But just because there will be a lot of them doesn't mean they'll be any easier to get a hold of, says Reggie.
Nintendo of America President Reginald Fils-Aime (call him Reggie) has said that Wii supplies will be at their highest level yet heading toward the holiday season. But that doesn't mean the console will be a cinch to secure in the coming months.
"The amount of Wii hardware that will be in North American stores will be unprecedented. Substantially more than the launch, substantially more that has been seen to date," said Reggie during an interview with Mike Antonucci and Dean Takahashi of the San Jose Mercury News. "The bad news," Reggie continued, "is that given the level of demand, and given the fact that the more we put in, the more we sell, it is still going to be difficult to get hands on the Wii."
Reggie offered some tips on tracking down a Wii this holiday. Nintendo is sending out regular Wii shipments to major retailers, so it would be wise to ask store managers about when their store would be getting a new batch of consoles in. If you can wring that information out of them, get to the store early on the day of delivery and nab one before anyone else.
Although still a hot item, the Nintendo DS will not be as hard to locate this holiday. However, Reggie warned of DS supply, "as we look at the holiday selling season, inventory will be quite tight."
Nintendo understands that it is the market leader, but won't be resting on its laurels. "We are not taking our current success lightly," said Reggie. "This is a long-term battle." The explosive success of the Wii has caused third-party publishers to quickly develop new software for the system, but that's worrying Reggie and Nintendo because of concerns that mediocre titles played by new gamers might scare them away from the Wii. To that regard, Reggie said, "we're challenging all developers to really put their best creative talent and to create the very best software possible to support the platform."
The full interview with Reggie can be viewed http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/09/video_interview_with_nintendos_reggie_fils-aime.html>here
