Topic: Hold your Wee for a Wii

[Smash_Brother]

Being "fair" would be assuming that Nintendo has the good common sense to increase supply of their products for the xmas season since it's the biggest buying frenzy.

Seriously, people are being way too lax on them: this is a company. The entire point of companies is that they have entire departments to handle this sh*t before it becomes a huge problem (and there's only a few bigger problems than having demand for your product but not having the supply).

This happened with the DSL and it's happening again with the Wii. What will it take for Nintendo to learn?

[jasonditz]

Its unfortunately not as simple as opening up another factory for Nintendo, there are any number of third parties supplying components for these systems, and Nintendo can only make them as fast as they can get the parts. They can all increase their capacity of course, and probably are, but that takes a lot of time and a lot of negotiations.  

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
Being "fair" would be assuming that Nintendo has the good common sense to increase supply of their products for the xmas season since it's the biggest buying frenzy.

Seriously, people are being way too lax on them: this is a company. The entire point of companies is that they have entire departments to handle this sh*t before it becomes a huge problem (and there's only a few bigger problems than having demand for your product but not having the supply).

This happened with the DSL and it's happening again with the Wii. What will it take for Nintendo to learn?

I am being somewhat lax on them now because I can somewhat understand why they are having problems trying to keep up with the Wii demand and again, this type of crap has happened before.

Like I have been saying all this time, they have till summer to get their crap together. If by then there are STILL taking their sweet time replenishing supplies, then they have dropped the ball greatly.

And SB, while I agree that they NEED to ante up their supplies, I am somewhat inclined to believe that perhaps Nintendo is experiencing problems that are beyond their control. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Reggie or any other higher up at Nintendo is DEMANDING day and night that shipments of the system come faster and in plentiful quantities, but someone is guilty and is delaying the advancement of the systems.

I will give them time to get their act together. If they fail by then, something is up and no amount of fan cover up and excuses can hide the truth that Nintendo has messed up their own system productions.

[Blue Plant]

As well as no company wants to make way too many systems/products on the off chance they bomb and are stuck sitting in a warehouse.  Sales predictions are one thing, fear of telling the shareholders that your new system is ill-received and you made way too many of them is another thing.

[Smash_Brother]

True, but I think Nintendo had enough market research going for them that they would have allowed for many more Wii sales than this.

Besides, the DSL, which is insanely proven in the market, was likewise out of stock. Their manufacturing dept. needs to buy themselves a clue.

Also, I'm betting Wiis will continue to be sold out until...September. That's my prediction, and while I hope I'm wrong, it wouldn't at all surprise me if this was the case.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Blue Plant
As well as no company wants to make way too many systems/products on the off chance they bomb and are stuck sitting in a warehouse.  Sales predictions are one thing, fear of telling the shareholders that your new system is ill-received and you made way too many of them is another thing.

That is understandable with the Wii, but the DS is more than a proven success. The system is still selling by the thousands each week, so Nintendo shouldn't be afraid of overstocking the DS since it will all be sold out in a month or two.

And even when I mentioned that this is a typical post launch issue it still doesn't hurt them to ante up the production of the system and meet the demand before it dies down.

[Ian Sane]

"Also, I'm betting Wiis will continue to be sold out until...September."

That's a long time.  I think something like that could actually kill the Wii's momentum.  Third parties want a good sized userbase and may lose interest if a lack of supply puts a "cap" on the userbase size.  But for now I think Nintendo's okay.  Right now having a shortage is probably for the best because the Wii lineup for the next few months looks like total weaksauce.  It probably is better for a lot of people to want to own a Wii but to not have the experience of going through a drought firsthand.  If the Wii is readily available everywhere around the same time the drought ends then for a large portion of the Wii userbase the Wii has always had a good selection, even though reality shows otherwise.  The drought then becomes something that only affects the hardcore Nintendo fans, who by now have enough patience to deal with that sort of thing.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I think all companies should be held liable for making hot products that sell out like crazy, or products that could possibly cause people to hold and do stupid competitions because of either availability or price. I'm sorry but this is pretty pathetic to hold Nintendo responsible for creating a freaken game system that you could buy off ebay for 400$ or so without doing a contest. Get real people, you are looking ridiculous to hold a company responsible that released an entertainment product that some retarded radio station created a contest for. Let me ask you when was the first time 3+ million consoles were released around launch?  

