I got a Wii

[MustardTent]

Any ideas as to when the stores will be restocking or is it individual to each store? I'd like to pick one up for my kids (and by kids I mean my kids and me). 

Spoke to the TRU that I purchased my Wii from (they were out of Zelda by the time I got to the register).  They said one week (from Sunday).  I'll bet they're restocked for Black Friday.

[AlanS17]

Any ideas as to when the stores will be restocking or is it individual to each store? I'd like to pick one up for my kids (and by kids I mean my kids and me). 

Well Toys R Us actually has them in stock online. They sell as bundles, but there's no additional markup.

Family Bundle ($489.94):
Link shortened by saint

Action Bundle ($589.92):
Link shortened by saint

Those prices are in line with the PS3 except they come with 4 and 6 games respectively.

It might also be worth it to note that they have Zelda in stock:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2545575

[odysseyroc]

Just got back from making the rounds this morning. Most of the Gamestop and EB Games just got some this morning (about 3 per store). Some were selling them, but most are holding on to them till Black friday. I missed out on getting on by about 3 minutes at one Gamestop. None of the big stores received a second shipment and didn't have any idea when they would be getting more. I suspect that some of the big stores have them, but are waiting for black friday.

[MustardTent]

By the way, the Wii does support WPA2 (I'm using WPA-PSK w/TKIP).  I searched before my purchase, but couldn't find this little tidbit of info.

It also uses an 802.11b radio, which I was a little disappointed in.  Would've been nice to have 802.11g.

I have learned that this is wrong, and that the Wii has a b/g card.  I'll change my AP at home to see if I can connect to it when only g clients are allowed.

Info from Wii Disassembly Guide.

[ChadTower]

I'm very disappointed it doesn't have an RJ45 jack.  I don't want wireless.  It is of no use to me.

[MustardTent]

You can have one for $30.  Just like you can get a component cable for $40 (I think).

[ChadTower]

A $30 external addon in place of a fifty cent internal component.  Woo.

[MustardTent]

Well, making that proprietary interface is expensive.  Somebody has to pay for it.

I know that Nintendo was trying to keep the costs down, but not including Ethernet is a weird choice.

[tommy]

Many of the gamestop stores near me are getting about 8 or 9 Wii's on friday, hopefully i can atleast get the console even with no other game for now.

I asked about the PS3 and none are coming.

[ChadTower]

Well, making that proprietary interface is expensive.  Somebody has to pay for it.

I know that Nintendo was trying to keep the costs down, but not including Ethernet is a weird choice.

GUI design isn't that expensive.  I used to do it. 

[mccoy178]

Damn Chad, all I see in 80% of your threads is you being difficult for no good reason.  You pollute too many threads.  Way too many.

[MustardTent]

Well, making that proprietary interface is expensive.  Somebody has to pay for it.

I know that Nintendo was trying to keep the costs down, but not including Ethernet is a weird choice.

GUI design isn't that expensive.  I used to do it. 

I'm sure you did.   

I thought we were talking about the special cable you need to get your Ethernet jack (RJ45)?

[AlanS17]

The ethernet adapter looks like a standard USB/ethernet adapter. I'd try the $10 variety before I went for the pricey brand name one.

[RTSDaddy2]

Those planning to get one on black Friday - if you do, and all you can find game wise for a week or so is Wii Sports, you'll be plenty entertained.  Want a workout? Crank up boxing and duck, dodge, weave your way to victory (yes, you WILL sweat - a little).

What REALLY adds to this is creating your own Mii character (done properly, the resemblence is SCARY).  Then enjoy the games!  Yeah the graphics are lacking (baseball players have no legs), but it is the FUN that counts...and the bowling game is MARVELOUS.

And if you thought Zelda was impressive on the N64 back in the days of Ocarina of Time, you ain't seen nothin yet....

[tommy]

I have no doubt some of the games the Wii comes with are great.

