to Circuit City at 4AM on Saturday night because they are supposed to hand out vouchers at 9AM for the 50 units they’ll have on launch day (18th). The store opens at 10 AM.
Saturday, Nov. 17, Midnight – Nick calls me and says he decided to just go check it out now. He ends up lining up while I am at home furiously refreshing the Amazon website because they said they’d release units in the morning PST. Of course, people took this to mean 12 AM PST.
3AM – Still no sign of the Amazon package.
3:45 AM – I go to sleep, to prepare …
7:20 AM – I wake up because Costco.com is supposed to release units at 8AM. They said it’s be prominently displayed on their website.
8:05 AM – There is a tiny Wii banner on the right nav of the website. If you’re lucky, when you click it, it’ll take you to a page with 4 Wii games. No console.
8:35 AM – I find out by reading message boards that the only way to order it was to use the Order By Item # link on the top of the page. But wait, how would the Average Joe know this number? Well, they wouldn’t. The only people that did know were those on the message boards where a Costco employee posted a cameraphone picture of the product screen off one of the cash registers. You could make out the item number from the blurry picture.
8:40 AM – Banner removed from Costco website. Replaced with Wii Sold Out.
8:45 AM – Prepare to head over to Costco Warehouse where they were selling 24 unit to join Nick. He informs me to forget it because he was number 25. We decided to try KB Toys in the La Cumbre Plaza. I meet him there and it’s not open yet. Things look grim. So we head over to Software Etc to find a crowd lined up for the 10 AM opening. From a previous conversation I knew they would not have any units and I told the people in line but they were sure they would have some. Since we were already both so tired, we go in line as well. Two employees arrived and two mall security guards. They were very nervous there would be some PS3 + Wal-Mart ghetto-ness, but it was non-eventful. Nick went in and bought two games (DS and Gamecube).
Nov. 18 to 22 – I spend days trying to get one online. No luck
Nov. 23 – Ted and I decide to try our luck at a Gamestop store. I found out they were holding stock for sale on Black Friday. Each store would have a few. Ted asked the guy at the store in the mall and he said nine units. Each Gamestop store would open at 7AM. So now we were stuck with the big question, when should you line up? Ideally, you want to be the last people in line because that means you waited the least amount of time and stil get a unit. We decide 6AM (1 hour before opening). Steph, Ronald and I go to watch Casino Royale. After it’s over, I give Ted a call and he says the mall is opening at 4 AM and the Gamestop was opening at 5. This was good news because it means the line is dictated by mall policies. You cannot camp out at the mall and the longest anyone could stand in line was 1 hour. We decide to pull an all nighter.
1:30 to 3:00 AM – We play Guitar Hero II at Ronald’s house while he attempts to sleep.
3:00 to 3:45 AM – Steph, Ted, and I go to IHOP for a very quick breakfast.
3:50 AM – We get to the Montebello Town Center and notice there are two lines. One in the center and one by JC Penny. We get into the middle line behind a bunch of people who basically formed a mass of people rather than a line. We start eyeing the other people to see who might be there for a console. We spot a group of WBGF’s and I don’t like how things are looking.
4:07 AM – Mall security hasn’t let us in yet. We look over to JC Penny and the crowd is GONE! We don’t know what to do. I don’t want to lose my place in line but did they aren’t opening this door! Steph runs over to JC Penny and soon she’s inside. She gives me a call. Ted and I rush over and by the time I get to Gamestop, she’s first in line. I am second and she gives the spot to Ted while she goes shopping at 4 in the morning!
4 AM – 5 AM – It’s very uncomfortable and we try to sleep but we can’t. We just mainly people watch. There’s a slow group of people lining up but to be honest, besides the first 5 people, nobody really is there for the Wii. Thirty minutes into it, this lanky fat kid walks by and holds up a digital camera nervously. He’s shaking and asks “Hey everyone. What are you here for?” People are confused. He continues, “The Wii?” and we answer yes. Then he starts running away and says, “I already have one!” Everyone does not know what to do. He does this again two more times. Look for me on YouTube soon.
5:10 AM – They announce they have six consoles and let us in slowly. I buy the first one along with Red Steel, Ted buys the second. I am thinking we are going to get robbed now so I want to leave ASAP but Ted wants to get a belt, so we walk around a bit. A BELT!
5:25 AM – We get home and hit the sack.
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