BBC reminds that Wii supply is still an issue
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Nov 14th 2007 at 12:55PM }
Essentially what this all boils down to is we're having holiday season '06 all over again with the Wii. Although the BBC is letting the general public know about this now, it's not like Nintendo hasn't been giving fair warning since April. They even reiterated the message of supply issues in September. No matter where you are on our little rock floating in space, if you want a Wii (or know somebody that does), just keep calling your local retailer to find out about their next shipment, because the difficulty in getting a Wii is going to ramp up exponentially starting next week.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cyro @ Nov 14th 2007 1:01PM
People should just by a 360 then, if they cant find a Wii. And buy XBLA games, which is basically what casual gamers want.
billychaos @ Nov 14th 2007 1:24PM
The wii audience more than just casual gamers (this term is so debatable anyways). It attracted a new audience that is hard to describe. It attracts the people that love wii sports, carnival games, wii play, raving rabbits. Mini games basically. Although gamers hate these, this audience is sucking them up like no other games exist. Those games I mention continue to be on the top ten selling wii games. I wouldnt call these people casual gamers maybe not even gamers, but I dont think htere is a name for them yet. But they love the mini-game quick fun play type of games. Those are the people that are buying the wii up. The proof is all over the net that these people are different. Gamer's clearly hate Carnival games. It recieved rankings as low as the Superman games, yet it continues to sell out and remain on the top ten selling games for the wii.
Cyro @ Nov 14th 2007 1:27PM
@billychaos
Thats why I said they should buy XBLA(XBox Live Arcade) games. These are mini games and I know there is a lot of people out there that love these types of games.
JodyAnthony (Good Eats Defense Force) @ Nov 14th 2007 1:28PM
I have just as much fun playing Zoo Keeper for DS as I do playing Metal Gear Solid 3. What does that make me?
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 14th 2007 1:29PM
billychaos
So, who the hell are millions of people who bought Zelda, Red Stell, Resident Evil and the half million of people who has bought Metroid and Mario Galaxy?
GRANTED @ Nov 14th 2007 1:35PM
How about "Social Gamers"?
samfish @ Nov 14th 2007 1:46PM
"And buy XBLA games, which is basically what casual gamers want."
Those are, with a few exceptions, arcade style, old-school games. Not minigames. The people buying the Wii didn't want to play those kinds of games in the past and they're not going to want to play those kind of games now. Maybe some of the puzzle games, but otherwise, there isn't much on XBLA to offer those people.
AND most of them don't really want to use a traditional controller, either.
Silent Xenocide @ Nov 14th 2007 1:56PM
Fernando, I didn't realise those games sold millions of copies, I did not know red steel was that popular.
Undead Priest @ Nov 14th 2007 1:57PM
@JodyAnthony
A well-rounded gamer.
Freelancepimp @ Nov 14th 2007 1:59PM
What do you call the people, and we all know atleast one of them, who doesn't really like video games and doesn't play much but they play the hell out of mario brothers or NBA street and can in their game of choice kick the shit out of the average "hardcore" gamer?
FrankTheCrank @ Nov 14th 2007 2:04PM
I'm not here to rip on anything or anyone...
I just want to make the point that the XBOX or PS3 for that matter, are NOT recognized as friendly, family safe, all age game systems.
XBOX is know as the HALO, shoot em up system...and PS3, well, it's still got somewhat of an identity crisis. Is it a kick ass bluray player? A multimedia hub? A hardcore game system? It's a bit of everything.
Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 14th 2007 5:00PM
JodyAnthony is a freak of nature who must be destroyed. There can be only 2 kinds of gamers. Breaking out of these strictly defined gaming stereotypes is worse than trying to break out of gender roles!
You must choose either Zoo Keeper or MGS3, and destroy it.
@Silent Xenocide, Yeah Red Steel cracked a million and it's getting a sequel.
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 14th 2007 1:03PM
A friend who work in K-Mart sold me 3 Wii's last week... I sold the Wii's in two days, at $350 dlls each...
The easiest $300 earned ever.
