Reggie launches Wii in NYC

Midnight launch of Wii at Times Square Toys "R" Us draws thousands; Fils-Aime is big hit with the Nintendo faithful.

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Imagine yourself at the Wii launch at Times Square as you hear the stage show outside Toys R Us with MTV veejay Susie Castillo, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime, and Toys R Us CEO Gerald Storch. Uncut. No edits. Live.

NEW YORK--Isaiah "Triforce" Johnson's eyes were feeling heavy, but even after getting little to no sleep over the past few days, the man could not help but smile very early on Sunday morning.

Johnson was sold the first Nintendo Wii at the Toys "R" Us in Times Square after waiting several days outside the retail giant's flagship store. And it wasn't just any normal store employee who rang the register; Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, did the honors of handing out the first system.

It was the conclusion to a four-hour long launch event staged by Nintendo and officially marked the first time all three next-gen consoles were available at retail.

Susie Castillo talks to some "nongamers" who were entranced by the Wii.

Earlier that evening, the line of gamers waiting to purchase a console hit the corner of the street and wrapped around all four sides of the city block.

Nintendo started its launch festivities at 8 p.m. on 44th Street, which was partially closed off to traffic. A stage was set up in the street, where entertainment ranged from drummer/disc jockey DJ Ravidrums, acrobats AntiGravity, and MTV veejay Susie Castillo.

But the real hit was Fils-Aime, who was welcomed to the stage with chants of "Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!" and "We love you Reggie!" While gamers professed their love for the exec, Fils-Aime gave the usual rah-rah pep talk, and even made a reference to his famous "taking names, making games" speech from the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2005.

Reggie hyped the crowd up.

Unlike the PlayStation 3 launch party--which was limited to a few hundred who lined up for days, each one competing fiercely for a place in line--Nintendo welcomed everyone to their block party. The crowd was incredibly diverse, featuring the mix of people that Fils-Aime claimed the Wii targeted--young, old, casual, and hardcore gamers.

To keep the line entertained, several Wii demo stations were placed right on the sidewalk and gamers entertained themselves and relaxed by trying out titles like Wii Sports and Excite Truck. Nintendo also gave out several Wii-branded knit caps, which gamers wore with pride.

Wii tennis, anyone?

But it wasn't just Nintendo helping the crowd out. A group of visual-arts students were handing out seat cushions, coffee, buttons, and patches to those waiting in line, all in the name of spreading good will.

Behind the scenes, Fils-Aime chatted with the press, talked to fans, and even spent a little bit of time playing the Wii. At one point, he played a round of Wii Sports tennis with a fan in line, which caused a near riot in the streets as fans rushed over to get a closer look at their idol.

Luigi was there. Sort of.

Earlier in the evening, Fils-Aime urged gamers buying Wiis to purchase their consoles in an orderly fashion, and when 12:01 a.m. hit, they obliged. Several registers were open to sell consoles, games, and accessories, and the line moved along at a quick pace.

Overall, the launch appeared to be a big success for Nintendo, with plenty of units on hand for those who waited throughout the launch event. For those who did not have one of the necessary wristbands to buy a console, Nintendo promised that there would still be plenty of additional consoles available today.

Johnson and his personalized Wii.

While Wii fever was almost ubiquitous among those outside the toy store, it didn't quite ring with everyone. One woman walking by Toys "R" Us after the launch asked her friend what everyone was milling around for, then realized it was for the Wii.

"Oh, it's for that dumb game thing," she said.

Apparently Nintendo's quest to make gamers out of everyone still has a way to go.

437 Comments

  • Nintendus

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 4:28 pm PT

    "Most likely Wii will be just like NGC was, good for some time, after few months you rarely play with it. "

    Maybe you should rewrite that agian sir.

  • Gamepro2421

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 4:26 pm PT

    haha, i have one...but yeah, reggie is the man

  • bigcrusha

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 4:14 pm PT

    I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS REGGIE GUY, I JUST WANT A WII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I WANT ONE, I WANT ONE, I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • tenmonkey

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 3:10 pm PT

    FallenOneX

    I'm glad you at least see the point I was trying to make. It's one of those scenarios were you could arguee what came first, the chicken or the egg. Did the GameCube fail because it lost it's fan base, where by loosing it's key developers, or did it lose it's key developers because it lost it's fan base. There really is no good argument for developers jumping ship for say a system like the PS2 that was reportedly one of the most difficult to use the developer tools and software for other than the rational that they could sell more copies of a game if they went to a more popular format like PS2 or even the XBOX. I'm glad to see the Nintendo hanging in there and even renewing excitement among people again. There was always that rumor that Nintendo would end up like Sega as a software developing company only. I think even if the Wii failed though Nintendo will never succumb to a software only company as long as there is some form of Gameboy though.

