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Among the first in Miami to get a Wii -- Destructoid camps and scores 2 + stuff! photo

In all of Miami-Dade county, there was but one single Toys R Us store that was doing a midnight event for the launch. We anticipated a line outside of the store, but what we found was more like an impromptu village of hardcore Nintendo fans. Here's the kick -- the west Miami store had a technical glitch and nobody paid tax for anything. The average sale was over $500 as people we met each had two games and an additional controller, so management decided to eat the tax glitch (their cashiers were restarted a few times as people waited patienty in the isles to no avail) instead of insighting a mob and sending people home.

Update 1: With a Wii due to Oni from last month's contest and an urge for a new console of my own, I camped from 6am to noon and secured the last Wii in midtown target and the #2 spot on Circuit City, also walking away with a classic controller, and extra wiimote, a 2000 points card, Call of Duty 3, Trauma Surgeon, and, of course, Zelda: Twilight Princess. The only reason I'm not playing at this very moment is (a) The Wii is in the middle of a frickin 1 hour update and (b) as soon as I publish this post, I'm going to sleep.  I honestly can't remember the last time I did that.

Hit the jump for four on the scene videos!
At the front of the lines we met with a group of nine who started at Wal-Mart but were discouraged from camping due to a no-voucher free for all policy. They regrouped at Toys R Us down the street and camped there since Friday; heckled by employees who thought the turnout to be small. Reality set in around 5pm when a crowd of 500 gathered. Inside there were only 200 systems, so people without preorders or a good spot in line were grasping at straws. Luckily there are over 2 million units and plenty of stores opening at 8am tomorrow with big numbers on the shelves, so if you want a system you shouldn't have much trouble finding one (in the ghetto) tomorrow. If you are aspiring to own a Wii this year, don't wait for December. Today's your day!  
 
 

LAUNCH GALLERY (17 IMAGES)
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19 comments | showing # 1 to 19

Deus Ex Machina's Avatar
Deus Ex Machina at 11/19/2006 07:43
This makes me smile. People hanging out and having a good time waiting for their Wii instead of being all pissed off. They're thinking about what game they're gonna play first when they get home, not thinking about how much they'll get on Ebay for it.

BTW, have you seen the PS3's on Ebay lately. Yesterday they were going for $3000, now they're going for around $1000. This also makes me smile. So what are you going to spend your $350 profit on?
Rosbif's Avatar
Rosbif at 11/19/2006 08:27
Who's that sexy man in the Wii hat?
ian_esq's Avatar
ian_esq at 11/19/2006 09:50
ooo. I just cut in line at Loblaws, I was the 5th of of 6 who got a wii there....I am too lucky. I should not have one...the guy who waited all night should, hahaha. I just show up an hour before the sotre opens, haha. man they would be o pissed.

it's funny cause everyone's d/ling the console update at the same time right now
Oni's Avatar
Oni at 11/19/2006 11:06
Niero, the most important thing you forgot to mention is: Did you get mine?

;)
plyr3005's Avatar
plyr3005 at 11/19/2006 11:36
Toys R Us in the International Mall?
Joel's Avatar
Joel at 11/19/2006 11:59
You guys really have to market that D'toid helmet. I can imagine a bunch of kids walking around with that thing on.
Oni's Avatar
Oni at 11/19/2006 13:22
I'd wear one!
Oni's Avatar
Oni at 11/19/2006 13:41
Niero, you fuckin' rock brother! Thanks so much for all your hard work and sacrifice.
BluDesign's Avatar
BluDesign at 11/19/2006 14:01
Niero! or anyone else who snagged a Wii last night...

If you bought the Classic Controller and you have any wired GC controllers or Wavebirds, TAKE THE CLASSIC BACK! The Wavebird/wired GC does everything, and there's no need for a classic if you've got one of them already.

The added bonus is that the Wavebird is completely wireless, no tether to anything period.
dawimp523's Avatar
dawimp523 at 11/19/2006 14:14
Wait, I thought the Wavebird wouldn't work with the Wii. Maybe I'm wrong. Who cares, it's the Wii! WWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jelster's Avatar
Jelster at 11/19/2006 14:24
After a mad rush round the Memphis area Walmarts I joined a queue as number 5 reserve, needless to say I walked away empty handed at 12.45.

