I wanted to see the crowds of console launch people today. So I drove around to a: gamestop, walmart, kmart, and best buy and didn't see anyone. Each place had stacks upon stacks of Wii-Us, I had low expecations but not this low. Is the Wii-U sold out in your area? I'm swimming in Wii-Us over here.

A flop right now, I take it. Not a flop in general.

You gotta love the internet: It's been out for like to seconds and it's already a flop.

Yep!

Man, it's sold out everywhere I called today.

I work at WalMart . Came into work today at 11am. Everything was sold out. We have a few copies of ZombiU and Transformers Prime left but that is it.

@castiel I did say in my area I didn't say completely jackass.

I think all of them are sold out in my town.

I went out shortly after most of the stores opened this morning and came away empty handed.

I'm not ready to call the WiiU a flop, but I am glad I didn't go out of my way to pick one up just to flip on eBay. When the PS3 launched at $600, some of my classmates were re-selling them for like $1000. Course I was 16 and didn't have a bunch of extra cash to spend...

Why would you drive around to see lines?...I know you are trying to troll, but this is just sad.

It is sold out in my area, although if you went into a couple stores within 10 minutes or so of them opening you could get a basic model one.

Pre-orders seem to be the majority of the volume (best buy had them stacked in their pickup area when I had went in this morning, and there had been a midnight launch event). Although it is difficult to say how well this console will do overall. At the least I think it will do okay, even if it ends up running 3rd string. At this point I'm actually happy with mine; although I am still wondering why they limited the basic one to 8gb of all things.

Anecdotal evidence. Let's wait for the NPDs next month to see if it met expectations. Of course, the real proof will be how it performs 6 months from now.

I was at a toys r us for their b1g1 40% off deal and a best buy to pick up my pre-order, both had about 2-4 basic systems left.

It's all anecdotal, so one person sees one thing, another sees something different.

Because it's fun to see events like console launches happen. It's called people watching, like bird watching. I drove around and watched lines for the new iphone too.

well all it means is that people in your area didn't show up at launch day to buy them. not really thread-worthy.

Well if we are going by whats thread worthy every forum would be blank

@TooWalrus said:

I'm not ready to call the WiiU a flop, but I am glad I didn't go out of my way to pick one up just to flip on eBay. When the PS3 launched at $600, some of my classmates were re-selling them for like $1000. Course I was 16 and didn't have a bunch of extra cash to spend...

don't be that guy

I called several places today, and everyone was sold out.

@Darkstalker said:

@TooWalrus said:

I'm not ready to call the WiiU a flop, but I am glad I didn't go out of my way to pick one up just to flip on eBay. When the PS3 launched at $600, some of my classmates were re-selling them for like $1000. Course I was 16 and didn't have a bunch of extra cash to spend...

don't be that guy

If being that guy involves me having some petty cash to fix the busted seat in my car and that weird belt noise, I'm willing to stand in the cold for a few hours to do it.

@Castiel said:

You gotta love the internet: It's been out for like to seconds and it's already a flop.

Yep!

@yoshimitz707 said:

Man, it's sold out everywhere I called today.

Odd I've never heard of anyone driving around to see lines before. It's completely sold out around here but things are always sold out around here.

Weird seeing them be sold out everywhere, well that is expected i guess, but like the OP there is a whole stack of them in my local store...

I doubt it'll be sold out for long, I don't think Nintendo can afford to control supply like that nowadays, they're just going to make and sell as many as they can.

Like MIchael Pachter has said. They will sell out this season, because they started production late and because of the holiday rush. The success of this console will not be clear until at least next year. Chill out.

I'm actually kind of annoyed that this system isn't more of a flop. It deserves to BE a flop, from this stream, but instead I get the bad feeling that Nintendo will continue to think they're doing shit right. Jesus.

I don't know a single person IRL who is buying one. And I'm friends with quite a few gamers. Anecdotal, but I think that's all the evidence I need.

@murisan: It'll get what it deserves. If Nintendo has made a product people will buy, then by definition of economic success they've done the right thing.

They are still available here. I am contemplating getting one. Once December hits they will be very hard to find. Though I'm in no rush because I'm just getting it for Pikmin anyway.

@Zor said:

Why would you drive around to see lines?...I know you are trying to troll, but this is just sad.

@SpudBug said:

well all it means is that people in your area didn't show up at launch day to buy them. not really thread-worthy.

I love how defensive everyone with a red name is to the IDEA that the Wii U isn't lighting the fucking world on fire.

I stopped by my walmart after work at about 12:30am and they had 2 standard units left. It's a college town though and all the students left for Thanksgiving or else it would have been long gone.

