Wii shortage...you kiddin me??

I see plenty of Wiis in stock all the time. But I live in Europe. :D

I don't really understand why Nintendo don't move some of the stock from Europe / Japan to the US where there's clearly a problem.
 
this just in: companies which make popular products tend to historically meet the demand. Nintendo hasn't, thereofre they fail.

No, fail would be increasing production and not recouping the costs of increased production facilities. Right now Nintendo is running their production at capacity. When and if demand does die down they will not have LOST anything. What happens with the next their next console doesn't sell as well? They would have increased capacity with decreased production.

Nintendo right now is in EPIC WIN mode.

Historically, companies which have chomped really hard at the bit have failed as well (ever heard of the Walmart effect?)
 
I used to have a Wii ;) but it went bye bye on eBay so one of you might have seen it there
 
No, fail would be increasing production and not recouping the costs of increased production facilities. Right now Nintendo is running their production at capacity. When and if demand does die down they will not have LOST anything. What happens with the next their next console doesn't sell as well? They would have increased capacity with decreased production.

Nintendo right now is in EPIC WIN mode.

Historically, companies which have chomped really hard at the bit have failed as well (ever heard of the Walmart effect?)

It's a fundamental principle of economies that supply should attempt to meet demand. All of your fawning over nintendo doesn't change that fact.
 
It's a fundamental principle of economies that supply should attempt to meet demand. All of your fawning over nintendo doesn't change that fact.

All of your ignorance of the real world vs economic theory doesn't change the fact that Nintendo is doing exactly what it needs to do for it's own best interest and doesn't need some random internet warrior to tell them what to do with their money... they have literally hundreds of better educated, smarter, and higher paid employees to help decide marketing strategies, k thanks bye :rolleyes:
 
It's a fundamental principle of economies that supply should attempt to meet demand. All of your fawning over nintendo doesn't change that fact.

That principle only applies to the free market where all things are equal, not a single item. In terms of console market....supply has met demand.
 
It's a fundamental principle of economies that supply should attempt to meet demand. All of your fawning over nintendo doesn't change that fact.

I agree with the poster that said Nintendo is in epic win mode right now. Nintendo is not very behind in terms of meeting demand. People that want a Wii and have a few minutes of patience can find a way to get one. Its not very complicated to pick up a phone and call around, or wait in a line for an hour or so. Nintendo is putting enough Wiis into the supply chain to keep *almost* every happy, while making sure none sit on the shelves. This also keeps people in "gotta have it" mode so if they do see one on a shelf, its fairly easy for them to punk down $250 and get one.

Everyone can be fairly certain that Nintendo has the cash laying around to increase production capacity faster than most other companies. Once that extra capacity catches up with the demand, that is then wasted capacity, and there is no promise that the extra consoles sold would make up that cost.
 
i walked into kmart and asked today and they had 1 wii left. i told her i would take and and while she walked into the back i called my boss who had previously asked me to call him if i found one and he said to wait til he got there. he said he had been trying to find these to purchase for me and the 3 other guys i work with for a "bonus" for having record months. He came over and paid for it and took it back to work and set it aside with the other he had already gotten. Now just waiting for him to get 2 more so we can get ours.
I LOVE MY JOB!!!
 
I agree with the poster that said Nintendo is in epic win mode right now. Nintendo is not very behind in terms of meeting demand. People that want a Wii and have a few minutes of patience can find a way to get one. Its not very complicated to pick up a phone and call around, or wait in a line for an hour or so. Nintendo is putting enough Wiis into the supply chain to keep *almost* every happy, while making sure none sit on the shelves. This also keeps people in "gotta have it" mode so if they do see one on a shelf, its fairly easy for them to punk down $250 and get one.

Everyone can be fairly certain that Nintendo has the cash laying around to increase production capacity faster than most other companies. Once that extra capacity catches up with the demand, that is then wasted capacity, and there is no promise that the extra consoles sold would make up that cost.

both of you are working under the faulty premise that you seem to have invented out of nowhere that increased production would be some kind of prohibitive cost for nintendo.
 
I love owning stocks of Nintendo LOL.

Brawl is amazing BTW, got it on launch night with some friends after we went to the movies.
 
both of you are working under the faulty premise that you seem to have invented out of nowhere that increased production would be some kind of prohibitive cost for nintendo.

You think Nintendo can increase production without any cost? Nintendo has proven to be very effective at keeping the profits up, and am sure they have run the numbers on this more than a few times.
 
You think Nintendo can increase production without any cost? Nintendo has proven to be very effective at keeping the profits up, and am sure they have run the numbers on this more than a few times.

