It is possible that demand will stay close to the holiday crunch for a few months, especially if the stores are sold out - much like last year, if the 'word of mouth' praise for the controller goes as it did last year, with more consoles on Christmas being played than last year (remember, families get together and test out a console since last year, and Wii seems to be way more appealing than others), demand could spike actually higher than in December... or at least LONG TERM demand.

Looks like I'm going to be the JL in this group.

Wii demand will INCREASE after Christmas. Why? Two reasons:

1) As Happy Squirrel noted, Wii will be introduce to even more people via Christmas get-togethers and they'll want to get Wii's of their own. Just like last year except compounded by the much larger # of Wii's out there now.

2) Wii Fit will tap into the always huge and ridiculous 'I'm going to get fit this year' resolutions of North Americans who have tried gyms, fitness machines, diet pills and will see this as something fun, simply, relatively inexpensive and might actually work (or at least be fun and easy to stick too). This will bring a entire new market to the Wii on top of those already still trying to get one and those noted in #1. I think Wii Fit may be a fad, but it'll be a 6-18 month fad.

At the same time Japan gets SSBB. Then in NA SSBB comes around in Feb, and then Core gamers will be added to the mix looking to get into that action. A month or two after that all markets get Mario Kart which appeals to everyone and that'll keep Wii's scarce.

Wii Fit and continued Wii storages will only spur more mainstream media coverage and the perception that the Wii is a 'must have' item will continue to permeate the mainstream consumer crowds mind.

Beyond that little is announced but we have Animal Crossing - huge with everyone, possibly Kirby, Pikmen, Wii Music, and ever increasing 3rd party support.

'08 Wii sales will easily eclipse '07.

Agreed, people who think that next year will be slower than this year, either have no knowledge of history, are nintendo hating fanboys or are just of low intellect (reading some of the posts I believe it is the latter), why would a console slow down in year two if it has a deeper library and is the leading WW console, it has never happened before.

No to the subject question.

1. Will this 1.8 million production rate continue after the holidays? It should until they can meet demand.

2. If it does, will that be enough to satisfy the non-holiday demand (Jan-Oct 2008)? (remember Nintendo WAS producing 1 million/month, and selling out in many places still).  Hopefully

3. How about the 360/PS3? Will their current price cuts help them (mostly 360) keep up with the Wii sales? The 360 is doing a fine job so far this holiday season, but can it continue.  Should continue to do very well along though not as good as the Wii.

'08 Sales will be higer than 07. I am guessing that they will make about 22 million Wii next year and all will sell.

Now for January I think the numbers will drop. They may not have stockpiled but they will take some of the slack out of the system for the holidays. I am guessing that Wii normally take a month or two to land in stores from the factory but in December they will be drop-kicking those things out the door in days. Consequently that plus the already mentioned SSBB and after holdiay shoppers will keep it sold out through March.

Remember that Wii supplies tighted up in March 07 when Nintendo passed their sales goal so I imagine it will be the same this year to give them extra units for Mario Kart.

Animal Crossing will not be out this year. Lots of good stuff like WiiMusic is.

For all of those thinking it will slow down, why? Even if you don't like it, what is different than Cristmas last year except there are more good games and less gimmick?

The Wii is not competing with the 360 or PS3 right now. It is in a class by itself. I am guessing far more people who fail to find a Wii are turning to the DS rather than the traditional systems. I think if Nintendo is facing any competition right now it is from itself and not Sony or MS.

I think they'll be able to keep up production for the forseeable future. We'll have to see how wii fit goes, but with mario kart, ssbm etc coming I think the wii's going to become more appealing to hardcore gamers, as well as continuing to appeal to casuals outside the usual population segments.

 The first Buzz was released over a year before the Wii.

 No, no, it's just that some folks in here tend to attack the poster rather than the post.  Especially if its not pro-Nintendo, but I'm sure everyone is aware of this.

EDIT: Actually Buzz is new in N.A. There does appear to be a 2007 Movie Edition, a 2005 Music,  & a 2006 Sports version only in Europe. But we have not had any Buzz titles in N.A. until October 2007.

Before the Wii I was (am) really the only hardcore gamer at my home, though my kids did play a few casual games like Mario Party & Mario Kart on occasion, and FX-Zero as well as a few PS2 racing games, but not much more than that. When we had company over we normally played board games, but now our friends who would have never have played video games will come over asking to play (I'm mostly speaking of the wives in this case). Most of our friends do not yet have Wii's, but almost all of them want them. And not just friends with kids. They don't have them only because they can't find them, and they won't wait in line at 5 am to get one.

BTW, my kids are now playing Zelda, We Love Katamari, SMG, GT4, Guitar Heros, Kindom Hearts, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, etc. So they are still basically pretty casual, but they have MUCH more interest in games now, they even know when SSSB & Wii Fit are being released, and have been talking about 360 games as of late too (Scene-It, Rock Band, Viva Pinata).

And they all want a DS, we are going from a 1 to a 3 DS family by Christmas. And I think I'm going to be forced to buy Singstar as well :(

Anyway, I think all the systems will benefit from N's expanding the market, and all will increase sales in '08. Including Wii.

Do you think handhelds will continue to increase as well?

Maybe it's just been released in the US. I think there have been 6 Buzz games in Europe, all with buzzers. Junior buzz, Hollywood buzz...anyway, I think your point on Wii expanding the market might make sense in the US. In Europe, PS2 has been the casual console, with every Buzz and Singstar high on the charts.

Last year, I got a Xbox (got it cheap, traded it for a low-end S754 motherboard) hoping to get some casual games. Not much luck, now it's used 95% for playing movies and 5% for playing light RPGs and Top Spin.