This works out great for me.

I gave up on my Wii after 2 weeks of boredom with the cartoony, childish games and bought a PS3.

Now, I can hold on to the Wii until Christmas and sell it for more than I paid...sweet!

kaizoku80

I've had mine for over a year, but I'd feel worse about the shortage if there were actually games worth playing on the Platform.

Jordan Lund

people have enough to buy presents this christmas? if they do they would spend it on a wii?? i want a gift card for the closest gas station to my house.

This is a business decision you guys should not take it so personally, and i have a feeling the shortage won't really be a problem comes Christmas.

j1234

How long has the Wii been out, 2 years? No other colour (black)? Arrogance I say...

SigmundTheSeaMonster

It's only a game console.

fpn1010

DS lites go through the same shortages. I bought mine in September the year it came out, the GameStop had a boat load and continued to have a boat load till the first week of december. I was working at a certain now dead, but back again USA computer store during the holiday season and people were stabbing each other to get a DS lite. A few days before Christmas we had a DS FAT that was returned a few months back that I had three families fighting over.

thechansen

3rd christmas and the wii still hard to get? Give me a freaking break. Nintendo is manipulating the market to drive hype.

1roll20s

I'd be more mad if I didn't currently have a wii on eBay for sale, once I sell mine I'm fine with the supply coming back but for one more week please keep it in short demand.

Late_Night

This will be the third holiday season of No Wiis. The first time is understandable, but it's becoming increasingly obvious they are dragging their heels just enough to keep the demand at hyped-up levels.

WB

@Fuzi Lojak: Or not. You're comparing shortages on a system that's been out for a year and half to one that's been out for a week and a half. Apple wants to sell as many iPhones here as they possibly can, as they want a huge user base. Nintento is intentionally withholding sales here until the dollar gets stronger. That's a very lame move if you in fact give a damn about your customers. Nintendo cares about its bank account and little else. That's why the Wii, for all of its motion controls, is little more than a Gamecube.

KBeat

There are wiis al over NYC and have always been since its release. After three years of its release, creating a market shortage is a dumb strategy. Maybe they should make better games.

Sticky230

I might just have to agree with this one. Wii has been selling out like crack on a downtown street here for a year now. WTF?! Make the stock HAPPEN!

portugepunk

pshhhh... I bought mine the day it came out and sold it on ebay. Never regretted it.

shorty6049

So true about the weak US dollar. That's why a lot of the Wii Fits were diverted to other countries.

OGHowie

I actually think the demand is driven by hype. The friends that I know that have/had them became bored of them after a few months and decided to trade them in for a 360 or PS3.

I also thing the hype is what's driven people that usually wouldn't play a video game to try it out. It's just like every one has to have an iPod. Yes, they're probably the best device in their market but I would say hype is the biggest driver of iPod sales over it's features.

What really bothers me about the Wii is it's a glorified GameCube with a motion controller.

After all that, I guess I'll have to buy one now for my wife's xmas present. :P

Fuzi Lojak

I just bought a Wii to give my kids for Christmas and like everyone else, I guess, I was having a hard time finding one. I asked at a few stores, Target, Circuit City, Best Buy, and Toys R Us, what was going on and everyone said the same thing, "We get about 50 in every other week and put them out Sunday morning and are usually sold out by lunch." I bought mine at Target at 9:00 am last Sunday and they only had three left of the 50 they put out that morning.

The demand for the Wii is crazy to keep selling out like that for such a long time after the release.

baltwade

A company trying to make money? That's crazy!

Szin

@cirej2000:

Sounds like Apple. :)

Fuzi Lojak

To clarify my previous statement: They only produce enough to meet a woefully underestimated demand.

KenK

What pisses me off more than this is the fact that I can't walk into a store TODAY and buy a copy of Mario Kart! WTF! This game has been out for weeks! How hard is it to mass produce a frikkin DVD? And these a-holes on ebay are trying to sell me a copy for $99. That's such a joke! Someone at Nintendo needs to be fired! It's like they are so afraid of a failed product, they only produce to meet demand. Could they be that close to bankruptcy?

I am lucky to live in the middle of Nowhere USA so I picked up a Wii last year and a Wii Fit more recently without much trouble, but I havent seen either item locally in months.

KenK

For every day you can't get a wii, save a dollar or two towards the PS3...

And lets face it, the point of this post has nothing to do with Nintendo, but instead the awesome art posted. LOVE IT!!!

