Nintendo slow to supply retailers with fresh Wiis?

"There are other commercial slot-loading burners that handle both disc formats. I've seen them on servers and also video workstations (because they are designed to accept minidiscs used in digital cameras). They aren't popular, for obvious reasons, but the design isn't complicated at all. "

Provide the names and manufactorers of these sloat loading dvd-rom drives because the Nintendo wii is still said by many tech sites to be the only slot loading drive to have defeated the issues of taking two different disc size formats.

I suspect you are confused by the fact that certain slot loading drives actually have two drive bays allowing them to take two different disc sizes. Notice two different bays. It's like claiming a computer disc drize can play 3.5 and 5.14 discs when in reality it is two different drizes in one unit.

We've gotten ONE shipment of only THREE Wii's since Christmas, and earlier this week, we got THIS email from corportate...

http://www.imageviper.com/displayimage/73425/0/02-28-07_1613.jpg

sorry for the low quality, it was taken with a cell phone.

Basically, it reads that EBGames/Gamestop won't be recieving anymore Wii or DS lite systems from now until the end of March. Is this creating false demand? Or is it Nintendo trying to bulk up the warehouses and unleash a whole slew of Wii's on the public all at once?

sorry, meant to say ONE SHIPMENT PER WEEK.

EB/GS not getting anything until the end of March could also mean that Nintendo realizes their core audience doesn't shop at EB/GS. They're focusing more on Target and Wal-Mart, the places you do find Wiis when they arrive, since they are more geared toward who Nintendo is trying to sell to.

I don't think it's that unreasonable for Nintendo to be holding back production. They want to ride the hype train as long as possible. With the impending game drought, providing an ample amount of systems would really hurt them. (ie: If you bought a Wii and nothing new came out for 6 months, that you were interested in, we all might be a little upset.) Creating this atmosphere "OMG! Look a Wii!" feeds the hype which in turn feeds demand. I'm expecting to see a Wii on the shelf once the next BIG Wii game comes out, which probably won't be until the next quarter year or after (3 to 8 months).

I heard that Japanese stores were importing American DSes and such, so many Nintendo is trying to build up until they can satisfy both Japan and US. But I doubt they are doing it for false demand. They had twice as many units available at launch than either 360 or PS3 and still sold out.

I remember when people were saying 'Goodbye Nintendo' upon the sight of the controller. Such odd times we live in.

Wasn't it revealed awhile ago that Nintendo wasn't concentracting on the traditional gamestores since they had stabbed Nintendo in the back by refusing to sell a lot of Nintendo hardware or pushing the Nintendo merchandise to the back of the store?

Nintendo after all refused to have a certain Australian store chain carry the wii since said store chain abandoned the gamecube.

Walmart, Targets, Toy's R US, even Bestbuys are getting the majority of wii shipments now.

" I heard that Japanese stores were importing American DSes and such,"

They still are importing American DS lites since the system is region free and the switch to display Japanese language can be selected from the menu options. DS games aren't imported in any great quantity though except for perhaps Elite Beat Agents.

"They want to ride the hype train as long as possible. With the impending game drought, providing an ample amount of systems would really hurt them"

They don't need to create demand. The system creates the demand. Wii sports is one of the greatest advertising tools for Nintendo.

There is no game drought. You cannot even name two titles and what date they are expected to come out in the next six months. Anyone that actually knows the release list and what has been rumored/confirmed knows there is no draught.

The PS3 on the other hand it's software lineup is considred abysmall.

Virtua Fighter Five failed to move PS3s.

That new Gundam game failed as well.

9/10 people that come in and buy a Wii aren't gamers. They are parents. They've been coming in just as slow everywhere else as well. The only difference is, we sell them the minute we get them, but at Target/Wal-Mart they may come in on a Truck and sit back in the back for a week before someone unboxes them and puts them on the shelf.

The big box stores like Best Buy and Circuit City get just as many as we do, only they sit on their shipments for 2 or 3 weeks, build enough to send out 20-30 units per store, and make a Sunday ad to let people know.

To say that Nintendo isn't shipping them to game stores is ridiculous. If they were "getting back at game stores" then why are EB's/Gamestop's the only places you ever see Wii demo kiosks? Just because they are looking to expand their audience to "casual" gamers (whatever that means, you either play games or you don't) doesn't mean they intend on leaving the hardcore fans that made them who they are in the dust. You make me laugh.

@ dsub: Exactly

In the ideal world, Nintendo would control BOTH hardcore gamers and the casuals, because the hardcore kept them from being annihilated last gen

Now, in terms of hardcore single player (and online titles, ouch) they seem to take a back seat to the 360, but i've seen many comments on joystiq that amount to "I wouldn't play Wii at all if it weren't for VC"

Virtual Console will be Nintendo's best bet with the hardcore, aside from the trifecta franchises (Mario, Zelda, Metroid)

Remember, Reggie said "Wii could have it all"

Besides, we all know who buys more games/accessories

I'm not sure how many units the 'rumor mongers' think that Nintendo is producing, but think about this...

Wal-Mart - 5,000 + stores
Target - 3,000 + stores
Best Buy - 1500 + stores
EB/Game Stop - 1200 + stores

If each of these companies get 3 units per store, that is a grand total of:
32,100 units PER WEEK...and that is only in the US (and on the low end of the actual number).

When you factor in that this product is for sale all over the world...that's a LOT of Wii's to produce.

No company wants to have MONEY (finished product) sitting somewhere that they can't be sold.

The retailers on the other hand can sit on these to get a large enough supply to advertise and sell (and sell out quickly, I must say).

Nintendo just can't keep up with demand...pure and simple.