People hate waiting in lines. Lines for the DMV. Lines at the drive through restaurant. So why is it that PS3 and Wii pre-buys, which are nothing more than a representation of a virtual line, such hot commodities nowadays? We are talking about sheets of paper here flatter than a NES Mario adventure, not highly advanced next-gen systems. So why is so much emphasis being placed on owning these sheets of paper. Fear the mighty paper cut!

Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs Wii – the ultimate debate weighing heavily on videogame fans everywhere. In a day and age where maintaining the videogame lifestyle is more expensive than it has ever been, it is more important than ever to choose the right console. Yes, some people will be able to afford all three systems, but others will only be able to maintain two, while even others can only have one (and that isn't even counting those already juggling a PSP or DS). But which one?

Many have already wrote the Xbox 360 out of the war, which is quite funny, when from a metaphorical standing, Microsoft is already firing with their tanks and Slim Pickens ridden bombs while the PS3 and Wii are still galloping out with their Mounties in their funny little hats (sorry Canada for the metaphor…some of my best friends are Canadians). So why have the PS3 and Wii suddenly inched ahead as possible victors while the Xbox 360 is still sitting pretty as still the only next-gen system currently out? Perhaps it has something to do with this past week.

THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING
I bought an Xbox 360 because I was a big fan of the Xbox. Call it fan loyalty if you will, the same loyalty I had shown to Nintendo all these years, despite the fact I was letdown by the N64 and even more so with the Gamecube. I promised myself I would never let myself fall under their false promises again. I felt this generation, much like the last, I'd own two systems, and I really believed that the PS3 would be my second console of choice. And then E3 came around, an event I'd only seen on G4 and read in publications before, but this time I was going to get to go, and I even had a ticket for the Nintendo Press Conference. Damn you Shigeru Miyamoto for coming out in that stupid tux!

At the press conference, I found myself falling completely under the spell of Nintendo's Wii, and when the showroom floor opened, I wanted to get my hands on the Wii. Apparently, so did everyone else. As I finally approached the booth, I found myself facing a four hour wait, one which I did not have time for. I moseyed on over to Sony, where low and behold, there were multiple PS3 spots open for play. I didn't know how crazy the Nintendo situation really was until the last day of the show when I had to take an early taxi to the convention center, and was there to witness the Running of the Bulls…aka frenzied Nintendo nerds "needing" to play the Wii. Literally, people were sprinting to the Nintendo Wii booth, but I was not going to dignify such a response, so I casually strolled over there. Literally, only a couple minutes had passed since the doors opened, and already there was a multiple hour wait looking at me. Sadly, I didn't get to play the system anymore that day, but I knew what was waiting for me in my future. I was going to own a Wii.

With the way the Xbox 360 went down at launch day, with so few systems being available, and it taking ultimately a few weeks for me to finally get one, I knew I was going to go ahead and pre-buy the Wii as soon as it was available. For the past two months, whenever I headed to my local Gamestop to purchase the newest batch of games, I'd always ask when the pre-buys were going on sale, and they never knew anything. Could it be that the long established tradition of pre-buying had gone the way of the dodo bird and was extinct? As of October 3, 2006 it appeared that way, as news came out that Gamestop stores were not going to be selling preorders for the PS3 or Wii, with their President Steve Morgan claiming that:

"The great thing is there is a lot of demand. But launch is one day. We did learn a lesson last year. I think the lesson is caution and optimism at the same time."