Slashdot Mirror
Where are Wii?
WirePosted writes "Santa is in trouble, it looks like supplying the Christmas need for a Nintendo Wii game console is in jeopardy as stocks wither under constant and heavy demand. Conspiracy believers suggest this is an orchestrated move on behalf of Nintendo." Since this happens to be what I want for Christmas, I hope they work it out, or my loving wife has already found one.
Two things jump out at me in this article. The first is that this once again proves that Gartner is worse than useless. The second is that they left out one element. Take a look at Amazon or over at ebay. There are literaly thousands of Wiis that have been purchased by people for no other reason than turning around and selling them above retail. This has been going on for quite a while, though the prices have really spiked in recent weeks. I think they were averaging around $350 on Amazon for quite a while, as opposed to the over $500 now. And the number for sale there has greatly increased. I think some people may end up still holding them after the holidays though, because part of the appeal of the wii is the price. If I'm going to drop $600 on a console - I might as well get a 360 with some games or a PS3 that can play all those PS2 games out there.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I saw plenty of them yesterday at Guanghua Market in Taipei. The going rate here seems to be 10500 NTD.
Search first, ask questions later.
There are lots of Wiis in stock in shops in Sweden. Where do you want them sent?
... )
(Seriously, I have no idea what Nintendo is up to, but claiming there's a severe shortage of PAL Wiis in the UK with lots of PAL Wiis available in other countries - only the plug on the AC adapter differs - doesn't sound right. Add a firmware flash and then the same hardware would become NTSC
it's in my head
Any one remember Buzz Lightyear and the Furbies?
Same shit every Christmas just with a different name. Kids want the same 'cool' toy, so mothers (and some times fathers, but usually mothers) turn up at Toys 'r' US at 3am every day waiting for the next shipment then end up in near fist fights over it. It's been going on for as many years as I can remember, the only difference is the cost of the wii is much greater than the cost of a Furby or Buzz Lightyear was.
But hey, I already have a Wii and want a 360 this year, so I'm quite happy to watch the same story over again, except this time it's on slashdot instead of the local news.
I like muppets.
I have a Wii and it is fun to play with others. But to play alone is a little boring. Are there any games that take advantage of the internet connection? Is it possible to play against other Wii users around the world?
I searched last Christmas and for the following six months before stumbling across a few of them just being put out in a local wal mart. I thought about buying them all and EBay'ing all but one. I assumed, foolishly, that the shortages were ending and I would be lucky to get my money back. I am happy i got one for my family though!!!
Over in the UK supply isn't bad (although so tight that Nintendo are considering dropping all adverts to keep demand down), don't expect to get one from the first shop you go to (unbundled anyway) but a bit of work to find out which day stock is arriving to which retailers and you can pick one up. E-bay prices are only about £20 over RRP. Supply seems even better over in Europe, many are ordering through Amazon's German wing.
The real shortage over here are certain games, Wii Play and High School Musical currently go for silly money on E-bay and Amazon.
Ii'm iin Saiint Louiis. Slashdot iis iin Dexter, Miichiigan. And the capiital of the Uniited States iis iin Washiington, DC.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
They aren't exactly in "high demand" here in Israel it seems.
I would buy one, except that the price is anything but reasonable: Wii 2300 NIS, PS3 3000 NIS.
The difference between the two is less than 200$, the price of the Wii is over 500$(200% increase) but the price of the PS3 is only 700$(120% increase).
I wish I understood how this country's import system worked...
I don't see a shortage here, really... Watching the other replies in this thread, I wonder how common problem this really is.
The retail price hasn't shot up for the holidays either. http://www.prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?pu=48126
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
If you already have a Wii, you can easily get a second one by simply calling Nintendo, thanks to their advance replacement program. Of course, that's only the console itself--no power cable, no sensor bar, no wiimote, no nunchuk, no cables, and no Wii Sports. Oh yeah, and you have to tell them that the one you have is having problems. I have two sitting on my floor right now thanks to this (first was having some graphical glitches, so it's going back tomorrow). If you don't return the first one within three weeks, they charge you 200 bucks to keep it. If you really really wanted one, this is one way to do it...
This guy's the limit!
I got mine this summer, & I think it's great. However, I don't have a lot of time to use it right now (coverage during the holidays, & then end-of-year closeout) so I'm thinking of selling it. I don't trust eBay or amazon, would craigslist be a good alternative? Or should I just ask family & friends?
I got my Wii in November and had to do a little searching .My wife went to the local Gamestop and chatted up the manager who told her to call on Tuesday mornings when they Get thier Nintendo shipments in and they would hold the Wii for 24 hours .
,Wii Play, a Nunchuck and got a Gamefly subscription .
I called on the Tuseday morning they held one for me and was palying Wii the that afternoon .
I Ended up buying a Wii Remote charger
So Be nice to your local gamestop employees make sure you order a few extras and games .
