Topic: Hold your Wee for a Wii

[D-Caf]

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Originally posted by: pap64
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.

The women who died was the runner up.  They have interviewed the women who won and she has said that after the contest the two of them were both throwing up in the bathroom backstage.  Every person reacts differently to stresses on the body.  Many of the other contestants pulled out earlier because they weren't feeling well after drinking lesser quantities of water.  Its the same as how some people can drink more liqueur before getting alcohol poisoning.  Each persons body reacts differently.  This was apparently beyond what her body could deal with on it's own.

 

[IceCold]

Thank you, Juan..

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

One guy died drinking too much water in a fraternity hazing stunt several years ago.  It was a small but forgotten national news bit.

And oh yeah, don't call a store about Wii shipments.  You'll simply be too late.  Either you're lucky enough to witness Wii units restocked in front of your eyes like I did at Target some weeks ago, or you need those friendly internet tips that mention when a major retail chain will put them on sale to coincide with sunday ads, and get in line accordingly (like i did, with Target).

Like how... Target is now withholding Wii's for sale on Sunday, January 21st.

[stevey]

Update

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A Sacramento area radio station fired 10 employees Tuesday, including three morning disc jockeys, after a mother of three died following an on-air water-drinking contest last week at the station’s studios.

The hosts of KDND-FM’s “Morning Rave” - who go by the on-air names Trish, Maney and Lukas - were fired a day after the station announced it was suspending the show and investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Jennifer Lea Strange.

link

[WuTangTurtle]

my local tv station just ran that story again with that update.  I'm glad they lost their jobs.  I'm surprised that many people were fired though.

[NWR_pap64]

Just read about it at Go Nintendo. At least part of the problem was solved.

As for the other contestant, maybe the woman's body was too weak to handle all that water, especially if its true that the other contestants drank the same amount of water and only got somewhat sick and puked.

Still a dangerous idea, though.

[Strell]

Wait a minute.  You people can't figure out why there would be a range in number per shipment?

Holy sh*t.  Are you kidding me?  I imagine there are thousands of pages of data sitting at NoA's HQ right now, with some poor schmuck reading over them, trying to decide why Bumf*ck gets less units than Los Angeles, or why Houston needs twice as many this week than it did the week before.  Do you guys honestly not expect Nintendo to try and scale shipments toward demand in various parts of the country?  Someone in this thread said he got two quite easily, and two other people can't find them.  That's the exact disparity Nintendo is trying to alleviate, and yet you turn it into a "omfg, this is teh proofs NIntendo is teh harding!!!111"

WtF.

I waited 19 hours on the cold hard ground to get my system.  19 hours of 30-40 degree weather, few good snacks, NO ONE to talk to the majority of the time, no way to lay down horizontally, and NO ONE there had DSes (though I did see two PSPs, which almost threw me into a fit of frenzy cuz I was soooo looking forward to Mario Kart/Tetris/etc all night long).  Not to mention a 60 year old woman who was waiting for her grandsons and would ask me an annoying question in a voice that was ABOUT 40 decibels too low for me to hear adequately the first time.

One of my friends waited for about 12 hours out in the same kind of weather for a system for his gf's little sister.  And he was about to do the same for himself, except that TRU screwed up and sold their systems a day earlier than sources said they would.

My mom, by sheer luck, grabbed two systems after a 6 hour wait, thereby saving my aunt from "the terrible task of explaining to Andrew that Santa doesn't exist" (which I agree is a stupid and extremely exaggerated situation, but my aunt is just loopy like that).

I didn't have the greatest time camping out, and no one else in my family/friends did either, but none of us are complaining.  And I don't feel the need to act like I deserve compensation, which I've seen people DEMAND for incidents and trivialities FAR LESS than I've experienced.  (Quick side note: WHen I worked tech support, a woman called saying she didn't get a manual with her laptop.  I explained it was on her desktop as a PDF.  She said ok, then proceeded to scream at me demanding I pay her back for the 10 minutes she'd been on the phone waiting for me.  People just don't know when to stfu.)

