Some still can't get their hands on Wii

[|darc|]

By 9 a.m., the line outside Manhattan's Nintendo World store was snaking down the block.

More than 100 hopeful Wii owners came from as far as New Jersey — some as early as 6 a.m. with kids and grandparents in tow — to get their hands on the gaming console best known for its wireless, motion-sensitive controller.

It's been more than seven months since Nintendo launched the Wii, but the consoles are selling so well that supply still hasn't caught up with demand. You can get one, sure, but be prepared to call around and arrive promptly when the shipments do.

"I had to get permission from work," said Regina Iannuzzi, 23, in line since 6:20 a.m. on a recent morning. She'd been looking for a Wii, a 25th birthday present for her brother, for two weeks. Every place was sold out.

Like sleeping in? Wiis are also available online, but at a hefty premium to the console's $250 retail price. A slightly used one from an Amazon.com seller called "Hard-To-Find-Stuff" recently listed for $595 plus $3.99 shipping. Another cost $398 from a different seller.

"The PlayStation 1 was certainly a big introduction, but I don't recall any game system more than six months after its launch still having this kind of demand," said Chris Byrne, an independent toy analyst.

Back in April, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata acknowledged an "abnormal" Wii shortage. Since then, the company has increased production "substantially" to help meet worldwide demand, said spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan.

But Nintendo also has to manage its inventory, said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets.

"Unfortunately you can't ask a contract manufacturer to make a million a month, then 5 million," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19509017/

[melancholy]

We had some last Sunday. The line started around 7-8am and we were sold out probably within the hour of opening. I don't mind the fact that the system still sells out like it does. But what annoys me is the 10 minute intervals of desperate customers coming in and yelling at any employee near the media department because we still don't have any. They simply won't accept the fact that the Wii is popular. You can tell them all you like about the lines hours in advance, they still blame us for not ordering enough. And they always tell you it's the 4th or 5th store they had been to looking for them. It makes me wonder if they do their little 5 minute 'it's all your fault' rant at every store they go to.

[APE]

My brother proved to be the "gimme gimme" type and got my mom to buy him a Wii....along with Red Steel, Metal Slug and an extremely overpriced 1gb SD card for $400 or something from Toys R Us. After finishing zelda on my Wii before he got his he hardly has touched it. Told them both it would happen exactly the way I said it would, and it did.

But that SD card is in my camera.

[Veggita2099]

There for about 3 days straight there was plenty at the local Wal-mart. Hopefully Nintendo starts releasing some exclusive games worth a crap sometime soon. I personally am sick of the Playstation 2 kids movies/shows being put on it. Im sure Im not the only person who feels that way.

[butters]

There for about 3 days straight there was plenty at the local Wal-mart. Hopefully Nintendo starts releasing some exclusive games worth a crap sometime soon. I personally am sick of the Playstation 2 kids movies/shows being put on it. Im sure Im not the only person who feels that way.

Too many companies had their doubts about the console. When they saw that it was selling extremely well, they had two choices: Port something from the PS2 and get it out to market quickly or create something from scratch. This is why we are seeing so many crappy ports. Later this year, probably close to Christmas, the third party exclusive AAA quality games will start coming out. Remember, it takes time to make a quality game!

edit: Just noticed you said Nintendo in your post. Nintendo are putting out just as many games as they normally do. They aren't going to suddenly double the amount of games they produce per year. It's logistically impossible.

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

There for about 3 days straight there was plenty at the local Wal-mart. Hopefully Nintendo starts releasing some exclusive games worth a crap sometime soon. I personally am sick of the Playstation 2 kids movies/shows being put on it. Im sure Im not the only person who feels that way.

aye, i finally found a wii at a local gamehsop who got 12 in by surprise, they are still pretty scarce here in holland. I got the wii sports pack and wii-play (mainly for the extra wii-mote), and all we ever play is wii-sports, and mostly Wii-golf for me. Ive looked around a lot in stores, but i have a hard time finding a game that i would even pay 30 bucks for, never mind 50-60

i want my metroid, i want my smash bros (come on nintendo, gimme gimme, or at the very least, call a date)

the wii is a fun system, but lacking sorely in games at the moment

[Lartrak]

