The Wii Launches in Japan

The Wii has launched in Japan, successfully and without many of the incidents associated with the PlayStation 3 launch. Joystiq's coverage of the Wii's painless Nippon birth has nothing but praise for the crowd control efforts of electronics outlets. The talk is entirely of sellouts and happy gamers. From the article: "Numerous methods of retail were used to launch the Wii, and these varied from store to store. Yodobashi kept its customers camped overnight in a parking lot, distributing numbered tickets to determine the order of entrance, before opening its doors at 7am. Bic Camera also opened at 7am, although most of the 650 people in line there didn't arrive until the first trains of the morning began to run at around 5am. Famitsu reports that the Tokyo Ikebukuro branch of Bic Camera sold out if its allocation of 1,200 units, while the Tokyo Yuuraku-cho arm of Bic Camera declared the console "sold out" at 5.41am when the 1,500th person arrived in the queue there." Kotaku has even more extensive coverage, with plenty of photos of the waiting lines.

wow

[cttforsale]

1200 units at one location? Now that's a launch!

Re:

[Ninjaesque One]

The Times Square Toys'R Us got 3,000 PS3's in the launch.

Didn't stop it from selling out a day before, though.

Re:

[Nemetroid]

6.5% (estimation from 2000 numbers) of the US population lives in New York and about 3% in New York City. Assuming that Times Square actually Toys'R Us got 3000, that's reasonable since it's a very central location. 1200 was in just one store, not necessarily the hugest one either.

Re:wow

[Hubbell]

No wonder the PS3 was hard to find, they shipped half of the available consoles to one store!

Re:

[the dark hero]

Please remember that Japan is a much smaller country than the U.S. Just about everything they do (in the city) is done in high values. http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/japan/geography/japan -us-size.gif [ucla.edu]

Jipped.

[Trashhalo]

If only I lived in japan -_-. Anyone else see their VC launch list and feel jealous? They get: Zelda 3, Super Mario Bros and World and we get: Baseball for NES. WOooooooooooOOooOOo Those games arent even coming to the US 2007.

Re:

[FreeRadicalX]

This bugs me too. I can understand how many games are released in one region and not another for fear or not selling successfully (which I think is silly in most cases anyway, it's what's kept most Americans from playing the other games in the Earthbound series and from enjoying a lot of the the Final Fantasy games upon their initial releases), but how does this apply to software? How much profit could the possibly be losing by just hosting the game files on a server? They already knew what sold successf

Re:Jipped.

[Telvin_3d]

Actually, the impression that I got wasn't that they were holding it for weeks with poor Wii releases, but weeks were they would have otherwise poor VC releases. They are planning on releasing 1-5 new VC games every week. Most weeks this is going to be a couple B list titles and one or two C list titles. Every month or two, they will release one of the A list titles (SMB, etc..) instead.

From the point of view of giving everyone their favourite game right away, not the best. From the point of view of building constant attention and interest in the VC, I think it is the right way to go. Every Monday, everyone is going to be waiting to see what goes up this week. Some people will grab a game, play it for a week and then grab something from the next Mondays offering.

Re:

[Trashhalo]

But if you are trying to drum up interest in the wii which is more likely to win over a friend

1.) There is this great feature called the VC where you can download all your favorite classic games.
2.) There is this great feature called the VC that lets you download older games, not necessarily classics but older games. Dont worry though eventually nintendo may let you download a game you like!

This gen I have basically turned into a nintendo fanboy. Pre launch and post launch I am always trying to hype the con

Re:

[hardran3]

Since they are selling every Wii they make right now, I don't think they are too worried. By the time that is a problem, there will be lots of games on the VC. Give Big N 3 months to work out the kinks in their brand new online infrastructure. By march of 2007 I am sure the VC will be great.

Re:

[trdrstv]

But when I tell people now that they wont see any classic nintendo games till some unannounced time in 2007 it just doesnt drum up much interest. So while I understand the logic of spacing out the A games and I think that will boost VC sales numbers it will hurt console sales numbers.

I disagree on both points. The first has to do with the definition of 'classic'. Mario 64, Donkey Kong and F-Zero are all classics in my book. Same With Golden Axe, and the (soon to come Gunstar Heroes.) You may not get wha

Re:

[Nevyn]

This gen I have basically turned into a nintendo fanboy. Pre launch and post launch I am always trying to hype the console.

Like a lot of people I've basically turned into a Nintendo FanBoi this gen. too. Damn I want decent games not pretty graphics. I just hope Nintendo don't screw it up.

But when I tell people now that they wont see any classic nintendo games till some unannounced time in 2007 it just doesnt drum up much interest.

