Shame on Nintendo for not anticipating demand. It makes matters worse when you go to the store and the display is there with tons of empty boxes making it seem like there is a alot in stock. Pre-orders should've given them *some* indication... It's sad when an entire industry springs up around the unavailability - the so-called wii-tracker sites. Sign up receive alerts of when the thing is available. They release handfuls at a time and people line up for hours for them. Oh, walmart has them at midnight? OK, let me change out of my pajamas and go there at midnight to wait an hour. They might as well stockpile them until there is enough to fully stock any and all stores that have those gaudy displays of empty boxes and the futuristic voice emanating from those flat screen TV's extolling the wonders of the Wii.
After watching the message boards on amazon for a couple weeks, some kind soul reported the availability of the consoles on walmart.com. Well, not the console itself for the low low price of $249, but a bundle. No, the console is not available by itself, but you can have it if you buy six games with it. Fine. The rest of the family wants one bad enough. I forked over the $600 with the estimated delivery date of 4/2 or 4/3. Fine. Today is 3/31. So I log in, after my order to check my "order status" and it's the SERVICE PLAN that will arrive 4/2 to 4/3. The console now says 4/5 to 4/10 and the games say 4/5 to 4/10. Anyone want to place their bets that these estimates will become farther into the future the next time I check? But walmart.com says "In Stock" so I'm assuming, whether or not they sell out in 5 minutes or 5 hours, I bought mine when it said "in stock" so they must actually have one for me and will be sending it to me promptly.
Do I want the wii? yeah, ok, I do. I hear it's really cool. But my wide eyed sense of wonderment and enthusiasm for Nintendo is definitely dampened by the deceptive reports of availability out there, and the sheer fact that it's still so hard to get one.