[princesskadee]

nintendo wii.

clearly the winner in sales for the 7th gen of gaming consoles.
its low price tag and innovative gameplay mechnics are fueling the demand.

such a demand that it makes clearly no sense why retail stores have wii games and accesories in plentiful stock for a market that cant seem to get its hands on this console.

x360 & ps3 are in sufficient stock, and anyone with the cash can get one. but wii is no where to be found except amazon and ebay and twice the price, if not more.

i read somewhere that many speculate that nintendo is purposely slowly down production of the console to fuel higher demand, and make sure that every console that is released for the next 6 months gets bought by some jerk who works the inventory backroom at walmart or best buy.

amazon and ebay sellers arent complaining. those in possession of wii consoles are assuredly vacationing by now on the profits they made with their recent wii sell.

[floppydisk]

Why do you think that Xbox and PS3 are in stock? Oh yeah, that's right. The Xbox is two years old and nobody wants the stupid damn $600 PS3.

[mireaux7]

Why do you think that Xbox and PS3 are in stock? Oh yeah, that's right. The Xbox is two years old and nobody wants the stupid damn $600 PS3.

well, that same PS3 is now the stupid damn $499 PS3. Yep. Sony lowered the tag on both their ps3 units, and even came out with a new model that offers more hard drive-...that new unit retains the $599 sticker.

[Otal Nimrodi]

Well, to be frank, I'D want the stupid damn five hundred dollar PS3. It's got some exclusive games that I'm frankly addicted to (Like VF5 and, though I'm ashamed to admit it, Tekken) or games I've been using a playstation controller for for so long that I don't think I could handle a switch (Smackdown Vs Raw 2008, ECW Invasion)

[looktothesky]

I've seen quite a few signs outside of stores boasting "We have Wiis now in stock!"... but I don't think they lasted very long!

I'm totally on the fence about the next gen consoles, they're all offering something I want. But for now, the DS is all I need. ...and my PS2, and my GameCube, and my Dreamcast, and my N64...

[Spann]

If I may offer a little 'Behind the Scenes' Info (I work for Game), we are now recieving almost the same number of Wiis as any other console (Approx 12-16 a week), and these are still flying out on the day they come in, whereas we still have PS3s left from the UK launch date (March 25th), and their sales have been very slow, and the general thought on the PS3 is that its currently a particularly expensive XBOX360, as almost all the games are the same (although the PS3 doesn't melt it's own PCBs)
The claim that Nintendo is deliberately slowing production down is a ridiculous one, as the DS and the Wii have consistently been at the top of the sales charts almost every sing week since release. The reason you can't get hold of one really is because the demand is too great.

[mireaux7]

If I may offer a little 'Behind the Scenes' Info (I work for Game), we are now recieving almost the same number of Wiis as any other console (Approx 12-16 a week), and these are still flying out on the day they come in, whereas we still have PS3s left from the UK launch date (March 25th), and their sales have been very slow, and the general thought on the PS3 is that its currently a particularly expensive XBOX360, as almost all the games are the same (although the PS3 doesn't melt it's own PCBs)
The claim that Nintendo is deliberately slowing production down is a ridiculous one, as the DS and the Wii have consistently been at the top of the sales charts almost every sing week since release. The reason you can't get hold of one really is because the demand is too great.

ok. sounds logical at firsthand. but why would you still only be receiving the same weekly shipment as the rival consoles? its more than obvious that wii is a hot selling item. shouldnt you be requesting more to be delivered at your store?

ok. and if the supply/demand problem doesnt rest at your store's level, but rather at nintendo's production lines, shouldnt nintendo outsource third parties via contract to have them also manufacture the wii console to help keep up with the demand?

you claim nintendo isnt holding back production deliberately, but on the other hand, nintendo doesnt seem to be doing too much to ease the supply versus demand problem in a more timely fashion either. if nintendo really wanted to, they could outsource other companies to build and distribute their console as well.

This post has been edited by mireaux7: 16 July 2007 - 07:03 AM

[Spann]

A good point. While I admit Nintendo probably aren't exactly making things as easy as they could be for gamers, they certainly aren't deliberately making things harder, as some people seem to think. For example, someone came into our store just yesterday claiming that the reason Wiis were so hard to get hold of because Nintendo were selling huge Job lots to Ebay sellers.

Is availability still a problem in the states? It's starting to level out now here in the UK.

[reiner]

The best part of the $100 price redux? Aplies to the 60 gig models... phasing them out of production. Yep, once they're gone, there's no more, just 80 gig model. So apparently 20 gigs of space justifies that 100 USD. Whereas I can buy a 500 Gb SATA drive for 100 USD. Chew on that for a moment. I don't think Sony is doing what they need to be doing.

[Bond]

Well, I still have my good ol' PS2. Does that count?

[Spann]

Not to bump an old thread - but what is Wii availability like where everyone is?

The last month has seen a massive influx of consoles in the UK, to the point where we are struggling to find space for them in work. However, they still are getting sold very quickly, at probably 4 times faster than any other console we sell, possibly apart from the DS.

And Bond - Your PS2 does count for something, at least for another 12-18 months. And if you haven't played Shadow of the Colossus on it yet, you really should.

This post has been edited by Spann: 13 August 2007 - 07:11 PM

[Bond]

And Bond - Your PS2 does count for something, at least for another 12-18 months. And if you haven't played Shadow of the Colossus on it yet, you really should.

Sorry, but what's that?

[Spann]

Google it.

Basically, you control a guy, and you have a horse, a sword, and a bow, and you have to destroy 16 enemies that are each about thirty times bigger than you are.


And that's it.

But seriously, it is one of the most sublimely fantastic games ever.

And you can get it cheap now.

[Bond]

Oh, goody...

[Spann]

Yup.


That's a small one.