By the way, if you get in early at the Nintendo store(Rockefeller center NYC baby, wha what) you can walk in and walk out with one. At least that was the case last year when I bought 3. (3 separate successful occasions)

jiggaman2

Solution, buy one now on craigslist. They have plenty in my area

Digitallysick

Agreed. It is beyond ridiculous that two years later, you *still* can't get one. Come ON, Nintendo. I "sheesh" on you.

justrick

Say what you want about the wii, but last weekend I had 3 generations of my family all sitting around play a video game socially. That's never come close to happening before.

Gann

you can also buy a wii anytime you want in mexico. its not that our peso is mightily strong. nintendo should have another hidden reason...

josecardozo

@Noobs-R-Us:

Nintendo couldn't be a cocksucker...that's more of a giving act (as in "giving head"). Nintendo is much more of a bloodsucker...taking from you and leaving you with nothing but less blood.

cirej2000

Yeah I have to agree. Nintendo is creating the shortage here to ensure 100% sell through. There is no excuse for shortage this late in the game.

Mr.SithNinja

@jhcovert: @N@tedog:

While yes, they are in the business of making money, we (the US), have remained one of their best customers throughout the years. Usually, most companies will remain committed to providing their best customers with the best services, even through rough patches, like the one we're in.

Plus, don't Console Manufacturers make the majority of their income from software sales?

Chromeo is typing this on his iPhone 3G

they are just riding the wave, if they put out enough to satisfy everyone then there is no im gonna wait in line demand for the system, people could just keep putting off buying one until next weekend cus they know it will be there. They are trying to create a sense that they are selling more than they are able to make which goes well with the fact that casual buyers don't even know what they are buying just that their friend has one and they want one so they have to focus on trying to figure out how to get it. Once they get it, it will be used for a few months then will collect dust.

lilaliendog

It's not like it's Nintendo's fault that are idiotic government is borrowing and printing money like crazy and causing the dollar's value to decrease as well as making our GNP decrease which in turn makes the dollar worth less which puts us in an endless cycle and cause us to write grammatically incorrect run-on sentences in our rants on Gizmodo!

hammertime1994

i would be angered if i wanted one

EVILSTUART

Yea, I'd have to agree that the Wii is kinda overrated.

Hell, my old Dreamcast is getting used more than my Wii.

BurstAneurysm

Just get a 360 - the only game anyone plays anyway is Rock Band.

And frankly, I don't even play that much anymore as it's kind of hard on my liver.

GeekyNerdGuy

@venomous_duck41: Pirate VAMPIRE devil.

Jason Chen

I hate the fact that I bought the Wii instead of a 360 because Nintendo had pretty much promised more games like Resident Evil (now NOT on Nintendo), Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty etc.. only to have them continue with kids games - yes, Zelda and Mario are kids games. Not only can they not meet demand (supposedly) but their game selection is the same as always - childish.

Nintendo - 1
Me - 0

chrisaroz

What if they raised the price point in US and supplied more units? Would people be happier? I wonder why they haven't even considered this.

Wii suck.

carvelo

On the bright side, you can always just live long enough to wait until you can get one second hand cheap as dirt. Of course, you won't be on the bleeding edge of the console universe, but, again, look on the bright side.

You'd live!

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

I own a Wii...I hate the Wii....the system is horrifically over rated and Nintendo is lousey company for the two years of obvious lies they have been pushing. Apple can meet demand for stinking iPhone after a few months.....I can bye a cabbage patch kid without a problem....Beaney babies can be purchased....but the Wii?...well it is a miracle machine I guess...stinking over rated company has been obnoxious since the days of Sega Genesis...I will never buy another Nintendo product.

gaiking

Is that an earring??? He must be the feared Pirate Devil, known mostly for his whipping and the crews affliction to shirtless male bondage.

venomous_duck41

@ferrdidly: "Seemed unnecessarily harsh."

It's 2 years later and the system is still in short supply?
Either they're incompetent at increasing manufacturing to meet demand (in 2 years they can't figure this out!?)
Or the shortage is somehow artificial (ie: more units going to Europe where profits are greater.)

"Plus, its a gaming system... who cares."

Oh shut up.
Literally everything on Gizmodo is trivial to a point. It's a freakin' gadget blog!
If that's your opinion/"argument", go read engadget and stop wasting our time.

