I have a girlfriend who has done the retail thing for 7 years, and she observed this...
When a product is available in every shop on every corner everywhere, demand generally falls, but when the supply is just barely below demand, it keeps the demand coming.
Basically, keeping something as the "hot item" has a viral effect: people wanting it stirs other people into wanting it. Like I said, though, if you could get it anywhere, it just wouldn't have the same effect.
Now, I'm not accusing Nintendo of anything here, as I'm readily willing to believe that demand is much higher than supply, but it will benefit them greatly if supply continued to be just below demand.
"I mean, c'mon, Viva Pinata, a game with massive marketing, didn't sell worth a damn to the "sophisticated" 360 audience, despite near-universal praise--is that a sign that 360 owners are a bunch of casual ignoramuses that can't get their heads around a 'gardening' sim? Of course not. So let's please stop trying to micro-analyze one game out of hundreds and using it as the poster child for why good, non-1st party, games can't sell on Wii. (Everyone frequenting this site knows this is nonsense, and yet some of you just can't let it go because it's the only scab you have left to pick at after all your other "Wii will phail1!!1" straw men arguments have been put to the torch.)" - exindguy on Boom Blocks
