RANDOM EXPLETIVES!!

We are within one week of a new console release, and it has come to my knowledge that the store that I preordered from is not going to be holding a midnight release.

Q-Bert would have blushed when he heard the things I said out loud.

I understand that we're in the holiday season, and the OT situation for stores has already been hammered to pieces because of Call of Duty and Halo, but this is a friggin console we're talking about here.  This is one of those few precious moments that only comes around about three times every six years.  For these places to say, ahh, it's a Sunday, we can make the consumer wait... I just don't think it's a very prudent decision.  At the very least, it would have been nice to know ahead of time.  I would have been that much more persistent about preordering elsewhere. 

As it stands, GameStop and I are on very bad terms.  I'm going to have to try and see where I can find extra consoles that aren't stuck in reserves for preorders.  I wanted to make sure I had one at midnight on Sunday so that I could put together an unboxing video for the YouTube channel.

It's crazy that we're on four days away from the next generation of console gaming.  Sure, the Wii U probably isn't going to be a huge step forward, but, as always, Nintendo is innovating the way only they do.  It's also going to be absolutely awesome seeing some of Nintendo's franchises in HD for the first time.  That Legend of Zelda tech demo that Nintendo showed at E3 2011 was breathtaking.

Still, it's a shame that we don't know very much beyond the launch window.  While the games coming out now through March are plenty inspiring, I'm wary about what things look like after this critical period.  The Wii quickly died out, thanks to less-than acceptable third party support, and a slow trickle of first and second-party games.  With so little talked about in April and beyond, it's a very worrying position for Nintendo to be in.  I would have loved to see Bioshock or Tomb Raider on the system - but so far, it looks like a lot of developers aren't ready to take the risk on this new system.

Of course, if the state of the preorders have anything to say about it, the Wii U is already a roaring success.  There may be an overflow of consoles that scalpers picked up, planning on turning over a quick profit, but I'm convinced that at least in the immediate future, this thing is going to sell as well as its predecessor.  Ad space has been relatively quiet, but the Wii U is going to gain in popularity the same way the Wii did: through word of mouth.  People are going to see how the tablet affects gaming, particularly in the multiplayer realm, and see it as the party system of the next few years.  Nintendo doesn't have the brand awareness of Apple, yet, but if it manages to pull off this next generation of gaming, it will soon be in that position.