Point is very simple regarding Nintendo's liability here.  How do you determine when a company is at fault versus the person?  Where is the liability in terms of company vs personal?

Easy.  The second a company does something to INTENTIONALLY cause issues and/or problems and/or pain (thus operating FULLY KNOWING they are willingly creating a bad situation), then it's their fault.  That's the end of their liability.  If you go into a restaurant and they serve meat that's been left out overnight, then they are liable.

Personal responsibility?  That should be going on at ALL times.  EVery second of your life you ought to be watching your own ass.  Obviously there are going to be times when you are unsure/unaware/naive, but unfortunately that begins, sustains, and ends with you.  Meaning this woman should have known something was up when she was experiencing all this pain.

If these two things are true, then who is directly at fault?  The radio station for not having medical personnel on hand at all times.  They didn't do their homework, they pulled this contest out of nowhere, and now the blame rests there.  Nintendo's responsibility in this situation is to acknowledge what happened and to pay their respects.  

Funny, I didn't see this much uproar when the kid the other week electrified himself through his GBA.  

Same situation here for the most part.

[Smash_Brother]

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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.

12 units isn't a GOOD number, though...

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demand can outstrip supply.

Yes, because supply sucks right now. If your store was receiving 50 units a week and they all sold out within 30 minutes, then I'd begrudgingly agree that Nintendo is indeed doing everything they can to pump Wiis out.

But I've talked to many retailers. My local Wal-Mart hasn't gotten ANY in for the past two weeks. Neither has Gamestop. Luckily, Best Buy and Target have apparently been hoarding their shipments for some rereleases, and I LOVE rereleases because it's the only chance a person with a job typically has of finding a Wii right now.

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but this sole blame of NIntendo thing is just making you look less than logical

I think you missed where I said:

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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.

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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.

I'm going to be lining up for the rererelease at either Target or BB come sunday, but thanks for the advice anyway.

First of all, again, Nintendo isn't to BLAME for this woman's death. I already admitted that I was wrong in calling it a "fact" since we don't know why she was doing it (she might have wanted to resell the Wii on ebay for the $$$, for all we know). I just meant that the Wii shortage couldn't possibly be helping.

Second, Nintendo is terrible at manufacturing and this only exacerbates the problem. As I mentioned earlier, the DSL is sold out everywhere as well. Yet, it's just about as rare as Wiis and it has been out for the better part of a year now.

If they can't even keep a product properly supplied after a year, then I think it's pretty clear that demand for the Wii can never be 100% to blame for its absence from store shelves.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I keep hearing it repeated how terrible Nintendo has been at manufacturing, so tell me which company has manufactured and sold well over 3 million consoles a month after launch?

BTW I do have some new facts on the case:

-Radio station was well aware of the dangers, in fact they were talking on the air about how people have died. One even asked the contestants was dieing in a joking manner (this was before that woman was really sick)

-Waivers were signed

-10 employees were fired over the incident

-There was no medical staff on hand to monitor the contest

-The woman who died drank right around 2 gallons of water (she was the runner up)

-Not sure about this one, but it seems as if her stomach burst

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution I keep hearing it repeated how terrible Nintendo has been at manufacturing, so tell me which company has manufactured and sold well over 3 million consoles a month after launch?

Which company couldn't meet supply of a desired product even a year after its release?

It's not a question of how many Wiis Nintendo has sold, it's the fact that the rate at which they're replenishing supply is pitiful and the lack of availability of the DSL across most of the country indicates that being caught off guard by the Wii's success is only PART of the picture.

As I've said numerous times, Nintendo KNOWS how popular the DSL is. At this point, unless they have a DS2 right around the corner, then they could overstock 5-7 million DSLs and every last one of them would be sold, without question. Yet, they chose not to do that for the holidays, instead choosing to allow the unit to sell out and miss tons of potential sales.

