Iwatasan you had me freaking out for a sec when I scrolled down, I thought this was the "last CE I bought" and I saw the signed SP and started to cry haha! I ask them at the NWS every time If I can buy the one they've got in the "museum" on the 2nd floor... I think I'm slowly wearing away their resolve!
Also, regarding the HW CE, I do not know where "500" came from (except one article which was quoting a random person in the line who said it was about that number of people walking out with one), but I was told specifically by the NWS manager that there were 300 of these being sold. So definitely not 1,000 - but perhaps they could've held some back for employees. My thoughts on this were that if so, THAT number is at most 50 since another employee had used the # "350" in a conversation with another line-goer. But still, that's speculation whereas the manager when I asked her directly said "300".
