To my good friends at Nintendo

[ArenaBoy]

My friend got his by waiting at the grand opening of a Mejier at 5 AM with his g/f. I'm planning to get a 360 (Assassin's Creed for the win!) and a Wii. There's going to be many an arguments about sports when my roommates and I get a competition going.

[ImadeYouACookie]

We won't have any until mid Decemer So I know what you are going through (except for the phone calls, people cannot call our store, only our main callcentre )

[qaxons]

My friends have a wii, they seem to be well stocked around here. I kind of want one, but I need to upgrade my space before i get one. I don't have the space for a wii at the moment.

If I find one, do you want me to send you the information and we can arrange some sort of private ebay showing? I'm always willing to help a gamer in need.

[Javarod]

It wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo held some back for black Friday, after all, the retailers will expect to have a supply available then, so that means Nintendo has to hold some back.

As to the lack of supply, part of that is do to the incredible demand, the other part is that they're not stupid enough to meet demand. Think about how great demand is, and what it would take to meet it, new factories, new assembly lines, lots more workers... and then what happens when you catch up? Now you have to fire or sell (as appropriate), all that. Nintendo's not stupid, they realize that there's no harm in demand out stripping supply, at least not compared to the harm of over production.

[wagegoth]

I got a Wii in August. Still sitting in a drawer, waiting to be delivered by Santa on Christmas. I still have to pick up an additional controller, a couple of the nunchuks and a game or two.

We can pick up an early edition of our Sunday paper on Saturday. It has all the ads. So I knew the day before that Circuit City would have the Wii and I went down early and got in line. Also, late Saturday night, most of the stores post their Sunday morning sales, so if you stay up and check you'll know who has game consoles available in the morning.

I had to do it. I really want a Wii myself, but my MIL promised my sons she would get one for them last Christmas, then didn't do it. I am so extremely angry. Do not make promises to children you can't be bothered to make an effort to keep. So I had to make sure it happened this year.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Last winter when I was at the games store, I had the same people line up in my store for FOUR days straight because we were expecting a shipment that week. On one of the days they were to arrive, I gave everyone a number to aid me in keeping the line order straight, since we didn't want to force people to stand in a single file straight line for the entire time they were waiting. Everyone in the store agreed that my approach was wise, so there'd be no fighting over who would get a system and who wouldn't if say, we had 7 people waiting and only 5 systems came in. The tickets were not a guarantee of a system, since we did not know how many were coming in, nor could you leave with the ticket and come back later to claim a system. I had one guy tear up and then THROW a ticket back in my face because it didn't guarantee him a unit.

Not only did TWO customers COMPLAIN to corporate because they thought the tickets were inappropriate (I suspect because they thought tickets should guarantee systems) BUT I got a chewing out from my District Manager for the same thing! All because I attempted to keep order and prevent any disputes from occurring.

So that about sums up how I feel about Nintendo.

At least I don't have to deal with that this year. I don't work there anymore (left voluntarily) and I already have my own Wii All I want under my tree is Mario Galaxy

[mariamousie1]

I got one in May for $250 at Future Shop. It took me forever to find one though. I had to wait for the craziness died down. You can't really blame people though- the Wii is too awesome for words.

[TNT]

I don't follow the videogame market... last system I owned was Sega Genesis amd the only game on my computer is a collection of Atari 2600 games. I only bought one because a pal said she wanted one for her kids and couldn't find one. I only barely knew what one was.

However, the more reviews I read, the more interesting it sounds. I think even I could get into a system that requires me to actually move instead of memorize a complex control.

I'm still the guy who thinks Pong was the greatest videogame ever, and this seems like Pong taken to nth degree.

I don't think Nintendo is purposely keeping them in short supply... the real money comes from selling the games themselves, and selling the games requires selling the consoles. Still, it amazes me that a year later, they're still hard to get and commanding a hefty premium from resellers.

I just think they did something no one quite expected -- they hit the non-gamer market. When you read stories about 4 year olds playing games with their grandparents, there's something good going on. I think Nintendo just got caught up short on the popularity.

[AmericanZero8503]

I was watching G4...Nintendo announced a shortage of Wii's right before Black Friday....

That's convenient. That's how Nintendo does it, they keep the price low, let them get popular, then cut back on shipments and blame it on manufacturing.

And we have to take the brunt of every parent's aggression because their spoiled brats may not get their precious present.

[Blitzkerg]

I bought a wii, no lineup, no preorder, nothing, off line at EBgames, at regular price. I thought the huge supply issues were done with now, being a year after the thing came out. or maybe its just in Canada that they've met demand.

[Namrepus221]

I has a Wii.

I waited in line for it on launch day.

[DesignFox]

My parents and BF's parents have a Wii. They ordered it online from one of the many retailers- I don't know which one. I know they paid normal price and didn't have to wait in line- although, it did take a few tries before they were "in the right place at the right time."

Wal-mart.com tends to have them in stock because you can only order it as part of a super expensive bundle (I think). At least, that's the way it was a few months ago.

I think the Wii is pretty neat. I'd probably only want one primarily for older games...but I still have all my old systems, so I don't really need it for that. Maybe when the hype dies down I'd think about getting one (Sports and the Boogie game are pretty fun)...but for now, I can't afford it. I'm not obsessed enough with it. AND I don't feel like hunting- especially at this time of year.

I've got plenty else to keep me busy.

I also think that Nintendo has become so successful because they hit a new market- the casual gamer. A lot of people I know who have the Wii don't sit down and play games for hours. They want some stuff they can play for like 20 mins at a time. It's cool to have those types of games and Nintendo has hit that niche. Same with the DS....

[jb17kx]

This comic is a good take on Sony v Nintendo but also whether artificially limiting demand is good business practise:

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=212

[Namrepus221]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/02/10

There ya go

[draco664]

-shrug- No need for the sarcasm, that's just what Nintendo told our store managers. Try telling corporate they'd make more money selling them right off rather than holding them all for Black Friday. They don't...really..listen to the actual stores..

Sorry, but I know someone who used to own a game store, and that particular myth really pissed him off. When the PS2 came out, he was constantly bombarded with people insisting that he had units in his backroom, and that he was just driving up the price by refusing to sell the ones he had. His rants gave me the same feelings, but by proxy.

Given the fact that Nintendo produce 1.8 million units a month, and that they ship them all out to shops/chains/suppliers around the world, which scenario would make more sense.

Nintendo hold back on sending out consoles purely to cause a spike in price for a holiday only in the US, when they get the same for each console from their customers.

or

Nintendo send out all their consoles as per usual, and are sold around the world except for a few chains in the US, where they hold back on selling them to create a demand for a holiday only held in the US.

Draco