Business News
Nintendo back on top as Wii named best-selling console
Feb 21, 2007, 17:47 GMT
San Francisco - After years of languishing behind Sony and Microsoft, Japanese game-maker Nintendo has re-emerged as the top dog after its Wii video game console sold 436,000 units in January in the US, according to statistics Wednesday from research firm NPD.
The strong sales figures showed that the innovative Wii easily outsold its competitors. Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 294,000 units and Sony's Playstation 3 sold 244,000 units. Sony's PS2, a seven-year-old games console, outsold the PS3 with nearly 300,000 units in January.
The figures appeared to vindicate Nintendo's revolutionary approach which emphasized fun games aimed at casual players who could control the action using an innovative motion-detection remote control unit. In contrast Microsoft and Sony both offer higher powered and more expensive machines that feature better graphics quality and are far more expensive. Both companies also positioned their consoles as the centrepiece of a digital entertainment system.
'I do think that we're selling to additional and different customers' compared with the competition, said Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing at Nintendo of America, cited in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 'We've had an incredibly healthy start and we think there's going to be a pretty long tail on this product.'
The Financial Times reported meanwhile that sales momentum for the Wii, which was launched last November, is so strong that many analysts believe it will be successful in drawing entire families into video gaming.
Yoshiyuki Kinoshita, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, now predicts that by 2011, one-third of all Japanese households and 30 per cent of all US households will own a Wii, the report said.
The sales figures represented bad news for Sony, which badly needs to establish the PS3 as the dominant market leader in order to shore up the shaky consumer electronics company, analysts said.
'This is clear evidence that Sony needs to get the PS3's act together, because it is in poor shape right now,' Hiroshi Kamide of KBC Securities told the newspaper.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Well, DUH! Nintendo rocks. It has overthrown the evil proprietary format-forcing morons in Sony's realm.
I'd have to say, though, that I don't care if X360 wins. They are pretty cool too. But all in all, it really is Nintendo's place to hold.
A Wii and an XBox 360 is the perfect combination...innovative fun from Nintendo...(such as Zelda) HD graphics and movies through the 360. Viva Pinata is one of the most under-rated video games of all time... looks gorgeous on the 360!
A shoddy game system with a hyper inflated price!?! I'll wait for a Wii thankyouverymuch! Did sony really think people would be willing to spend $600 to $700 on a video game system? Especially when all the rest are still going for $250 to $300? Sony's already proven that they cannot be trusted; not allowing PSP owners to modify their PSP, putting secret DRM on CDs, making crappy batteries for laptops, and now selling game machines to the rich? Sounds like a bunch of greedy corporate fat cats to me. As far as I am concerned, this PS2 fanatic will never purchase a Sony product again no matter how earth shattering it is.
Good work Nintendo, fun factor is way more important then power to me. Sony, you can take your hyper priced pile of garbage and stick it where the sun don't shine. Oh and on a final note... Sony, I think the PS3 is really ugly looking.
I'll admit I'm beginning to regret my P$3 purchase. Here's another crazy piece of evidence that Sony doesn't really care about their customers: I just got a Sony-Ericsson cell phone which by itself is pretty cool. One feature of the phone is it can be used as a bluetooth remote. Only it doesn't seem to be able to connect with the P$3. P$3 support told me to contact the 'manufacturer' of my cell phone to find out if I can use it to control the P$3!!!!!!!! How messed up is that? But I'll try this and see. Maybe someone will find a way to write an o/s that'll let us play 360 games on the P$3...
We got a Wii for Christmas and snagged a PS3 60 gig first week of Jan. We use the Wii all the time. If I hadn't thrown away the packaging I'd return the PS3 and put the money on a new laptop.
I feel really vindicated now! Over a year and a half ago, my friends and others shook their heads and scoffed at my prediction of these exact events.
I knew it was a way better concept to focus on bringing in a new way to play the games not to mention making them fun again, then to just ramp up the pretty and the horses (and the price tag). It's really dumb to think that people aren't burned out playing the same type of games with only cosmetic differences ( If I see another *@#$%! WII first person shooter come out I'm going flippin AWOL).
I think one of the core reasons people started liking video games was the for new experiences and the exploration of what is possible through a new medium. Well now that the medium isn't so new its time to bring back new experiences, which the Wii does well, and it also levels the playing field in the area of control to include wider audiences to participate which is brilliant marketing (and good for gamers to get more money pumped into our hobby!). I also don't think it is too wise to have all your media devices cobbled into one unit. As my friend can attest, when his Ps2 went out so did his DVD and his CD player, and add to that an Internet connection with these new machines and you are cut off from most of the 21st century's entertainment (the thought of being forced to watch network T.V. gives me cold sweat nausea).
I think I can agree with the previous posters comment about a 360 and a Wii as a pretty good combo. I've got the Wii so I'll just wait for the 360 to drop a bit, until then me my friends and family are having fun! Which is what its all about right? (?)
Ha Ha Sony! That's what you get for the Root Kit! NEVAR FORGET THE ROOTKIT!
'You'll vindicate Al-Qeda's strategy', if you don't buy a P$3! Or mine names dick!
page: 1
Imran AlFeb 21st, 2007 - 18:23:52
Sony think they are the best all time. Well, when it comes to a point where you need to re-draw consumer attention, Sony sucks.
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