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!
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?