GameStop to have only authorized Wii kiosks?

So if you think that you're going to pop down to your local store and play the Wii on a big kiosk when it comes out on November 19, think again. According to The Dallas Morning News, the only retailer to have authorized playable Wii kiosks will be GameStop, much to Wal-Mart and surely every other big box retailer's chagrin. That said, as our brethren at Joystiq point out, many shops may open up their own Wiis and set up a playable demo unit or three, but official blessed-by-Nintendo kiosks apparently won't be widespread for some time.

[Via Joystiq]

[Kaze @ Oct 3rd 2006 5:54AM]

Didn't Wal-Mart say they weren't gonna have Wii kiosks anyway because they were "too dangerous"?

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:23AM]

That's why they give fake Wii controllers to the younglings to carry around.

Or maybe a wrist strap?

[Panzer_V @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:24AM]

Well at E3 few incident happened :! someone let go of the Wii mote and it flying into the TV and you can guess what happened to the TV. Also if you looked on top Wii Boot Roof on left side you could see a huge dent on the roof which was caused by someone letting go of the controller when they were testing out Wii before E3 started and it went flying towards the roof and that Wii controller was no more.

[dextro @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:24AM]

Nintendo is going to have a blast selling replacements for those wiimotes that went flying into the tvs and out the window LOL

[Andrew @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:27AM]

I can see it now:
"The GameSpot death count rises by the day as the serial killer only known as "Wii" continues his rampage across the country"

[Bulls729 @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:28AM]

So will this mean EBGames will also have them since they are the same company as gamestop now?

[Chris @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:31AM]

Damn, and I just quit Gamestop yesterday. I would've been first in line to try the demos out too!

[jason @ Oct 4th 2006 9:13PM]

How do you "quit" a store?

[outpatient8 @ Oct 3rd 2006 7:23AM]

I'm glad to see someone stand up to Wal-Mart. Horrible corp. that it is. Besides, who wants to play with the Wii anyway?

[Justin @ Oct 3rd 2006 9:49AM]

It is kind of funny when playing a game on your console is more dangerous than actually playing the sport in real life. Haha, ahh... such is life.

I am not sure if I agree with what Nintendo is doing with this. To really drive this product release it needs to be available to customers to interact with. Quite a few people go to the Mall... but many more go to the Supermarket (ie. Super Wal-Mart, Super Target) and it would have been beneficial to drive the brand via that relationship. Oh well, it will still do fine.

[AronT @ Oct 3rd 2006 9:57AM]

Kind of odd considering Best Buy is the #1 consumer electronics retailer in the world...

Aron T

[TVGenius @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:30AM]

They'll probably pull the Xbox 360 kiosks out. Most of the ones in stores around here don't even work any more. At our GameStop, that be plenty of room.

[Spiritusindomit @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:50AM]

"According to The Dallas Morning News..."

I'll believe this when I see it. You can't really find a less reputable news source without going to blabbermouth.net.

[Wildside @ Oct 3rd 2006 12:39PM]

im getting the Wii, ill be spending like $650 on it, plus accessories.

Wii console
3 Wii remotes
3 nunchuck controllers
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Excite Truck
Metal Slug Anthology
1 Virtual Classic controller
1 SD 1GB card, probably from Nintendo if they dont charge too much.

[Alex @ Oct 3rd 2006 1:17PM]

No big deal... it's not like the demo kiosks at Wallmart, Target.. etc. are ever working past the first day anyway.

[Miguel @ Oct 3rd 2006 3:51PM]

Considering my local Wal-Mart's electronics section has about enough room in the aisles for one person to grab a demo controller as someone elses tries to squeeze around him after grabbing a CD from the rack opposite, I'd say this is brilliant. Nintendo may be marketing to that vague "non-gamer" market, but GameStop IS a game store, so you know the vast majority of people going in there instead of Best Buy will have the sense to know what you do on the Wii...no one will get killed. Good news.

[Martin @ Oct 3rd 2006 8:33PM]

This really isn't too bright IMO. I don't know about you guys, but, the Gamestops where I live are small stores with barely enough room for two people to squeeze past one another in the isle. Now you're going to have a demo kiosk with someone flailing around like a loon and there WILL be fights because someone is going to get hit. At least places like Best Buy and Circuit City can make space and rope off a looney bin for gamers.

[DC MIke @ Oct 4th 2006 11:09AM]

Here is an opportunity for Nintendo to get off their lazy arse and do something like SEGA did back in the Dreamcast days with a mobile tour. Bring the Wii to the public via a mobile kiosk.

[CrowsSong @ Oct 5th 2006 5:23PM]

Well, I assume he "quit" working there.

And as for this news: if the info came from Gamestop themselves, I would take it with a grain of salt. This was the same company that claimed they were getting about 75% of the North America allocation of PS3's. I call BS.

[Kaizen Maven @ Oct 6th 2006 4:48PM]

@Panzer_V

Hey is the Wii remote magnetic or something? How did it do that?

[Mark @ Nov 6th 2006 8:50PM]

no, it's got some motion sensor thing that comes with it when you buy a wii. stay solid Nintendo!

[slowerpig81 @ Oct 6th 2006 5:01PM]

Licensed kiosks suck anyway. All you can play is like 2 demos of games you dont want to play. At Game Crazy, they put real consoles with real games in them, so you can play the whole game. But i dont know how they'll secure the wiimote from someone just walking away with it.

[PIMP @ Nov 5th 2006 8:26AM]

Yall r all LOSERS!!!!!!!!!

[Mark @ Nov 6th 2006 8:54PM]

i think the wii will fly off the shelves. am i the only one that thinks this? will someone please reply, oh and does anyone think tony hawk's project 8 will be made for the nintendo wii.

PS. Does anyone like sour Warheads? :)

[ckv2 @ Nov 9th 2006 4:18PM]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to avoid this mad rush and try to get Wii on eBay. I was never really a fan of eBay - but I found this free service called UnWired Buyer that let's you bid on eBay auctions on your cell, so you don't have to be infront of a computer- how cool is that? I used it once before to get an older system and it's great.