Topic: Yeah, caved in for basic, ha...

I was one of the unlucky people who wasn't able to get a pre-order in soon enough so I decided I was just going to be one of those store hunters. I just missed Walmart on launch day(I really wanted a deluxe if possible) and pretty much everywhere else had no stock in whatsoever the last few days. I had some run-ins where a couple sites had some errors in regards to the console(ex: Target next town over said they had some in stock, but I realised they didn't after a call in and they pointed out the error and apologised).

Last night I went to the Walmart site again and it said they had some in stock at the local one. I called in and the electronics department was closed at the time so the worker I spoke to wasn't too sure about what was going on with them but he did say that he was sure they had planned on stocking a few later today(he thought maybe around 2-3 basics and 1 deluxe). Not really thinking about it, I decided I was just going to check the store later on; Hey, it's Thanksgiving after all and I was at a relative's house the whole day.

I left out and went to the Walmart to check but, by the time I got there, the whole place was getting crowded and ready for Black Friday, which ended up being a huge duh moment for me. There were no Wii U consoles behind the glass so I figured I would wait around in the madness to see what would be put out for stock. I got a hold of one of the store workers around the electronics section and, after a few minutes of confusion with all of video game section, it turns out they had Wii U...but only one left...and, even worse, it was only the basic. Of course nobody was sure when they would have anymore in stock, let alone specifics on each model, and I guess the impatience got the better of me after around 15 minutes of thinking(luckily nobody else had noticed the Wii U when they ended up showing me it was the only one they had).

You can probably guess what happened next; I caved in and decided I would just get the basic(call me crazy all you want). I kind of regretted the purchase in regards to what was in the deluxe but then I realised it wasn't too bad: I wasn't too concerned about the stands and buying Nintendo Land for $10 more wasn't really a big deal.

The main thing that bothers me is the fact that, as a basic owner, I have no way of purchasing a subscription or something that would land me the digital promotion(I like buying retail games as physical but I am also a big fan of 'eshop' purchases; my 3DS is loaded with eshop purchases) and that I'd prefer a black console(although it isn't as big of a deal either). I have yet to take the box out of my bag and open it but, aside from being upset about missing out on the digital promotion, I'm not too concerned with returning it and waiting who knows how long to get a deluxe.
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Tl;dr I was planning on getting a deluxe Wii U but, missing out on launch day and no pre-order in, I was going to go store hopping instead and risk losing my mind in the madness that is finding a brand new console. I managed to find one today right before Black Friday officially started, but it was only the basic and I decided I would just get it(didn't want to bother having to check every hour of every day with every store for deluxe) and realized it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. Aside from not being able to take part in the deluxe digital promotion (), I am pretty satisfied with my purchase and plan on unpackaging it a little later. (haven't opened it yet so there is still time to get rid of it though, haha)

inb4imcallednutz

It would have been nice to have the Deluxe, but after the past couple of days, I'm very happy with the Basic.

Yep! here it goes... you know what I'm about to say... get ready

I PITY THE FOOL!!!! for cavin' in and buyin' a casuals basic model... It must eat away at you at night... can't sleep... knowing that its not your black box of dreams with the extra goodies and the download pass... your psyche melting away at the thought of what you have done to poor @Chriiis... tearing him apart and (vinyl record scratch)

COOL! you finally got it now set that mofo up and start diggin' it bro

To be honest I'm glad I got the Premium version on pre-order now that the extend and size of patches is well known. I'll be putting an external HDD on there eventually but it's nice to have some extra space on there I think. That said I'm super jealous that you have one now and I have to wait another week.

Just a week though.

@skywake Yeah I picked up a 2TB Seagate Expansion super speed USB 2.0/3.0 desktop AC powered HDD (takes a breath) from Office Works for $99 I'm all set and ready to rock.

I got lucky. Two days after launch, the Target I work at had a bunch in stock. Grabbed me my Deluxe. Too bad you didn't have that kind of luck. I refused to settle.

Well it really wasn't too big of an issue; Like I mentioned, I'm only really upset about missing out on the digital promotion.

