Nintendo and supply shortages.

[bartman72]

Have to go on a rant here.  Nintendo released the NES mini earlier this year and will soon release the SNES mini.  For those who don't know, they are smaller versions of classic arcade consoles from the 80's & 90's that come loaded with popular games.

The NES mini was selling like hotcakes, yet Nintendo pulled the plug on production abruptly.  Stories abound of stores getting maybe fewer than 10 at a time.  Customers would line up, and wouldn't you know it, the first person in line buys them all!

Why the heck would Nintendo not be bothered by the fact that they're helping enrich scalpers?  Fortunately, there are tons of ways to play these games using less than legal methods.  If Nintendo made enough of these that they were available without having to wait in line or jump on the internet at 12:00 AM, I would enjoy having them.

There are much more significant issues discussed on these boards every day.  And I understand the adage, "leave the customer wanting more" but this is ridiculous!

Any thoughts?  I guess my question is why would a company behave like this?

[Deleted]

Hmmm....probably shouldn't have sold my NES and games for $50 a few years back. 

[busymom]

It appears they are attempting to create demand, but doing it in a dumb way.  JMHO.  And yes, I fully expect the scalpers to take full advantage of the situation, if there is no limit to the number those at the head of the line can purchase.

[Phoenix84]

It doesn't make sense to me either. I mean, I guess I can kind of see artificially limiting supply to try to raise prices and make more money, but that does seem kind of sleezy.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to use emulators and play those old games if you want. This product was mostly for people who don't know or want to learn how to do that.

Fortunately my parents still have my old SNES, but I don't know how much longer it'll last. It works now, but who knows how long old tech like that will last.  Unfortunately, my sister lost 75% of our games for it when my parents moved in 2007..... 

[Phoenix84]

I'm not a big concert goer, but I hear concert ticket scalping is pretty common and some artists are taking measures to prevent it. 

[MJ2.0]

Nintendo did the same thing with both Wii releases.

[swamp]

DS desperately wants one.

He can wait.

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2017 11:45:34 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

Nintendo did the same thing with both Wii releases.

Yep.  I remember waiting in line at 4am at Kmart and getting a number.  I felt like I won the lottery being able to pay something like $450 for one.  Now that Wii is in a box with a $50 price tag on it the same as the NES (ok, I'm asking $100, but including the Wii Fit and a bunch of games).  Video games suck.

[Deleted]

Wow- some things don't change.  DS turns 33 this year and I remember the waiting list for the Nintendo 64 unit as well as the scarcity of the Gameboy and the hot games everyone wanted. I'm sure Nintendo has people with fancy mathematical models figuring out just how scarce they need to make their products to maximize profits.

I'm glad DS no longer plays video games, for many reasons.

[souldoubt]

I guess as long as people keep lining up they'll do what they want.  I'd just get an emulator to play those games and not bother with it.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jun 28, 2017 10:40:26 GMT -5 bartman72 said:

Fortunately, there are tons of ways to play these games using less than legal methods.

Nintendo doesn't even try to stop them. There are hundreds of websites devoted to "ROMs"--games for defunct systems that can be run on PC emulators--that host the games right out in the open.

Console developers will militantly go after ROM hosts for games on platforms still being marketed (e.g. the Wii series and 3DS series, in the case of Nintendo), but once a system goes off market, they really don't seem to care. And by that I mean they really don't seem to care. Some of these sites are 15+ years old and have seen literally hundreds of millions of downloads.

As for why Nintendo is short on units, perhaps they severely underestimated how popular the "mini" consoles would be given the games are available for free.

[Green Eyed Lady]

This happened around here with some toy that hatches out of an egg or something like that. The stores, when they could get a shipment, limited customers to one item. Nobody was allowed to buy out the entire shipment. Maybe that's the answer.  I know you can get around that by taking 5 family members with you to all grab one, but it's a start at least.

Bottom line is nobody really cares who buys the things and in what quantity as long as they sell.  However, stores can help to see that the product isn't essentially "scalped" by putting a buy limit on them.

[Phoenix84]

Jun 28, 2017 12:17:47 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Jun 28, 2017 11:45:34 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

Nintendo did the same thing with both Wii releases.

Yep.  I remember waiting in line at 4am at Kmart and getting a number.  I felt like I won the lottery being able to pay something like $450 for one.  Now that Wii is in a box with a $50 price tag on it the same as the NES (ok, I'm asking $100, but including the Wii Fit and a bunch of games).  Video games suck.

I'm a PC gamer and have been using digital downloads like steam for years now.  I think the last time I actually bought a game in an actual store was like.... 2013 maybe? With downloads you don't have lines or shopping or limited stock or having to talk to people, it's nice.

[Phoenix84]

Jun 28, 2017 14:04:18 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jun 28, 2017 10:40:26 GMT -5 bartman72 said:

Fortunately, there are tons of ways to play these games using less than legal methods.

Nintendo doesn't even try to stop them. There are hundreds of websites devoted to "ROMs"--games for defunct systems that can be run on PC emulators--that host the games right out in the open.

Console developers will militantly go after ROM hosts for games on platforms still being marketed (e.g. the Wii series and 3DS series, in the case of Nintendo), but once a system goes off market, they really don't seem to care. And by that I mean they really don't seem to care. Some of these sites are 15+ years old and have seen literally hundreds of millions of downloads.

As for why Nintendo is short on units, perhaps they severely underestimated how popular the "mini" consoles would be given the games are available for free.

ROM's are actually legal too if you own the game/system in question.  The reasoning being you bought the product (the game) and can do whatever you want with it, including playing it on your pc if you can get it working.

And since, as you said, they don't bother verifying if you own the game or not if playing it on a emulator it's effectively open source, if not legally so. 

[quince]

Husband has a Raspberry PI set up with emulators, so we don't need this, but my dad wanted to get a NES one for my mom. I advised him against it because paying 5x list price on ebay would irritate her, and I kind of regret it now that they stopped production. I still think she wouldn't love paying that much for a system that old- better to pay for the switch or whatever new console is out with new games, but it is sweet that he knows what she likes and wants to go out of his way to get it for her.

[Shooby]

My son just saved up his money and bought a Nintendo Switch.

[billisonboard]

[Deleted]

Been emulating since 2001, I have no desire to get the new Nintendo systems, it's PS4 and Xbone for me.

[Deleted]

I actually was lucky enough to get two of the NES Classics when they came out.  I was online with Best Buy when they started selling them.

They did limit them to 2 per customer.  And I was only able to score one extra controller.

My son has already put in an "order" with me to get him the SNES Classic.  I wonder if his thirteen-year-old son is tired of his dad confiscating his Christmas presents.  

[Deleted]

Jul 6, 2017 10:51:50 GMT -5 @bamafan1954 said:

I actually was lucky enough to get two of the NES Classics when they came out.  I was online with Best Buy when they started selling them.

They did limit them to 2 per customer.  And I was only able to score one extra controller.

My son has already put in an "order" with me to get him the SNES Classic.  I wonder if his thirteen-year-old son is tired of his dad confiscating his Christmas presents.  

I had an elaborate system of finding and replacing confiscated/gift video games when I was growing up.  The hardest part was faking surprise when I actually opened the gift.