You may think I'm being a stickler about this, but companies have divisions with the sole responsibility of knowing how much of a product to make (aka. "market research") and if Nintendo's market research division can't even get the numbers right for a product which has been out for a year, then what more evidence do you need to suggest that they're incompetent?

In short, Nintendo is terrible at rolling out product. You can only be "caught off guard" on your success so many times before the explanation has to change to "incompetence" and the current trickles of Wiis and DSLs point to incompetence as the culprit.

[GoldenPhoenix]

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Originally posted by: Smash_Brother

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution I keep hearing it repeated how terrible Nintendo has been at manufacturing, so tell me which company has manufactured and sold well over 3 million consoles a month after launch?

Which company couldn't meet supply of a desired product even a year after its release?

It's not a question of how many Wiis Nintendo has sold, it's the fact that the rate at which they're replenishing supply is pitiful and the lack of availability of the DSL across most of the country indicates that being caught off guard by the Wii's success is only PART of the picture.

As I've said numerous times, Nintendo KNOWS how popular the DSL is. At this point, unless they have a DS2 right around the corner, then they could overstock 5-7 million DSLs and every last one of them would be sold, without question. Yet, they chose not to do that for the holidays, instead choosing to allow the unit to sell out and miss tons of potential sales.

You may think I'm being a stickler about this, but companies have divisions with the sole responsibility of knowing how much of a product to make (aka. "market research") and if Nintendo's market research division can't even get the numbers right for a product which has been out for a year, then what more evidence do you need to suggest that they're incompetent?

In short, Nintendo is terrible at rolling out product. You can only be "caught off guard" on your success so many times before the explanation has to change to "incompetence" and the current trickles of Wiis and DSLs point to incompetence as the culprit.

Let's forget the DS Lite, what new game console has had 3+ million manufactured and sold within a month EVER? The point is that the Wii's launch was HUGE by any standard when you take into account worldwide and no company has came close to the numbers Nintendo has managed with a new console.

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution Let's forget the DS Lite, what new game console has had 3+ million manufactured and sold within a month EVER? The point is that the Wii's launch was HUGE by any standard when you take into account worldwide and no company has came close to the numbers Nintendo has managed with a new console.

First of all, why should the DSL be forgotten? It's a clear indicator of Nintendo's inability to meet extended demand despite having the HISTORY OF THE CONSOLE already at their disposal.

Second, it's not the initial launch of the Wii which matters right now: it's the fact that Nintendo is still hopelessly unable to replenish the supply which I find so objectionable.

If Nintendo has a market research department, they either need to be fired or forced to wear huge wigs, red noses and makeup so they look like the clowns that they are.

The point of MR is to establish the product volume your company needs to produce in order to meet the predicted demand. How do you do this? Easy: test marketing, consumer research studies, product trials, etc.

If you took a chimpanzee, taught it basic english skills and instructed it to determine the potential sales numbers for the Nintendo Wii, even the f*cking CHIMP would have the common sense to set up some Wiis and invite random people in to try them out (most likely Wii Sports) and then ask the test subjects afterwards if they'd buy it, if they'd recommend it to their friends, etc.

I know all of the aforementioned because I'VE SEEN IT IN ACTION IN MY OWN LIVING ROOM (minus the talking chimp, sadly)!!! There hasn't been a single person who has tried the Wii and not wanted one for him/herself, regardless of age or gender. It's a safe assumption to say that EVERY person on these forums who owns a Wii has likely shown it to someone else and seen the reactions for her/himself.

If I had been charged with the task of determining Wii's potential sales, armed with 4 Wiimotes, an early beta of Wii Sports and a budget to hire people to aid me in the testing, I would use the chimp method and get potential customer testimonials, after which I would no DOUBT come away with the conclusion that Nintendo needs to get more factories running, full goddamn speed AHEAD.

