Nintendo working to boost Wii production

While it should hardly come as a surprise given the demand, the AP is reporting that Nintendo is currently working to increase its Wii production in an effort to satisfy as many patiently-waiting gamers as possible. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata also admitted that the company has not been able to properly foresee demand and said that the current lack of stock was "abnormal." Of course, they aren't sayin' exactly how much they'll be increasing production by, nor are they willing to disclose what the current monthly production capacity is. Nintendo is slightly less secretive about it's other hot-selling console, however, boasting that it's now churning out 2.5 million DSs a month, making it the highest production ever for a Nintendo game console.

[Andre @ Apr 27th 2007 2:33PM]

No thanks. I've played it enough at other people's houses to know it sucks. Yea, it may be fun for a couple of hours at first, but then you get over it. How many times can you play WII Sports? And the controller does not work well.

[JoshLowry @ Apr 27th 2007 2:33PM]

Good for them. They have really done well with their latest two products.

"Nintendo President Satoru Iwata also admitted that the company has not been able to properly foresee demand..."

What a great problem for a company to have.


-JoshLowry
http://www.StateOfBrain.com

[jorge @ Apr 27th 2007 2:34PM]

FINALLY. I have been looking for a Wii since it came out, and have yet to find any. I see ps3s everywhere and 360s everywhere, but no frickin wii. yay!

[unanimous @ Apr 27th 2007 2:35PM]

the ds is shit. i can not belive it is selling more than the psp.

[Uknown @ May 1st 2007 7:45PM]

Well. The DS wasn't made for you. It was made for everybody! You may think it sucks, but other people think it's fun. A lot of eople in this world is different. There is at least 500,000 people who loves country rock! You're only thinking of yourself, but there are other people surrounding you, like a billion on this planet!

[Craig @ Apr 27th 2007 2:47PM]

Yes, Andre, I sympathize...it's a real trying time for you Xbox/Playstation fanboiz.

[Brad C @ Apr 27th 2007 2:49PM]

the current lack of stock was "abnormal."


Maybe he needs a dictionary. When something is "abnormal" that would mean it's different than is usually is. There has been no stock of the item since its release, meaning this is "normal".

[bob the builder @ Apr 27th 2007 6:31PM]

he meant that the CONTINUING lack of stock is abnormal. usually a system will be sold out for the first few months and then supply catches up with demand .

[Eric Unterhausen @ Apr 27th 2007 2:51PM]

maybe they could get sony to do some contract assembly at the PS3 plant?

[Brian @ Apr 27th 2007 2:55PM]

Thanks, Andre, for your totally pointless, baseless, incorrect assessment of the Wii. Maybe it's not for people that intend to sit in front of their TV and play video games for 7 hours a day, I'll give you that.

For people with lives, and other things to do? It's fantastic.

[Andre @ Apr 27th 2007 3:13PM]

No Brian. The Wii is a scam. Nintendo couldn't compete with hardware against Microsoft and SOny so they made a piece of junk "motion sensored controller" and sold the unit as targeted to non-hardcore gamers. Then they purposely lag the production of the system to create a buzz for it. It's cool though Brian if you enjoy wasting your money on gimmicks.

[Dan @ Apr 27th 2007 2:56PM]

Nintendo has done a fantastic job upping production. At my local Best Buy, they have received 2 shipments in just the last few days (sold out of course within hours), and I was shopping at Wal-mart, and they happened to have 2 in stock, which is the first time I ever saw them on the shelf there.

The Wii is a great system, I'm been hitting the slopes in SSX Blur quite a bit recently, still finishing up Zelda, and still go back to Wii Sports for some easy to pick-up fun.

[Mark @ Apr 27th 2007 3:03PM]

They should talk to Nike. They are good at getting things made quickly and cheaply. I am sure there are plenty of kids with nothing to do since they can't get their Wii.

[Andy S. @ Apr 27th 2007 3:24PM]

Good call, Andre. It is important for *real* gamers to spend their money on things that aren't at all gimmicky. SIXAXIS controllers and Xbox 360 faceplates, for instance.

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 27th 2007 3:27PM]

Of course Nintendo's limiting production to boost sales! They've limited production so much they've been outselling PS3 and the 360- reducing the number of units available has made it THAT popular! (whispery-voice, "Hey, that's sarcasm, ok?")

[Mark @ Apr 27th 2007 4:01PM]

Wow Andre... Sounds like someone is a really pissed off ps3 or 360 fan. A little bitter that your console of choice didn't end up as hot as the wii? Lets face it, just about EVERYBODY who has given the wii a chance has said that the motion controls have made most games on it amazing almost by itself. But no, you're right, let's make clones of all the former games over and over again but with better graphics.

[Mark @ Apr 27th 2007 4:09PM]

Oh and by the way, it probably doesnt help your argument that the only problem the wii has had so far was that people were having so much fun and got so into it that they broke the wriststraps.

