Wii Bit Desperate

Many of us will never achieve that nirvana of masculinity: being Chow Yun Fat cool. Even if recent events have placed a damper on dual gun action, we have to admit that Chow Yun Fat is da bomb.

But since this is too much to wish for, most of us are content with not looking too foolish.

In November or so, Nintendo did something very smart. They released the Wii shortly on the heels of Sony releasing the PS3. The PS3 was long awaited. It was expected to hit shelves much sooner than it actually did. Indeed, Xbox was able to release its 360 nearly a year earlier.

And pretty much the PS3 came DOA. Oh, sure, it boasted gaudy graphics, and its HD Bluray built in, and promised ultra-realistic games. Did I care? I'm not a gaming person. Never have been. No PS2. No Gamecube. Not even a Colecovision or an Intellivision, which is pretty old school, if you can remember them. Videos games? Piffle!

And with a price tag of 600 dollars or more, I was not interested, not that I would have been even had it been half the price. Turns out, no one else cared either, except the most rabid fans. Even though supplies were limited, you could get one easily.

The Wii? It cost 250 dollars, less than half the price. You could buy two of them and still had money left over compared to the amount it would take to buy a PS3. Even so, I wasn't sure I really wanted a Wii, not being a gamer.

But then I got a chance to play the Wii, and I said wow, even a video game idiot like me can play this. It was both fun, and exercise. Video games outside of DDR are synonymous with couch potato geekiness. But the Wii seemed pretty cool, even if it lacked high quality graphics.

I had my chance to get it a few months ago, when I went to Best Buy to get a replacement hands-free set (which, by the way, didn't work). They had one Wii left. I declined. At that point, I hadn't played with the Wii, and thought it wasn't for me.

In March, once I had given it a try, I decided to start looking for one.

Bad idea.

Throughout March and April, I think the Wii only shipped once. I wasn't so hooked in to know when it would come out. Web sites are notoriously bad at this information. I relied on an old-fashioned technique. I called the stores. I wasn't about to hang out at stores 6 am every Sunday (when they came out) hoping they'd have a shipment. I'd rather make sure by calling.

And even if I had some idea they might have it, I didn't want to wake up early, or earlier than I would for work. As it turns out, March was a bad time to look. Stores just weren't getting shipments.

After two or three weeks of trying, I stopped heading to Best Buys on Sundays.

I decided on a lazier strategy. I'd call in, see if any were coming in. I was even lazy about that strategy, basically, calling in when I could remember.

Finally, it paid off. I knew, this past Sunday, it would come. I didn't know how many. I also didn't care to wait in line more than an hour or so. I woke up at 7:30 to go to Target, which opens at 8, hoping I could get it, and not wait.

Once I discovered Target had no supply, I ate breakfast, relaxed, then went to Toys 'R Us where there was a long line, but not terribly insane. I had called them earlier, and they had promised a supply.

For some reason, I like lines. You wait in line, hoping to get something. You look forward and wondered how long those poor suckers sat up at front. I felt that, at worst, I'd stand 30-40 minutes, and I'd know whether I'd get in or not. Surprisingly, there were people trying to get in line merely 5 minutes before opening. They still got one too.

I mean, no one really expects Toys 'R Us to carry video games, right? I mean, they do, of course, but you're first thought is Best Buy or Circuit City or some place suitably geeky.

I can't even recall that last time I went to Toys 'R Us. The teen in line, with the long hair, said he hadn't been in the store since he was ten. Ten? When was that? Last year?

But it's fun hanging out in line. I realized, of course, that I wasn't the key demographic for most console games. I was in the group Nintendo hoped to woo. The non-gamer wanting to give video games a try. The other people in line? They were more typical. They played PS2 or Gamecube or one of the handhelds. These were pros, but not so much that they had a Wii already. One guy said he was buying it for a nephew. Nice guy.

When you stand in line, you get to talk to people you'd never see again. I'd want to take their names and pictures and chat some, but well, you know, tis weird. So I had to simply enjoy the fleeting moment of the company. It did seem odd, that the thought I had about the Asian guy in Maryland sweats was "does this guy have a gun?". Even though I know--I know!--that the shootings were an aberration, that you couldn't generalize, heck, I'm Asian! But still the thought ran through my head.

I figured anyone getting a Wii couldn't be that bad, right? Actually, I thought they were all pretty sociable, something Mr. Hui was not, and the thought passed. I noticed the blond kid in the Duke sweatshirt. Ah, Duke. I suppose I would have mentioned the lacrosse thing or asked if he went (he probably had a brother that went or a sister or was just home on a random weekend), but it honestly didn't cross my mind. I just thought that he had Duke, and two other guys wore Maryland (and me as well, but it was a yellow shirt, not red), and there was no riot.

When I got my Wii, at around 10:30, I figured I'd only spent maybe an hour or so of my time at this store, but maybe 3 hours over all since I woke up. Maybe that was desperate, but it didn't feel that way.

Oddly enough, I just wanted a drink, and headed to Applebee's to get one. I really wanted to sleep, though, and the drink was meant to facilitate that. I didn't even want to open the Wii right then. Indeed, I'm sure it will sit a few days before I decide to open it and set it up.

I have to say that I can now saw Wii without laughing.

At least, not too much.