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[duderon]

Except there is NO reason for it to be sold out. If they sold 48045830658 a month ok, but this is not the case. It is not difficult for them to produce more consoles (this isn't a very different machine from a Gamecube, production-wise).

Nintendo is probably pretending they can't produce more DS and Wiis to make sure that no matter what the sales numbers are (such as March's US sales) can always be seen in their favor. If it's too low, it's not too low, it's just out of stock. If it's high, well cool it's high and they managed to "ship more".

It's just to hide what the demand actually is (I'm not saying it is low, but that by pretending they can't ship enough they keep the demand blurry, for all we know everyone and their dogs wants a Wii). This prevents any analyst, developers, and publishers, from having ANY IDEA what the actual demand is, and therefore it plays in Nintendo's favor.

Imagine if Sony had been keeping their shipments low, they could have pretended last month's low sales were due to low production rate (and therefore the backlash would have been much more minimal). That leads to less developers/publishers going "OH NOES! CANCEL PS3 EXCLUSIVES NOWZ!", and keeps the future blurry.

See, this would make sense if the console wasn't making them money. But the real case is they have no reason to hold back consoles since they are making a hefty profit on each machine.

Production increases take time, a company can't magically go from 1 million consoles shipped a month to 5 million shipped a month. Nintendo's increasing production and we should see increased numbers as a result.

 

[PkunkFury]

Nintendo is probably pretending they can't produce more DS and Wiis to make sure that no matter what the sales numbers are (such as March's US sales) can always be seen in their favor. If it's too low, it's not too low, it's just out of stock. If it's high, well cool it's high and they managed to "ship more".

It's just to hide what the demand actually is (I'm not saying it is low, but that by pretending they can't ship enough they keep the demand blurry, for all we know everyone and their dogs wants a Wii). This prevents any analyst, developers, and publishers, from having ANY IDEA what the actual demand is, and therefore it plays in Nintendo's favor.

Imagine if Sony had been keeping their shipments low, they could have pretended last month's low sales were due to low production rate (and therefore the backlash would have been much more minimal). That leads to less developers/publishers going "OH NOES! CANCEL PS3 EXCLUSIVES NOWZ!", and keeps the future blurry.

No system has ever produced/sold over 6 million in its first 5 months. There's no president for Nintendo to be in a situation where they could have been manufacturing even more hardware.

Nintendo forecasted shipping 6 million through March, they actually beat their forecasts and sold every shipped system. No one expected Wii to sell this well.

There's no trickery here, there' simply no room for it. Nintendo are manufacturing and selling more systems than anyone has in the past. The only shortage they created was at the end of March, when they held systems back since they had already cleared their yearly forecast. They released all of those systems a few weeks later in early April so they could boost this years projections. now they're back to getting every machine they can to consumers.

If Sony could have made themselves look better with lower shipments as you seem to think, than why didn't they ship less? the truth is, there really isn't much benefit to having a shortage of product available. These companies want to build up an install base, and the more product available, the easier this is to achieve. Holding back units makes even less sense for Nintendo, since they profit on the hardware itself. They have every reason to want to get their units into customer hands ASAP. In Sony's case, at least a shortage means they'll be losing less when the systems do hit market, but Nintendo wants those systems out there

 

[Monk]

(this isn't a very different machine from a Gamecube, production-wise).

...Round and round we go.

 

[DrGAKMAN]

Isn't Nintendo the hardware manufacturer who's pumping out the MOST total hardware in recent months? And yet, they're still getting shit from you guys? Can't win for losing!

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

(this isn't a very different machine from a Gamecube, production-wise).

What?

This is a ridiculous comment. The architecture of GCN and Wii may be similar in terms of processing, but they have completely different form-factors and schematics, and thus share very few production similarities, if any.

 

[Eteric Rice]

Isn't Nintendo the hardware manufacturer who's pumping out the MOST total hardware in recent months? And yet, they're still getting shit from you guys? Can't win for losing!