I was originally getting the Deluxe, but after finding out I couldn't use SD cards for storage I didn't really see the point. I don't want any games on disc, happy to pay for Nintendo Network - assuming that turns out to be something I want since I'm not really interested in online gaming, and I don't care if the machine is black or has a stand. Figure I'd rather use the 50 quid difference towards a new media disk drive for my computer and then hook up the old one to the Wii U.

That does bite if having the Basic means I won't get any credits from Nintendo for buying downloadable content. I'd think they'd want to do that just to encourage people to go online regardless of what model they owned.

I haven't looked into the eShop much, but I wonder.....

Can people send gifts to friends like they did on the Wii Shop Channel? I ask this because if they can, would the gifts take advantage of the digital promotion? I could see people who have the Basic edition sending money to their friends who have the Deluxe to get games at the 10% discount.

Id have totally got a basic if thats all they had. I am doing nothing now I couldnt do the same with a basic.

Keep a look on eBay. Maybe people might sell the Network code on there. As not everyone is interested in it.

Wait...what is the network code exactly?

@Sean_Aaron I'm more of a physical person myself when it comes to retail games too but I also am an eshop person so the promotion would've really benefited me.

If connecting online was 'the thing' they were promoting then I would've expected there would be an option for those with basic to pick up at some point; the Deluxe would obviously still be the better deal by a bit considering the separate prices of the stands/docks, $10 dollar extra for regular Nintendo Land, standard GB available from get go, and then the possible promotion offering.

I was at an EB Games yesterday that had about 15 or more Basic/Deluxe systems just stacked up in front of the counter (I think slightly more of them were Deluxe than Basic oddly enough). Then I went to a Source today that had a Wii U demo station, yet they said they never got any Wii U stock whatsoever (yet they had the games to sell, lol). I wonder if Nintendo is purposely allocating the systems poorly so that people will think there is a shortage and snap them up without hesitation as soon as they find them in stock somewhere. If they're not doing it on purpose, they're doing a really bad job at distributing them.

Stock shortages... Employee ignorance... Fake allocations... WiiU conspiracy theories... Sounds like 2006 all over again quick everyone prepare your tinfoil hats.

Whats so bad about the basic set?

The Basic Set killed my family.

Other than the 8GB flash storage pretty much meaning anyone planning to get anything other than disc-based releases needs an external hard disk, the differences are that it lacks a sensor bar (got one from my Wii, thanks), lacks a charge dock for the Gamepad, lacks a stand for the Wii U and it lacks promotional eShop credits for online purchases.

Oh and it's white instead of black and comes with Nintendo Land on disc.

For some folk that means it sucks. If you either don't care about download software or aren't bothered about getting a hard drive, don't need the included game and other goodies then it's no big deal. I'm in the latter camp.

I bought the Deluxe. I saw a demo of the white model in Target tonight and man, that white GamePad looks slick. I don't think the Deluxe's extra memory makes much difference if you plan on doing a lot of downloading — you'll use 32 GB pretty quickly. I think it comes down to whether you want NintendoLand. If you do, it's worth it to buy the Deluxe. If not, buy the Basic and use the savings to get a portable hard drive.

I started with a Basic, but I'll update to a Deluxe eventually once they start allowing transferring.

Same w/the Target store is in my town, at launch i had high hopes for the deluxe one, the guy on the phone during the day b4 claimed if there was any left, i could have one. Anywho, i went to target, got there at 7:30a.m waited 'til 8, they were all out of both models but they had games to buy, what is a console without games? At least I had to go to High Score (video game retailer) they had one basic model left, so i bought it b/c the deluxe is still out of stock at gamestop, at walmart, at target and at my toys r us. I could've preordered @ gamestop but the lady ticked me, i brought items in to gamestop, the employee there asked me if i wanted cash or credit, cash was $20 but credit was $25, so i looked at the employee like "uhh are you serious, isn't it common sense i'll want credit". then she didn't even ask me if i wanted anything preordered either. so she ticked me off.