ckmlb, I'd rather there be Wiis at the holidays so everyone who wants Mario and SSBB can pick it up.

Even Sony says they are stockpiling for the holidays, and they have a ton of inventory already. The fact of the matter is that the holidays are by far the most important time of the year to sell. Nobody is going to remember if you had a slight shortfall in the summer, but if you lose the holidays, you get crucified.

Nintendo actually has a production estimate roughly 5 million higher than Sony by the end of the year. What Playstation fans fail to understand is that Nintendo is making and shipping just as many as Sony is right now, but the demand for the console is staggering. Sony's consoles are sitting onthe shelves because the demand isn't as high, if the demand for the PS3 was as high as that of the Wii. Playstations wouldn't be a dime a dozen in the stores either.

The fact that Nintendo is stock piling shows that they do have the consumers interest at heart. If they shipped every console they were making right now, they would sell out and then the company would be in short supply over the Holidays. By making sure there are more consoles in stores for Christmas they garuntee that more people will be able to get one in their homes.

I personally don't see demand slowing down signifigantly for quite sometime, no matter how many Wiis end up in stores.

 I've said this before and I stand by it:  "It is a simple fact that Nintendo is going to need extra Wiis for the holiday season or there will be riots in front of Gamestop. Those Wiis aren't going to magically appear, they're going to be pulled out of whatever secret bunker Nintendo has labeled 'Do not open till Xmas'."

Honestly, ckmlb, answer me this: do you know anyone who wants one that badly and still doesn't have one? People who really want one, badly enough to "go to incredible lengths to get one", already have one. I mean, does it really take much more than going to a store late Sunday morning around where you live to snatch one? They're not that unavailable.

This may be one of the best posts I have ever read on here.  Kudos for the good humor. :D

What? You know they are releasing Galaxy and Smash later this year and that + the holidays is going to have even MORE people out to find the console. Why are you acting like holding back some units to try and satisfy that deman then rather than spreading those units out across the year is any worse? I really dont understand what your point is. In the end they are stil going to have those same number of units in retail this year, why is it "bad for the consumer" if they decide to release a bulk of that years allocation during the time where the demand will be at its peak?

Your gonna have to explain that one. It would only make sense if they were hording the consoles with no intent to release them, THAT would be screwing over the customers. But thats not the case, they are holding the consoles with full intent to release them, just during the peak of demand.

1. The quote is by no means actual evidence though it's almost a guarantee they are since that is a very common business practice.

2. It's a very smart business decision and one that is used throughout almost every industry on the planet.

3. The holiday quarter is vastly more important than any other quarter of the year. Half of all systems will be sold in a year will be sold in that quarter. The consumer attention, the media attention, the developer/publisher attention, etc....is all heightened during that quarter. Plain and simply you want to put on your best show and stockpiling consoles is done by all 3 companies.

Becuase, SURPRISE, it is good buisness practice. When your having problems keeping up supply becuase they go off the shelf, then you need to hold some back. If you are supply contricted at CHRISTMAS, then your pretty muched eff. It may hurt the consumer, but it will hurt Nintendo more if they don't stockpile.

Even if Nintendo wasn't stockpiling, they still would not be able to meet demand. Not consumers STILL have to go to great lenght to get one and Nintendo doesn't have the supply when they would sell the most.

As a Nintendo stock holder, I have no problem with this. I believe Nintendo is going with enough saturation to keep the thirst for the Wiis. And since the holiday season is usually the most important for BUSINESSES it is important to have supply come the holidays.