Wii U - Page 25  

I personally do not have that experience and oddly enough wanted to experience one time. I hope Nintendo World in the city can work some magic for me, but it's seeming unlikely

Right on the first point, but not the second. Outside of stupid Best Buy, most retailers like Gamestop do NOT put a hold on your funds when you pre-order.

Man. Never again. Got in line at a Target. Coldest night in decades in the Bay Area. Giant thermos of hot tea. Sleeping bag. No sleep. Fifth in line (of about 100). Only ten of us got Wii's in the morning. Ugliness ensued. But I did get a Wii.
Have they changed their method? Gamestop always used to take a $5 deposit, as did other retailers. So I stopped doing them altogether. Do they work differently now?

Hahahahaha. Right. No, you don't want that experience. Freezing your butt off in the middle of November outside a Best Buy for HOURS at the 360 launch while you make your significant other keep your place in line while you go pee into a bottle in your car. Yeah, never doing that again.
I guess NYC will at least have public bathrooms open unless those are all locked down in the wee hours of the morning.

So glad I got my Deluxe order in at Gamestop.

Well I used Gamestop.com so no deposit or hold on funds. They only do pre-order deposits for the physical stores. Why? Because Gamestop.com can much more easily manage excess inventory that one rinky dink store out of thousands, taking too many pre-orders for a game that let's say, gets a bad review and no one shows up or calls the store to cancel the pre-order if they don't put $5 down. Then they're left with dozens of games no one wants that get price cut in like 2 weeks and then the store is losing money. Online you can either cancel your order more easily, or they can ship it to you if you do nothing.. And since they have your card info already from the online purchase, if you choose in store pickup and don't show up, they reserve the right to charge you a $5 restocking fee then. So you see, from a sound business perspective, they have excellent reasons for charging you $5 at the store for pre-orders but not online. For the Wii U, I don't think you needed to put down any money even in store, because they expect the demand to be so extreme, they don't think they'll have trouble at all not selling it immediately if you don't show up. Gamestop is a very well run company, at least from a business perspective.

Looks like I'll be camping outside of Nintendo World for probably 20 hours on launch day lol. I called them just now and they said they are sold out of pre-orders of the deluxe unit but still have some base unit pre orders left. The guy also said they will probably have some available as first come first serve and they don't allow everything they are expecting go out to pre-orders so that looks like my shot. WIsh me luck on this one. It'll be a long LONG night in the cold big city

I did it for the Wii....never again. Bay Area cold lol...what is that, 55? It was like 20-30 something in NY, which you can deal with for a little while, but sitting still in the freezing cold all night....its a different kind of cold, the kind you dont look back and laugh about. Most people got so desperate we made a list of who was in line so we could all sleep in our cars and get some heat. It was awful. I can't imagine doing it in the city unless its unseasonably warm.

The PS3 guys had it even worse, there was freezing rain most of the night, the only people left in line by the morning literally had tents, one guy even had an RV. Everyone else would have died of exposure.

Public bathrooms? NYC? Are we talking about the same city?

For me, the Wii U required a $25 deposit for Gamestop Power-up members, or $50 for non-members.

Don't forget it's being released on a Sunday, so if you want it on release day, store pickup is the safest bet.

Yeah, seriously. Maybe if you're lucky there's a McDonalds nearby. And depending how the supply is, people might not be so civilized and understanding if you need to break the line to find a corner to piss on.

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" - Mark Twain

I have some doubts that Wii U is going to see the long-term scarcity that the Wii did. Holiday season? Probably...but come early spring 2013?

Holding off on a Wii U, although the system does look interesting. Actually planning on a living room TV upgrade soon - and perhaps adding a PS3 as the main BD player.

Actually there is a McDonald's right around the corner from Nintendo World. No idea if it's 24 hours though.

I thoroughly enjoy how this thread has turned into discussing places to pee while camping out for a game console.

Why even bother waiting in line. You order and have it shipped to you. I did that when the 360 launched. Now granted I got it that Wednesday, the day after launch, but all I had to do was open the door and get the package from the delivery person. I can't remember if I got a launch Wii. if I did I know I did not wait in line for it. I can't think of any material item that is worth it for me to wait in line for several hours.

