The Lakeview bowler in the green jacket with white stripes stared down the golden lane, lining up his shot, as Korn’s “Freak on a Leash” blared in the background.
A beat later, Joel Sanchez, 28, stepped forward, swung his right hand back and then forward in a fluid motion, his wrist curving slightly at the release of the ball.
Seconds later, the ball knocked down all but two pins, and the group of guys around him exploded into action, thumping him on the back, and urging him to pick up his spares.
Nobody seemed to care that the bowling alley was virtual, a mere phantom image projected onto a big-screen TV at Sports Corner Grill in Wrigleyville. Instead of a ball, Sanchez clasped a white Wii remote controller, or a Wii-mote, in gamer shorthand.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Sanchez said, explaining that he and other intramural volleyball teams — including his own, “Joe Mama” — enjoy post-game outings at the bar to unwind with Wii. “I really enjoy the bowling and the tennis. It’s fun for everyone and not difficult to play.”
Sanchez has been swept up by Wii mania, a phenomenon still going strong since the $249 small, white game console launched in 2006.
Nintendo sold 6.2 million Wii consoles last year, according to recent data from consumer research firm The NPD Group, which reported that Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sold only 2.56 million and 4.62 million, respectively, during that same period.
Wii appeal has exploded with the proliferation of home-based Wii parties as well as events at local bars and clubs. The console — with its simplistic controls and emphasis on fun and body movements — brings people together and appeals to the masses, local Wii owners say.
“Nintendo was really smart with not only designing, but marketing the Wii,” said Adam Greenblatt, a former Game Stop district manager who is now a product manager for Enterprise Cabling Systems. “They showed commercials, not of footage from games, but of people of all ages and walks of life playing the Wii and having a great time doing it,” said Greenblatt, a Lincoln Square resident who also is president of a local social group called Chicago Gamers Club.
Wii has even worked its way into the medical world. Doctors are leveraging it as “Wii-habilitation” for patients recovering from strokes, combat injuries and broken bones, The Associated Press reported.
The trick is finding one.
Good “Wii will” could be tested very soon, Greenblatt and other gamers warned.
On Sunday, a hotly anticipated title — Super Smash Bros. Brawl — hits shelves. It’s expected to be a huge development in the gaming world — and a huge driver for Wii — giving gamers the ability to play characters from the Nintendo universe from Yoshi to Donkey King to Super Mario. Even more demand is expected this spring for the health-focused Wii Fit balance board, according to a Nintendo spokesman.
As anticipation for new games and tools grows, Greenblatt said, there has been a noted increase in “conspiracy theories” on the Web. The scuttlebutt: Nintendo deliberately is underproducing Wiis to drive demand.
A Nintendo spokesman told RedEye that demand continues to exceed supply.
In November, a Nintendo executive addressed the Wii shortage at a Dow Jones Consumer conference.
“At this point, we are literally trying to catch up with demand,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, according to CNET. “There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and to 40- and 50-year-olds who aren’t avid gamers. They aren’t going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times,” he said. “It is literally a missed opportunity.”
An industry analyst said the truth likely is somewhere in the middle.
“The official party line is that they’re working as hard as they can to meet all the demand,” said Edward Woo, of California-based Wedbush Morgan Securities. “But Nintendo could invest a lot of money to hire more people and set up more facilities to meet demand, but then what after that? They appear to be walking the line between growing their business and keeping customers interested in their product.”
It’s a thin line, according to an Andersonville resident and gaming blogger.
“It’s really weird that it’s still hard to find a Wii,” said Glenn Turner, founder of The New Gamer blog (thenewgamer.com). Turner, 30, said he had trouble getting a Wii for up to a month after it hit shelves in 2006, which he expected. He and his girlfriend hunted for the brand new console at local Targets — narrowly missing out on buying one in November 2006. The pair stood in the cold in an early-morning line that snaked across the store’s underground parking lot.
“We were 51st in line and they had 50 units,” Turner said with a laugh. He had better luck at a Target in Evanston in December 2006 after discovering that the store was receiving a fresh shipment.
Now, Turner said, it should be a different inventory story since the console no longer is fresh to the market and the holiday crush is over.
“It gets frustrating when you keep trying to find one, and I really think after a certain point people will give up,” said Turner, who shares his Wii with up to 25 friends at Wii house parties where the favorite game is Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. His friends get a chance to punch, jump, dance and use the Wii-mote as a phone in a game that gets them hooked, Turner said, but only to a point.
“These people aren’t hardcore gamers they’re going after with the Wii, so they may not be as dedicated to keeping up the search,” Turner said, referencing the diverse demographic showcased in Wii commercials.
Uptown’s Kim Wojcik said she, too, had trouble getting a Wii after falling in love with the system in September 2007. Her husband, who was then her fiance, finally found one during a business trip to Boston a month later and gave it to her for her birthday. Since then, Wojcik said she has become wrapped up in Rayman Raving Rabbids, a gallery of games featuring gap-toothed bunny beasts. She also gets a Wii workout from tennis and bowling, she said.
“We spent some time calling different stores, driving out to the ‘burbs to try and find one,” said Wojcik, 35. “It’s hard work, but I’m so glad we got it. I don’t know what more we could have done if he hadn’t just found one.”
Wii-seeking is equally frustrating for local bar and lounge executives, who want to capitalize on a growing game-night business.
Wrigleyville’s Sports Corner said it attracts rabid Wii players on Tuesday nights in particular, according to Jeff Zych, one of the bar’s managers.
But over at Bucktown’s Cortland’s Garage, the Wii-ality bites. The best the bar could do was to borrow a system twice. The results were so great that Cortland’s has been searching for one since, said the bar’s spokeswoman, Kate Thompson.
“We’re just not having good luck,” Thompson said. “We’ll talk to the guys at Best Buy and try to see when they’re getting a pallet in. Some of us are just going to different Best Buys trying to see if we can catch one in their inventory. It is strange … and I really have no idea why it’s still so hard to get.”
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Who’s got game?
The Wii is hot in terms of console sales, but which game titles are tops? Here is the most recent ranking of top-selling video games, according to 2007 stats from The NPD Group.
1 Halo 3
XBox 360
Units sold: 4.82 million
2 Wii Play w/ remote
Nintendo
Units sold: 4.12 million
3 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
XBox 360
Units sold: 3.04 million
4 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PlayStation 2
Units sold: 2.72 million
5 Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo
Units sold: 2.52 million
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Wii for all
There’s no need to feel left out if you don’t have a Wii in your living room. These local spots and others offer free Wii to all comers.
Junior’s Sports Lounge
724 W. Maxwell St. 312-421-2277
Wii sports on two 42-inch screens all day (5 p.m.-2 a.m.) on Tuesdays
Mahoney’s Pub & Grille
551 N. Ogden Ave. 312-733-2121
Wii sports on a 42-inch screen at the main bar all day (4 p.m.-2 a.m.) on Wednesdays
Kitsch’n River North
600 W. Chicago Ave. 312-644-1500
Most Wii sports (baseball, bowling, tennis and golf) and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on a projection screen in the lounge after work (4:30-6:30 p.m.) Thursdays and Fridays
The Abbey Pub and Restaurant
3420 W. Grace St. 773-478-4408
Wii sports and Guitar Hero on two huge projection screens every Monday at 9 p.m.
– Find more places to play at metromix.com
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kkyles@tribune.com
