Nintendo Offering Exclusive Rain Check Program For Wii's

It's being offered exclusively through GameStop, and basically it means you get something to put under the tree, a guarantee that you'll have a Wii in January. There isn't any word on exactly how many of these "rain checks" that GameStop has, but its "many tens of thousands."

I read somewhere that Nintendo was losing close to a billion dollars due to the continued shortage of supply. I don't know about you but if I was a company that was losing that much due to a lack up supply, I'd be doing something drastic to make sure a lack of supply didn't allow for a lack of demand to build among consumers.

Why on earth would I pay for a system I won't get for another month at the earliest, and doesn't come with anything extra? I think there should be some sort of an incentive, I mean sure, your kid wants a Wii, but a 360 Arcade is only $30 more, and its available now and would probably make your kid just as happy. Somehow I see it very likely that they'll be having the same problem in January, as they'll have to fill all these rain check orders, and there will also be all the parents that didn't feel like buying a piece of paper and just promised their kid a system, I know when the 360 came out I couldn't get one until the following February, and the desire for one wasn't quite as high as it is for the Wii.

Nintendo and Gamestop to guarantee Wiis after holiday [via reuters]