Wii Shortage

[ljkkjlcm9]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/n...fm?artid=12933

Not only are consumers having a hard time finding the system, Indie developers can't get a hold of one, either.
Click Here!

Water Cooler Games has come across an interesting bit of information. It seems that publisher demand for Wii development kits is outstripping the supply available from Nintendo. Because of this, independent developers, to whom Nintendo said they would make Wii development kits available for, haven't got kits as of yet.

Back when Nintendo was ramping up toward the Wii launch, one of the things they touted for their console was that because it was so inexpensive to develop for, a development studio of any size could make games for it. While it appears that Nintendo is still planning for this, according to WGC the Wii Independent Development Program has been delayed a while until the end of the month, which is a few weeks behind schedule.

It seems that everyone on both sides of the fence wants a Wii, either to play games on or to make games for. While that's great news for Nintendo, if there aren't enough systems to go around, what good will it do?

basically, not only can consumers not get the system because it's in such high demand, but neither can developers, because their is high demand on that side as well! This is good news for the future of the Wii, meaning there should be plenty of games!

THE JACKEL

[Shoeberto]

Kind of a double-edged sword. Good for Nintendo, good for publishers, but kinda sucky for teams that want to jump on and get some games cranked out.

I'm interested in seeing how Dreddz will turn this into a "Wii sucks, PS3 r00lz" argument, though.

[Roto13]

I'm interested in seeing how Dreddz will turn this into a "Wii sucks, PS3 r00lz" argument, though.

Would you like some of my popcorn?

[Dr Aum]

Sounds like ol' Ninty needs to perform a Real Time Manufacturer Change to attack the Giant Enemy Yet-Unsaturated Market for Massive Profits.

[Yuriev's ghost]

I did not buy a Wii.

I guess it was for the greater good.

[Dreddz]

Im sorry, but Nintendo are in a mess at the moment. Theres no excuse for developers not getting a Wii. On the other hand, its not like Capcom or Konami arent getting Wii's, its Water Cooler Games. I mean, who the smurf are they ?

Maybe its because Nintendo havent had a decent console in ages that they couldnt handle the Wii's popularity.

[Craig]

Im sorry, but Nintendo are in a mess at the moment. Theres no excuse for developers not getting a Wii. On the other hand, its not like Capcom or Konami arent getting Wii's, its Water Cooler Games. I mean, who the smurf are they ?

Maybe its because Nintendo havent had a decent console in ages that they couldnt handle the Wii's popularity.

Okay now you're just doing it for your fans.

[Slothy]

Okay now you're just doing it for your fans.

I have to agree with him at least a little though. If Nintendo can't handle the demand for dev kits then that's just poor planning. They knew it would be inexpensive to develop for, which of course is going to attract smaller developers. Developers not being able to get dev kits sooner rather than later is not a good thing for anyone; developer, Nintendo, or consumer. Hopefully they get their act together and ramp up production of them or something, because it doesn't do them any good to have developers ready and willing, but not exactly able to make games.

[JKTrix]

Just tell the big companies to stop being so greedy :P EA, Ubisoft, Squenix, Namco, Konami, etc.. they dont' have just 1 kit. They probably want each individual sub-group in them to have at least one kit so they can pump out the games (especially in EA's "one in 5 Wii games will be ours" case). So they probably have these kits backordered with some kind of priority right now, which kind of pushes out the smaller folks.

The article mentions that they were planning to start this program already, but it is the big publishers who are demanding more and more dev kits since they see it's a hit. My job deals with Logistics, so I think i can see how Nintendo was thinking. Nintendo probably estimated a certain number of projected kit sales based on people who already had them at the time of launch, and what games were presented to them to be made by launch time.

Suddenly, the Wii is really popular. The biggest game publisher in the world--who predicted that Sony would remain the clear winner--realizes the Wii is where the money's at, and jumps out of the PS3 bed. So, they order more kits.

Nintendo wasn't expecting anything like this, so they had to take measures to rectify the situation. They likely had reserved stock set aside for the Indies, and allowed them to be given to the ravenous EAs and Ubisofts. So they push it back a few weeks, hopefully clear up some more of the demand that big publishers still have and to re-stock their 'reserved' stock for the Indies.

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

I think Sony is in a mess at the moment too although they have more PS3 units in stores it's only because nobody is buying them. I went to Gamestop the other day and I saw a large sign that said "WE HAVE PS3 UNITS!"

Six hundred bucks is a lot of money and the average consumer doesn't want to spend that much on console. Maybe someday when Sony decides to cut the price of the Playstation 3 down to three hundred dollars, sales might sky rocket...but not now.

[Yamaneko]

Nintendo is notoriously difficult to deal with and it's no surprise that some smaller developers haven't gotten their dev kits yet.

[Dreddz]

I think Sony is in a mess at the moment too

Please explain.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I think Sony is in a mess at the moment too although they have more PS3 units in stores it's only because nobody is buying them. I went to Gamestop the other day and I saw a large sign that said "WE HAVE PS3 UNITS!"

Six hundred bucks is a lot of money and the average consumer doesn't want to spend that much on console. Maybe someday when Sony decides to cut the price of the Playstation 3 down to three hundred dollars, sales might sky rocket...but not now.

actually they dropped the price to $500 now! lol

and honestly, you can't say Nintendo is doing anything wrong, who knew that it would actually be this big I mean...

A report from Reuters today states that Japanese toy maker Tomy has cut its annual profit forecast from 5 billion yen to 1.7 billion yen, blaming high sales of Nintendo's Wii and DS game systems for diminishing toy sales.

Tomy says that Nintendo's video game systems have replaced demand for these toys among young boys. Tomy manufactures cards, action figures, and other traditional toys based on licensed media such as movies and television.

THE JACKEL

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

*Rolls eyes.* I already explained why didn't you read my post. I said nobody is buying the PS3 right now, when cashiers have to remind their costumers that they have PS3 units something is very wrong here. I'm not saying that the Playstation 3 is doomed to failure I'm just saying they need to get it to together.

[Dreddz]

*Rolls eyes.* I already explained why didn't you read my post. I said nobody is buying the PS3 right now, when cashiers have to remind their costumers that they have PS3 units something is very wrong here. I'm not saying that the Playstation 3 is doomed to failure I'm just saying they need to get it to together.

What you said doesnt mean Sony are in a mess. Sony's only problem is that not alot of people are buying their console, but its not like Sony are having any problems getting the PS3's on the shelves. They know where there going and what there going to do. Nintendo on the other hand dont seem to be able to get any Wii's on the shelves at all.

Sony's problems are over now, while Nintendo's have just started.