Despite the obvious popularity of the system, we're completely unable to reconcile the extreme shortages of Nintendo's Wii console, which hasn't been available in any significant number since Christmas. Until now that is. An anonymous tipster got his hands on this Sunday's newspaper circulars and managed to snap a couple blurry camera-phone pics (are there any other kind?) before the flux capacitor on his time machine started acting up and he had to high-tail it back to
now.
From the January 21st circulars
from the future:
- Circuit City has Wiis. Limited quantities. No rainchecks. While supplies last. Limit 1 per household. Vouchers will be handed out Sunday, 1 hour prior to opening (10am).
- Best Buy has Wiis. Minimum 20 per store. No rainchecks. Stores open at 11am on Sunday.
- Target only has Wii remotes and nunchucks in the ad (who knows if they've been stockpiling consoles).
Let's hope this is the end of the shortages and that Nintendo is finally able to leverage the Wii's modest hardware specs to saturate the now barren retail channel ... but not
too much.
{ Jan 17th 2007 at 8:54PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tony @ Jan 17th 2007 9:01PM
Are there games on sale as well...it's hard to see in the ad
Mike @ Jan 17th 2007 9:02PM
Lol, I justed walked into my local Wal-mart one morning and found there were 4 left. Lucky me :D
DJ Jimi @ Jan 17th 2007 9:32PM
coupon to use for that wii @ circuit city
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=160141
Justin @ Jan 17th 2007 9:10PM
Thats odd, I work at the local best buy and checked our RSS today and saw that there are 0 wii's in our district and 0 on order, as well as 0 in shipment and 0 in our district warehouse.
They must be stockpiling these things in an abandoned missile silo somewhere in nevada and only letting 3 people in on it...
Max_Warp @ Jan 17th 2007 9:15PM
Talked to several Targets in my area today. They are saying 7AM Sunday they will have vouchers. No voucher=no wii. Only 2 of the 4 stores even know about the deal. The other two claimed complete ignorance to any shipment schedules. Here's to hoping I get one!
hef @ Jan 17th 2007 9:15PM
Don't buy that piece of shit.
Asian guy from King of the Hill @ Jan 17th 2007 9:26PM
Dear Best Buy/Target/Circuit City,
The Wii launch is OVER!!!! I know its hard to admit..I know. Console launches are once every five years or so for one day. Please stop living in the past (November/December) the launch is over along with the holidays. Please for now on just put systems on the shelves as they arrive.
Thank You
Alex G @ Jan 17th 2007 9:27PM
No one cares for your negative opinion hef.
Phoenix @ Jan 18th 2007 1:40AM
Jeeze hef, you sure seem like a happy camper...
Anyway, my local Best Buy told me about a sunday sale and that they open at 10, sooo I guess I'll have to wake up in the morning...for once...
AoE @ Jan 17th 2007 9:28PM
@hef why do you care what people spend their money on? I can promise you this: anyone your compelling argument manages to sway still won't put the cash in your pocket.
Petrie @ Jan 17th 2007 9:50PM
@ Asian Guy
You've never worked retail have you? It makes much more sense as long as the demand is still there, for the stores to secure a larger number of units, then to use that to leverage customers into the store, hoping they all buy something else well they are there, or finally cave to the dissapointment and purchase a 360/PS2/PS3anything else in the store. Throwing the systems out one by one as they arrive does nothing to spur more business.
j @ Jan 17th 2007 9:52PM
Target sent out the word to Hold wiis for this week on the 9th. They should all have some (and have all certainly heard holding on to them).
dustin c @ Jan 17th 2007 9:55PM
I work at target, and as security, all the console launches are handled by us. We will have them for the date on the circular, as mentioned, to be sold by vouchers given to the people that will be in line for the wii. Oddly, to feed the sony troll above, we have plenty of ps3's in stock, with returns coming in every other day.
Kurochi @ Jan 17th 2007 10:04PM
ATTENTION: The 20 wii minimum mentioned in the Best Buy add is subject to the region in which the ad is published, the acctual minimum is 15 wiis per store, but a few will even have as many as 60 that morning.
-a Best Buy employe
hef @ Jan 17th 2007 10:01PM
You care about my negative bitterness Alex G. I bought the Wii on launch day so I think that qualifies me to comment. I liked the Cube and I like DS, especially lite. AoE: I don't like the Wii and I thought if I convinced people not to buy it money would magically appear in my pocket.
