Wii shortage...you kiddin me??

One thing that nintendo has said that most of the conspiracy theorists consistently (aka idiots IMO) neglect is that increasing production takes time. I believe nintendo said that when they initially increased production, it took 6 months to really kick in. You also have to consider the unpredictability of the market, they need to estimate a realistic production number, which is incredibly difficult.
 
I don't believe conspiracy theories, but a year is plenty of time to ramp up production. My guess would be they are afraid of over producing them so they are ramping up production slowly, very slowly.
 
I had to buy one from Ebay last night for my wife and Daughter. (really, for me, but they wanted one so I say it is for them)

I have been staking out Walmart, Kmart, two gamestops, and a local electronics shop for a MONTH now and they never have any in stock. Then when I logged into Ebay I found out why- they are all on Ebay!!

The "shortage" is basically due to people who buy them in bulk only to re-sell them for a mere $25-150 profit on Ebay.

Just for laughs - got to Amazon.com and search for the Wii. It has the suggested retail price at the top of $250.00 marked out and the lowest price as of this moment you can get one for is $360.
 
Recent trips to the local WalMart, Target, Costco etc have yeilded nothing. So looks like they are still selling out pretty much everywhere.

If you want one, just call all the same places and ask if they know when they next shipment is.
 
One thing that nintendo has said that most of the conspiracy theorists consistently (aka idiots IMO) neglect is that increasing production takes time. I believe nintendo said that when they initially increased production, it took 6 months to really kick in. You also have to consider the unpredictability of the market, they need to estimate a realistic production number, which is incredibly difficult.

I somewhat disagree with the 6 months. The company I work for sells a moderately complicated series of consumer hardware, and the ammount of time it takes to increase capacity is based on how much money gets thrown at it. There is an initial setup and tooling period that no ammount of money can solve, however its not 6 months. The Wii is little more over a fancy Gamecube, it is not bleeding edge technology by any stretch of the imagination.
 
If that theory really held any water over the long run, every company in the world would do it.
It's different with toys. The news around holidays always reports on the hot/hard to find toys which in turns makes them more desirable to parents buying gifts.
 
I somewhat disagree with the 6 months. The company I work for sells a moderately complicated series of consumer hardware, and the ammount of time it takes to increase capacity is based on how much money gets thrown at it. There is an initial setup and tooling period that no ammount of money can solve, however its not 6 months. The Wii is little more over a fancy Gamecube, it is not bleeding edge technology by any stretch of the imagination.

What some people dont seem to realize is that the FCP(Frequency Control Product) market is slow at the moment. This is the market that gives the pace for all electronics, we make the crystals, diodes, resonators and oscillators that go into these products. Now you have to realize that we can only produce these products (with good-high quality) so quickly.Yeah we may have products that only take about 4 weeks to produce but then there are those other products that take 12wks + to produce because the crystal has to be grown and honed properly, the wafers for the IC's have to built etc.

So with the major crystal producing countries just coming off a major holiday (Lunar New Year) and also have other problems (see the snow storms in China) this will cause problems.

Saying that Nintendo or anyone is creating and artifical supply shortage only shows your ignorance to the things that go into making these products. This is just all part of how these things work, ESPECIALLY when you only have ONE company that produces the item.
 
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...

Yet somehow they are being sold on Ebay and other places for much more than $250. Seems like they are crazy to not charge more, because people are buying them for more.
 
So Target has them on Sunday and my local opens at 8 AM. What time should I get there to make sure I get one?
 
I have yet to see a wii for sale in a store.

I'm in a marketing class and the section on retro marketing used wii's as an example on how if you control the supply, you can create a higher demand. I don't know what the real story is behind the wii, but schools are using what is happening with the wii as a perfect case study for a common marketing strategy.
 
What some people dont seem to realize is that the FCP(Frequency Control Product) market is slow at the moment. This is the market that gives the pace for all electronics, we make the crystals, diodes, resonators and oscillators that go into these products. Now you have to realize that we can only produce these products (with good-high quality) so quickly.Yeah we may have products that only take about 4 weeks to produce but then there are those other products that take 12wks + to produce because the crystal has to be grown and honed properly, the wafers for the IC's have to built etc.

So with the major crystal producing countries just coming off a major holiday (Lunar New Year) and also have other problems (see the snow storms in China) this will cause problems.

Saying that Nintendo or anyone is creating and artifical supply shortage only shows your ignorance to the things that go into making these products. This is just all part of how these things work, ESPECIALLY when you only have ONE company that produces the item.

Finally someone who knows what they are talking about... I work for a company that makes optical fiber testing tools (OTDR's) and other fiber optic related products and one type of laser we use is only produced by one company in the world and regardless the amount of money we throw at them there is a set rate that they can produce them...

You little kids on here who think you know everything... you know nothing about the real world, you take highschool economics and suddenly think you qualified to judge the actions of major corporations... :rolleyes:
 
Mario is after all the best selling game franchise. The first Super Mario Bros. sold over 40 million copies; best selling video game ever.

just to clarify, this isn't entirely true. The Sims has sold over 50 Million games, making it the best selling video game of all time. Super Mario Bros. is just the best selling console game of all time.
 
just to clarify, this isn't entirely true. The Sims has sold over 50 Million games, making it the best selling video game of all time. Super Mario Bros. is just the best selling console game of all time.

That 50 million only counts if you add all the "The Sims" games together. "The Sims" actually only sold around 16 million, with "The Sims 2" being the next best selling Sims game at only about 5.25 million.

Either way those numbers won't matter for long. WiiSports is already up to 20+ million in sales. If the Wii keeps up its sales and becomes the next PS2, WiiSports will blow all the other games out of the water.

I know, I know its a bundled game. But everyone uses SMB all the time and most of its sales came from being bundled with the NES.

Here is a link to game sales from VGChartz. Take those number however you want.
 
Semi-seriously: leave now.

I stopped by Target yesterday to pick up some 2 for 1 Blu-Ray DVDs. As I was about to pay for it, I asked the clerk as a shot in the dark whether she had any Wii's in. She did. They brought 5 of them from the back and I bought one. I considered buying them all, but then thought that was just stupid. It's the one in Diamond Bar, CA if anyone is around there.
 
i love craigslist , i picked up a wii + 2 controllers & 2 numchucks , 3 gamecube controllers (one being a wavebird) , wii sports , wii play , nfs carbon , zelda , spiderman 3 , & 2 gamecube games for 325$ :-D
 
That 50 million only counts if you add all the "The Sims" games together. "The Sims" actually only sold around 16 million, with "The Sims 2" being the next best selling Sims game at only about 5.25 million.

I've seen figures that the second one sold 13 or 14 million. I think 5 million would be NPD estimates of just US sales.
 
i love craigslist , i picked up a wii + 2 controllers & 2 numchucks , 3 gamecube controllers (one being a wavebird) , wii sports , wii play , nfs carbon , zelda , spiderman 3 , & 2 gamecube games for 325$ :-D

This must be an anomaly.
 
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