
This week, Nintendo is making its journey into the motion-side complete (spoken in my best Emperor accent) by launching in Australia and Europe, having already finished both the US and Japanese launches. Now the old world is feeling the early shortage pain with many gamers having their preorders delayed until after Christmas, according to the BBC, because Nintendo "didn't ship enough."
In addition to gamer complaints, the article suggests UK retailers are having "problems getting stock from Nintendo." Is the continent getting the supply shaft yet again? Probably. So we at Joystiq are "pouring out a little for our homies" in Yurp. Good luck, mates.
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
Oh, nevermind.
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http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/07/european-wii-shortages-expected-into-2007/
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/08/nintendo-slip-up-points-to-wii-shortages/
Are you guys gonna blow this out of proportion too, like you did with the wii-straps? Seems like the media is trying real hard to peg something negative on Nintendo...try harder! Whats next senior citizen gets heart failure playing Wii tennis.
I hear you joystiq and I feel for Europe! I live in the States an I'm having trouble getting one.
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- Camp out for 72 hours to get a unit
- Pay a huge premium via eBay
- Realize you have to be very lucky or have no job in order to get one on release day.
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Second, some people have been talking about how they just walked into stores (without a preorder) and picked a Wii up (mostly in England, I guess). Others couldn't get a Wii even with a preorder, but also mention how their store sold hundreds of preorders. I am in no way denying supply issues, but it doesn't seem to me like Europe is any shorter on Wiis than the rest of the world... at least from these reports. And let's face it, there was no way Nintendo was going to have extras lying around this holiday season unless they happened to make about 40 million of 'em.
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So far, out of reading comments to that article, one store can actually claim they got ripped off. Supposedly Nintendo took away from one store, and shipped the Wiis to another store (same company, different store). THAT'S the shaft.
I kind of wish the guy commenting after that last comment would shut up. "Boohoo, my store only got 51 units". I thought people complaining about there only being "25 units" were bad.
I feel bad for the people in Europe that actually got screwed over. Not these people who pre-ordered from a store that doesn't guarantee a console at launch. Nintendo not meeting demand isn't "shortages". Nintendo taking Wiis from one store, and sending them to another could be considered "shortages" (and just down-right sad).
Don't get it twisted.
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Not true. I got my Wii the Tuesday B4 black Friday just by walking in and asking the guy at the counter if they got their second shipment in yet because I knew they were restocking majorly for black Friday. He initially told me they were sold out, but after I asked him to help me out he went in the back and came back with a Wii for me. You can walk in a store in the US and have a good chance of finding a Wii if you know what time and where to try it. You just have to outthink Grandma.
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Not that I would accuse companies on any side of any ocean of short changing customers on purpose, but.....
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Australia's launch was nothing like that. Turned up half an hour before twelve, waited til midnight, was thirty in line, at a quarter past twelve i had my wii and was out of there. At home and playing by quarter to one. No hassles at all.
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It's not just the US, JAPAN and EUROPE...
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Prehaps Nintendo think theres only about 50,000 gamers actually living over here in europe.
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And seriously, sortages onlx happen since companies try (and fail) to pull of global launches. Any console up until the 360 I could buy on day one with just walking into a store there and then.
Seeing that Nintendo can't even satisfy customers until christmas who even preordered this launch is a disaster.
I'll check out another store today still. If they are not able to sell me a wii I'll spend the money on something else. I don't need a wii and Nintendo apparently think they don't need my money. I'm just feeling bad for the publishers who pushed stacks of games out to retailers with those now just sitting there and not selling due to lack of units to be played on.
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They said i was guaranteed one on launch, then i went down yesterday and i was told they didnt get any at all in. It is actualy for my christmas and worst of all is that they wont give me a refund because they cannot confirm that i definitely wont get one before christmas, but also cant guarantee me one before christmas.
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What made me feel sorry for the buyer was that GAME are doing the usual bundle scam - you HAD to buy 3, 4 or 5 games to secure a Wii and the prices were from about 420 euros up. So much for the price advantage of the Wii. For that kind of price you may as well (and can) buy an Xbox 360 Core with a game or two.
More evidence if any were needed that a) people who buy consoles at or close to release day are flaming idiots, and b) that game stores know and count on it.
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they told me i was pretty lucky to get it as there was trucks held up in germany on their way to the uk. supposedly the drivers went on strike and kept 4k wii's waiting.
eep.
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Where did Nintendo ever say they were going to have 10 million ready and were making the Wii since last April?
Seriously, go find a single source directly form Nintendo that stated that.
Also, if you can't figure out why a cell phone or TVs are different than a game console, I don't know what to tell you.
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@ #7
Where are you at? I doubt it's in a metropolitan area or any city with more than a population of 75,000. In the larger cities and towns, the demand tends to be significantly higher there.
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I pre-ordered both from GAME as soon as the pre-orders were announced - it doesn't take long to sign up for the handy email that informs you when pre-orders will be accepted!
Even if Nintendo are artificially creating demand by reducing supply people still need to remember the logistics behind this. Just because Nintendo may have X million ready doesn't mean that Retailer Y has the capacity to stock those sort of numbers.
There's a physical limit to the number of boxes a warehouse can hold, a limit to the number of trucks to move the stuff around and so on.
In the case of the Wii I suspect replenishment will be frequent. This doesn't seem to be the same issue as the Xbox360/PS3 where they didn't have enough units manufactured - retailers seem confident of getting more units before Xmas.
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Other retailers were given the same amount. Only 2 other major retailers were given the wii.
Other stores got nothing.
Best thing; The stores started selling the wii 1 day in advance. Leaving people like me who go on releasedate empty handed.
Next shipment: Friday. 1 day before christmas.
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