Where are all the Wiis?

Way back in November, when the Wii was released, analysts were predicting that March would be when the supply of Wiis would be readily available. Well, here we are, in the first week of April, and there's not a Wii in sight.

Nintendo has sold over 2 million Wiis in the U.S. since the November launch, outselling every other console. In fact, it's beginning to look as if the Wii is the gotta have it device of 2007 the same way the Nintendo DS was in Japan a year ago -- selling out within minutes of becoming available. Nintendo has stated that they expected to release 6 million consoles by the end of their fiscal year (end of March 2007), in which I believe they met their target (while some regions have kept their numbers updated, some have not had their numbers updated since the initial launch -- total tally thus far has been 4.76 million units)

Back in January, following the post-Christmas release of Wiis, I noted that it'd be June or July before we saw supplies of the Wii adequately meet demand. I maintain that predicition, though it seems to me that it's still about 50/50 in those who have one, and those who want one -- which means possibly that the supply of the Wii won't stabilize for another 4 months.

Nintendo's got some nice games coming out in the next few months too. I cannot wait to get my hands on the new Super Paper Mario, and Mario Party 8. I think what I find most interesting about the Wii is the broad demographic that the console has reached, and that the Wii takes a different stance on video games -- instead of the other consoles which isolates the game player, it has moved the video game back into the living room and invites all watchers to participate.