  • kamicolo

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    sounds and look fun, good job Wii. At least no one got SHOT like PS3 shoppers. I can't help but to laugh even at the new Tickle me Elmo, soccer moms watch out, you may get robbed

  • FallenOneX

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 2:52 pm PT

    tenmonkey

    I see your point, but you've got to take off those rose colored glasses when you look back on the GC. I still love my GC, but the games just weren't there. 2 exclusive hits a year can't cut it anymore. $ony and MS pulled ahead with 2-3 exclusive hits, plus multi-platform games like GTA. RE4 was way too late to help the GC, but with less detailed graphics sold better on the PS2. (FANBOYS SHUT UP! IT'S A FACT!) Even the big N was late to the game with it's system sellers; Mario and Zelda. The best thing the GC did was produce two excellent Metroid games, but even that was to make up for no Metroid on the N64. They know they messed up a good thing with the GC, mainly by giving its' loyal fans no other choice but to buy multiple systems if they wanted to play more mainstream games. I'll get a 360 this christmas, maybe. I'll buy a PS3 after Blu-Ray loses the format battle and has no choice but to lower costs. Until then, I'll be playing 20+ years worth of games on my Wii.

  • Helpomer

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 2:49 pm PT

    Maquis, are just playng stupid or are you really that slow?
    You were the one who started trolling, dont beleive me? Check your previous posts, and calling me a tard and yourself a pro just shows how immature you are, go go and evolve a bit before you come back, or at least think what you will type, you just made a fool out of yourself.

    Most likely Wii will be just like NGC was, good for some time, after few months you rarely play with it.

  • F1freak660

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    You gotta love Rreggie, calling out the competition "unlike those other guys". If i wasn't sure I might get the Wii just for that

  • luigimario_64

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:39 pm PT

    There have always been Nintendo faithful. And there have been people with common sense. Both will buy the Wii.

  • tenmonkey

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:15 pm PT

    Nintendo faithful? Isn't that a bit ironic? Where were all the "loyal" Nintendo fans when the Gamecube wasn't doing so great? Now all of the sudden Nintendo introduces a new system that is practically an upgraded Gamecube with a new "innovative" controller (not necessarily my opinion, just from the way it has been described by long time Nintendo Loyalists and sofware developers including Shigeru Miyamoto) and people come out of the wood works to proclaim Nintendo the new king of all the consoles? Again, I'll ask, where were these people at and how come they didn't show support for the Gamecube? If Nintendo announced a couple of years ago that instead of producing the Wii, they were going to create a new style controller plus they were going to allow you to play NES, SNES, Turbo Grafix 16, and Genesis games do you think everyone would have got hyped over that or would people have said, "Sounds like another Kiddie Gimmick from the little kids game system!"

    I'm not hating on Nintendo, I own a DS and a Gamecube in addition to a PS2 and an XBOX, I'm just upset that people have come out of nowhere pretending to be loyal Nintendo customers. It's like when people support a sports team only when they are doing well, don't jump on the bandwagon and pretend like you've always been a fan if you don't support during the rough years. Don't get me wrong, for some people this is their first system and that's cool (although Nintendo has really been over playing the "even non-gamers and grandma's love the Wii), but there sure do seem to be a lot more people showing up claiming to never have left Nintendo's side and if that were true, the Gamecube would have been a much bigger success.

    I really do wish the Wii the best of luck and I hope that Nintendo does better this time around. The have staked some of the hardware on hunches such as, people don't want to play their games in HD (although they are supporting lower level HD formats anyway) and that they don't really care if the games have a huge graphical upgrade as long as the games are fun (I can agree with the latter to a degree, a game can look pretty but that isn't what makes it fun). By the way, I don't know if anybody else agrees with me but Reggie Fils-Aime really creeps me out.

  • silverfang6

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:26 pm PT

    I WILL TRADE MY PS3 FOR A WII

  • Vash67

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:13 pm PT

    I would laugh if that autograph ever wiped off

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:08 pm PT

    yeah i like him but he looks scarey in that picture.

  • Gamer-Gen

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:00 pm PT

    Reggie is my favourite gaming exec, he's just awesome and so full of attitude "unlike those other guys" lol, go Wii!

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 11:39 am PT

    lol his wii looks rubbish now reggi scribbled all over it lol ohh well its worth alot of money now i supose, so good on him. as long as it still works properly. ohh and it looks like reggie is about to murder someone lol he looks scarey.

