Say you made widgets. While other widget makers appealed to inactive boys and adult men living in their parents basement, you have a wonderful idea. What if you made a widget that appealed to everyone, men, women, kids and adults alike? You would be rich, that's what you would be! And you would want to make enough of them to ensure that everyone who wanted one could buy one, right?

Well, apparently not if your company's name is Nintendo.

You see, Nintendo shook the gaming world up something fierce in 2006 when it introduced its Wii. By simply changing the way you control videogames with the Wiimote, Nintendo brought console gaming out of the basement, and into the family room. And despite early reports of people throwing their wiimotes through the TV, prompting the company to add a lanyard, the console was a massive success.

Sounds wonderful doesn't it? The only problem was that Nintendo didn't make enough of them.

During the entire life of the Wii, demand has greatly outstripped supply. Need an example? Last week the Futureshop near my house got six in a shipment. They were all gone within 24 hours, and the salesperson said it surprised him that they lasted that long.

Why, when you have a hit on your hands, would you not make as many as possible to satisfy demand? Enzo Ferrari always said that he would make one car less than he could sell, effectively keeping demand higher than supply, and creating an air of exclusivity for which his customers paid for. But that's a Ferrari, this is a gaming console.

It makes little sense, and is frustrating, considering I promised my wife a Wii for valentines day. Nintendo claims there have been supplier problems, but this makes no sense, when you consider that Nintendo actually told suppliers to slow down in late 2009.

So here is my ultimatum Nintendo. Fix this Wii supply issue before Xbox comes out with their "project natal" motion capture controller, and you will have a sale. Fail to do so, and you'll be left looking rather silly.