But seriously... it's not a strategy from Nintendo, there are no false shortages... it's true, it will be an odissey to find a Wii, starting in Thhanksgiving sales.
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 14th 2007 1:05PM
Hope I'm wrong and they are holding the supplie to sell millions of Wii's this holidays... but if they are holding the Wii's, how explain the 180,000 sold last week, and 150,000 two weeks ago here in USA?
cc123 @ Nov 14th 2007 2:09PM
Fernando has a constant stream of up to the minute sales data for all regions emanating from his anus at all times.
hvnlysoldr @ Nov 14th 2007 2:48PM
cc123 should stop obsessing with F. Rocker's anus.
cc123 @ Nov 14th 2007 4:39PM
Didn't mean to encroach on your territory hvnly...
Mr Khan @ Nov 14th 2007 4:46PM
@ cc123
Even though i disagree with the slant of your comment, it still made me lol
Negativecool @ Nov 14th 2007 1:08PM
I believe it. I have yet to actually see a Wii sitting on a store shelf.
If it was actually on shelves since day one, at some point I would have bought it on an impulse buy: Nintendo's sales should be much greater.
Moofree @ Nov 14th 2007 1:09PM
Maybe if Nintendo used the Spacing Guild for shipments, there would be no supply issues!
Travel... without moving.
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 14th 2007 1:11PM
Ahh Dune!
JohnMazz @ Nov 14th 2007 1:51PM
The Wii IS the Revolution!
The Revolution IS the Wii!
"...and Nintendo will bend like a reed in the wind..."
kinshadow @ Nov 14th 2007 2:09PM
“It is by Wii alone I set my games in motion. It is by the games of Mario that thoughts acquire speed, the wrist acquires pains, pains become a warning. It is by Wii alone I set my games in motion.”
Moofree @ Nov 14th 2007 2:30PM
I must find Wii.
Wii is the PS3-killer.
Wii is the little-box that brings total gratification.
I will find my Wii.
hydralisk456 @ Nov 14th 2007 4:02PM
God I love Dune!
Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 14th 2007 5:24PM
I had to read every comment in this thread to make sure there was no moron asking "What's the pic from, Star Wars or something?" like last time they used this pic. You guys didn't let me down this time. Kudos to all in this thread!
Muad'dib, bitches!
FrankTheCrank @ Nov 14th 2007 1:21PM
Nintendo so underestimated the demand. They must be kicking themselves in the ass.
I'm glad I got one. Now I just have to pick up Galaxy.
Jonny @ Nov 14th 2007 2:00PM
I thought you hated the Wii. I'm so confused, and shocked...and happy?
hvnlysoldr @ Nov 14th 2007 2:50PM
One of us. One of us. One of us.
Everyone chant with us. One of us. One of us.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Nov 14th 2007 10:45PM
I'm sure they're kicking themselves in the ass every single day for not charging more money for it.
Gh3tt0 Child @ Nov 14th 2007 1:22PM
oh well im good with my 360
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 14th 2007 1:24PM
That's so out... you need a Wii60 to be cool =)
siborg6 @ Nov 14th 2007 1:30PM
makes me wonder if their holding back supply to keep up demand. If you read a book called "Game Over" which is a story of Nintendo's dominance in the 80's and 90's.. you'll see this is basically their whole strategy. They have always made their games so that they were something that was hard to get. It keeps their cost down and keeps a steady flow of their games in the market. It's smart.. but for the console they should saturate the market this holiday. KEEP THEM ON TOP!
ColossalHat @ Nov 14th 2007 1:38PM
They won't need to saturate anything, the PS3 is too far behind to even laugh at and, barring an unforseen super success of any new game, the 360's gonna stay in second this year.
The Wii will still be hard to find this year because everyone and their dog's been buying one. I'll consider picking one up eventually if there's a game that I've got to have, just like when RE4 dropped on the cube.
idioteraser @ Nov 14th 2007 1:56PM
Not this garbage again. Nintendo is shipping 1.8 million wiis a month worldwide. More then any other console in the history of game consoles.
They are outselling the ps1 and ps2. They have outsold the xbox 360 who had a year headstart.
They are closing into what the gamecube and xbox took six years to sell.
