Nintendo Already Anticipating Holiday Wii Shortages

As we approach the holiday season, Nintendo has already said that they don't expect to keep up with demand for the Wii console. In an interview with the LA Times, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime said they're ramping up production by 33% already, with further increases planned. They're hoping to avoid the scarcity of Wii's that occurred last year, which cost them a great deal of money in potential sales. "We're now producing 2.4 million units a month worldwide. Last year, we made 1.6 million a month. So we've made a 33% increase. One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that's three months of production. We're producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand."

Comments

Re:In other news...

[zerocool^]

I dunno, I think as more people get high def TV's, there's going to be less demand for the Wii.

Case in point:
A year ago, I *really* wanted a wii. Like, had to have. Couldn't find one.

Now, I have a high def TV, and find myself much more interested in something that doesn't just push 480p.

There's a lot good to say about the wii, but it's 2 years old now, and people are starting to see some issues with it, like:
* the lack of high-def output 2 years ago was not really that big a deal, and I'm the first to say that graphics aren't everything, but in 2008, and edging into 2009, a console that can't even output 720p or use HDMI just looks lazy.
* the fact that it's grossly underpowered for some games. Don't believe me? Play mario kart with 4 people, and watch the massive decrease in visual quality and frame rate. Look at Zelda for the wii, and realize that the exact same game came out simultaneously for the gamecube. Then you really start to get the idea that the Wii is just a Gamecube with a neat trick. Which makes it an 8 year old console, really.
* the fact that there have been essentially no killer titles out in months for the thing. While xbox360 and PS3 continue to have blockbuster games come out, the last "must have" for the Wii was either Mario Kart or Smash Bros. Brawl, and those were over the summer. Before that, it was Metroid, what was way earlier. All in all there's a lot of "fun games" for the wii, but killer titles? Not many.

I'm kinda Meh on the wii right now. A playstation3 looks awfully good, especially with blu-ray movie releases ramping up, and little big planet coming out soon...

~X

Re:In other news...

[theaveng]

Sony was able to meet the demand, and manufacture over 100 million PS2s during the previous generation. Likewise Nintendo was able to keep-up with demand for its Super Nintendo when it sold 50 million between 1991 and 1996.

I don't understand why Nintendo can not do the same with its Wii console. Could it be that Nintendo is purposely not expanding manufacturing lines, in order to create a deliberate shortage on the market? Hmmmm. I'm not sure why they'd want to do that, except possibly to inflate the retail price $50 above actual cost of manufacture.

(shrug)

I'll do the same thing I did last-gen. I'll buy whichever is the most-popular console when it hits $199. And I'll buy the Nintendo Wii if it's either $100 flat or $150 with a free game. (Last time I got a Cube for just $100 + a free Zelda NES/N64 Collection. Sweet deal.)