teqguy

Despite what seems to be an overly excessive amount of hype over Wii preorders, it has come to my attention that very few people actually understand the procedure of a preorder.

If I'm reading the sentiment correctly, what's on the forefront of people's minds breaks down as such:

90% - Were not able to preorder but are at least mildly concerned about aquiring a system at launch

9% - Do not care about preorders and are just looking forward to camping out at launch

1% - Have aquired a preorder and are still anxious about getting one at launch


Although there's a pretty wide margin between the three categories, allow me to express to you that the feelings are unanimous: We're all anxious- just some less than others and some for other reasons.


I'll start off by explaining that where I derrive this insight from is directly in the heart of the beast; I am in that slim percentile of people who was lucky enough to preorder this morning.

The haves and have nots show a flagrant distinction around the time of the latest "must have" release, but for some, the "must have" attitude lands you a place at the front of the line- at 6:30PM yesterday(the sad and mildly whimsical part of this is that second, third, fourth, and fifth arrived a good ten hours later).

Arriving at 6:30 AM, I happened to be tenth in line with a clipboard numbered to ten being passed around, so needless to say, you can understand my mindset at that point.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen(one of which being of the lucky few to attend E3) behind me were turned away, with those standing breathing a sigh of relief. The difference between their arrival and mine was an hour, giving you a figure of what to expect at launch(to stay on the safe side, halve it twice and those are the kind of arrival times you should be apprehensive about).


Now, while those like me are busy kissing their reciepts and dancing around their residences/offices/schools/etc, I'll bring everyone back to reality.

Hopefully this will benefit that 90% of you that were disappointed:


While GameStop/EBGames and probably every other store recommends that you preorder to ensure you can buy a console on launch day, they cannot reserve a system for you.

The only function of a preorder is that it gives corporate a ballpark amount of how many units to ship to a certain store. This doesn't guarantee that your preorder won't become someone else's launch day purchase.

For example, if a store only gets one preorder for an item(as is the case with really crappy games), corporate will only send one additional copy of that game, making the count X + 1, where X is their original bulk amount.

The manager at the store I went to expressed deep concern about the XBox 360 fiasco and Ebayers, hence limiting their preorders to 10 people at one per household. Furthermore, GameStop's new policy entails browsing Ebay to look for anyone selling their preorders. Anyone caught will have their preorder cancelled. He went on to say that only he and an employee were purchasing a Wii, bringing their store total to X + 12.

This does not shed any light on how many units they are or aren't expecting. Just because their liability is limited to 10 people, doesn't mean they aren't already expecting double, triple, or quadruple that.

Nintendo intends to have 2 million units at launch, which means their worst case scenario is near or beyond 2 million, give or take a hundred. If you do the math, it turns out that there will probably be 200,000 consoles for Canada and some regions of Mexico, leaving 1.8 million consoles for the United States.

Halve that to find out how many consoles will be divided among video game stores(GameStop/EBGames, GameCrazy, etc). The rest will go to your Targets, Walmarts, Toys R Us', etc. This leaves 900,000 units for each.

If you figure that there are 4,400 GameStop/EBGames locations and only 700 GameCrazy locations, the worst case scenario would be between 20 and 50 consoles per store, with our best odds being 100+ per store per hundred miles.


With that, I urge you not to be concerned, because I have a strong suspicion that this will be one launch where the majority of the units are bought from store shelves, not Ebay, nor the trunk of someone's car.

Good luck on launch.

Jenova

Thank you for explaining that. I am also one of the lucky 1% to get a pre-order, but I have a few friends on here that are worried about getting the Wii. I ensured them one by the end of the year definately, because that is true, but a slim chance on getting it on launch day. But as you said, there are plenty to go around. =)

__________________

Demon Slayer

Oh Come on thats not alot i mean we have 35 million ppl in canada...thats not fair

Jenova

But are all of them people who want/know about the Wii? That limits it to maybe 5 million... >_> If that helps...

