An interesting, if perhaps somewhat far-fetched, idea has emerged for just why North American gamers are still struggling to find a Nintendo Wii console with the greatest of ease, nearly a year and a half after the innovative console’s launch.

Over on the Dallas News website there is an article discussing just how many people have desperately tried to explain just why Nintendo is failing to provide sufficient levels of Wii stock to arguably the largest gaming territory in the world. In a last ditch attempt to offer up a new suggestion, though, in swooped popular Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter to state his strong opinions on the matter. So who or what is to blame for the current situation? Well, according to Mr. Pachter it is none other than the currently very weak US Dollar.

“With a weak dollar, foreign companies that sell their goods in the U.S. for dollars and then convert those dollars to their native currencies get a smaller profit than if they sell their products in countries with strong currencies of their own (such as Europe with the euro). In other words, Nintendo makes a bigger profit on Wiis sold in Europe than on Wiis sold in the U.S.

“So Nintendo, Mr. Pachter said, has been behaving perfectly rationally by sending excess Wii consoles to Europe to satisfy the more profitable consumers there.”

Well, that explains it then…or does it? Mr. Pachter believes so and reckons that the situation will indeed be changing in the near future as European demand begins to stabilise in the coming months:

“But now that demand in Europe is subsiding to normal levels, those surplus consoles will be redirected to American gamers, Mr. Pachter said, and the Wii should finally become more plentiful in the States later this year. That jibes with the time frame GameStop laid out for when it expects the Wii to become easier to find in the U.S. Mr. Pachter’s assessment makes a lot of sense to me, and it explains why Nintendo has been so reluctant to account for the Wii shortage. No one wants to hear that they’re second-class customers, but that’s exactly what we American gamers are right now.”

Somebody should point out here that the Wii is going from strength-to-strength right now in Europe and will only get stronger with the likes of Mario Kart Wii out in just over a week, Wii Fit coming later in the month and Super Smash Bros. Brawl due sometime in the summertime (with any luck). And that is not even mentioning the Third Party support, which seems to be picking up considerable steam as of late, with the likes of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 storming up the charts as developers begin to make better use of the Wii’s motion control set-up.

What are your thoughts on the matter, though? Do you feel Nintendo would be as foolish as to toy with gamers’ emotions by purposely pouring more hardware units onto the territory with the strongest currency, whilst leaving the rest of its fans to suffer shortages? Be sure to air your thoughts by posting below…