But it's even WORSE than that, you see, because the DSL shortage doubly confirms the incompetence of Nintendo's market research department (if they even have one at all).

In the case of the DSL, they're predicting the demand of a product which has been on the market for the year and has already had its demand set in STONE. The DSL is one of the hottest items on the market and is the fastest selling handheld in history. In order for a DSL shortage to happen, SOMEONE at Nintendo's MR must have had to either say or think, "Nah, we better play it safe and not manufacture too many of these, just in case."

Despite ALL evidence to the contrary, despite the frenzy of sales in Japan and the US, despite the many 1+ million seller titles on the console, Nintendo lowballed the DSL numbers... and for CHRISTMAS, FFS!!!

This equates taking a written exam, except that when you GET the exam, all of the correct answers are filled in for you, but rather than pass the test in, you erase all of the correct answers and fill out the wrong ones.

So in short, I think Nintendo can't manufacture worth a damn and that this is definitely a factor in the current Wii shortage. In order to determine by how much, we'd need manufacturing information which I don't believe is publicly available, including potential bottlenecks from component suppliers, bottlenecks which the DSL should have LONG since ironed out (hence why there's no excuse for a DSL shortage except incompetence).

Could Nintendo have predicted the current demand for the Wii? Yes. I've seen MANY sources who did just this WITHOUT having access to consumer trials.

I don't know by how much Nintendo is to blame for the current shortage, but the short answer is that they are FAR more to blame than most people insist.

In the business world, any company which is "caught off guard" by anything is f*cking incompetent. End of story.

[Strell]

Wow.

It's clear you have no idea about anything.  

You're just whining and projecting your own subjectiveness onto a company that is trying it's absolute hardest to meet demand.

Welcome to life.

Microsoft couldn't meet pre-orders of 2004 until April of 2005.  Sony never has to worry about this because the PSP and PS3 are sitting on shelves.

Nintendo met those and has managed to sell a few more million systems beyond the initial demand, and the demand has snowballed with each shipment.  The fact that you can't see this is astounding.  

You want a metaphor?  Ok.  If I built a damn and said it could handle X amount of water the day it is finished, and it succeeds in doing this, then that is good.  However, when you've got torrential downpour immediately after that first day EVERY DAY afterward, the dam can't hold.  

This isn't like South Park where Cartmen kept people from coming into his amusement park.  It would be like if he let in the maximum amount on the first day and 90% of that got filled.  Then the next day 92.  Within a week he was at 100%, and he has to turn people away.  Then in the following weeks, due to demand, he is trying to expand as fast as he can.  But for every 2 people he can let in, now 4 want in, when at the first day of being open, none of those four had ever heard of the park.

Congrats, Nintendo.  You've managed to bring in millions of people into your fold who, this time last year, didn't give two sh*ts about you and didn't even play video games at all.

And you've managed to piss off your loyal fanbase.  You know, the same loyal fanbase that does nothing but bitch and moan and then whines when they can't get a system, when they spent October and November theorizing that "I'll totally be able to get one easily without camping out, preordering, or getting off my fat ass."

Even when you sell out of your systems repeatedly and win back market share, it's your loyal fanbase that is whining the most.  It's no wonder you've told us all to piss off and that we'll have to make do with your decisions, because even when we're seeing you succeed, we're pissed off.  When you take a step forward, we whine like you've really gone back three.

This is exactly like when Nintendo delays a game.  No matter how much they perfect it, people whine that it took too long.  And when they rush it, they whine it wasn't polished.  Son of a bitch.  

Grow up and get over yourselves.  If you want a system, go park your ass in freezing weather for a few hours.  You're young and vigorous.  The least you could do is shut up and actually try to get one instead of folding over and pretending your issues somehow apply to humanity at large.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

More factories running?  get real.  Either they convert their current money factories (GBA, DS fabs), or you wait a year for a new Wii factory to pop up in China (structural design, construction, manufacturing equipment implementation, etc).  It's not going to happen overnight, and it's definitely not going to happen within 3 months of Wii's launch.

