@Kyle81: @NeoAkira:

Strange. Living in the Ft. Lauderdale area, I've never seen a single Wii in stores.

I guess I just do too much shopping late at night or online or something.

JasonTerminator

Confirms this. People chase our UPS truck and they hustle in a bit faster and stand at the counter when the UPS guy comes just in case "something special" came in.

TheKbob

@JasonTerminator:

really? I live in LA and I've seen them around. Granted not more than 2 at a time in store, but I've still seen them.

NeoAkira

@JasonTerminator: In miami area, seen Wii's all the time before the holidays. The systems sell out fairly quick but have been to five seperate stores which had Wii's on shelves to be bought. Doubt any of those stores had the systems more than a day though, outside of Costco, which I now had systems for several days.

Kyle81

I wonder if the stalkers are ebay/craigslisters or actually people who want the system for their spoiled children.

booyaka

lol, it's funny how there is soo many shortages. i got it day one and still have it. pretty bored of it though.

and my brothers CAD class is opening up a Wii to see all the guts of it. the laser was broken so yeah. they're trying to make a 5-disc changer for it. i doubt it'll work.

PS~ it wasn't mine!

Akmed

I love it how some people make it seem like the Wii only has one good game worth buying for.

Is is because they simply don't like the Wii and/or because they're jealous of Nintendo's success ?

Hiltz

@NeoAkira:
Not all places have had Wiis in stores. I personally have not seen a Wii in person since I bought one last December. In highly populated areas, a wild Wii sighting is more rare than seeing a goddamn live dodo.

JasonTerminator

@mva5580: Exactly. I opted out of Christmas years ago because of all the stupid crap that goes with it. You shouldn't get someone a gift just because it's a holiday and you feel obligated to. You should give it of your own free will, without influence of societal pressures.

SilentPredator

Also why is it everybody has to bash the wii in everytopic. Especially bashing it with false info.

majortom1981

Its not that hard to figure out routes if you live in the area. I know that at my house I am always the last delivery because I am really close to the ups warehouse for the area . They come to my house last aty the end of the day.

majortom1981

Hey, at least there will be plenty of PS3s and 360s around, right?! Let the parents by the Wii! Good thing I got mine last year.

Saint Anima

Whatever ever happened to that "loving" wii crowd?

exkon

l2pre-order is all i gotta say =p

Zaos

If you are that dedicated, why not just wait out in front of a store early in the morning when you know that they will have a shipment, such as when the Sunday ads come out? I mean, I waited out front for a few hours on launch day and it wasn't that bad. There have been several times since April that I have seen Wiis on shelves, so if you waited until the last possible minute, you may be S.O.L.

kingofallcosmos

If these people had put half as much effort into finding a Wii IN STORES like 3 weeks ago, they'd be rolling in Wiis right now.

NeoAkira

Why is it so hard for them to manufacture the Wii? I'm just curious because it's not like it's using revolutionary technology or needing to manufacture blue lasers. Oh well, glad that I don't need a video game system to do real things like go bowling or get exercise.

dalejrfanfreak

Maybe I could understand this kind of behavior if it was for something awesome.

...but it's for a bleeping Wii. What the hell?! What are those kids going to do when they realize the only games they'll have to play are Galaxy and that free tech demo?

Lethal_Dosage

I was working (was, no longer is) at Circuit City at the time of the Wii and PS3 release, and we were a new store, so the UPS and Fedex trucks dropped their shipments off in front of the stores. On more than one occasion I would have to shoo away customers harassing the delivery people. They were like vultures with Minivans and bottled water, it was scary. Soccer Mom's are vicious man, freaking vicious!

redstar918

Stalking the UPS guy ... So that's where most of the stolen stuff on ebay are from!

Earthslide

@Furious_Liver: i hear vanessa hudgins is topless in it

bigman88zz

wait, ups drivers taste like steak?

bigman88zz

And here we have the 180 degree story of yesterday's 9 year old child donating a Wii to a foster care toy drive for Christmas.

Talk about some truly pathetic people here. Get a freaking life. And what I don't truly understand is, why don't these idiots just buy the person that they want to get a Wii for a 250 dollar gift card to a store that would carry it, and just give that to them for Christmas? Then they can go out and get the system whenever they find it, or whatever else they might want with it.

Oh wait, I remember now. Christmas isn't about LOGIC at this point, it's about people feeling obligated to shower physical objects upon people in an attempt to buy their love. What a great holiday. pppfffftttt

mva5580

People REALLY wanna play that new High School Musical game don't they?

Furious_Liver

George Harrison just said something like this!
[www.wired.com]
""I don't want to say, 'Stalk the UPS driver,' but figure out when the shipments are arriving in the store," he says.

He can see the future!

Tonx

That is just a tad creepy...

-EDGE-

Steak... equals... UPS men...

Good to know. :)

*grabs shotgun*

Pezdispenser

I hate x-mas time. Makes these ferocious shoppers to get little Timmy his undeserving gift!

EnigmaNemesis

Wow freaks. Next thing you know, UPS drivers start carrying shotguns.

