Paka

Yep, came here to say this. No sign it will be better with supply, and the games on it are very good. Trying to find a preorder already a mess- http://kotaku.com/the-hunt-for-an-snes-classic-is-already-a-mess-1797175460

Well, part one done. Hit Wal-Mart tonight-- I've had a lot of luck with this one in the past for the sales, it is a small NC mountain town and some of the other regional ones apparently draw more of the people. Actually went in at 5:45 and walked right up (well, had to work through some crowds) and got the wristband for the 40" TV for $149. That was my main goal... wanted that TV for my "gaming cave" as my 32" is just a bit small with my vision starting to go the way it is. Also got the $10 crockpot. Most of the crowd seemed to be after the game bundles; I had wanted the 3 month cards on PSN Plus and Live but that area was just too bad to try I thought. We had it paid for and loaded (had to drive around back of the store) and out 45 min later. Only bad thing was, in one of the main isles there was an older lady who was walking like one step every five seconds. While trying to maneuver and avoid being hit from behind myself, I just BARELY, and I do mean the tiniest tap possible, hit her heel from behind. Now, I had already been hit a good ten times worse than that getting the TV, you just sort of expect it I thought in those conditions. But the woman immediately started crying and going on about how it hurt. Now, I really do feel horrible about it and have a bad guilt complex... my husband tried to lighten the mood and reassure me afterwards though. First thing tomorrow will actually be PetSmart. Want to load up on the cheap Purina my gourmet cats like. Belk is next to it and some good sales there too so will try that too. ETA: Part 2. PetSmart was a great experience, about a dozen of us waiting and everybody was very nice. Loaded up on the food and got a cat tree. Went to Belk afterwards, and felt bad for the poor workers, who were like zombies... turns out that shift was there all night. Was made to feel bad about my $149 TV by a FB friend who ripped into me for shopping on Thanksgiving because her husband and the workers not getting time with their families. I do feel bad for them, and I understand because on my job I work New Year's eve and day, but that was the only way I was going to get that TV! Went into Best Buy after Belk, and they still had a lot of the TVs and game bundles. Wasn't that crowded really.

Unfortunately, due to uncertainty about my husband's job schedule, can't quite plan for sure yet. If we go to FL as planned, wasn't planning to do BF (much messier there than here), but the furniture in the KMart ad makes it too hard to pass up. We are moving from a furnished to an unfurnished place next year and have a storage unit, so too tempting not to get what we can now. Just hope the furniture isn't too high-demand, as I don't plan to be there right at opening. If we stay here in NC, still will do the KMart stuff, but also WalMart. The closest WalMart, in Sylva, is a mob scene even on normal days, but for some reason the Franklin one has had many doorbusters left very late (like noon, seriously) on BFs before. That might change now though, now that they have a new, bigger one there. I'd almost think people in Atlanta even would be better off driving up to that store, if it is like we've seen in the past.

Looks like we'll be down near Tampa this year, which for BF purposes is a shame since the stores there are pretty crazy. Probably won't brave it this time, though our one TV is going so may be tempted by great deals on those. Last two have been up in Franklin, NC, which has been awesome for BF. The Wal-Mart there for some reason just doesn't get near the action I see other places. They have had doorbusters still there close to noon, stuff which I see from here that goes very quickly elsewhere. Have been able to do almost all my Christmas shopping there those years and save a bunch.

The Wii U is my guess too for one that should be hot. However, while preorders seemed to go very fast many places, I do wonder how many of those were bought up by resellers? No question many people will want them, but with the economy still so bad, it is quite an expensive gift.

Please open up soon! My mad dash, not for sales But for the bathroom!

We did pretty well, like last year. The Wal-Mart in the N.C. mountains went to again to was crowded but nothing like shopping in areas with more people. We walked in right at midnight or a couple minutes after, and by that time people were leaving so parked up pretty close and waltzed right in and got what we wanted. And like last year also stopped by the next morning around 11 and still plenty of the doorbusters left. There were easily 30 or so of those 19" TVs, a huge stack of the blue Wiis, ect. Highlights of what I got were a $79 Kindle (for someone else, gift) and the blue limited edition Wii. Got some other stuff, among them a few cheap games, one of the cheap timex watches, one of the $5 flash drives, a few pairs of the $9.97 Wrangler jeans (these seriously seemed to be most popular there!) and some of the cheap underwear for hubby. Some of it was on the 2nd visit. The lines for checkout at the midnight visit did take awhile but no biggie. Everybody very friendly and helpful. They said at the 11 a.m. visit that there were three fights in electronics but I didn't see any of that. They said it was more crowded than last year; I almost wonder if my posts about this particular store on here may have clued in a few folks in the region.