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
That's a long time.  I think something like that could actually kill the Wii's momentum.  Third parties want a good sized userbase and may lose interest if a lack of supply puts a "cap" on the userbase size.  But for now I think Nintendo's okay.  Right now having a shortage is probably for the best because the Wii lineup for the next few months looks like total weaksauce.  It probably is better for a lot of people to want to own a Wii but to not have the experience of going through a drought firsthand.  If the Wii is readily available everywhere around the same time the drought ends then for a large portion of the Wii userbase the Wii has always had a good selection, even though reality shows otherwise.  The drought then becomes something that only affects the hardcore Nintendo fans, who by now have enough patience to deal with that sort of thing.

I don't mean that there won't be any Wiis until then: I mean that even if Nintendo increases production dramatically, they'll still be completely out until that time due to demand.

I think the vein of demand runs deeper than anyone suspects. In my thread about the viral chain, I pointed out that every Wii sold with Wii Sports as a pack-in has a greater chance of selling additional Wiis than it does NOT selling additional Wiis.

This stems from the fact that Wii Sports is, as Nintendo predicted, the ultimate piece of non-gamer software to entice people who would have never dreamed about owing a Wii. It gets them talking to their friends about it, how videogames and exercise have merged into one entity and when I tell them "$250 and it comes with Wii Sports", they're immediately sold.

The echoing reaction to the Wii from everyone I've seen is "I want one...". Like I said, I think the demand runs deeper than even Nintendo predicted. I think they've created a phenomenon which surpasses the original NES.

I still think they should have been able to dump out more Wiis than this, though, but I am dire curious to see how deep this vein runs and if I am correct in my prediction.

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution
I think all companies should be held liable for making hot products that sell out like crazy, or products that could possibly cause people to hold and do stupid competitions because of either availability or price. I'm sorry but this is pretty pathetic to hold Nintendo responsible for creating a freaken game system that you could buy off ebay for 400$ or so without doing a contest. Get real people, you are looking ridiculous to hold a company responsible that released an entertainment product that some retarded radio station created a contest for. Let me ask you when was the first time 3+ million consoles were released around launch?

They're not directly accountable, no. They didn't know some assclown radio station was going to pull a stunt like this.

But like I said, had Wii supply been better, this woman wouldn't be dead.

It's not directly Nintendo's fault, but it's still a fact.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution
I think all companies should be held liable for making hot products that sell out like crazy, or products that could possibly cause people to hold and do stupid competitions because of either availability or price. I'm sorry but this is pretty pathetic to hold Nintendo responsible for creating a freaken game system that you could buy off ebay for 400$ or so without doing a contest. Get real people, you are looking ridiculous.

This is something I've been debating with myself ever since SB brought it up...

I find it extremely hard to deny that the rarity of the system did have something to do with it. But at the same time, I find it very silly to put all of the blame on Nintendo since there were many aspects that came into play.

Which makes me ask myself; How do we know that most of the stuff we are saying is fueled by our own anger and bitterness towards the Wii being very hard to find?

I know that when I was doing Wii hunting for my nephew, I was mad as hell to the point where I became emo about it. But what I did is I talked to my nephew, then to my parents and decided to just wait till the hype and the demand die down and the price is slightly better. I felt better about it afterwards since the thing that was annoying me the most was that I was hunting one for my nephew, and the less successful I was the more guilt stricken and sad I became, which why I believe that the children's disappointment may have lead the woman to do this.

And forgive my bluntness, but I wouldn't be surprised if SB has bitterness about is as well. He has mentioned that he has had nightmares about Wii hunting and whenever someone brings it up he makes a BIG mention of it, this thread being the most recent.

[IceCold]

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But like I said, had Wii supply been better, this woman wouldn't be dead.

It's not directly Nintendo's fault, but it's still a fact.

It's a fact now? Oh, please.. that's just ridiculous.

[UltimatePartyBear]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
But like I said, had Wii supply been better, this woman wouldn't be dead.

It's not directly Nintendo's fault, but it's still a fact.

That doesn't follow.  People will still do silly things for free stuff, even if the prize is something they could buy in a store for less hassle.  Maybe this contest would have drawn a little less attention, but it's still a prize worth $250.  