If anything, Nintendo's attention on maintaining DS Lite supplies preceded the Wii launch long ago.  Now it seems the two devices are at odds with regards to available manufacturing resources.

Nintendo facing high DS demand in Japan was one thing, Nintendo facing GLOBAL DEMAND ON TWO SYSTEM FRONTS is a whole new predicament for them.

[Kairon]

A happy predicament?

I want to be happy. Can't we be happy again?

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[SixthAngel]

I second the 2 posts above me.  I think its time to bring back the "where pgc/nwr members come to bitch about everything" below the title or maybe to just "where smash_brother comes to bitch about everything" because it seems he finds something to complain about in every thread.

[NWR_pap64]

While I agree that S_B is taking this very personally what he is saying is completely valid, and I am not saying it because I am his friend.

I already said that I am willing to forgive the shortages now because this type of crap has happened before with all consoles, especially the insanely popular ones. But like I said, if by summer or early fall Wiis are STILL extremely hard to find something is definitely up. What excuses are you guys going to use? "The Wii is like the best ever! The only reason there are still shortages is because the console is still selling! Its so popular Nintendo can't keep up with the demands!".

And the only reason you guys are cool about this is because you already have your Wiis. You pre-ordered, you stood in line for more than an hour and you played the thing to dead. The worst part is over for you. However, there are still many of us that are working HARD to find at least one system on sale and it becomes extremely frustrating when the results always lead to nothing. Again, if the shipments were always constant and non stop it wouldn't be as annoying since we know that there will always be Wiis in stock. But like me and S_B have already mentioned, the shipments are inconsistent to the point where stores are NOT getting any systems (or accessories in some cases). Some stores don't even KNOW when new consoles are coming in. Again, this sort of crap wouldn't happen if the shipments were constant or at least we knew when they are going to happen, instead of hoping for a solid confirmation.

And Strell, we would GLADLY wait in line, constantly call stores and hunt around like the crazed fanboys that we are, but there's a problem...we have responsibilities to attend to.

S_B works on a small, family owned company and they really need him. He can't merrily skip work everyday just to go Wii hunting. And by the time he is done with work, stores are either closed or already sold out of systems.

In my case, I live in an extremely boondocks hometown. How bad is it? There are absolutely no malls or big stores around here. In order to visit a Gamestop we must do an hour long car trip to the next city. We simply don't have the time and money to do this EVERYDAY, and even if we got lucky by the time we arrive chances are the store is sold out of Wiis because people that already live there got there FIRST. And I am not exaggerating here, S_B witnessed this first hand.

There is a good chance there are other families and fans that are just as upset as we are because the shipments are un-even.

Again, I am willing to forgive this and pass it off as the typical post launch trauma where systems are harder to find than a needle on a haystack. But if by late summer or early fall systems are still hard to find and Nintendo doesn't massively restock for the holidays its going to be HARD to come up with an excuse for that. VERY hard.

Is S_B a little too upset about this? Yeah, he is, especially since he is trying his hardest to help his friends out. I too was the same way when I was doing Wii hunting. But is it fair to belittle him simply because he believes that Nintendo could've done a better job, worldwide launch and all? No.

Again, I think many of you already have Wiis so you don't have to go through the annoyance me, S_B and I'm sure many other fans and families are experiencing right now.

[Ian Sane]

When we're talking about DSL shortages are we specifically talking about the DS Light or the DS in general?  Because if it's just the DSL that is hard to find then it's entirely possible that Nintendo's intentionally under-supplied the DSL to encourage sales of the original DS.  Few are going to buy the unsold regular DS systems if DSLs are on the shelf to them.  So maybe Nintendo was counting on people to have the intention of buying a DSL, go to the store and discover that there aren't any left, and then buy a regular DS because it plays the same games anyway.

