Clearing Up Holiday Sales Rumours 86
Gamespot's regular 'Rumor Control' column tackles some confusion around who had the most holiday sales among the three new consoles. A CNBC broadcast prompted GamesIndustry.biz to proclaim the 360 the winner, with some 2 Million in sales. The Wii followed closely behind with 1.8 Million, and the PS3 followed that number with 750,000. The catch here is that, while it's possible a viewer could have assumed this was official NPD data, it wasn't. From the article: "The segment is an interview with Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with IT market intelligence firm IDC. In it, a graphic appears on screen showing estimated console sales in North America for November through December 25, 2006. The numbers match up with the figures being attributed to the NPD, but CNBC attributes IDC as its source on them. The confusion likely comes from a blurb of text that appears at the bottom of the screen shortly after the graphic is taken down. It notes that the 'NDP Group' (sic) pegged the Wii as selling more than twice the number of PS3s for the month of November, which is true, but also something that was announced last month." The numbers may prove to be true, but we're going to have to wait a bit longer to see who actually came out ahead last month.
Does NPD even provide real numbers? (Score:2, Interesting)
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EBGAMES/Gamestop are doing pre-order sales for the Wii to be shipped 1/17/2007. The only hitch is that it is a bundle package only.
Nintendo Wii system (system, remote controller, nunchuck, stand, sensor and Wii Sports)
Wii 1 Gigabyte Memory Card
1 additional Wii Remote Controller
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Red Steel
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
Madden NFL 2007
1 Year Product Replacement Plan
The bundle is ~679.90 USD with 9
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Check: http://www.xpbargains.com/ps3_locator.php [xpbargains.com]
I was lucky enough to be on-line at BestBuy Dec.31st. Waited on line for ~1 hour before the store opened and got a PS3. No fuss, no muss (they advertised in the weekly circular). I was amazed at how orderly and organized both the line and the BestBuy staff were. They handed out tickets when they opened the doors to the store. Then they let people in from the line 5 at a time (the store itself opened and anyon
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I've got a theory (based on sampling the people I know), that most people would rather get the 60GB model ("if I'm already spending the money
My second question would be if this is in a more urban, rural, or suburb area.
It stands to reason that you're going to have a higher demand for Wiis vs PS3s simply becuase the lower price open the Wii up to be an easier purchase (easier on ones wallet
In con
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I wouldn't pay that much for a bundle that I didn't want either. That was the main reason I held out till I could get the system on its own. The launch titles just aren't strong enough to justify the 5 game bundle that most electronics stores seem to want to sell.
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The eternal shipped vs. sold (Score:5, Informative)
Wii probably could have sold more, if only it had been able to produce more of them. As for the Xbox 360, the only console not suffering from shortages (anymore), then good for them. I wonder how many were bought by people wanting a PS3, but then not finding any, so they bought a 360 instead.
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As a fairly useless anecdote, in almost every store I've been to, they were completely sold out of Wiis, had several PS3s on hand, and had plenty of XBox360s on display.
And I've been to a lot of stores looking for my Wii - I've had to resign myself that about the earliest the stores expect to receive more is late January to early February.
But in several cases, I've had a hopeful sales person mention after I asked them about the Wii that they have the PS3 available for sale. Too bad I don't have, A) a H
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I may as well clarify my original "almost" because I did find one store that had a Wii. They were only selling it as a bundle with an extra controller and two games.
They were out of extra controllers.
While it'd be funny to say that they had a Wii they couldn't sell, I think the reality is that they'd have given me a rain check, but since they had no good games either (basically only movie/TV tie-in games), I didn't bother. I'd rather not spend an extra $100 on games I'd never play.
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Now, we see a giant pile of boxes with "Please buy me" on them, but that wasn't the case in november. There has been a shortage of PS3's for a while, mostly due to scalpers. Stores got more stocks quite fast, but it wasn't Sony who provided them with it...
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So, now the PS3 is back on the shelves? Interesting, although I was still looking for a Wii back in Europe with my sister. While I wouldn't mind havin
Re:The eternal shipped vs. sold (Score:4, Interesting)
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-Eric
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Um, not many. I'd bet most that wanted to "pay" for the PS3 bought one. Those that didn't want to "pay through the nose" will wait 6-9 months for the first of several major price drops. Not many make an impluse purchase for things over $250. O.k. Maybe those rich slashdotters that bought all three syst
a throttled race (Score:2)
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Numbers (Score:2)
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As of December 24th Nintendo had sold 859,000 Wii in Japan, with 286,500 selling in the week of December 18th-December 24th so the total Japaneese sales numbers for December will be between 1,000,000-1,100,000 (as a guestimate; later today or tomorow we should have the sales for the week of De
Why does everyone want a winner? (Score:3, Insightful)
The gaming market is absolutely huge, with over 10 billion+ in sales per year. There is plenty of money to go around, and for the first time 3 legitimate consoles who will all take a good portion.