IntelSilver

They were doing that last holiday season when I worked at EBGames... Some moms are motivated man...

seym0ur caKe

............

I gots nothin...

Enigma_20XX

I obtained my XBox 360 in a similar fashion. My brother worked for an independent record store that also carried video games and what not. Each store got one Premium and one Core system. Their shipment was a day late, my brother told me I could probably get one if I followed his route. My brother told me the route and I went to each store. The first three stores he went to there were people waiting in line. But on the 4th one there was no one, so I hunkered down with my iPod and waited for an hour or so and walked away with a new toy. It was kind of fun.

kirbypuckett

I think this entire situation is getting a liiiiittle bit out of hand now. I feel sorry for the UPS staff who have to constantly check over their shoulder now - and not going down backrouds too.

GoddessVesta

YES! People are going nuts! I love seeing people go nuts at Christmas to satisfy their spoiled children!

WickedOrange

That's dedication right there. Whenever I have a delivery coming to my home, and see a truck for the company that is delivering it I wonder if that truck is heading for my place, but I don't actually pull a U, and follow it to make sure.

Gouki4u

Yeah you think thats bad that they stalk the drivers...in one day we counted the number of phone calls and walk ins of people looking for the Wii...in one day from open to close...it reached over 150. By the end of the night we lost count.

Not only does it suck to work retail this christmas, but I really feel bad for the UPS drivers.

ShtickYoMaMa

Guess they love brown a little too much.

FusionHype

I've always wanted to stalk a turd truck.

swirldude

I can't wait until Nintendo's selling 500,000 a week of these things and still being accused of manufacturing shortages.

hegemonyhog

We haven't known when we got Wii's until the morning of for a long time now. I've heard about people stalking UPS people as well.

We hardly knew ahead of time before though, because as soon as corporate gets Wiis, they are shipped out immediately overnight UPS or FedEx, so the most notice we could have is a day before.

I don't see why people don't just go to places like Best Buy, where you have a chance to camp out every Sunday morning to get one (and a good chance at that).

Mit

ha really? Im in ft.Lauderdale too :p

QuackerJacks

@majortom1981: awwww...let them have their fun, afterall with all the other post filled up with so many easy Sony/360 bashable articles, all healthy hate for the little kawaii console has to go somewhere or it will feaster then burst with rancied pus-filled irrational hate and loathing.

Its not good for you to hold it up all inside.

so be kind and sympathetic, after all "a man with no mistake, is a man with no future."

So yeah....Damm nyou nintendo! I want region free VC games! erm...I want More then four wiimotes connections! erm....You suck! :)

Onizuka-GTO

@kingofallcosmos: Perhaps you have missed all the memos on the subject, but Nintendo hasn't been conservative at all with their production. They simply can't make them fast enough and all the manufacturing plants are at maximum output.

Fry

HA! I sorta did this last year. I figured out what time the UPS guy got to a Game Stop by my work and took my lunch at that time every day. I never bugged the UPS guy but the GS clerk lady got sick of me (the feeling was mutual).

By the way it didn't work. I finally got up early on a Sunday and scored one at Target.

Handles25

I was 9th in line when I got my Wii in early December of last year. I spent about two weeks trying to get one after launch but it was almost impossible. I tried calling Target, Best Buy and Toys R US about twice a week.

However, the guy working at Toys R Us told me when the next shipment would arrive and what time I should come before it was advertised in the newspaper the next day. I still had to camp out early (slept in the car for about two hours) then stood in line for about 2 hours and was in 9th place.The same store also sold me the last black DS Lite it had back in June 07.

Hiltz

This reminds me of a couple of weeks ago when I was in Circuit City. This guy walks into the game department and asks the clerk, "Do you have something called a Wii?" The clerk was really patient (I can't imagine how many times a day he is asked about Wiis) and explained that they didn't have any and that when they come in, they sell out immediately. The man was shocked and I thought about how many people like that are going in to buy these, whether they are for grandkids or for themselves because of all of the news coverage. Nintendo has really blown it by being so conservative with production. This has been the hot product for a little over a year now, but that doesn't last forever. Instead of having a Wii in every household with people who are tempted to buy a game every few months or so, they played it safe and now they are going to lose out on all of that revenue. A fanboy may wait for months, but a parent is only going to look for one at the holidays and a blue ocean user is going to want one right now. You can't sell Wiifit if the people who want it can't find a system.

kingofallcosmos

I work for UPS and I hate Nintendo packages, they are packaged with lead apparently. Little boxes weigh TONS.

Leptok

@Papa Midnight:

the sad thing is these aren't even Wii fanboys; they are crazed parents who were too ignorant to realize that the console that's been selling out all year long would also be sold out during the holidays.

NeoAkira

As a seasonal UPS worker, this is kind of frightening to read. Thankfully, my route is mainly residential, so I think I am safe.

It has been a really interesting experience though. Totally worth it for $11.75 an hour.

Jedijoe9

I'm glad I was lucky enough to find one at a newly opened Best Buy. Man, I can't imagine trying to go through a whole bunch of this crazy crap to get a Wii... Mario Galaxy IS awesome though, so... I might.

