First, I'd like to apologize for bumping an old thread even though it's only a couple weeks old and not months/year old threads that I so dread being necrobumped. Anyway, with the recent release of NPD numbers it was fun to see some of the meltdowns at neogaf. Of course I didn't read the whole thread, but one particular "arguement" that I saw was that the Wii only sells due to the hype caused by its constant shortages. In other words if they would increase production to the point that a Wii would be readily available everywhere than it would slow down in sales.
Now I'm pretty sure a slow down in sales would lead to stock being left on shelves, but I'm not trying to counter that point. What gets me is the claim that Nintendo is creating an artificial shortage and isn't doing everything they can to meet the demand. Of course this is something forum regulars are used to hearing for about 15 months now.
I know Stever89 and Viper1 already touched on it, but I was curious as to some actual figures for the previous "fastest selling home console," the PS2. So I took a look at http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps2_e.html and turned it into the following table. Note that this is Produced numbers(as in from the factory) not Shipped numbers(as in to retail), so there is no data past March of '07 but it's pretty safe to say that numbers are lower now than at the peak. Also note that 2000 only contains 1 month for Q1 and 10 months for the year, although it's quite obvious that units were produced before they went on sale.
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Nintendo's current rate of production is higher than all but 7 of the PS2's quarters, and as far as Jan-March goes only once was PS2 produced at a higher rate. If ramping goes according to schedule and the rate is increased to 2.4M a month, than Nintendo's average for the year will be at least 2.1M a month which is higher than any year for the PS2.