Pretty much. They sold like 6.5 million already. There should be a light bulb going off that says, "guys, this thing is popular now."

Alas, this is GAF. Denial am total.

 

[Tristam]

Isn't Nintendo the hardware manufacturer who's pumping out the MOST total hardware in recent months? And yet, they're still getting shit from you guys? Can't win for losing!

Presumably because adding rolls of duct tape to the GameCube assembly lines should be easy enough.

 

[Vieo]

Ha! Wii is the most awesomest thing ever! I've already made a killing scalping them. I just ordered 2407FPW and PS3 today with Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter, and an extra Wiimote+nunchuck. I hope the supply doesn't catch up with the demand for a little while longer. When finals are over, I want to try for a HDTV + new gaming rig. It's almost like I got a PS3 and 1080p display for free. ****ing win!!

 

[Starfire]

Pulling out the big guns for the Dreamcast, I see:lol

 

[titiklabingapat]

Except there is NO reason for it to be sold out. If they sold 48045830658 a month ok, but this is not the case. It is not difficult for them to produce more consoles (this isn't a very different machine from a Gamecube, production-wise).

Nintendo is probably pretending they can't produce more DS and Wiis to make sure that no matter what the sales numbers are (such as March's US sales) can always be seen in their favor. If it's too low, it's not too low, it's just out of stock. If it's high, well cool it's high and they managed to "ship more".

It's just to hide what the demand actually is (I'm not saying it is low, but that by pretending they can't ship enough they keep the demand blurry, for all we know everyone and their dogs wants a Wii). This prevents any analyst, developers, and publishers, from having ANY IDEA what the actual demand is, and therefore it plays in Nintendo's favor.

Imagine if Sony had been keeping their shipments low, they could have pretended last month's low sales were due to low production rate (and therefore the backlash would have been much more minimal). That leads to less developers/publishers going "OH NOES! CANCEL PS3 EXCLUSIVES NOWZ!", and keeps the future blurry.

:lol

I heard that Occam's brand razors are 50% off at the Gamecube Hut this Saturday.

 

[d[-_-]b]

Ha! Wii is the most awesomest thing ever! I've already made a killing scalping them. I just ordered 2407FPW and PS3 today with Ridge Racer, Virtua Fighter, and an extra Wiimote+nunchuck. I hope the supply doesn't catch up with the demand for a little while longer. When finals are over, I want to try for a HDTV + new gaming rig. It's almost like I got a PS3 and 1080p display for free. ****ing win!!

Lol you bought a PS3, wow what a waste of money .

 

[Vieo]

Lol you bought a PS3, wow what a waste of money .

If it turns out to be suckie, I can always sell it and recoup some of my losses. =P

I plan on using it to play a huge backlog of PS2 games since I skipped most of PS2's gen. I wanna play this Disega everyone keeps talking about. Strangely enough, I've been using my Wii for the same purpose. I've been playing through the Resident Evil ports + 0 + remake + 4. I beat Twilight Princess, now I'm waiting for games like Red Steel to hit the bargin bin. I haven't played Metroid Prime 2 so I'll probably try to pick that up as well.

Bleh. 3AM. Now I sleep!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

What are the average sales per month? Is it reasonable to believe they'll continue to sell said numbers practically every month untill or around 09, at which point they'll have sufficient product?

Monthly sales: over a million. Is it possible to sustain that? Sure, PS2 has to have averaged more than that to be at something like 120 million by now. Will it be extremely supply constrained for 2 full years? Seems unlikely, but I've said that about a lot of crazy predictions that seem sound in retrospect.

I'm inclined to not believe this prediction...but seeing how the DS has been under-supplied in Japan for over 18 months lead me to think there's some plausibility in this theory.

Nitpicking, but it's only been 16 months since late December 2005, when DS exploded.

wii isn't literally 2001 hardware, but as far as users are concerned, it may as well be.

I don't know, the millions of new users who weren't interested in 2001 don't seem to think so.

