Brier Dudley's Blog

Brier Dudley offers a critical look at technology and business issues affecting the Northwest.

April 30, 2008 4:46 PM

Wii alert: They're finally in stock, thanks to "Grand Theft Auto"

I had a rare Wii sighting at the GameStop in Seattle's Pacific Place shopping center this afternoon.

Apparently the flow of videogame spending has temporarily shifted to "Grand Theft Auto IV," judging from the big stack of unsold Wiis behind the counter.

I thought about hoarding them to resell during the holidays, but the scheme wouldn't fly on the domestic front.

Meanwhile, the rush is on to find GTA for the Xbox. There was a stream of shoppers looking at GameStop, but the shop sold out more than 400 copies and may not get more until Friday.

Xbox versions had also sold out at the Ballard Fred Meyer when I dropped by Tuesday about 8 p.m., but the clerk said they'd been in stock until around 6 p.m. As usual, it had no Wiis.

Maybe it's because we're in Microsoft territory -- or because there are way more Xbox 360s in use than PlayStation 3s, but the situation seemed contrary to this report suggesting PS3 versions of GTA were outselling Xbox versions here and there. Both stores I visited still had PS3 versions of the game in stock.

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