Want to buy a Wii?

[ND66]

Get is HERE while it last!

CircuitCity.com Nintendo Wii Console for $249.99 **HOT**
Nex-gen gaming / Network wirelessly / Compatible with GameCube / PowerPC CPU / Wand remote / Internet connectivity
Click Here and add to cart for $249.99 + Free in-store pickup

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[Jessterw]

Is it "Hot" because they have them in-stock? Can't be because of the price because that's all you'd pay most anywhere else as well.

[ND66]

Is it "Hot" because they have them in-stock? Can't be because of the price because that's all you'd pay most anywhere else as well.

Yup, only because it is in stock and it isn’t bundled with like 5~10 games and with the price tag over $400 for the bundle.

You just can’t find the unit without a bundle and in stock, available at the same time.


Hey, the shipping is free..... .
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[Jessterw]

Interesting given you can get them pretty much anywhere around here in non-bundled form. Finding them in-stock isn't so bad anymore either, as I've noticed a few places are keeping units on the shelves longer.

Free shipping is always good, but in your first post it says "Free in-store pickup," which isn't quite as good as delivered to your doorstep.

[ND66]

Free shipping is always good, but in your first post it says "Free in-store pickup," which isn't quite as good as delivered to your doorstep.

You know, I might have confused those two…. .

And around here, I haven’t seen those on the shelf yet, but then again, I’m not a frequent shopper too.

But I do see Playstation 3 every time I do get around to do some shopping….. .



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[Jessterw]

Hehe, yeah, I think the PS3's at the Wal-Mart near here are starting to gather dust

[schmosef]

PS3 outselling Wii and 360 in Australia

[ND66]

"..... but as you'll notice it's now being sold in Harvey Norman consumer electronic stores as a Blu-ray player."

For the price of Blue Ray DVD Player you get a great gaming box, I too, would do the same........ but my need for $500 ro so is greater then the need of Blue Ray player right now.


.

[ND66]

more news.....

Wii demand still outpaces supply


Story Highlights
Wii console supply still hasn't caught up with demand

Nintendo launched the Wii in November 2006

Wiis are available online, but at a hefty premium to the console's $250 retail price

Nintendo says demand for the consoles has absolutely exceeded expectations


NEW YORK (AP) -- 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.

Sony's PS3, which launched within days of the Wii last fall, is readily available in stores and online, but sales have been lagging behind the Wii. Cost could be one reason for this: the PS3 retails for up to $600.

More than 2.8 million Wii consoles have sold in the U.S. since the November debut, according to the NPD Group, a market research company. That's more than double the number of PlayStation 3 consoles sold. And Nintendo plans to sell 14 million worldwide in the current fiscal year, which ends next March.

"You see it and you want it. Kind of like the iPhone," said Robert Marcus, waiting to buy a Wii with his wife and three young sons.

Nintendo's selling point for the Wii has been that it's for everyone: not just hardcore gamers or young men with impeccable hand-eye coordination. Its intuitive motion-sensitive wireless controller lets players mimic movements for bowling, tennis or sword-fighting instead of pushing complex combinations of buttons.

Twelve-year-old Gabriel Benitez, in town from Florida visiting his grandmother, stood in line outside Nintendo's flagship New York store.

"We finally got enough money for it," he said, glancing at his grandmother who was waiting with him. "The last two stores were sold out."

Gabriel likes the Wii's wireless controller and the mini-workout he gets while playing a game.

"I just hate what you have to do just to get one," he said.

It's not just kids who want it.

Rein Auh, 30, never owned a console, but he decided to buy a Wii so he and his wife could have some fun and get some exercise. He spent $350 at the Nintendo store on a Wii and some extras. Walking out of the store, he looked back at the crowd of people still waiting.

"It's kind of crazy," he said. "I mean, it's been 7 months."

For its part, Nintendo says demand for the consoles has absolutely exceeded expectations.

"We are trying to move them as fast as we can," Kaplan said.

Demand for video games usually soars around the holidays and tapers off for the rest of the year. Not with the Wii.

"People are looking at it as something they really want to have in their home," said Byrne, the toy analyst. This means people aren't just buying them as gifts, and the shopping frenzy usually reserved for the holiday season has stretched into the summer.

Toys "R" Us gets regular Wii shipments in all its stores around the country, but demand is so great they sell out immediately, said spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh. On the toy store chain's Web site, the consoles have usually been "temporarily not available."

On a Sunday morning in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood, the Toys "R" Us opened an hour early for Wii buyers only. Though nothing like the bustle of Manhattan, a small line of teenagers, 20-somethings and families formed outside as a clerk handed out numbered slips of paper.

Inside the store, like two weeks earlier at the Best Buy across the shopping center's parking lot, the systems didn't even make it to the shelves before they sold out.

At some point, of course, supply will catch up with demand. But some analysts don't see this happening until next year.

"I don't think by the holidays," Sebastian said. "But maybe by the middle of next year, perhaps they can add another production line."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All AboutNintendo Wii








Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/07/02/wii.demand.ap/index.html

[schmosef]

i still have enough air miles to get another one. maybe i should so i can sell it on ebay.

[schmosef]

maybe i'll wait until the holidays!