It's all over the news this year-- nobody has Wiis. Nobody, anywhere. You should give up now and just buy one of those inferior consoles with better graphics and approximately 3,237 interchangeable shooting and action titles that demand the full use of all 23 buttons on the controller.
Really? You don't want to?
Then you'd better be preared to out-think and out-gun the Wii-seeking enemy. If you want to buy a Wii this Christmas, you'll need to plan ahead, avoid impulse buys, and above all else, avoid running out of chances to pick up a Wii at its MSRP, $249.99. If you end up buying from a third party on e-bay or Amazon, expect to end up paying roughly double that... but there's no reason why you should.
For more gift ideas, also check out the GamePro Family Gift Guide, GamePro's Best Holiday Games You Never Heard Of, the 2007 GamePro Holiday Guide, and GameGirls Holiday Shopping Tips! Happy Shopping!
The Best Way to Get a Wii
The fact is, while there is going to be a Wii shortage this Christmas, it shouldn't be as bad as it was last year when the console was new. Your ace in the hole is going to be big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Target-- you get the picture. While they tend not to stay in stock at these stores, they also tend to arrive in very large shipments. If you get to the store at the right time, you stand a good chance of getting a Wii without even standing in line, while the supply is plentiful.
The best method to use is the one Beefcake outlined in his pwn4ge p0stz0r: call all of your local big box retailers 48 to 72 hours ahead of time and inquire about when Wii shipments arrive. On the day shipments come in, make sure you're at the stores roughly thirty minutes to an hour before they open. Avoid lines, or only deal with them if you're in roughly the first five spots. Buy your console and any spare Wii remotes you want quickly and try to get it safely home as soon as possible. You can buy a game or other accessories to go with it later. It may take two or three tries, but this should eventually work. The earlier in the year you do it, the better off your chances of snagging a Wii are.
If you fail with big box retailer, you can check out a specialty video games retailer like GameStop. Most of these stores are small and rely more on software sales, so you'll be dealing with smaller shipments and narrower chances of getting a console. If you get lucky with such a store, though, then you can pick one up at MSRP. To find out when they get Wiis, use the same methods you'd use for a big box retailer, and try to call every story within driving distance.Try to arrive early on the day of a shipment, just as you would with a big box retail purchse. You don't need to arrive quite as early, since GameStop usually doesn't receive shipments until around 10 or 11 AM.
If You Can't Buy Retail
You run into trouble with the Wii if you can't pick one up at a retail outlet, because that blows your chances of getting the console at MSRP. If you can try to order from a retailer online, chances are you'll only get a new Wii from an online vendor if it's part of a bigger bundle of accessories and games. Here's an example of such a bundle offered by Wal-Mart. While this is not a bad deal if you break it down to price per item, you still have to spend a very large amount of money at once to acquire a Wii this way. Basically, bundles are only worth investing in if you want every single thing in the bundle. Don't let yourself be forced into buying a bundle that includes items you don't want just to get a Wii. It's not worth it.
If you can't get a bundle, you may be tempted to try buying a "new in box" Wii from a third party on e-bay or Amazon. Most sellers in such a situation will be reputable, since e-bay keeps sharp eyes on Wii auctions and has since the initial launch rush. The danger of buying this way is simply paying too much for the machine. It's not unusual for e-bay auctions to go well over $400 or $500 for a basic machine, and Amazon sellers frequently demand as much. You should only shop for a Wii this way if you are desperate to get one before christmas and retail channels utterly fail you.
Also remember: whenever you buy a Wii from a third party on e-bay, you encourage the practice of picking up Wiis and other hot electronics at retail purely for the purpose of "scalping" them to someone else. This practice often helps further constrict supplies during shortages of a product, making it artificially harder for you to get a Wii at the price Nintendo wants you to pay for it. There's nothing illegal or immoral about scalping Wiis, it's just not in your interests as someone who wants to own a Wii to encourage it! Every Wii that gets sold on e-bay is one that the seller purchased at retail price. You want to get your Wii at that price, and cut out of the middleman if at all possible.