[rick @ Apr 27th 2007 3:32PM]

Well andre it's a pretty good scam, my kids play this gimmick all the time.

[Andre @ Apr 27th 2007 4:26PM]

Mark,

I'm not a big gamer. I don't even own a next-gen console. The only game I play regularly is Pro Evolution soccer at my friend's house. Japanese people are good at marketing shitty products towards little kids, just like they did with (chin)pokemon. Face it, the controller doesn't work good. The fact that it doesn't gets rid of the whole competitiveness of gaming, which is a big aspect of it.

[donjimenez @ Apr 27th 2007 4:01PM]

There's Wiis-a-plenty at the Secaucus NJ Sam's club (360's & PS3junk also). Just left 10 minutes ago.

[oqnet @ Apr 27th 2007 4:26PM]

My wife says I can get one when I get a better job :(

[oqnet @ Apr 27th 2007 4:36PM]

Andre: how would you say the controler doesn't work good? What aspect of it is incorrect? You originally said that the sports gets old after a couple hours. So your telling me that their free game was only holding your attention for 2 hours at least. Did you try any of there other games like zelda? how could you say its junk when you only tried one game that came with the system? You also enjoyed it for 2 hours from your comment. I could get tired of playing any game if I played it for more than an hour at a time.

[Andre @ Apr 27th 2007 4:44PM]

For example, when you are playing the Tennis game with another person, he could easily beat you by just flicking his wrist as opposed to you - when you are making a full swing motion. Nice concept, just doesn't work for gaming.

[Pey @ Apr 27th 2007 5:04PM]

This is a situation for you to use *gasp* your social skills. My friends and I play on the honor system. Also, for kicks, if one of us is found cheating with a "mini" motion instead of a full swing, you have to take a penalty shot of the drink of my choice =)

There is cheating in every game; just find ways to deal with it. It doesn't mean the system is a bad system. You can cheat with a ps3 pad if you want

[trainwrecka @ Apr 27th 2007 5:21PM]

i have so many friends still trying to get their hands on a wii it's crazy! i didn't think the wii would be so big so fast.
obviously nintendo isn't cranking out a 2.5 million wii's a month... i bet they are cranking out that many wiimotes though. :)

[rp @ Apr 27th 2007 5:21PM]

Why in god's name would you play the wii with wrist flicking motions instead of at least semi-full motions? Do you sit down on a chair to play dance dance revolution? All you have to say to your friend is, cmon, don't be a lame ass, and he'll stop the cheap stuff. Not like it really matters anyway because wrist flicking isn't a guaranteed win in any of the wii sports. my friend, who has traditionally been somewhat anti-nintendo, is amazed by the wii and wants to play constantly. it's all about the gameplay. the controllers sometimes fail, but for the most part they're actually really good.

[eLMafUDd @ Apr 27th 2007 8:16PM]

Lucky I live in Australia. There are no shortages yay, I bought my wii and then got it modded and now I'm happy.

[Steven @ Apr 27th 2007 9:26PM]

Well it's about time now, isn't it? I've been waiting to grab one of these babies since they came out!

[SKI @ Apr 27th 2007 10:08PM]

Me and my friend were playing Wii Sports Tennis and played by just flicking our wrists. We got bored after 2 games. So we stood up and started running around the room, diving for the shots and the game got infinitely better. Just try playing like that.

Everyone needs to remember that just because you can play by flicking your wrist doesn't mean you should.

[Martin Alderson @ Apr 28th 2007 12:57PM]

I don't believe flicking your wrist to make a move is cheating at all - and doesn't dampen my enjoyment of the game. The Wii controller is capable of detecting very precise movements (see Kororinpa, for example), so very small changes in the way you flick your wrist will give you different responses in the game. You can't just randomly flick your wrist and expect to win the game. You have to hone your technique so you can flick your wrist and get exactly the move you want.

Also, Wii Sports was made to be highly accessible - where you don't have to replicate a real movement perfectly to be able to get a good result. Just because this one game was programmed this way doesn't mean that all games do. A tennis game could be created for the system where you do have to replicate a real life move perfectly - just flicking your wrist would not give enough power.

Personally, I think the Wii controller is the best thing to happen to gaming for a long time. I just hope more games come out that take full advantage of the precise analog 3D movement it offers.

[Ayle @ Apr 28th 2007 3:38PM]

[fantasy]The Wiiality will have gloves and next-gen graphics[/fantasy]
More seriously, I hope this boost will be enough, I've been looking for one for 3 weeks....

[Ralph Wiggum @ Apr 29th 2007 12:06AM]

I'm glad to see Nintendo has come back, they looked dead during the gamecube era...... damn those japanese people are smart!

[Mike @ Apr 29th 2007 6:30PM]

Those two girls look very similar - has Nintendo resorted to creating clones in order to increase its output?

[Ndric @ Apr 30th 2007 6:43AM]

I'm waiting for three things

1. Different colors
2. Price drop
3. More games

That's when I'll buy this console


Ndric
________________
http://ndric.com