 

[justchris]

Imagine if Sony had been keeping their shipments low, they could have pretended last month's low sales were due to low production rate (and therefore the backlash would have been much more minimal). That leads to less developers/publishers going "OH NOES! CANCEL PS3 EXCLUSIVES NOWZ!", and keeps the future blurry.

Sounds like someone didn't read Sony's response to March NPD data. :lol

 

[Xisiqomelir]

 

[D.Lo]

No system has ever produced/sold over 6 million in its first 5 months. There's no president for Nintendo to be in a situation where they could have been manufacturing even more hardware.

Nintendo forecasted shipping 6 million through March, they actually beat their forecasts and sold every shipped system. No one expected Wii to sell this well.

There's no trickery here, there' simply no room for it. Nintendo are manufacturing and selling more systems than anyone has in the past. The only shortage they created was at the end of March, when they held systems back since they had already cleared their yearly forecast. They released all of those systems a few weeks later in early April so they could boost this years projections. now they're back to getting every machine they can to consumers.

If Sony could have made themselves look better with lower shipments as you seem to think, than why didn't they ship less? the truth is, there really isn't much benefit to having a shortage of product available. These companies want to build up an install base, and the more product available, the easier this is to achieve. Holding back units makes even less sense for Nintendo, since they profit on the hardware itself. They have every reason to want to get their units into customer hands ASAP. In Sony's case, at least a shortage means they'll be losing less when the systems do hit market, but Nintendo wants those systems out there

Yep.

It took the previous record holder, the PS2, nine months to ship (not sell, ship) 6.4 million:

http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps2_e.html

The Wii has so far outpaced the PS2 by quite a large margin. It is by far the fastest selling system of all time.

 

[drohne]

I don't know, the millions of new users who weren't interested in 2001 don't seem to think so.

no, those millions of users just don't care that wii is regressive hardware. it's a sad handful of internet nintendumbs who 'don't think so.' i've happened to be at best buy while people were lining up for a wii shipment, and i can assure you that they weren't raving about power consumption or profit margins.

 

[Mariah Carey]

I fear for Wii sales number the day after Wii Fitness makes an appearance on Oprah. "So its a video game that teaches your kids... how to exercise?" (cut to exterior shot over Nintendo HQ of a gathering storm, made of hundred-dollar notes). When that happens, like Ripley says in Aliens, "you kiss this - all this bullshit - you can kiss of that goodbaaaye. "

"God dammit that's not all! Because if just one of those Wiis gets on Oprah all this-- all this bullshit that you think is so important-- you can just kiss all that goodbye!!" :lol

Hmm, I'm thinking more Aliens quotes can be used to describe the current console situation...

(In response to PS3 being 'supply constrained') "Did IQs just drop sharply since I was away?"

(Sony in Japan) "Game over, man! Game over!"

"They mostly play with their Wiis at night. Mostly..."

 

[Miniboss1232]

So the 360 is at, what, 10 million worldwide, after a year and a half? It had a massive shortage for five months at the beginning of its lifetime.

The Wii is at, oh, nearly 7 million worldwide, after five months.

What's that? The Wii is probably going to overtake the 360 in sales in just a few months? Well, that's all fine. But it's still Nintendo's fault.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

:lol

no, those millions of users just don't care that wii is regressive hardware. it's a sad handful of internet nintendumbs who 'don't think so.' i've happened to be at best buy while people were lining up for a wii shipment, and i can assure you that they weren't raving about power consumption or profit margins.

Broadway and Hollywood aren't the hardware causing people to stand in line for Wii, though. As far as those users are concerned, the remote makes Wii a piece of hardware that's new and radically different from GameCube.

That Broadway and Hollywood are largely similar to their GameCube counterparts is as meaningless to those people as the SIXAXIS's similarities to Dual Shock are to PS3 buyers.

 

[EphemeralDream]

I think the continuously out of stock till 2009 is unlikely but will there be numerous periods throughout the Wii's lifecycle where it's in shortage (if it keeps trending like this)? Yes, I'd say that's a very likely chance. I think it'll be available briefly end of Q2 and early Q3 only to go back into shortage for the fall/winter seasons. DSes will probably be back in shortage again in NA due to Pokemon (looks at Gamestop.com...maybe not).