My Compliments to the astroturfer (and all whom voted for this very !news story)
Urban legends tell us that console manufacturers make no profit on the console but recoup the losses on games. Of course, various articles over the years have debunked that belief, and the general message seems to be that Nintendo was making a healthy profit on the Wii LAST year when they started selling it. With the reduction in cost on the various components, it can only be better this time around.
The simple fact is that Nintendo has underestimated demand YET ANOTHER time. It's not as though they were the only ones who made this mistake - tons of third party companies jumped in around July and August this year to announce that they'd be releasing titles for the Wii now (presumably they hadn't been onboard earlier because they expected it to be a failure). Analysts have been continuously stating that the Wii would "lose steam" when people got over the novelty. It never happened. Now demand is through the roof again, and it's a tough problem. Getting the output just right for the holiday season is tricky - too few and you're left with the current situation, but too many and you'll have factories sitting idle after the fact. Couple all of that with the problem other posters have mentioned, ebay and Amazon "scalping" of Wiis, and you've got more difficult problem than you might first think.
Bottom line: Nintendo makes good money on every Wii sold. Every Wii sold at holiday season also likely represents at least one more wiimote+nunchuk combo sale, which nets them even more cash, not to mention the additional games. But obviously Nintendo would rather turn down millions in profit so that they can keep the system "elite" or some such business. This is starting to sound like the old underwear gnomes business model meme.
Think of this way, if it helps: RockBand is also selling out like crazy. EA and Harmonix have publicly stated that they can't make enough to satisfy demand. They make a profit on the package. Do you think they're not selling more as part of some brilliant plan to make it even cooler?
So I have three choices for this generation of consoles: (1) higher clocked XBox, (2) higher clocked PS2 with slight motion detecting controller and (3) higher clocked Gamecube, but with a new controller that contains gyros, can tell where you point it and allows for several attachments.
I'll just pick the one with the games that interest me. Possibly even a PS2, since I haven't played any of the Final Fantasy games for it yet...
War is one of the most horrible things a human can be exposed to. And one of the worlds largest industries.
Obviously someone is mad that they have 3 PS3s and no one gives a shit about overpriced 'media centers' that have a small selection of games (and one or two so-so 'exclusives'). Have fun with your next-gen 'tilt sensor'/blu-ray and better graphic'd rehashes of last years games.
But more to the point, what game consoles can you buy where you liive?
Yeah, it's crazy. Nintendo has indeed pulled all Wii ads in the UK.
When was the last time a company decided to stop advertising a product because they were selling too much of it?
Probably a good move, there are already some pretty pissed off people out there as it is.
PS3 and XBox360 are completly new architectures and have little in common with their predecessors, the Wii is the exact same architecture as the Gamecube, just a bit higher clock and a bit more RAM.
Price in the US: USD 249
Price in Europe: EUR 249
The profit margin is much higher in Europe (even after accounting for VAT). It makes sense to give priority to the countries where the profit margin is highest.
Don't you mean Saiint Lou-wii?
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
"Conspiracy believers suggest this is an orchestrated move on behalf of Nintendo"
Then they would be idiots, do people think that when someone sells one on ebay for £320 (as I have seen happen, that's more than the PS3) they send off a nice cheque to nintendo just to say "thanks"? no. Nintendo loses money on each of these (since they only get the original sale and after the inflated price people are less likely to buy a lot of games). Nintendo really wants to meet demand, it's stupid to suggest otherwise.
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
This is nothing new. The Wii has been selling out upon arrival in the US since it was released. People were camping out for them even in the summer. What doesn't help is the fact that places like Gamestop and the like are only selling the systems as bundles where you get 3 controllers and 5 games, in turn turning a $250 system that comes with a game into an almost $600 system at the store. Out side of the fluke day where I got mine the only place I've seen them actually sitting on a palate was at CostCo. In fact that is the place everyone I know that has one got theirs.
I just came from the mall and each and every tech store has Wii on the shelf. Even with our enormous VAT (%18), it's very cheap and you can find plenty of them with Sports pack included for 699 TL (approx. USD590) On the open market you can have it for USD450 without the Sports pack. -- http://www.internet.gen.tr/
You have to laugh at these analysts... Now they are saying in a year the Wii will just be a toy. I believe they were saying similar things last year and yet it is still the must have item of the xmas season. I think the Wii proves that graphics aren't everything and fun gameplay trumps impressive graphics.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Details of the offer are here. Be sure to read the fine print about when and how you sign up. Note that if you are government employee, they won't give you one as that would be seen as a gift, which may be misconstrued as a bribe.
There are many places online that have availability or stock locators. Target for instance will have Wii's next weekend. "the target I bought my wii at in June had 9 I should think it'd be similar stocking or better"
2 Weeks ago I showed up at TRU at 5:30am and was first in line. I got a voucher for the wii at 6:30am took a break got some food came back at 7:45am and they STILL had 2 more vouchers left."they did sell out by 8am" 24 wii's in that store. My friend across town did the same thing. I was very tempted to get more than one and I know some people buy them strictly to resale. I have read on a few forums that I visit of people getting 4-5 a day just to sell.
