August NPD Numbers Look Good For Wii, 360 121
To add a little more context to yesterday's announcement that the Wii had outsold the 360 worldwide, we have August's NPD numbers courtesy of 1up. From the article: "The story hasn't changed much -- Wii remains on top, PlayStation 3 continues to have trouble gaining steam and Xbox 360 maintains a position behind Wii but gaining momentum as the fall season moves into gear-- but the numbers have shifted. Encouraging news for Microsoft, however, as Xbox 360 moves nearly 100,000 more units compared to last month's 170,000, while Madden NFL 08 pushes 896,600 boxes and BioShock moves 490,900 copies -- impressive numbers for the Xbox 360 platform, software-wise. Nintendo must be happy with the performance of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as the latest sci-fi Samus Aran shooter managed 218,100 copies in late August, with Wii Play (released in January) only beating it by nearly 50,000 units."
Missed the Boat (Score:1, Interesting)
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Re:Missed the Boat (Score:4, Insightful)
IT went from 99% to 80%. hardly going to hell. 360's still at 30%-40%.
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Wii Backwards Compatibility (Score:2)
No wifi gc games
The GC had no wifi at all. What it did have was a broadband adapter. There was one game that really supported it, Phantasy Star Online. There were a few games that used it for local multiplayer gaming (F-Zero and Mario Kart, I think). Those features presumably don't work on the Wii, since there's no place where you can plug in the broadband (or modem adapter).
Since the Wii sports GC controller and memory card ports, even the weirder games requiring special controllers or other attachments work. Stuff lik
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When making statements like that, it's important to note what firmware revision your friend was using. Each one seems to add significant new emulation capabilities and knocks a few more titles off the incompatible list. The latest (1.93, which fixes a few glitches in 1.92 released last week) looks pretty nice.
Considering how many titles there were for the PS2 compared to the original XBox thou
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And with backwards compatibility (even the newer software PS3s) very good...
Ok, I'll give you that, but consider for a moment the backwards compatibility of the Wii. It has the Virtual Console, which, for all intents and purposes, could be updated to emulate any older console (well, maybe not any, but you get the point). It's also directly backward compatible with the GCN. If you look at the last generation, a lot of people missed out on the GCN, and this would be their chance to play all those games that they missed out on. However, not nearly as many people missed out on the PS2
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The thing is too expensive, period.
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The thing is too expensive, period.
Part of that is the rapid inflation of the US dollar. It's price is reasonable to most other markets thus you see the 360 slowing down in those markets as the Ps3 eats the 360's lunch but in the Us the 40% value loss of the US dollar hedged it so that the PS3 is beyond a "reasonable" price. If you compare the price o
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Nonsense, 600€ is not reasonable. Japan's prices may be but AFAIK they're lower than the US and EU prices.
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The PS3 could be a fine choice for the next generation, but apparently it can't work on this one.
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Yeah, I'm all choked up. I think what you actually meant is its delicious just desserts to see an arrogant corporation lose money hand over fist on an overhyped, overpowered, overpriced, Luxury Item they are trying to sell to teenagers. While they are being beat down by an underated(initially anyway), inexpensive, underpowered, happy little fun box from their third place competitor.
I and others recognized this as
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The potential to cost more than twice as much as the alternatives.
Probably because it's twice as powerful and offers features that the 360 especially, touts as "add-ons" (If you add up the add-ons the price becomes comparable).
The potential to find new and creative ways to abuse customers.
You blame the hardware company instead of the software company that used a feature badly, bravo on your ability to shift blame.
The potential to lock buyers into Yet Another Stupid Sony Format.
How so? It only locks developers into this format for PS3 games, which happens to offer the same major features as HD-DVD, oh and it gives twice the storage space. Whose fault is it that some idiots don't take a
360 fanbois (Score:3, Insightful)
This, to me, is even a bigger issue than the difference in processing power. The 360 has a slightly better GPU, which helps, but the PS3 has much more raw available power. (Emphasis on "raw.")
Really, the big deal *is* the BluRay, and not for movies. The fact that Sony included both a hard drive and a BluRay player means the game developer can assume certain things-- a fast hard-drive cache and 50GB of data storage topping the list.
I believe Microso
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It's meaningless how much better the PS3 is as long as MS manages to leave the PS3 in the dust in terms of installed base.
Some analyst predicted that Sony sold of one of their divisions to be able to sell the PS3 at $399. If that's true it might save the console because unlike the original Xbox Sony does enjoy a strong brand and a PS3 at a competitive would probably be able to get enough games and sales to at least catch up with the 360.