AaronZ

Cocksucker not bloodsucker

Noobs-R-Us

I don't think it's in Nintendo's long term interest to avoid selling consoles in the US. While they make more money per unit for sales in other areas now, surely the dollar will rebound someday...

At least it better. I invested a lot of money in my US currency counterfitting operation. It'd cost a ton to switch it over to Euro's. Especially now that the US$ doesn't buy me anything.

jofus

@jhcovert: well received actually.

N@tedog

Love the unibrow. Nintendo is in the business of making money. If they sell more units at a higher profit margin in point A than point B then, guess what, they're going to make sure point B gets those units before point A. You can't blame them for good business sense.

You can blame them for being jackasses about it though.

N@tedog

Aren't they a business and not a charity? Isn't the point of doing what they're doing to make as large a profit as possible? I don't like it, but I don't see a problem with it.

What he's saying is that "I'll do everything I can to get as many units to the US as possible, but with our making more money in Europe... well, you get the left overs. Welcome to capitalism."

And honestly, if you've ever sold something on Ebay you know it works that way: the HIGHEST bidder wins. And in this case it ain't the US dollar.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like our weakening dollar's precarious position being pointed out any more than you, but them's the breaks.

I imagine this comment will be poorly received, but...

jhcovert

whatever... id still rather have a 360 or even a ps3

urbanturban666

Seemed unnecessarily harsh.

Plus, its a gaming system... who cares.

ferrdidly

At this point its fucking ridiculous. Nintendo is really starting to piss me off. I have had a Wii for well over a year, but COME ON! Get it together assholes.

atuck

This just makes me pissed off and kinda sad

It's good marketing strategy, but this wouldn't be an issue if nintendo could manufacture enough units...

stupid economy...

kyel57

nintendo hater...

hmooby

What better way to create another hype machine... tell people it's hard to find... we've seen that tactic from them before... but a 3rd year in a row? Surely by now the sheepish public would be wise to their tricks... maybe not.

aupton

@jhcovert:

Actually that's not what he said. You are paraphrasing for him. The offense was taken by him trying to spin us. The truth would not have been offensive.

merebito

1) Pirate vampire devil indeed. Nothing like a man who will rob, rape, and kill you, drink your blood, and then rule over your everlasting soul in hell.

2) It's been two years and I still can't get over all of the wii comments in my head - "there's Wii's all over new york".. is that why it smells like that?

3) I agree that even the weak dollar excuse is pretty lame- after two years, you should be able to make enough for everyone. Artifically inflating demand for early adopters? just fine with me. Artificially inflating demand for two years? Move over saudi arabia.

m4ximusprim3

From an international business standpoint I can see why they are holding back units. The US dollar is about as weak as Superman in a kryptonite cape. If I could sell the same number of units to country A as country B and make more per unit in country B due to exchange rates I would send more units to country B than A. In doing so I also ensure that all the units I do send to country A will sell through faster due to the fact that I am limiting supply so that the supply will not exceed the demand.

Mr.SithNinja

The shortage song and dance is getting really old.

yoshi

Just bought a Wii today actually, local best buy had 6 on the shelf.

I walked out with a MGS bundle ps3 too... i was only after the PS3...

wii for a co-worker lol

impreza

Let's see, the Wii is selling now at twice the rate of 360 and PS3.

So, either the Wii truly has high demand or the 360 and PS3 really really suck.

What's that you say? The 360 had a year head start and is already been outsold in the U.S. and the world by the Wii? Oh, okay. Then that means the 360 and PS3 really do suck bad.

LoganSix

A bit of topic, but gaming related nonetheless. What's the best video format to stream movies to a PS3? I can stream .mp4 to X360 fine, but get errors o the same file on PS3. does it not handle MP4? or does it prefer something different. I thought it could handle more or less anything, MPEG, AVI WMV etc. anyone?

P.S. I'm using nullriver's apps for streaming from my Mac, they only offer 2 one for each platform, and both machines are hardwired. I find the X360 flawless, but PS3 gices erros like crazy on the same exact file. it's jacked

Thanks in advance

Faslane

Faslane66

craigslist. Found one new in box and paid only 25 over retail and picked up locally (San Diego) some will offer shipping for reasonable price for those who HAVE to have one. Just search craigslist in a larger area and you're chances are better, might cost a bit more, but just lay off a few pints on the weekend to justify the cost and you'll find one. ;-) I even found a guy selling C.O.D. just up to the seller. or of course ebay, although I found prices much higher. an iPhone 3G is going from 500-1500.00 on ebay crazy!!! and people are bidding on them!!! guess no recession for some ;-)

Faslane

Faslane66

Nintendo not caring for an old part of its core market.... huh. Sounds familiar.