Pete C @ Jan 17th 2007 10:02PM
Do people not realize it's past Christmas? The spending season is over. Why do you think there are PS3s readily available on store shelves? The Wii will be no different...there just hasn't been any supply to actually GET anything on shelves. The demand for this thing is going to fall like a house of cards. Expect console sales of all platforms to drop for a long while.
RogueStorm @ Jan 17th 2007 10:08PM
Got my second Wiimote tonight at Target. There were two left on the shelf.
Alex G @ Jan 17th 2007 10:09PM
@hef. no one cares. this thread is about wii availability for those looking to buy one.
lowallyn @ Jan 17th 2007 10:28PM
thank god. been looking forever still cant find one. ps3s been gathering dust from what ive seen
Nathaniel N. @ Jan 17th 2007 10:34PM
Every day, more and more and I'm glad I waited 8 hours in the blistering cold to snatch my Wii on the 19th.
Funny though, I have one of the more "advanced" controllers available on the market, and all I play is Gunstar Heroes!
slacker164 @ Jan 17th 2007 10:38PM
@Pete C. I really hope you're right. I'd love to just walk into a store and pick up a Wii since I've been looking for one since launch, but I'm not desperate enough to camp out. However I don't have much faith that they will become readily available after this. In my lazyish search I stop by Toys R Us, Best Buy, EB, ect. quite often. From asking employees at these places (especially TRU who has said they've had shipments of 20+), they are getting and selling large amounts of Wiis. The trouble is, with the exception of these stockpile sales, most stores receive their shipments and put them up for sale in the morning or early afternoon and sell out in an hour or so. I can't get one because I work a 9-5 and can't go store hopping all afternoon. Anyway, I hope these sales do something to increase availability (or at least lower ebay prices). I’ll probably try making the rounds just an hour or so before these stores open incase demand has dropped at all, but I’m not optimistic.
jd @ Jan 17th 2007 10:51PM
does anyone actually still care enough about the Wii to line up for one?
Rubang B @ Jan 17th 2007 11:08PM
@21, yes. I have friends who've tried it a couple times by now, and it'll sell out 1 or 2 people in front of them and they'll go crazy. I'm telling them about this.
Cam'ron @ Jan 17th 2007 11:06PM
I share your work ethic, Slacker. But as I'm a superstitious man, I expect to find a Wii soon this week - I found one rare Wii accessory for sale every day since Sunday in the Sacramento area (I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a friggin' Nunchuk for sale). TRU keeps telling me that if I snuck out of my office in the middle of the day I would've had a chance of getting a Wii within the two seconds they have them for sale. Anyhow, remember that Nintendo is a billion-dollar company and has the capability to give a Wii to everyone who wants one, it's just that when you cut the supply down to scraps, you create Da Demand.
Christopher @ Jan 17th 2007 11:44PM
do you think they will have ds...my sisters birthday is coming up and i wanted to get her one but they are all sold out :(
Asok @ Jan 17th 2007 11:52PM
Ugh. I was going to Best Buy this weekend for one, but if they're still gonna pull this sort of bullstick, I think I'll just wait until they can't get rid of them. Sometimes I curse the console's popularity...
Natrino @ Jan 17th 2007 11:59PM
I just saw this week's Target ad today (Indianapolis), and there was a picture of the system as well. The picture you're showing is not what I saw, so more than likely a different region.
umm....hello??? @ Jan 17th 2007 11:59PM
@21
yes. I have some friends that bought some Wii games for their kids for christmas, and have yet to get the console. I'll be passing this info on to them tomorrow.
Luckily, I was able to scrounge around bestbbuy/walmart/circuit city a week or 2 after launch day for an extra nunchuck and 3 extra wiimotes (yes, all 3 stores on the same day to get all of them).
ps- do yourselves a favor and pick up the component cables, I have my Wii hooked up to my 27" sdtv and it looks markedly improved over the standard RCA cables(only my ps3 and 360 get use of my 60" sxrd hdtv--don't want to end up with a wii-accident).