If the DS is general was hard to find at Christmas then Nintendo screwed up something pretty obvious, unless they lacked the resources to fill demand.  I wasn't looking for a DS at Christmas so I have no idea what things were like in my area.

I think SB is going a little overboard but this IS the company that flubbed the N64 and Gamecube.  They do kind of a have a reputation of goofing up stuff that seemingly any idiot could figure out.

[Mario]

Smash Brother, STFU. Telling Nintendo to make more Wiis is like telling the fastest runner in the world to run faster. HE KNOWS!

As for your life stories "NOT MY PROBLEM".

[Guitar Smasher]

"Nintendo needs to get more factories running, full goddamn speed AHEAD."

NO.

Nintendo needs to make as much money as possible.  If their financial guys figure that it would be less profitable to open up more factories, then they shouldn't do it.  If they could be that much more profitable by ramping up production, don't you think they would (this is rhetorical, don't answer)?  Do you know how many economists they have working for them?

The point is that demand is only one of the variables which affect profit.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: Mario
Smash Brother, STFU. Telling Nintendo to make more Wiis is like telling the fastest runner in the world to run faster. HE KNOWS!

As for your life stories "NOT MY PROBLEM".

Of course it isn't your problem, you probably have a Wii already. The worst is already over for you and you don't have to hunt a Wii for someone else. But chances are that if Nintendo under shipped Wiis at launch (kinda like how Sony handled the PS3) and a great deal of us failed to get Wiis we would be bitching up a storm as to why Nintendo is being slow.

Again, I agree that S_B is taking this way too heart, but part of his frustration is valid because he has worked his hardest to find Wiis only to end up back where he started or getting no possible solutions. And again, he is NOT the only one. I know there are probably many fans and families frustrated as HELL trying to find Wiis only to come out empty handed.

I know for some of you its hard to understand that because you already have Wiis and don't have to worry about going hunting for one because the worst is over for you. But I am sure if someone placed you in that situation it gets harder and harder to be calm about it.

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Nintendo needs to make as much money as possible. If their financial guys figure that it would be less profitable to open up more factories, then they shouldn't do it. If they could be that much more profitable by ramping up production, don't you think they would (this is rhetorical, don't answer)? Do you know how many economists they have working for them?

That would have some validity...if both systems were flops. The DS is already a worldwide sensation and the Wii is on its way to surpass the PS3 AND the 360.

I'm sure that whatever they would spend opening a factory they would get it all back within two of three months.

Seriously, Nintendo is constantly reporting that their profits are doubling thanks to the DS, X DS game or the Wii. By 2008, all that money is likely to become pocket change for them.

There's an old saying that goes "You need to spend money to make money". Nintendo may be investing a hefty amount of money, but it will all go towards generating even more money than before.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Here is an idea if someone wants a Wii, they can go hunt for it themselves or camp out by a store that is getting them in. Problem solved either way, besides that, you snooze you lose, tough.

[NWR_pap64]

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Originally posted by: VGrevolution
Here is an idea if someone wants a Wii, they can go hunt for it themselves or camp out by a store that is getting them in. Problem solved either way, besides that, you snooze you lose, tough.

That would be very ideal, if people didn't have lives to attend to.

Seriously, stop throwing the "you should camp out!" suggestion as not everybody has the time, money and patience to sit out in the cold every single day in hopes of getting a console.

If the opportunity arises and we can do it, we will do it, but its not something to do EVERY SINGLE DAY, especially when we have responsibilities.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Guess you don't want it too bad for your friends then, again, tough. If you don't have the time to dedicate to it (and with some decent searching you can find out when some stores are getting them) well too bad, someone else can snatch them up who wants it more.

[SixthAngel]

Pap, do you really need to jump to Smash_brother's rescue everytime somebody mentions his name?  Also last I heard he already has a Wii and is looking for a friend.  He is complaining about not being able to find a Wii for a friend who doesn't even want one badly enough to go search himself.

Extremely new + extemely popular=hard to find, get used to it.