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    Where Oh Where is the Wii?

    By Joe Haygood | August 12, 2007

    nintendo_wii_1.jpgNow, as most readers know, I am the big PC Gamer out of the writers. It is my primary platform, on which I like to game. Yes, I do own a PS2 and 360, but I am a diehard PC Gamer, through and through. So it is strange to think that I am looking to get a Wii. Not so much for me, as it is for my wife and son. They are fascinated by the console and to be honest, it is a great system that they can play together as equals.

    One problem: Where do you find a Wii? I have been looking for the last two to three months, and I have never witnessed one on a shelf at a local retailer. I have been to the Game Crazy and Gamestops that are around here, but they have not received any in some time. Best Buy and Circuit City say that they get them sparingly. So almost a year after the Wii was released, why the shortage?

    I know that the console is popular and it has been a trendy to own one. It is also selling to more casual gamers that are looking for something that is not necessarily next generation, but cheaper, and easier to use. But ten months into its lifespan, I would expect that they could meet the demand of the customers. And the rumors as to why there are shortages run the gamut from some claiming that the initial run was all that was to be made to Nintendo trying to pump up the sales value by slowing production. Any way you cut it, it is rather irritating that Nintendo does not have enough consoles on the market to allow for consumers to purchase. When a console has a shortage at launch, it is expected for that to happen. But ten months later? No, no console has gone on that long with a shortage that I can remember.

    Maybe I am off base about this, but I would find that hard to believe. I live in a good sized area, which is only an hour from Los Angeles, and I have gone twenty to thirty miles from my house to look for one, but I have yet to find it. Has anyone else had these troubles, or am I just way off base and am not doing my research right? Let me know your tales in regards to trying to find a Wii in the forums.

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    Topics: Articles, Nintendo Wii | Comments

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    • I wondered the same thing so I asked a friend who said that she had purchased one a few weeks earlier. She told me that she's never seen one on the shelf either because the sellers (in San Francisco) hide them in the back. If you ask for one, they will bring you one from the back.

      Now, I don't know the validity of this at every store but she did recount the tale about the Best Buy closest to my home, where I have looked repeatedly. I am not sure why they would hide them in the back when everyone wants to buy one; maybe they think they can charge whatever they like if it is not on the shelf.
    • Anthony Davis
      The two Wal-Marts by my house in Newport News Va. have plenty of Wiis, PS3s and Xbox 360s(Elites, Premiums, and Core. They have them right under the games for the system in plain site.
    • StephenJMunn
      It has been alleged that employees at box stores are buying the systems up before the store opens and reselling them at a profit on eBay. Look at how many brand new Wiis with receipts are on eBay right now. It's a pretty wretched thing to do.
    • I've seen them at walmart twice since launch. I've bought a total of 4 units since launch for myself, friends and family. Its pretty simple to get one if you know what to do. First, you have stay current on website news, which I'm sure you already do, so thats easy. Now you have to look out for those stories where some employee releases an ad a few days in advance that says, for instance, Best Buy will have Wiis on sale for a certain coming sunday. Then you have to get up an hour or so before the store opens and go get in line. I've done this 4 times and every time I went i got one. There are usually a dozen or so people in line and most everyone gets one. The few left over are usually gone within an hour of the store opening.

      As for the shortage, technically, there is none.
      They've sold over 10 million units in under 10 months, so there's plenty out there. I don't think any other console has sold that number, nore likely produced any more than that. The problem is demand. No one that demand would be this high. Even after the hugely successful launch, everyone thought it would die down in a few months. Well, it hasn't. It may soon though so Nintendo would be crazy to increase production by more than a 5-10 percent when the demand may fall off an any time.
    • cisco hit the nail on the head... the wii sales rate has been faster than any other console tracked on vgchartz.com - only the DS and GBA come close - I wouldn't be surprised if it's the fastest selling console ever.

      The wii continues to outsell both the 360 and PS3 every month. That speaks volumes about the production rate; it's easy to keep stock in store when you're not selling as fast :)
    • if you really want one, i can get you one direct from nintendo.

      email me for details.
    • Bill Gates
      Actually there really is no Wii. It's a complete hoax perpetrated by Nintendo and a few million people across the world that are in on it.
    • Bill
      Looks like it's getting easier to find one around here. I had seen 1 Wii 1 time at Walmart a few months and didn't buy it. My wife played bowling at a party about a month ago and basically demanded we get one. We called and looked around for a month with no luck (shipments sold out as soon as they came in anywhere, Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, etc.).

      Yesterday we walked by a Gamestop and decided to go in there and they had 1 in stock. So I bought it. Went across the street to Walmart to pick up an extra wiimote and they had 4 Wiis on the shelf.
    • pdrydia
      My husband and I couldn't find any when we were living in central GA. The EB there seemed to get one or two shipments and then dry up. Mind, we were south of Atlanta, whose stores got more regular shipments as per the internets.

      We've since moved to Maryland, near Baltimore, and it seems that at the very least, the stores at the local mall gets shipments on a regular basis--that is, once or more than once a month. It was suggested to us by a Best Buy employee to check for Wiis at their store on weekends, and we actually found a Wii last Saturday (Aug 11) at the EB.

      It's a good time to get a Wii--the starting lineup of games wasn't very attractive to us, but there's a couple ones now we want and some more on the way in the near months. The VC has a much better selection, too.

      Here's hoping you find one for yourself soon!
    • Kat
      A couple of months ago I saw 2 at my local Kmart. Go places that people don't normally think of when they want to buy a console.
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