Wii white lies

The latest press release from Nintendo makes for interesting reading.

"Retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers - people looking for a better way to play. And that's exactly what Wii is designed to provide."

Hmm, lets see. A games console launching before Christmas. Demand is likely to be high. Could it be that parents and elder relatives - or non-traditional gamers, as Nintendo would call them - are pre-ording the console so the kids don't bawl their eyes out come Christmas morning?

And what about this?

Because of demand, we're urging shoppers not to get complacent. The level of demand we're seeing goes beyond the ordinary.

If that doesn't smack of the "tickets selling fast, buy now" mentality of really poor events then I don't know what does. It's the kind of marketing that has the opposite effect.

I'm not slagging it off, however. The Wii is most likely to be my console of choice this Christmas. By Christmas 2007 I might even think about buying a PS3, assuming they are actually on sale in Europe by then.