It's the Wii console's second Christmas out and there a strong sense of déjà vu in reports that talk of internet-breaking sales as punters go mental for Nintendo's console.
Amazon apparently sold 1,400 consoles in just ten minutes, when stock was renewed last week. A similar picture is painted at retailers across the country, as the widely sold-out Wii becomes harder to find with every passing day.
The craze has predictably pushed up prices of the console - some are selling on eBay and Amazon (second hand) for over £300. Just as Reggie said would be the case, there just aren't enough consoles for everyone.
It's not that Nintendo isn't making many - on the contrary the company is said to be pumping out 1.8 million units a month. That's not enough to satisfy demand, but retailers are pretty happy about it.
The chief executive of Woolworths, Trevor Bish-Jones, told the Telegraph: "There is a steady flow of Wiis into the country between now and Christmas. It will not be enough to meet all consumer demand but is sufficient for retailers to enjoy good levels of sales in the run-up to Christmas."
We at CVG could only find select shops that still had Wii consoles in stock, and that was because they were bundling the console with fives games (that you probably don't want) for £400. No thanks.
I've only seen dixons selling wiis this week and the cheapest deal was £360! The games were pretty much those i'd buy though but if i had that kind of money an elite would be my first choice. (as i already have a PS3)
Could see PS3 sales rise as well as the 360 with a real shortage this year.
Parents were apparently queueing from 5am outside my local WHSmith the other day on news they were getting some Wii's in stock. Frightening. I'm not letting mine go, Mario Galaxy rocks!
Parents were apparently queueing from 5am outside my local WHSmith the other day on news they were getting some Wii's in stock. Frightening. I'm not letting mine go, Mario Galaxy rocks!
A guy at my work was saying that a friend of his was trying to get your for their kids for Christmas. They heard Toys'R'Us were getting some in on a Saturday morning. They got there before it opened to find that people had been waiting since 8pm the following day! Then the shipment arrived and it was only twenty consoles. So they didn't get one. Madness.
Theres loads here in Germany apparently. My brother asked me to pick up one for his kids this weekend! AT this rate the sales here will go up too on the back of UK parents desperate to get one.
Went to Toys R Us last saturday, they advertised they were getting some in, though they did'nt say how many.
Opened at 9 am by 9:05 they had sold their qota which turned out to be 10.
Anybody who was in the store that morning, a Wii was all they wanted. Apparently they a replenishing their stock before christmas, each store will need at least 200 to cope with demand, it's like its just come out all over again.
My Brother works for hmv and there store have been told thats it until after christmas, they got 45 in last thursday and soon as they put the instock sign up people where there cash in hand. 45 wii's in 30 minutes cant be bad with xbox and ps3 pretty even in his store at 3 or 4 a day.
I guess I was lucky, walked into my local store. Wii please "here's one!" it was right behind the counter. They were piled up. Guess they were selling that day
Actually went to 4 different stores till I found the best deal. Glad I didn't wait now.
Hope Nintendo gets enough out soon. With the 360 core at the same price now some could be tempted to go for that instead. Then again most will prob get a DS instead.
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
I really don't understand how they can't ramp up the production!! Its been a year, surely they must have known the level of demand.
It is not quite as simple as that. Factories will have a finite amount that they can produce and building a new factory is costly and time consuming and comes with an added risk if sales drop off. Also there is a world shortage of silicone used to make chips so this is also a factor as is sourcing all the other components involved in building the console. Lets not forget that 1.8 million consoles is a huge amount per month!
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
people like you are what's wrong with the world today... just joking... but your still a bad person
I really don't understand how they can't ramp up the production!! Its been a year, surely they must have known the level of demand.
Nintedon, dont have the ability to make anymore, after 1.8 million of them are produced each month, along side 3 million DS, and other nintendo hardware that is still made.
Were'nt some people saying on here recently that Wii's dominance was coming to an end...?
Mmm. Think again.
Ya agreed the Ps3 is only selling because its a cheap blue ray player no other reason, as it has nothing but very average games. X-box is selling only because of its games no other reason and ps3 will never match it. Ps3 will go the way of the dodo and the dreamcast, if it can happen to sega it can happen to sony
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
You are scum!
I have to agree.
If you sold them for £180 each, fair enough but that's a bit scummy yes.
Were'nt some people saying on here recently that Wii's dominance was coming to an end...?
Mmm. Think again.
Ya agreed the Ps3 is only selling because its a cheap blue ray player no other reason, as it has nothing but very average games. X-box is selling only because of its games no other reason and ps3 will never match it. Ps3 will go the way of the dodo and the dreamcast, if it can happen to sega it can happen to sony
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
You are scum!
