Nintendo: Wii has a shelf life of one hour

Propaganda.

In the States, it depends on the area. Big cities sell out immediately while little towns (where I work) will have Wiis on shelves for a few days.

I agree with jpitner. I think it's all created by them to make the system seem more worthy of a purchase than it really is.

There's no reason that a year and a half after being launched they shouldn't be producing more systems through economies of scale and be able to meet demand. It's a corporate crock of shit.

"We are passionately upset about the lack of product relative to demand."

Then build more factories asshole. Don't act like you don't have the money for it.

I agree with nilcam it's because of our weaker dollar.

If it's an "intentional shortage to help spike demand" then why are other country's not having the same shortages?

i don't mean to America bash but we're already getting 40% of the worlds stock. Kind of a lot for one country. Grant it the market here is huge, kinda selfish to demand more. Might be some weight to the economy argument but i'm no analyst.

People still believe the "intentional supply problem" myth huh? /facepalm. There's no fucking point in increasing demand if you're not able to sell them the product. It's about as logical as the average 9/11 truther conspiracy theory.

If people would stop looking for the Wii when/where everyone else is looking the Wii ...

I just picked up my FIFTH Wii yesterday when I went to pick up "Mario Kart Wii". (No, I'm not keeping the latest Wii, but I'm not being an asshole and selling it on eBay for a 50% premium either.) Of the five, I've kept two for myself; the rest have been resold for exactly what I paid to friends who have been looking for one.

So far, all of the Wiis that I've purchased have been at stores that do not get a lot of foot traffic and were purchased during odd times of the day -- three times during lunch, and the last two at the store's opening on Sunday morning (when most people in this heavily religious area are at church). In the past year, this was the SEVENTH time that a Wii was available for me to purchase.

The Wiis are out there, folks. It might mean that you'll have to drive outside of your area, and it might mean that you'll have to go at unusual times of the day; but if you really want one, that's what you have to do.

At this rate, I should become some kind of Wii middle-man for Destructoid users -- except for qwerty and slapme7times. F*ck you two.

Of course this has something to do with the fact that the dollar is like crap today, thats why Nintendo is not planning to cut the price of the wii, not only because is still selling great, but because probably their profit margin is not that good in the USA... they should start a little production line in the US.

I agree with Manta

Also, passionately upset = squeaking while rolling in da money

There are certainly Wiis on the shelves, but they are only available as $600 "consumer's choice" bundles. If you check craigslist you'll see people selling their's for retail price. People are just getting bored with them and could care less about making any money off of selling them. I really think Nintendo knows that they have a piece of crap system that only sells because of the gimmick and not because of the longevity of the console. Give it a year and that "1 hour" shelf life will easily be "1 month".

In terms of graphical leaps forward, 480p = piece of crap system. You can't deny that Nintendo knows that they can never compete visually with anyone else so they continue throw gimmick (Wiifit) after gimmick (Wiiwheel) into the market place. How long is that going to work?
I'll admit that the 360 and PS3 both have their problems, but they'll be around long after the Wii.

I would have liked to see something new in Mario Kart for the Wii, timed battle levels? fail.