Want A Wii For Christmas? Buy It Now

[Andy Chalk]

Want A Wii For Christmas? Buy It Now

Ah, July, the most wonderful month of the year, packed with sunshine and warm weather, glorious summer days, languorous nights on the beach and Christmas supply shortage warnings from Nintendo [http://www.nintendo.com].

Just because we're not hip-deep in snow doesn't mean it's too early to start sounding the alarm that Nintendo may not be able to meet the demand for its popular console over the holidays. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata appears more than happy to indulge in this new festive tradition, telling Wii [http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/21/nintendo-wii-shortage-tech-personal-cx_cm_0722nintendo.html] shipments to the U.S. this year but adding that he still can't guarantee enough Christmas cheer for everyone.

"We are really intending to increase the shipments to the U.S., especially compared to last year," Iwata said. "However, I can't give you a 100 percent commitment [that you'll be able to find a Wii this holiday season]. What I can commit myself to is that Nintendo is going to do its best to supply as many Wii hardware units as possible in order to meet demand there."

Nintendo experienced similar problems over the holiday period in Sony [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/66772] to claim that they're not actually competing with the Wii anyway, so the fact that their systems are being pounded senseless by the goofy little console doesn't really count.

Despite that history, Iwata's statement sounds less like a warning of legitimate supply shortages and more like Nintendo simply hedging its bets. I mean, it's freakin' July, people.


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[Jumplion]

It's been two years Nintendo, you're richer than God, your games sell like crack, and your console is numbah one acros the freakin' universe and yet you can't SEND SOME MORE TO US?!?!

This is almost as unforgivable as the 33% failure rate of the 360 (which i assume is being fixed if not already fixed mostly?). I may be turning a hill into a mountain but seriously Nintendo, get your ass in gear and give your precous soccer moms their kids Wii so they will stop complaining about it.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I really would have thought that they could have done something about it by now.

 

[Skrapt]

Why does this just scream:

'We want more summer sales!' to me? Just sounds like a marketing trick to force panic buying of Wii's to boost sales even more. As I seriously doubt they would have any problems with the number they can manufacture.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

I had 9 Wiis in at work last weekend, and we're the biggest store in the region. They were gone in a day. So I actually do recommend following the article's advice. We're actually trying to push the DS Lite this month, and the employees have a contest going for DS Lite sales. It's not the Wii you need to worry about so far as us trying to get summer sales, lol.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

This is almost as unforgivable as the 33% failure rate of the 360 (which i assume is being fixed if not already fixed mostly?).

Meh, not really. I still constantly hear of people having their 360s fail. Microsoft's trick was to only increase the warranty for the 'red ring of death', there's quite a few other things that are likely to go wrong with the console, which aren't covered by the extended warranty. How do you think they've managed to sell so many? People are having to buy second ones.

Nintendo could easily manufacture enough Wiis to meet demand this Christmas but it's better to keep things on short demand, people want what they can't have, very cunning Nintendo, very cunning.......

 

[Pebsy]

u guys kinda have to forgive them a bit, the wii if obviously more complex than any of the other systems, as it has wi-fi capabilities, motion sensing bar, and motion sensing interpreting programs. The god dam motion sensing thing supplies loads of problems and is prob a pain in the ass to build.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

u guys kinda have to forgive them a bit, the wii if obviously more complex than any of the other systems, as it has wi-fi capabilities, motion sensing bar, and motion sensing interpreting programs. The god dam motion sensing thing supplies loads of problems and is prob a pain in the ass to build.

It's not really, those sensor bars are just two IR lights, you can replace them with two candles.
The Wi-fi is nothing new and the Wii isn't the only console to use it.
The programs to understand all the signals from the controllers have been made already and only require copying to the flask drive on every console.
Why do you think that the Wii is the cheapest console? It uses the cheapest parts and manufacturing processes. It's almost probably the easiest console to make.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

It's been two years Nintendo, you're richer than God, your games sell like crack, and your console is numbah one acros the freakin' universe and yet you can't SEND SOME MORE TO US?!?!

They are too busy swimming.

 

[Jumplion]

Nintendo could easily manufacture enough Wiis to meet demand this Christmas but it's better to keep things on short demand, people want what they can't have, very cunning Nintendo, very cunning.......

It's both cunning and stupid because people will finaly get their hands on the damn console (like me for instance) and just not play with it and not trust Nintendo again.

I understand the whole process of "Supply and Demand" but if that's the case then why arn't we hearing about shortages in Europe? Or how about shortages in Japan for that matter?

 

[Asehujiko]

u guys kinda have to forgive them a bit, the wii if obviously more complex than any of the other systems, as it has wi-fi capabilities, motion sensing bar, and motion sensing interpreting programs. The god dam motion sensing thing supplies loads of problems and is prob a pain in the ass to build.

Everything you named has been invented and used sucessfully atleast once long before the wii came out. A single ps3 cpu is more complicated then everything ninento has produced so far exept the mind control ray they use to gain costumers.