Alot of people say they would rather not have the Nintendo made game the console comes with for some odd reason. Who knows how to take advantage of the new controler better then a Nintendo made game made perfectly for the new setup? Wii sports might rival alot of games till other devs get the hang of the concept.

[Tahnok]

So, is there really any chance of getting one of these anymore? I'd love to get my hands on one, but it seems impossible. Anyone know when certain stores will be restocking?

[ChadTower]

I thought we were talking about the special cable you need to get your Ethernet jack (RJ45)?

A cat5/5e/6 cable?  They're almost free and you can make your own.  I have a spool of 1000ft of cat6 cable in my basement.

[ChadTower]

I have no doubt some of the games the Wii comes with are great.

Alot of people say they would rather not have the Nintendo made game the console comes with for some odd reason. Who knows how to take advantage of the new controler better then a Nintendo made game made perfectly for the new setup? Wii sports might rival alot of games till other devs get the hang of the concept.

That concept sure worked for Mario64.  Even after the end of that console's life, Mario64 was probably the best game for that system.

[MustardTent]

I thought we were talking about the special cable you need to get your Ethernet jack (RJ45)?

A cat5/5e/6 cable?  They're almost free and you can make your own.  I have a spool of 1000ft of cat6 cable in my basement.

I'm not sure that you're following this conversation very well.  The point was that the cable would have to connect with the Wii, which may have a proprietary connection on it for this type of thing.  As somebody else pointed out earlier, maybe it would be a USB adapter, but either way, connecting Ethernet to the Wii will not be as simple as using just one Ethernet cable.

It's hard to have a conversation with somebody who always assumes the person they are speaking with is a moron.
Sheesh.   

[ChadTower]

Dude, I said I would have liked an RJ45 jack.

It is a very specific statement about a specific industry standard interface.  Sure, it's possible they would set up a weird interface, though more likely a USB interface that will then come with all of the limitations of USB as a network interface, but I was quite specific about the type of interface I mentioned.

[MustardTent]

Yeah, and that's exactly what we were talking about.  To get your jack, you need something connected to the Wii (this requires a wire) that terminates the other side in an RJ45 jack.

I made a joke about how you could get it for $30 from Nintendo, and here we are. 

Okay, I'm done.

[ChadTower]

I'm not sure I follow.  If the machine had an RJ45 jack, you wouldn't need anything else.  Unless you're talking about a hub/router/network device, which you need for the network connection it is using now.  That wouldn't be any different.

[Howard_Casto]

Nintendo used wifi only for cost considerations fyi. 

They already have developed low-cost low-resource dependant wifi technology for the ds.  It was far cheaper to add built in wifi support in this specific case because they didn't have to manufacturer any new hardware.  A standard ethernet connection would require custom networking chips and some resources from the system, which isn't really an option without increasing development costs. 

[lcddream]

Longest Link Ever posted @ BYOAC (shortened by saint)

wii wired lan adapter

[somunny]

Now THAT'S a link!

[lcddream]

lol sorry...didn't even look after i posted.

[tommy]

Still can't get one here in Florida. Best buy had 60 to sell sunday morning but still no luck, i showed up at the store 3 hours before they opened only to find over 100 people waiting.

Everyone has gone Wii crazy and any place that sells them is always jammed up. If i can't show up 3 hours early and get one i can't see getting one for a long time around here. 

[Howard_Casto]

Still can't get one here in Florida. Best buy had 60 to sell sunday morning but still no luck, i showed up at the store 3 hours before they opened only to find over 100 people waiting.

Everyone has gone Wii crazy and any place that sells them is always jammed up. If i can't show up 3 hours early and get one i can't see getting one for a long time around here. 

Don't feel bad... I still can't get ahold of one here either.  The rumor is more shipments come in on the 1st but there's no telling which stores, or how many they'll get.  On black friday the stores here got laughably small numbers in (like 5 or less per store) so nobody really got one.

I still can't believe nintendo isn't allowing you to purchase them via the nintendo store.  I mean it's based in japan... all the wii's are in japan... they make their money either way.. wouldn't it make more sense to just sell it to the customer directly?


