(Reprise article) 

Nintendo today announced a 48% increase in its annual profit thanks to Wii. Friday, store lines will form anew for the EU launch of Wii Fit, their new interactive fitness “game” cartridge designed to get folks up off the couch.

Wii Fit will has forced many a retailer to abandon online ordering for fear that supply lines stretching across the EU and then 10-days later to South Africa and 19-days later to Australia cannot meet demand. An this limited supply program has made the console an unprecedented success by making sure demand is always ahead of supply.

A year ago I was walking through Toys R Us when the clerk came from the back with a handful of ten slips indicating the precise number of Wii game consoles that had just arrived in-store. Five never made it to the plastic holder, I got number six and watched 7-10 disappear within 2 minutes’ time. (Silly me decided to first check in with the wife to see if £200 was reasonable when they were selling on ebay for £500+. Were there not a strict one per customer limit, I could have gotten mine for free.

The launch of Wii caught everyone by surprise. None more so than the vaunted Playstation folks who assumed their oft-delayed “3” unit would find itself in the same position. But no one in this segment had seen such a category buster like Wii.  Few of us remembered when the game Centipede pushed Space invaders and Pong to the back shelf but Wii was designed for the rest of us.

While many gamers happily sit in darkened rooms trying to get to level 15 of some of the most awesome and gruesome games on the planet, everyone was intrigued by the magic wand (the Wii remote) that seemed to contain the keys to the universe.

In 18-months, Wii has become the 500 pound gorilla in the middle of the living room, a staple of this household. We’re not big gamers but Wii has somehow struck a chord. Tara, our middle daughter, is the family bowling whiz where her unorthodox release and laser like aiming skills consistently results in high pin falls. Chris and his mates prefer the baseball skill tests (Rounders it’s called here) and Uma is the next Tiger Woods in training. They have also mastered several Olympic sports with the ladies choosing Peach as their favourite while we lads stick to Mario and Sonic for oue inspiration.

Every visiting child has their own Mii and indeed I have copied mine on the handset to take to unique poker matches organised by the Bristol/SW England meetup group where one’s starting chip stack is based on how well they have mastered the art of Wii tennis doubles (as if poker were not cruel enough!).