We Love the Wii -- Mountain View Gamestop

8:30: I arrive at the Gamestop in Mountain View. There's a line of about 20 people waiting outside. I ask the person at the end of the line if he knows what time Gamestop opens. "Ten o'clock." I had just gone out for buying boxes and things for my business, and hadn't brought anything to work on. an hour and a half of waiting, with naught to do would make my brain explode. I walk away to head home to grab a few things.

8:43: I return to Gamestop. 3 people have showed up since I left. The people here are in their early to mid twenties, maybe some in the 30 to 40 age bracket. The people who have showed up since my first vist are a girl reading a book, an old asian man, and the chatty cellphone mom next to me. Old asian man is reading a Fry's flyer and BusinessWeek 2 people ahead of me. He's balding, so he's at least 40. The rule when it comes to calculating the age of Asian Men -- take the age you'd guess, and then add 15. There's a grandma amongst the first ten or so people. I'm pretty sure she's going to eBay the Wii. Gotta watch out for the old preying on the young.

8:52: The mood here is eerily silent. No one is talking to one another, and people are nervously fidgeting about, tapping their fingers on coffee cups, fanning themselves with newspaper advertisements or games that they're planning to trade in for store credit. One guy is twisting his headphone cables, another is playing something on a Nintendo DS. Since the DS is held book style, I surmise that he's likely playing Brain Age or some other intellectual training game. The subtle movements of other humans has everyone on edge -- is the person talking to some guy in the middle trying to cut in line, or is he just making conversation?

8:59: There are now five people behind me. A person with an iPod just came by, asked " Does the store open at nine or ten?" "Ten," the guy at the end of the line says. The end of the line is only 5 people down from me. At the current rate, there will be 30 more who will show up before the store opens. My guess is that it won't get that long. I wonder how long the person at the front of the line has been waiting, but I'm reluctant to move to lose my place in line. It looks like he was just making conversation, because he's moved around the corner, away out of eyesight. Perhaps he's gone up ahead in search of other line-cutting prey.

9:02: From sitting indian (or is it native american? What's the pc term for sitting like that?) style, my legs have fallen asleep. The sun is in my eyes, and it's likely that I'm getting a suntan from sitting out here. I should have brought a baseball cap. Or maybe just remembered some sunscreen. God, that'd suck if i got skin cancer from sitting out here. I reverse my direction so my back is to the street. At least this way if I get skin cancer it'll be on the neck. I wish my hair was longer so that I'd have another shield against the sun. I move up the collar of my sweater so the neck is shielded a bit more.

9:06 The woman next to me with the GameCube version of Naruto and a giftcard to trade in is calling someone on the cellphone. She's speaking a weird slavic language I don't understand.

9:07. John, one of the guys up ahead has called his friend on the cellphone. He gives the location of where he is, and tells his girlfriend/wife/mother to bring some breakfast and coffee.

9:10: Why'd they have to do the pre-order on such a warm sunny day? It'd be better if it was cold, foggy morning, with heavy winds and heavy rain. Test the true mettle of the devoted Nintendo gamer. Hell, if Link is willing to ride Epona through the rain, shooting arrows at baddies to rescue the Princess, shouldn't gamers have the full interactive experience of standing in the torrential downpour getting soaked waiting for the Wii? Two more gamers have showed up. I'm now seventh from the end of the line. Mr. iPod who walked away earlier has returned with a Diet Coke.

9:15: The transaction takes place in the middle of the street, with the car pulling up, the woman driver rolling her window down, and John in the Facebook sweater coming to get the hot coffee and breakfast.

9:19: Weird Slavic Language woman is pacing around, back and forth. It's really, really distracting because she drags her feet when she paces because she's wearing sandals.

9:21: The Goodwill truck parked at the other side of the parking lot has started to back up. You can tell it's backing up because it's doing that beep-beep-beep thing.

9:23 Old Asian Man is now reading some pages printed from a web browser. He's reading page 3 of 4.

9:24 The Goodwill truck is still doing that beeping thing, because they pull it up 5 inches, then reverse it another five, and back and forth. I'm not sure why it's moving like that.

9:25: Someone's gotten in line in back of Mr. iPod. He has Orange Timbuktu laptop bag which holds a glossy white iMac. Mr. Orange Timbuktu is fully equipped for the long wait, with a folding lawn chair, a Treo, sunglasses and an iPod.