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 11:26 am PT

    ohh yeah LUIGI. lol

  • Maquis_UK

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 11:26 am PT

    Helpomer:
    Lol, you are the one trolling here Maquis, just think a bit, if you can.
    And are you tryng to say there are more Ridge Racer games than Mario games? D= , lol are you some pre-teen Nintendo fanboy or what?

    um a troll is someone who jumps out of hiding to annoy or intimidate or shock other users. as I am pro-Wii, i am not sure how you could believe that i am trolling here on a Wii report. plus im older than you i'll wager, based on the simple fact that you're trolling and I'm not. You are a tard.

    Also can you read correctly at all? look at this:
    "umm actually there are only about half a dozen Metroid games. FAR LESS THAN RIIIIIIDGE RAAAAACEEEEERRRR lol." .. how did you change this to me referring to the number of Mario games? again ,you are a tard.

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 11:18 am PT

    LUIGI!

  • dtfann003

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 10:30 am PT

    Ping....ping....ping.... No for real kids. the guy that is dtfann is not even here right now. dtfann03 wrestles, so he's out of town. dtfann03's real name is Joe. We just use this for work. pings. You can make fun of Joe at...http://www.myspace.com/dtbrawler or http://www.myspace.com/innervoice10 Just tell him that he needs to come back to work, and that we love him!!!! It's time to run some new amd test. 4 cores, and not even a year ago, it was 2 cores.

  • dtfann003

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 10:22 am PT

    The wii is cool. I want one. by the way I work on computers, I use game spot for ping's. Game spot has countless people on it. It's good for things like that. Back to work. Also, I do have have a life. thx's.

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 10:12 am PT

    damb straight.

  • younggotti

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 10:08 am PT

    Man everywhere I go i see Dtfann03 copy/pasting things from other websites... And on top of that his post mentions nothing about the Wii. I understand you wanting to prove your point in the PS3 hands-on feature... but c'mon! Am I the only one here who is dying to scream out GET A LIFE?!

  • spelledarn

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:57 am PT

    Dtfann03... Wow.. I hope you get paid a decent amount by Microsoft. No one in their right mind would run around copy-pasting warped technical stats on a Nintendo launch news thread, otherwise.

    If it is compatible with university studies and ears you at least a few 10Ks per year, hook me up with your Microsoft rep. Kthx.

  • never-named

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:52 am PT

    "Dumb game thing?" Sheesh!

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:40 am PT

    bycutza
    the article ended pretty bad...."to make gamers out of everyone"...lol i really don't think that a 60 year old lady would surf 24/7 on the internet, read all articles on Wii and stay in line for a couple of days And now u say "you idiot they didn't mean that!"...well i know exactly what they meant but it's the first impression of the article after you read it (personally i, sometimes, jump straight to the ending of the article)....

    tastycasey27

    you are saying that no 60 year old woman will not use the wii, you are so wrong both my parents are nearly 60 and they have pre-ordered a wii for the reasons your saying they wont. plus everyone slated nintendo when they came out with the ds, saying its a gimick and the psp will rule, how wrong u all wer, my mum had a ds and loves it even my friends parents play on ds's so i can see the same happening to the wii. just cos u dont like the wii it dont mean everyone hates it. Its opened up a new gaming market as the xbox did with xbox live. but you moaning about the wii isnt going to stop anyone who wants it, buying it. as you oppinion means nothing to others.

    im not a fanboy of either systems i just hate all the so called non fanboys slating a machine they will never probably own or will even play. dont buy it nobody cares.

    ill buy all the systems as i want all the different types of games to play.

  • urine72

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:39 am PT

    mattxavier
    I heard lots of people got robbed while on line and that no one wanted to help because they didn't want to loose thier places on the lines. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    well you heard wrong, there were 5000 wiis and everybody who was there got one, dont get confused with the ps3.

  • cancer_777

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:24 am PT

    Helpomer
    Because people dont want WII that badly, people have waited PS3 since PS2 came out, it will have games what will do the same as DS did to PSP, the games will put PS3 to the top (I have readed people are sure PS3 will lead the console market until 2012).
    Wii has it's own games, but most likely another Mario, Metroid etc.
    It has written in many gaming sites : "Wii is not next gen." Get over it. --------------------

    Readed???? maybe you should bash the wii less and catch up on your grammar

  • eggsiboss

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 9:11 am PT

    wow looked like a good launch to me! reggie is one weird lookin sob though it has to be said!

  • j_vega07

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:54 am PT

    tastycasey27
    well said..............Yay!!!!!! i got all my 3 systems Whooohoooo!!!!!!!!

  • SinfulSpikey

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:50 am PT

    That list picture of Johnson and Reggie... Oh my god... Reggie... "Brrrraaaiiiinnnssss!" is about the only thing I can think of to describe it. XD

  • TwitchPunk

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:31 am PT

    Hey GameSpot the Toys R Us CEO pull quote from the news page isn’t actually in the article! Seeing as how he's the head one of the biggest game selling retail chains, I would think that what he has to say about the Wii is probably the most important aspect of the launch.

