My sisters boyfriend is trying to find a Wii for my sister for Xmas and it is sold out everywhere.

If anyone knows where you can buy one online for MSRP (not 100-200 dollars over like many sites) let me know!

Thanks!

I've heard that GameStop has them for the regular $249 price. I know some people that, gasp, went to the store, in person even, and bought some... Scary, I know, but some times us online shoppers need to get out every now and then. (I'm the same way with buying online from the comfort of my home...)

Nick, I think David may have been asking about buying online as the B&M stores are selling out and he is hoping to find one online opposed to waiting in a line up at 4AM, but I think at this time of year, unless you are very lucky and drop into a store as the shipment arrives, waiting in line on a Thursday or Friday night might be the only way. I stil see ads for Wii shipments coming in to ToysRus or Futureshop on a regular bassis and going on sale Friday or Saturday. I lucked out with the original release, I happened to be in Walmart and went past the till in the electronics department, they had 2 cases of Wii's sitting by the till, I bought one on the spot.

Yeah, the B&M stores he visited were all sold out... I'll just keep my eyes peeled when I'm out and about this holiday season.

eCOST has them for $359.99, includes Wii sports.

Seems to me eCost is a little inflated, but if it is the only place to get it and you really need one...........

Man, there's just no excuse for Nintendo not having enough Wiis for ANOTHER holiday season. I think they're in love with the shortages.

Don't give up on the out of the way places, the first year they came out I found one for my daughter at Walmart just sitting on the (locked) shelf when all of the other stores like BestBuy/CircuitCity were selling out within an hour of delivery with lines already in place waiting to sell product on ebay.

I've seen them at Walmart and Toys R Us often over he last few months, even later in the evenings, seems like they have had more inventory.

Sure there is, they still can't keep them on the shelves for much longer than a couple of days during the year and now they barely make it onto the shelves if at all. You can only produce so many at a time and lets face it if you put too much supply out there, the demand could drop off quickly.

At this point, I think they can afford to take the risk and BELIEVE their product could keep selling enough to ramp up production more. You're right that it's an excuse, but it's not one I'm willing to let them use. Let's not celebrate the fact that year after year they're unable to give consumers an easy buying experience. They've had plenty of time to adjust their production. How can they really be concerned about a sudden drop-off in demand when their sales have consistently kept pace with their output? It looks like they're going to be the single winner in the console war this generation. No sympathy for winners.

I see them advertised every week at all of the major stores. Heck, even on Black Friday (Sorry, you can't borrow my time machine.) my local Walmart had gotten in 120 of them, and they weren't the "hot" item so it took a while for them to sell, and I don't know if they even sold out of them. I saw them at Target, Toys R Us, Best Buy, and GameStop stores last Friday, and the only place that I was at when they opened was Walmart.

There are a lot of them out there, but here is something to do. Pick up the phone and give a couple places a call. Ask when they expect to get a shipment in, or when there regular shipments come in and then visit or call the store the next morning since they stock the shelves overnight. WIth a few phone calls and a little effort, you should be able to pick one up locally. Otherwise you will have to check the online stores multiple times a day just to see if they marked any more as "in stock" and that will actually start to take up more time and energy than calling the local places.

Good luck!

People are still buying these? Havn't people realized there are only a handful of decent games for this console. Once you start buying the Wii peripherals so you can play the games the Wii ends up being the most expensive console on the market.

I do not think a lot of parents realize the amount of money they will have to invest into the console to keep it up to date for current games that their kids want to play.

Sorry for the rant

Whatever Dr House... You can try to tell me your propaganda, but I'm not listening...

Hey, where can I pick up 3 more Wii remotes, another nun-chuck, a Wii Fit, and a couple of games, oh I'll need the gun thing and some steering wheels too? No problem. What? How much? $527? On top of the $249 for the Wii itself?

Sure! Here's my credit card...
-------

Seriously though, my family loves it. As long as you pick some good games, you can have a real blast with it. For example, my 9 year old and I have been working our way through Mario Galaxy for months now. So much to do, and planets to revisit. WELL worth the $50. We only have 2 Wii-motes and 2 nun-chucks, but for almost everything we do, that is enough.

I think that all of the console systems are the same with their cost model. Some are more up front (PS3 is still the most expensive), and wireless controllers are all pricey no matter which platform you have. Good games run about $50 (I've seen $60 and $65 games for XBox and PS3 from time to time).

Hardcore console gamers will pay for their PS3 and XBox, but the more family oriented, or casual gamer doesn't want to have a $600 console up front and only 1 controller (like the PS3 was when it first came out). The Wii fit into the group of people who just want to play something fun.

Heck, when we visit our family, we are asked to bring our Wii along (not any more now that they bought their own Wii last weekend), and my 9 year old can play with me (mid-30's) and my parents (in their 60's) all just fine. Throw an XBox or PS3 controller, let alone the game, at my parents that it is Game Over.

For me, if I want to play something a little more "traditional" then I will play it on my PC.

To each their own, I guess.

I agree Nick - there's undoubtedly a market for these thing. They are a ton of fun to play with the family. The great thing is you can pick it up and play without a whole lot of video game experience. Yes, this only applies to a few key games, but that's good enough for me. I've had a ton of fun with mine & my friends and family. Even though we only play it once every couple of months for get-togethers, I'm glad I have it.

