Wii’s midnight launch goes smoothly

The relative abundance of units, and a smaller fan base, should make Sunday a calmer shopping day than Friday. On Saturday evening, people were lining up at stores more to show their devotion to Nintendo and celebrate the occasion than because they were afraid of not getting a Wii.

At the Nintendo World store in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, 86 people were lined up for the morning opening. Anthony Eaton, dressed in green as the character Link from the “Zelda” series, looked chagrined when passing girls called him “Peter Pan.”

The first buyer, Isaiah Triforce Johnson, had been waiting in line outside the store for more than a week. He wore a Nintendo Power Glove, a wearable controller that came out in 1989, while shaking hands with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime after buying the first Wii.

Johnson said he had legally changed his middle name to a reference in Nintendo’s “Zelda” series of games.

In the Los Angeles area, more than 500 people waited in line at the Game Stop at Universal City Walk. The store handed out numbered wristbands to avoid the crushes that were common at the PlayStation 3 openings.

The first to buy the system at midnight was Jonathan Mann, 24, who was dressed in red overalls and a cap like the Mario character from “Super Mario Bros.”

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I had asked Billy to drive my past Best Buy or Circuit City so I could scream “Is this the line for Harry Potter? SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!” at these kids but it didn’t happen. Oh well.

~Alyx