Although, some initial screenshots have me a little worried.

Day 1: Well like any good (read: obessive) gamer, I decided I wanted to have the Wii at launch. All the reports said that there would be over 1 million units dropping on release day, much more than the PS3 and other consoles at launch. But I still knew people were being overly confident about getting one that day, so I started working on my plans to acquire the device on Nov. 19th.

The initial plan was to campout at a local Best Buy or Target. This seemed like a decent idea at first, but then the weather started getting real shitty on the days approaching the weekend. So then I started looking to see if any stores were doing a Midnight release. The only one in the area was a Walmart, and I refuse to shop at Walmart. But I still considered it… I considered standing in line there from 7pm til Midnight and decided thats a pretty shitty way to spend my Saturday night. It was then that I recalled reading that the Nintendo World Store in NYC claimed “everyone who comes to buy a Wii on sunday will get one”. I also saw that the Toys’R'Us in Times Square was doing a Midnight launch party with all types of madness, and a shitload of Wii’s. I got in touch with my boy Hiddi, who I knew I could count on for latenight videogame madness. He said he was down, so we got some friends together and headed up to NYC.

Our spirits were high during the car ride up, with thoughts of amazing vegan soul chicken in our minds. We finally roll into the city and begin the quest for parking. I’d say about 45 mins later we finally find a garage that wasn’t full. No prices posted that made sense, so we just assumed a flat rate (of a million dollars). We hid our valuables and started our trek to Times Square. We got there relatively quickly, considering the insane crowds of people just wandering about. The first thing I spotted was the entrance to Toys’R'Us… then I saw the line. From what I could see, the line went from the entrance all the way down the block and turned the corner. So we started walking the line, in an attempt to reach the back. Well we walked ALL THE WAY AROUND THE FUCKING BLOCK. Yes, all the way around a NYC block – almost back to the entrance. The line was that long. But we made it. So we get in line and start to mentally prepare for the long night. For about 15 minutes…

These guys started walking down the line asking people near us if they had pre-order tickets. I thought “if I had a fucking pre-order, I sure as hell wouldn’t be in this line”. So they ask me and I’m like “no I don’t”. They tell me I have to leave the line cause they’re not giving out any more wrist bands. I was like I don’t want a wrist band, I want a fucking Wii. He then explained a wrist band was required for a Wii, I explained I wasn’t getting out of the line. Hiddi mentioned we traveled up from Atlanta for this (he was lying). So after waiting about 15 more minutes I figured they weren’t going to let me in, so I better cut my losses and go get some good vegan food [note: I was REALLY fucking pissed at this point] – instead of waiting around for 5 hours to come up empty handed. So we headed over to VP2 and Red Bamboo to get our grub on before they closed. Got there pretty late so we grabbed it take-out style and ate it on a cold ass stoop. Then we rolled back to the car and headed back to Philadelphia, I formulated “Plan B” in the car.

Got home super late. Plan B was to get up real early and hit the local Best Buy or whatever and hope to get lucky. I set the alarm for like 6am, but it was already like 4am so it was pretty absurd.

Day 2 (Nov 19th – Launch Day): So I turned off the alarm in my sleep or some shit. Woke up around 10am I think, with my spirits crushed. I knew there was no way I was making it to a store that didn’t already have mad motherfuckers at it. So I called around a little bit, and checked the message board and it seemed like it was already too late. I was about to call it quits, feeling like a defeated and broken man, but then Plan C came to mind… I would go back to NYC. It was a longshot but the Nintendo guys wouldn’t lie about their coffers full of Wii’s right?

I knew this trip had to be done solo. There was no way I could drag any other people I cared for down this path of sorrow and dissappointment. I commandeered a vehicle (ok, my friend let me borrow it) and started my solitary journey back to the city. Travelling at an average speed of Warp Factor 8.5 I arrived in Hoboken within a reasonable amount of time. I took the PATH over, then hopped on the subway and up to Rockafellar Center. As soon as I came up out of the subway I saw a fucking line for the World Store and some of its employees. Within about 2 minutes of reaching the surface I already heard “you can wait in line, but after this point [pointing to dudes up the block a bit] we can’t guarentee you’ll even get inside the store before we close”. Awesome, just fucking awesome.

I wasn’t done though. Oh hell no, I came this far, I might as well run over to Toys’R'Us and see if I can get in a fight with some of the dudes (or that fucking bitch) who made me get out of the line the night before. So I run over there and see another line. This one only went around the corner, and I saw no one with wrist bands or any strange Toys’R'Us currency – so I felt a little more confident about this situation. I goto the back of the line and I’m there for maybe 10-15 minutes when I see a TRUS (is that an acceptable abbreviation?) employee walking the line handing out those concert wrist bands that snap shut. [this was a big step down from the previous nights all white rubber wrist bands that looked like those Stop Cancer jawns - but I'll take the fucking thing if its gonna get me a Wii]. He gets to the end of the line (where I was) and I receive the band of acceptance. We are told “each wrist band guarentee’s you 2 Wii’s”. I felt pretty good at that point, but I’ve been told lots of things over the course of my 26 years, so I still didn’t trust these fucks.

About 4-5 hours later I emerge victorious from the Toys’R'Us. I should note that until we got inside I was totally frozen with no gloves. I still hadn’t eaten anything that day except for a little health bar thing, and I rationed out my bottle of water over the day. My bounty was:

• 2 Wii Consoles
• 3 Extra Wiimotes
• 1 Extra Nunchuck
• 2 Zeldas
• 1 Excitetruck

I feel like I got another game too but maybe not. It all cost over $800. I was a little worried about getting jumped on my way back to the subway, or in the subway, hauling the goods. So I got some non-descript TRUS bags and repacked the “STEAL ME” Wii bags inside of them. Travelled back to Hoboken, ate some Subway, and drove home.

Was it worth all this madness? Definitely yes. Wii Sports may be one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, and my roommates are reallly into it too. Tennis matches get pretty extreme. But I’m easily the bowling champion of the world.

Checkout http://www.wiinintendo.net/ for all the latest news, rumors, and videos about the Wii.