There are still 50-person lines for the Wii

Via the NeoGAF forums:

“Q1 is looking like the beginning of an up-cycle year,” said Billy Pidgeon, video game analyst, IDC. “There’s good software movement, but hardware is stalled a bit by short Wii supply and stagnant demand for 360 and PS3. I believe the Wii will continue strong growth although supply continues to be a problem,” Pidgeon said. “I’d like to see Wii hardware shipping in larger quantities or mass market consumers may cool on it. Having said that, I don’t believe supply will meet demand for the Wii until 2009. Xbox 360 and PS3 need system-selling games ASAP. Halo 3 will help, as will Lair and Heavenly Sword, but that leaves a hole in Q2 which will be filled by Wii, DS and PSP hardware and software. We’ll also see more PC and PS2 software picking up the slack.”

I meant to comment on this Monday, but life outside of Infendo caught up with me and I had to stop pretending to work at my real job and actually start working.

What I wanted to mention was that on Sunday I went to the Watertown, Mass. Best Buy to search for a Wii for my family — again. There was a tip over at Kotaku that they’d be getting some stock and wouldn’t you know it, they did. However, when I pulled into the lot an hour before opening I was greeted with a sight I hadn’t seen since last November: a line stretching the entire length of the storefront complete with lawn chairs. There must have been at least 50 people standing there of all shapes and sizes.

On the phone with my sister later that day, she said she basically had resigned herself to the fact that she *might* be getting one at Christmas time. The IDC news makes me wonder if she meant Christmas 2008.

People still kind of wonder if the Wii is going to “surpass the Xbox 360” or “win the console war” these days, but after seeing that line, at some random Best Buy in Massachusetts in the latter half of April (almost half a year after launch!), I think we need to revisit the question. It’s no longer will the Wii sell the most consoles, but when. Like it or not all you developers out there, you can bash the Wii for it’s sub par horsepower, but you can’t bash the lines I saw Sunday morning. To bash that is kind of like writing your own pink slip. And that’s just the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.

P.S. — Nintendo better get its act together by the time Mario Galaxy comes out, or there’s going to be PS3 violence in the streets.