I have nothing against it. But my point is. If you want one you can probably get it by finding the deal sites that have extensive memberships and looking for wii availability. Someone in the chain of supply always KNOW where the wii's are.
Places like TRU who only allow one per person per day are great.
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Why, they are all on ebay, which is where I got mine at a bit of a premium.
Meh, I don't play computer architectures, I play games. Who cares what's inside the fancy plastic box?
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Having not touched my Wii for months because I was bored with it, after reading this article I placed an ad to sell my Wii in a local newspaper. Nintendo Wii, six games, three remotes, two nunchucks, two classic controllers, component cables. $600 OBO. Hope it sells, I really need the money. Thanks!
it wouldnt matter if they charged fair price for the piece of crap but they dont. this thing should cost us 80$ maximum and shitendo would still make a profit. its the crappy old gamecube with a higher clock and slightly more ram. also the games shouldnt cost us more than 10$. and where are all the innovative fun games we were promised? theres nothing on that piece of crap that is innovative. fun is a matter for debate, but theres nothing on there that makes me want one
Why would Nintendo want to sell more units than it takes to meet their projected sales for the quarter?
You may have to wait in line, but everyone that wanted a Wii this year has one.
Is Slashdot being paid by Nintendo to over hipe it, this is the second non-story I seen on this!!!!
Wise men speak because they have something to say, Fools because they have to say something!!!!
Good thing I have one. Hope there isn't a brawl for smash when it comes out. I preordered it anyhow. PS. Zelda has bad sword controls.
I wrote up a good explanation on how to score a wii:
http://binaryspiral.com/2007/12/01/how-to-get-a-wii-before-christmas
It's already worked for me and three other co-workers... YMMV.
Let me save you the trouble. They suck.
Buy a PS2 and pick up anything by the following two publishers: NIS and Atlus.
I took a business class in which Nintendo was used as real world example for how they controlled prices for a release of Zelda. If I remember correctly it went something like this:
Nintendo tells retailers "we're going to produce X amount by Christmas, give us your orders." Wal-Mart tells them, "we're big and will sell a lot of games, give us a huge number of them at a ridiculously low price. Otherwise, we won't carry it and you won't sell enough of them to make any money."
Nintendo hates this, of course. So, they cut back sharply on production of the game. Closer to Christmas they tell the retailers, "oops, we only have Y amount. It's not enough for what we already know everybody wants. Give us your desired quantities with your _best_ price in Z days."
Walmart just lost their leverage. Nintendo sells fewer cartridges but at a significantly better price than Walmart was offering. Not as good as they originally wanted but better than Walmart's offer.
Something similar is probably happening here. The Wii could easily move in huge volume but the retailers would want a lower price. As long as:
you'll have a hard time finding a Wii.
Good ole capitalism.......supply & demand. Make a new widget, hype it up, create a demand, then trickle them out a little at a time......profit! Come January, there will be ton's of them everywhere.
thanks for dotting the i's and crossing my eyes
1. download Firefox 2. add Tab Mix Plus 3. open tab for Amazon.com Wii page 4. open tab for nowinstock.com/wii 5. set both to reload every 30 seconds 6. find religion It took a week of being patient but we got two on Friday. Third straight Friday afternoon Amazon had them for 15 minutes.
"save a cow, eat a vegetarian"
The press has analyzed this to death. Most recently, Friday's Wall Street Journal had an article about the Wii shortages. Wired also had an article last month. In a nutshell, Nintendo was screwed by poor forecasting which is key to their just-in-time manufacturing model.
The whole point of JIT is to keep inventory as low as possible in order to lower costs. Unfortunately, their original forecast for the fiscal year was 3.5 million units short of their current forecast. Low inventory on hand means they have to scramble to ramp up production. Even more unfortunate is that all their manufacturing is outsourced which apparently makes it harder to quickly bring capacity online. The WSJ article also mentions difficulties in properly allocating inventory across different markets.
"There's enough inventory out there that people don't quit shopping for them. They may have to go to three or four different locations before they find one, but ultimately they do," Baker said. I just called around to 15 Gamestops on Tuesday, the vast majority of which got their shipment of Wii in just a few hours prior, and they were all sold out. Many said they sold out within minutes of getting them in. I was looking for my sister who wanted to get one for her husband. She ended up buying one used on Ebay for $350 (new ones were going for $450) That is the problem right there, people are buying them to jack up the price and sell them on EBay. There would be plenty of Wiis available if not for those scum
I keep wondering what's wrong with Vancouver. It sure seems to me that there are a lot of Wii's available here. I was just in Costco the other day and they had a huge pile of Wii's for sale. Maybe since we have such a large asian pacific port that we don't see the shortage other places do.
