Twitter Wii Quest

Holiday shopping season is approaching and an important aspect of being productive is not to waste time chasing the same gift that everyone else seems to be trying to find.

Case in point - the Nintendo Wii.

This popular but elusive gaming system is on every kid’s list (big and little) and trying to find one towards the end of the year can be a maddening experience - we’ve personally experienced the pain.

The good news is that Twitter can do the work for you.

1. Amazon Games

If you are a dedicated Amazon shopper, then follow Amazon Games which will send you updates on when the Wii becomes available and goes out of stock.  Be quick with your mouse and credit card as often times the window of opportunity is short.  As an added bonus, you’ll get updates on deals on other games and game systems.

2. Now In Stock

An alternative Twitter tool for Wii tracking is Now In Stock.  This tool tracks Wii availability at multiple stores including Amazon.  The same team has also produced a tool that tracks down one of the most popular and hard to find games Wii Fit.  Tracking for other very popular gifts is available at Now In Stock’s website.

Interestingly, the author of the Now In Stock tool took the time to explain why they chose Twitter as a notification tool:

Why Twitter?

I am using Twitter for two reasons. One, they have the capacity and infrastructure to push mobile and instant message alerts to many people at once. Secondly, it gives users unprecedented control of the alerts. It is a third-party application that allows users the ability to unsubscribe from my notifications with the click of a button. Hence, the subscriptions are basically managed via Twitter’s system, not mine. This puts you the user in control.

3. WiiMe

A pioneer in the Twitter Wii tracking space, WiiMe seems to have operational issues as of late.  The tool sent out dozens of messages on October 1 and has been quiet since.  We’ll take another look once WiiMe gets back on track.