CC Skywave SSB 2 With AM FM SW WX and Aviation Bands / Includes SW Wire Antenna Adapter

Finding the Wii in Stores...Still a Wii Difficult

Techstination feature for Friday, November 16, 2007

Finding the most popular video game console in stores for the holidays…is still a Wii bit difficult. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. It has been a year since Nintendo came out with the Wii console and essentially ran away from Sony and Microsoft….broadening the audience for video games with motion sensing controllers and a fun attitude. And still… the Wii is in short supply. About why Nintendo hasn't been able to ramp up enough to meet demand, Senior VP George Harrison tells us….

"Well we have been slowly increasing it. It takes about five months lead time to get the parts and things to increase the production. So our final decisions about what we thought we would need for this holiday, were made back in June and July. And at that time, we didn't expect the demand would continue to increase the way that it has."

The shortages and games like Halo 3 have helped Microsoft do some catching up….and there's evidence that Sony has been closing the gap as well…with less expensive versions of the Playstation 3. Is there reason for concern at Nintendo? Harrison says no…

"By the end of this Christmas, there'll be 140 games out for the Wii. Some of the bigger ones will be our own Super Mario Galaxy, Mario and Sonic game coming from Sega, there are also great games like Call of Duty and others from the publishers." Will Guitar Hero III be maybe the biggest third party title for the Wii? "Well it certainly has the potential. They've ordered more than a million units and their sales are off to a great start. People tend to forget that it's not just teenage boys and twenty something boys, but there's a lot of guys in their forties and fifties that also like to play air guitar."

Nintendo Senior VP George Harrison. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.