The State Of Wii Preorders

1up has a hilarious article up looking at the state of Wii Preorders across the U.S.. Despite the fact that preorders began (and likely ended) this morning at EBs and Gamestops across the country, the employees of the megalithic game store were less than fully prepared. From the article: "WEST VIRGINIA: GameStop #1330: 'We don't know. I mean, we're gonna be doing reserves. We're just waiting for them to tell us we can.' WISCONSIN: EB Games #4626: 'It looks more like we'll just sell that one. Because there will be 2 to 4 million units available on launch day, and EB/GameStop will be getting 70% of them that first come first serve would be doable. Even a smaller store like ours could be getting upwards of 50 units day one.' WYOMING: EB Games #4294: 'Any day now, man. Any day now.'" Despite my wife's best efforts, I missed out on a preorder by three people in line. Stupid cross-country trips.

Comments

Nursery rhymes

[Anonymous Coward]

This little gamer went to Gamestop.
This little gamer went to EB.
This little gamer got a preorder.
This little gamer got none.
This little gamer cried "Wii Wii Wii" all the way home.

Monday for Canadian Wii preorders

[Frag-A-Muffin]

I went into EB today (I live in Canada), and they said they're doing pre-orders for PS3 and Wiis on Monday morning. You can only get 1 system. Not one of each, they're making you chose!

You need $50 in trade-in credit or $200 cash down.

They're expecting a line up too.

My question: WTF?! :) I don't remember having to line up for a pre-order. Isn't that what a pre-order is suppose to prevent?!? The need to line up on launch day!

This is getting a little out of hand. What's next? The Wii2 launch will require you to line up to get a # so that you can line up to pre-order, and then line up again to pick up on launch day?!

Problem is, I was going to maybe pre-order a PS3 to sell on ebay :) Use that money to buy a Wii! But now they're only letting me pre-order 1 of the systems! Grrr ... I might have to take a risk and get the PS3 anyways, in hopes that I'll be able to find a launch party line up the night before the Wii launch. Afterall, there's supposed to be a lot more Wiis right?!

Re:Monday for Canadian Wii preorders

[HappySqurriel]

I honestly don't know what EB Games is up to ...

Back in 2001 I pre-ordered a Gamecube at Futureshop and when I walked in they must have had (at least) 50 Gamecubes in a pile and everyone who pre-ordered ended up with a system; today, the Wii is launching with (about) twice as many systems as the Gamecube did and EB Games are averaging 10 systems per store for to pre-order. It seems that something is off to me, either EB Games is getting screwed on the number of systems they're getting, or they're purposefully limiting pre-orders.

Which brings me up to my other question ... Why could I pre-order a Gamecube in July in 2001 at Futureshop, and a month before the system launches I still can't pre-order at Futureshop or Best Buy?

Re:Monday for Canadian Wii preorders

[Anonymous Coward]

today, the Wii is launching with (about) twice as many systems as the Gamecube did

This is unconfirmed. A Nintendo executive did give a number, but then another (presumably more important) executive said he was wrong.

That's the answer to all of your questions, actually: Nintendo won't tell EB (or anyone) how many consoles they're getting. EB really wants to avoid a situation where they oversell preorders, so they're being very conservative with their preorder allotment. If rumours are accurate, most EB stores will take preorders for 10-20 consoles, and will receive a shipment of 3-4 times that many for release day.

Re:Monday for Canadian Wii preorders

[alphaseven]

The way you deal with supply/demand imbalance is to raise prices, not make people wait in line.

There is a very good reason for not raising prices, if the Wii or the PS3 was priced higher, then while those companies would make more money, some people would be turned off by the high price and buy an XBOX 360. And once someone already owns a 360 they are less likely to buy another console in the future because of the investment. By pricing the PS3 and Wii lower than demand, instead of buying a 360 people may wait for the other consoles to become available. Also, optimal pricing is hard to predict, like the 360 in Japan (which got a small fraction of consoles compared to North America) and the PSP didn't sell out at launch.

Re:Not certain about the Wii

[ElleyKitten]

If Zelda, WarioWare, Wii Sports, Excite Truck, etc, haven't gotten you excited yet, then stick with your current console(s). Different people like different games, and you'll just be disappointed if you buy a console become other people say it's cool.

Pretty organized

[ShadowsHawk]

I opted for the mall since there was an EB and a Gamestop (and it's indoors). Despite getting there at 9:15, there were lines of over 30 people for each. While I was walking up to the first shop, the manager came out and announced that they would only have 14 units. I hopped back in car and decided to stop by a Gamestop that is on the way back to my house. There was ten people in line already. A few minutes later, the manager came out with donuts and told everyone that they would have 14 units. Very organized over all. They were pressing hard on the pre-ordering of accessories, but that was to be expected. The only confusion was from parents waiting in line. The gentleman behind me knew that his son wanted a Wii, but he had no idea on what it was or what to purchase with it.

Wii: $50
Remote: $10
Zelda TP: $5
Classic controller: $10

Best game ever will be available at launch!

[whyrat]

They'er going to have my favorite game: resell on eBay for double the price!

The sequel is also good: Buy another a few weeks later.

Three reasons

[ivan256]

Three reasons.

1: Interest on $50,000,000 for a month (You really think the costs of running the pre-order operation for a day are going to exceed $4 million?)
2: Gets the customer into the store two times, increasing the opportunity for additional sales
3: Requires the customer to provide personal information that they can sell

Uh.. Zelda?

[xenocide2]

I guess some people have a fascination with serial input busses, but for the rest of us, Zelda on launch is like candy for breakfast.

You're right though: a lot of the other titles are widely ported mass market games. But many of them seem to be somewhat modified -- the Wii version of Madden allows you to use the motion sensor to control the gameplay. Ubisoft is making a racing game using the remote. They put out a plastic steering wheel and you put the remote in it, at which point it can detect you turning it one way or the other. Tom Clany's double agent is well anticipated, but many people I think would rather get it now on another platform than wait a month for the Wii version. There's also Trauma Center, a Wii exclusive and definately not a game that surrounds itself with the familiar; it's a surgery simulation game.

Re:Skunked

[xenocide2]

See, I figure they deliberately undersupplied pre-orders to either encourage retailers to bundle, or to drive up news stories of pre-order sell outs. That, or Gamestop got the short end of the Wii allocation stick somehow.