 

[deadhorse32]

WORLDWIDE LAUNCH + HIGH DEMAND IN EACH TERRITORY = UNPREDICTABLE = 2009

 

[ziran]

Wii is selling as well as it is doing because Nintendo brought something brilliant and new to the table and backed it up with 2 incredible games, Zelda TP and Wii Sports. Out of the two, by far the most significant is Wii Sports. It's going to end up being one of the most important titles in videogaming, and deservedly so, it's amazing. If you've played the game and don't understand why it's still so popular, still selling systems, and seen as a WOW!!! title by so many people, you never will.

Whether Wii remains supply constrained by 2009 is difficult to predict and seems a stretch, but given the line-up we already know of it seems obvious to me Wii's popularity is only going to grow.

 

[Apocryphon]

Without significant 3rd party support (non-ports), the console will ultimately "lose".

As soon as supply and demand equalize, and it will, this year, ...it'll have to rely on software to push sales, just like all other consoles, and that's where it'll fall short.

What i can't believe is how many people buy the "we can't manufacture them fast enough" rubbish. There isn't a single component shortage

 

[Kobun Heat]

wii isn't literally 2001 hardware, but as far as users are concerned, it may as well be.

Agreed. However, and I don't know if you checked the title of this thread before you came in, but the topic at hand is Wii production. I am saying that the "five-year-old technology" argument is a crock of shit when used to suggest that Nintendo shouldn't have any problems cranking out Wii hardware, that there must be no difference between fabricating a Wii and fabricating an Xbox simply because their graphical output is roughly similar.

But yes, if someone were to start a thread titled "Are Wii's graphics better than PlayStation 3's?" you would be perfectly justified entering said thread to say "No." And you'd be totally right.

 

[deadhorse32]

Without significant 3rd party support (non-ports), the console will ultimately "lose".

As soon as supply and demand equalize, and it will, this year, ...it'll have to rely on software to push sales, just like all other consoles, and that's where it'll fall short.

What i can't believe is how many people buy the "we can't manufacture them fast enough" rubbish. There isn't a single component shortage

Less than one year ago, most publishers didn't believe in the Wii. One E3 & 6000000 hardware later, It takes time to make great software.

 

[drohne]

you proposed that the 'wii is five year old hardware' line ought to go away. and i felt compelled to point out its merits: it's essentially true. a good line deserves as much. whether wii's low specifications make it much easier to build is more than i know -- but i suspect they do, and that's why it's hard to be impressed with wii's record-setting shipment figures. it simply isn't comparable to other hardware.

 

[rikitikitik]

What i can't believe is how many people buy the "we can't manufacture them fast enough" rubbish. There isn't a single component shortage

Just because all components are in supply doesn't mean they could magically transform themselves into Wiis.

 

[Kobun Heat]

you proposed that the 'wii is five year old hardware' line ought to go away. and i felt compelled to point out its merits: it happens to be substantially true. whether wii's technological shortcomings make it a great deal easier to build is more than i know -- i suspect they do.

It's still not five-year-old hardware. The graphics output is on par with what game systems were doing five years ago, yes. You won't find me arguing anything different. It is part of the very bedrock of their strategy. It is likely easier to mass-produce than PS3 and 360.

However, it is absolutely not five-year-old technology in the box. It uses contemporary technological advances, but to a different end than you personally would prefer. You're right, it's not comparable to other hardware, but the ways in which it contrasts the 360 and PS3 are what is making it so popular right now.

 

[CorwinB]

Without significant 3rd party support (non-ports), the console will ultimately "lose".

Care to tell me for how long exactly the DS was pushed by Nintendo SW alone (BT, Mario Kart, NSMB, Nintendogs...), for lack of quality 3rd party titles ? One of the many things the delusional fanboys posturing as industry experts on GAF and other forums don't get is that for a very, very large majority of customers "3rd party" doesn't mean shit.

