Even if Nintendo had nothing to do with the fact that there were shortages of the Wii during Christmas '06 and Christmas '07 (I suspect they had more to do with it in '07 than '06), a shortage of Wiis on the market during those times would have heightened demand for the Wii because it is a basic psychological trait of humans that they tend to want what they can't have. And anybody that saw how sales bloomed for the 360 during Christmas '05 when 360s were going for $3,000.00 on ebay would have been tempted to try to market their console in much the same way.
Now, Sony didn't do that because they were thinking it's the Plystation 3, it well sell megatons. Nintendo might not have had anything to do with it, it could have been clerks at Game Stores getting Wii's buying them with their company discounts then turning around and selling them for two to three times what they paid for them on ebay, the perceived shortage combined with press reports still resulted in heightened demand for the console. Christmas '08 sales can be explained by what people wanted finally being available in stores in larger amounts, but this could also lead to a cooling off period for Wii sales unless more must have games are soon released.
If the Wii's Christmas '09 lineup of games is perceived to be as weak as its Christmas '08 lineup, then the Wii won't sell as many consoles next holiday season as it did this past one.
Heavens to Murgatoids.
