You know, I was actually thinking about Amazon earlier today and almost gave in. Then I realized that I would rather pay te extra $10 and have it now than to wait for it to ship. I really wanted to play it.

I might just break down and spend the cash at Walmart if they have it.

lol... i just reread this.. sounds like i called myself a lazy ass manager.

ioi said: http://astore.amazon.com/vgch-20/detail/B001TOQ8K2

Thanks but I didn't want to wait for shipping. I wound up finding a Gamestop that had a few copies. Had to drive about 20 miles.

Well worth it though since I was paying with Giftcards.

i dont expect this game to be all that hot. i mean maybe 80k first month?

Nope, it wasn't just your Gamestop. I called on Sunday, to see if they'd have it in stock on either Monday or Tuesday. The guy said they wouldn't get any copies until Tuesday, but that it wasn't a big title. If I came in, it would be in stock. I came in on Monday, and paid for it, and picked up my copy today. There were a few pissed off customers in the store when I got it because the game sold out almost instantly. They only ordered a handful of copies!

Sounds like it sold out completely in several areas, which is a good thing.

Restocking should occur and sustaining sales may upswing briefly, like Call of Duty: World at War.

Mangers do not set the number of pre orders.  They can get reserves of copies of games at stores but once again that's about being a salesman.  It is corporate who buys a number of copies from the distributor of the game.  Managers have nothing to do with this. 

Now whether they over shipped or under shipped has to do with how much the retailer buys.  If they don't buy enough then they underestimated the appeal of the game.  Usually, they don't do this, but it happens.  From what I've heard, apparently they might have under bought Punch Out.  Which is surprising considering it's a Nintendo game but oh well. 

However, I think the game will sell though it's first shipments quite easily and be a pretty big summer title for the Wii.  It is the biggest release it's had so far this year and should sell like it.

After Excitebots, can you blame them?

Well if any retailer had expected Excitebots to be a large game, then they deserved to guess wrong.  Punch Out is different becuase it was based off a popular IP.  However, being a retailer, I would have under bought it as well considering just the sheer length of time between releases.  It's hard to imagine the userbase could have stayed that long.  However, this is the core loyal Nintendo fanbase that would have bought this on the first week and they are one of the largest gaming bases in the industry.  That was something else to take into account.

If you are looking at it based on what has previously released then you will get fired from your job.  Remember, a lot of business is risk analysis.  It's not that simple guys.  My guess is a lot of the reason they ordered as much as they did is despite being a popular brand, it hasn't had a new edition in almost 15 years.  So it was a safe amount to order and they guessed wrong (we think).  They'll simply order a larger shipment than usual for the 2nd week and all will be well.  It most likely has nothing to do with Excitebots.  If any retailer's purchasing decisions of Punch Out was based off that, then they need to fire whoever works in that area.

@Zucas

The reason I think places like gamestop  understock  this game is  the demgraphirc the game is going to sell to the most in the long run. The non-gamestop/specialty video game store people who rather go  to a Target,Walmart,Toy R Us to buy this game after  seeing the commercial or hear about from a friend from different demographic like diehard nintendian(for example).I can almost guarantee that most sales of most bridge games come super stores and not Specialty video game stores. But again this is view point not fact.