Wired explains why there are no Wii systems available: Nintendo assumed the typical sales curve, and got bitten:

It's not that the company isn't trying. It's bumped up production from about 1 million to 1.8 million a month, says Nintendo Senior Vice President George Harrison, with roughly a third of them earmarked for North America. Last week was Nintendo's best since the Wii's launch, with 350,000 sold in the United States alone. In comparison, Microsoft sold about that many Xbox 360s last month. It's a remarkable triumph for a console focused on the kind of simple games skeptics originally wrote off as "thumb candy for dummies."

They've been seeing that kind of demand all year. Apparently, demand usually slackens during the summer, and they assumed they could stockpile for the holidays. Whoops - that's when people like me were hunting high and low for a Wii - which means that it's not better now.

Technorati Tags: games, wii