[GoldenPhoenix]

That is still terrible reasoning, Nintendo did what they could to meet demand. Really I have my doubts they expected Wii to do nearly as well as it has, like the DS before it. Let me ask you a question then, if someone held a contest for, let's say, a plasma TV or even a cheaper device, like maybe the new iPhone and someone died from that contest. Are you going to attribute any blame to that company for having the product on the market? Because the logical conclusion from your statements is that companies should be held responsible (even if not directly) for releasing something people will do something extreme (or maybe not extreme as in this case) things for.

[GoldenPhoenix]

You know it is kind of funny that you guys, Smash and Pap, have been having such a tough time finding a Wii since right before Christmas I went to my local Fred Meyer and Voila I found TWO. In fact they got them in like 10 minutes prior to me getting there.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution
That is still terrible reasoning, Nintendo did what they could to meet demand. Really I have my doubts they expected Wii to do nearly as well as it has, like the DS before it. Let me ask you a question then, if someone held a contest for, let's say, a plasma TV or even a cheaper device, like maybe the new iPhone and someone died from that contest. Are you going to attribute any blame to that company for having the product on the market? Because the logical conclusion from your statements is that companies should be held responsible (even if not directly) for releasing something people will do something extreme (or maybe not extreme as in this case) things for.

Just in case, are you talking to me or to SB?

If it is me, believe me when I say that the more I think about it, the more I think blaming Nintendo is stupid. Again, the rarity of the system may have driven the woman to do something extreme, but you are right in that Nintendo didn't have anything to do with it. They released the system, it sold out and its hard to find.

I still believe that there were many things that caused the woman's death, but trying to put a blame on Nintendo somehow is kinda stupid.

If you are talking to SB, well, try not to pay too much attention. I'm willing to go on a limb here and say the reason SB is saying this is because he is experiencing a lot of stress trying to find Wiis for someone else.

I know this because is happened to me when I went Wii hunting. I had a terrible week because of it, and my nephew wondering about it didn't make it any easier.

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You know it is kind of funny that you guys, Smash and Pap, have been having such a tough time finding a Wii since right before Christmas I went to my local Fred Meyer and Voila I found TWO. In fact they got them in like 10 minutes prior to me getting there.

Luck, my friend...LUCK.

SB has called every store in his area (and he has a lot of stores to choose from) and no Wiis.

I did my hardest to find Wiis in my area and absolutely nothing.

Again, you were LUCKY.

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution
You know it is kind of funny that you guys, Smash and Pap, have been having such a tough time finding a Wii since right before Christmas I went to my local Fred Meyer and Voila I found TWO. In fact they got them in like 10 minutes prior to me getting there.

So you think TWO Wiis constitutes a healthy shipment of the console, then?

But that's the entire point: you got there 10 MINUTES and in another 10 minutes they would have been GONE.

And if not, I'll buy them BOTH off of you, pay shipping costs, and throw $20 each in for your trouble.

As for the woman being dead, I think I'm projecting my own struggles in here, but the odds are heavily in favor that she didn't want to pay the $400 on ebay for a Wii (or couldn't afford it) and her kids wanted one quite badly. I know that because I'm in the EXACT same situation, just substitute "kids" with "friends".

You're right, it's not a FACT, but I'm 90% positive that this was her reason for doing so.

Like I said, in her place, I'd be dead as well, since neither of us knew of the dangers of water toxicity (I figured I'd just vomit up the water long before that ever happened...).

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
As for the woman being dead, I think I'm projecting my own struggles in here, but the odds are heavily in favor that she didn't want to pay the $400 on ebay for a Wii (or couldn't afford it) and her kids wanted one quite badly. I know that because I'm in the EXACT same situation, just substitute "kids" with "friends".

You're right, it's not a FACT, but I'm 90% positive that this was her reason for doing so.

Like I said, in her place, I'd be dead as well, since neither of us knew of the dangers of water toxicity (I figured I'd just vomit up the water long before that ever happened...).

As a piece of friendly advise, just how bad do these friends of yours want the Wii?

I ask because while I find it very admirable that you are doing your best to please them, absolutely NO FRIEND, not even those that have been a great deal of help, are worth the struggle of trying to find a game console.

At this point, I recommend going to them and be honest about it; that you have worked EXTREMELY hard to find a Wii, but nothing has showed up and there's nothing you can do about it.

