Nintendo said its manufacturing facilities are working to gear up the supply chain pipeline to keep retail shelves filled, but believes demand will outpace supply. Nintendo Co. Ltd. has plans to ship approximately 4 million next-gen Wii game consoles worldwide this year.

The hype comes based on retail preorders that Nintendo said indicates “intense consumer requests and placement on numerous ‘gotta have it’ holiday lists.” EB Games and GameStop, and Toys R Us began taking preorders for the Nintendo Wii game console in October. Consumers got a chance to plunk down a $50 deposit to reserve a chance to buy the system, but no guarantees were made once it hit stores.

In a statement, Nintendo said that “retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers, people looking for a better way to play.”

Nintendo said its manufacturing facilities are working to gear-up supply chain pipeline to keep retail shelves filled, but believes demand will outpace supply.

Source: informationweek.com