Steady on. He's only doing what everyone else is doing. If someone wants one badly enough, they'll pay for it. Who's fault is that?
Does that mean the people who preordered an Audi R8, drove it for 2 months and then sold it for more than they bought it for are scum also simply because there's a market for a high demand product?
If anyone is to blame, it's the people paying these prices.
Very sly from Nintendo. They are selling last gen hardware, which must be a breeze to produce and yet they strangely can't meet demand? Personally I think its Nintendo only releasing a steady amount at the right times in order to kep up the buzz about the console. Then you put a few ad's on TV and let the kids go crazing asking their parents for one. The parents then rush around frantically willing to pay any price to meet their childs demands. Then you have people taking advantage of the situation buying a Wii only with the intention to sell it on for a profit. These are the sort of people that I wish nasty things on.
Well, seeing as Galaxy was the only game I was really bottomd about playing and I've cleared it... and there's nothing on the horizon I can't really wait for, then if they're still going for silly money on ebay nearer christmas I'm gonna stick my launch system on there and make some dollar. Makes perfect sense to me.
Well I've just listed mine on Ebay, It's in mint condition, and includes Super Mario Galaxy, Excite Truck, extra Wii-mote, classic controller, wired internet adaptor, 1gb SD card, Scart lead and some other stuff.
Hope it goes to a good home, the auction goes live next Thursday at 19:30 hours, and runs for ten days.
Its quite funny that so many people bring up the Xbox core system to compare to the wii sales, seeing as a large amount of stores are only stocking the premium and elite systems now, mine included.
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
You are scum!
Steady on. He's only doing what everyone else is doing. If someone wants one badly enough, they'll pay for it. Who's fault is that?
Does that mean the people who preordered an Audi R8, drove it for 2 months and then sold it for more than they bought it for are scum also simply because there's a market for a high demand product?
If anyone is to blame, it's the people paying these prices.
Yes but he bought two for the sole intention of selling them on and only got them cos relatives work at the store. They would have gone for sale at a regular price in store
Saying he is doing nothing wrong is like saying that ticket touts who buy up gig tickets then sell them at three times the value are doing nothing wrong.
What if everyone who worked in department stores and games shops bought them up and sold them on ebay, that would be a lot of expensive Wiis for sale.
Why are people so dumb as to wait until near Christmas though.....
Its quite funny that so many people bring up the Xbox core system to compare to the wii sales, seeing as a large amount of stores are only stocking the premium and elite systems now, mine included.
Good point, but in all honesty, people might say you can get a 360 for the price of a wii, but they are selling the cake without the icing! No Hard drive, no wireless,no backwards compatibility, no HDMI and a WIRED (so 199 pad! You cant save games or download and to get a proper game experience you have to shell out loads to make it up.
Nintendo could release a wii with a wired wii remote, no BC, no wii sports, hell, no sensor bar whilst they are at it! It could cost £99.....
Well well everyone, suddenly you can get a wii for the same price as a ds...Awesome!
Ilike the 360 (great selection of games!) but the core pack is a con, and a waste of space and Not as good as a wii!
the wii remote can't be used if it has a wire attached to it. you have to swing it around. and you can't use the wii remote without the sensor bar. so you can't make a comparison like that. the wii has no hard drive. it has a small amount of internal memory. teh controller has only one version.
incidentally you don't need a wireless controller to play 360 games. neither do you need a hardrive, seeing as you can save to a memory card. you also don't need hdmi to play the games as you can easily see the hi def using composite cables. that kind of comparison doesn't work because the 360 core pack gives you the basic console (remember a ps2 also does not save games without a memory card). the other versions are deluxe versions. the deluxe version of the wii would be adding a sd memory card, adding an extra controller and buying the extra cables, getting rechargable remote batteries etc. anyway, thats off topic.
I bought my wii in september. I walked into gamestation and bought it. no issue. I agree with somebodies previous statement. why do people wait until this time of year to try and get one? they must be stupid. they deserve to pay obscene prices.
it seems everyone has forgotten what christmas is about. the kids want a Wii so the parents go to such ridiculous lengths to get one. if teh parents wanted to get a wii for their kids they would have bought it as soon as they were available like i did. inastead everyone waits til xmas and buys expensive gifts as part of some obligation.
Trouble is, if you buy one in August or September, when they are in plentiful supply, & leave it hidden away until Christmas, you've used up a significant chunk of your year's warranty before it even comes out of the box...