2NinjasTapedTogether

@funkrusher:

:)

EnigmaNemesis

I always said Wii fanboys were out of their minds...

Papa Midnight

@Lethal_Dosage:

probably go back to making fun of their friends who are the only kids in school who bought a ps3 and was disappointed they couldn't watch TRANSFORMERS on it.

Or their other friend who has an xbox 360 that just RRD.

See I can make stupid asinine fanboyish comments that hold no merit or substance too!

Stop trying to be funny. You as well as the other gazillion e-comedians/experts (re: morons) are just succeeding in ONE thing.

And that's making yourself look like an ass

funkrusher

It could be worse.

People could be harassing the UPS guy as he picks them up. Or impersonating them.

Volcan

You guys are EXTREEEEEE-HEEEEE-EEEEEMLY late on this news. This exact thing has been happened ever since the Wii orginally launched last year. The UPS guy that frequented our mall GameStop has actually needed a police escourt before, and was given instructions to call the police if something like that were to happen again.

And for all the people bitching and moaning about Nintendo's production. Take a look at how many the company has sold so far, and take note that it's not just America that wants one of these things. Pretty much everywhere has at least some demand for the Wii. Seriously, just because there's not a Wii in your home doesn't mean there's not a Wii in countless other peoples' already.

RyGuy

I went into a Toys R' Us 2-3 hours after opening on the Wii's launch day, and they said they were taking rainchecks for the ones they got in the future. I was number 40 out of the ~100 they were expecting before Christmas. I doubt they did that offer there for very long as they would quickly get a list that was thousands long, and I don't think that was standard policy for all Toys R' Us locations.

NumberFourtyThree

@Fry:
They have even said themselves in multiple interviews that they underestimated demand. They may not be able to ramp up production because of a number of issues, but management was the first bottleneck that they had to work through and they have said as much.

kingofallcosmos

Oh, trust me, we fucking know when they are coming. We just don't want you to know.

liqideos

A bunch of families (and their extended families) that do Wii reselling on ebay have been doing this for a looooong time. Since Fred Meyer's in the Northwest region allow you to buy 2 at a time (most stores only 1 per person) they target those first.

I think a great many of those people are trying to sell off the systems before end of christmas though (when demand will go down somewhat, regardless of the AAA titles coming up early 2008 -- remember, it's the idiot parents buying these for their children).

muu

UPS driver should start selling em lol

gamingpalooza

@liqideos:

l33t

EnigmaNemesis

@kingofallcosmos:
If they built a new factory, which is the only option they have since their current plants are at maximum capacity, they would spend tens of millions to get it up and running. Eventually (most likely 2008) and before their new factory is up and running, they will be making enough Wiis with their current production facilities to satisfy demand. What do you propose they do with their multi-million dollar factory that they no longer need?

Under-estimating demand is a mistake, but Nintendo has already taken intelligent steps to increase production but to not over-do-it where they lose money. Nintendo is a billion dollar company because they make good choices. Does it suck that everyone won't get the Wii they want this year, sure. I want a PS3 and I won't get one and it has nothing to do with demand. Eventually the people who want a Wii will get one because it is a unique experience that the PS3 and 360 don't have.

TheRealMaxPower

Yeah...I can tell you that it is true about GameStops NOT knowing when their next shipments for Wiis are. We usually get them once a week and that's pretty much where it ends. Well, actually we do know how many we will get and they will appear on our shipping lists but we have no idea when they will come.

Sieg_15

At the game crazy I work for, we have people calling everytime they see a fed ex truck in the neighborhood. Our delivery driver has been approached. We average like 15-20 calls an hour, at the least. It's very frustrating because although we have a transfer tracker, it is often incorrect and we get stuff shipped to other stores in our district constanly.

made2last

Yes, we've had this problem where I work for weeks. :(

Muffin_Man

I knew someone who did something similar last year. A photographer at the company I went to work for went to buy a Wii only to find they were sold out. The guy at Play'N'Trade said they were expecting more on the next UPS shipment though. As he drove down the road away from the store, he saw an oncoming UPS truck. On a whim, he did a u-turn back to the store and sure enough, the truck was delivering 4 Wiis. He got it straight outta the crate.

So not exactly stalking in this case, but people do crazy things at Christmas-time.

Srol

I can confirm this too. In Parma, OH people were waiting since 9 (before the store opened) for the UPS guy. Damn near mobbed him. Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

Optimistic Prime

What is the fucking deal with holiday rush's and stuff being sold out. Why dont some of these people come to idaho, i've never seen anything sold out here, ever. I've never camped out for anything, or waited for something, its just, walk in, pick up your wii, walk out, they are always there. Gamers paradise.

K-Squad

@Lethal_Dosage: They can go play some of the other 20 worth buying games on it, tool. GTFO.

Sixtail

I'm a driver helper for UPS in Cincy and while at two different Gamestops today, moms asked me if any of my boxes had Wiis in them.

I had to disappoint because all I had were PS3 Rockband bundles.

TimeLike