That's a little unfair you've got, Soloman's Key; Zelda 1; Sonic

Re:

[Senjutsu]

Think about it for a minute: Nintendo cannot put games they do not own the copyright to up, so they need to attract the third-party developers to agree to license their content to the system. In other words, they need to convince the third parties that there's money to be made from this Virtual Console scheme.

Now, is Hudson going to want to license Bonk's Adventure to the system if, right out of the door, rather than being one of the better of 20 tittles available, it's buried in the entire back-catalog of

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, now! It's spelled "gypped." Either learn to spell it correctly, or just say you got "jewed" instead of blaming the Gypsies-whose-name-you-can't-spell for ripping you off. After all, they're pretty much the same, amirite? *drum-roll*

  This has been a message from the bad people at Bigots Anonymous.
"Have you stereotyped someone today?" (tm)

(whoa. my captcha is "idiotic." how's that for instant karma?)

Re:in other new

[masklinn]

Actually, if you watch Famitsu's pictures of the launch you'll see a frightening amount of women (that's like guys, but with more breasts and less penises, if you don't know what it means) for a japanese system launch.

Fully half the line I was in

[patio11]

I got my Wii pre-ordered but went to the store (in a decent sized city in rural Japan -- allocation was 40 consoles + pre-orders, everyone in line got one). Fully half of the people lined up were of the fairer sex. Some were there with their boyfriends, there were a lot of families with the kids in toe, and at least two groups of high school girls were getting Wiis for themselves.

The launch was, incidentally, as smooth as silk. 45 minutes before the door opened they gave everyone in line a "you are guaranteed to get a Wii when we open, no need to rush" ticket. There were only about 20 people in the store when I picked mine up, most browsing the Nintendo sections while two queues proceeded in a very orderly manner.

Have to respect Nintendo

[Captain Kirk]

They said they could not keep up with Sony and Microsoft for technology a few years ago. There was even talk of them becoming software only. Yet here they are, focussed on gameplay and fun, and doing brilliantly. And of the big 3 they are the only ones makign a profit.

You have to admire that.

Re:

[Rydia]

To be fair, the "software-only" talk was all rumor, and bad rumor at that. Nintendo has always been a (usually very) profitable company.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[Akaihiryuu]

Yes...they've only had one quarter EVER where they posted a loss, and that loss was due to some bad investments overseas when the value of the yen dropped, and they got screwed on the currency exchange.

Not Wrong

[LKM]

It seems to probably be true. It was a big deal [gamesarefun.com] when it happened, and every news site reported it as the first ever loss for Nintendo "since going public in 1962."

Re:

[edwdig]

Actually, the value of the yen went up. It was the US Dollar that dropped. They invest their profits in the country they are earned in, but report results in yen. Without the dollar bombing, they actually would've had a rather successful quarter.

Re:Have to respect Nintendo

[killbill!]

If you can't beat the game, change the rules of the game.

Nintendo was unwilling to follow Sony's and Microsoft's path where "innovation" just means "more raw power" - and higher costs. The decision to change the input method was a masterstroke.

Even though the Wii is the least powerful of this generation, its novel input method makes its more powerful rivals look obsolete, shortly after their launch. The PS3 or the 360 are merely the same old, now in HD. The Wii is truly next-generation.

Re:

[masklinn]

This "revolutionary" (aka: gimmicky) input method they came up with will work well for very few games, and even then only where the game is extremely simple in nature.

Don't you think it funny that we've seen exactly this kind of comments (you even managed to leave out "remote" so there's nothing to edit) when the DS was launched?

And we all know how it's ending, the DS has been out of stock for 11 months straight in Japan, wiping the floor with the PSP every single week, it's more or less obliterating th

Re:

[mj_sklar]

The parent sounds confused? Sir, I think you are the confused one. When did using your imagination become a bad thing?

Re:

[Rycross]

As much as I hate to, I have to agree with Anonymous Sony Fanboy. With some disagreement however.

The DS isn't popular simply because of the touch screen. It's because it took over from the GBA with better graphics (shocking, isn't it!! And contradictary to your argument as well) and GBA game releases dropped off afterwards. I'm no fan of any handheld, but from what I've been hearing, the PSP is selling quite well right now despite the popularity of the DS.

At first, yes, the momentum for the GBA carri

Re:

[masklinn]

The Wii sorta reminds me of the gamecube, it was popular at first

In japan at least, the GC's lauch was far less impressive than the Wii is. Now we'll see how that spans on the long run.

I'm sure everyone is buying it cuz of the new controller.

Yeah, no one is buying it cause the games are actually fun to play, and the reports we're hearing that it is are just illusions and figments of our imaginations.

Once people get over it, they'll see how shitting the graphics are, and the games.