I'm may regret it after standing there for 10 hours and the cold wind is whipping in my face with hours to go. It'll make an interesting story lol. As far as staying up all night long, I've been trained for that. I have to plow snow for work for days at a time. As far as being still in the cold for hours, nearly a whole day, I don't know how else to prepare for that other then wear about 20 layers of clothing. Coffee may be out of the question since it makes me have to pee every few minutes. Not to mention the train ride back to long Island with the damn thing.

I would, but it seems to be too late for that. Everywhere that is taking pre orders is sold out already, and the few that aren't, only have the base unit.

Lol, he should just know what he's getting himself into. Ask yourself if you're willing to piss in an empty bottle of Gatorade while you're shoulder to shoulder with other dudes. If you're willing to be harassed by homeless guys who openly admit they just want your money to get drunk and high. If youre willing to risk a toe or a finger to frostbite if its a cold night. If you're willing to accept the risk of being trampled, mugged, punched in the face and/or stabbed for your Wii U. The Wii U that you're not even guaranteed to get after all that.

If the answer is yes to all of the above, you've merely qualified for the test.

But seriously, if you have a car and can get out to a target or best buy on Long Island that has stock, do that.

Between now and then, I'll be trying to find a place on Long Island that may have some also.

Wait a minute.... what about PC Richards???? I haven't heard anything about them taking pre-orders and it's on their website

Another site to keep an eye on is Newegg, who I don't believe has put the console up at all yet.

I think you should keep looking for preorders, but honestly I think camping out for a consumer electronics item is kinda fun to do once in your life, so long as you're aware that it may well be for nothing. The weather and pee situation are question marks, but otherwise I think you'd be plenty safe camped outside Nintendo World. It's a nice/touristy part of town, Nintendo nerds are generally on the friendlier end of the spectrum, and hell, there might even be a news crew or two around (either there, the Union Square Best Buy, or the Times Square TRU, one figures). Wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo made a mini media event of it, or at the very least would take measures to make sure no one gets stabbed or frostbitten in front of their retail store.

Yeah, I only kid about the getting stabbed part.

But I have a vague recollection of the news showing clips of the place before the Wii launch, and I could swear they had the line barricaded off. It might prevent cutters but it also prevents you getting off the line to attend to your....biological needs.

I've never heard of anyone lining up outside PC Richards for anything...but you never know. Maybe there's a 6th ave electronics that will carry it. Target is always my go-to for this kind of thing, having your car nearby is essential.

Target is sold out of pre-orders also. I wonder if PC Richards is planning on having them on launch day. It says coming November 18th on their site, but nothing about pre-orders.

I was thinking this to. Nintendo World is in Rockefeller Plaza, so odds of getting on NBCs morning show seem pretty good. Although I'm sure my appearance won't be camera friendly freezing and waiting in line all night. Aside from the pee problem, I got the other challenges tackled. I believe in being prepared

ZombiU dev diary part 2

Frys.com seems to have the 8gb model still up for preorder...

A couple of places do. Nintendo World does also.

We'll have to wait and see. No one expected the original Wii to be so constrained, either. The Wii U hasn't caught media fire like its predecessor, though, so I suspect you're right. On the other hand, it could also turn into THE gift, especially with a new Mario and if stuff like NIntendoLand turns out to be unexpectedly popular. Even so, that just means you might have to work at it a little harder.

The PS3 makes a great BD player. If it had been an equally good media streamer and game console, I'd have a second one upstairs, instead of Samsung player.

It's an experience worth missing. I didn't have to rough it too bad, but did get up around 5AM on a Sunday to traipse out to the local Target to stand on line in the 32 degree temperature with a coffee that didn't sustain me as long as expected. I expected a dozen people and found 67 already there. I got unit 68 OUT OF 70. Luckily, they'd already learned their lessons from the PS3 launch and had vouchers, a line and organized access to the store. It WAS fun to play Mario Kart with other dudes in the line, but not so great to have to keep telling folks there was no point in getting on line as they were sold out and that we had no idea if they'd have better luck at TrU, Best Buy, etc.

Luckily, my wife became a master at dropping by stores right when shipments came in, so I scored units for friends and my boss. Many brownie points were earned.

Are you kidding? Telling folks who thought they could just waltz on line at 7AM that they were out of luck instead of toughing out in the cold like you had since 1AM or something was one of the best, most gratifying parts of the experience. Or maybe I am just EVIL.

I'll get on line at 7pm the day before if I have to lol. Not because I want it that ridiculously bad, just to do it. I know, wtf is wrong with me, right? lol