Madden week historically has always been a bad week for Nintendo, even though things are changing a bit with Wii...but there is a fair amount of evidence historically showing that Genesis, PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and PS3 get boosts in August from Madden. I would also argue that even though the game was released on Wii its not really a "hardware mover" as it is on other platforms. Usually when rival platforms get a big mover, Nintendo counters (or tries to) - GTA was countered by Mario Kart - MGS4 was countered by Rockband.
Sure enough, Mario Sluggers is out next week as the counter-attempt and that should accompany either a boost in Wii supply, or a boost in Wii demand, and potentially both. Walmart for one is advertising Wii consoles next week, and thats a fairly rare occurence, so I'm inclined to believe there will be a pretty big shipment.
As we move from August to October, sales should improve for Wii as the software situation ramps up again. I think its fair to say mid July to mid August was the worst month for Wii game releases in the USA, so its not really surprising there has been a bit of slowdown. Wario is September, as is Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Sim City Creator, Samba De Amigo and De Blob. Thats a much more diverse lineup than in recent months. October has a new Cooking Mama (million seller on DS), and alot of sports, movie and party games for Wii, so that should be a strong expanded audience month. November is double to triple October if supply is available usually. December is usually two times November and 4 to 5 times October.
I wouldn't be surprised if August is the lowest Wii month since January this year and lowest until sometime in early 2009 (likely January again with severe shortages if supply is too low).
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
