Gamers eager to be the first to get their hands on a revolutionary new console waited on cold streets – for almost a WEEK.
The Wii U, the latest home console from Japanese technology giants Nintendo went on sale at midnight last Thursday, but fans began queuing outside HMV’s flagship Oxford Street store in London almost a week before.
Technology fans are set to go wild for the Wii U, which is set to cause a storm in the run up to Christmas, as the new controller includes a movement-sensitive screen, allowing players to be immersed in a game like never before.
The first 100 people in line outside the shop were given a free copy of New Super Mario Bros U, as well as goody bags full of new swag.
Izzy Rahman and pals Sing Duong, Michael Djuma and Teddy Djuma were the first to begin camping on the cold streets.
The student from Goldsmiths College, London, said: “One word – Nintendo.
“Nintendo has to be the godfather of games and as soon as we heard about the event we knew we had to be here.
“It is brilliant to be first and to show our appreciation for them.
“They just keep pushing boundaries – the other consoles always copy them.
“They’ve got the most iconic games and characters and Wii U is going to usher in a whole new era of gaming.”
Although they arrived together, Izzy and pals had played a tournament of racing game Mario Kart to decide who got the honour of being first in line.
Izzy, 25, Sing, 26, Teddy, 25, and Michael, 23, have their own games development business – Vertalex Studios London – which they were willing to put on hold for a week so they could get the honour of being first in line to buy the newest console.
Izzy said: “We all grew up playing Nintendo, which is why we didn’t want to miss out on the official launch, and we just thought it would be fun to try to get to the front of the queue and enjoy the experience.
“It’s been tough camping out in the rain and the cold, but it’s been a laugh and it’s also given us a chance to play loads on our 3DS handhelds and it’s also given us the time to do some more games coding for our new business.”
Izzy was delighted to purchase his brand new Wii U from none other than Mario himself – Nintendo’s iconic character and star of the flagship launch title.
HMV Head of Games, Ewan Pinder, said: “We were thrilled to be hosting the Official Midnight Launch Event for Wii U at our Oxford Street flagship, which is fast-becoming the natural home of all major games launches in the UK.”
Since the company began in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 640million consoles and more than four billion games.
The Wii U is available now, priced from around £299.99.
Tentative sales reports indicate that more than 40,000 consoles were snapped-up by eager fans in the first weekend.