Combine that with the fact that my daughter didn't decide that she wanted one until earlier this month (and my wife was vehement that despite my suggestion to get one earlier in the year, we wouldn't be getting one at all) & that makes planning things in advance far harder.
There's no way I'm paying £300 - £400 for a bundle of games that have no appeal to me or my daughter either & absolutely no question of paying £300 for a Wii only. Luckily I managed to get one from Amazon this week - it arrived this morning - at the RRP plus a couple of quid for postage.
Very sly from Nintendo. They are selling last gen hardware, which must be a breeze to produce and yet they strangely can't meet demand? Personally I think its Nintendo only releasing a steady amount at the right times in order to kep up the buzz about the console. Then you put a few ad's on TV and let the kids go crazing asking their parents for one. The parents then rush around frantically willing to pay any price to meet their childs demands.
A nice point, a pity you havent applied any common sense to it.
Companys create a buzz around their product to increase sales and therefore revenue. The Wii has never needed more sales or buzz, as its the best selling console already, even though it was a year behind the 360. So please tell, exactly what stock have Nintendo withheld when its already sold(and continues to sell) more than its competitors?
While you display a sourgrapes fanboy attitude by calling it last gen hardware. Even last gen hardware will be difficult to source when your already shifting 1.8 million units a month.
Lets not forget, its all about the money!!! Nintendo are going to with hold consoles at Christmas, to creat a buzz.....for when?!? Next Christmas lol. December 25th is when they capitalise on the buzz they have created, not let sales pass by. Your comment would perhaps be valid if it wasnt completely ironic.
How does he display a "sour grapes, fanboy attitude" from calling a spade a spade? If anything you seem to be displaying a 'holier than thou' attitude rather than him a "fanboy" one.
Personally I don't see what all the madness is about. I have a Wii and have owned one for a while now. They are crap. I get bored with all the games within a couple of hours and then never play them again. Online isn't worth talking about and the graphics are crap too. Plus you miss out on all the big games such as CoD4 and Assassins Creed to name a few. I'm sticking mine up on ebay and making myself a small mint
How does he display a "sour grapes, fanboy attitude" from calling a spade a spade? If anything you seem to be displaying a 'holier than thou' attitude rather than him a "fanboy" one.
Well for one, its not last gen hardware. Its not 360/PS3 standard graphically but so what? It has motion sensing controls which PS3 tried to copy, so not too last gen for them then? It has a Virtual Console miles better than anything Live arcade can offer as it has games people actually want to play. If next gen for you = graphics then good, just dont assume its a golden rule.
Just cause someone calls a spade a spade, doesnt make it so, it actually has to be one.
Also, holier than though?? Think before you post cause that doesnt even make sense. You dont see me making flaming comments in the 360/ps3 threads do you? Whereas mr Fanboy has made numerous antiWii comments for quite a while now.
Having both a Wii and Xbox 360 I have to say that the Wii is crap! The download service has nothing but rereleases of old, dated games. In some cases (donkey kong country) it has re-re-re-releases of games. XBLA is selling more games than Nintendo's VC so your statement is false. Now go back to playing Mario's 20000th game...this time he is in space and wears a bee suit!!!! (no doubt the princess is captured again huh?)
I really don't understand how they can't ramp up the production!! Its been a year, surely they must have known the level of demand.
That would be true but as you know Nintendo manufacture the DS too which is also selling loads and opening new factories takes a long long time and by the time it opens demand may fall so Nintendo may be unwilling to open a new one yet as even though Wii is selling out and the DS too its still making them a healthy profit and the hype of the shortages makes people panic buy, I know I was up and outside my local store four hours before it opened on the 8th Dec last year!
Erm, yes, it is, which is why it's so cheap. Tacking on motion control doesn't make the architecture any less 'last gen'. As for VC... It's debatable. Being able to download old games is all well and good but I've played it all before. I want new... or at the least some modifications to improve and enhance the old games, such as online play and improved visuals.
Just cause someone calls a spade a spade, doesnt make it so, it actually has to be one.
Eeeer... what? Surely if you call a spade a spade... it's because it is a spade. You're reaching to find a fault in a comment where there isn't one.
Also, holier than though?? Think before you post cause that doesnt even make sense.
The line in bold perfectly highlights what I was refering to.
You dont see me making flaming comments in the 360/ps3 threads do you? Whereas mr Fanboy has made numerous antiWii comments for quite a while now.
You weren't responding to what he'd said before, you were responding to one quoted comment and you were wrong.
