Walmart brags about its "tens of thousands" of Wiis for sale online

Walmart's reassuringly boasting that they've got plenty of the oft-out-of-stock Wiis on hand for your online holiday shopping needs today. There are a host of different Nintendo-related deals to go with it, too. The Wii itself is available for $249.24, there's a "Value Bundle" which includes the console, a game, an accessories pack and an extra set of controllers for $329 (or $20 off), and they have some games on sale, as well. What's next? Walmart mouthing off about the "millions of iPhones" they have available?


Update: Well, that didn't last very long! As some commenters have helpfully pointed out, it appears that those "tens of thousands" of Wiis have been reduced to "zero" -- they're already sold out.

[Via Game Daily]

[SonicEarth @ Dec 8th 2008 5:28PM]

Wow, you save a whole 75 cents by shopping at Walmart!

[tom @ Dec 8th 2008 7:26PM]

My Wii hasn't been turned on for the last 3 months. What is the hype?

[Chi @ Dec 8th 2008 9:58PM]

Thats what she said

[Invisiblemoose @ Dec 8th 2008 5:30PM]

Honestly, I have no idea what you're even getting at with the iPhone comment...

[John P @ Dec 8th 2008 5:36PM]

They need to hit the daily Apple-mention quota or they wont get paid, I imagine. But seriously, why shouldnt Walmart advertise something that has been out of stock in the holiday season for two years now?

[Nerd Ferguson @ Dec 8th 2008 5:37PM]

I think he just made alot of readers day by including something apple related.

[Mike @ Dec 8th 2008 5:40PM]

Anyone see that SNL short "I jizz in my pants"?

[Invisiblemoose @ Dec 8th 2008 5:41PM]

@John P: I know, I don't understand why every Engadget article has to have a negative spin... Really gets annoying..

[Paul @ Dec 8th 2008 6:03PM]

The quality of writing on this site died a little whenever Ryan Block left.

[phil @ Dec 8th 2008 6:22PM]

Probably the fact that WalMart landed a deal to sell iPhones. It was made official today. And you save a whole $2. Woot!

[TavisJohn @ Dec 9th 2008 12:12AM]

Did you bother to click the Walmart iPhone link in the article?
Have you been on Engadget for the past 2 weeks?

If you answered yes to either of the above, than you should just go away.

If you answered no to both, than CLICK THE DAMN LINK and you will be magically taken to a Walmart iPhone article!




If you are STILL lost than click the following link:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/walmart-iphone-probably-happening-probably-not-for-99/

[Jsizzle @ Dec 8th 2008 5:48PM]

Just went to Wally World's site. They are out of stock now! Ha! That's great! The irony here is unparalleled....

[bandigolo @ Dec 8th 2008 5:49PM]

uhhh... "out of stock" mean anything to you guys? Maybe I'm missing something here...

[bagbklyn @ Dec 8th 2008 5:56PM]

Now Walmart needs to learn how "brag" about keeping the Wii fit in stock

[ianzhere's daddy-o @ Dec 9th 2008 8:06AM]

Now the Wii Fit is something that actually just might remain in stock at Walmart.

[Patriks7 @ Dec 8th 2008 6:03PM]

Take 50$ off and I would consider it (if I'd live in the US and A that is)

[The E @ Dec 8th 2008 6:09PM]

It's out of stock, the front page add is misleading. You have to go 2 clicks in though to find out though.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10726532

[ellaray @ Dec 8th 2008 6:12PM]

As a random FYI to anyone who cares - i found some pretty good deals on Wii games at toysrus dawt com - walmart usually has some deals worth looking at, but unfortunately in the wii realm walmart's been lacking...

[Adam @ Dec 8th 2008 6:18PM]

It already shows "out of stock".....!!!

[jasbur @ Dec 8th 2008 6:32PM]

Target has a bundle in stock:
http://www.target.com/Wii-Fit-5-1-Bundle/dp/B001LNTRY0/qid=1228778974/ref=br_1_2/177-4370046-3986848?ie=UTF8&node=289018011&frombrowse=1&rh=&page=1

[Russ @ Dec 8th 2008 6:34PM]

Read this on Gizmodo about 9 this morning. Me and about 9 other guys from our office were able to grab them.

