Not for the Wii. I believe the 'Cube version is being bumped.

I got home from EB this morning, with no pre-order. I got to the store about 9:00AM and was 11th in line so I thought I was in. The emloyee/manager got to the store about 9:15AM and was just rude to everyone.

Someone a couple back from me asked how many there would be so they wouldn't have to wait in line if they didn't have enough... He said to everyone, if you want one, you will just have to wait and see. Ok, maybe they think it is funny to watch everyone wait in the cold, but why? There was an older lady behind me getting one for her grandson for Christmas and she didn't need to be waiting in the cold. She got there at about 9:05, right after I did.

Well after waiting for an hour in the cold the doors finally open and everyone in line just moved inside. Of course, now that we are all inside he announced they only have 8 for pre-orders and from the 9th person and back everyone needed to leave because if they got more than 8 it would be first come first served on the day of release.

Overall, I thought I got there early enough to get one. I know I will get one on launch, I just thought I'd save the trouble come Nov. 19th. I just don't understand why they couldn't have come out at even say 9:30 to tell everyone they only have 8 to pre-order so there would be no need to wait if you were the 9th person and back.

Just got back (did some other shopping afterwards) from reserving my Wii.

I showed up at 8:40 or so and was 14th in line. I was a bit nervous but figured I'd be ok. The first employee got theire and said they were taking 14, so I thought I really lucked out. But they actually were taking 29 (once the manager got their I heard him telling the employee to turn people away after 29, and indeed that is what they did.

I'm assuming they got 36 like most higher volume stores (which the manager said their store was upper mid tier in volume, and higher than the others in the immediate area) as they mentioned the 4 for employees, and hinted that some others were already reserved in (certain circumstances).

They didn't start taking preorders until right at 10, and then only 2 at a time in the store while the rest of the line waited outside (store wasn't open for regular business until the preorders are finished). It was 10:37 when I checked out, and when I left teh mall at around 11:10 there were still 6 people waiting out side, and 2 at the register so it was pretty slow line.

I reserved the Wii, and cracked and also reserved a Wiimote and nunchuck. $60 for a controller is a crock, but since I had store credit that was $1 more than the Wii +tax, I figured I could deal with the $61.61 that was left to pay out of pocket for the controller+tax. I also picked up a 4 pack of recharable Nihm batteries at target for $10 so I'll have some that can be exclusively for the Wiimotes.

Zelda I already paid in full with money from game sales, so so far my Wii launch purchase with one game, and extra controller and batteries for both controllers is only $72--not too shabby. Still need an S-video cable though.

They were taking an ordered list of names and phone numbers (I'm 14 as noted above) so it doesn't look like it will be a launch day free for all if they end up getting short changed on their alotment).

So I should be able to just stop by Walmart on release day without having to preorder? Are any websites going to offer preorders? I guess I should have put more effort into this.

That attitude is the exact reason I generally avoid EB/Gamestop stores. I can count the non unpleasant experiences I've had at their stores on one hand.

the cube zelda should be december, not the Wii one....ill have to check that out in a bit...wonder how many people are outside of my store

also, looks like you guys are getting accessories reserved, thats news to me as well, I have to get my own system and a controller today now I guess.

That does suck. At my GS they did tell people after the 29th to just leave (eventually told customer 29 to start sending people away himself so they didn't have to keep checkign).

The big retailers generally will not do any pre-orders. Some sites, like Target.com or Toysrus.com may have them, as may gamestop.com etc. Amazon has already done their Wii preorders, IIRC.

Got mine ordered. Initial rumours were that the EB I went to was going to have 8, but the 3rd key that was there to open told us it was 10. I arrived at 9:15 and I was the 4th in line. The guy that was first in line had been there freezing his ass off since 2:30 in the morning. We had more people trickle in, and only 5 people got turned away.

The Gamestop across the street from us was already turning people away at 8:30. After we had 10 people in line outside, we started directing people to the mall up the street or, if they wanted to risk it, the mall on the other side of town where the Gamestop across the street from it was getting 25.

I reserved the system, Zelda, and a point card. I'm waiting on news of this classic controller bundle that comes with a point card, and I'll decide from there if I want to try for that or just buy a classic controller on its own.

Well there were NINE people at my hole-in-the-wall hidden shop when I got there at 9 AM, but I'm in.