David004 @ Jan 18th 2007 12:23AM
Hef must be confused with the Piece of Shit 3. It's ok, we understand you are an idiot.
derek @ Jan 18th 2007 1:30AM
@DJ Jimi... thanks for the coupon link... that's 40 more dollars for a game :).
Sly @ Jan 18th 2007 2:18AM
This is the third launch for the Wii. First one launch day. I purchase a preorder and could have bought 2 more at CC. Second launch early December. Third one late January. I know of only 3 others sold. So all these retail outlets are holding back these Wiis for promotional purpose only. Everytime I hear people saying they can't find one, some retailer is stockpiling the few thats been ship over here. Nintendo didn't deliver and we got people buying into this hype. And again its after Christmas, so nobody has any money to spend. So whats up? Nintendo to busy fighting Godzilla.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Jan 18th 2007 4:57AM
The Wii is very easy and cheap to manufacture. The PS3 is a manufacturing nightmare. The Wii has sold only about 2-3 times as many systems as the PS3, and is constantly out of stock. In fact, so are the accessories, including *cables*, which are a dime a dozen to make.
Why is such an easily-built system so unattainable?
Honestly, when Sony said they can't make enough PS3s, Nintendo fanboys everywhere were shouting that Sony was intentionally cutting back on supplies to make it look like the system would be a roaring success. If Wiis are out of stock... well, *obviously* that's because it's the greatest thing ever and everybody wants one.
You people are such sheep.
Terrak @ Jan 18th 2007 5:29AM
Burnt meatloaf the problem is that sony promised 4 million by end of 2006 and missed it by more then 50%. Nintendo only missed it by less then 10%. I don't give a damn about supply issues etc that only hurts the company if the don't meet demand with enough units (The fact that the Wii doesn't use HD graphics is one of Wiis advantages - its easier to manufacture). What most people complain about is how sony were so confident in the amount of launch units they would ship and that they could sell ps3s even if they didn't have any games - however it looks like the reality is totally different.
As for the point about sony supposedly using low supply to cultivate demand - from the looks of things it doens't seem to be working.
Earl @ Jan 18th 2007 8:56AM
People will just be angry because there will be massive crowds around all the electronics stores this weekend. It will be like launch day all over again, except this time people will flood pass the stack of PS3s.
For what you will ask?
For an INFERIOR, "Gamecube 1.5," gaming system. That's right people! No HDD, no HD movies (BRD/HD-DVD), and no 1080p (oh wait Sony doesn't have any games in 1080p, do they?). The one thing the Wii manages to have, and is INEXCUSABLE that these SUPERIOR machines don't have it as a standard yet: freaking Wi-Fi!!
The Wii is like a STD burning your PS3 loving balls. On Sunday, thousands of people will walk right past those stacks of PS3s. Get over it fanboys.
Be more like me: buy systems for fun games, not because it has a Sony brand on it. Hell, it took the 360 about a year to get games that I wanted to play on it. So I bought the 360 a couple of months ago.
I will buy a PS3 when enough fun games are on it.
Fanboys: pull the panties out of your butt and get on with life. The PS3 isn't selling like hot cakes. Only one system can sell like hot cakes and it looks like Nintendo made it this time.
Stephen @ Jan 18th 2007 11:49AM
@ the Target employees,
Is Target holding back WarioWare Smooth Moves as well? I noticed that in my area, Target is the only store without the game on the shelf.
Turhaya @ Jan 18th 2007 1:08PM
I live near Indianapolis and you better believe I will be lining up early this Sunday at the local Best Buy (only place I have gift cards for). I've been checking that store nearly every day, and dang it, I want a Wii!
It had better be true that this is gonna happen, or I'll be disappointed... again. lol
XdeathsbloodX @ Jan 22nd 2007 8:01AM
Terrak, Sony changed that 4 million promise WAY before they launched the system and changed it to 1 million U.S. and 2 millon worldwide by the end of 2006, and got the U.S.. And they got their 2 million world wide earlier this week. Oh and Earl, the 60GB PS3 has built in Wi-Fi... and its not like the Wii makes use of its Wi-Fi ya know since you cant play any games online
Silver Gecko @ Jan 18th 2007 1:07PM
The Wii definitely makes use of the wifi, through Virtual Console downloads, the weather, and Internet channels, sending Mii's to friends, console software updates...
Online playable games will come soon.