So back home, some grub and a few hours sleep later I headed out to Target. Got there just after 5am (I passed by the local Circuit City to see two guys asleep in sleeping bags and another 4 people being a little more active), 7am tickets were handed out I was number 11 of 33, Yay!

I was also happy to see number four reserve from the Walmart arrive with her little girl to succesfully snag a place. Nice. After take a well earn WiiWii break in the local Kroger I discovered they couldn't sell beer before 8am and then headed back to Target. Some guy turned up expecting to score a Wii, he chose to pay one of the other people a $100 for their ticket (they seemed happy to have bypassed the ebay wait for their profit).

Well he probably was right to buy it, just before 8am the last two remaining tickets were handed out. There was a small argument due to two queues having formed since everyone had got their tickets it was decided those who arrived first would get them (the $100 guy wouldn't have been one of them).

And thats about it, as is normal for such important purchases by debit card wouldn't go through and then it got denied! Luckily the savings fund worked just fine, I can have that heart operation anytime.

A few things I noticed.

The walmart crowd in my final store was mainly mother's and older people. I saw probably a quarter who'd I'd say looked like gamer's (and I saw a lot of gamer glazed looks last night). Either the mother's and older people are panic buying
for xmas or they are trying to score a buck.

The Target queue was a more varied spread and mainly gamers, some had hoped to score a Wii there and move onto another store to get a second for ebay to recoup some costs. Most however chatted about gaming and a pretty common theme throughout the night was a lack of enthusiasm for the PS3, either because of the price, launch titles or future 3rd party support.

Right, I'm off to try for the 100th time to update my Wii. Can everyone just back off for a god damn minute! :)
Jelster's Avatar
Jelster at 11/19/2006 14:36
I got a classic and although I've yet to get any VC titles I have to say its a nice controller. For the $20 people may prefer it over the GC controller although I agree on the call it is unnecassary.
Aaron Linde's Avatar
Aaron Linde at 11/19/2006 16:23
Hah, Trauma Center and Zelda -- same games that I got. Good show, Niero.
Faith's Avatar
Faith at 11/19/2006 16:32
Oni when you get yours, I'm coming over. :)
Oni's Avatar
Oni at 11/19/2006 17:14
Awesome. Just let me clean my apartment up a bit first :)
nightmareci's Avatar
nightmareci at 11/19/2006 19:14
Man, wish I could have gotten my Wii today... I could have afforded the price of a system + Zelda, but the single store I was able to get to has sold out of them already, I'll buy it online and guarantee myself a system. So, I just got my MacBook Pro 15" 2.33 GHz system, instead of getting them both :). Needless to say, this here Mac is excellent, but I'd be more pleased if I had gotten both. At least my copy of Ikaruga for Gamecube arrived today in the mail, so I have something new to play. Now, to get better acquainted with my mac :).
Dan's Avatar
Dan at 11/19/2006 20:13
I waited from 11 last night at a walmart here in regina, me and my wife were first in line, a little while later a few more showed up. by 4 there were about 40 in line, the best buy across the street had about 60 people in line. walmart opened at 7 bestbuy at 8, about 6 they came out to hand out vouchers they had 36 wii's. I got mine at 7 drove by the people in line at bestbuy and held up my wii and taunted them!

wii is great. fits nicely right onto of the 360 HD-DVD drive :)

http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2547xd5.jpg

Only thing, the slot doesn't light up for me? It flashes when i turn it on but then stays off... is this normal???

parrothead's Avatar
parrothead at 11/19/2006 20:57
That is me in the Wii hat. I have to say that last night was a blast. There were families, young people, kids and adults at the Toys R Us at the International Mall in Miami. All of the people we talked to, after the initial shock of seeing a talking Robot, we there to play the games. Not one person said they were going to sell the system on Ebay. The Toys R Us staff was great and they had line organized and the whole thing went pretty smooth. It was fun to see people that were genuinely excited about gaming.
onepiecekenny's Avatar
onepiecekenny at 11/19/2006 22:30
Im in one of the picture. I waited for 8 hours!!!!
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