Our friends at Kotaku have reported that Nintendo is suggesting that those of us who want a Wii this month should order early. Nintendo will ship 4 million before year's end, but that didn't stop Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime from saying, "The level of demand we're seeing goes beyond the ordinary. Retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers - people looking for a better way to play."

Of course, there's a good measure of marketing rhetoric at work here. But, truth be told, I can't seem to preorder a Wii. I think it has something to do with the broken in-person fanboy retail channel for game hardware. Here's what one Kotakuite had to say about it:

I don't know about you, but I have a job (several really). No way I'm going to bother with this sort of nonsense. I don't really care if I get a Wii on launch day or not, although I would like one before Christmas. Why can't I just go to Amazon.com and place a preorder, like I do for every other prerelease product, even highly anticipated ones? First come, first served and it'll come when it comes. I don't really see how the Tickle Me Elmo retail model coincides with a broader-than-niche market.