The compeition of this generation of 360/Wii/PS3 will spark a ton of innovation for the next set of consoles.
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Early numbers like these are a good thermometer of how well a system will do long term as well. If it has strong market saturation early, not
Re:I'm sick of Japanese consoles...there I said it (Score:4, Insightful)
The NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, and PS2 all had a lot of western developed games (and Japaneese games) which didn't have senseless/cutesy story lines.
Before the Xbox, where could us Western console gamers go for realistic eyes and hair? Where could we go for a game originally written in English (without some strange translation)? Where could we go for an RPG that wasn't on rails? Where could we go for a game whose main character was a clear heterosexual?
For realistic hair and eyes, I'll tell you when we actually get them; considering realistic Skin, Hair and Eyes are still difficult on pre-rendered movies (because humans are very good at telling the difference between computer generated and real people) I expect that it will be a couple of generations. If you're talking about where you could get them from an Artistic perspective I think you should look into a couple of games Link [gamespot.com], and Link [gamespot.com],Link [gamespot.com]. Many Japaneese companies have been on the forefront of 'realistic' graphics.
RPGs that "aren't on rails" are mostly an American (typically PC) genre and have never been (particularly) popular
I, for one, am glad that an American company is finally back in the game.
There is nothing wrong with an American (or Japaneese) company being very successful in the industry
Blindly following that company simply because they are American (or Japaneese) is foolish because they will (likely) take your support for granted and you will (probably) become angry with the company.
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Not to mention A: PC games are largely western developed (with personal PC ownership traditionally lower in Asia), and B: Sega actually stands for SErvice and GAmes, originally started by an American.
Re:I'm sick of Japanese consoles...there I said it (Score:2)
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And, I might point out, Japan itself is one of the most notoriously nationalistic and xenophobic countries in the world. At least we Americans will give Japanese consoles a chance. When's the last time anyone in Japan bought an Xbox?
-Eric
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You don't have to be at the top though. If the GP2x sells each unit at a profit then they can do ok for themselves. There is also the perennial idea of a l
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Basically, in the gaming world you want to own the most popular console, as that way you will have the broadest possible selection of games available to you. So paying attention to who is "in the lead" is very important.
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I think the PS3 won (Score:5, Funny)
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If America was really a culture of guns, it would be the muggers treating average citizens as potentially armed with deadly weapons. In reality, current gun control laws ensure only the criminals are armed. And this situation is evident in many [bbc.co.uk] other [labour.co.uk] countries [allsafedefense.com] besides [www.dose.ca] the US.
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As for "cherry picking", I think you over estimate my time investment. Here's a little secret, type "european gun crime" in google and cross reference the front page with my links...
If you are the same AC as before, I'm only pointing out gun crime isn't an US exclusive and at the end of the day anti-gun laws tend to leave only the criminals armed (regardless of nationality).
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That is kind of by definition. However, is it a bad thing? If only criminals are armed, there will obviously be less shooting involving innocent people, because they don't have guns and thus won't be tempted to fight back. Which makes it safer for everyone.
Frankly, if I'm in a crime, I don't want some well-meaning non-criminal trying to take out the criminals.
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North America? (Score:2)
If it's worldwide it'll be somewhat disappointing, as both Nintendo and Sony will have fallen significantly short of their promised goals for the end of the year (4 million and 2 million respectively). If this is specific to North America, does anyone know of a source whereby we can figure out the worldwide totals?
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Japan is tracked by several companies and the most popular chart is released in Famitsu (which will release the numbers for December 25th to December 31st sometime today or tomorow)
Europe doesn't really have any (well known) sales tracking companies
As of December 24th Nintendo has sold 859,000 Wii units in Japan, NPD claims 1.8 Million in North America and it was (earlier) confirmed that there were 375,000 Wii units sold in Europe on launch. So far we know that Ninte
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Three things to consider (from WSJ) (Score:5, Interesting)
Unlike the PS3, where most people bought the one really good game (Resistance Fall of Man), or the existing game purchases by xBox360 owners of Gears of War, the Wii console buyers ended up buying a lot of games and extra controllers, leading to situations where controllers were usually only found in back rooms and behind counters, as they were snapped up the second they appeared. Games were in reasonable supply, but most console owners bought quite a few games - probably affected by the MSRP of $50 for Wii games, compared to $60 for 360 and PS3 games.
However, sales of the PS2 games were fairly strong, especially that rock guitar thing (forgot the name) and a number of other strong titles.
The "Real Winner" ... the DS (Score:3, Informative)
You mean Guitar Hero 2, which yes, was quite strong, along with other hit games such as Final Fantasy XII. The PS2 definately did very well this holiday season, but I'd have to say the big winner was the DS. Those darn things were often sold out just as much as the Wii was (I was looking for an extra copy myself). If you go looking around, you'll find sales numbers whic
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Scroll down to the top 10 list
Popular 360 games [gamespot.com]
Popular wii games [gamespot.com]
Popular ps3 games [gamespot.com]
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None of the other games so far have appealed to me much (although El
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Raving Rabbids is a great multiplayer game.
