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[Haunted]

It's safe to say that the demand is just ****ing unexpectedly huge.

Another factor might be the fact that the US market didn't get the lion's share this time around. The Wii was pretty equally distributed to all three major markets (so refreshing!) and you US guys just aren't used to being treated like that. :lol

I'm eagerly anticipating the NPD numbers.

1. Nintendo suck at manufacturing hardware.
2. Nintendo can't keep up with the crazy demand! Everyone wants one! Maybe two!
3. It's an artificial shortage deliberately planned by Nintendo in a cunning scheme to reduce their own profits.
4. The supply isn't limited, but they're all being kept in a secret warehouse by the Illuminati.

Take your pick.

:lol

I like 3, but I'll be going on the record that 2 is the most likely answer, with 1 playing a smaller part in the equation.

 

[Jammy]

The word on the street was that Nintendo got a lot of units out to various retailers for today. I told my roommate's sister this and she was able to get one this morning.

 

[jarrod]

Yes you can argue that demand is real high, but the real question is... why can't Nintendo meet demand, or at least come closer? The Wii hardware, as previously stated, can't be *that* hard to produce. My guess is initially the controller strap recall presented some issues. But there has to be something else behind the shortage. In January, I was willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, but now it's mid February and both the Wii and DS Lite are still hard to find.

We know DS at least is limited by Sharp's screen manufacturing... there's probably a component in Wii that holds up higher production too. Consoles aren't just chipsets slapped in a box, there's plenty of compoenets to worry about. PS3 and BD makes another good example, as PS3's high end chipset wasn't stalling the machine at all...

 

[DrEvil]

Don't forget, the DVD drive isnt a standard drive; they're extremely compact, and I'm sure are a cause of a lot of QA issues as well.

Not to mention controller production is still low, it's hard to find anything other than a classic controller right now.

d