Where are Wii? 440
WirePosted writes "Santa is in trouble, it looks like supplying the Christmas need for a Nintendo Wii game console is in jeopardy as stocks wither under constant and heavy demand. Conspiracy believers suggest this is an orchestrated move on behalf of Nintendo." Since this happens to be what I want for Christmas, I hope they work it out, or my loving wife has already found one.
Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
Buzzlight year (Score:4, Insightful)
Same shit every Christmas just with a different name. Kids want the same 'cool' toy, so mothers (and some times fathers, but usually mothers) turn up at Toys 'r' US at 3am every day waiting for the next shipment then end up in near fist fights over it. It's been going on for as many years as I can remember, the only difference is the cost of the wii is much greater than the cost of a Furby or Buzz Lightyear was.
But hey, I already have a Wii and want a 360 this year, so I'm quite happy to watch the same story over again, except this time it's on slashdot instead of the local news.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
Wii - $250
Wii Play w/Wiimote - $50
Two more Wiimotes - $80
An extra Nunchuk - $20
Component Video Cable - $20
And you're at $420 without buying any meaningful games, at regular retail price. Toss in sales tax and a handful of games, you've already broke $600.
Beyond that, I just don't buy the argument that a 360 or a PS3 is a true competitor to the Wii. People who buy the Wii want it for the innovative game play, and nothing else satisfies that demand.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:i got mine (Score:1, Insightful)
Nintendo needs to follow the way Apple handles the (NS)AT&T iPhone.
Re:Buzzlight year (Score:5, Insightful)
Same shit every Christmas just with a different name. Kids want the same 'cool' toy, so mothers (and some times fathers, but usually mothers) turn up at Toys 'r' US at 3am every day waiting for the next shipment then end up in near fist fights over it. It's been going on for as many years as I can remember, the only difference is the cost of the wii is much greater than the cost of a Furby or Buzz Lightyear was.
But hey, I already have a Wii and want a 360 this year, so I'm quite happy to watch the same story over again, except this time it's on slashdot instead of the local news.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:4, Insightful)
Excellent point. There are few consumer goods, toys if you will, that this applies to. This "ticket scalping" like attitude is pretty new to a lot of consumers and of course they're going to blame the company directly. However, it's not the case. Besides the unprecedented demand (it's been practically sold out for over a year in a lot of places) and the fact that hot toys, even when not in demand in the off season, can see sold-out status during the holidays, Nintendo has actually increased factory [latimes.com] output for the holidays. Of course, I think 1.8 million consoles [kotaku.com] a month is nothing to shake a stick at.
I do feel sorry for a little sorry for those who cannot get one, but I also write it off as them not trying hard enough. With a little effort, it wasn't hard to get a Wii back in Oct. They would sit on the shelf for about 2 days before going sold out (according to GameStop and WalMart employees in my local area, YMMV). If you called every day, you'd have gotten one in a week. Of course, your best bet now is to wait until after Xmas, when the Wii bubble pops, and all those hording Wii's for premium re-sales during Xmas will flood the market at standard costs. Otherwise, good luck and keep trying!
Cheers,
Fozzy
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
Are the underwear gnomes in charge? (Score:5, Insightful)
The simple fact is that Nintendo has underestimated demand YET ANOTHER time. It's not as though they were the only ones who made this mistake - tons of third party companies jumped in around July and August this year to announce that they'd be releasing titles for the Wii now (presumably they hadn't been onboard earlier because they expected it to be a failure). Analysts have been continuously stating that the Wii would "lose steam" when people got over the novelty. It never happened. Now demand is through the roof again, and it's a tough problem. Getting the output just right for the holiday season is tricky - too few and you're left with the current situation, but too many and you'll have factories sitting idle after the fact. Couple all of that with the problem other posters have mentioned, ebay and Amazon "scalping" of Wiis, and you've got more difficult problem than you might first think.
Bottom line: Nintendo makes good money on every Wii sold. Every Wii sold at holiday season also likely represents at least one more wiimote+nunchuk combo sale, which nets them even more cash, not to mention the additional games. But obviously Nintendo would rather turn down millions in profit so that they can keep the system "elite" or some such business. This is starting to sound like the old underwear gnomes business model meme.