__________________

teqguy

Yeah, but 25% of them speak French, so who cares?

But to be honest, if Nintendo ramps up its yields like they've indicated they will, 200,000 consoles could easily double to 400,000 within a month.

I doubt there will be a shortage, especially considering the US is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

Jenova

The hop is free, but the skip and the jump cost a pretty penny.

__________________

Demon Slayer

Ok i know the french arn't that great but thats just rude ( i am french you know)

Jenova

Je jouer au joue video!

(Dunno if I said that right...)

__________________

Demon Slayer

Je joue au jeux video...lol...almost..dosn't matter what does matter is me getting that Wii

teqguy

Luckily Nintendo fans know no bounds.

Just poking a little fun.

Out of curiosity, what language will you be playing the majority of your games in?

Demon Slayer

ENGLISH lol im an acadien and back here acadiens speek french and english togetter...we call tah chiak..lol example...Ej vien Right Back ( which is baicicly BrB the Ej is Je like I

anyway i love english way more then french thank you lol
i never watch french movies anyway...its always in english...to tell you the thruth i can hardly understand what ppl are saying in french movies

Ryouko

On the contrary, the pre-order reserves our spot in line, it says so on the slip they all gave us when we put our pre-order down. Which means whichever systems come in first, we will be the first to be given the opportunity to buy them. This will be so until all pre-orders are filled. Then afterwards, those who did not pre-order will be allowed a chance to buy them.

The only thing not guaranteed to us is that we may not exactly receive it on the launch date, in the case that they do not receive enough to fill the pre-order quota.

teqguy

Sounds interesting.

I don't know if you're familiar with Malaysians and Singaporeans, but they have a dialect that combines Mandarin and English that they call Singlish.

It involves excessive use of the word "lah" in every sentence, which to this day I still have no idea the meaning of.

If you ever get a chance, it's quite a spectacle to read/listen to... and you can't help but say they resemble the way an alien from Mars Attacks speaks.

Demon Slayer

lol must be intresting

teqguy

Not true.

If you read their disclaimer on their website, in addition to the memo that was passed around a few days ago, you would've read that the launch is still a first come, first serve basis.

As I stated, the only purpose for a preorder is securing an ADDITIONAL console that will be added into their current quotas.

If your GameStop/EB is operating this way, I congratulate you on choosing the right one, but the one I went to specified that we'd still have to be at each others' throats at launch.

I could be misinterpreting both the memo and disclaimer, but I can't get past the manager's opening statement.

Ryouko

If what you are saying is true, then there would be no reason for us to pre-order in the first place. That just doesn't make any sense, and I can't see GameStop/EB Games going through so much trouble just for that.

I have read numerous reports online from managers of these stores that those who have put down a pre-order, are first in line for the systems when they become available. All pre-orders have 48 hours to pick up their systems, in which afterwards you will forfeit your place in line.

This excerpt comes straight from the slip we were given at the time we put down our reservation:

"As GameStop cannot control production and shipping issues by the manufacturer, the reservation deposit will only guarantee a spot in line when your reserved product becomes available."

This means that yes, we are guaranteed that we will be first to be offered a system, especially since we have already put money down. However, there is NO guarantee that it will be on the launch date. That is all that they are saying. Just that we may have to wait a bit. There is no mention that we will lose our place in line.

teqguy

I don't think you're following what my understanding of the preorder situation is.

My point is that preorders could possibly affect the number of units allocated at each individual store, so that stores recieve amounts tailored to demographics, not just a number sent down from corporate that all stores are stuck trying to push.

This makes sense based on the fact that not every GameStop/EBGames' customers have the same needs. By allocating units tailored to each store, they meet these needs more accurately, in addition to not ordering more units than they're able to sell.

While this makes perfect sense to me from a business standpoint, I do hope that what you said is true.

GreyKirby

Great Post
Hopefully this stuff is really ... Real and that a week after they start taking preorders in canada i might be able to preorder xD

__________________