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Yeah, the kind of "lets blow it up to 50Gb and hype that we need it" kind of games. Simply go back to unompressed wav, bmp and avi and you'll fill it up in no time flat. You see the exact thing going on with Blu-Ray where they're trying to push LPCM over DTS, since they need something to eat the extra 20GB of space. Nevermind that 1.5Mbps/6ch = 512kbps/stereo, which is twice what iTunes' high quality songs are, and twice that again what most people seem happy lis
Just two things... (Score:2)
2- If it had, it would probably be as expensive as the PS3, and would fail terribly (like the PS3 is failing, or probably worse due to having a weaker brand name)
So yes, Microsoft was smart by sticking to DVD.
It's about flexibility (Score:2)
Similarly, once the HD-drive takes off, I'm sure you will see games coming on either format. If you have an HD-drive, you can buy the single-disc version. If you don't, you buy the one on 3 DVDs. Don't some games on the 360 already come on multiple
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With the PS3 you buy a
PlayStation 3 (60GB) $499.99
Playstation 3 Wireless Sixaxis Controller $39.99 (Includes rechargeable battery).
2nd PlayStation 3 USB Controller Charger Cable $4.99 or less it's just a USB cable. (Don't need but this way you can charge both at the same time...)
Xbox needs
Xbox 360 Console Includes 20GB Hard Drive $349.99 or 350...
Xbox
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...which ignores the fact that $250.00 gets you a playable system, and you can add the extras on as your time and budget allow. You don't have to drop $599 (the cheap $499 units are sold out) in one lump payment but get to spread it out.
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As an owner of a PS3, I urge you to not make us look bad by making such obviously false arguments. Thanks.
Wii vs 360 vs PS3 (Score:5, Insightful)
One thing is for sure, in terms of software, the 360 is top dog. This system flat out moves games. With Halo3 coming out in a little over a week, expect the 360 to have record quarterly numbers.
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Latest /. discussion has been focused entirely on hardware numbers. Lately it has been Wii > 360 > PS3.
One thing is for sure, in terms of software, the 360 is top dog. This system flat out moves games. With Halo3 coming out in a little over a week, expect the 360 to have record quarterly numbers.
I'm not sure if Halo 3 coming out will cause a huge spike in system buying though... Wouldn't Halo fans have already purchased the system, knowing the game would be coming?
I'm also quite amazed at how well the Xbox 360 is doing in terms of software. Personally I only own a few games for the system, as I mostly play Live Arcade games. I hope that more and more publishers take a look at those numbers, so we can continue to see more game choices on the 360.
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Don't worry, you'll grow up eventually.
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Halo3 probably won't generate a huge spike, bu
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If you look internationally it's Wii > Ps3 > 360 by a slight margin for the last 4 months now. The 360 is doing really well in America but far worse in other markets.
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Also a developer starting a game now will look at the hardware growth to see what the userbases will probably be like by the time the game is done so the Wii's higher per-month sales make it look much more attractive.
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One thing is for sure, in terms of software, the 360 is top dog. This system flat out moves games.
I've seen this claim quite a bit and it stands to reason; xbox appeals to hardcore gamers and they buy lots of games. But I've been wanting to seen some actual hard numbers.
Unfortunately, my searches done just now did not find me the numbers I wanted - all time software sales worldwide by console, but I did find one thing that was food for thought. (all numbers from www.vgchartz.com)
For week ending September 8, 2007 the software sales of xbox360 vs wii in America were 993574 vs 615084, while the numbe
Sony can't be too happy (Score:4, Insightful)
Although I am sure that Sony will find some way to spin this in a good manner, I can't imagine they will be too happy that sales have actually decreased from July. With the expectation that the 60 GB version with true backwards compatibility would only be around for a short time, I am certainly surprised there wasn't a longer spike in sales. There might be some increase in sales due to high profile games like Lair and Heavenly Sword In September, but all signs point to these being disappointing and may do nothing to drive sales.
I am not shocked to see Xbox 360 sales increase. Bioshock is an amazing game, and as the de-facto console of hardcore gamers, the Xbox 360 version of Madden certainly helped sales. With Halo 3 only days away, I would expect the Xbox 360 will finish off the year with units flying off the shelf (and I would expect that sales will rival the Wii for the rest of the year).
The Wii continues to have strong sales, hampered by a continuing lack of supply. Nintendo will be happy with the sales of Metroid, and I imagine this game will continue to be a top seller for the next year or two. I'm betting Nintendo has started to hoard some units for the upcoming Christmas rush, so probably the rate of sales will be steady until November.
wii has less games? (Score:1)
This is the major reason why i've held off buying one, i'm currently thinking about going for a 360..
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Top twenty list for August broken down by platform:
XBox 360: 5
Wii: 5
DS: 4
PS/2: 3
PSP: 1
PS/3: 1
Xbox: 1
Obviously this doesn't reflect the entire catalog. It does, however, suggest that the Wii catalog is selling just fine. The linked article only listed number of units for the top 10 games. There, the 1.3M games units were sold for the 360 vs. the 0.7M game units for the Wii. But the top ten has only 2 360 titles vs. 4 titles for the Wii. Obviously, the market thinks that the Wii has a decent catalog
Not all Wii games are counted... (Score:2)
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Wii is last of the nex-gen systems.