Just more of a reason to not be a retarded fanboy.

jbiller

and this little piggy said, "wii wii wii" all the way home... grow up and buy a real system. PLAYSTATION for life baby!!

blazedshaggy

There are nothing but kids games on this console, I bought one in 2007 and have used it to only play zelda and resident evil 4. most of the other times i use my ps3, way better than than the wii.

pyrokotik

I wonder how many sales are lost by Nintendo for not supporting an "impulse-buy" environment for the Wii in the US. Certainly mine; I was in two all-day lines during the first month of the Wii launch to no avail. Now I could not care any less about buying the thing-- out of sight, out of mind.

ctthoqqua

@LoganSix: Or maybe the Wii appeals to a much bigger market and costs less? That statment has had the logic completely water-boarded out of it.

Blue Oyster Cultist

@atuck: It seems to me that they've "got it together" just fine. They're selling more of the product in markets where they make a larger profit margin. Sounds like good business to me.

wiggatron

glad someone had the balls to call them out. If they were still having "production problems" this late in the game, some serious firing would take place.

GiantEnemyCrab

@LoganSix: Or possibly for everything Nintendo lacks in software, they make up with a staggering Marketing powerhouse?

Chromeo

@carvelo: Because prices on tech stuff is supposed to go down over time, not up.

jswilson64

If anything, Nintendo is making it so that regular joes can capitalize on the Wii's success. If a Wii goes for $500+ come Xmas, I'll buy another one if I can just to sell it at an inflated price to some other sucker.

Thanks Ninty, I knew you cared about your customers!

CutePuppyz

@ferrdidly: well, you're on gizmodo, so a lot of people. and what's harsh is lying directly to the public and even taunting americans with the prospect of no Wii 5 MONTHS FROM NOW. you're telling me they can't press a button at the old factory and pump out enough units to sell by christmas? apparently not.

konshuss

@CutePuppyz: That's probably why there's such a high demand in the first place: people who only buy them to sell them off for a profit on ebay..

I mean, no one wants a wii anymore these days, the hype has long gone and most have realized that it was more of a clever innovation which gets boring after a short while.

shinchan

@Blue Oyster Cultist: Well D'uh! I was trying to point out to the "false demand" and "holding back supply" tinfoil hat boys that the demand for the Wii is very high. So high, that if it continues to sell as it is for the next three years it will surpass the PS2's 7 year sales total in 5 years. Ouch!

But, the gamer boys don't get it. Nintendo decided to go back to making a gaming console for the family (huge market) instead of just for 18-30 year old boys (little market).

LoganSix

@kyel57:

No, don't you get it? What Giz is trying to say is that Nintendo is purposely diverting the shipment to Europe and Asia. Although it has to do with the bad economy, it's not necessarily because they can't manufacture enough units.

spacecadetdavsot

Damn those stupid business men making profitable decisions!

drummerjoe

There is NO way that they can't make enough Wiis to satisfy demand. None at all, either they need to fire their production managers or... they just suck.

Thank god I've outgrown my Wii (the E3 press conference helped) to the point where I'm selling the useless thing.

BurntToast

@blazedshaggy: Playstation? How old is that thing, like 10 years or something? Anyone ever tell you they've come out with a version 2, and a version 3 of that thing?

jswilson64

You mean, they're allocating most of their units where they'll make the most money from them? HORRORS, they're turning a profit!

If you're pissed off about not being able to buy a Wii, don't blame Nintendo. Blame the folks that torpedoed the American economy.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

At this point the short supply thing is getting old, they've made PLENTY of money. Not only are they unable to supply Americans with consoles, it's also hard for those WITH consoles to get additional components like the Wii Balance board and even the Mario Kart racing wheel.

You'd also think those of us with Wii's would have DVD playback capabilities and some decent software by now, too. It's a shame Nintendo hasn't supported this console as much as their customers have.

dna

Seems like a terrible strategy to me. Nintendo can only sell so many consoles before word gets around that the Wii is actually only about a twentieth as cool as sales figures suggest. There's about a two-week period in which the motion controls with Wii Sports is a novel experience. When you don't have those fresh owners talking it up during that time before the Wii essentially becomes a paperweight, you kill the hype machine that feeds this ridiculous, unwarranted demand.

