According to HMV, the Wii is still practically flying off store shelves as consumer demand for the console stays at an all-time high. If this trend continues, supply for the holiday season will surely run out.

But on the upside, game sales have been rising as well, and not just Nintendo's first-party titles. Tim Ellis says that third-party games are now racking up sales numbers.

The PS3 may be suffering in US and Japan territories, but it continues to fight in Germany and even the UK. HMV's head of games for entertainment specialist, Tim Ellis, reports that the PS3 exceeded expected sales, while other consoles are doing well too.

Sony is still in denial about price cuts, but Ellis believes that the PS3's sales performance will get better if the much-awaited price drop comes.

Ellis also gave much cheers to Nintendo, saying the Wii is still one of the hottest items in HMV. He also thanked Ninty saying "Supply is stabilizing and Nintendo is doing a very good job of keeping us updated on key developments."

He jumped ahead and commented on the Xbox 360, having no problems with its sales after 18 months since release and expects Microsoft to know what they're doing. "The console continues to hold its own and I'm sure Microsoft will know when to consider stimulating sales further via pricing," Ellis stated.

All in all, the console race in the UK is pretty tough. Why can't they just get along? That's what seems to be in Ellis' mind. "From a retail and customer perspective it's great to have three games heavyweights relatively matched and vying for market domination. This creative tension is leading to fantastic innovative technology and brilliant games."

 

Sometimes, our internet hamsters find gold in seemingly normal situations. For instance, you don't usually see pre-order packshots on news sites like ours because they don't actually seem to do anything but act like a placeholder.

Once in a while though, we capitulate to the demands of our funny bones, because this certainly grabbed our attention.

The story goes that someone walked into an HMV one day and noticed this in their game section. As you can see above, this is the pre-order packshot for Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2, a game Jack Thompson staunchly opposes for a variety of reasons.

In any case, feel free to smirk or laugh, but please don't whack anyone with a golf club while doing it, alright?

Nintendo has been steadily supplying retail stores across the UK with Wii. How come there's still shortage, then? That's because whatever's been freshly shipped off for sale are picked up rather quickly by starving wannabe-Wii owners.

Retailers GAME and HMV, however, are optimistic that the situation will improve come the end of this month. After all, Nintendo has been picking up on its shipments in the past several weeks. So if you truly want a Wii for yourself, we suggest you pick up your speed as well, so that you won't miss out anymore on those shipments.

It's almost been half a year now since the Nintendo Wii debuted, and up until now, it's selling like hotcakes. But at the rate the consumer attraction is going, we say you'd be more lucky finding pancakes being sold in an electronics store than a Wii.

Nintendo Wiis have been selling more than the anticipated number in UK to the point where retailers are somewhat panicking. Despite the fact that it was launched three months ago, High street retailers, including GAME and HMV have found that what meager stocks they can scrounge up disappear in mere hours. Unless someone is hoarding these consoles, it seems that the shortage has gotten really bad.

20 retailers were contacted by IGN all across country but only Toys R Us in Bristol had any in stock. The rest had sold all of their Wiis with no news on when the next shipment would be coming in. Apparently, a few of them are still wondering how they would provide for the pre-launch orders they accepted.

A spokesperson for Nintendo UK stated that - "The sheer level of demand for Wii over the launch period was something that no one could have anticipated. While we were certainly very well prepared for a good launch the level of demand we saw, and continue to see in the New Year, remains very high". In addition he also said - "We are continuing to make multiple and regular shipments across the UK to ensure that we keep up with demand"

The last statement is a bit hard to believe considering the shops which get regular delivery are only getting a dozen at a time, and those are normally sold within minutes of their arrival. Nintendo will have to fix this problem as more and more gamers are getting distraught at the situation. Although one person stated that they are starving the market to counter the PS3 launch, at which point they will flood the market with Wiis. Well, only time will tell whether this is really a marketing ploy or just a case of distribution problems.

HMV has reported a one percent growth in terms of game sales from the start of 2006 to October, marking success with the PSP, DS, and Xbox360. It has reported a marked improvement in sales during the holidays.

Consoles were a very popular choice as Christmas presents so it would probably be safe to say that they provided the boost in sales. As Europe awaits the PS3's launch, many retailers like HMV would most probably enjoy growth.