I can certainly see Wii Fitness being released and avertised, people lining up to get it, then looking at the sticker, and putting it back in the hands of the store clerk with a "What, it's another 1st party title from Nintendo ? No sale for me, then."

As soon as supply and demand equalize, and it will, this year, ...it'll have to rely on software to push sales, just like all other consoles, and that's where it'll fall short.

No Wii games to be released ever, confirmed.

What i can't believe is how many people buy the "we can't manufacture them fast enough" rubbish. There isn't a single component shortage

Yes, because we all know there is never a bottleneck between a pile of components and the finished product, amirite ? I mean, as we speak, there are huge trucks from IBM and TSMC dumping piles of Broadways and Holywoods in Iwata's garden, where the Pikmins transform that stuff into full-fledged Wiis at the waggle of a Wiimote ?

I think too many people here think they took "assembly lines 101" course while watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (featuring Wii Wonka).

 

[ATP]

you proposed that the 'wii is five year old hardware' line ought to go away. and i felt compelled to point out its merits: it's essentially true. a good line deserves as much. whether wii's low specifications make it much easier to build is more than i know -- but i suspect they do, and that's why it's hard to be impressed with wii's record-setting shipment figures. it simply isn't comparable to other hardware.

I suspect you don't know your ass from your elbow when it comes the realities of managing a supply chain and running a manufacturing plant, and I wouldn't necessarily make that claim. However, I felt compelled to do so, as it is essentially true.

 

[Neo C.]

Without significant 3rd party support (non-ports), the console will ultimately "lose".

As soon as supply and demand equalize, and it will, this year, ...it'll have to rely on software to push sales, just like all other consoles, and that's where it'll fall short.

I agree that 3rd parties are important for the success. But for the first and even the second year, first party games alone can push the console beyond the expectation. It's comparable with the situation of the DS.
In general, the 3rd party support for the wii is quiet better in the first year than the DS in his first year. I expect even better support in the second year comparing with the DS.

What i can't believe is how many people buy the "we can't manufacture them fast enough" rubbish. There isn't a single component shortage

In minimum 2.5 million Lites and 1 million Wiis monthly - that's a huge amount. And it's not like Nintendo doesn't want to ramp up the production, in fact they already evaluate a few possible manufacturers.
And don't forget that not only the console production is a problem, but the DS-card production too. So it doesn't make sense ramping up the console production without ramping up the card or disc production.

Edit: damn, GAF is fast.

 

[drohne]

you're pushing me into technical territory i'm hardly comfortable in, but afaik wii only "uses contemporary technological advances" in that it's built on a 90nm process -- its size and power consumption are incidental benefits of this. and (again afaik), that 90nm process makes wii easier to build than it would have been in 2001.

 

[bud]

i weep for the nintendo fanboys

:lol :lol

 

[DefectiveReject]

Good lordy

Consumers obviously don’t give 2 damns about how the graphics stand up drohne, or else they’d be buying the 360 and PS3 in droves and not Wii.
Nintendo most likely looked at the PS2 and the DS and said “HEY, people aren’t buying these things for the outstanding output on the screen, they’re buying them for the games”
Only hardcore fanboys and tech heads who want the best (I'm a tech head) want amazing output. The mass market want what’s cheapest and most accessible.

 

[laserbeam]

33,300 consoles per day

1,400 consoles per hour

23 consoles per minute

1 console every 2.6 seconds

Before Prodution was ramped up that was the manufacturing Rate of the Nintendo Wii. Its since gone up since more are being produced now but 33K made a day was hardly anything to criticize

 

[laserbeam]

double

 

[marc^o^]

That would mean a 30 million userbase by end of 2008.

 

[Apocryphon]

Care to tell me for how long exactly the DS was pushed by Nintendo SW alone (BT, Mario Kart, NSMB, Nintendogs...), for lack of quality 3rd party titles ? One of the many things the delusional fanboys posturing as industry experts on GAF and other forums don't get is that for a very, very large majority of customers "3rd party" doesn't mean shit.

