@parokki

How hard is it for you to believe that they arent stock piling.

@John lucas....500 million lifetime is just plainly ridiculous. It wont sell 4 times more than the PS2. Thats just impossible because the Wiiisnt anything like as dominant, especially in the USA. As for selling 40 million next year, thats not as crazy, but lets get some perspective, the Wii has sold 14 million as of year 1 and will probably end between 16-17. There are only so many humans capable and willing of playing games consoles, it would be a good result to keep the current year 1 pace up, because the other 2 rivals arnt dead yet and Sony will throw billions at the PS3 to keep it alive.

I'm sorry. I just get carried away sometimes.

Want me to become a bizarro-world John Lucas and argue your points Devil's Advocate style?

Walls of text are cool aren't they? Nothing finer.

John Lucas 

Like Jesse say GhaudePhaede010, Keep Hope Alive.

It's gonna happen. Trust.

John Lucas 

Arrgh leo!!

<Shams bangs head against desk repeatedly>

Here we go again...

There is definitive proof of stockpiling - and its actually incredibly obvious. Do you understand how factories work? They ALWAYS produce units at the same, constant rate - its (generally) too expensive to turn them off. Its also impossible to just magically boost sales for Xmas - it just never happens. Yet Xmas sales are ALWAYS higher.

Have a look at this chart:

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php

See how Wii sales have been averaging around 1.2m / month (250k/week) for months? See how there is a dip before the recent peak? Do you really think this is factory related activity? God no. 

Nintendo are definitely stockpiling - absolutely, zero-percent chance of error, no doubt. 

The only question is - by how much? 

...

If you don't wan't to believe facts - then so be it - there is no point discussing this with you.

As for not being the top-seller this Xmas - the only competition the Wii has - is the DS. Look at the current weekly sales - what do you think will outsell the Wii? The 360? The PSP? The PS3? 

As much as I WANT the Wii to sell more than the PS2 sold worldwide and as much as the Wii NEEDS to sell more than the PS2, I hardly doubt another console will sell as much as the PS2 did in its period that it sold.

Over 120 million sold since 2000 and STILL going strong (probably stronger than its successor as of right now!!!) Now that's a strong console.

I think the Wii is at a slight disadvantage when trying to match up to the sales of the PS2, on two counts

Redesign features and resiliency of the console.

I can't say I experienced first hand, but I've heard that the PS2 broke down fairly frequently at one point. I've never heard of any nintendo product having that trouble, so while some people may have bought a second or 3rd system to replace a broken one, I don't see this happening for teh Wii too frequently. (yes, I realize this probably isn't THAT massive of a change in units sold, but it probably accounted for quite a few)

Also, teh PS2 was redesigned about 3 or 4 different times. It started out pretty big and clunky and slimmed down considerably in terms of size and price. I think this probably accounted for a numerous number of 2nd or 3rd consoles being bought, many of these probably overlap the ones bought because of a console breaking down though)

I don't see what Nintendo can really do to redesign the Wii other than to start introducing the colored systems. Unless they add DVD playability, but from what I hear, that can be done via a firmware update, once nintendo gets the rights to use the codecs, so no need to redesign the console. Still, the different colors have been much clamored for, and may actually push a number of second units to people.

It would be nice if we could actually figure out what the specific userbase was for all teh systems though.

Nintendo can do a lot to introduce remodels. They can up the internal flash, add a built-in HDD, add HD (and continue the brand a-la GB Color), change the colors, get DVD playback capabilities, slim the console down even further, and god knows what else that I couldn't begin to think of. There is no limit to what they can actually do to get people to re-buy, and that's exactly what they are going to do.

And Leo, I'm sorry, but you're just out and out daft if you honestly believe Nintendo isn't stockpiling and that they are suddenly going to fall off next year. The chances of either being true are infinitesimal.

 Nintendo is trying to keep things simple.  And by simple I mean by not having several different versions of the Wii out there to confuse first time buyers/consumers.  Sure you get a choice on what you think would be better for you to have or what not but if you were a first time buyer, got reinterested in video games and the Wi, would you want to to have to choose what's better or just buy right then and play.  Just look at what Sony did to the PS3 with all those bundles/SKUs, etc.

No need for probably, the PS2 IS the 2nd biggest selling console in the last 12 months. I wonder if it will be the 2nd biggest in the NEXT 12 months. I wouldnt be suprised.