Opinion: Want a Nintendo Wii for Christmas? Buy it now

It might be a little early to start thinking about buying your Christmas presents. But not if the Nintendo Wii is going to be on your wish-list.

According to GameDaily, US games retailer GameStop predicts another Wii shortage in the run-up to the holiday season:

"I've never seen this type of demand before," says Dan DeMatteo, CEO of GameStop. "I know they're making more [Wiis], but we're still short like everybody else. I think we'll have a continued shortage this Christmas... I don't see a near-term end in sight for Wii shortages, not unless they really ramp up supply."

Wii destined to sell out

It was the same story last year – the closer you got to December, the thinner the Nintendo Wii stocks became. Nintendo simply can't make the machines fast enough. Or, whilst demand for the Wii remains high, Nintendo doesn't need to saturate the market. It's the only one of the three next-gen consoles that hasn't had a price cut.

At the moment, stocks of the Nintendo Wii and its most popular accessory, the Wii Fit Balance Board, remain good in the UK. You can use a website like wii-consoles.co.uk to keep an eye on supplies.

Of course, for everyone who can't buy a Wii this Christmas, Microsoft is pushing the Xbox 360 as a Wii alternative. At £149.99, the Xbox 360 Arcade model is currently £30 cheaper. It will also benefit later this year from a dashboard update that includes Wii-style 'Avatars' and interactive online game shows.

If the Wii has taught its rivals anything, it's that multiplayer gaming is also a social event. It's not just about playing games, sat on your own, wearing a receptionist's headset. Wii multiplayer encourages four people to crowd around the TV and to compete against each other. Think of Wii Sports and Mario Kart as the 21st century equivalents of the classic board game.

So if you want a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, I suggest you get one now.