What Goes With a Wii?
What you get in the basic Wii package is the console, sensor bar, composite connection cables, a power supply, a copy of Wii Sports, and a single Wii remote and nunchuk attachment. This is a decent enough start, but there are a lot, and I mean a lot of extra accessories you'll want to think about buying.
Which ones you get depend on what your needs as a Wii owner are, so just read the entries below and decide whether or not that's an accessory you need. Just note that if you want to become a Wii owner, you need to be ready to spend more cash than the $249.99 MSRP of the console. This is why you don't want to end up buying your Wii at an inflated price: less cash to spend on extras.
First off, you want to factor in the cost of a game or two besides Wii Sports (which isn't much fun for only one or two players). We're going to recommend top holiday Wii titles in another post, but for now remember that most Wii titles run $40-$60 dollars. Some "budget" titles may be as low as $20-$30 dollars. Also remember that you may want to budget money for Virtual Console downloads, and that your Wii plays any GameCube title (which opens up a library of very good games).
Finally, factor in the cost of all the accessories you might want to buy. While the basic Wii console box is very affordable, accessories can really jack up the total price of a Wii purchase into the range of $600 or $700 dollars. Also remember that some accessories may be as scarce as the Wii itself... or scarcer!
Extra Remotes
MSRP: $39.99
This is the biggie when buying a Wii. Virtually everything about the system is more fun with two players, so you want at least two Wii remote and nunchuk combinations available. If you want to have Wii parties or know you'll have family members playing, you may want to invest in a full set of three spare remotes and accompanying nunchuks. This is, obviously, an expensive proposition -- three remote and nunchuk sets cost almost as much as the system itself.
On top of that, Wii remotes tend to be the most scarce Wii accessory. As I write now, most retailers and GameStops should have a few around, but this will change as we move closer to Christmas. Last year, remotes ended up being impossible to find during the three weeks surrounding Christmas itself. It may be best to try and track down Wii remotes using the same tactics you use to track down Wiis at retail. If a new shipment is coming in at a big box retailer, that should be an excellent time to snap up spare remotes. You can also do well ordering these from retailers online, who can usually keep them in stock and sell at MSRP right now.
You can also buy them from third parties, but if so you'll end up paying an inflated price. The inflation isn't as bad as it is for the core Wii bundle, but last year was typically around $80 per remote, especially if you wait until the week before or after Christmas to order. You definitely want to get your remotes before Christmas, as last year virtually all Wii accessories became nearly impossible to find at retail for about the first week after.
One of the best ways to get hold of your first spare Wii remote is to purchase a game called Wii Play. This title retails for $49.99 and has a spare remote packaged with it. The game itself is a collection of minigames similar to Wii Sports, and good for play with large groups and families. Generally Wii Play units are more plentiful than lone Wii remotes. So if you don't mind dropping what is effectively $10 on the cost of the minigames, this is a pretty good deal.
Optional Controllers
The remote is the scarce and expensive part of the Wii controller. The optional parts that you plug into the bottom of the remote, or snap around the remote like a casing, tend to be cheaper and more plentiful. On the downside, you'll probably end up needing a wide variety of them for different sorts of games. On the upside, a lot of them are purely optional and can be done without. We run down the various controller expansions below. Note that all of these are relatively plentiful and should be available at MSRP at retail.
The Nunchuk
MSRP: $19.99
This is sort of the "default" controller you plug into the expansion port at the bottom of the Wii. Most single-player and two-player Wii titles essentially demand it. Some party game collections require you have nunchuks for players three and four, but it's only worth investing in that many nunchuks if you know you want to play a lot of games like that. Otherwise, two is probably plenty.
The Classic Controller
MSRP: $19.99
There are two main reasons why you'd need the traditional-looking Classic Controller: if you know you're going to play a lot of Virtual Console titles, or if you know you're going to be playing a lot of Super Smash Bros. Brawl when it comes out in February.