Indeed, just as

Re:

[corky842]

Remember the original Halo? People complained about the repetitive levels. Well, the developers are using that extra disk space to eliminate that sort of thing.

Really? I thought it was because of laziness, not a lack of storage space.

Re:

[trdrstv]

Remember the original Halo? People complained about the repetitive levels. Well, the developers are using that extra disk space to eliminate that sort of thing. Really? I thought it was because of laziness, not a lack of storage space.

Exactly. Halo wasn't anywhere near 9 gigs in size.

Re:

[masklinn]

The DS isn't popular simply because of the touch screen. It's because it took over from the GBA with better graphics

Wrong, the DS started picking up steam when the DS Lite was released, more than a year after the original DS started being available, and the original DS rarely saw the kind of sales the DS:Lite generates. Want to know why the DS is popular? Animal Crossing, the Brain Age serie, Nintendogs, and NSMB. Not GBA.

Plus the DS is in good way to pass the GBA sales in Japan, the DSL has already sol

Re:

[justchris]

This "revolutionary" (aka: gimmicky) input method they came up with will work well for very few games, and even then only where the game is extremely simple in nature. Everyone was drooling about how this would work with FPS games, but so far that's turning out to be a big letdown, as demonstrated by Red Steel and Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Just because something is gimmicky doesn't mean it's not revolutionary. And if you read the reviews, the control scheme actually does work better for FPS. SC:DA wa

Re:

[heli0]

"If you can't beat the game, change the rules of the game."
-- James Tiberius Kirk re: Kobayashi Maru

Paraphrased of course.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a lesson here kids: Play to your strengths.

Re:

[testudorex]

"They said they could not keep up with Sony and Microsoft for technology a few years ago. There was even talk of them becoming software only. Yet here they are, focussed on gameplay and fun, and doing brilliantly. And of the big 3 they are the only ones makign a profit.

You have to admire that."

You do realize Nintendo gets 100% of its profits from selling video game stuff right?
Sony and Microsoft have, you know, more than 1 entertainment sector to get profits from.

Re:

[brkello]

I always find it amusing when I read Nintendo fanboys bragging how their company always makes more profit. In other words, compared to their competitors they are over pricing their units. Somehow this should be celebrated?

Re:

[edwdig]

Nintendo's profitability comes from two things:

1) They don't sell anything at a loss.

2) They rely primarily on first party games. The entire profit of a first party game goes to Nintendo. Sony and Microsoft rely mainly on 3rd party games, of which they get around $8 per sale (and less on budget games).

Nintendo being massively profitable means they make really good games that sell a lot.

Bleach game

[rlp]

I hope Sega releases the Bleach game for the Wii in the US. It looks like a lot of fun. It makes excellent use of the Wiimote. And you get to look really stupid while playing it. Ban Kai!!

Re:

[KDR_11k]

I don't have high hopes for it. The DS game is awesome but the GC game is pretty weak and I don't think they put Treasure to work on the Wii one. IOW Bleach Wii will probably be as weak as Bleach GC.

Re:

[cjp]

Reviews of the Wii version of the latest DBZ game are promising, if looking really stupid while playing is a bonus :) "Ka me ha me HA! Oh crap, there goes the TV."

Wii already sold

[MemoryDragon]

over 1 million units, they currently are at 1.1 mio units sold according to http://www.nexgenwars.com/ [nexgenwars.com] and by the end of next week they will hit the 2 mio marks, because the rollouts in europe and Australia are still to be done.

And Europe alone will count for 600.000 while Europe is not that Nintendo crazy, I do not expect lines as long as in Japan or the USA, it still will sellout within the first day, I assume.

The reason why Europe is not as Nintendo crazy as the rest is easily explained, they usually charge the highest prices while often if not always are the last to get the releases. Big vendors do not push Nintendo too much over here due to many reasons (the average ds corner in the big stores over here in central europe is more like ok we have it too, but we want to sell PSPs). Or to some it up in other words, Nintendo Europe is a bunch of morons who really should get their act together, the same goes for Apple Europe!

Re:

[MemoryDragon]

In case of the wii the numbers are very clear... USA roughly 700.000, sold out. Japan 400.000 sold out.

Re:

[masklinn]

Europe is not that Nintendo crazy

Europe is the territory where Nintendogs sold the most period. The DS is extremely successful here in sonyland, and from what I've heard it looks like a fair lot of the launch units have been reserved already (the FNAC Montparnasse in Paris told a friend that they could pre-order a Wii, but would be put on the 20th shipment because the 8th was sold out already, and that was last weekend)

Also you shouldn't rely on nextgenwars numbers, they're as innacurate as they may be

Re:

[MemoryDragon]

Actually you cannot judget Europe by Europe, where I live central europe, the day the ds lite was launched it was reported to be sold out all over europe, and yet I was walking in the afternoon three days later into the next electronics superstore and there it was sitting happily in one corner in about a dozend boxes waiting to be picked up next to a measly DS games shelve half filled with gba games, while the PSP had its own shelve five times as big... Anyway I had no troubles to get the DS lite. And yes t

Oblig xkcd

[Terminal Saint]

Sums it up pretty well... [xkcd.com]

Re:

[AvitarX]

That is so true.

