I was talking to my wife last night, and while I would rather have an XBox 360, she said that she would like to get the kids a Wii for Christmas.... THANKS A LOT HONEY! We are getting into prime rip-off, I mean shopping season. A few weeks ago, I could have probably made a few calls to some stores to find out when shipments were coming in, but now, every place seems to be tight-lipped about it (I know some have them in their Black Friday ads, but it seems stupid to wait in a killer line to MAYBE get something for MSRP).

I am looking just for the Wii for the regular price of $250. I am not looking for any bundle packs like what Walmart.com and eBay have. Any ideas where to look?

If you figure it out let me know.

You guys should be able to find a nice stock of Wiis at your local Toys-R-Us store.

Most folks think they can only be found at an electronics store. When Best Buy/Circuit City/etc. were running ads last Christmas (6AM, 12 in stock). My son-in-law was in one of the lines and heard a guy behind him (waiting to buy something else) snicker and say "Toys-R-Us have them stacked up".

He immediately drove over there and found 60 of them on the store shelves with nobody else in sight.

Interesting timing for this question. I got one (and a bunch of games/accessories) as a retirement gift in August. Still in the box, but I got my wireless router yesterday and plan to hook everything up today. I plan to use the (included) Opera browser to surf the internet (hence the need for wireless).

Any how - good luck. Let me know if my tip helps you.

It can be hard at times, even at Toys-R-Us. When we decided to buy one last March no store in Austin, TX had it in stock.
What I did was choose a few nearby stores and ask them which day of the week they get their consoles delivered and I called them on these days. After a couple of weeks it worked out. A local Gamestop had just received 2 and I called my wife and she went and picked it up.
But usually stores like Walmart get a whole lot more than 2 and if you show up on their delivery day you should be able to get one. On the same day Gamestop got their our local Walmart got their delivery and they had at least 10 in stock.

Anyway... I know it can be frutrating, I'm trying to get Super Mario Galaxy and or course it's already sold out almost anywhere.

This goes to show you how good this console is. I never try to get any product as soon as it's released or line up for hours... But I have to admit that Nintendo struck gold this time. I hadn't had that much fun with a console since the NES.

I just checked with Toys R Us, and they have them in stock, but don't have them on the shelf and won't until Sunday due to them needing the stock for their Sunday ad (since they have to have some sort of minimum). I will talk more with my wife tonight and tomorrow about a Wii vs. an XBox 360. That way if we go Wii, I can hit Toys R Us when they open on Sunday if I need to.

I haven't been able to get into the Wii yet. Maybe after I start playing Super Mario Galaxy. The 360 has way more games that appeal to me, but you know, a lot of the time I get caught up playing a select few Xbox Live Arcade games rather than the big AAA titles. Carcassonne, which I never played as a board game but which I've really enjoyed on Xbox Live Arcade, is going to be free for download tomorrow in celebration of five years of Xbox Live. I highly recommend everyone with a 360 download it.

Back on topic, I'm sure I'll play the Wii more as more games come out.

Carcassonne is a good board game.

it is actually pretty darn fun

I love my Wii. Guitar Hero 3 is great.

Really? Can you tell me more about it? How does it compare to the previous ones on ps2 XBOX?

All I can say is good luck. It only took Nintendo a little over a year and a half to become the best selling console, approaching 10 million units already.

I was lucky enough to walk into WalMart 2 weeks before Christmas last year and picked one up.

I can't compare because this is my first GH title. I like the wireless guitar and the speaker on the Wiimote gives good feedback when you miss notes.

I haven't tried any of the Guitar Hero games, but they sound like fun. What is the difference between the versions, other than new songs? Would it make sense to start with the first on and work up if I like it, or is GH3 that much better that it would be better to just start with it?

Actually, if I am not mistaken, some of the songs on the "new" GH3 are actually "older" than the others. (I know, you meant "different songs"... Just giving you a hard time.)

I actually find GH in general to be really fun. I also like the idea of the upcoming Rock Band game with 2 guitars, a set of (cheap) drums, and a microphone. The game play is a little different than GH, but it is fun that 4 people can play.

Not sure if Rock Band will come out for the Wii or not. Haven't checked into it.

So how does a Wii look on a projection system? I know that it is "only" 480p vs 1080i of the 360, but at about 85" diagonal 3:4 size, how would it look?

The Wii is capable of widescreen display as well 16:9, I think it should look quite good. It is very crisp in widescreen mode and 480P on my dad's 46" Sharp lcd, even as close as 1 ft away.

You have to get the Component cables seperately to hook it up in 480P mode as the Wii has 2 different outputs through the same connector to achieve the progressive scan. The one it comes with will not allow 480P.

Figures... Another expense.... Oh well, good to know.

I also found out yesterday that Walmart is selling Xbox 360 with a 5 game bundle for $280 on Black Friday.

I've played Zelda Twilight Princess on Wii on my PLV-Z2 projector and it looked fine. It's definitely not as sharp as a ps3 or xbox360 but it's not bad at all. It really depends on the game too. Zelda looks fine, while Wii Sports didn't look too great on my 100' screen.

Wii sports is definitely not the best graphically, but great fun to play.

You can get the Wii component video cable at Monoprice for about $6.

Thanks Tom.

I actually picked up a Wii over lunch today. I walked into a Walmart (Sirquack, south-side Walmart on SE 14th) and they had 2 in the gaming case, and at least 21 new ones waiting to be unboxed (I saw at least 7 boxes with 3 Wiis each)... I will have to try it out tonight, but don't want to break too many seals so that I can still return it if we go Xbox 360 route.

Just before lunch on Thursdays appears to be a normal time for the shipments to go onto the floor. That is when I picked mine up last year.