With just three weeks to Christmas, parents up and down the country are frantically looking to get their hands on this year’s best-selling games console from Nintendo as a distinct Wii drought hits not just Ireland and the UK but the US and Europe as well.
However, GameStop has said today that it has just received a large shipment of the games consoles that are now available in all its stores nationwide including the new Ballincollig store that opens next Wednesday, 12 December.
Michael Finucane, GameStop’s commercial director, said: “The demand for the Nintendo Wii has been phenomenal. We have never seen anything like it before so we are absolutely thrilled to get a shipment of Wii stock in time for Christmas.”
For the Christmas period certain GameStop shops around the country are remaining open until 9pm daily for late shoppers looking to purchase their festive gifts.
Although Nintendo itself predicted that it was going to fall short of coping with the phenomenal demand for the Wii the company said it was going to ship at least a million more of the units worldwide in the run-up to Christmas.
The question on everybody’s lips is, failing the chance to bag a Wii, “Is there an alternative?” China’s solution is the Wii shortage: the Vii.
This is a lower-cost Wii copy complete with similar-looking hardware and controller along with sports games like bowling and tennis, except it appears to have no DVD drive for games – but don’t expect it to hit Irish shores any time soon.
By Marie Boran