Its understandable that you would go through a lot of trouble trying to please your friends, but again its a console. It wouldn't be as bad if you are trying to help them out on something that they truly need or has validity (like money for school, an operation, medicine, finance a home, helping them achieving something, help them during bad times and such), but its just a game console.

We had to do this with my nephew since we worked hard trying to find him one and through a lot of talks, we convinced him that he will get a Wii eventually, but not now and that he doesn't need it. It saved us a lot of hassle and emotional stress.

If they truly are your friends they will understand that you did your best and that you are incredible friend for going through some great lengths trying to help them. If they bitch at you about it, you might want to reconsider some things...

[vudu]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
But like I said, had Wii supply been better, this woman wouldn't be dead.

It's not directly Nintendo's fault, but it's still a fact.

If the woman didn't have kids she wouldn't be dead.
If the woman didn't live in Sacramento she wouldn't be dead.
If the woman had learned Japanese and gone to work for Nintendo five years ago, thus securing herself a Wii she wouldn't be dead.
If the woman's mother was addicted to heroin while pregnant thus giving birth to a mentally handicapped child she wouldn't be dead.

These are all facts.

[Arbok]

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Originally posted by: pap64
I still believe that there were many things that caused the woman's death, but trying to put a blame on Nintendo somehow is kinda stupid.

"Kinda" is a loose term here, it is stupid to blame Nintendo for it, period really.

Did people blame Sony for someone getting shot over a PS3? Did people blame Sony for kids running their car through a store window to steal a PS2?

No, as it's not the company's fault, regardless of their handling of getting areas supplied. This isn't a necessity, as VGrevolution stated, it's a game console. What the prize was doesn't really matter in this case, as it could have just as easily been $500 which would have still convinced people to act crazy for it, especially since you could buy a Wii off eBay with some money to spare with that. If you are going to blame Nintendo you could just as easily blame the kids for wanting it in the first place by that logic.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Arbok

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Originally posted by: pap64
I still believe that there were many things that caused the woman's death, but trying to put a blame on Nintendo somehow is kinda stupid.

"Kinda" is a loose term here, it is stupid to blame Nintendo for it, period really.

Did people blame Sony for someone getting shot over a PS3? Did people blame Sony for kids running their car through a store window to steal a PS2?

No, as it's not the company's fault, regardless of their handling of getting areas supplied. This isn't a necessity, as VGrevolution stated, it's a game console. What the prize was doesn't really matter in this case, as it could have just as easily been $500 which would have still convinced people to act crazy for it, especially since you could buy a Wii off eBay with some money to spare with that. If you are going to blame Nintendo you could just as easily blame the kids for wanting it in the first place by that logic.

Well, I do recall some people saying "This wouldn't have happened if Sony had handled the PS3 launch better". I don't know where, but the claims were indeed made at one point.

As for everything else, you're right. This sort of thing has happened before.

I remember when kids would stab each other trying to get their latest Pokemon cards and there would be riots at Burger king trying to get the latest Pokemon toys. I know some people said "This is Nintendo's fault for creating such a sickeningly addictive series" , but is it, really? I'm sure the guy that created Pokemon just created it for the hell of it, I'm sure he never expected it to be a worldwide phenomenon to the point where people would kill for it.

This is a human nature; to go through any lengths trying to get something their desire. Its kinda like the triforce in Zelda, the goddesses created it for the good of the people, but it wasn't their fault that it sent the kingdom of Hyrule into a never ending war.

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: vudu These are all facts.

I'm not saying they aren't, I'm just using one more example of Nintendo's god-awful manufacturing department to vent about them.

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As a piece of friendly advise, just how bad do these friends of yours want the Wii?

Like I said, I didn't know it could result in death. Had I known, I wouldn't have done it.

Also, I realize Wii shortage wasn't the only contributing factor, but I'm quite certain it didn't HELP.

How do we know the woman wasn't desperately trying to win the Wii so she could sell it on ebay and pay rent for the next month? The Wii shortage could be the root of the cause in more ways than one.

But like I said, it's not Nintendo's fault and they shouldn't be blamed for it, just that the Wii shortage couldn't possibly be helping the situation.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother

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As a piece of friendly advise, just how bad do these friends of yours want the Wii?

Like I said, I didn't know it could result in death. Had I known, I wouldn't have done it.