Btw saint, the wii adaptor isn't a cost-effective solution.... the thing is 25 bucks plus shipping (they are hard to find in stores).  You can easily get a decent wireless router for that price or less so it would make more sense to just upgrade your router or attach an additional router to one's network. 

[AlanS17]

Btw saint, the wii adaptor isn't a cost-effective solution.... the thing is 25 bucks plus shipping (they are hard to find in stores).  You can easily get a decent wireless router for that price or less so it would make more sense to just upgrade your router or attach an additional router to one's network. 

I bought a NetGear Super G wireless router on black friday for $10 after discounts.

[AtomSmasher]

Still can't get one here in Florida. Best buy had 60 to sell sunday morning but still no luck, i showed up at the store 3 hours before they opened only to find over 100 people waiting.

Everyone has gone Wii crazy and any place that sells them is always jammed up. If i can't show up 3 hours early and get one i can't see getting one for a long time around here. 

Nintendo is supposed to be shipping out 250,000 each week, so hopefully in a two or three weeks, the Wii should be easy to come by.  If not, then the Wii is far on its way to become the #1 console this generation.

[Howard_Casto]

Still can't get one here in Florida. Best buy had 60 to sell sunday morning but still no luck, i showed up at the store 3 hours before they opened only to find over 100 people waiting.

Everyone has gone Wii crazy and any place that sells them is always jammed up. If i can't show up 3 hours early and get one i can't see getting one for a long time around here. 

Nintendo is supposed to be shipping out 250,000 each week, so hopefully in a two or three weeks, the Wii should be easy to come by.  If not, then the Wii is far on its way to become the #1 console this generation.

Well since I want to be on record for saying it somewhere (even though I've been saying this since the revolution teaser was shown 3 years ago) the wii will easily become the winner of this generation and will possibly sell better than the original nes.  I'm not trying to over-hype the product, I've just been playing games since I was 6 and with my 21 years of non-stop gaming experience, I tend to know a winner when I see one.    And on top of that, it's nintendo... aside from the virtual boy, they have never, ever made a bad console, not to mention a bad game.  All they needed was a little buzz to get back in the game, so now it's a done deal. 


Anyway I'm saying that it won't be as bad as the ps3, but you still shouldn't drag you tail and get to stores as soon as they get a new shipment. 

[slider2732]

I usually don't buzz about anything console related, but agree with Howard there...this thing is PLAYABLE !
Gran has a laugh, mom chortles at your swings of the baseball bat, dad relaxes with his pipe while sat in front of the console fishing. It's just the best news for playability since Defender drowned the ears in the 80's !

We have a Wii, the missus son queued outside Best Buy for two nights to get one...and he's bought a total winner.
They may look like an external cd-rom drive and the graphics might look lame compared to a decent cellphone, but these things have it all in the control and interaction.


Up til bastardised PC versions of the controllers come out, the Wii will be 1st on many peoples wishlist and deservedly so 

[clanggedin]

I picled one up on Sunday's shipment @ Best Buy. My brother in law is Product Manager there and he said they had 21 in stock so I was planning on getting there at 6AM to wait in line. He called me late Saturday afternoon stating that another store sold all of the Wii's accentally so they had to sebd 5 units to the store so they could cover the minimum amount in stock that the circular stated they would have.

I end up leaving at  getting thatere at 11PM Saturday to wait in line. I was 4th , but by 5AM there were 16 people.

Now I just need to help my mother in law find one for her.

[Howard_Casto]

Up til bastardised PC versions of the controllers come out, the Wii will be 1st on many peoples wishlist and deservedly so 

Actually, the things have only been out a week and the hackers already have a plan in place for getting the wiimotes to run on the pc.  They are standard bluetooth devices and some have already been able to get the digital buttons to send data.  All that remains is to figure out the analog stuff and write a proper driver.