Care to tell me how Nintendo's handheld sales relate to Nintendo's home console sales?

Gameboy Advance owned, Gamecube Nintendo didn't.

A lack of 3rd party support killed the Saturn, Dreamcast and seriously handicapped Gamecube, while super-strong 3rd party support secured Playstation and Playstation 2 as the market leaders in their respective generations.

What supported DS for so long? Nothing in the west until the 3rd parties arrived. Sales in Japan were insane but until early last year sales in the US and Europe were dis-proportionate to the market sizes. Fact.

But Nintendo handhelds have always been popular. GBA has sold what 100,000,000!? Yet Nintendo's previous 2 home consoles were outsold by multiples.

What Nintendo will need is exclusive-to-Wii 3rd party games from major studios. Nintendo developed games have never been enough to support their home consoles and Wii will be no different.

 

[Taurus]

Except there is NO reason for it to be sold out. If they sold 48045830658 a month ok, but this is not the case. It is not difficult for them to produce more consoles (this isn't a very different machine from a Gamecube, production-wise).

Nintendo is probably pretending they can't produce more DS and Wiis to make sure that no matter what the sales numbers are (such as March's US sales) can always be seen in their favor. If it's too low, it's not too low, it's just out of stock. If it's high, well cool it's high and they managed to "ship more".

It's just to hide what the demand actually is (I'm not saying it is low, but that by pretending they can't ship enough they keep the demand blurry, for all we know everyone and their dogs wants a Wii). This prevents any analyst, developers, and publishers, from having ANY IDEA what the actual demand is, and therefore it plays in Nintendo's favor.

Imagine if Sony had been keeping their shipments low, they could have pretended last month's low sales were due to low production rate (and therefore the backlash would have been much more minimal). That leads to less developers/publishers going "OH NOES! CANCEL PS3 EXCLUSIVES NOWZ!", and keeps the future blurry.

I want to smoke what you are smoking! :lol :lol

 

[titiklabingapat]

Care to tell me how Nintendo's handheld sales relate to Nintendo's home console sales?

Gameboy Advance owned, Gamecube Nintendo didn't.

A lack of 3rd party support killed the Saturn, Dreamcast and seriously handicapped Gamecube, while super-strong 3rd party support secured Playstation and Playstation 2 as the market leaders in their respective generations.

What supported DS for so long? Nothing in the west until the 3rd parties arrived. Sales in Japan were insane but until early last year sales in the US and Europe were dis-proportionate to the market sizes. Fact.

But Nintendo handhelds have always been popular. GBA has sold what 100,000,000!? Yet Nintendo's previous 2 home consoles were outsold by multiples.

What Nintendo will need is exclusive-to-Wii 3rd party games from major studios. Nintendo developed games have never been enough to support their home consoles and Wii will be no different.

The difference this time is that both are doing phenomenal numbers and both are demonstrating that Nintendo's first party system seller creation capacity is still second to none.

Indeed, I won't be surprised if Nintendo manages to propel the Wii on their own in the long run. They have been successful with Wii Sports so far even with less than stellar third party support from traditional industry players.

 

[CorwinB]

What supported DS for so long? Nothing in the west until the 3rd parties arrived.

You read it first, folks, DS in the western markets is supported by 3rd party SW.

Sales in Japan were insane but until early last year sales in the US and Europe were dis-proportionate to the market sizes. Fact.

In EU, DS sales skyrocketed with the release of Nintendogs (actual fact), an hype which lasted into 2005 Christmas season, whereas the turning point for US was the DSLite and New SMB. In EU, the sales got another absolute huge boost with DS Lite and Brain Training. 3rd party titles have nothing to do with the DS hype and success which was built solely on Nintendo titles (doesn't mean that 3rd party can't be successful, only that they didn't play the role of system sellers).

What Nintendo will need is exclusive-to-Wii 3rd party games from major studios. Nintendo developed games have never been enough to support their home consoles and Wii will be no different.