Logic dictates that overly heavy consumption of anything, even the stuff the body needs, will cause damage.

But here's the thing I just realized, what about the other contestants? There hasn't been any mention of how they have handled the treatment, especially if they were all submitted to the same rules.

 

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well on the news they had the woman who won, and she said that herself and others just felt "sick" nothing major.

[UniversalJuan]

AS I've stated time and again, I work at GameStop (Yes I know, instant devil, etc etc, but hear me out). We have, fairly, frequent shipments of Wii every week. Bare minimum of 3 but up to 12. When we get in our Wii? They sell out in less than 30 minutes, without fail. Smash, your bashing of Nintendo's failure to meet supply would make an assload more sense and wouldn't anger me personally so much if I didn't see a company that is trying their damnedest to get product out there for mutliple regions at once (I mean damn...profit. Who wants that right?! Certainly not Nintendo, they're having too much fun d**king with people on the Wii shortage [Yeah..shortage..I use that term DAMN lightly]) and customers who call me about the damn thing every 5-8 minutes (Oh, we've timed it at work!). Beware Smash, the concept I'm about to put forward may astound and amaze you....demand can outstrip supply. I know, it's bizzare as all get out but I promise you it can happen, and in this case, already is. I understand that you're frustrated, and that's fine and dandy, but this sole blame of NIntendo thing is just making you look less than logical, in my own personal opinion anyway. Here are some insider suggestions to help you though. Eliminate other consumers (I'm serious...they're your real enemy here), form a friendship with someone in retail, bribery (Shifty employees can be your best friend), bite the bullet and just use eBay, create some sort of sob story and make it believable enoguh for someone to give you an inside note on when they expect their next shipment. That's all I care to try to think about at this time.

On topic, I feel for the loss of this lady. Death from drinking too much water is a little known thing, hell, I personally didn't know about it until this incident! So to that extent, I can't exactly call her silly for doing this (Unless she started to feel bad during the contest and kept going, but I don't know this so I won't comment) nor can I place blame on Nintendo...not their fault, period. The closest thing that could possibly be blamed, without knowing all the details, is the radio station. Buuut I'm no investigator, unless I'm playing PW, so I'll leave it at that.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: UniversalJuan
AS I've stated time and again, I work at GameStop (Yes I know, instant devil, etc etc, but hear me out). We have, fairly, frequent shipments of Wii every week. Bare minimum of 3 but up to 12. When we get in our Wii? They sell out in less than 30 minutes, without fail. Smash, your bashing of Nintendo's failure to meet supply would make an assload more sense and wouldn't anger me personally so much if I didn't see a company that is trying their damnedest to get product out there for mutliple regions at once (I mean damn...profit. Who wants that right?! Certainly not Nintendo, they're having too much fun d**king with people on the Wii shortage [Yeah..shortage..I use that term DAMN lightly]) and customers who call me about the damn thing every 5-8 minutes (Oh, we've timed it at work!). Beware Smash, the concept I'm about to put forward may astound and amaze you....demand can outstrip supply. I know, it's bizzare as all get out but I promise you it can happen, and in this case, already is. I understand that you're frustrated, and that's fine and dandy, but this sole blame of NIntendo thing is just making you look less than logical, in my own personal opinion anyway. Here are some insider suggestions to help you though. Eliminate other consumers (I'm serious...they're your real enemy here), form a friendship with someone in retail, bribery (Shifty employees can be your best friend), bite the bullet and just use eBay, create some sort of sob story and make it believable enoguh for someone to give you an inside note on when they expect their next shipment. That's all I care to try to think about at this time.

The thing that gets me and SB the most is how unstable the shipments are. It seems that one week the stores get a big shipment, then afterwards only one or two pop up in stores. It wouldn't be as annoying if the shipments were constant.

In my case, I've called Gamestops and EB Games stores in my area and they seem to never get any consoles. Seriously, they always tell me "call during this day" and they fail to receive any Wiis. I've been told of stores who will NOT be getting any Wiis till February.

So when you have cases like these its hard not to feel frustrated.

Although I agree about the worldwide launch thing. Maybe that's the thing that is truly preventing Nintendo from making more systems, since they have to replenish systems in all the major regions of the world all at once rather that just one by one.

I think its safe to assume that we are not Nintendo, thus we don't know what is exactly going on.