Maybe your "loving wife" already found one and her boyfriend is trying it out before she repackages it for you for Christmas.
You're missing the point.
Xbox 360 games *are* "overclocked" Xbox games.
PS3 games *are* "overclocked" PS2 games.
The gameplay is the same as previous generations despite their HD graphics.
Buy Nintendo stock instead :)
-R
I have one here, bought it for my parents. The controllers were missing in one shop, but my sister found them in another. Costs - 249 (Germany). There are still some Wii-s at the shelves, but they tend to dissappear.
I love gaming and I love Nintendo. I have a DS Lite, a NES, a Gamecube, (and have owned a Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Advance SP, Playstation, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive) and last year, shortly after launch...I got my Nintendo Wii. Actually I pre-ordered it about 3 months before UK release at my local GAME store and my girlfriend bought it for me for my birthday (16th December). I love it. At release I bought Red Steel and Call of Duty 2..but to be honest, I spent most of my time playing Wii Sports :o) The cost at launch... for the console, controller, nunchuk and Wii Sports, if I remember correctly was £179 GBP
Now. Nearly a year later I walk into an "Entertainment Exchange", where they will buy anything back for cash and then sell it on...usually considerably cheaper...and they were selling a Wii console, with a Wii controller, no nunchuk, no Wii Sports, FOR £299 GBP! For you United States-ians, that's about $600 USD. I just can't believe that nearly a year after launch, that Nintendo are still having these horrendous supply problems. Fair enough, they were outselling PS3s in Japan 6 to 1 for a time, 2 to 1 overall I believe...but this is the perfect opportunity for Nintendo. They, as far as I know, are the only 3rd gen console manufacturer who are making a respectable profit on the console hardware...so I would have thought that they would focus all their efforts on getting as many consoles as possible on the streets. Virtual console titles, web browsers etc etc etc are all very well..but when there's obviously such high demand for the hardware itself.
The mind boggles.
Let me guess, you're the kind of guy that gets a hard on playing WWII simulators and blowing away Tur'rists on a daily basis.
No. the Wii isn't for you.
For you, the same old played out theme and controls with "New" and "Innovative" graphics are what will rotate your insignia.
Stick with an Xbox360. If you get one that works.
I saw them for sale in a mall videogame store (not a major chain) in Houston the day after Thanksgiving--list price, no bundle. They were soled out in few hours. I bought mine a couple of months ago online from ToysRUs, after seeing on WiiTracker that they were in stock.
The simple fact that the PS3 and X360 have some form of backward compatibility means the architechture ISNT completely new. It's common sense. Yeah, the wii has backward compatibility too, but they don't aim their marketing campaign at tech-savvy people who care about hardware as much as you do. The PS3 took that one. Nintendo aimed for the largely untapped market: people who don't play video games. A risky move, but considering that the wii is damn near all gimmick, it's not unreasonable to say theyre seeing some surprising success from it. Nintendo undeniably raised some eyebrows, and people can say whatever they want about the hardware, but it all comes down to market share, and the wii got enough attention that demand skyrocketed. I have a wii and and X360, and I love gears of war as much as the next guy. But even though the graphics of the wii are sub-360 level, the control style is refreshing. Halo 3 and Halo 2 are pretty damn similar, but metroid prime 3 is completely different from Metroid Prime 2. Halo 3=Halo 2 with new weapons, vehicles, etc. Metroid Prime 3=Metroid Prime 2 with new weaps and such, but with new controls. I like Halo, dont get me wrong, but I like having a break from the same old dual analog formula.
My original Wii controller has never come off my wrist, barely even come out of my hand.
However, I can attest to it's robustness. Late one night when playing Call of Duty 3, I decided to get up and take a break from grappling a Nazi on a silo gantry to grab a beer. I got to the cupboard...reached out to get a can of bitter, but mindful of the Wiimote dangling from my wrist, I reached awkwardly.
Everything that follows happened in the same slow motion that affects car accidents and "rm -rf *"s:
The beer can fell over onto its side in the cupboard. It rolled forward, dropped onto the counter-top, exploded, span round and round like a punctured gas cannister in Max Payne, covering me, the walls, the wiimote, the fridge, the toaster and everything within sight with sticky bitter-juice and then came to rest on the floor.
The Wii-mote still works. The A and B buttons occasionally stick, but other than that, it works just fine. I still have an original NES in fine working order, a working, relatively pristine DS Lite that's been dropped more often than I care to admit...
In my personal experience, Nintendo manufactures it's systems as if a drunken 3 year old with a penchant for striking things with hammers will be using them. Fortunately, even I, who am slightly less spatially aware than the afore-mentioned 3 year old have never managed to kill a Nintendo console. Ever. This is one thing they do, and do well.
It also looks as if the Zapper is in major demand. It's gonna be tough to find one this Christmas, if you're lucky enough to have a Wii already.
