Nintendo, Sony Take Big Financial Hits 119
The Installer writes with news that Nintendo is seeing a significant financial downturn to match the general slowdown in the rest of the industry. "Sales of the once unstoppable Wii console have tumbled for the first time since its launch three years ago, sending the gaming giant's quarterly profit down 61 percent." Meanwhile, Sony is feeling the pain as well; the company sold 500,000 fewer PS3 consoles than in the previous quarter, and PSP sales saw an even bigger drop. Interestingly, Sony also revealed that the manufacturing cost of the PS3 has now dropped 70% since it was released. The drop in sales has caused the resurgence of rumors about console price cuts.
Re:The games... (Score:3, Interesting)
My Wii is a doorstop.
I've been sort-a temped to get a Wii Fit, but I already pay for a $60 gym membership that I use about 3x a week. Kinda defeats the purpose of buying one. Plus the WiiFit is no fun if nobody if you're single and nobody can see you sweat. [Best place to pickup a date short of inter-office dating]
3 years into the Wii the only game I really liked playing was the Wii bowling in WiiSports, which came with the unit.
I also use a really nice DLP HDTV projector for games and movies, and I cannot tell you what a PITA it is to set up that IR bar underneath the projector image in the front side of my living room but yet have the Wii sit in the back of the room where the projector and my amp sits. I have to disconnect everything when I'm done or my dog will trip over all the wires.
Then there's the trouble of standing in the right spot so I can use the Wii without blocking the picture, because the way I swing the controller around I really can't use the thing sitting down.
Re:Context Matters (Score:2, Interesting)
If a client wants 500 widgets, then you make them enter into a contract for 500 widgets. If your new whizbang baby ITX thin client PCs are a significant portion of your annual revenue, you make em pay for the whole order prior to production and you slap a client logo on em as a bonus, so you can claim these are custom builds and an order for 500 can't be reduced since you can't resell them. If necessary, require custom, non-refundable orders on orders of 1+.
Then, when they later only want 350, you deliver 350 if they demand it, but you still invoice 500 (and you still produce 500 so that you are square on the contract). By the time you are assembling the last 20 PCs, the ability to back out of the contract should be down to the amount you have already begun to pay for. Not paying the $5k annual lawyer fee to set proper language in your contract terms is beyond negligent.
Seems pretty simple to me. Include a couple of clauses about delivery time and product spec (they get widgets, not the new widget+, delivery by [date] and not prior, if client wants full or partial delivery moved to [later date], client pays warehousing fees and cost of credit). With this, you should be able to renegotiate you mastercard interest costs because ADA is lowered. If the total cost is immaterial to the client, you likely will get the client's interest rates for a specific job order but get the gain of credit history. Alternatively, some larger clients are even willing to cover the float and take it out of the price of delivery (ie pay directly for the materials, so if they reduce the order to 350, they just have to resell the parts).
On the other hand, if a client orders 500 and doesn't have the credit to cover 500, I would probably not take the client order, or require a cash downpayment, or have them put some assets in escrow prior to acceptance (like title to building, not intangible assets).
Of course, if 500 widgets is a lot for you to make, client probably goes with a competitor who does 500 on an hour's notice.
Re:The games... (Score:4, Interesting)
So please name them ...
I bought a Wii at the end of February, and in my 30-disk library (all legit, bought and paid for - my Wii isn't modded), I'd have to say that at least half the games are "I'd recommend them".
Examples: Mario Kart (everyone likes it), Pinball Hall of Fame (a must-have - noisy), Pop Star Guitar (very addictive air guitar), Trivial Pursuit, Namco Museum Remix, Boom Blox (you'll get a work-out), AMF Bowling, Super Mario Galaxy, Prince of Persia, Shaun White Snowboarding (you really need the wii fit to use this one), Speed Racer (for mindless crash-n-burn vegging out), Blazing Angels.
The people I've seen complain about their Wii don't spend money on games and accessories, then wonder why they don't enjoy it. Buy 4 remotes, 4 wheels, 4 nunchuks, get a decent library of games (catering to various tastes/ages), and you'll see that people will actually PLAY it when they come over. That's the way to get your money's worth out of the console. Not "Oh, the freebie games ere fun, and I rented a couple others, and bought one or two that sucked, so the console is a piece of crap!"