You apparently do not know what the word prohibitive means.
 
really fuckin tired of this shortage. and i'm not gonna go pick one up on ebay as i refuse to pay anything more than retail price for something thats been out longer than a year. sigh. guess i wont be playing brawl for awhile...which is really the only reason i want one.
 
Nintendo *has* increased production--they announced the increase in April of 2007. Bottom line: it wasn't enough. When will it be enough? Who the hell knows? It sure doesn't seem to be slowing down at this point. Did any single person in this forum imagine that 16 months later Wii would not only be still out of stock, but would have bitch-slapped Microsoft's 360 by 5 million units to become #1 for the generation to date and outselling PS3 by roughly 2.5:1 worldwide?

No, I'm quite sure that none of us guessed that, and if anyone *had* guessed it we'd have all called him or her a drooling, delusional fanboy. And we'd have been right to do so; who the fuck could have guessed this was going to unravel this way? It's *never* unraveled this way before!
 
But truth be told, how many units has Nintendo sold to people who just wanted to play a Mario game? I bet if you took away their first-party titles, then the Wii would have been a flop.

They should have called it the "Nintendo Mario Box 2006." It's not amazing hardware or gameplay, it's just their amazing staple titles. I'll take Mario on the 360 sans remote flinging any day instead.

I never would have thought it either, but then I was only thinking in terms of hardware capability, not the big N's truly legendary ability to sell software. I'm glad to have my Zelda/Mario/Metroid fix, but a bit of me dies inside knowing that for at least another console generation, we'll be treated with another "too little, too late" hardware approach from Nintendo. Maybe they're still gun shy from when they got too advanced with the Virtual Boy. :)

This is like trying to get an SNES with Mario World all over again. But then again, numbers speak, and each successive generation of their consoles since the NES has sold less than the previous one, so perhaps they are (or were) trying to limit potential losses when the Wii train derails.
 
both of you are working under the faulty premise that you seem to have invented out of nowhere that increased production would be some kind of prohibitive cost for nintendo.

You are operating under the assumption that you know better then the hundreds of employees that work in marketing and production for Nintendo when you have no inside knowledge, no access to their data sheets or other intelligence, and no real perspective on the state of Wii sales or availability other than the biased views of elitists on a forum...

Now gtfo.
 
But truth be told, how many units has Nintendo sold to people who just wanted to play a Mario game? I bet if you took away their first-party titles, then the Wii would have been a flop.

They should have called it the "Nintendo Mario Box 2006." It's not amazing hardware or gameplay, it's just their amazing staple titles. I'll take Mario on the 360 sans remote flinging any day instead.

If all it took was Mario games then the Gamecube would have won last generation. The Wii is the best seller since it's the best console.
 
But truth be told, how many units has Nintendo sold to people who just wanted to play a Mario game? I bet if you took away their first-party titles, then the Wii would have been a flop.

They should have called it the "Nintendo Mario Box 2006." It's not amazing hardware or gameplay, it's just their amazing staple titles. I'll take Mario on the 360 sans remote flinging any day instead.

I never would have thought it either, but then I was only thinking in terms of hardware capability, not the big N's truly legendary ability to sell software. I'm glad to have my Zelda/Mario/Metroid fix, but a bit of me dies inside knowing that for at least another console generation, we'll be treated with another "too little, too late" hardware approach from Nintendo. Maybe they're still gun shy from when they got too advanced with the Virtual Boy. :)

This is like trying to get an SNES with Mario World all over again. But then again, numbers speak, and each successive generation of their consoles since the NES has sold less than the previous one, so perhaps they are (or were) trying to limit potential losses when the Wii train derails.

You could say the exact same thing about the PS3 and the 360 as well. Where would the 360 be without Halo, Gears of War, Project Gotham? Where would the PS3 be withough Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, and Gran Turismo?

Mario sells. I like like Mario games.

PS: I also own a 360.
 
the Wii sold not just because of its games but because its style of games. The Wii is so party and family friendly its something most people really like having around, nothing beats having freinds come over and popping in super smash bros brawl and playing all night, or a party game.

While the other consols may be more advance there not nearly as fun in groups, and while I love my xbox 360 I just don't consider it a party console.
 
My Gamestop here in Hoover, AL gets Wiis in every week. They never know which day. Just gotta call.
 
I still go by my theory that Nintendo created the artificial supply shortage to raise demand.
 