The Harry Potter books include many references to how Harry's mother protected him and how her sacrifice saved him from Voldemort. These always made me think, so I guess all the other people Voldemort was able to kill, their mothers didn't love them?
Anyway, I got my Wii last year at christmas. I guess all the people who want one but didn't get it last year, no one really loves you. Or you're poor. Same thing really.
[/Cartman]
but lucked out and found one on eBay for $310 plus shipping, which beat the hell out of the prices everyone else was getting. Considering the trouble I would have gone through to get it at retail, I think I came out ahead.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
It's neither new nor rare. It happens almost every Christmas to one "big toy," it's just that it's rarely something the Slashdot crowd cares about. All the way back to Tickle Me Elmo over a decade ago - and the year after that, it was the Barbie Fashion Designer CD-ROM, and then something new nearly every year since. Actually, Tickle Me Elmo was only the start of the most recent wave - ask anyone who had a kid in the early 80's how much they paid for a Cabbage Patch Kid doll, and that was pre-eBay.
Outside of Christmas, there have been plenty of "collectible" toys that have been scalped - look at Beanie Babies and Pokemon cards. I'm a Barbie collector, and in the late 90's the hobby became trendy for a bit. Employees of Target, Wal-Mart, etc would buy up dolls as soon as the boxes were open and put them on eBay before actual shoppers even got a chance at them. My dad has actually done the same for Hot Wheels.
Trust me, for most of the parents looking for a Wii, this isn't a new experience. It's just that this time, maybe it's something they'd like to play with, too.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I got a free Wii from Netgear by purchasing a 48 port Gigabit router. Bought the router in August, and finally got it this week. Better late than never. Though you can no longer get the same deal, I think they are offering free iPhones now with purchase of a router.
Over at Wii News they posted an article with link to several online stores who are selling Pal, US and Jap Wiis and even Modded Nintendo Wiis in different consoles and chipped too. http://wii-news.dcemu.co.uk/need-a-wii-lets-help-you-us-wiis-for-378-39-185--81022.html/
If you just get one more Wii you can make your own "I got 3 Wiis" video, like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1jB4hVJRg
Sony have announced the next generation game console: the Puu
sign up at wiialerts.com, put in your cell phone number, and wait.
Got one on amazon within a week. Got another alert (after I'd bought mine) within another week.
How the hell can a system be constantly sold out over a year after it was first released? Either Nintendo greatly under-estimated Wii's demand or they are doing it to piss people off. I had mine since last year, before Christmas, so it doesn't affect me but it just seems ridiculous to me. How long was Xbox 360 sold out for? I am pretty sure they had plenty of stock by the time PS3 and Wii came out.
So, Wiis are hard to get right now, especially if you don't feel like giving a reseller $300 for being a jerk.
However, the implication that Nintendo is DELIBERATELY shorting is just stupid.
Nintendo is producing 1.8 million units a month.
The reason for the shortage?
Selling 350~400 thousand a week.
Simply put, the Wii is hard to find, because it's selling well...
As opposed to the PS3 last year, which was hard to find because they only made 100,000 for Christmas.
I'm probably going to get modded down for saying this, but honestly the Wii with just one controller is a pretty shit console, you can count the number of games worth playing by yourself on one hand almost literally. It's a console that really needs to be played with people to really stand out as an amazing console so in my experience, having owned a Wii since release and having a few friends with one you really do need at very least one extra controller, but ideally 4 so you can make the most of the awesome party games that are aimed at multiple players.
Contrasting that with the 360 there's a plethora of games you can play by yourself and with other people but the games you play with other people are nearly always designed to be played with other people online so you realistically only need one controller, maybe 2, there is of course the fact that one controller fits all so other than the likes of guitar hero you are only buying the one or two controllers for the full range of games rather than requiring the classic controller, the gamecube controller for backwards compat., the wiimote and the nunchuck and if you're really into it the various other addons out there like the wii zapper and such.
I'm not saying the Wii is a bad console, but I've always thought those that suggest it's the low price point that made the Wii do well are wrong, because here in the UK you're looking at £175 for the Wii, £30 for Wii play + the Wii mote, £50 for another 2 wii motes, £45 for 3 more nunchucks and £30 for a pair of classic controllers - that's essentially £330 for the Wii to really reach it's peak which is also more than it costs for a PS3 and 360 to reach their peak. In contrast you can get a 360 with a couple of games and extra controller bundled in for £280 now or a PS3 with a game bundled and 2 controllers for £300.
I don't think therefore that the Wii is doing well because it's cheap unless people really are failing to realise the total cost of the Wii but because it is different, because it is a social phenomenon, I realised pretty early on that the Wii was going to end up costing me more in terms of hardware than my 360, but it didn't deter me because the concept of it interested me and because the 360 and PS3 just didn't have the same selection and same amount of fun party games for when friends are over that the Wii did.
Where are the $10 games for ANY console, new on the shelf?