TDub301 @ Jan 18th 2007 1:26PM
Of course, deathsblood, you're forgetting that Sony considers units shipped to be equal to units sold (which is technically right, just units sold to the stores, not units sold to actual people, which is misleading) and the fact that every video game retailer in the country now has PS3s collecting dust on their shelves would lead me to believe that Sony still hasn't met their 2 million mark yet. Likewise, the Wii does make use of its Wi-Fi with all the available old-school downloads. And how many PS3 games are online playable? I don't know, I'm really just asking.
The Wallbanger @ Jan 18th 2007 3:59PM
Will the Nintendo DS Lite also be available on Sunday?
Earl @ Jan 18th 2007 3:49PM
I know that Wi-Fi is available for the 60GB (+$100 more) version. That's not the point. The point is Wi-Fi should be STANDARD by now. Sony, nor MS should charge extra to add Wi-Fi. Something that an "inferior console" has as standard should say something. That and the fact the Wii is selling insanely well.
bigC24 @ Jan 18th 2007 6:18PM
Is this gonna be for the entire US? Or is it justa regional thing?
Can anyone confirm the validity of the ad?
XxXKUL @ Jan 18th 2007 11:21PM
@ 41 go here it shows the wii shipments country wide and also call ahead before you go camp out 5 hours before it opens
wii.bidnearby.com
hef @ Jan 18th 2007 11:28PM
Ok Wiitards! I hate to have to get rude but here goes. The Wii is overpriced. It's low tech inside the sleek box. Shiny sexy box is great but i prefer ugly with grunt. The Wiimote is uncomfortable and I would have preferred to play Zelda on the Cube. Wii sports is like vomit on a disc. The Virtual Console is way overpriced, I have too much pride to pay that much for genesis games that can be found online for free. And the final insult is the software drought which began as soon as the disappointment of the launch titles was over. Red Steel was gonna be so rad remember? Anyway don't take my word for it. What would I know? I've only had every nintendo console bar VirtualBoy. Anyway that's enough trolling. I'll just sit back and wait for all those undecided Nfans to transfer money to my pocket via magic. Flame on!
bigC24 @ Jan 19th 2007 4:11AM
@ 43
Thank you so much bro!
Omgzwii @ Jan 19th 2007 4:44PM
will this be the same for canada
E Perk @ Jan 20th 2007 3:35AM
My Costco had a pallet of Wii bundles on 1/19 for $339.99. Included the console, Zelda and Excite Truck. Must have been at least 30 bundles.
bryce @ Jan 20th 2007 1:01PM
I keep trying to get my hands on the wii but all the store in my area have been sold out for weeks. I have signed up for email post, phone calls, and even have an insider, who works at a large walmart in Toronto, looking for me. NO LUCK!!! can anyone answer Omgzwii question? Does this apply to Canada????
stickmangrit @ Jan 21st 2007 11:27AM
wow, just to respond to the few dangling questions still floating around:
-is there still enough demand for the Wii to merit lines? yes. working at a GameStop/EB, i have personally sold many a $250 gift card pre-christmas for the purpose of buying a Wii "when they're more readily available after christmas." these people have come in two or more times a week asking if the wii's are here yet, not counting the people who come looking without a ny such gift cards, or whose kids saved up enough to get the system.
-did Sony/Nintendo force a shortage? i don't know, but this is what i do know: my EB has recieved three Wiis since christmas. they have been non-existent, and everything we've sold sold fast with no returns. before christmas, both Wiis and PS3's were in extremely short supply, with little in the way of incoming systems(Wii's weekly, PS3s at random). the day after christmas, EIGHT PS3s show up on our doorstep. that's the same amount we got at launch (out of the sixteen pre-orders we had. and two of that shipment were 20Gigs that nobody reserved). since then we've recieved two new systems for every one we sell(making a grand total of two more systems sent in). my question is, if Sony can suddenly start flooding the gates so quickly after christmas, one wonders why they couldn't have made a big push right before christmas. Nintendo's steady TOTAL ABSENCE of shipments seems to indicate a genuine lack of supply.
zero @ Jan 20th 2007 2:34PM
Can't confirm it's accuracy, but here is a search for Target Wii console, Wimote, nunchucks, etc.
http://crayz.org/target_wii.php?zip=90210