There was a time in my life when I was destined to be a video game nut. But, so far as destiny is not deterministically certain, my fate changed, through really no will of my own.

[The second paragraph usually serves to introduce the real direction of this blog. I could go several different ways, as I’m wont to be verbose in weird, philosophical ways, but my main point for discussion will be clearer soon. (Don’t worry. I’m not in the mood for pedantically impenetrable discourse. I’m just ranting about how the world sucks.)]

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I was a total nerd when it came to games. Back then, the PC was where it was at. The dawn of RPGs and the flourishing of Sierra "3D Adventure Games" were the sustenance off of which I lived. 16-color graphics and text parsers ... hells yeah, baby! Prior, I grew up on an Atari 2600, and I learned to program on an Atari 800. I never owned an NES, but I played enough of them. Sega Genesis rocked! Then I went to college, got interested in other things, met girls, and then the video game console world took off. Without me. My time available to invest into PC-based entertainment wained. I fell off the bandwagon. 16-bit, I hardly knew you.

It’s more than a decade later, and several "generations" of home video game consoles have come and gone. The "two-to-the-power-of-n"-bit advancements became impressive. Many series’ worth of top-notch titles have come along and produced sequels in the upper digits, all without my knowledge or consent. I was lost. And somewhere in there the industry forgot that video games were supposed to be sold in cartridge form.

It seems that Nintendo is still putting out games starring Mario! And that Legend of Zelda guy became popular too, I think. In the last couple of years, the company behind Windows developed and sold a console with "first-person-shooters" that apparently tell more of a story than Wolvenstein 3D did, which I frankly find improbable. But the graphics got better, which was inevitable. Sony is making money doing the same thing. And their console ITSELF has sequels! I’m SO out of it.

So, in the last couple weeks, I’ve found myself reading through gaming magazines at work--issues left around by my co-workers, adult-aged man-children who probably camped out for something called Halo’s Gears of Duty (... hey, guys, if you’re reading this, I’m joking!) Through my ability to familiarize myself with the games and consoles out now, I garnered a casual interest in the Nintendo Wii, and made note of several titles worth owning for it. After reading about the Virtual Console download possibilities, I was SOLD! I developed a strategy, double checked my finances, and made a plan. It was a lovely plan, the fulfillment of which would see me and my girlfriend, and all our friends, enjoying drinking nights with multiplayer, 480p family fun.

The Nintendo Wii came out a year-and-a-half ago. It was a big holiday item, and the games Nintendo puts out for it have great reviews, and I want them. Some of the heavily anticipated titles have been out now for months. I came on board at just the right time!

Little did I know ... In an off-season month such as March, what, something like 17 months after the console was first made available, ... it ... is ... NOT ... in ... stock ... ... anywhere! Am I nuts?

The Circuit City guy told me he can’t divulge the date of their next shipment; apparently people still break out into fights over it. The Best Buy guy told me they MAY get about 50 of them in tomorrow, but they’ll be gone in two hours. The Game Stop guy laughed at me when I asked if they had any in stock, but then told me that their deliveries are sporatic, and that I’ll just have to keep checking. (Which tells me that he had no right to laugh at me just because I was "checking".) The guy at Target was the most understanding, friendly, and honest. However, it doesn’t mean I’m more likely to purchase a Wii from them, since that seems to be as possible as building a PC that can run a game called Crysis at its full settings.

(I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but the gaming magazines seem to think it’s a hilarious joke ... yeah, the joke’s on all of us oblivious fucks who thought buying a game console would be as simple as going into a store, asking a few questions, and shelling out a few hundred bucks.)

Here are the observations, ultimately, that boggle my cognitive ability. In an off season, Nintendo is failing to meet demand ... either intentionally or not intentionally. The "hype" season is over. Either they’re making more money by NOT selling their product, or they’re running their business thinking that I’m more likely to buy one because it’s harder to find. I’m not. If, say, two or three more visits to a Best Buy store sees me empty handed, then fuck gaming! Fuck the Wii, fuck Xbox, fuck Playstation. Supply doesn’t meet demand, so price should go up to counter. But it doesn’t. If I’m willing to pay a little more just to have a Wii, which I am, then why the fuck aren’t they available at a higher price?

When I was in high school, there wasn’t an "AP" Econ, so my lackluster education prevents me from seeing the dynamic in this multivariable supply-demand curve.

My $250 plus $50 (Super Mario Galaxy) plus $50 (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) plus $50 (Super Paper Mario) plus $50 (Mario Kart Wii) plus $40 (Geometry Wars: Galaxies) plus $50 (Blastworks) plus $50 (LEGO Indiana Jones) plus $20 (classic controller) plus $unknown future Nintendo profits ... well, that’s all mine to invest now into different portfolios of my personal entertainment allotment.

Nintendo’s Wii has been marketed in such a way to bring the "casual gamer" into its fray? Really? They fucking alienated me because they couldn’t get their shit together in a year and a half. It can’t be intentional; they’re not making more money from me, or garnering more interest, by tellling me I’m going to have to stalk the Best Buy delivery guy and punch out a 12-year-old redhead with a quicker grasp and pimplier chin. Nope. "Casual" gamers can’t be expected to do that.

Audrey has a GameCube and we got Lego Star Wars II for it. That’s enough video gaming for me, for now.