Wow. How hard can it be to make these things? I don't mean to bash the Wii but it's not nearly as powerful, as say the Xbox 360, which is selling well but also is just sitting around shelfs in abundance.

My dad actually got one for himself with a raincheck. It arrived on the 29th. They updated the Wii Sports disk a little bit with these newer ones. Now all the Remotes shown have the jackets on and boxing has some extra features like replays and more "special effects" (things around KO'd peoples' heads). Those are all the new things I noticed, besides a new box for the Wii itself and, obviously, the included remote jacket (very comfy).

The Wii shortage was definitely the biggest blunder of the year. Next-Gen listed it at number 9 in their countdown, but I would put it up there at #2 behind the Red Ring of Death. To quote Next-Gen:

"One's imagination runs wild imagining Nintendo's twisted logic:

First Quarter '07: Sold 1 million Wii systems in the U.S. and six different titles in the top 20 charts. We could increase production, but what if this is just left over demand from the holiday?

Second Quarter '07: Sold yet another million Wii systems in the U.S. and another six titles in the top 20 charts. Still, the trolls on NeoGAF say the Wii is just a fad, so better not increase production just yet.

Third Quarter '07: Sure, we sold another 1.3 million Wii systems, but what if we make another million and no one buys them? What are we doing to do with all that extra stock? We'll be ruined! Keep production where it is.

Fourth Quarter '07: Oh shi... People are still buying it? MAKE AS MANY AS YOU CAN AND DO IT NOW!

Now an analyst has revealed a price for Nintendo's commercial conservatism: $1.3 billion lost this holiday due to Wii shortages. Damn, that stings.

If it's any consolation, Nintendo, your former tormentor – Sony – will probably also lose $1.3 billion this holiday, but for precisely the opposite reason..."

Re: Bolded part...OUCH! That is a lot of lost revenue and a huge screw up by Nintendo. They should have measured the demand, knew it would quadruple in the holidays and ramped up production earlier in the year. But hey...that's Nintendo. As bright as they were in marketing and developing the Wii, it's classic Nintendo - aka you have to mess up somewhere. That somewhere was production and distribution.

It turns out that this wasn't something you could do during this month, but for one day. You could line up, pay out $250, and get a nice slip of paper that promises a Wii after the holidays.

That was a good read.

And you're right, they mess up somewhere.

I'll wait for the Wii Lite.

I have it on a shelf next to my 360 and the thing is already quite a lot smaller. I thought I was going to break it taking it out of the box!

I've had my 360 vertical since I bought it about a year ago and I haven't had any problems with scratched discs (or RROD or overheating).  From what I've heard, moving the console with a disc in it almost guarantees a scratched disc...