As for the possibility of Nintendo throttling stocks of the Wii... Of course it's a genuine possibility.
Companys create a buzz around their product to increase sales and therefore revenue. The Wii has never needed more sales or buzz, as its the best selling console already
Yes, companies try and create a buzz to increase sales and limiting stock only increases that buzz. Do you really think that "Plenty of Wii stock to go around" would have made the BBC front page? No, it wouldn't but "Parents battle it out for limited Wii stock" does. They don't even need to throttle stock too much, just enough to make it more challenging to get a hold of one. Rarity increases demand and desirability, people tend to want things they know are hard to get a hold of and it plays up most peoples' natural 'keeping up with the Jonses' mentality... For example, none of the 'none gamers' in my design studio has shown the slightest bit of interest in getting a Wii all year, yet the day the BBC and other mainstream news sites ran that it was going to be impossible to get hold of one everyone there seemed to want one. In fact, a couple of days before that my art director was telling me he was going to ask his Mrs for either a Wii or an ipod touch for christmas, but most probably the touch as he didn't think he'd ever really play on the Wii, "it just looks like a bit of fun for christmas"... As soon as the 'rarity' news broke he only wants the Wii... That's definitely all he wants now. It also pretty much guarantees that the buzz is going to continue well into the new year. Apple have been, quite successfully, doing it that way for years.
And as for it never needing more sales or buzz... what a load of rubbish. Companies always need more sales and buzz and just because it's the best selling console of the current generation so far doesn't mean it will always be that way.
Lets not forget, its all about the money!!! Nintendo are going to with hold consoles at Christmas, to creat a buzz.....for when?!? Next Christmas lol. December 25th is when they capitalise on the buzz they have created, not let sales pass by.
Yes, it is all about the money but Nintendo need to sell consoles all year round, not just at christmas. Making the Wii seem rare ensures that buzz continues and, in the long run, sells more units.
There is a pretty good chance that they just can't manufacture enough units, but for you to dismiss outright, without even thinking about it, that Nintendo could be throttling stock is naive.
It's a bit manic. Got mine a few days on Amazon, using one of those sites that continually updates you when a site has some new stock in. The page on Amazon kept messing with me, making it harder to place my order. As in the price kept changing or it kept disappearing from my basket. After about the 8th attempt I got it in there and paid for it, so I think I'm going to enjoy this Christmas!
I've been playing my N64 recently - I bought it BRAND NEW from Toys R Us (Mario 64 was included) for just £50 about 3 years ago. This was a few years after I had bought my Gamecube on the launch day. It was the very last of the N64 stock of course- the N64 was about £250 when it first launched.
I have since bought Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Diddy Kong Racing. Banjo Tooie will no doubt be my next (and probably last) purchase for the N64. Rare were DAMN good then, definitely better than Nintendo then I say (Rare were like Pixar to Nintendo's Disney). and they still have a talent for creating great looking games, if less genre defining ones. (it's difficult after you've already nailed it).
A few years ago MVC were selling the Gamecube (a fine console) for £40.
Super Mario Galaxy looks absolutely superb, Super Paper Mario looks like another excellent part of the series and Twilight Princess looks solid if unsurprising. But pay £280-£400 for a console with an RRP of £180 (and one that definitely seems to have been made on the cheap compared to Nintendo's previous consoles) when I already have so many epic games and consoles in my collection? No thanks.
I am pretty much a big kid, being almost 40 and playing games for many years I have to say that the Wii is probably one of the best console systems ever. I have always loved Nintendo for their machines with the exception of the very first NES which I thought was a pile of poo.
Everyone is going on about "you miss out with on-line play". Pah! is what I say to that ......its all got to be about the games on line...
I personally hate playing on line, trust me I spent many years playing Unreal, Quake and a few other games online. However that was when there were no snotty nosed , spoilt brats playing with cheat bots, or just sitting there at the spawn points shooting anything that spawned. Since all these kids with thier consoles went on-line the standard of gaming has dropped.
So for me a console that brings upto four people at a time to one screen for a great gaming session far out strips the need for the online play.
None of my consoles which includes Xbox and playstation are connected to the net, for this reason, also after spending £30-£50 I refuse to pay extra to play online.
Good luck to anyone trying to get a Wii, you won't be disappointed. It may not have the graphical power of the 360 or PS3 but it does have one thing over them. The return to playability, which far outstrips anything and everything they have to offer.
It may not have the graphical power of the 360 or PS3 but it does have one thing over them. The return to playability, which far outstrips anything and everything they have to offer.
