Nintendo DS Shortage

"Where have all the DSs gone?" That's what everybody has been wondering since before the holidays. Nobody seems to know. Even the people I know who actually work in game stores haven't heard anything difinitive about why nobody gets to buy everybody's favorite pocket accessory.

"It's so popular Nintendo can't keep up with demand" is a common answer I've heard. Another theory is that Nintendo shifted most of its production efforts to the Wii to keep up with holiday sales and now they don't have enough of either. Whatever the case, we all hope they get it worked out soon.

Nintendo must be kicking themselves right now. They basically missed out on two months of crazy sales because they couldn't keep up with demand. I can see there being issues with the Wii because it is still relatively new, but the DS Lite? It has been around for several years now and you would expect things to have cooled off by now. Hats off to Nintendo for designing a handheld with such staying power, especially given the mixed reactions when people first heard about the whole dual screen / touchscreen concept way back in the day.

My personal prediction is that the drought is almost over. The new Cobalt Blue/Black DS Lite is due to hit stores this Sunday (February 10th). Hopefully when stores get their shipments they will get large quantities of all the colors and we can start playing again. Of course, now that there is a tasty blue/black DS (my two favorite colors), I don't care about any of the others. I see getting up early to go to Best Buy in my future...

What do you think is going on with the DS shortage? Post comments with your theories and secret insider information.

Did you find this article interesting or useful? Why not subscribe to the Modd3d RSS Feed?