Nintendo enters game console wars

NINTENDO’S entry into the game console wars, the Wii, quickly sold out in many New York stores despite stocks that far surpassed those of the rival PlayStation 3, on sale two days earlier.

Spot checks at area stores turned up only one, the Toys R Us in Times Square, with Wiis in stock. The store hosted a midnight launch event that drew a crowd of more than a thousand people for the sale of the very first Wii.

The first buyer, Isaiah Triforce Johnson, had been waiting outside the store for more than a week. He wore a Nintendo Power Glove, a wearable controller that came out in 1989, while shaking hands with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Johnson legally changed his name to include a reference to Nintendo’s Zelda games.