European Wii Launch

acme on 2006-12-08T09:34:25

I remember when Tomb Raider III came out. You younglings may not remember, but Tomb Raider was a huge thing, a game that everybody played, an exploring game with logic puzzles. with... Lara Croft. A new release was a big event, and I remember going down to the Game shop on Oxford Street at midnight, buying a copy there and then and going home to play it.

Today is the european Wii launch. Apparently. I couldn't tell, because I haven't managed to see a Wii yet. Around midnight yesterday I went down to Game on Oxford Street, where there were no staff and a queue of about 500 people who had all preordered and there were no extra Wiis to be found. Then I managed to find the official launch event at the HMV on Oxford Street. I know it was the launch event because it had spotlights outside and I had read about it in the press. However, the party was going on inside for celebrities and pre-order people and the shop was closed to the public.

Time was, you see, when you could give someone your money and they give you a product. I reckon there are fewer than a thousand Wii in the UK on the launch day. "There is a good chance it will sell out on Friday" says the UK product manager for Wii. No kidding! I guess I'll have to wait six months until I can actually get one.


But what about rogue?

Abigail on 2006-12-08T11:15:40

Can I play rogue, nethack, Moria on that Wii thingy? (For you between youngsters and old farts, rogue, nethack and Moria are like Tomb Raider, but with Laura in full frontal ASCII)

Re: European Wii Launch

brian_d_foy on 2006-12-08T17:43:24

Is the euorpean version different (video output, etc)? The gaming store next to my mail drop has a huge pyramid of Wii in the window. I guess they could be empty boxes....

Re: European Wii Launch

vek on 2006-12-08T18:35:04

One would assume PAL vs NTSC hilarity would ensue but that is pure speculation on my part :-)