Think of this way, if it helps: RockBand is also selling out like crazy. EA and Harmonix have publicly stated that they can't make enough to satisfy demand. They make a profit on the package. Do you think they're not selling more as part of some brilliant plan to make it even cooler?
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, they pulled the ads (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, it's crazy. Nintendo has indeed pulled [marketingweek.co.uk] all Wii ads in the UK.
When was the last time a company decided to stop advertising a product because they were selling too much of it?
Probably a good move, there are already some pretty pissed off people out there as it is.
Blame the weak dollar (Score:5, Insightful)
Price in Europe: EUR 249
The profit margin is much higher in Europe (even after accounting for VAT). It makes sense to give priority to the countries where the profit margin is highest.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
360 - $350
Extra Controller - $60
HD Cable - $20
And you're at $430 without buying ANY games, at regulare retail price. Toss in sales tax and a handful of games and you've broke $700.
The Wii is the cheapest current gen (the PS2 and them are now last gen) console. That is a fact, no matter how the other console fanbois may boost the price by including accessories.
Oblig Penny Arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/14
idiots (Score:5, Insightful)
Then they would be idiots, do people think that when someone sells one on ebay for £320 (as I have seen happen, that's more than the PS3) they send off a nice cheque to nintendo just to say "thanks"? no. Nintendo loses money on each of these (since they only get the original sale and after the inflated price people are less likely to buy a lot of games). Nintendo really wants to meet demand, it's stupid to suggest otherwise.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a long term, non-permanent charge on the 360, for sure, but it is less than buying the extra Wii controllers.
Re:Buzzlight year (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
My camera and home gym setups would both have been far out of my reach had I been required for one reason or another to plunk down the cash for either of those at once. It also allowed me to make better decisions about what extras to get.
Granted those aren't directly analogous, but there is a strong corellation, I'm sure that the items included with the WII are sufficient to at least play a bit, even if not at the height of what the platform offers. And that is far better than having no system at all.
Re:idiots (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
Why, because at that point it became apparent to you that they understand economics better than you do?
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
That is an American fallacy. You can't have democracy if all you want to do is take from others.
Re:Are the underwear gnomes in charge? (Score:5, Insightful)
From what I've read, the current production lines are going full tilt to get the 1.8 million/month. They will need major capital expense to expand production. How fast would Nintendo be able to recoup that expense? If demand drops before this, then as the parent mentioned the money is wasted and either ruin their profits or ruin the return on the capital expense. Nintendo is between a rock and a hard place.
The rock: Their competitors are able to throw a lot more money at the development of next gen consoles. Thus from a technology standpoint, better consoles.The hard place: If they overextend themselves they may end up like Sega. No longer making hardware and creating games for other consoles.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
That's not really a fair comparison, because online play requires that each player has his or her own console. If you assume the same for the Wii, that all the people you will play with have their own Wii, then they all have their own Wiimote and Nunchuk, so there's no reason to buy any extra controllers.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to be rude or anything, but people that are getting a Wii for Christmas have friends and loved ones. These friends probably want to play too. I know that if I was going to drop several hundred dollars on a video game system for someone there had better be enough controllers so that I can play something too.
I know that PS3 and XBox 360 owners get all excited about Internet play, but that's actually one of the signs that both Microsoft and Sony misunderstand the console market. There is a certain small but vocal subset of the market that wants to play games against random losers on the Internet. There is a much larger part of the market that wants to play games with people that they know, and they probably want to be in the same room together while they play. Sony, and to a larger extent Microsoft, have invested heavily in the random loser market, but that doesn't make this a good investment.
I realize that consoles have grown up past being something that parents buy for kids, but that's still an important part of the market. As a parent myself I can guarantee you that I wouldn't even consider letting my children participate in the "random loser" market. If you want to play video games with someone, bring them over where I can see them. I'll pitch in for the extra controllers. After all, I might want to play myself.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
By the time you add everything up, you're looking at $600+ versus $700+. I just have a hard time believing that there is a significant contingent of people who are happy to pay $600 to play games, but think that $700 is too much.
