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Seasonal Refrain: Waiting on a Wii
To keep up with customer demand, Nintendo has nearly doubled production of the Wii video game system, to 1.8 million a month from 1 million.
(By Richard Drew -- Associated Press)
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"We have a crowd of people standing in line every day [for the Wii]," said one worker at a Rockville GameStop.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Store workers say they don't know which day the weekly shipment will come in; it can sell out again within minutes of arriving.
Amazon.com didn't have the Wii in stock yesterday. Its partner sellers, however, are offering the device for prices in the neighborhood of $600. It's a similar story on eBay, where the device is offered for $600 to $1,000.
"It's incredible," said Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, a consumer research firm. "I don't ever remember there being a shortage of a product entering its second year."
Is there a conspiracy afoot? Among some frustrated shoppers, there's a belief that Nintendo must be artificially keeping the supply down in order to keep the product high on the buzz meter.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, has denied the charge. Fils-Aime has called the shortage, and the accompanying lost sales, a "missed opportunity" and a "disappointment" to the company.
"There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand," he told the technology site CNet.
With its more intuitive controls, the Wii has appealed to an audience that might not normally reach for a video game. There have been a number of news reports this year about people using the console's shake-your-body games to get in shape and about senior citizens in retirement homes organizing tournaments to play the system's bowling game.
"I think even Nintendo has been surprised at how spectacular demand for the Wii has been," said Edward Woo, a game-industry analyst at the securities firm Wedbush Morgan.
Despite its inability to meet that demand, Nintendo might not lose the potential business because the Wii is so different from its competition, Woo said. The Wii is cheaper and has a reputation for developing fewer gory games.
"Someone who is interested in a Wii system will more likely wait, rather than running off and spending $500 on a PS3 or $350 on an Xbox," he said.
Tammaro said she doesn't want to buy one of the other consoles because the hit games on those systems are too violent.
David Beltran-del-Rio, a District resident who doesn't own a gaming system, said he likes the Wii's intuitive touch and fun games and has been looking for it for most of the year.
"Every time I go into a Best Buy, I look, and it's never there," he said.
He'd been tempted to spend about $700 earlier this year on a package of Wii games and an extra controller from Wal-Mart but rejected it as too expensive. Since then, his interest has waned, he said.
"You cool down after you've been waiting a year," Beltran-del-Rio said. But, he added, he'd still buy one -- if he ever sees one available.
