Fils-Aime admits Wii shortages are a "missed opportunity"

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the shortage of Wii units at retail is a missed opportunity for the company.

And he dismissed the conspiracy theory that Nintendo is holding back stock to drive demand, saying such a move would be counterintuitive to the audience it is trying to sell to.

"At this point we are literally trying to catch up with demand," said Fils-Aime, in an interview with news.com.

"There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren't avid gamers."

"They aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity," he said.

Although the Wii is being snatched up just as fast as Nintendo can supply units to retail — with HMV last week telling GamesIndustry.biz that the console is selling out within minutes — it hasn't stopped the company from clocking up massive sales numbers.

During the Thanksgiving period last week, Nintendo sold over 350,000 Wiis in the US.