Super Monkey ball... sucks
Red Steel REALLY REALLY sucks.
Wii sports is quite fun.
Rampage is fun but you really need nunchucks for each player
Excite Truck is also quite enjoyable if you like smash em up racing.
So I would say if yo have a Wii pick up Trauma Center for yourself, Raving Rabbids for yourself and your firends, Rampage if you like that sort of thing, and Excite trck if you like that sort o
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* Elebits (which is addictive enough where I now have some moderate eye strain and probably shouldn't play for a few days)
* Trauma Center (not my cup of tea, but the fiancee loves it)
Hell, even Wii Sports is lots of fun, and my friends love Excite Truck (I haven't actually played more than 5 minutes, so I don't really have an opinion yet).
Numbers skewed from shortages (Score:1)
I don't really care who won last years holiday race, I am more interested in when the full supply of the units come out. Then I think the Wii will win hands down.
Anybody know when the Wii becomes truly "generally available"?
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I think the only answer anyone can give you is "sometime in 2007" because no one really knows
In the small circle of people I know I'm the only person who actually owns a Wii and I know several people who are actively searching for one. When Nintendo ships another 500,000 to 1,000,000 units I would expect that most people who were looking for a Wii to own one but I'm not postivie about that; with (essentially) 2 Million systems sold in 6 weeks
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It's really been almost "infectious" for people we've let try it. The more people who buy it, the more t
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But then I played Wii Tennis with a couple friends.
I want one now. I do have some self-control, and I'm still going to wait it out. I think there are a LOT of people waiting it ou
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With the PS2, PS3 and XBox 360 I have a pretty well established understanding on how the people who are buying these systems will react to certain events; surrounding the release of big games the sales will spike, as the price drops the spikes will become larger and the "average" number of systems
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Not surprising (Score:2)
All in all, this is right on the mark of how I would expect it to be. Interestingly, at first I thought the artical said, "the Wii was pegged by the PS3, which sold over twice as many units," and immediately though that it was crazy, then I read some more and realized that all it was was a really badly written sentance. I have a feeling that most of the generation is going to pan out like this, with the 360 and Wii exchanging leads from time to time, and the PS3 pulling in numbers roughly half that of the o
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Even if the PS3 comes in last, don't expect Sony to throw in the towel in regards to gaming. Just as a drop in marketshare hasn't
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It is cliche, but true, that it is all up to the games. The PS3 doesn't really have a title with herds of fanboys behind it. The Wii released with Zelda. Having this franchise at launch was a brilliant move by Nintendo. It will be really inter
Not true (Score:2)
Actually, I'd say it's quite the opposite. In my own anecdotal experience, I've seen PS3s available for sale, whereas I have no luck with the Wii. There's have been some news stories [go.com] regarding the PS3 "non-shortage" as well. So, I'd say Nintendo has t
No Contradiction (Score:2)
Actually, I'd say it's quite the opposite. In my own anecdotal experience, I've seen PS3s available for sale, whereas I have no luck with the Wii. There's have been some news stories [go.com] regarding the PS3 "non-shortage" as well. So, I'd say Nintendo has the big problem with production, since demand is arguably greater than anticipated.
There is no contradiction here. Nintendo has less of a problem with production, but they also seem to have vastly larger demand than Sony, so in the end, it's harder to get a Wii even though Nintendo produces a lot more consoles than Sony.
XBox Advantage (Score:3, Interesting)
To rationalize the results, here are some advantages I can think of that the XBox 360 touted...
THE X-Box 360 Advantage... is Live... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's better then anything else out there, and "Acheivements" are their own brand of crack... This gives them an advantage over multiplatform releases.
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Though I remember that was the case for the original X-Box, I don't remember seeing that for the 360. Do you have a source for the 360? Last I saw they were touting 5.5/6 million users on Live. Let's just assume that the vast majority are the Free, "Silver" memberships. Th
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Typical Rabid XBox fanboys (Score:1)
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PS3 = Paper Tiger.
It ekes out over the XBox360 in hardware, but in practical performance, right now at least, they're on par graphically. In every other category, the XBox has had many moons to be better than the PS3. Live, tons of games, and market security.
The PS3 is a risk to me, since it is being outperformed so badly (my anecdotal support: The Wii is constantly sold out everywhere here, the local Best Buy sold roughly 100 XBox 360 Pros from Christmas to now, and there was a stack of 9-10 PS3s in t
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Because a) Sony constantly fucks its customers and behaves like it doesn't care, and b) the PS3 isn't "by far the best console of this generation." There's more to a good console than hardware specs. Ever heard of this little thing called "games," for example?
Even if... (Score:2)
Whether or not the 360 outsold the Wii, the 360 is notable because it had the potential to outsell the Wii, as there were no shortages. However many Wiis were sold, that's how many were put on the shelf, and if the 360 truly outsold the Wii, it seems it was more because of a lack of Wiis to buy than the co