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Wii Launches, Sells Out Peacefully
porcupine8 writes "Like the Playstation 3, the Nintendo Wii sold out on launch day this weekend. Unlike the PS3, the launch was a peaceful affair with no reports yet of console-related violence in the US. This may be partially due to the fact that Nintendo promises to have a total of four million units in stores by Christmas, with the bulk of those going to North America.
Midnight launch parties on both the east and west coasts ushered the new console in with a bang." Please, if you've managed to snag a Wii yourself, share your opinions below! Update: 11/20 17:25 GMT by Z : A few quick impressions from 24 hours of owning a Wii, and some links on the subject if you Read More.
All I have to say so far is pretty positive. I snagged Rayman Raving Rabbids, Zelda, and (on a lark) Red Steel. I haven't had the heart to play Red Steel yet, but Rayman is a great, quirky mini-game game. I think this format is going to be pretty common for the Wii, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Zelda is ... Zelda. I really, really like it, but if you're getting tired of the same old thing you're going to be disappointed. My big complaint is the glacially slow internet connection. I have never owned a Genesis, and so wanted to snag Sonic for some cheap laughs. Purchasing Wii points took about half an hour, and I never actually managed to download the game (despite having paid for it). I'm hoping that today, with less hammering on the servers, I'll have more luck. Expect a more complete review next week. In the mean time, Chris Kohler at Game|Life has had a Wii since last week, and has some considered opinions on its launch issues, and a bit more specifically on virtual console problems.
I love your PS3 astroturfing! Really though, you should make an account. Astroturfing is much more effective when it comes from a "real" person, rather than an anonymous coward. Not that you're reality-disregarding style isn't as identifiable as a fingerprint!
You keep quoting these ridiculously low shipment numbers for the Wii without any attribution! At least go ahead and make a blog so you have something to link to and aren't insulting your audience by assuming that they'll take the word of an anonymous poster in the face of the rest of the press!
You see, back here in reality no one has been talking about Nintendo shipping less than they promised and they promised 2 million for launch, 4 million by the end of the year, they are not "aiming to reach 2 million by the middle of January". Despite your sterling credentials as an anonymous astroturfer I can't take your made up facts about nintendo without attribution.
People have, however, been talking about how Sony may well have reduced their shipments to the 250k range, due to ccontinuing manufacturing problems. (I guess they weren't actually stockpiling systems starting last march like you claimed they were at the time! Gee imagine an anonymous sony astroturfer feeding obviously false misinformation in a post! I'm shocked!).
So, to sum up, here in reality Nintendo had a successful launch, shipping and selling 2 million units as promised and have the manufacturing capicity available to continue producing units and meet their stated goal of 4 million units by the end of the year. Sony successfully sold out every unit they manage to make which is at most 400k. With luck (and no further monopolization of scarce blu-ray drives by the blu-ray player manufacturers...) they may meet their stated goal of 1m units by the end of the year, but going by their recent track record in meeting their stated goals, smart money would have to be against them.
Oh yeah, last point: of course there are more Wii's on ebay than PS3s! There are at least 5 times as many Wiis in the market as PS3s! Even if people were only half as likely to sell their Wii as PS3 we'd expect to see 2.5 times as many Wiis on ebay! Math is fun!
Anyways. I really should get back to work, and I really, really shouldn't keep feeding your trollish astroturfing, but your posts are just so great I can't help myself! I mean, usually I have to stop and talk to the Scientology recruiters in the subway stations to interact with someone so obviously divorced from reality!
GPU 233 MHz NVIDIA NV2A
Memory 64MB
Oh well, I've got a few karma points to burn...
The Raven
PS3 users got ripped off? Let's see, they paid $600 or so for a system that costs Sony almost $900 to make, comes with a Blue Ray player and loads of new technology.
Wii buyers? well, they got a different looking Game Cube with an updated controller. Congrats. =)