The joys of [insert religious holiday or whatever excuse you use to shamelessly ask for mountains of presents]! While it was a serious down year in-terms of video games, I actually got to spend it with family (unlike last year) so I came out a winner.
I did get a vintage Van Halen concert t-shirt from 1983 and a bunch of DVDs including Band of Brothers, Simpsons 6th season, and Better of Dead.
Still jealous of Porter...heard he got a Wii....
Comments
Okay, now for the good stuff... Well, I'd rather tell the Wii story than list what I got, so let's do that.
Part One
The Wii wasn't actually a XMAS gift, it was kind of a self-gift. Believe it or not, the last game system I got for myself was the Playstation with PK back in 1991! Since then, all of the systems I've played have actually been owned by family (PK), or friends (Yuna and yu^rei). So I felt the Wii represented an excellent opportunity to get back in the "I own a system that is less than 10 years old" club! As anyone who is at all familiar with the release of the PS3 and Wii knows, these systems have been selling out at stores in less than 15 minutes after the shipments are unpacked. Rumor has it that Best Buy employees have been banned from buying either system, even if they stand in line like everyone else in their off hours. (Apparently this is to allow "real" customers more opportunity to buy them, but I fail to see how a Best Buy employee with $250 in his hand doesn't qualify as a "real" customer.)
Anyway, the PS3 and the Wii were both released the third weekend of November, but I didn't really start wanting to get one until 2 weeks later, at which point the mania was in full swing everywhere. My first attempt to get one was a Wednesday morning that local Walmarts had been advertising as their next shipment arrival date. This being a work day, I figured I could get up early, wait in line, and still be to work by 8. So Yuna and myself both got up at 4 instead of 6, did our normal morning routines, and left at 5:30. We got to the Walmart at 6 and found 20 people already waiting in line. Keep in mind this is still when it was really freakin' cold at the beginning of December. We stand there for 45 minutes with everyone else, then a Walmart manager comes out and says, "First, everyone here knows the store opens at 7, but there seems to be some confusion: the Wiis won't go on sale until 8." Well that right there is a really nasty turn of events, because it means if I want to stay I'll end up being late for work. Myself, Yuna, and the (now) 45 other people in line all groan. The next sentence solved the problem though: "Also... don't shoot the messenger, but we only have 8 systems."
Bigger groan.
So Yuna and I both head off to work, with only the marginal satisfaction of knowing what a chaotic mess it's going to be for those first 8 people to try to guarantee their spots once the doors open and other customers start walking into the store and back to the electronics section. Obviously I didn't get a Wii on my first attempt.
About a week later, most of the major outlets were letting people know that, "every store that sells the Wii will be getting a shipment on the 19th." Seeing as this is a Sunday, it's my next best chance to obtain one. Not having enough fanaticism in me to camp out the entire night, my plan is to get up at 4 and head over to the nearby Super Target, which I figure might be getting a shipment that is relative to the store's size (i.e.: more Wiis). That Sunday, everything goes according to plan as I'm getting ready, and I walk out the door (while Yuna is still fast asleep) at 4:20. As I'm turning into the Target lot, I see that there are already 20-some-odd people in line! (They must have had the same thought I did!) There is a GameStop in one of the out-lot strip malls in the same parking lot, and as I drive past, I see another 10 people in line there.
Things are not looking good already, so before I throw my chips in with everybody already in line at Target, I drive across the street and check out the Walmart and Toys R Us parking lots. Walmart has zero people outside, so I figure they must not have gotten a shipment at all. Toys R Us on the other hand, only has 8 people! Thinking this was going to be my best bet, I park, grab my folding camp chair, and get in line.
It was kind of odd, because everyone else in line except for the first person was quite obviously a parent. Everyone was very friendly, and as soon as it became apparent that I was an expert (relatively speaking) on the system everyone was waiting in line for, I began getting grilled for all sorts of details about the apparently mysterious device. Most of the parents had no idea why their kids were asking for this device, but most of them seemed genuinely interested in trying the Wii themselves once I explained what made it different from the Xboxes they already had at home. At the same time, I had a chance to pull out my DS and showcase it a bit as well. Now with the exception of Apple, I've never really considered myself a "fanboy" of any company, and I maintain that stance in the case of Nintendo as well, since their more recent products have been able to stand so well on their own merit. That being said, it would have been hard for me to come up with something bad to say about either system that morning.
Anyway, time passed, and finally around 7:00 the manager for the store pulled into the lot and made an announcement to us as he was walking into the store. He told us that he would be coming back out at 7:30 with tickets for each of the systems that had gotten the previous night. He also told us right then that he had 14 system available and had us count off so the people at the back of the line could safely go home knowing they wouldn't be getting one. I have to admit, it was difficult to contain my... glee, let's say, when it was my turn to count out my, "nine!"
I sent a txt message to PK and yurei, letting them know I was confirmed for a system, and also begging for somebody to bring me something warm to drink. Despite having planned ahead and dressing appropriately, after 2 hours in 20 degree weather the chill was starting to breach my layers. PK responding by showing up with a huge bag of bagels from Panera Bread, and an equally massive "box" of coffee for everyone in line. He went up and down the line distributing libations to everyone free of charge! I (and everyone else in line) thought that was a darned decent thing and praised him accordingly.
