The Wii perfect storm continues. The OP was right in a sense that the huge Wii demand is not about SMG. But the OP is wrong because SMG is why the sellout happened when it did. SMG going on sale has ushered in the first serious promotional campaign since launch ast year. I am sure teh recent release of Metroid shorted a few stores but without SMG there would have been plenty of Wiis(At least for another week or so)

A year ago I never would have imagined 6-8 million Wiis not being enough for Christmas. Heck if they had dropped all of those for the Galaxy launch I don't know if it would have made it to December.

I can think of a few people who'll be pretty bummed to read about this...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/11/18/cnwii118.xml

"Retailers have admitted that they will be unable to cope with unprecedented demand for Nintendo Wii consoles this Christmas, as appetite for the video games continues to grow.

New stocks are selling out within hours of delivery, websites are crashing and some online "clearing houses" - which alert shoppers to the whereabouts of new stock - are being contacted by 100,000 people a day."

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1819102007

"Reports this week suggested parents were resorting to bribery, emotional blackmail and paying hugely inflated prices to try to get their hands on a game - and this five weeks ahead of December 25. Some are camping outside shops in sub-zero temperatures on rumours that new supplies are expected the next day.

My own search continued at Game Station, where I smiled politely as a nice man informed me that they had just sold the last of their latest delivery and could not guarantee they would get any more before Christmas. After similar, spirit-crushing knockbacks from Currys, Game, PC World, HMV, Toys "R" Us, Virgin, John Lewis and Comet, my smile vanished."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7090000/newsid_7098500/7098525.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1 

A [HMV] spokesman said the demand for Wii hardware globally has been unprecedented, and higher than Nintendo could ever have anticipated."

Oh I doubt that.

And I will not be surprised if they sell 400K this week.

Wii has been sold out since the end of October. I dont think its SMG, its just typical UK panic buying for xmas

@ konnichiwa

yes and i enjoy a bit of stout from time to time as well :).


@NJ5

I suppose you are right, I am making an assumption, but i think it is hard to argue that mario is at least a factor in the recent shortage of wiis, The game is underpinning all of the advertisment at the moment.

@Danny355,

I was in stores during the first week of november and wii's were clearly in stock here in ireland at least, though i am not a uk resident so i am sure you are correct,


If anyone wants any evidence Game.co.uk, and smyths.ie, along with argos.ie or argos.co.uk. I also rang gamestop and they said that they were sold out all over the country.

 So do women not buy anything in Poland for their children (the other two markets the Wii targets)?