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I agree that you would expect a game like Madden to sell better on the 360 but given there are supposed to be about the same number of each system out there it looks like in total a lot more 360 owners buying games than Wii owners.
To me it's the biggest challenge Nintendo faces, lots of people are picking up a Wii but how many are simply stick
Numbers say: Wii Owners DON'T stick to Wii Sports (Score:2)
The idea that most Wii owners stick with Wii Sports and Wii Play simply doesn't hold.
Personally, I own about 14 non-VC Wii titles and a grand total of 5 PS3 titles (that is counting the online version of Warhawk).
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Good Wii Titles (Score:2)
Other good games are Resident Evil 4 (clearly the best version of an excellent game); Wario Ware (if you like local multiplayer games); Trauma Center; Mario Strikers; The Godfather (actually a crappy game, but the motion control really makes this one a whole lot of fun, same applies to Scarface); Rayman; Elebits; Excite Truck; and Sonic (in my opinion, the
Wario Ware Multiplayer (Score:2)
Why no pricedrop discussion? (Score:1, Interesting)
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Christmas should be interesting (Score:4, Interesting)
DDR: Hottest Party (Or was it Hottest Dance?) comes out in a few weeks on the Wii, too, and will likely be scooped up in droves by the "casual" gamers as it is yet another way to play games without sitting on the couch.
Then the 360 and PS3 have both had hardware changes and price drops, so the general public will be more receptive. And now that there is a larger selection of high-def movies available, both will be interesting to HD buffs (probably more the PS3 than 360 due to integration).
Oh yeah, and how could I forget Guitar Hero III? All three systems. It will be interesting to see which system gets the highest sales for this.
And the DS will still outsell everything. It prints money, after all. (And the DS is getting a Guitar Hero, too)
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One day I'll actually find and buy one.
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I don't know, but I've seen shipments at the big electronics retailer (li
Correction (GH III) (Score:2)
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As for Guitar Hero 3, I'm going to expect that the winner will be the 360, since the system already has two GH games out for it, less Wii owners will have been privilaged to the hype that has been the Guitar Hero series. The PS
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As for Guitar Hero 3, I'm going to expect that the winner will be the 360, since the system already has two GH games out for it
The 360 has one GH game so far, and that would be GH 2 only. The PS2 on the other hand has 3 GH games, and as I said before I suspect GH 3 for PS2 will be the best selling GH 3 version. I also suspect GH 3 and Rock Band will be the reason for many people to finally make the move to PS 3 since they will have controllers available to allow them to play their PS2 versions of GH and have the online content they don't get with the PS 2. The only thing that might stop this from happening is if they don't make
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Nintendo and the fragile game market... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the Wii will subsidize the hardcore segment of the market, but I have doubts that the people who bought the Wii for wii sports / Wii play will have much of an interest in hardcore games. I'm taking a wait and see approach. It looks to me like the Xbox and Wii will be king in North america and the PS3 and Wii will be king in Japan.
Nintendo though has been really having problems developing their first party games and the 3rd party software developers have REALLY caught up with Nintendo in terms of game quality.
I was playing Twilight princess and Wind Waker and found myself underwhelmed by it compared to a game like say God of War and God of War 2. They are both action games, but Zelda was not as combat heavy, nor as interesting as other more explorative games.
Re:Nintendo and the fragile game market... (Score:4, Informative)
There are very few games that try to do something similar to Zelda: I only remember two off the top of my head, the Dark Cloud series and Okami. I'd put dark cloud well under TP, and Okami rather even quality wise.
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Nonsense they are both 3rd person combat games with exploration elements. God of war was combat heavy and NPC light. God of war had everything Zelda had, just more complicated combat system and a different theme.
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I'm not knocking God of War of course. Awesome game. But comparing it to Zelda is useless - they are diff
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Dude "Adventure", is not even a genre when we're dealing with a 3D action rpg! The only really Adventure games are things like Kings Quest and monkey island. The original Zelda was all about dungeon crawling and fighting (i.e. The original NEs) the 2nd Zelda was again, ALL about dungeon crawling and fighting, with a few NPC's here and there. Zelda 3 was the first time zelda became "an adventure". I lived through all these generatio
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GoW on th
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God of war had secret / special rooms and exploration ('adventure') elements as well. The truth of the matter is Twilight princess and god of war are combat heavy games so the combat better be fun and in TP it wasn't that great because the common enemies were just awful.