Just a short while later, the manager came back out, tailed by a young, but rather large, employee. I assume this was an attempt at providing some kind of protection against the manager getting jumped by an over-enthusiastic customer, since there was no other need for a second person just to pass out little slips of paper. Regardless, it struck me as slightly funny at the time.... The manager walked down the line and handed out to each person the numbered slips he mentioned before, which promptly vanished into coat pockets as they were accepted. The manager also told us he'd be letting the people in line into the store early so as to clear us all out before the store actually opened at 8.
PK and I started packing up our assorted gear, and by the time we were done the manager was back to let us into the blissfully warm store. He had us queue up again outside the electronics area, and admitted groups of 2 or 3 enter at a time so as keep things nice and orderly and calm. I was in the fourth group in. I browsed the games real quick (though I decided to wait until I was more appropriately conscious to buy anything), and looked to see if they had any extra Wii-motes (they didn't). Having done that, I stepped up to the register and handed them my ticket. The kid went back and carried the classy white box back up to the register. He rang it up and I went to swipe my credit card. The little screen flashed....
EXPIRED
Ugh! I hadn't used this card in close to a year, and apparently the credit card company never sent me a replacement when this card expired back in July! No worries, I always carry two in case something like this happens, though the other one only has a $1000 limit and I had been using it for other XMAS shopping. Swipe that one anyway....
DENIED
Well, I guess there was less than $250 left on THAT card! Getting slightly anxious now, I pull out my ATM card, which I know has the requiste amount behind it in my checking account, but which also has already been spoken for by a rent check mailed the day before. Swipe again...
APPROVED
PHEW! The Wii is mine! (but I won't have a place to live if that check bounces!) Slightly shaken, I take my system outside where PK is waiting and with a totally deadpan expression on my face ask him if he can loan me 250 bucks. Any omniscient observer surely would have been rolling on the floor laughing at that point, but true to form, PK whipped out his own checkbook and wrote me a check (which I deposited later that day). Then PK headed off for class (he's doing graduate work now, that smartass) and I drove over to Target to assess the damage. This was around 8:15, and everyone who had been in line from earlier that morning when I drove past had already cleared out. Their electronics section was actually eerily quiet. Ironically enough, THEY did have a spare Wii-mote and nuncheck, so I bought that, as well as Zelda- Twilight Princess. Additional purchases in hand, I walked back to my car and drove home.
I carried everything inside and set the bags down in the living room. The bad combination of lack-of-sleep, adrenaline and caffeine was taking a serious toll on me, and I basically just shut off for a good couple hours. It wasn't until that afternoon that I got around to unpacking everything and setting it up in the living room.
That's my story. I hope my kids enjoy it someday.
At 4:30am they handed out tickets. They had 40 systems, and about 10 extra controllers and about 10 of each game from what I saw. I got console #6, a controller plus Zelda, so at about 7:03am I was on my way home with the goods.
At the time I thought I was crazy for freezing my ass off, but I know some people that haven't been able to get theirs yet. Totally worth it. :)
Here's to hoping they come out with some internet multilayer games sometime.
...not that I'm opposed. I've stood in black friday lines for considerably less.
Hopefully, I'll have one for break.
PS: As I type this, a 24 ad just ran....Wii what?
Of course it will be at my home and not at school, so it is irrelevant when it arrives. Come March 2nd though, I will be having a wonderful time. Hopefully by then they'll actually having something resembling an online component and we can get a game of something going.
...best game ever.
Not that I'm particularly enamored by pretty graphics (Exhibit A: Still play CS on occasion), but is the system as graphically underpowered as developers are making it seem? Most games coming out from third parties in the next few months are just ports of PS2 games and look it. Obviously, I don't expect to see DX10 games on my Wii, but I'd hope it would at least out muscle Sony and Microsoft's previous efforts.
Their lack of an online component is what is going to sink this thing. Innovation be damned, online gaming is where it is at. If I can't play Super Smash Bros. against real live people without jumping through hoops, blood will fill the streets.
My friend code is: 5213 3812 3867 7424
1887 4240 6294 2925
I got a good deal on a new router so I've finally sent my wii to brave the wilds of the intertubes. I'll be adding you guys (Porter, Yurei) shortly.
Welcome back Yurei!
By the by, good to see everyone again!
Oh, any my Wii story: After talking to Yu'rei about how he had just gotten his Wii and that now I was the one who wanted others to keep their eyes peeled I stopped by a Target and thought, "wouldn't it be funny if they had a Wii in stock..." Well, as fate would have it, they had 15 in stock. I quickly texted Yu'rei, "nevermind about watching for a Wii" and practically assaulted the first Target employee I saw. No lines or anything. But I went back 4 hours later and they were all gone. I know that two other units sold in the time it took for me to leave Target in the first place.
My stories not nearly as cool as Porter's but it sure is more serendipitous. =)
You basically can send miis and messages. You need friend codes for individual games to play them online though.
I'd say add my wii code, which is found somewhere in this thread (I think), except that I figured with having to learn fluid mechanics and thermodynamics this semester I should leave the distractions at home.