My wife was recently in a town near Tokyo - the local grocery/superstore has Wiis stocked to the ceilings for about $240 each.
This is Nintendo controlling the marketplace, possibly in co-horts with some of the major retailers to allow them to forced-bundle. It also creates massive demand as people buy it BECAUSE it's rare if they happen to see one in stock somewhere. Add to that the flippers and you've got a massive increase in basic sales.
This is Nintendo controlling the marketplace.
Actually a 360 is pretty much an overclocked Gamecube and shares more arcitectural similarities with the Wii than it does to the Original X-box. The Gamecube and Wii are both PowerPC systems with an ATI GPU ... The 360 is a PowerPC system with an ATI GPU. It has a higher clock speed and more RAM, but it really is in the same family.
Ah, somebody who hasn't been able to find a Wii for sale.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Yes, but iis there anyone from Miissiissiippii?
I am actually selling a Wii on ebay. But it's not me scalping.
I received a free Wii when I bought a Netgear ReadyNAS. It just arrived last week after a 3 month delay. I really want an Xbox 360. So with the Wii's sold out, I decided to sell it and see if I can get enough $$$ to buy an Xbox 360.
Am I evil? No...but heck, I can always pick up a Wii for $250 in a few months. If I can get an Xbox 360 from my free Wii. More power to me... *lol*
### The simple fact that the PS3 and X360 have some form of backward compatibility means the architechture ISNT completely new.
The PS3 currently has no PS2 backward compability to the PS2, the earlier models that had them, had them because they had additional PS2 parts in them, Sony striped them for cost reduction. Maybe they'll add software emulation later on, we have to wait and see.
XBox360 compatibilty work is software emulation that doesn't work for half the games. Beside, it should be rather clear that going from a single core x86 CPU to a tri-core PPC CPU is a switch of architecture.
### It's common sense
Might be, that doesn't make it right. Backward compability in most cases works by simply keeping the old console around in addition to the new stuff, not by not switching the architecture (see Gameboy to GameboyAdvance or PSone to PS2 or PS2 to PS3). Only cases where the architecture stayed the same that spring to mind are Gameboy->GameboyColor and Gamecube->Wii.
### but it all comes down to market share,
When you are a stock holder maybe, when you are a gamer it comes down to games and nothing else.
Nintendo has marketed the Wii straight into a niche, for sure its a pretty huge niche, which is good for Nintendo, but it also means that the games coming to the Wii will be those that fit into that niche. Not good when you expect a more 'classic' selection of console games.
"Backward compability in most cases works by simply keeping the old console around in addition to the new stuff, not by not switching the architecture"
Keeping the old stuff around is, by definition, not completely switching the architechture. The wii has gamecube parts, plus new stuff, just like the GBA has gameboy parts, plus new stuff.
"...when you are a gamer it comes down to games and nothing else"
That right there is a sad misinterpretation of the truth. Too many gamers have too much respect for hardware, and the games themselves mean very little. Look at the pre-release hype that surrounded the PS3. It wasn't about MGS4 or the next Final Fantasy. It was about the unprecedented graphics and hardware. If it was all about the games, we'd see more innovation, and less recycling of formulas that worked well before. When I said it was about market share, I meant from a business standpoint, i.e. to Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.
I got a Wii the day it came out. Don't be jealous, though, because it was a lot of waiting, patience, and phone calls. I made 2 calls per week to the local EB Games until I finally found out when the store was open for reservations. I waited 3 hours to get reservations when the store opened up on a Friday in October/late September. I was the first one to get a Wii reservation at that particular store. And the amazing thing is... I think I went through less work to get my Wii than most people have to go through these days. Then again, since I follow the game industry closely, I had the advantage. I knew what a Wii was since it was codenamed "Revolution" in 2005.
I see all these parents buying a Wii for their kids and I feel almost the same way I did when I saw the same parents buying Pokemon cards for their kids (or possibly the Wii-wanters' elder brothers and sisters), except a little less cynical: they'll do anything for their kids just to make them smile, and while I do give them credit for that, there's so much aggression in their pursuit of the Wii that I just wish some of these parents would draw the line. Christmas becomes more stressful when you've got an objective like Christmas shopping and a deadline like Christmas day, and it seems more and more to me that consumerism is just... Look, consumerism is ok. In moderation. It's just that... If the kid doesn't get a Wii for Christmas, is he going to cry? Probably, and nobody wants to see their children cry, but the kid has to learn how to deal with disappointment at some point in their lifetime. If they learn to deal with it they mature into better adults because of it.
And I know this next bit went for me as well: it's keeping up with Junior Jones. Essentially, if all your friends have it, you want it. If all your friends want it, you have to have it. For children, however, it isn't about one-upmanship as much as it is having stuff to play with. It might be the case with some kids, but... I don't know. I'm not a parent, but if I were... if I couldn't get my kids the presents that they wanted, I would like to sit them down on my lap and tell them why. Totally naive and idealistic, isn't it? But you never know until you try...