Yeah, my thanks too, I may just go ahead and get that now. :) And on the posts about the color of the Wii, I think it is really cute... but then, I'm female, and also love pastels hehe.

Thanks! Fortunately, already had a Gamecube and played it to death, gave it away some time back, so no biggie there. And luckily the games I want for the Wii are few in number, and most I think I can get on eBay cheap now. The two newer ones would be Skyward Sword and Fishing Resort. I had been browsing eBay auctions for *forever* looking for a bundle with most of the older games I wanted at a good price, but since nothing great came up, safer going for a new system. I also have a lot of stuff I can trade in at Gamestop towards the Wii games. Speaking of which, really want to see their ad too... For those interested in the 3DS, Europe is getting an absolutely drool-worthy Zelda LE one. But sadly, seen no indication yet that we will.

Ok, I have to admit Wal-Mart is really tempting me with that pretty blue Wii for $99! I have been torn on buying a Wii for a long time, as I'm so backlogged on the games I have and there isn't TOO much I want for the Wii.

Yeah, I hate to gripe but I was really hoping for better on the things my hubby and I are gunning for. There were a few things I liked though, particularly that light blue Wii! And I do have to give them credit for at least posting it early themselves so we know!

I was wondering this too, and think some will. It is a smart move really, IMO. Especially if the ad is good. Everybody knows they get leaked anyways, and with the economy so tough, I think people want to know ASAP and plan. It comes across as a customer-friendly move.

While there are a lot of good deals and I see some stuff I want, the things my hubby and I were planning to be gunning for aren't nearly as good. I may have to get that blue Wii though!

I've owned DS lites, DSi, and a DSi XL. The XL definitely looks a lot nicer, and the battery life is way better than the regular DSi. However, the regular DSi and Lite are easier to hold for longer gaming sessions. However, now that the 3DS is out you may want to go with that. The 3-D effect is really neat and it comes loaded with some cool stuff on it already. The only gripe I have is that the battery life isn't too good. It is $169 now but I wouldn't be surprised to see some good sales on BF as the system is not selling well right now. Main reason is just that the game library isn't too great yet but that will probably change, a lot of their systems get off to a slow start. As for the PS3 vs. Xbox 360 debate, when I made the decision years back, I went with the 360 because of the price difference and the exclusives the 360 has. PS3 has the advantages of a being Blu-ray player and free online. The 360's online is mostly agreed to be better but only the bare bones Silver is free, for Gold-- which allows you to play online against others and take advantage of most features-- you have to shell out a good bit though deals are available from time to time. Even if you don't want them playing online you will want to hook the system up so you can download updates; a lot of games get released these days with bad bugs so having access to the patches is important. Anyways, I'm very happy with my 360 and have none of the common hardware issues, knock on wood!

Beat me to it; shared this one in another forum with someone who was looking for a deal on them. If I hadn't gotten a great deal a few months back would jump on it. Pretty good deal, won't see too many lower. :)

Ok, to follow up on the Xbox Live cards, Best Buy has 12 month ones on sale now for $39.99- http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Microsoft+-+Xbox+Live+12-Month+Gold+Membership+Card/1272483.p?id=1218245814052&skuId=1272483 Not sure how long it will last. You might do a little better if something else comes up but this is a very good deal.

Cool! Lake Jovita is where he is exactly. I remember how bad the lines were for the one year, got what I was after at the Toys r Us, and at least everyone was pretty well-behaved even with the crowds. Nice!! :) I help out my friends at the mine they run, totally native stuff, got a nice ruby on our last trip, lot of good sapphires this season too. Franklin has grown a good bit from the time of the heyday of the mines (though now most of the mines are gone). I was shocked at how much was left at the Wal-Mart when we went in. I may try to take a video this year if it is the same.

Yep! Because I don't want to deal with deals on the Xbox Live dashboard that turn on auto-renewal, I'm always on the lookout for deals on cards. They tend to get posted at various times of year randomly; luckily they get posted pretty quickly on gaming boards I'm on, but also tend to go very, very quickly. Last two I got were $28.99 then for my last $42.99, but that was an entire Live starter pack on that one, which also had 400 pts, chatpad and headset. If you want let me know and if I see something really good I can post it, but they do go real quick on those deals. ETA: Like the previous poster said they tend to be eBay deals, though my last one was through buy.com there if I remember right. But sometimes retail sites have them too.

Small N.C. mountain town, Franklin, that we travel to a lot for my rockhounding and to visit friends. Found out last BF that the Wal-Mart there is apparently doesn't get hit hard by many that day, since we walked in after 11 to find most of the doorbusters still there. Want a TV and desktop computer this year so will try our luck there but will go at opening Have hit those stores down at exit 279 in the past too though on BF, my dad lives near St Leo, bit up the road.