If you ever want a game that is cheesy in graphics, but a lot of fun and can make you and your friends to silly things, look at WarioWare Smooth Moves. Let's see some XBox and PS3 fan put their controller on their head for the "Mohawk" move!

Not propaganda, but fact!

I am glad you like your Wii :). It is a good console for children but it is not a "cheaper" alternative to the other consoles out there like we are meant to believe.

I never disagreed with you, thus my post with all of the sarcasm (that I guess you didn't get). Sorry about that.

I would argue, however, that it is far from just a console for "children", and in fact appeals to a MUCH wider audience than the XBox 360 or PS3 (as I stated above). That isn't saying anything bad about those consoles, they have their market. Clearly the Wii has its market too and has outsold XBox and PS3 console combined since it came out.

The Wii is not a gimmick or a fad, and when the Wii 2 (Wow, would that be Wii II with a lot of "i"s at the end) comes out with HD level graphics, you will see more "hard core" games for it. By then, there will be some XBox 720 and PS4 and a lot of people with buy those too. Like I said, the Wii just fits a larger demographic than the stated 25-40 year old male buyer that Microsoft and Sony are targeting (based off of their own words), of course that demographic (25-40 year old males)tends to spend more on games, so it makes business sense to them to target it.

Again, my post about cost was sarcastic. Go back and read it that way and you will see that I meant no disrespect, and was in fact poking fun at Wii owners like myself.

I'll agree the graphics are rather poor compared to the 360 or PS3, but I don't think it is as expensive as you make it sound. How many controllers do most consoles come with? The Fit may be expensive but not really more so than buying Guitar Hero or the pad for DDR for any other console or PC system. The steering wheel is an option for many driving games and is really just designed to be easier to hold than the remote for that type of game; I don't think it is required.

Microsoft and Sony will incorporate motion sensing controllers in their next gen consoles which will make the next gen Wii less of a novelty. I suspect the only main difference/attraction to gamers for the next gen Wii is the use of peripherals (kid friendly games) with their gaming console which seems to be the direction Nintendo is heading. The gap will most certainly close when it comes to worldwide console sales.

Ps3 has motion sensing controllers already.. just not implemented in many of the games.

My mother in law bought one at Gamestop on Wed. Target had it on the shelf a few weeks ago.

Exactly! Game developers have enough of a headache developing for the cell processor for the PS3 that the the motion sensing aspect has taken a back seat (which I do not have a problem with). With time I would suspect both Microsoft and Sony will try to use it to its full extent to take that aspect away from Nintendo. I am all for that as long as the game developers incorporate it correctly.

I hate that aspect of the PS3 controllers. The only game that specifically made us of it that I've played is Heavenly Sword and I could not wait to get past the motion controlled parts. Ugh!

Yeah, same here. I hated those parts of heavenly sword!

Funny, I really liked those parts. I loved the level where you shot an arrow and had to guide it into the explosives storage room.

Jason

I just do not like the PS3 controller in general.

What DO you like? You've talked about the stuff you don't like, but please share what you do like. I am generally a pessimist, so it is refreshing to hear positives from other people, unless the negatives lead to a funny story, like some motion guided arrow that sounds fun!

I like

1) The 360 game library
2) 360 Controller
3) Xbox Live
4) The fact the PS3 offers excellent value (gaming console + Blu- Ray)

I dislike

1) The wii's game library
2) 360's cheap hardware (poor design)
3) PS3 controller

A well-rounded profile for a video game dating site.

I may be a little late here, but I just came across a Wii package at Hammacher Schlemmer

$600?

Wii $250
Wii Play with Remote $45 on Amazon
Wii Nunchuck $18 on Amazon

That means they want $287 for two "assorted" games. Yikes!

The package includes 4 controllers in total. 2 wiimote and 2 wiichucks.

The Wii comes with one of each. The Wii Play game comes with a standard Wiimote. The wiichuch by itself is $18.

Also, anything purchased from Hammacher Schlemmer has a "lifetime guarantee"- "Items that we sell are guaranteed for their normal life under standard, non-commercial use. Should any product fail to meet your expectations, simply return it with proof of purchase. We will replace it, refund the purchase price or credit your credit card, depending upon your original payment method."

I believe their prices are slightly inflated but their guarantee is one of a kind.

But the name is hard to say without Sean saying "Bless You"...

Funny, when I say it my monitor gets all wet.

Funny thing is that my voice dictation program picked it up right away which I found very odd.

What voice dictation program do you use?

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9

Does it work well? I tried Dragon in '98 and it was not ready for prime time, I keep reading about it lately because of all the reports I have to write and they say it's much improved.

I just thought, I swear I've seen parrots that can talk and play the piano on America's funniest home videos or something of the sort. Wow, a parrot is one up on me

These are the things I think of when I have too much time on my hands

I started using Dragon and 98 (when I had my accident) and I can easily say that it has vastly improved, not only in recognition speed, but ease-of-use i.e. you don't have to use alpha/bravo letters anymore to spell words, even though I do because it's more intellectually stimulating (everyone knows the alphabet).

Cool, I'll have to give it a try again one of these days.

MY sister's boyfriend found a wii at Toys R us (online). IT was a bundle with a free game for $349 (after shipping).. so not too bad.