### Keeping the old stuff around is, by definition, not completely switching the architechture.
Bullshit. In the case of the PS3, the PS2 stuff had nothing to do with anything the PS3 does, which is why they simply could rip it out completly without changing anything on the PS3 software side. The PS2 parts never were used for anything in PS3 games. Same with the GameboyMicro or NintendoDS, they simply could rip out the Z80 CPU, because it was used for nothing else then playing old Gameboy games.
### The wii has gamecube parts,
With the Wii its very different. The Wii consists of the same architecture as the Gamecube, they increased the clockspeed and added some RAM. If the Wii runs a Gamecube game, the clock speed is simply reduced to Gamecube level. But its the same CPU that runs Gamecube as well as the Wii games. And they also only increased RAM and clock by a factor around 2x, which isn't all that much for a five year jump in technology.
### Too many gamers have too much respect for hardware, and the games themselves mean very little.
Hardware, especially in consoles, always had great impact on which games you would get. You needed an N64 to play Mario64 and you did need an SNES to play Starfox, it just wouldn't have worked on an earlier console. Same is true this generation as well, lighting, physics engine, AI and such will change the games, but because the Wii just doesn't have enough power it can't follow some of the coming innovations. It of course might produce some of its own, sure, but it simply is in a completly different area then PS3 or XBox360.
MS Arcade bundle is only $279 - comes with the hd cable (all 360s do) and the 360 wireless controllers are msrp of $50 not $60
Wii doesn't look so cheap now does it? Wii doesn't come with a component cable - so the Wii and 360 arcade bundle are the same price...
It's a video game toy. Go outside and play.
I highly doubt that it's a ploy orchestrated by Nintendo. I work at a Best Buy and last week we got a shipment of 63 Wii's that were supposed to last us 2/3 weeks. They lasted 15 minutes. The thing of it is retail stores get shipments randomly from Nintendo. We never have any idea when or how many Wii's we'll be getting for the coming weeks. It's not that they're shorting you, it's just that the demand is still that high.
Elder daughter wants Guitar Hero III for the Wii for Christmas. Six friggin' stores.. not one copy in stock, and they won't let you reserve a copy either. I'll be haunting the stores for the next two weeks, hoping to get lucky.
What was once true, is no longer so
The simple fact that the PS3 and X360 have some form of backward compatibility means the architechture ISNT completely new.
Both PS3 and Xbox 360 do backwards-compatibility via software emulation. The architecture is "completely new," at least as much completely new as any console is over the last generation.
Early versions of the PS3 had backwards-compatibility via hardware, but they ditched that feature when they realized: 1) it made their console even more expensive to make, 2) the software emulator was covering 90%+ of games. The PS2 hardware components inside the PS3 were completely useless to the rest of the console when used on PS3 games, unlike the PS2's re-using of the PS1 CPU. (Note: I don't own a PS3, so I'm not really qualified to speak to this, but that's my impression given the articles I've read.)
The Xbox 360 has been software emulation from day one, and their emulator isn't nearly as good as Sony's. (You can't really blame them since Xbox games are so much more sophisticated than PS2 games, and Sony's console has more CPU power.)
Yeah, the wii has backward compatibility too, but they don't aim their marketing campaign at tech-savvy people who care about hardware as much as you do.
The Wii has backwards-compatibility because it's an overclocked Gamecube. I'm not passing a value judgement on that, it's just a pretty accurate summary of what the Wii is. Note, to read Gamecube disks, they needed to install a DVD player that was capable of spinning backwards to read the goofy small Gamecube disks.
Comment of the year
Actually, no. The Arcade bundle comes with a composite cable, just like the Wii.
It also only includes a 256MB memory card, compared with 512MB built in to the Wii. If you want more you need to buy the hard drive or another (overpriced, proprietary) memory card. Looking on Amazon the cards run $35 for 512MB, while the Wii will take bog standard SD cards (about $10 for 2GB).
And the Wii also includes wireless networking out of the box instead of requiring a $100 adapter.
That being said, it's still a good price. Definitely an attractive option if you're looking for an HD gaming option.
I signed up for one of the free Wii watcher services online. I had email sent to my email account and my cell phone. About 2 days later I got my first notification that Amazon had the Wii console in stock at $249. I went online and bought one. It was delivered this week. While there is a shortage at retail outlets, it's an artificial shortage being driven by people trying to make a buck off of it. Of course, at some point supply will exceed demand and these entrepreneurs will be left holding stock. Then you are going to see a glut on eBay and the prices will drop. David
Hmm...
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
I should've snapped a picture the on friday, when I was in my local electronics store, and a good pile of Wii boxes were sitting right there, waiting for buyers.
In other words: Just because the media write about it doesn't mean it's true.