[Erv @ Dec 8th 2008 6:44PM]

I bought 10 of them, gonna re-sell them on Ebay for $500

[parazitu22 @ Dec 8th 2008 6:55PM]

You son of a bitch!

[Eric @ Dec 8th 2008 7:26PM]

@Erv.

You're an idiot. The Best Buy I work at has had Wii's in stock for about 2 months, with only a few days where we didn't have them in stock. Plus, as others have mentioned, countless other retailers have them in stock at least sporadically.

Enjoy your 10 Wii's.

[Joshua.JWilliams @ Dec 8th 2008 6:47PM]

I can't believe the demand for this console. Is it still selling out left and right? I bought mine back in March and played it for a little while. Still only have Mario Kart for it; haven't bought anything else. It's a decent system, certainly not as good as the XBox 360 and stuff.

However, for the past 3-4 months the Wii hasn't been touched and haven't turned it on quite sometime. It has okay titles, but nothing that really strikes and says "purchase me, purchase me!"

Amazing that I could probably throw mine on eBay and not lose that much money. Too bad I can't as my girlfriend likes the boxing too much. And the cow game, heheh we love the cow game.

[Joshua.JWilliams @ Dec 8th 2008 6:48PM]

Actually ... amazon has them in stock with free shipping.

[RikF @ Dec 8th 2008 6:50PM]

How much can she love the boxing and the both of the you love the cow game if you haven't touched it for "3-4 months" and hasn't been turned on in "quite some time" Have you been playing the games without touching it? Without turning it on? Or were you just turning it on and looking it at it?!

[alexmueller @ Dec 8th 2008 7:29PM]

I agree with RikF your comment is all over the place. Furthermore what is this cow game you speak of.

[Rich @ Dec 8th 2008 7:35PM]

Well, actually, I play my Wii a lot without touching it. Thats the nice thing about the remotes.

[Wally World @ Dec 8th 2008 6:48PM]

Walmart can go suck a Wii (Wii).

[ED @ Dec 8th 2008 6:53PM]

I have tens of billions of posts!
For only 10c each...

[cheezwiz @ Dec 8th 2008 7:16PM]

I got suckered into Walmart's wii bait-and-switch last year. The website claimed to have a bundle on their site that came with 6 games and an extra controller - all for for retail. I got an email a few days later letting me know that they had shipped the games and controllers, but would like to apologize for not having the console in stock.

Awesome - I then had 6 games and no console. I returned them to the nearest walmart and vowed I would never purchase anything from walmart again. I never did get them to refund my shipping, though.

Thankfully Amazon had them in stock the next week.

[sjdurfey @ Dec 8th 2008 9:26PM]

i take it you are not familiar with what bait-and-switch means.

[r3loaded @ Dec 8th 2008 7:58PM]

Thing is, who's buying all these Wiis? There's nothing worth playing on it afaik - all the good stuff like Crysis + Warhead, Fallout 3, GTA 4, Gears of War 2, BioShock, MGS4, Left4Dead, COD5 (I could go on here) can be found on other platforms.

[madgic987 @ Dec 9th 2008 1:18AM]

Scary enough, there ARE games outside the FPS genre.

For those that don't enjoy that redundancy of constantly shooting characters that look oddly similar level after level, the Wii is perfect.

If I remember correctly, Game of the Year for 2007 was Super Mario Galaxy. Imagine that, a non-FPS GOTY. Suprised me too.

[Hardcore @ Dec 8th 2008 7:59PM]

I have a Wii, and I have one thing to say about it.... MEH.

[bull3964 @ Dec 8th 2008 8:08PM]

There's still a Wii shortage? Every retailer around the Pittsburgh area has had loads in stock for the past month or two.

[Chris @ Dec 8th 2008 8:21PM]

Take a chance go outside for once get a few good wiffs of fresh airs its good for ya now and then! My local walmart has had them in stock for a week or so now. And i was at best buy today and they had a tonnn of them!