Yeah, posted about this in the experiences thread, but I was absolutely shocked at all the doorbusters the Wal-Mart I went to still had when I waltzed in about 11:30-noonish. It was still BF, but couldn't believe how many displays were still loaded-- especially at all the TV deals still there. Ended up taking care of a lot of my Christmas shopping. And with stuff like the digital photo frames and the GPS, there were more than I could count. Tons of DVDs, printers... only thing I didn't see were the computers themselves. I was able to get the $59 7" RCA Digital TV. Crowds weren't bad, and walked right up to the register. Given the stuff there, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it lasted through the weekend. This was in a regular (not Super) Wal-Mart in Franklin, N.C.; small mountain town. Next Thanksgiving if Wal-Mart has anything I want on BF I guess I'll be visiting my friends there again.

I was not planning on doing the sales, as I mentioned in another thread, but while here visiting some friends in the N.C. mountains decided to hit the local Wal-Mart (in Franklin, not a Super Wal-Mart) before heading on up to their cabin. Was starting to come down with a sore throat and thought I'd pick up some medicine-- noticed that it didn't look THAT crowded when driving by, though there were people of course. Good thing I did, made out like a bandit, got a lot of my Christmas shopping taken care of. Was shocked at how many of the doorbusters were still sitting there. Especially the TVs; I got one of the $59 RCA portable digitals as a gift for someone. Not sure exactly who will get it yet though, lol-- tempted to keep it! I had to ask a worker since it was after 11, and he said that though it was supposed to be til then, it was really just until they ran out, so price was still good. At least five others sitting there. Lots of the other TVs were just sitting around. At least three of the 19" deal; quite a few of the 50" Sanyo Plasma, ect. That one made me feel silly, since as I mentioned elsewhere recently bought the 42" one; could have gotten that for not much more had I waited. They were just then selling the last of the $89 DS lites. They had more of the $29 digital photo frames and the GPS systems ($79 I think) than I could count. Basically, I didn't really notice any of the special displays in the isles cleaned out. I noticed a ton of the printers, though in fairness I didn't see computers themselves. Also got the new George Bush book my husband wanted for $14 (usually $24) a cologne that he said usually goes for $24.50 for $9, several other cologne sets and some DVDs. Some slippers for my mom, some bath stuff for myself, the 25th anniversary DSi XL bundle for my friends' daughters. Walked right up to the cashier with no line. Plenty of parking; didn't even park all that far out. Employees were all very friendly and helpful. Usually I don't come up here that much this time of year-- mostly come up during the warmer months for rockhounding/gem mining-- but think we may be spending next Thanksgiving here too if I see any BF Wal-Mart deals I want.

With the 42" we recently bought, it was a pain, I admit. Just barely got it into our PT, and if my husband hadn't been around to help it would have been a nightmare for me to get inside. But a 32" would have probably been a lot easier (had he not been there, I probably would have gotten one instead!). My biggest worry was dropping it... on BF, I think an issue, with all the crowds, would be someone running a cart into in, hitting it, ect. Also a concern I think would be that, while lugging and trying to load a TV, you may be a target for those wishing to pickpocket, purse snatch, ect., so for someone shopping alone-- especially a woman-- may want to ask for security or help if available, even if it means a wait.

Here are some of my personal recommendations- Animal Crossing: Wild World- Especially for the girl. VERY addictive; sort of a real life sim but you live in a town of animals (anthromorphs). Lots to do, runs on a real-world clock off your DS. Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games- I'm a huge fan of this series. Farming and life sim games (the Rune Factory ones also have action RPG elements) that are both fun and positive. Really put an emphasis on building relationships with people and taking good care of your animals. Pokemon (Any)- I'm not a huge fan myself, but have a few of them. Easy and addictive animal collecting RPGs that a lot of kids in that age range love. Dragon Quest (Any, but especially IX) - Personal favorite. Turn-based RPGs; I also loved the series when I was younger too. IX lets you totally customize the look of your characters, very addictive and fun game.

Yeah, buying a used DS I think would be a lot less risky than buying, say, a used 360 (where you would have the risk of RRoD and getting a banned console). With a used DS, I'd say to check the bottom (touch) screen for bad scratches, and make sure there are no dead or stuck pixels (they can be really annoying). Depending on how long the person was using it, battery life might not be as good as a new one, but not too hard to just get a new one and replace it.

For the ones looking at the DS Lites, if you don't want to wait for the price to drop with the 3DS release, looks like Wal-Mart will have 'em for $89 on BF!