9:28: The heat is really bothering me. It's days like this that I'm jealous of our wait for the DS at Sunshine City -- at least it was in an airconditioned mall. Mental note. The next time I decide to do a pre-order line up, I'll pick an indoor store. It's starting to warm up -- probably in the mid seventies now.

9:29: Facebook John is talking to Apple eating guy next to him. Apple eating guy also prepared for a camp out -- he brought one of those folding lawn chairs too.

9:32: The guy seven people ahead of me has had enough of the sun, and has draped his sweatshirt over his head. Sweatshirt over the head guy is next to sweater over the head girl, who is reading a book of Organic Chemistry and Drug interactions. She's probably a future pharmacist. Or someone opening up a meth lab.

9:34: Gamestop dude has come out with tickets to hand out. He says he has 35. I'm number 26. Gamestop dude has one more left and turns around. "I've got one more left."

A chorus of voices: "Can I have it? I'll give it to my friend, he'll come later." "No, it's first come, first serve." Old asian guys says "Turn around, I think the lucky last guy just showed up. " He's an asian guy wearing a parka. He's far too warmly dressed for showing up so late. Maybe that's the new fashion? Thick winter clothes for a Mountain View October?

"You here for the wii?" Gamestop dude asks him. "Yeah," he answers. Here you go, Gamestop dude says, handing him #35. Now that everyone has numbers, I will start to refer to people as numbers, because people are numbers. People are muttering about how lucky the last guy is.

9:40: #21 is telling #22 about why he's waiting out here instead of going to Target, Walmart, BestBuy or CostCo. #21 is a veteran of these pre-order things, it seems. He's talking about the wait for the XBox and the PS2. My own recollection of the pre-orders for those systems was it wasn't that bad. The XBox wasn't selling at all, and the PS2 was definitely available.

9:42: #36, a woman shows up. They just handed out the last ticket, #34 says. Oh, woman says, and turn around to leave.

9:46: #36, a man shows up. they gave out all the tickets already, #35 says. Oh. Oh well, I'll see if I can preorder anyways. and he stands in line.

9:50: 10 minutes to opening -- the stress level of the waiters has died down -- people are noticably more relaxed now with numbers. #33 is reading E=mc^2.

9:53: The line is moving to compact. I put away my laptop, and take out my camera to take a few shots. "Is that a 5D?" #27 asks. "Yeah," I reply, snapping a new more shots. "That's the one with the full-frame sensor, right? My girlfriend wants one. I think we're going to get an XTi instead," speaking of his girlfriend's cameras as if they were pets, or maybe small children. "They're going on sale next week with a $600 rebate, so figure around $2200 after rebate" I tell him. "Wow. Maybe I'll get one of those for her for Christmas instead of the XTi." Or you could put that money down on a wedding ring. But I didn't say that out loud.

10:00: I've cleared the corner. I can see the door.

10:07: I'm in front of the door, and I can feel the breeze of the cool, sweet air conditioning. The first customer with a completed order leaves. I look at my cellphone. It's taken 7 minutes for the first person to walk through the door. A second person left at the same time. At the current rate, that means... three and a half minutes per person... at number 26, I should make it up there around 11 o'clock. Damn, I wish I had breakfast this morning.

10:15: I've cleared the door, and am inside the Gamestop. I don't notice the AC anymore. Maybe it's all leaked out, or been absorbed by the body heat of all the people.

10:16: I notice a DS download station. I bring out my DS and download Tetris.

10:28: Damn CPU. I can't beat level 3. What's up with that? Has my Tetris-Fu degraded to such a sad state of affairs?

10:35, 10:38 , 10:42: Damn CPU. Level 3 is tough. I give up.

10:45: There's 2 people in front of me now, and two people at the counter. It shouldn't be long now. The phone is ringing off the hook. "Gamestop Mountain View, Bob speaking. No, it looks like we're sold out. Sorry. Good luck".

10:50: I'm at the counter! "Put your name and phone number down here. Can I get your card?" The phone rings. "Just a moment," he says to me. "Gamestop Mountain View, Roy speaking. No, it looks like we're sold out. Sorry. Good luck". "Would you like the protection plan?" "No," I tell him, knowing full well that next to never trying to outsmart a Sicillian when death is on the line is that one should never buy into a protection plan, unless the person offering it is in fact Sicillian, and has 3 ape thugs with him making the sale. How about accessories? "No, thanks," I say. "Are you sure? How about nunchakus? That seems to be the popular one." "Yes, I'm sure. No Nunchakus."

10:53: I'm done. The transaction is complete. He gives me my receipt, and I have a deposit down for the Nintendo Wii.