I heard Nintendo was delivering the Wiis by way of kangaroos. Kangaroos driving icecream trucks.....armored icecream trucks.

So I can't get a Wii because of my stupid convict heritage eh? When will the discrimination end?

[I hope I get all 4 of my pre-orders... one for me, one for a work raffle, one each for my two brothers' families. You thought I was going to eBay them, didn't you? Stupid convict heritage causing discrimination again.]

They have Toys 'R Us in Austrailia?

40,000? What a croc. That bearly even koalafies as a launch. Good gReef.

Dingo.

What the hell is Oceania? Don't answer that, I know the answer and I think it's stupid.

Oh and by the way, where the hell did Florian go?

Where do you guys find these pictures for the stories? Do you have a repository of off-beat clip art and photos of '80's arcade cabinets? Is that where Florian is?

And, yeah, that sucks for the continent. Do you guys down under have Gamestops or any other specialty retailer?

In terms of population-to-unit ratios, 40,000 units for 20 million people isn't too dissimilar to 600,000 units for 300 million. Definitely would have been nice to get more though.
Wonder what the situation's like for NZ though...

Oh, and harkonnen - watch your back, or the dropbears will have you.

boettesattva:

EB Games came down here about two-three years back, but apart from them the only other specialty game stores are independents.

@ boettesattva wrote:
"Do you guys down under have Gamestops or any other specialty retailer?"

Yeah, we have plenty of specialty retailers. The two that are in my local shopping centre are EB's and Games Wizards. There are plenty of others.

The allocation of units is actually a pretty decent number for Australia's population. Per capita, it is almost exactly the same number as the US received (one console per 500 people).

If they can sell all of them it will be a pretty impressive launch by Australian standards. Especially given the lack of advertising by Nintendo of Australia (as always).

I'm actually surprised that it is just being announced that the stores have sold out of preorders. My local Toys 'R' Us has a few hundred pre-orders and aren't guaranteeing that all of them are going to be fulfilled on launch day, and my local EBs and Games Wizards aren't guaranteeing preorders on launch day anymore either. Around here, all the guaranteed launch-day preorders were snapped-up quite a while ago.

@Psi wrote:
"EB Games came down here about two-three years back, but apart from them the only other specialty game stores are independents."

Actually, Games Wizards is owned by the giant European games retailer, "GAME". They bought them a few months ago.

>>This "handful" includes Toys "R" Us, one of the nation's biggest video game retailers.

I have never even been to a Toys R Us to purchase a game, how laughable

Also last time i checked we were a 2 console country (Sony or Macrohard)

I've seen EB way before two to three years tho...

I saw one when I arrived, so it's like 7 years ago.

We also have our own franchise (Games Wizards) which has been so successful that it was bought out by the European game sales company, "game"

Retropants says:
watch your back, or the dropbears will have you.

Sadly, I likely would have believed that had someone told me in person. But now I know better.

JB Hifi, though selling other electronics, features games rather prominently. Same with WOW.
So yeah, we're not hurting for retailers. Just demand. It seems the Wii's demand might be sufficient for convincing companies to stop throwing us scraps, though.

@Demaar

I'm really impressed that Nintendo aren't "throwing us scraps" this time. We are getting exactly the same number of consoles per-capita as the USA, which has to be a first for us here.

I think that it is important that the Wii sells out here, because if it doesn't, then Nintendo will be less likely to do the same next time.

Retropants says:
watch your back, or the dropbears will have you.

You know most australians dont know anything about all these myths about australia. I had never even heard of the dropbear myth before a friend mentioned it to me a few weeks ago.

I was thinking of getting a good night's sleep on 7 December (in preparation for a solid 24 hours of non-stop-Wii afterwards).

Guess I have to brave the midnight launch after all.

Any tips from seasoned fanboys?

@the_ice_phoenix:

It's summer there right? If the weather is fine, then go earlier than you think, bring a chair and make friends with the people around you. That will be crucial when you need to go to the bathroom or drive home and take a shower. If you bring cash hide it somewhere other than your wallet. And if you don't get one on launch day, just think logically towards the next time they might get a shipment (for us its usually Sunday mornings, after they are advertised in the morning paper) and make a second go of the camp out.

Of course any of that advice can be undone by a stupid store policy or an unfriendly bunch of campers. And bring something to do, it will make time go by a little faster. And considering they have halted pre-orders so that the 40,000 doesn't sellout right away, you should probably try to be in the first 10 in line at whatever store you go to. And I wouldn't plan on your non electronics/gaming specific retailers to get more than 3 for launch, so if you camp out there, plan accordingly.