Hmm, I hope this doesn't delay their entry into other countries. We've been waiting (semi)patiently for the Wii to be released locally - looks like this might either delay the release, or mean that even more limited stocks will be available :(

The Wii uses more fun than the other consoles, and there's a worldwide shortage of fun so they can't make enough consoles.

XBox360 production is reported to be unaffected.

(Ducks to avoid projectiles thrown by XBOX360 fans).

Never mind - if the shortage is industry wide then it means that Sony and Microsoft will be unable to get their components too - that is if they are using the same source.

Unlikely - but the shortage would not be industry wide otherwise, would it?

Do you live on the moon? Has the Wii honestly not been launched eveerywhere in the world yet? That's amazing if it's the case!

Chris

because it uses plain old and cheap desktop components, while the wii requires more expensive laptop parts. Just look at the difference in size between the two. However the ps3 also uses laptop parts, but it's uneffected too because they can't even sell the already shipped stock.

..because I work in a small enough music shop, and we have three of them. There are many other branches of our store alone, and plenty of other music/game shop chains...

@Chris: actually there are many countries that the Wii hasn't been launched in yet... I'm in South Africa, and we're hoping that it will be launched here next month, but there's been no announcement yet.

Some people are doing direct imports, but it works out a bit more expensive both for the console and the games - and then you run into the region coding issues on the games as well, once it is officially launched here.

It's been possible to get a Wii here (without pre-ordering) for a couple of months now.

You don't need to duck flying projectiles from Xbox owners, nobody in the real world ever got hurt by having virtual pixels lobbed at them. A flying Wiimote though, that's a different story.

Wii owners not only have more fun, they're more dangerous to piss off as well :-)

TeeCee

I was in Bangalore last week, I could buy a PS3 for 35,000 Rupees (about £440), I saw an XBOX 360 for sale but did not see a Wii for sale. Of course, I'm sure people are importing them....

It would be interesting to know exactly what components are in short supply, the Wii does not have BluRay, I wonder if it's the PowerPC cores as these are used in the Wii, PS3 and XBOX...