[Eric @ Dec 8th 2008 8:50PM]

Oh, a little hint for those desperately on the hint for one, Best Buy is holding a certain amount of Wii's in each store for this Sunday's ad.

[solmar @ Dec 8th 2008 9:11PM]

Why is it that for every Wii article that there is always those who will come and chime in "I have a Wii and don't like/play it"?
What's the point, really? You don't like it, so what? You don't like the games on it, so what?
That doesn't mean that hundreds of thousands of other people won't buy it (they will), and it doesn't mean that its games won't sell (they do, very well).
Crysis? Farcry? Halo? GTA? Those are all games meant for a certain target market, and it's a market that the Wii isn't focused on, unlike other consoles. The Wii has a broad appeal, and that's why it sells so well and still outsells the other consoles by a large margin.
Don't like your Wii? Sell it on eBay, and get over it already.

[Joe @ Dec 8th 2008 9:40PM]

Had a Wii. Didn't like it. Sold it on ebay.

[kevin @ Dec 8th 2008 10:07PM]

This is such a misleading article. "That didn't last long...they're already sold out."

Yeah, and that banner had been online since this morning. The article wasn't posted for at least seven hours since the first time I caught a glimpse of the ad...with all of the people who will be happy to try to re-sell that little white box for a whopping $15-$20 profit, it's no wonder it sold out in that time frame.

Now, Mario Kart awaits!

[madgic987 @ Dec 9th 2008 1:32AM]

Engadget, your emphasis of the supply issue regarding Wiis is lost when you link to an article almost 20 months old. Update that if you want to have something relevant, as the supply of Wiis online and in stores isn't like it was a year ago where it was impossible to find any.

On a different note, this really isn't news. When both my local Walmarts have Wiis in supply and you don't have to buy a $500 bundle to get it, I think it's official that you can actually get one. The regular store had about 5 in stock, with the supercenter having more than a dozen. Surprised me too, considering how many people were cramming the electronics section just to see that, yes, they are actually in stock. I almost felt bad for the people working at Walmart... until I remembered that I was in Walmart.

Plus the local Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Toys R Us, and K-Mart here have all had Wiis in stock for MONTHS. Let's move on, shall we? This is almost as bad the typical "It's another Eee PC, it's terrible brand dilution!1!!oneshift!11!" we get with every article about ASUS releasing a new item, Eee or not.

[Boards of Canada @ Dec 9th 2008 1:32AM]

any good game on the wii?? I feel it so 2002 quality when watching screenshots...

[Markarian @ Dec 11th 2008 4:03AM]

When I waited outside of my local Wal-Mart in the foggy cold for 12 hours two years ago on launch night, people scoffed at me, saying the Wii would be in plentiful supply and the PS3 would be the one that was hard to find. But for us lucky 21 people, that night will always be a special night. A night of people who were right when others were wrong, a night of childrens' excited voices as they curled up in their sleeping bags next to their indulgent parents, playing the portable Gamecube setup my friend and I had provided for impromptu SSBM tournaments. As Penny Arcade observed, there was a pleasant camaraderie between Wii campers that was unknown to those who braved the cold for a PS3. Through full bladders, stale Mexican food, and cold coffee, us lucky few smiled through it all, and even caught a few hours of sleep.

The next morning, the manager presented us with hot cocoa. But nothing was as sweet as the victory of holding triumphantly aloft the prize that awaited those with patience and prescience. As I drove away, I heard the groans of agony, the anguished screams of gamers' dreams unfufilled and dedicated fathers who were just a little too late on the uptake. Amid the tumult in the distance, the millions of phone calls to myriad retailers across the country, all with the same, desperate question "Do you have Wii???", I smiled. Because, exhausted and bleary-eyed, I switched on Twilight Princess for the first time in the warmth of my own home, while my friends watched in awe. Some cheered me on, some ridiculed me, some stayed in line with me all night and got a Wii themselves. But that day they knew, gaming would never be the same.

Would I do it all over again? Absolutely.