Why has the argument that Nintendo makes quality products and this is why they aren't manufacturing enough units not been spoken against? Why in all hell does lower production numbers have to = higher quality. That's complete bollocks. The reason for the number of units currently on the market is because of the financial forecast that Nintendo made in I think December last year (you can read this all here http://press.nintendo.com/docs/corporate/3QEnglishFinancial.pdf) about the fact that they plan on shipping 6 million units to the market by the end of the 1st quarter 2007 (the Japanese Financial Year ends at the end of March). At the moment according to sales on this site they have already surpassed this, so production is already much higher than it should be, especially with the sales in NA for March being excluded from this information. This is good news for Nintendo. After this date, Nintendo will officially be raising Wii production capacity, and thus if the demand continues then the numbers will continue to rise. Does this mean that after the end of March the Wii will no longer be a 'quality' product? No way in hell, they are just increasing capacity as I am sure they will increase their forecast for the next quarter after this date, and the increased production capacity will be relevant to this. Nintendo is also producing the DS Lite currently which is supply constrained across the globe as well, especially in Japan. Sell-in seems to equal sell-thru in Japan currently, that's why you see such high numbers week on week. The argument about Sony being able to increase production capacity is also false. Sony did not increase their manufacturing capacity when the availability of the product was low. Their production capacity was at a set level and the reason for the limited supply was a result of problems with yield quality for the Blue Ray Laser Diode. The PS3 manufacturing plant was waiting to put these parts into the PS3's but if you don't have all the parts of a piece of hardware then you can't build it. Once the initial problems with the Blue Ray Laser Diode were rectified then the PS3 production could go full steam ahead, which was also projected at 6 million by the end of the Japanese financial year (end of March). Thus, both companies seem to be operating on similar forecasts, however it is painstakingly clear that Nintendo has the advantage, and will likely have sold 2x the PS3 within this period, with both companies forecasting the same sales numbers. In the end it comes down to this - Nintendo is currently in the lead and I believe they will continue this year with high demand with increasing supply. I don't believe that Wii will be readily available by this Chrismas. And Soulxxx / Kwaad I simply cannot wait to shut you down when you witness the NA figures for March and you're predictions turn out to be incorrect.
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