After reading this i think its true that Nintendo is not represented that well here in NZ. I myself have trouble promoting there brand since advertising is poor only because we have none. Its the school holidays here in nz and i have recieved heaps of advertising for Xbox360 since  the price has dropped and Sony always pays for advertising in our store and are always well represented. After learning that our company wouldnt be recieveing nintendo stock for a while since the distributor went out of business customers were quite angry because we honestly out of stock. We never got mario kat because of the reason Softprint the distributor went kaput. The only store in Nz to get Mario Kart was EB games. They got there stock directly from Australia. Now i for as a gamer and a old Nintendo/ Sega fan are quite dissappointed by this. Sony and Microsoft deserve to win if nintendo doesnt do anything. We have alot of Wii gamers in NZ. I just hope the situation gets better. The Ds is doing fine and pretty much rapes the psp (No Offense) but the wii is digging its on grave. Here is some insight on the situation from a Online game distributor that also mentions VG Charts.

http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/features/131951.20080702.Nintendo-a-lemon-in-NZ/

Nintendo's console doesn't sell well in NZ. But you're title is wrong. Nintendo isn't a lemon IN NZ, it is a lemon FOR NZ.

Think about it. Everyone in the country is buying the PS3 which will receive next to no third party support this generation as it is almost ALL going to the Wii or the Xbox 360 through Microsoft buying titles.

How pissed off would you be to be a gamer in a Sony loving country this generation (at least any country not big enough to effect global game development)?

Not at all... cause i'd still buy whatever console suited me despite what was popular in my country.

I think of New Zealand as a small country with a lot of cows... It's really far from everywhere except Australia and those little island countries around...

That's unfortunate, NZ is a great country, I know a couple of folks from there, off WoW. Wish Nintendo would treat them properly.

Don't you mean sheep? j/k

NZ is a great country, I've only been once but it was a lot of fun.

Don't joke about sheep. They get all sheepish about it.

Does it make business sense?

By shipping limited supplies of Wii there instead of the US, for example, can they profit more? (A single Wii in America would sell more software than NZ from what the OP said). By spending marketing funds there rather than the US, can they get more products sold? (No - in the US advertising only has to make aware; in NZ it would also have to convince people about something new which takes more time and effort for the same sales).

The problem for Nintendo is that NZ is too isolated and insignificant for them to even give a damn. The fact that Nintendo specialises exclusively in videogames doesn't help either. Nintendo lacks a local office here, the closest being Nintendo Australia, relying instead on third party distributors. Sony and Microsoft on the other hand with their more diverse product range have more incentive to establish themselves locally.

Bah at least we don't do sheep like you jokers across the ditch.

But yeah, NZ is too small on the world market for Ninty to care how well they are doing here.