Marlin's dashboard

Wow, thanks for sharing, VegasLife!

http://www.myfinanceadvisory.com/fina...

hah !

This just in: GameStop stores are going to start offering Wii rain checks. From the AP wire:

"The rain checks will be available at the regular Wii system price, $249.99, on Dec. 20 and 21, and will entitle buyers to get the Nintendo console before Jan. 29. Fils-Aime said "many tens of thousands of rain checks" would be available."

Well, that is something, at least!

Full article here.

Also, this is fascinating. Follow this twitter account to check for a Wii every second: http://twitter.com/WiiMe

wow, dude. excellent approach. definitely worth the wait! thanks for the report.

Wow, thanks for sharing, VegasLife!

I spent part of the day at a local Gamestop that was getting a shipment of Wiis in that day. Turns out that Wiis come 3 to a box. I was #4 in line and surprise surprise, the Gamestop received 1 box of Wiis.

I took a chance and called a Costco. I called one that was in the urban center of town and farthest away from the suburbs. The lady who answered was great. She stated that they would open Saturday morning with 48 Wiis. She continued on saying that the Wiis were at their shipping hub and that they would be at the store Friday evening/morning.

I asked questions about vouchers, a line, etc and she answered them all. Basically, no line, no vouchers, and no they weren't going to open early. She ended by telling me that other customers were calling and talking about getting in line @ 4am. How nice.

My alarm rang @ 4:15am Saturday morning. I couldn't get up and going till 4:55am. My buddy Eric called up at 5:35 asking if I needed support. Heck yes I did. So he mumbled something about how early it was and hung up. Eric called me back to make sure that I was bringing the PSP. Of course I was bringing the PSP ... 4 hours to kill.

I showed up at Costco around 5:40am and there was no one there. I pulled out the newspaper and started catching up what was happening in the world. Eric showed up a few minutes later, laughed at me for getting there so early, and took off for McDonalds.

I was alone in the parking lot until around 7:30am. A couple ladies drove up and sat in their cars. They both saw me and came up and asked how long I had been there. One lady had been at a Christmas party all night and had not slept. We all agreed to stay in our cars for as long as possible (it was cold, windy, and rainy) and until someone drove up and got in line.

30 minutes later a guy in glasses drove up in a lexus, parked, got out and walked to the Costco entrance with a canvas fold up chair. Well that was that, the two ladies, Eric, and myself got out of our cars and took our places in line.

Turns out that everyone was really fun and in good spirits. I learned that the Costcos near the surburbs sold-out their Wiis with lots of people left waiting in line.

Costco management was really nice as well. They kept coming out to update everyone on the status.

-48 Wiis
-No Vouchers/Numbers
-The Wiis would be next to the cashier/checkout area
-1 per person, but you could take your Wii out to your car and get back in line.
-They would open a few minutes early (9:15 instead of 9:30)

By the time 9:15 rolled around, there were right around 30 people in line. Everyone kept themselves in check because it was a fact that they were all going to get a Wii.

My friend Jamie showed up just as the doors opened and picked up a Wii. Eric was pretty bitter about that, who knew that the turnout would be so low. :)

FYI - Costco was selling a bundle - $344.99. Extra Wiimote and Nunchuk plus Big Brain Academy.

I bought my Wii, took it to my Element and came back in to do some shopping. After picking up some things, there were still Wiis on the pallet so I splurged and now my Sister's family (her plus my five dear nieces and nephews) will open up a Wii on Christmas morning.

Now I can focus on games and components. Anyway, try your local Costco!

Confessions Of A Wii, PS3, iPhone Reseller

http://consumerist.com/consumer/hype/...

Via Evhead: Wiime on Twitter will tweet within a few seconds of when Amazon gets Wiis in stock.

Ive been looking all over for a Wii but i cant find one if you could tell me where to get one that would be awesome

you can come on over to our office and play ours anytime. we're just around the corner!

That is great! Nice find. Thank you.

Gadget link

Ebay Nintendo Wii ticker gadget for your igoogle homepage

http://www.google.com/ig/directory?ur...

I got my Wii back in March. My fiance called her local Gamestop every morning from last November-March.

What a dame.

I agree that eBay is good if you're willing to pay even eBay is a pain to navigate sometimes which is why i used

http://buywii.memill.com

I signed up for NowinStock.net email alerts on November 26 and was able to get one from Amazon November 30 - $249, free super saver shipping and no tax. Keep looking. Don't pay the scalpers! Nowinstock is a great service!

How to Score a Wii This Christmas - Wired News has some ideas of their own.

You can't download songs from the net just yet, but soon! The developer just announced they're working on this and it should be done sometime next year. No word on exactly when, but that's par for the course:
http://www.nintencast.com/news.php?su...

Wiitracker.com worked for me. I added the RSS feed to my iGoogle home page and watched it during the day. Four or five days after I started watching, it showed Amazon.com with stock. I clicked the link (which goes straight to the product page), ordered the Wii for $250, and paid for it right then. 12 minutes later it was sold out again. Definitely worth it, using the tracking sites.