Expecting a Wii for the Holidays? Expect another shortage

Two holiday seasons after its initial launch and the Nintendo Wii is still a commodity that is hard to come by. According to Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime, Even though the system are packed into more homes now than two years ago, Wiis will still be hard to find during the Holidays.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Fils-Aime said that Nintendo’s production of the motion-controlled console was up 33% over last year (from 1.6 million units to 2.4 million):

One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that’s three months of production. We’re producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand.

At this point, getting a Wii shouldn’t be the landmine venture it was upon arrival. As someone who worked retail at the time of Wii’s launch and through last year’s holiday Wii rush, it’s ridiculous how rarely we received shipments. It was just as ridiculous to see how fast they would go, sometimes selling out before we even had the boxes checked in.

You can’t argue numbers – people want Nintendo products and Nintendo knows this. While the 33% rise in production is a great way to move things along, it just may not be enough. Here’s some shopping tips from Reggie Fils-Aime himself on how you can score this holiday season:

Look at retailer circulars. Go to their websites. We’re flowing products into stores on a very regular basis. Once you see it on the shelf, you ought to buy it. While we’re bringing 50% higher level of supply into the market this holiday, we don’t know if the demand will be even higher than that.

Read [Los Angeles Times] Via [Joystiq]