If nintendo makes 70 dollars per wii. 500,000 additional wiis is 35 million dollars. Why would Nintendo turn away those sales? They have already upped their shipping figures for this fiscal year from 14 to 17.5 million. They have also upped the numbers of games they are shipping out. They are literraly having shortage issues because certain games are selling out their shipments far faster then anticapted. Also the more games coming out with their various regional releases also is hampering supply.
Europe for a while had cardboard ds game cases due to the huge demand for ds games. It took six weeks for a game to get reprinted due to huge ds game sales.
ColossalHat @ Nov 14th 2007 1:31PM
I'd buy a Wii, but I'm almost positive all I'd ever play on it is Super Smash Brothers. Thus far I'm none too impressed with the games on the system. And before I get voted down into oblivion I'd like to point out that I've played all the "great" games it has to offer so far except Galaxy on a friends Wii. It just hasn't done it for me.
HALODEITY @ Nov 14th 2007 1:35PM
just buy a 360 duh!
Koopaknight29 - (Nintendo Loyalist) @ Nov 14th 2007 1:49PM
But that's not not solving anything if a consumer wants a Wii. Sure they'll get the 360 (which is a great console in its own right), but they still don't have a Wii.
Seriously, I don't get this line of logic. The two systems aren't interchangeable like food for a meal.
You know, I'm kinda surprised this thread hasn't devolved into a flame war over Nintendo's 'artificial shortages'.
Sam @ Nov 14th 2007 1:45PM
the longer and longer they keep up with these "shortages", the less and less likely i'll go buy one. Yeah, there's the hype, but it can only last so long before people starting saying, "you know, if i can't get it, why do i need it? who cares?"
Nintendo is full of morons, but none as dumb as PS3 execs.
Luke @ Nov 14th 2007 3:18PM
"you know, if i can't get it, why do i need it? who cares?"
I've never heard anyone say that...
I _have_ said to myself (and my wife): Eh, I used to want it, but I didn't get it right when it came out, and now I don't really want it more than that thing I see coming out in another month, so maybe I'll just wait for that.
gonk @ Nov 14th 2007 1:53PM
m$ will probably get quite a bit of bleed-over sales when people can't get the wii but see a similar white game system for only $30 more. most parents are fucking retards with videogames, my own included
License to ill @ Nov 14th 2007 9:49PM
m$ will probably get quite a bit of bleed-over sales when people can't get the wii but see a similar white game system for only $30 more.
Or maybe people will be picking up a 360 because it has some of the best games available, thats why 360 has the highest software sales out of all the consoles. The only thing holding some people back is the RRD thing.
Toony @ Nov 14th 2007 2:47PM
That picture's hilarious, I lul'd.
Am @ Nov 14th 2007 2:38PM
Slow news day at the beeb.
SushiPillow @ Nov 14th 2007 3:03PM
Whoever controls the Wii controls the universe!
Nicolas Redfern @ Nov 14th 2007 3:26PM
YAY DUNE!
I now need a quote:
gonk @ Nov 14th 2007 5:00PM
"dude i think i filled the cup"
Hakobus @ Nov 14th 2007 5:27PM
Wow. I should probably go pick up all the Wii systems that are sitting on shelves in my hometown and ebay them to the UK. Wii has been readily available all over Finland since about March. Have yet to see a store without any in stock.
Burnt Meatloaf @ Nov 14th 2007 10:50PM
I still fail to see how you can have such shortages on a system so easy to manufacture.
Seriously. Look at some photos of the motherboard and tell me it isn't slapped together in 5 minutes. There's nothing there! As for components, they are getting CPUs from one of the largest companies in the world, and GPUs and wireless parts from the lowest bidders.
Maybe they could increase production if they weren't so damn cheap. So many companies have run into this "problem" before, its amazing how well the PR and marketing BS still works.
But, hey, it's tough being the popular kid, isn't it?
wiinewbee @ Nov 14th 2007 11:46PM
Are US Wiis compatible in the UK? If so, UK residents should just login to eBay or Amazon and get their own. They'll pay extra shipping, but at least they'll have one.
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