What experience is this?
Having the satisfaction of sitting at my local Wal-mart for hours, holding spot number 9 of 9 for the Nintendo Wii! The entire experience was quite an experience to add to the story collection (with the whole military duty collection, that is).
So, I find out that Wal-mart is doing their sale on Weds for the Nintendo Wii last Sunday and I guide my target right over to getting at Wal-mart 4 or 5 hours early on Weds. So, I get home from school on Tuesday and finish up some CIS homework. Now, I've heard from a few people say that they go on sale at 12:01 A.M or 8:01 A.M, depending where you live.
So, I decided to head over to Wal-mart right after I finished my homework to ask the electronic guy when they go on sale. Upon arriving at 5:00 P.M, I was like, "Hmm, I wonder if the line started?" I walked back to the normal area is where they stash people for console camping and sure enough, I see a line of people sitting in chairs! Score! They must go on sale at 12:01! I walk over, and look at everyone and a kid goes, "Are you here for the Nintendo Wii?" I was like, "Yeah..." and responded, there is 1 spot left!
A sigh of relief fell on me. I sat down, got cozy and realized that I was completely taken off guard... I wasn't expecting people to line up 7 hours early, so I didn't bring anything with me.
Insert some military thoughts.
In the Marines, every month you get the pleasure of sitting in a 6ft by 6ft room with white walls, a desk and a chair. No T.V's, Books, or entertainment devices allowed. About the only thing that was authorized is actual military related handbooks. You normally post at 8:00 A.M and get off the next day at 8:00 A.M. Some duty stations allow the guard to post his assistant, while he sleeps for 2 hours. But, It wasn't always the case of me having that luck. So, sitting in that room for 24 hours, and then returning to work that next day until 4:00 P.M.
Sitting, with nothing, is nothing to me.
Back to the story.
The manager walked out after me being there for almost 2 hours and said, "You all know that the console is going on sale at 8:01 A.M right?" Sure enough, everybody did, except me. Having those military thoughts on my mind, I was like, 'Ah, what the hell.' So, I stayed, the guy next to me left because of his friend backing down from wanting one and throughout the night about 6 of the 9 people fell asleep for a few hours. Luckily, we don't live in an area where you'd likely get your chair swiped from under you if you were to fall asleep.
Fast-forward through the boring night to about 7:00 A.M. Everybody wakes up, sits up on their chair, filled with excitement. And then it starts...
A mother walks in at about 7:15.
Mother: "Are there any spots left?"
Me: "Last one was taken 14 hours ago... (thinking, is she serious?!)"
Mother: "Aww... (while giving us a sad look, which didn't phase anybody)
Mother: "Anybody here wouldn't want to give their spot to a poor old, hard working mother just trying to get her son a gift for Christmas, would they?
Me: Blunt as hell, "Nope, sorry... (thinking, did she just ask that?!?!)"
She leaves, this other family walks in. Butch looking grandma (intimidated me!)... She, basically refused to believe that we were saying that they were all sold out 14 hours ago. She stood in her spot until the manager came out to affirm what we had already told her. Some people. Was it not enough to listen to us say that there wasn't any left, the chairs we were sitting on that was labeled 1 of 9, wasn't enough either.
This other lady walks in at about 8:45 and goes, "There isn't any spots left?! I just called and they said that to be guaranteed a Nintendo, show up before 8:00!!" Needless to say, she probably went to cuss out the Manager for her not showing up early 'enough'. I tried to tell her that, "Yeah, early as in 14+ hours ago," but, that didn't fly.
Overall, the experience was great. I knew that if I didn't huff it out tonight, that I wouldn't be experiencing any Wii action over my holiday break. Being in Kansas, or anywhere for that matter, getting your hands on this console before Christmas is a pain-in-the-ass. Which, is understandable. Having had my hands on it, it is an absolute revolution (probably why they code-named it that) in gaming technology. Sure, Sony is doing it with the PS3, but just the design that went into this is much more intuitive. Being able to immerse yourself with hand actions that we've all been doing since we started gaming (some people, for example, driving a racing game and jerking the controller to dodge something) is just really fun to watch come to life on the screen. Overall, the $250 price tag of the system, plus it is included with a fun game (unheard of these days) makes it that much more better.
Coming from a guy who hasn't bought a console since the Sega Dreamcast (Failure, I know), this was most certainly a worthwhile wait. I thought I'd be a PC gamer for the rest of my life. Guess Nintendo proved me wrong on that.
Oh... I picked up Zelda: Twilight Princess with my McDonalds Best Buy bucks a few days before the camp. So, that was a tease in and of itself. Overall, from what I've played, the storyline is absolutely wonderful. Coming from somebody that want to eventually get into the industry as a designer (since programming is a far fetch), I'm taking a lot of great things away from the experience with this game. Having those chills run down your back is something I'm wanting to replicate in future projects that I'm involved with. Hopefully, soon, I'll be able to have something tangible to show you all.
Well, if you've made it this far, you deserve to play some Wii. Feel free to drop by and I'll pass on the controller. If you haven't played a buddies yet, go do it now. You shouldn't be disappointed.
Back to finishing up this semester.
Regards,
-Dave
Ive only played my wii for a few hours, but it was worth it...I guess :-p