Oh and the sensor bar... it's just an array of ir leds.  The only reason the thing plugs into the wii is to get 5 volts of power, people have been running it with candles instead of the bar.  So that isn't an issue either and people with projectors should be able to whip together a wall-mounted solution too. 

[AtomSmasher]

Why would people want the wiimote to work on their computer?  There have been mice that use the same technology (or at least similar technology) on the computer for years.  I suppose if they got the Wii games emulating on a comp I could see the usefulness of having the wiimote on the computer, but thats a long long way off.

[Howard_Casto]

Well a 6 axis position tracking device on the pc has traditionally cost upwards of 200 bucks on the pc.  A wiimote is around 40. 

Besides you forget, once nintendo makes a new controller it becomes the standard, period. 

Dpad, invented by nintendo.  Select and start buttons right on the controller... yep nintendo again.  L and R buttons.. nintendo.  Micro analog stick.... nintendo.  Rumble pack, nintendo.  Save card right on the controller... nintendo. 4 ports built into the system... the 4 button layout (as opposed to previous attempts which had a single long line of 3 or more buttons). I could go on, but the point is nintendo has been silently deciding the future of home consoles since the beginning, it's just nobody has noticed until now. 

So within a few years all games will use positioning technology, even on the pc.  The wiimote could be used as a controller for fps right now on the pc if a proper driver could be written.  Not to mention light guns, which the controller basically is.  Also steering wheels, flight sticks ect....

[AtomSmasher]

A quick check and gyro mice seem to go as low as $60, so the wiimote is cheaper if adequate support was developed.  As for PC games will soon use a device like the wiimote?  I highly doubt it.  How many PC games are designed to use a gamepad?  Not many, and the ones that do are usually ports of console games.  Just because something becomes popular on a console doesn't mean it will be popular on the PC.

Also, saying that nintendo is on the front of console innovation is not something new.  Maybe your just now realizing it, but a lot of people (including myself and my friends) have been talking about it for years, for me it was ever since the N64 came out with its analog stick, the Wii just confirms that they are still pushing innovative ideas.

[tommy]

Got mine today. 

I found a guy selling a Wii on eBay the other day, he lives about 10 miles away from me and just picked it up now.  I had to spend $100.00 more but i just could not wait any longer.  Wii Hoo. 

[Howard_Casto]

A quick check and gyro mice seem to go as low as $60, so the wiimote is cheaper if adequate support was developed.  As for PC games will soon use a device like the wiimote?  I highly doubt it.  How many PC games are designed to use a gamepad?  Not many, and the ones that do are usually ports of console games.  Just because something becomes popular on a console doesn't mean it will be popular on the PC.

Also, saying that nintendo is on the front of console innovation is not something new.  Maybe your just now realizing it, but a lot of people (including myself and my friends) have been talking about it for years, for me it was ever since the N64 came out with its analog stick, the Wii just confirms that they are still pushing innovative ideas.

And this is pretty much why pc games are limited to crappy f-p-s and strategdy games.  The wii mote allows a person enough control to play said games with the accuracy of a mouse (which is why gamepads never caught on) and the ease of use of a traditional controller.  Personally I HATE using a keyboard when playing pc games, but I seldom have a choice as aiming always works better with the mouse. 

No I'm not just now realizing it, I have every nintendo console save the virtual boy.  It's just sony/sega/misc fanboys are just now realizing it.  After all we are on our third ps3 and has sony done anything original either with game titles or hardware?  Well there's the eyetoy and um err... did I mention the eyetoy?

[Howard_Casto]

Got mine today. 

I found a guy selling a Wii on eBay the other day, he lives about 10 miles away from me and just picked it up now.  I had to spend $100.00 more but i just could not wait any longer.  Wii Hoo. 

And by buying a wii with a hiked up price you are supporting this horrible price gouging that is going on.  Nobody would run to the stores and snatch up every single console available to hock on ebay if guys like you weren't willing to pay considerably more for a device that has a set price. 

How much is a wii?  249.95 + tax/shipping.  How much should you pay for a wii? 249.95 + tax/shipping

End of story, period.