I still go by my theory that Nintendo created the artificial supply shortage to raise demand.

i'd like to agree. its not like they have a particularly "blockbuster" lineup of games. as someone said, anything other than first party games aren't very popular. i'd prolly pick up a couple sports games though. dunno what else.
 
i'd like to agree. its not like they have a particularly "blockbuster" lineup of games. as someone said, anything other than first party games aren't very popular. i'd prolly pick up a couple sports games though. dunno what else.

Uhh... regardless of your opinion on the quality of the games the popularity of the system is not up for debate...

Let me say this one more time... The Wii has sold more units than the Xbox 360 in HALF the amount of time.

Whether or not the shortage is being artificially and intentionally inflated by Nintendo the fact remains that the sheer popularity (measured by number of units sold over the short lifespan of the console) is a good enough explanation for the shortage.

Cliffs....
20.5 MILLION Wii's have been sold in only 15 months... It has sold MORE units FASTER than any other video game system in the HISTORY of gaming... So there is no reason to assume the shortage is artificial :rolleyes:

Not many people like to use their brains or even look into the facts of what they are talking about around here
 
Nintendo reminds me of that one episode of South Park where Cartman has his own amusement park and doesn't let anybody in.
 
Nintendo reminds me of that one episode of South Park where Cartman has his own amusement park and doesn't let anybody in.

you can come into the park, you just have to pay 2x the price from the scalper standing outside:p
 
Just called my gamestop.

Me: "Hello, I was wondering how fast your Wii consoles sell out."
Him: "The same day we get them."
Me: "Thanks."

Just called Play N' Trade (Same exact response!)

Me: "Hello, I was wondering how fast your Wii consoles sell out."
Him: "The same day we get them."
Me: "Thanks."

I am totally selling my Wii and 5 games for $250
 
Recent trips to the local WalMart, Target, Costco etc have yeilded nothing. So looks like they are still selling out pretty much everywhere.
 
Some companies make it work for them, as we've obviously seen before. Nintendo leveraged the same technique with NES cartridges in 1988.

The Wii is a 'sacred' object because of its unavailability. If multitudes were sitting on store shelves, it wouldn't have quite the allure it maintains today, and that allure extends itself across the entire Nintendo brand.

I myself want a Wii, but won't bend over backwards to get one.
 
i'd like to agree. its not like they have a particularly "blockbuster" lineup of games. as someone said, anything other than first party games aren't very popular. i'd prolly pick up a couple sports games though. dunno what else.

At this point Wii's got a good dozen or so really great titles, probably another 20-30 "decent" titles, and then a truckload of shovelware dog shit titles. You should recognize the strategy, though: it drove Playstation 2 to over 100 million units sold worldwide ;).

That said, as others have pointed out Wii sells because it's big fun in groups, it offers intuitive control that no other console out today can offer, and it does it all at a good price that nearly anyone could afford. Who would have imagined that a system launched in 2006 would have been *cheaper* than one launched in 1995 (Playstation at $299)?

Also, for those who think it's "all about the Mario games", seriously, you're out of your tree. Yeah, the Mario games are fun, but if you think they move the system at the pace it's going, you're crazy. Gamecube had Mario galore and it took 7 YEARS to sell as many units as the Wii has sold in 1.5 years. Mario is *not* the primary mover of Wii.
 
Its possible that Nintendo could have shorted the supply at the launch but no business will ever continue to create a shortage just for buzz. No one knows how long people will keep interest in a product, and to keep it from your customers intentionally is pretty much turning down money. I can assure you they sell out as soon as they get em, and they're making em as fast as they can.. it isn't artificial. The Wii is popular.
 
I still go by my theory that Nintendo created the artificial supply shortage to raise demand.

I would agree however, if you're going to have a shortage of a product that everyone wants, why sell it for only $250? They could probably move them with their current supply at $400...
 
If the Wii cost $400....I would already own a PS3 which offers BD support and Rock Band.
 
Yea, for what you get with a Wii (a GameCube with a nifty peripheral, and some minor add-ons) they would be crazy to try to charge a dime more than they are.

I also cannot believe the Wii's are still in this short of supply. Something is funny at Nintendo...
 
Something is funny at Nintendo...

You really are stupid aren't you? It has sold more units than the 360, in half the amount of time, it has sold more units faster than any console in the history of gaming... is it just me or do I have to keep repeating myself?

Damn people get it through your thick heads, it is NOT unreasonable to have a legitimate hard time keeping up with demand given the popularity of this thing. I am sure if the PS3 even sold 20% of the consoles the Wii has sold they would have a hard time matching supply as well (by the way that is the real number, a little higher actually, the Wii is outselling the PS3 6 to 1 and, adjusted for the timeframe differential, is outselling the 360 2 to 1)
 
Back
Top