The first store I went to (where I reserved my games) I got there around 9:20AM and there were about 8 or 9 people outside. So I got in line, about 10-15 minutes later some guy came out and counted us and told us right where I was and back that there weren't enough. But, he told us that the Game Stop down the street had only 2 people outside, so I jumped in my car and raced to that store, to be 3rd in line!

I put down $100 and was on my merry way. The guy told us that it DOES gurantee us the system on launch day, but Game Stop says otherwise just to be safe.

I got a similar blurb. The manager was telling everyone I'm giving you this disclaimer just as a company precaution incase Nintendo cuts the allotment by 8/10ths or UPS steals them, but everyone should get their console on launch day.

You'll be fine as long as you look for it come launch time. Nintendo is going to push these things hard in numbers, they are basically turning Sony's strategy of scarcity on its head and using it against them. If the system really takes off it could prove difficult to find one closer to Christmas though.

I agree. Just have a plan to hit the big box stores at opening. i.e. if I didn't preorder I'd hit Target at 8 when they open, if no look their then to Circuit City who open at 10 and best buy at 11 (assuming no midnight sales at theses stores).

I just preordered as I had a enough store credit to pay for it in full, otherwise I would have just done the above.

I don't know why people put up with Gamestop/EB Games. If you're going to go somewhere to buy a game, I wouldn't avoid them. But places like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us are just much more likely to have more systems at launch, correct? When I think of Gamestop I just think of these ultra small stores that probably don't have any space to stock many new systems anyway...

i just preordered from EB games in the cleveland area. i got there at 9:55 and there were only 6 people in line. the guy was PISSED that i didn't want anything other than zelda, but whatever. i find it really sad that they are telling people to order a 1 gig "memory card" (i.e. SD card) for 60 bucks. wtf?

both gamestops right around the corner had about 20 people in each line.

but my god, some of the people that stand in lines for these things look like they haven't showered in weeks and came outside for the first time in months just to preorder.

Like I said, I mainly did it as I had credit to pay it in full. Trade ins are generally a rip off, but I did ok with the deals they had the past couple of months, and I have not time to sell shit on ebay right now (and everything I traded I'd already tried to sell/trade in the forum here multiple times to no avail) so I was still able to get rid of some games and consoles that I'd never touch again to fully pay for the Wii.

Plus it is nice to have a preorder and not have to worry about driving around looking for one on launch day. With the Wii it doesn't apply as much as it should be pretty easy to find, but for other systems, if you can get a preroder it saves you somes stress on launch day for those that "have to have it" right away.

I was in slacks with a nice blue long-sleeve button up for work. I looked like the odd man out for sure.

In addition to what Josh said, some Game Stop / EB stores have good employees that know about the product they're selling. If you're lucky enough to have a store like that in your area, it's worth frequenting it instead of the big box stores where the employees are in that section because that's where they're told to work, and they have no clue what they're talking about.

My local Gamestop had 4 people in line at 9:00 AM, so I was able to get a pre-order in with no real problems. They kept things orderly by just letting one person in the store at a time. They apparently had 18 total pre-order spots and by the time I left the store at 10:15, there were at least 15 people left left in line.

There was one guy working at Game Stop, he let all 10 or so of us in at once, but everyone stayed in their proper spot and no one tried to cut in front of anyone else. I feel bad for the ninth, tenth, and so on people since no one told them about the limited quantities.

I only pre-ordered because I don't want to take the chance that there won't be any on launch day. Chances are they will have plenty at other stores, but I just don't trust it.

Ha! A hopeful opportunist in my area has already placed a Craigslist ad offering his presale Wii for $599.

Now I just hope that I won't have to eat those words later, since I opted against preordering. I'm sure I'll be able to find one, though.

You can use any 1gb SD card for the system right?

Any SD card. jeffdsmith posted a link to one that is $8.99 after rebate in the main Wii thread.

Reserved mine. Went to two stores first and they both had opened way before schedule and sold their maximum pre-orders each. Things werent looking good.

Finally made a bit of a trek to a further Gamestop where i was 11th in line. They were doing 13 pre-orders, so i was golden. Reserved Zelda and Red Steel, as well as a retro controller. I figure Wii-motes wont be hard to find on launch day, as well as memory cards.

Pretty pumped.

-NiCK