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Nintendo Wii's last holdout is the United States as European shipments end
The Nintendo Wii is now discontinued in Europe, joining Japan in halting shipments of the massively popular game console. North America is the Wii's final holdout, with Nintendo of America telling GameSpot, "There is no change in the status of Wii in the United States and it is available for purchase this holiday season." Of course, should you really, really want a Wii in Europe, there are still plenty of new and used options still in stores (not to mention the Wii Mini in some territories). And you could always buy a Wii U of course, which has near full backwards compatibility with the Wii. With poor Wii U sales worldwide, it looks like Nintendo's discontinuation of the original Wii is an effort to push people toward the new system. It could also simply be a question of market confusion: mainstream news outlets and late night talk show hosts have repeatedly referred to the Wii U as an "attachment" to the original Wii, confusing the GamePad for a peripheral. Getting the Wii off the market might just help with that confusion. Nintendo of course isn't saying exactly why it's halting shipments of new Wiis to Europe and Japan, and is instead pointing people toward its newest console. Perhaps that says it all.
Nintendo Europe promises Wii production boost, how nice
Shortly before pointing out that the sky is blue and that oxygen is a somewhat necessary element for the continuation of human life, Nintendo Europe's Laurent Fischer has confessed to Gamesindustry.biz that the console maker is "still struggling to deliver the right numbers of hardware to cope with demand." The senior marketing director cites the "recruiting power of the Wii" which is "more powerful than anyone had guessed." Apparently, looking for a Wii means going up against some sort of surprise Nintendo militia. When will these silly shortages end? Fischer offers no clue, but explains that it'll take more than a couple of days (more than ninety, at least). "We're planning to increase the production capacity but it's not something that can be done in a couple of days. We have to be patient." One can only hope patience production amongst consumers remains steady while Nintendo replenishes their critical duct tape supply.
