What a weekend

Never imagined that I would brave through the cold just to get my hands on the newest gadget... Oh well, here's the newest addition to my household, the Nintendo Wii!


I dropped by Target to do some shopping Saturday afternoon and overheard that they won't be letting people line up until 11p that night. Cool, I thought, then the line shouldn't be too long even if I showed up around 4 or 5 am.

I then decided to try my luck at the Baraboo Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, they only had 28 Wii and they already gave out all the tickets at midnight.

Darn, back to Target. This was about 9:30pm.

When I drove past Target (again), I saw a sizable line of people already lining up outside Target. I was like, "What's up with the 11pm thing!?" I realized then I really need to get in line if I want to get my hands on a Wii the next day.

Pretty much the whole camp out experience can be summarized into one word - COLD!!! I believed the temperature was around 32F (0C). Don't forget to add in the wind chill as well. Why can't Nintendo launch the system in a warmer season? Or couldn't the Target employees just start distributing vouchers at 12:01a instead of 7a? These are the things that keep coming to mind as I fought through the night.

People were nice in general, a lot of them were local UW students. There were several tents along the line. One couple even made their own version using blankets and Target shopping carts (they were right in front of me - funny folks). The guys who were behind me actually work at CompUSA, but it sounded like CompUSA isn't going to have any so Target's their best bet (Two of the guys need to work Sunday 10:30 - Ouch). Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, so no pic.

People kept trickling in throughout the night. The line added 4 to 5 people every half an hour or so. I think it's around 4 o'clock when we reached the magic number 111 - the number of Wii allocated to our Target. There were these couple guys who walked up & down trying to figure if they could make it. My count fluctuated between 59 to 65. Regardless, both numbers are less than 111 and I will be getting a Wii (if I did not died from hypothermia that is).

Around 4:30a was when the "more normal/reasonable" people started to show up. I can't help but think in my mind, "You are so not getting a Wii - 4:30am!? You seriously thought that you can get a Wii by coming at 4:30a!? Ha!" Funny that had I not seen the line at 9:30p, I too would be one of these people - ones without a Wii on launch day. Though I do kind of felt sorry for those parents showing up trying to get a Wii for their kids. They tended to show up around sunrise but by that time, it was waaaaaaaaaay to late.

7:15a - two guys walked out from Target, one handing out the voucher and the other free T-shirt from Nintendo. So much waiting (10 hrs) for that tiny piece of paper. I am pretty sure there were about 50 or so folks who lined up but didn't get one. Hopefully Nintendo's keeping their end of the promises and keeps the shipment coming.

We just need to get back by 8a and line up in the same order (easy since the voucher has a number on it - mine is exactly 59. Looks like someone was doing an excellent head count earlier). Drove to McD and picked up a much needed breakfast.

830a, my turn getting into Target and picking up the ultimate prize. An extra controller + nun-chuck, Zelda and Rayman along with the console - there goes another $450 down the drain. By 845a, I am a proud owner of a next-gen console. =)

It wasn't such a bad experience, but really wished the weather was warmer (how i envied those LA launches where people are just wearing long sleeve shirts). Don't know if I will ever do it again, but at least I can say that I've camped out for a video game console. XD