My experience with the Wii U has been that the Deluxe Black version has definitely sold out and won't be available to pick up in stores for quite a while, but if you just want the basic version that's not as tough to get.  Out of 6 stores I tried 2 of them had a couple basic Wii Us sitting around and on the second time seeing it I flipped a coin and decided I didn't care about waiting for the nicer version that much.  Obviously this only involves some stores in Blacksburg, VA, an Air Force PX in Ohio, and my usual gamestop in Milwaukee, WI, so different regions will have different scenarios.  For all intents and purposes I'd say that for the individual trying to buy a Wii U the Black one has totally sold out, but the Basic version is possible to get randomly.  

  It's entirely possible and even probable that they are available at the local level in many locations.  That has nothing to do with online distribution centers being out of stock.  The initial supply is allocated and sent out to retail or fulfillment centers.  It's not like they're going to take them off shelves in stores and ship them back, that's a waste of resources unless it's a large quantity.  Of course, over-shipments do happen a LOT at the retail level.

When dealing with widely distributed products, "sold out" means "sold out at some sources but possibly still available at others".  The degree, of course, is highly variable.

Specialty stores like GameStop are a bit different, obviously, than somewhere like Wal-Mart or Target.

In store the black deluxe is very difficult to find. However the White can be found with only a little sleuthing.

It's a regional thing. Demand is never perfectly even in every region. Lot's of people where killing each other metaphorically for a Wii but I just wandered in my local saturn and casually grabbed one. Admittedly, it was the last one.

I think Wii U demand is about the same as the GameCube in 2001.

Nintendo probably shipped about 700-750k that November 2001 and sold 660k for its first month.

Wii was insane though, Nintendo could've easily sold 2x the 476k they sold. It wasn't just Nintendo fans trying to get one, everyone wanted one.

Well... BWAHAHAHAHA!!!


On one hand we have certain forum posters talking about the Wii U selling far below expectations, on the other hand we have Gamestop cancelling the Wii U waiting list due to "extreme demand".


I think I'll trust Gamestop on this one.

I just did a quick check of my home city London, Ontario and every Best Buy, FutureShop and EBgames store in the city has them in stock right now. The web stores are sold out but not bricks and mortar.

So there ya go. No shortage.

Based on my (horrible) experience with the accuracy of the online "yes, we have it in store!" checks done via various retailers websites they are either:

A. Mistaken.
B. More interested in getting you to the store so they'll tell you that it's in-stock only to find out, oh, no, it isn't but would you like this ornamental "So Sorry" sign you can hang around your neck with pride.

(I just ran this gauntlet for a friend who wants a deluxe with the three Targets nearest me this past Saturday, and all said they had it in-stck, in-store--guess what? *NONE* of them actually had it or had had it for days.)

this.

+1

Nah, I'd say that WiiU demand exceeds GC's launch by a fair margin.  However, I do agree that the Wii craze was certainly bigger.