I bought one but can't decide if I really want it or not

@Fearbeard said:

I stopped by my walmart after work at about 12:30am and they had 2 standard units left. It's a college town though and all the students left for Thanksgiving or else it would have been long gone. I bought one but can't decide if I really want it or not

Not worth it your losing out on an extra game (Nitendoland) and about 24 gb of internal memory for about 50 dollars savings. From what I've seen online the Deluxes are pretty much sold out while the regular ones are still in stock. Think those people who don't follow games as much aren't going out in droves for the Wii U while those who do purchased the deluxe.

@project343 said:

I don't know a single person IRL who is buying one. And I'm friends with quite a few gamers. Anecdotal, but I think that's all the evidence I need.

I don't either come to think of it.

I have no intention of buying a Wii U at this time, but I'm not really the target audience for this thing anyway.

Wii U sold out, at the store I work at, in the first hour. To be fair there were only 10 units available.

I had 12 preorders and cancelled them all. I'm getting 7 WiiU's in the mail tomorrow and I'm instantly sending them all back. I'll just stick with my Vita.

I'm in a big American city, and it seemed to sell out everywhere by mid afternoon around here.

all 4 gamestops near me, both Super walmarts and my fred meyer's were all sold out for the past week they said due to the amount of pre-orders.

Maybe you could be a little more specific about where your area is? I'd be curious to know where the WiiU's are plentiful. The norm seems to be that they are in short supply or sold out, which I expected anyway. Nintendo tends to ship low quantities so they can get the free publicity of being one of the "Hot New Hard-to-Find Xmas Items" in the news.

@ApolloBob said:

Nintendo tends to ship low quantities so they can get the free publicity of being one of the "Hot New Hard-to-Find Xmas Items" in the news.

Prove it.

@Fearbeard said:

I stopped by my walmart after work at about 12:30am and they had 2 standard units left. It's a college town though and all the students left for Thanksgiving or else it would have been long gone. I bought one but can't decide if I really want it or not

Not worth it your losing out on an extra game (Nitendoland) and about 24 gb of internal memory for about 50 dollars savings. From what I've seen online the Deluxes are pretty much sold out while the regular ones are still in stock. Think those people who don't follow games as much aren't going out in droves for the Wii U while those who do purchased the deluxe.

It was sold out 3/4 places I went today that could have had one so I wouldn't say it flopped. It's still early and most of the sales are probably from Nintendo die-hards so it's kind of hard to judge what the perception of the general public. From what I saw today a number of people had no idea what it was or that it was coming, on the flip side while I was purchasing my not WiiU I would ask the cashier how they felt about it and many of them usually had a story along the lines of "oh my son/daughter/nephew/neice/etc. has been really wanting one. Being able to play while someone else uses the TV is really cool.". Make of it what you will but it looked like they were doing fine.

Both the Best Buy and Wal-Mart (where I pre-ordered) were turning people away when I turned up around 8 am this morning, but both were well stocked on games. I went out again 7pm and dropped in on another Wal-Mart and their Wii U section was ravaged. A few copies of ME3 and Batman were all they had left.

I didn't buy a Wii U today.

THE WII U SEEMS LIKE A FLOP in my home.

@apollobob: michigan

Just your area OP. At my local gamestop I asked how it was doing out of curiosity and they told me their initial shipment sold out the day it came in and their second shipment did the same.

@algertman: Sounds like a sound marketing strategy; if it is true then its most definitely not only Nintendo that does it though.

All consoles will sell at the beginning right? Everyone wants the new thing so im surprised its not sold out everywhere, plus you add in the nintendo fans who want it and i think it will do pretty well at first - the problem is a few months after christmas. The other two consoles coming out and games primarily, im a pretty big nintendo fan myself but even so i am getting frustrated with shovelware and first party games - or games that i have not played, granted i know they sell well so it will continue, but can it be successful again with the same formulae after that minor miracle?

Sold out everywhere around me. I really want one. I keep checking online at various retailers, but still no dice. Anybody know of anyone that's getting them in stock online soon?

@kishinfoulux said:

Sold out everywhere around me. I really want one. I keep checking online at various retailers, but still no dice. Anybody know of anyone that's getting them in stock online soon?

Black Friday. I'm sure stores will have some. Good luck.

I'm not sure yet. I haven't seen too much excitement for it, but I think people should give it a few weeks before saying its a flop or not. At lest until the holiday are over.

@PenguinDust said:

Anecdotal evidence. Let's wait for the NPDs next month to see if it met expectations. Of course, the real proof will be how it performs 6 months from now.