  • tastycasey27

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:19 am PT

    on gamer tv on bravo they said that ridge racer 7 didnt play as good as i looks. but everyone knows that the ps3 will have some great games. so will the wii but with the wii the games will be made for gameplay not graphic power which i think is great as long as they can keep the good games coming, well nnintendo will deliver for the wii but im looking foward to seeing more from third party devolpers.

    ill own all the systems in the end but its the wii for now cos im in the uk and ps3 isnt out till march here, i hate sony for this, makeing me wait dam you. helpomer dont diss nintendo for trying something different, wot would you do if sony bought out nintendo, i no wot u would do you would be buying mario,metroid, yoshi games and saying they are great and dissing the xbox.

    plus give it a year or two and all consoles will have motion controllers like the wii, maybe not as standard but they will have them. so by dissing nintendo you are dissing the thing you will be using in a few years, MAYBE.

    Good luck to nintendo and ps3 and xbox360 theres more than enougth room for the 3. plus they all offer different styles of gaming.

  • bio-hazardous

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:16 am PT

    AMZING, Wii rocks.

    I cant wait for the 8th of december.

  • Helpomer

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:56 am PT

    Lol, you are the one trolling here Maquis, just think a bit, if you can.
    And are you tryng to say there are more Ridge Racer games than Mario games? D= , lol are you some pre-teen Nintendo fanboy or what?
    PS3 will eventually have more better games than Wii could ever imagine.

  • mattxavier

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:54 am PT

    I heard lots of people got robbed while on line and that no one wanted to help because they didn't want to loose thier places on the lines.

  • kipue

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:47 am PT

    lol. people fighting over how many of their fav system is on sell on Ebay... crazy!

  • TwinTiger

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:45 am PT

    It's crazy how the launches for the PS3 and the Wii affect people in different ways. The Wii launch seemed more warm and friendly, with plenty of units to go around. While the PS3 launch had angry fans that didn't get a system, people getting robbed and shot, eBayers charging thousands of dollars for them online.... the Wii seemed to bring out the best in people while the PS3 brought out the worst.

    Just my observation.

  • Maquis_UK

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:34 am PT

    Helpomer
    The Ridge Racer 7 is actually good, but shall we talk about hundreds of Mario/Yoshi/Metroid series? umm actually there are only about half a dozen Metroid games. FAR LESS THAN RIIIIIIDGE RAAAAACEEEEERRRR lol. get your facts right before you troll. otherwise, you willsound a bit lacking.

  • NECR0CHILD313

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:29 am PT

    The Wii made an old lady ornery

  • starstreak7

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:25 am PT

    is it me, or has the Wii suckerpunched the video game market, I mean everyone thought they were gonna lose, then wham!

  • Helpomer

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:24 am PT

    The Ridge Racer 7 is actually good, but shall we talk about hundreds of Mario/Yoshi/Metroid series? Now those make real gamers 'lol'.
    Nintendo should just give up.

  • Maquis_UK

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 7:11 am PT

    Paul_TheGreat:

    The Wii is no good.

    oh my god i see the error of my ways now, basred on that erudite, concise and witty debate. I wish i had a blu-ray player, Ridge Racer 7 (lol) and a bunch of CGI passing itself off as gameplay. one more time...ATTACK THE WEAK SPOT!! MASSIVE DAMAGE!!

  • BlackDragon110

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 6:48 am PT

    Yes the Wii is hella fun!!! Wii Sports is just a basic game, but I can see how any one of the 5 games could be really good on it's own if they went really in depth with them. Zelda is just awsome. The enviorments are big and very detailed and colorful. The Wii controls are right on. It was definately worth the wait. I'm going to pick up Maddan and NFS Carbon Wenesday. The Virtual Console is pretty easy to navigate and many of the games can be played with Wiimote or the Gamecube controller if you weren't able to get the Classic controller. As far as backwards compatiblity goes, all my Gamecube game worked just fine with the expection of one. I couldn't play Phantasy Star Online over the internet. The game doesn't detect the Wi-Fi connection, it only looks for the modem or broadband adapters. A firmware patch could fix this. Other than that, the game works just fine. If Nintendo play their cards right which they have so far, They will be the top dog this time around.

  • jillwarrior

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 6:41 am PT

    two totally different launches that couldnt have played out any more at the extremes. Sony, i think we all can agree had the worst launch ever. and nintendo one of the best.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 6:39 am PT

    cool i guess. reggie still creaps me out

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