There for about 3 days straight there was plenty at the local Wal-mart. Hopefully Nintendo starts releasing some exclusive games worth a crap sometime soon. I personally am sick of the Playstation 2 kids movies/shows being put on it. Im sure Im not the only person who feels that way.

aye, i finally found a wii at a local gamehsop who got 12 in by surprise, they are still pretty scarce here in holland. I got the wii sports pack and wii-play (mainly for the extra wii-mote), and all we ever play is wii-sports, and mostly Wii-golf for me. Ive looked around a lot in stores, but i have a hard time finding a game that i would even pay 30 bucks for, never mind 50-60

i want my metroid, i want my smash bros (come on nintendo, gimme gimme, or at the very least, call a date)

the wii is a fun system, but lacking sorely in games at the moment

Is there still no date for Metroid? It was initially going to be a launch title.

[mrandyk]

Metroid comes out on I think August 21st in America, Europe not sure...they just got a super paper mario release date announced not too long ago while its been out since early April here.

I still have yet to see a wii in stores, I am so glad I did not sell the wii my parents gave me as I had no idea that over 7 months later I still wouldnt see one.

[RMD]

I don't get the hype. After beating zelda the wii has nothing worth owning and the fact that you could of just got zelda on gamecube instead doesnt help. The system seems like it will have the same crappy selection as gamecube. All hype with no delivery. Hell nothings really even announced thats coming out within the year thats good. The new nights game is the only thing of interest.

[Lunchbox]

I think theres some value in the Wii if you missed out on some last-gen titles and want to get the best experience out of them. The Wii ports for RE4, Godfather, and Scarface are very good.

[pixel]

Double post

[pixel]

I don't get the hype. After beating zelda the wii has nothing worth owning and the fact that you could of just got zelda on gamecube instead doesnt help. The system seems like it will have the same crappy selection as gamecube. All hype with no delivery. Hell nothings really even announced thats coming out within the year thats good. The new nights game is the only thing of interest.

Congratulations, you've just discovered you aren't the core market for a Wii. Likewise, it wasn't Nintendo's decision that it should become the success it is. It's been said before here, but they can't just shit out quality games because people are pissed. Look at the first year of the NES – there were wonderful first-party titles like Clu Clu Land, Baseball and Donkey Kong Jr. Math to go along with Excitebike, Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. You can't have it all within six months of release.

BTW, I live in a town of 10,000 in freaking South Dakota, and I haven't seen a Wii in a store. All the stores are constantly sold out.

[Covar]

I don't get the hype. After beating zelda the wii has nothing worth owning and the fact that you could of just got zelda on gamecube instead doesnt help. The system seems like it will have the same crappy selection as gamecube. All hype with no delivery. Hell nothings really even announced thats coming out within the year thats good. The new nights game is the only thing of interest.

i bet you said the same thing about the DS. because we all know if a system only has a couple good games come out in the first six months that its already a failure.

/me hugs his DS

[Wagh]

I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE DONT LIKE A CONSOLE AS MUCH AS ME

[mrandyk]

BTW, I live in a town of 10,000 in freaking South Dakota, and I haven't seen a Wii in a store. All the stores are constantly sold out.

Same here, load of crap that in South Dakota where its just supposed to be a bunch of hicks and such and in small towns that there arent any wiis around.

Some of these "crappy ps2 ports onto the wii" are very good, I just rented scarface and RE4 and I havent been able to stop playing Scarface and RE4 is great even if it was on last gen consoles as well. I just hope the wii does what the ds did and have a bunch of great games come out even if it takes a couple of years, and for the online play to pick up like it did on the ds as well.

[Caboose]

Yeah the Wii is lacking in good games lately. I still have to beat Zelda and I bought Sonic as well (which isn't all that great but it's not bad either). That's not much of a problem though since I have a ton of 360 games I need to finish as well, so the Wii can take its time as far as building up a good library of games goes.

[mrandyk]

I beat Zelda right away only to be somewhat dissapointed and feeling the windwaker was much better, and Sonic to me was pretty much complete crap (glad I rented it). The only other game I have is Super Paper Mario which let me down horribly. Wii sports is my favorite wii game amazingly.

[Lartrak]

Hell nothings really even announced thats coming out within the year thats good.

[/quote]

Eh? Metroid, Smash Bros, and Mario Galaxy?