I was talking to the manager of a big local independent video store that's also a big game retailer (and he's also a big gamer), and he says his suppliers tell him flatly there are no Wiis to be had. He only found his after 3-months of constant searching (at a Wal-Mart I think). Every accessory they get in the store is gone right away. He's been getting a lot of Japanese-packaged Wiimote (why he doesn't know: is there a glut in Japan?) which are out the door as soon as they're in. Another interesting experience the same day was to go to Blockbuster thinking I'd rent the Sonic game to try it out, and every single Wii game in the store that wasn't a kids-movie-tie-in was rented out! Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?!? They'd also sold-out of the retail Sonic Ring copies.

Whoa. Weird. Wii National Availability: 15% Still going up through the week. very interesting. Did they finally pass demand?

Here in Germany the Wii sells like hot cakes and flies out off shelves everytime we get new shipments. I know 3 people (yes, 3) who want tu buy a Wii - but they can´t find one because it is still sold out in many stores. Most retailers changed their advertisment from PS2/360 to Wii and last time I went to my favourite retailer (1 week ago) they sold 5 Wii´s in half an hour (that was amazing to watch!) and when I left the shop they were out of stock again - after 12 hours or so as they told me and 10 Wii consoles they got. It is still pretty hard to find one you have to go to several stores if you really want to own a Wii. The PS3 on the other hand... I don´t know. I know 6 people who own a PS2 and all of them wanted to buy a PS3. Now nobody wants it anymore - even worse one of them bought a Wii already and one a 360 - two of them are planning to get a Wii as soon as the price drops to 199.

This is in Canada, where the Wii is doing even better than in Japan or the US: the Wii is outselling the PS3 by over 5:1! (and the 360 by over 3:1 as I recall)... and in a territory where the Nintendo was the clear third-wheel last-gen. Nintendo has a history of favouring some retailers (e.g. Toys'R'Us) so it's possible they're trying to give some select retailers enough to have them on display at least sometime.

Let´s hope so, lot of potential Wii owners are getting annoyed now at least where I live. I guess the PS3 will increase it´s Hardware sales in late 2007 here. We are not yet ready to buy HD consoles, just about 5% of german households have HDTV´s. But not because we don´t like them: If you own a HDTV you will get the same 480p as ever because just about 1 or 2 movies a week run in HDTV...

I'm starting to wonder if iTrackr just sucks. Their Wii and PS3 numbers haven't changed for days. That seems unlikely. But, even if Wii availability is at 15%, that represents 85% of stores still being sold out. That's pretty incredible, here in March.

...it's just incredible how Sony squandered their mind-share. Nintendo was totally off everyone's radar with the GameCube, and the Xbox was a Halo-cabinet. Had Sony launched something identical to either the Wii or the 360 as the next Playstation they'd be unstoppable, but the actual PS3 we have was simply designed to fail. I can't imagine what Sony was/is thinking... Almost overnight Nintendo shot from also-ran to what's on *everybodys* lips (and this goes well beyond current game-system owners). Undoubtedly one of the most flawlessly executed market coups in history.

I second that motion. I am in a large city, Tucson AZ, iTracker only lists what 3 retailers for Wii. Last month when I seriously called every damn store in town, 20+, and finally secured one with the help of a really nice ebgames manager who told me exactly, within a 1 hour window, when his delivery truck was coming with 4 wii's was I able to snag one. As for Kwaad's overall arguement, I predicted in Jan that the Wii would be sold out through Feb. I was right. I thought that by now, they would be almost readily availible in stores. I was wrong. Granted, it has only been a week, but from what I can see there has been no real decline in selling price on ebay or availibility in stores. When the PS3 started to be found in stores semi-regularly the ebay prices plunged from > $1000 to near retail. The Wii has constantly been selling $100-$150 above retail since January. I am now betting it stays sold out through March. However, I could be wrong and it could stay in constant high demand as the DS lite has.

K Wad... A saturated market means that your stores have a large amount of stock and the customers already have theirs. 15% national availablility is not a saturated market. Are you a moron? The Wii is having exactly the opposite problem that the PS3 is having. Everyone wants a Wii and has the money to spend, but they are competing for the limited number of units that are being sold. The PS3 on the other hand is readily available, but not enbough people are willing to spend $600 on it.

Wii demand could actually go up right about this time. Some good games coming out after a bare Jan and start of Feb, the VC quickly becoming a selling point, and of course Jan and Feb SHOULD be the times of lowest demand, all other things being equal, because everyone just spent all their money (and more) at Xmas. But then again, Wii supply could be improving too.