So far, business is good for HMV as it goes into 2007. The retailer plans to establish itself as a major player in the games retail industry and it's inching its way up. HMV has joined forces with a number of big publishers in game launches - Konami for Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Nintendo for the Wii console, and currently Blizzard for The Burning Crusade.

His Master's Voice, better known as HMV is an entertainment retailer based in the UK.

It goes without saying that finding a Wii console during the holidays season was probably just as hard as stomaching a new album from Creed. Personal biases against the rock band aside, it also goes without saying that whenever a store had stocks of the said Nintendo console, then you can bet your bottomest dollar and a half that it sold out faster than Link becoming right-handed.

For a mega-store like HMV, it's not surprising that console stocks didn't last. Even though Nintendo UK collaborated with HMV during the console launch, you can't expect to meet consumer demand with limited stock. A representative from HMV had this to say:

Games products, particularly from the new Wii range, proved to be among our strongest performing titles - which only served to underline our sense of frustration that we did not have more units of the Wii console to sell.

So, while they do acknowledge the Wii as their hottest product during Christmas, they still express their disappointment. Well, is anyone surprised? If you've got a product - any product - that sells like pancakes, then you're really bound to hit the low-point of hanging that "Out of Stock" sign outside.

If there's something positive that we can draw from this, then it's more confirmation of how successful the Wii really is. Some people thought that it would sell OK, but as it turns out, it's become more successful than a lot of us (maybe even HMV included) previously expected it to be.

By the time the official UK launch of the Wii was over, people were still joining the queue at GAME. Demand was that high. Although HMV was Nintendo's official partner for the launch, the fact remains that there were more Wii units in stock at GAME. GAME CEO Lisa Morgan says: "We're the number one specialist, so you wouldn't expect anything different. I feel we are very much the partner for our customers."

"We will ensure that customers in the queue go home with a machine, and when we get to the point where we haven't got machines we'll make sure customers are not kept out in the cold," Morgan pledged. This, pledge despite the lines extending far around the block, and still growing after midnight.

It's also good that GAME understands that the Wii is a hot product. Although they haven't received any confirmation as to when they will receive their next shipment of Wiis (supposedly they'll get another batch next week) they assure that as soon as they do get stock, it will be turned around and will be in stores the next day.

Well, it's good to hear that they'll be getting their consoles. Let's just hope that they get their games in time and that they don't experience what happened to those sad Aussie mates of theirs.

So, you're probably walking in the streets of London today, just minding your own business. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice throngs of people lining up outside gaming stores. Farther ahead, frenzied crowds make their way towards you, whispering, "Must.get.Wii."

Okay, that's an exaggeration, but our source does say that people in London, the rest of the UK, and across Europe are lining up outside stores just to get their hands on the Wii. After all, it's just a couple of hours away from the said unit's Europe launch.

We also heard that Nintendo UK will collaborate with HMV, and come 11p.m., the HMV store located at 150 Oxford Street, London, will open its doors for the official launch. Eager Wii customers will get a chance to play Wii Sports against various celebrities such as Ian Wright, Nell McAndrew, Pat Cash, and Ricky Hatton.

The Wii sells for €249  or £179. Wii Sports is included with the unit, together with one wireless Wii Remote, a Nunchuk, Stereo AV Cable, and the sensor bar for the Wii's unique control system.

With only a matter of hours left before London welcomes the Wii, more and more people are lining up outside HMV on Oxford Street for them to secure a spot in the line.

The first four blokes in the line proved to be lucky thus far, as they were handed out a limited edition Wii watch. If only the watch would also serve as an absolute guarantee for them in the official Wii queue. Oh well, we guess they'd just have to play it by ear then. At least they could always say they got the Wii watch. But here's the catch: they'd have to give up their quest for the Wii since they have the watch already, anyway.

Hahaha! Nah...that won't exactly be funny if that were really case now, would it?

Anyways, there are 200 units available in the store on launch day, so you better cross your fingers tight that you make it in that quota. And don't go loitering about the line, 'cause you just might get picked by Ian Wright, Pat Cash, Jodie Kidd and Ricky 'The Hitman" Hatton to play against before the official launch of the Wii.