Time machine, crystal ball, or just talking out of your lower orifice ? I suspect the latter.

 

[pickwick]

For the first time, according itrackr.com, Wii national availability is about 20%...

More Wii supply shipping ?

April NPD numbers might be "terrifying" (wii at 500 K +) ?

 

[Parl]

The strategy used for DS proved that Nintendo's non-games mixed with shovelware sent sales high. Mix that in with a sleek and sexy hardware unit and you're doing what DS is doing worldwide right now.

Wii uses a very similar strategy. Currently, Nintendo's non-games mixed with shovelware has sent sales high. Wii is already sleek and sexy from the start, the only thing stopping it from pushing massive numbers worldwide (greater than at the moment) is supply. Give it more non-games and more word of mouth, then that's more demand.

GBA had no major competition, if it had competition from Sony at that point, and Nintendo had the strategy they used with GBA, they wouldn't have kicked anywhere near as much ass. Handhelds are more price sensitive than home consoles (but home consoles are still price sensitive of course), so Sony would've have to be close to the price what Nintendo was selling at, but Sony would likely have kicked a lot of ass against GBA if they were there.

But with the strategy of DS and Wii of low cost, user-friendly intuitive unique interface, and software that's simply and mass-market, Nintendo kick some ass in the market. They did it with DS and continue to. They're now doing it with Wii and I believe they will continue to.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

you're pushing me into technical territory i'm hardly comfortable in, but afaik wii only "uses contemporary technological advances" in that it's built on a 90nm process -- its size and power consumption are incidental benefits of this. and (again afaik), that 90nm process makes wii easier to build than it would have been in 2001.

Cheaper to build, not necessarily easier. The process will have been streamlined since then, certainly, but assembly line manufacturing is still subject to bottlenecks almost a full century after the days of Henry Ford. These bottlenecks will always be an issue, be they in distribution and outload capacity, rate of renewal of component supply and (usually) the production capacity of your machines.

It's no good having unlimited components and die casters that can crank out 2000 items an hour if the machine that cuts out your silicon wafers is only built to cut 1000 items an hour. The march of an army is only as fast as its slowest units, after all. I suspect the bottleneck will be in some highly-specialised, very expensive piece of machinery that is limited in its operation by the rate of a chemical reaction, or the laws of physics.

Manufacturing processes are measured down to the second and the imperative is always to crank out product faster. A half-second shaved off the process per product could mean millions of dollars of extra profit for the manufacturer and the edge against a competitor. Trust me, if the manufacturer Nintendo are using to build Wii could crank these things out faster or in more volume, they would. They do, after all, get paid a certain amount per unit shipped.

 

[LM4sure]

nintendo is a beast. glad to see they're kickin ass!

 

[Neomoto]

Man... This thread is filled with shit.

Rich, smooth, creamy trolling shit.

 

[marc^o^]

Some doubters start to admit Wii Sports is a huge system seller.
So why can't they anticipate future Wii games such as Wii Health or Wii Sports 2 will have the same kind of smashing impact? Now add to this system sellers the usual big Nintendo games (Mario platform games, Mario Kart and other Mario sport games, Metroïd, Smah Bro, Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong, FZero, Wave Race, 1080°...), revived franchises (Punch Out, Nights), adaptation of the recent DS multi million sellers (Animal Crossing, Brain Academy, Nintendogs), mainstream 3rd party games (PES, Guitar Hero, Resident Evil: UC, Boogey), new channels, a clever DS connectivity... and you have it: momemtum and insane sales for years to come.

 

[AKingNamedPaul]

I'll get one before 08 so i dont care rly.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Yep.

It took the previous record holder, the PS2, nine months to ship (not sell, ship) 6.4 million:

http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps2_e.html

The Wii has so far outpaced the PS2 by quite a large margin. It is by far the fastest selling system of all time.

they-are-nowhere-near-bagdad.jpg

But I do think shortage up until 2009 seems a bit far stretched at this point.