If the Virtual Console is your interest, then the Classic Controller's close resemblance to the SNES controller makes it optimal for roughly 90% of the games you'd download. Many classic games offer two-player options, so you'll want to have roughly two on hand. There are a very few VC games that let you use more than two players, but they're relatively rare. It's only worth buying more than two Classic Controllers if you know you'll be playing something like this with friends frequently.
If you're interested in throwing parties for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, you'll probably want a full set of four Classic Controllers. While you can play Brawl with other controllers like the Remote and the GameCube controller, what's been written so far on the Smash Bros. Dojo website gives the distinct impression that the game's going to be "optimized" for play with the Classic Controller.
The Wii Zapper
MSRP: $24.99
The Zapper is a gimmicky housing you can mount a Wii remote and nunchuk in, giving the feeling of playing shooting games with a real "gun" in hand. The Zapper comes with a Zelda-themed shooting minigame called Link's Crossbow Training, and is compatible with a wide range of arcade-style shooting games either available for the Wii now or coming soon. You don't need it to play these shooting games, but it might be fun for younger players. Older players may get frustrated by the way the housing restricts movement, and will probably prefer playing with the remote and nunchuk separated so they can aim more quickly. Despite the obvious drawbacks to using it, this is likely to be a "hot" accessory and may become scarce this year after its release on November 19.
Nintendo Wi-Fi Adapter
MSRP: $39.99
This accessory is a must if you're buying a Wii and don't have wireless internet at home. While the Wii can easily get online, it can only use wireless signals. The Wi-Fi Adapter can plug into any internet-ready computer and use it to broadcast a wireless cloud the Wii can use to get online. If you want to get the most out of your Wii, you really need to be able to take it online. Without an internet connection, you can't download anything from the Virtual Console and can't get any use out of the Wii's internet browser or other entertainment channels. You also can't update your system firmware.
S-Video & Component Cables
MSRP: $34.99
If you're an HDTV owner, then you want to toss aside the composite cables the Wii ships with. Instead, you want to purchase a set of component cables that'll let you view the Wii in its highest output resolution, 480p. Even if you use a standard screen, the Wii's graphics are enough of a step beyond the GameCube's that you may want to pick up an S-Video cable so you can enjoy the game in full 480i. The MSRP listed is for Nintendo's official component cable, but note that it's possible to pick up third-party cables and S-video cables for much lower prices.
Batteries & Charging Docks
MSRP: $34.99
This is the big "hidden cost" of the Wii. If you plan on playing a lot of Wii games, or keeping a lot of Wii remotes going at once, you'll find they chew through batteries at a frightening pace. This can be especially bad if you keep your Wii remotes somewhere the buttons get jostled a lot, since hitting any button on the remote causes it to turn on for a little bit. Each Wii remote you have in circulation is going to require 2 AA batteries, and if you play regularly you can't really expect to get more than 3-4 months of use out of any particular pair. If you want to use conventional batteries as a Wii owner, then it's best to start buying AAs in the largest packages and most long-lived variants you can afford.
You may think rechargeable batteries are a good solution to the Wii remote's battery-hungry nature, but this isn't the case. The way the Wii remote automatically switches on if jostled and switches off if ignored for a bit tends to chew through the power in rechargeables unusually quick. If you want to avoid buying tons of disposable AA batteries, what you want to buy instead is a charging dock. If you play multiplayer frequently, you may want to look into buying multiple charging docks. They may seem pricy at first compared to batteries, but if you have, say, four Wii remotes in the house? Having charging docks saves up a lot of money in the long run. Even having charging docks for the two Wii remotes you use the most is worth your while. MSRP on charging docks covers a pretty wide range, from $9.99 to $19.99 for a single Wiimote. The one pictured, Nyko's excellent $34.99 charger, has the advantage of letting you dock two Wii remotes.