I know the Wii is a little cheaper, but I still don't buy the idea that it's popular because of price. I think it's popular because it's really fucking fun; especially for people who want to play casually against friends.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem that I see is not really cheap chinese parts but more complicated controllers. The more complicated the design, the easier it is to break it.
Re:pack mentality (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:idiots (Score:3, Insightful)
2. The whole business model of the consoles is based on creating a large user base for their closed product rather than profit from sales. Reaching that target slower is counter profitable. Wii still has to take over PS2's base.
3. They are pulling their TV ads because they are unable to meet demand.
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Wii_TV_Ads_Canceled_In_UK_11531.html [efluxmedia.com]
Pulling ads is not something a company that wants to create artificial demand does.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:5, Insightful)
They aren't forcing you to sell your Wii to them. Or other people to buy theirs. So what's the big deal? I understand people who buy Wii/PS3 in a retail store and simply return them if they can't be sold with hefty margins, are probably being unethical. But after all, it is their Wii. They can sell it if they wan't. It is up to a) consumers don't be stupid and don't pay the prices they ask for and b) Nintendo ramp up production. If some big company kept you from selling some good, or say some software or media, you purchased from them, how would you feel?
Not in my experience (Score:2, Insightful)
Contrasting that with the 360 there's a plethora of games you can play by yourself and with other people but the games you play with other people are nearly always designed to be played with other people online so you realistically only need one controller, maybe 2, there is of course the fact that one controller fits all so other than the likes of guitar hero you are only buying the one or two controllers for the full range of games rather than requiring the classic controller, the gamecube controller for backwards compat., the wiimote and the nunchuck and if you're really into it the various other addons out there like the wii zapper and such.
I'm not saying the Wii is a bad console, but I've always thought those that suggest it's the low price point that made the Wii do well are wrong, because here in the UK you're looking at £175 for the Wii, £30 for Wii play + the Wii mote, £50 for another 2 wii motes, £45 for 3 more nunchucks and £30 for a pair of classic controllers - that's essentially £330 for the Wii to really reach it's peak which is also more than it costs for a PS3 and 360 to reach their peak. In contrast you can get a 360 with a couple of games and extra controller bundled in for £280 now or a PS3 with a game bundled and 2 controllers for £300.
I don't think therefore that the Wii is doing well because it's cheap unless people really are failing to realise the total cost of the Wii but because it is different, because it is a social phenomenon, I realised pretty early on that the Wii was going to end up costing me more in terms of hardware than my 360, but it didn't deter me because the concept of it interested me and because the 360 and PS3 just didn't have the same selection and same amount of fun party games for when friends are over that the Wii did.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:2, Insightful)
Speculation has corrupted what was once a fair and honest system. The stock market is bullshit. Anyone in the tech industry should know this after living through the dot-com bubble. The very concept of "cashing out" is proof that there is zero value in money.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I personally refuse to give some jerk an extra $200 just to get a Wii that I *should* have been able to buy at the regular price from any store. In the always-connected 21st century, middlemen are no longer required (nor welcome). Nintendo should sell direct and drop-ship right to my doorstep.
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, are you a low-functioning moron, or a high-functioning imbecile? Let's look at that bastion of socialist perfection, Cuba. It's been nearly 50 years since Castro took over; can you name a single invention or useful good that they've developed in half a century? Didn't think so.
In the meantime, bad old America created mini- and micro-computers, a bunch of useful programming languages, some tremendously useful software applications, cable and DSL data connections, a whole bunch of life-saving medicines and technologies, cellphones, LANs, fibre optics - I could go on, but what's the point? Jobs and Wozniak, Gates and Allen - I'm sure they were all interested in what they were doing, but I'm also pretty sure they did it because they wanted to make money.
I've seen some stupid comments on /., but this one takes the cake. You live in a style that kings and queens didn't enjoy 100 years ago, and you question the system that provided it? You are some kind of ingrate.
Re:Tickle Me Elmo (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Couple Thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)