Through the magic of RSS, and my subscription to Joystiq, I was informed that most retailers would have a renewed supply of the console today. Since my desire for a Wii was high, and I was feeling ambitious, I set my alarm for 6:30 AM this morning.

After the alarm went off, I hurried through my morning routine and set off for the nearest Target, in Albany, which opens at 8:00 AM. I arrived about 5 minutes before 7:00, and already there were over 50 people waiting in line. For a game console that was launched over two months ago, I was surprised to see that level of demand, and had little hope of acquiring one.

I thought about giving up and heading home, but I took my place in line. Everyone was excited, and I struck up conversation with the people around me. About ten minutes before 8:00, the manager emerged to hand out tickets to the people standing in line. He explained that he only had 40 tickets available, so my chances rested on a few of the people ahead of me being there as a group, and that each individual did not intend to purchase the system.

As luck would have it, the person right in front of me got the 40th ticket. However, then manager pointed to myself and the mother and child behind me saying “You and you, stick around. I may have a couple extra units.” The rest of the people in line, now over 70 in number, were told to head home.

So, I filed up to the electronics section with the people already holding tickets. I still wasn’t too hopeful, but I figured I was invested at this point, so I might as well stick it out. As it turned out, there were two extra systems available, and I now am the owner of a Nintendo Wii! I also picked up two games: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Rayman Raving Rabbids.

I’ve got the console hooked up, and have been playing the included Wii Sports. It is incredibly fun. Nintendo’s big innovation with Wii is a controller that senses position and motion, rather than the typical button mashing common on other consoles such as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

That makes the experience incredibly immersive. For example, while boxing in Wii Sports, you actually use a punching motion to strike your opponent. You can also hold your hands up to protect your face and duck out of the way of incoming blows. As I said, incredibly fun.

I’ll likely have more to write about the Wii as I continue to play. For now, I will leave you with photos of the unboxing and final setup.