Or maybe it's because I'm in Europe and for some reason logistics and the supply chain work better here. I doubt that, though, given how much we've all become alike in those regards. Same companies running the same business using the same software to decide how much to ship where.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I bought a wii like a month ago for Super Mario Galaxy and it just collects dust.
Does anyone make use of this system? Most everyone I know does not play their's any more.
"Huge niche" is an oxymoron. The fact of the matter is that Nintendo is marketing the Wii to casual gamers with mainstream tastes, and creating a system everyone of every age and gender wants to play. By comparison, stuff like BioShock and Halo 3 is... well, niche. Though I'm sure you'd consider them huge niches.
Here in France we can find the Wii without any difficulty.
As we all know the dollar is particulary weak and/or the Euro is particulary strong.
The Wii is sold 250 inc. V.A.T. = 209 exc. V.A.T. which translates to 306 $.
Perhaps Nintendo prefers to sell the same thing for 55 $ more and accordingly prioritizes shipments to Europe.
Ouch
I would say that this is definitely not a conspiracy, whatever other causes may be out there. Restricting Wii's would be a good marketing idea, except when just before Christmas. The smarter idea would have been to start this a few months back, and begin to release them at Christmas shopping, close to Christmas day. Nintendo is not stupid. I doubt that they planned such a flawed system. The blame must be placed elsewhere, such as factories not producing enough fast enough. Even this is no cause to be upset. Just wait!
Did you check again the day after? I'll bet you anything they're gone.
I've checked quite a few stores around the lower mainland and nobody has them in stock.
80% of the appeal of the Wii is wanting something you cannot have. Once you get one you realize there is really nothing to it other than the Wii-mote and after awhile it feels like a gimmick. Just get a gamecube or a playstation 2 and open yourself to about a zillion $20 games.
No? Didn't think so. You wouldn't know an innovative and fun game if it came to your room and gave you a blowjob. For the record, Psychonauts is available for $15 on XBox Live. Go download it and ponder with sadness how a game like this was anything but a smashing success. I like to blame people like the OP for this.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Try going to a different area. A very different area, more farming then city. The game stop by my parents has like 20 Wiis (as of Thanksgiving with an order in for 100 more so the store manager says) He thinks he will sell them to people visiting over the holidays. If not He'll send them to a different store. The area is not a well off area. It is safe (no daily shooting) just very few BMWs and other high end cars. Most of the people around there work in the farming (chicken/corn/potatoes/ a few others things) industry. While they are paying their bills and many do have the extra money to spend on a video game, they do not. More hunting and fishing the playing video games. Maybe a 2-3 hour drive will get you that Wii at regular store price. I did ask if the store if they might sell them online. They said no, I still think they are going to though.
I swear this is the biggest straw man I've ever read. You compare an 11M person country that was behind scientifically when Castro took over to a highly educated nation with a population 30 times the size, and blame their relative lack of progress on their economic system. Bravo! That must be it!
If one wanted to compare a command economic system with a capitalist one, why not do so in the same country? The US, as history tells us, largely functioned on the basis of a command economy during the last World War (ration cards, heavy gov't R&D funding, etc). With major inventions like general purpose computers, the atomic bomb, and radar all being invented within 5ish years (through gov't funded programs like the Manhattan Project -- and cooperation with the command economy of Britain), I'd say command economies don't do so badly -- with the right commander. We can compare that with the period before, and even with many of the young would-be inventors fighting, I'd say you'd come out ahead.
If I wanted to straw man you of course, I could compare the Soviet Union to the UAE or some other sufficiently small country....
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Conspiracy indeed. Only morons would think that Nintendo will intentionally keep the Wii in short supply for a whole year. Not in a Business like the Console Business, where more sales only make your product more attractive; the more Wiis Nintendo sells, the more third-party games they get, the more people want to buy Wiis. Intentionally keeping supply short would be the dumbest thing anyone could possibly do in Nintendo's position.
Since this happens to be what I want for Christmas, I hope they work it out, or my loving wife has already found one.Nintendo has already announced that even with increased production (1.8 million Wiis per month), they will not be able to satisfy demand during Christmas; which isn't surprising, considering they haven't been able to satisfy demand in the US all year.
You only need to play a few rounds of offline multiplayer Mario Kart 64, and then a few online rounds of Mario Kart DS to figure out that, indeed, he is crazy.
Online gaming can never be a replacement for offline multiplayer gaming.
I realize this is totally anecdotal evidence, but the Wii shortage only seems to be happening in North America. My friends and business acquaintances in Europe, the UK, Australia all say that getting a Wii isn't a problem. I've also seen stories that it's not that hard to get one in Japan as well. So, this seems to be an issue of allocation as much as shortage.
Buy a PS2 and pick up anything by the following two publishers: NIS and Atlus.
Agreed, except for the NIS part... after Disgaea, they just keep churning out really BAD tactical RPGs (Phantom Brave is the worst)Hey, I found a chess site where you can win a wii!
http://chesspark.com/