# Wii's limited availability after 5 months...how does it compare? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684 "2007-04-18T21:15:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/61 "2007-04-26T16:11:54Z")
I was just looking at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and the cheapest price you can get on a new Wii is $389, and $403 for a used one. Are people really buying them at these prices? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/62 "2007-04-26T16:14:00Z")
[QUOTE=Red Barchetta] FYI, just stopped by Target to pick up my copy of Pokemon for the DS, [/QUOTE] … for which there still isn’t a European release date. Grr. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/63 "2007-04-27T15:27:29Z")
[Nintendo plans to expand production of the Wii](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070427/ap_on_hi_te/japan_nintendo;_ylt=AptfT.o5_QCjxLFUSl_2N2TMWM0F) ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/64 "2007-04-27T16:06:39Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] I was just looking at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and the cheapest price you can get on a new Wii is $389, and $403 for a used one. Are people really buying them at these prices? [/QUOTE] I bought two for resale at one point and got about $360 for each one. FWIW. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/65 "2007-04-27T16:12:00Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] I bought two for resale at one point and got about $360 for each one. FWIW. -Joe [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s the thing. I’ve never sold anything on Amazon or eBaby, but I’m thinking about camping out in front of some stores and seeing if I can’t resell a couple of these babies. It’d pay for my _own_ Wii. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/66 "2007-04-27T16:24:15Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Yeah, that’s the thing. I’ve never sold anything on Amazon or eBaby, but I’m thinking about camping out in front of some stores and seeing if I can’t resell a couple of these babies. It’d pay for my _own_ Wii. [/QUOTE] Pretty close to what I did. I just stop in the occasional Wal-Mart. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/67 "2007-04-27T16:42:43Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] I also got **Contra III** off the Virtual Console. If you’re thinking of downloading it, the game is unplayable without a Classic Controller. [/QUOTE] Unless you have a Gamecube controller. And yeah, it is worth noting that all of the SNES, SEGA, TG16 (I think), and N64 games require either a Gamecube or classic controller. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/68 "2007-04-27T16:45:22Z")
Well I downloaded **Donkey Kong** (my classic favorite) and **Galaga** (my wife’s classic favorite) for the NES onto our Wii last night. And then my wife surprised me with a brithday gift, **Call of Duty 3**!! I Can’t wait to play it. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/69 "2007-04-27T16:47:37Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Unless you have a Gamecube controller. And yeah, it is worth noting that all of the SNES, SEGA, TG16 (I think), and N64 games require either a Gamecube or classic controller. [/QUOTE] According to [Wikipeida](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_virtual_console) some of the TG16 games and Genesis games can use the wand. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/70 "2007-04-27T16:50:05Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Unless you have a Gamecube controller. And yeah, it is worth noting that all of the SNES, SEGA, TG16 (I think), and N64 games require either a Gamecube or classic controller. [/QUOTE] No, you misunderstand. I mean the Contra III controls on a GameCube controller make the game unplayable. Everything is laid out all wrong. I wasn’t originally going to buy a Classic Controller (I have 3 GC ones), but it really is needed for Virtual Console games. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/71 "2007-05-06T19:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Pretty close to what I did. I just stop in the occasional Wal-Mart. -Joe [/QUOTE] So if you don’t mind my asking, where’d you sell it? I just picked one up this morning at Wal-Mart. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/72 "2007-06-25T21:42:23Z")
[QUOTE=mercury60] I think you can buy your Wii. I recently came across a site that has a list of merchants selling Wii online. Although stocks are still limited, they come in slow steady supply in my opinion. You can check it out through this link: [http://www.smartratings.com/review/electronics/video\_gaming\_consoles/86](http://www.smartratings.com/review/electronics/video_gaming_consoles/86) . Hope it helps. Good luck. [/QUOTE] Thanks, but I already found one at Walmart. I was so happy, took it right home and prepared to hawk it on Amazon, only to find out you can’t sell electronics (and lots of other things) on Amazon w/out being one of their mysterious “preferred sellers” which apparently you have to wait and be invited to be. So then I tried it on eBay only to find out I’m too late. All the power sellers who somehow come into truck-fulls of Wiis are on there selling 10/day for only a couple bucks over shipping. Can’t compete with that. Back to Walmart my poor little Wii went. Have to save up for it the old-fashioned way. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/73 "2007-06-26T14:39:23Z")
I saw three Wiis just sitting on the shelf at Best Buy last Thursday with no one around even looking at them. I think the “sold out everywhere” draught is finally over. But Target the next day still had an empty Wii case, so the Wii is still considered “hard to find,” which I guess is an upgrade from “impossible.” ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/74 "2007-06-26T14:50:41Z")
My husband and I finally managed to get a Wii last weekend. We’d tried to local Gamestop a couple times–the girl there told us that the shipments were lasting longer, a couple days or more. Of course, that didn’t help the time she’d sold the last one an hour before we got there (right about when my husband was getting off work), but we managed to find one the next day at another GS while visiting his family. Seems like it’s still hard to find a place with some in stock, but drop by enough places enough times and you should luck in. Now if there was only something we could do to Bust-a-Move Bash to make it easier to tell the colours apart ☹ ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/75 "2007-06-26T16:10:45Z")
Still impossible to get around here. I blame the scalpers. There’s no shortage of people selling them on eBay and craigslist, they must be the ones waiting on lines and buying out shipments as soon as they arrive. So I’ll wait patiently until they’re regularly in stock. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/76 "2007-06-26T16:21:55Z")
[QUOTE=Jayn\_Newell] … Now if there was only something we could do to Bust-a-Move Bash to make it easier to tell the colours apart ☹ [/QUOTE] I’ve flamed out over that more times than I care to admit ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684/77 "2007-06-26T17:01:48Z")
Whoo-hooo! I finally finished Zelda…100 hours later! What a great game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiis-limited-availability-after-5-months-how-does-it-compare/400684.md?page=3)