So, I ended up not preordering a Wii U.  Originally I wanted to preorder on Amazon, but then they weren't taking preorders.  Then I was going to preorder at Best Buy, but I couldn't find my Best Buy reward card and didn't feel like ordering anything large without it.  Also didn't want to order at Gaem Stop as I do what I can to not support them.

I still fondly remember camping out at Rhino games (RIP) for my Wii.  Anyone know of places were one can camp out now a days?  Or is it all about the preorder now? Play N Trade maybe?

Poor guy. Doesn't stand a chance.

Just to update my situation, I broke down and after searching all over the web ended up getting a preorder at Walmart.com, which made me feel dirty. Not sure if it guarantees anything though. When I added the Wii-U to my cart it said it would it would ship by 12/31/12, and my actual invoice said it would arrive by November 25th. In addition to that, Walmart makes you buy it in a bundle with a game (which I would have gotten anyway, got Ninja Gaiden and will pick up Zombie-U and New Super Mario Bros. whenever I actually get the system.) and a black Wii Remote (which I wouldn't have got) for an extra 100 dollars.

The price you pay for waiting.

I hate how companies always force you to buy these bundles of stuff you probably don't even want just because consoles are in short supply. All things considered, you didn't do to badly.

Most places will have units available on day one, but the trick to actually getting one is choosing the right store to visit ...

In Canada, the people I know who were most successful with the Wii went to stores that sold electronics but few people thought of them as electronics stores (Zellers and Superstore) and in many cases they went to "poorer" neighbourhoods; of course this may not work out so well in some large American cities with high crime rates.

Wal-Mart is actually one of the best places to camp out, since I don't think they do in-store preorders (though they do online ones)

This is where I got my Wii back in 2006 by camping out (I was 28 out of 32 Wii's available). Ah the memories...

@SpazzyD

Yeah, my brother did the same thing. It was a bit hairy because the Wal-Mart in my hometown also effectively served three other nearby towns that were much bigger, so we had a lot of people there (for a town of 6,000)

It's still fun, though. Midnight launches aren't always worth it as an experience, but I remember playing multiplayer Mario Kart DS with a bunch of guys in line, worrying my screen would freeze because Canada. Good times.

So-much-win-right-there

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. While Charlotte is no Canada when it comes to the cold, it was still nippy out there. I watched a friend play Final Fantasy III (I think it recently came out or something), we were yelled at by some teenagers in a car ("NEEEEEERDS!"), and my friend came by for a surprise McDonalds drop off. Unfortunately, as he was talking to us, some guy hit his car. That part wasn't so cool.

Got there at 4:00 p.m., got my Wii at 12:01 a.m. If GameStop has pickup at midnight for the Wii U, then I'll probably drop by.

@Ajescent

Yeah, that worked out very well.