Trying to get a Wii

Nintendo must be very pleased. Sony must be very sad.

So I had heard rumblings that Target stores, as well as Best Buy and Circuit City, would have some Nintendo Wii's today. They had it advertised in their weekly circular and there had been some post on various web sites.

Now I want to get a Wii. I prefer to get one over a PS3, which I think cost too much and doesn't offer anything compelling to me, or even an Xbox 360 which I should have an obvious bias towards (I will probably get a 360 if and when they cut the price). Even though I want to get a Wii, I will not go out of my way to get one. I definitely don't plan on waiting in line or fighting with my fellow consumers.

But I figure that its over two months since launch and that the Christmas season has passed so if I went early enough I would probably get one. Target opens up at 8:00. I showed up at about 8:45, and there were none left. The cashier told me there was a line when the store opened and that they had already sold out. Sold out in 45 minutes. Of course, sitting in plain sight were some PS3s, much like I observed before at Best Buy.

Sony has to be worried. It seems clear to me they are going to lose this round of the game wars. Microsoft has already sold 10 million units, that's a pretty big head start. With Xbox Live, they have, in my mind, many more compelling features than PS3 (since I have ZERO interest in a Blu-Ray player). Nintendo seems poised to take the 2nd position, and very likely might be able to catch Microsoft.