On the product page the retailer states, "In an effort to provide as many customers as possible with the opportunity to purchase a Wii Fit, we are limiting the total number of Wii Fits that can be purchased."
With Wii Fit, Nintendo has made exercising enjoyable. Not as enjoyable as eating a giant burger obviously, but it's a good effort. It's produced a superbly made peripheral and a piece of software that offers both entertainment and a sense of achievement. It's all very slick and lifestyle, with plenty of white everywhere, but there are the bold shapes, bright colours and moments of sheer charm you'd expect from Nintendo.
"All retailers in the UK and Ireland have been aware of their Wii Fit allocations for launch since early March and as such we would see any stopping of pre-orders a sensible precaution on their part to ensure all current orders are met. Many retailers are still accepting pre-orders and we would advise people to shop around to secure their copy."
Five of the top UK retailers have halted further pre-orders for Wii Fit. Play.com, Amazon, Game, Shopto and Zavvi are all displaying messages on their websites informing users of the situation. Stock supply for Wii Fit looks unlikely to be able to meet demand if online pre-order pages are anything to go by
Nintendo is starting to ramp up their mass market/mainstream/casual gamer advertising for this title. This morning, Good Morning America featured Wii Fit and talked about and demoed the title. This is only further evidence of Nintendo definitely putting quite a bit of corporate muscle behind the advertisement of this title.
@jsmrekar, 900 sq. ft. is equal to 100 sq m, if I am not wrong. Having houses that big, I couldn't imagine any problem getting space for 4 player Wii Tennis, unless the place where you place your Wii (And TV) is less than 4 m x 5 m. My living room is 4 m x 5 m, and I don't have any difficulty having 4 player Wii Tennis. Anyway, Wii Fit is personal game, not simultaneous party game like Wii Tennis, so the space requirement should be much smaller.
If Japan can enjoy Wii Sports and Wii Fit, and Japan have lots and lots of small house / condo / apartment (much smaller compared to US), I don't see any reason for size problem in US.
Yesterday, one of the lady DJ's on the local Mix station who I figure is decidedly not hip was talking to the other male host about how she was excited about Wii Fit. She had her facts straight too. Freaky. Apparently she's big into Guitar Hero on Wii. I wonder where she had heard about it.
The marketing is really where it at, independent of the quality of the game. Ubisoft's top notch marketing drove Red Steel to 1M and was a big factor in Assassin's Creed.
With Nintendo throwing down their biggest software marketing campaign ever, there is definitely explosive potential
I was thinking about the discrepancy between the wii-fit and the powerpad. I am not sure if obesity is a larger problem now, we are more sensative to our health or some other things. In my mind they target the same market. The powerglove in a way shares a lot of similarities with the wii-mote, however the glove was poorly executed, as anyone who has ever used it knows.
All of that to say, will wii-fit be a big craze? Do we have a different culture? Will it eventually be bundled like the pad was? i think these are some key determining factors when estimating the stock.
My wife and I bought the wii with the idea of using it as a party system. We live in a 900 sq. ft. condo in Orange County, CA. We aren't upgrading any time soon and it is hard to play 4 player tennis with out hitting someone. Golf, Bowling, Mario Party 8 are all fine as they dont require us to move the coffee table and hit each other. I think the wii fit looks like a great idea in theory, but for us it may be impractical, just because of our living space and lack of wanting to move the coffee table. We may be a select few, but definitely a perspective worth noting.
@Heloise10, Is the 6-8 Million for Wii or Wii Fit ? The summary said "forecast for 2008 of six to seven million Wiis sold in North America", not Wii Fit.
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