You might be able to sense a little buyer's remorse here...

drewkkake

BRIAN CRECENTE

purdy

"Wii call them out."

korymatthew

@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak:

The simple solution as with any supply and demand situation is to raise the price if the only reason is the US dollar. That said, our dollar has rallied and there are no Wii's here in Canada to speak of.

While in the El Salvador airport there are dozens for maybe $20 more than here (well when they are here which is never).

The local stores here are ass deep with Wiiscessories so one wonders why they keep stocking them with no Wii's to sell them with. Every kid of the three who have one here must have all this crap by now.

Toronto Craigslist has new ones for $300 which is the cost with taxes here in the stores that don't sell them.

This is a conundrum.

grandpollo

@grandpollo: No offense, but Canada is a relatively small market, and usually considered incidental to the US market as these things go. If they're not going to stock them in the US, that usually means they won't stock them in Canada by extension.

So you Canadians can blame the weak US dollar too.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

Agreed, Im a Canadian with contacts in marketting and the Canadian market is treated as a subset of the USA usually, sort of how California or other large states might have their own marketting teams. Still, Nintendo is full of BS on this. No excuse to not be decently supplied now.

steaky

Well, maybe Nintendo is helping you clean up your lives by keeping you from playing with Wii-Wiis for as long as possible.

I have stated this before but self-abuse is not the answer folks!

Dr. Evil Genius

@KBeat: Actually, I wasn't comparing product shortage between Apple and Nintendo, only that both products sales are driven more by hype than the actual product. The difference is Apple's iPods and iPhones for the most part live up to the hype.

Fuzi Lojak

ill stick to my original NES...you get to blow into the cartridge to get the game to work, way cooler than a wireless remote

dookieboy333

If only people realized that they aren't missing out on anything.

PlasmaMachine

If you had something you could sell something for $250 or 250 Euros which would you do? Blame the weak currency.

sxr7171

The point many of you seem to be missing is not that Iwata's money-making strategy is somehow evil; it's that he continues to lie about it.

"What I can commit myself to is that Nintendo is going to do its best to supply as many Wii hardware units as possible in order to meet demand there."

The only way it can really backfire is if US consumers get sick of trying to find a Wii and purchase a competing system instead.

Lo-fi

I see a lot of people talking about how they "never use their wii."

I don't understand how that is Nintendo's fault. I have my Wii and I use it almost every day for Mario Kart with friends, Brawl with friends, Boomblox with friends, Dr. Mario with Friends, My Life as a King, Ghost Squadron, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles...then the huge library of VC games.

There are plenty of games for the system, you choosing not to buy those games and then complaining about not having anything to play is a lot like the kid looking in the fridge and complaining about there being "nothing to eat" because he doesn't want to cook anything.

Alchemistmerlin

I work at a game store. When people walk in we automatically start saying: "No we don't have a Wii, Wii Fit, or Mario Kart. Sorry." They only allocate the store like 3 consoles when they DO send the things (which is like every 3 weeks or so). I had a lady damn near cry the other day when she saw me take a Mario Kart out of the box and place it on the counter!

ecirtap00

Yeah sure.

I havn't seen the Wii being out of stock here in Europe since December. Full shelves. Always. In every single store. Sure it's the € 250,- price tag, which is about $ 390,-. They know how to make money.

krassbass

Plenty of places seem to be selling the Wii online in the States, and a number seem to be selling it for around 40 to 70 bucks cheaper than in Europe (I just did a quick check on Amazon Marketplace prices for the comparison). Maybe increasing the price to match European levels would reduce sales too much for it to be worthwhile (companies do do research on this kind of question, you know. And with all due respect to those commenters suggesting that they'd happily pay more if only they could get the damn thing, Giz readers are not a representative sample of the market).

outeast

Hey at least we here in the good ol' USA get tons of shovelware.

sharnaff

Just raise the price here then.... if there is so much demand, and we will still buy it... raise the price and make it more available. See if I care. To hell with the wii...

Just thinking of those tender little whiste castle burgers with those little itty bitty grilled onions that explode in your mouth like flavor crystals every time you bite into one, just makes me wanna burn this motha down.. pooky, lets burn this motha down.

jiggaman2

Carmen turns 19 in 5 days!!!