Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime has told Wired that his office is constantly hassling the firm’s Japanese HQ for more Wii stock – reminding them of “missed opportunities”.

In an exclusive interview, Fils-Aime also claimed that Wii consoles, on average, only sit on US retail shelves for an hour before being snapped up by keen consumers.

"We are passionately upset about the lack of product relative to demand," said Fils-Aime.

Wired also reports that the Nintendo boss said Wii’s production numbers are determined by Nintendo's Japanese parent, and that Nintendo of America does its best to remind Japan of the "missed opportunities" when it doesn't have enough product to go around.

Fils-Aime added that North America gets about 40 percent of the 1.8 million Wii consoles Nintendo manufactures every month.

He claimed North America was the only territory in which Wiis are currently unavailable – and said consumers can walk into stores in Japan and Europe and find Wii on shelves.