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I have to say that while Nintendo is selling lots of Wii's the game is not over yet, developers have to be successful in releasing games on the Wii and see if the demographic which purchased the Wii will bite. I think the Wii will subsidize the hardcore segment of the market, but I have doubts that the people who bought the Wii for wii sports / Wii play will have much of an interest in hardcore games. I'm taking a wait and see approach. It looks to me like the Xbox and Wii will be king in North america and the PS3 and Wii will be king in Japan.
I think you've got it half right. I think that either through market research or just by watching sales the software companies are going to come to the conclusion that hardcore games aren't going to sell as well on the Wii as the size of install base would indicate. But while you see this as a reason for them to lean away from the Wii, I suspect it will just mean that they lean away from releasing "hardcore" games on the Wii.
Remember that often times its much cheaper to create games that are non-hardcor
1999 was a long time ago (Score:1)
XBox 360 is easily #1 in systems shipped!!! (Score:4, Funny)
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Microsoft Acknowledges 360 Issues, Extends Warranty to 3 Years [slashdot.org]
Xbox Warranty To Cost $1 Billion, Customer Good Will [slashdot.org]
Xbox Division Posts Loss of $1.9 Billion [slashdot.org]
Uhhh (Score:1)
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Hmm... they're toxic, unstable, explosive, and prolonged exposure causes corruption...
No wonder Nintendo is doing so well. Their top selling game is made of fanboys!
New slashdot automated news generator (Score:3, Funny)
(insert submitter's name) writes in to tell us that (insert URL) is reporting that the Nintendo Wii has sold (x) number of units, barely itching out past the XBox 360, which has sold (y) units. Both are still well outselling the poor Sony PS3 which has only sold (z).
Automated comments:
Score 3, Funny - And is anyone surprised by this
This must generate a thread of at least 10 posts
Sore 4, Interesting - If Sony would stop (insert profanity) their developers, maybe PS3 sales would be stronger.
This must generate a thread of at least 15 posts.
Score 2 - I just bought a PS3 because it was a cheap BluRay player.
HD Format Wars Automated news generator:
(insert submitters name) writes in to tell us that (insert URL) is reporting that (Company X) has decided to go with the (insert format name). Recent sales figures shows that BluRay is currently outselling HD-DVD (y:z)
Article approver will comment: "I am just waiting on (insert movie) to be released, that will get me to decide which format to go with..
Mandnatory comments must include:
Score 5, Interesting / Funny- The Porn industry has decided to go with HD-DVD
this must generate a thread of atleast 20 replies
Score 3 - I just hope BluRay wins out, not because of the format, but because I want the storage capacity.
Score 4, Informative - Neither format will win, both will quietly die, because there is not a significant enough improvement over DVD to justify a format war. The reason DVD won over VHS is because there was a huge technology leap. We are still on discs here, the next big leap will be with downloadable content, not HD-DVD
This must generate a thread of atleast 20 replies, some agreeing, some disagreeing, at least one funny comment with will spur a whole other conversation not remotely related to the story
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+5 Insightful:
The PS3 is too expensive, Sony keeps shooting themselves in the foot, the PS3 has NO games
+4 Insightful:
The Wii has no games. The XBox is the console for hardcore gamers. The XBox has better graphics.
Honestly, these comments are just FUD. Of course the XBox 360 will have more games. The PS3 is better value that an XBox 360 with the same spec. The Wii is going for a different demographic and what exactly is "ha
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What I'd like to know (Score:2)
It doesn't matter if everyone is buying console X if that market only buys one game a year for it...
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Real Console Winner--the PC (Score:2, Insightful)
1. Vast library of titles available and also has titles available on multiple consoles (vs. PS3's dearth of a game library)
2. Option to have non-faulty hardware (vs. XBOX 360 "red ring of death"; btw, I'm not saying all have it--mine is in an extremely well ventilated area and I have no problems)
3. Superior graphics capabilities. Being able to play Oblivion at resolutions 1280x1024 and up--g
All about mod chips (Score:2)
The moment the mod chip community finds out how to make a mod chip and copy games for the PS3 or the 360, sales will begin to rise.
Re:sony is outsellin both of em (Score:5, Insightful)
202 + 130.6 + 151.2 = 483.8
And you claim that makes it outsell nintendo and the xbox? Ok by that logic it's correct that it outsells xbox but if you're going to compare it to nintendo it's a little bit of a double standard if you take all three systems and compare it against only the wii OR it DS... by your line of reasoning shouldn't we combine all nintendo platforms and get 403.6 + 383.3 = 786.9k so you should be saying
"the nintendo family is outsellin the sony family and the xbox gg xbots and ps3tards"
If you want to troll at least try not to look so obvious (and just for the record the only console i currently own is a PS3)
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Wii's Attach Rate better than PS3's (Score:2)
The Wii's attach rate is actually higher than the PS3's, and comparable to the 360's at the same time in its lifespan. This [ign.com] and are two of the newer links I could find. [n4g.com]
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