I've never understood this comment... and it keeps cropping up all the time from people defending the Wii no matter what. "Gameplay over graphics", "great gameplay", better gameplay than the others"... Yet, with the exception of the superb Super Mario Galaxy there is nothing gameplay-wise that hasn't been done and been done better on the other systems. Just because something uses motion control in a gimicky way doesn't mean it's gameplay is better. And just because something has amazing graphics doesn't mean it's going to have crappy gameplay... They're not mutually exclusive. I can't count the number of games on 360 and PS3 that have kept me wanting to go back and continue playing them, yet out of all the games I've owned and played on Wii since launch there are exactly three that made me feel like that, Zelda, Resi 4 and Galaxy, and two of those I could've played on Gamecube.
Nintendo fans seem to constanly get on the 360 and PS3 owners' backs about being sucked into Sony and Microsoft's hype machines yet they then turn around and religiously spout Nintendo's Gameplay Over Graphics rubbish when all it really is is a company line, thought up by the marketing department as an excuse for them using last generation architecture.
Gameplay over graphics is a great philosophy but until I start seeing more evidence of it on Wii I'm sure the better gameplay and amazing graphics of the 360 and PS3 will keep me gravitating more towards those.
It may not have the graphical power of the 360 or PS3 but it does have one thing over them. The return to playability, which far outstrips anything and everything they have to offer.
I've never understood this comment... and it keeps cropping up all the time from people defending the Wii no matter what. "Gameplay over graphics", "great gameplay", better gameplay than the others"... Yet, with the exception of the superb Super Mario Galaxy there is nothing gameplay-wise that hasn't been done and been done better on the other systems.
Totaly agree with your post Ideal. Also the great SMG could have easily been done with a normal controler without losing any of its appeal. MP3 is great way for showing FPS controls on a console to PC freaks but ive never understood why people whinge about the 2 stick set up so much . I have no problems with it & think its that much worse than a mouse & keyboard. The Wii has seriously dissapointed me so far. Also SSBB which is my most anticipated game is controled using classic pad or GC pad. The remote is uselss in this. Ive yet to be shown what great things motion sensing is bringing to gameplay
Totaly agree with your post Ideal. Also the great SMG could have easily been done with a normal controler without losing any of its appeal. MP3 is great way for showing FPS controls on a console to PC freaks but ive never understood why people whinge about the 2 stick set up so much . I have no problems with it & think its that much worse than a mouse & keyboard. The Wii has seriously dissapointed me so far. Also SSBB which is my most anticipated game is controled using classic pad or GC pad. The remote is uselss in this. Ive yet to be shown what great things motion sensing is bringing to gameplay
It's... How.... What.... *collapses*
I still swear at my 360 to this day when playing FPS games. I just can't use the thumbstick accurately. I played COD4 on the 360 against my cuz over the weekend and got a 30/18 pounding. p**sed I loaded up Unreal on the old laptop and installed it on his desktop then did a network game.
After my 50 kills and his lowly 6 kills he gave up
It makes that much difference to gameplay for me
I'm currently playing MP3 on hard since I'm confident in the controls. I play most of my 360 shooters on normal since I get p**sed off with the aiming system at some point.
I used to play Counter Strike Source quite a lot & do agree that Mouse & keyboard are a noticeable improvement. But not as much as some people say. Maybe its becasue ive been playing with dualstick set ups since I got TS on PS2 all those years ago - had plenty of time to gat used to them & make them work well. & Your little COD4, Unreal comparison. Are you sure that werent to do with skill rather than control method. Obviously your friend is better with 2 sticks than mouse & keyboard if not
I used to play Counter Strike Source quite a lot & do agree that Mouse & keyboard are a noticeable improvement. But not as much as some people say. Maybe its becasue ive been playing with dualstick set ups since I got TS on PS2 all those years ago - had plenty of time to gat used to them & make them work well. & Your little COD4, Unreal comparison. Are you sure that werent to do with skill rather than control method. Obviously your friend is better with 2 sticks than mouse & keyboard if not
Nope he got me into PC gaming so he's been using that setup longer than I have. I just have a hard time doing pads for FPS games. Don't know what it is. I can do it but it feels like it takes ages.
my sister and mum work at John Lewis and managed to get myself 2 wii's for £145 each (after discount 20%)sold them both this week for £280 each lol the joy of xmas
John Lewis takes a very dim view on their staff using discounts for these sorts of practices. In fact it's a sackable offence. Let's hope they don't find out who you are....
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(no doubt the princess is captured again huh?)