<uch better than the vgcats that I keep seeing.

Ending a 39 week run?

[RandomBabblings]

Assuming all of the allocated units were sold, the Wii will probably sell more units than the DS Lite this week. That would end the 39 week string of the DS Lite at the top of the Japanese weekly hardware sales charts, which it has held since its launch in March.

Who would have guessed that Nintendo would have to dethrone itself...

Re:

[7Prime]

Who would have guessed that Nintendo would have to dethrone itself...

Ouch, that's gotta hurt. I feel really sorry for them :(

Why couldn't Americans be more organized?

[MaWeiTao]

I can't help but wonder why stores in the US can't be more organized and responsible like they are in Japan. I really feel like people in the US lack any sort of pride in what they do, and it's especially bad in the retail space.

The Wii launch was more civilized than the PS3 only because there were more units to be had; otherwise we would almost certainly have seen the same sort of nonsense.

Re:

[WilliamSChips]

Because the Japanese all got their Wiis three weeks ago from Hiro Nakamura.

DS + Wii?

[DECS]

Are there any titles that make use of the potential for using the DS as an input/controller for the Wii yet (or any planned)? I've seen Nintendo chat up the potential, but haven't seen any actual examples of titles that use the DS as a microphone/drawing tablet/distributed console accessory yet.

PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Nintendo Wii [roughlydrafted.com]

5 Success Factors for Next Generation Game Consoles [roughlydrafted.com]

Re:

[masklinn]

The first Wii game using the Wii-DS connectivity should be Pokemon Battle Revolution, with links to the DS' Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. I don't know how the DS' will be used though, probably just to get your pokemons into BR

Re:DS + Wii = Pokemon Online.

[trdrstv]

The first Wii game using the Wii-DS connectivity should be Pokemon Battle Revolution, with links to the DS' Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. I don't know how the DS' will be used though, probably just to get your pokemons into BR

Actually it was confirmed that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be the first Wii title to go online. I'm not sure for what specifically, but the DS versions are online enabled to trade, battle and includes voice chat.

Re:

[oniboy]

I just woke up & put on the teli & the first thing I saw was an add for Pokemon Battle Revolution. It showed the DS being used to play the game with the Wii. Its due out here in Japan on the 14th. Heres a couple of links for you, sorry only in Japanese ( which I cant read well myself ). http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20061117/ poke.htm [impress.co.jp] (lost of screen shots) http://www.pokemon.co.jp/game/wii/pbr_sp/ [pokemon.co.jp]

Wii are the Champions

[Soiden]

So, Nintendo is making its way to the throne, and we can see by now. I really hope this continues this way, I think Nintendo deserves the first place once again, with such an innovative and small white VIDEOGAMES console.

Re:

[Kurayamino-X]

it's been years in the making and you loose intrest because it takes a month longer than the absolute minimum to get your hands on one?

Re:

[justchris]

In that case, you may want to import a North American Wii. Wii games are region coded, so they will only play on the system from the same country. If you don't mind paying a premium, you might want to try picking one up off ebay.

Bullshit

[SinGunner]

I was at Yodobashi Camera Friday night. First, they wouldn't allow us to line up prior to 8PM, which meant at 8PM, there were 200 people waiting to go down to the basement level 4 just milling around in front of the elevators. So at 8, they decide only one elevator will be allowed and everyone rushes it. Then, they say we can't use that because we're crushing eachother and knocking over displays to get at the elevator. I was at the front cause I had gotten there so early, and now I was at the back becau

Re:

[wheresdrew]

I was at Yodobashi Akiba as well. But my experience was a little different from what you describe. [wheresdrew.com] Before we left Friday night, we made sure we could come back and join the line prior to 7AM. They said we could, so I came back around 6AM. I know somebody else who came back around 3. We both had pretty good positions and got our systems pretty quickly.

Seriously though - 4 hour wait? The tickets were passed out before 11PM.

BTW, bummer about your Wii not working properly.

ahhh...

[chibiskuld]

I remember getting my wii... Walk into Walmart 7am in the morning and ask, so where's the line for the Wii? I'm escorted to a moderately warm room and told: "Take a seat in this chair, the chairs are numbered, each chair is 1 wii." With it being a comfy chair, I got to sit around all day playing video games, 10 man tetris, and generally having fun instead.