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Clearing Up Holiday Sales Rumours
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.
Have they started including online sales yet or is it still just brick and mortar?
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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Even if these figuers were accurate, the real question is how well are these consoles going to sell within the next 3 months to a year. The Xbox360 has already proven itself a formidable foe even in the face of an earlier launch, but what remains to be seen is the sales figures from Sony and Nintendo when consoles arent as limited.
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If NPD is the North American numbers guru for video game system sales, is there a European, Asian, or South American counterpart? I'm really intrested to see if Nintendo reached its goal of 4 million sold.
Can't all 3 consoles be successful? I know we are in a competitive culture, but you do not need a monopoly to survive. Media is going nuts searching for a victor.
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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Does anyone know if these are North America-specific numbers or if these are worldwide?
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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According to a number of detailed articles I read in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal (expensive subscription required, ain't paying), it's not just the actual console sales of Wii consoles, but the actual purchase of Wii controllers, games, and memory cards, that made the Wii the blockbuster seller this Christmas season.
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.
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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"?
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 other two.
The only thing I'm wondering is, if the PS3 continues pulling such terrible figures, people are going to get scared. When the XBox began, and was only inchworming along, people had nothing to be worried about: they had just begun, so noone was expecting them to do anything BUT slowly pull itself into the market. Now with the PS2s success, many people are going to be so shocked that the PS3 is doing so poorly, that some may start calling the death of the Playstation line. Prematurely called, or not, if enough people start looking at it that way, then it WILL happen; after all, noone wants to throw $600 on a system that may simply be riding the downfall of one company's industry dominance.p>
Some wild McLaughlin Group-style predictions:
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To rationalize the results, here are some advantages I can think of that the XBox 360 touted...
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?
I, for one, am glad that an American company is finally back in the game.
Mod me down all you like. But someone had to say it.
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It's better then anything else out there, and "Acheivements" are their own brand of crack... This gives them an advantage over multiplatform releases.
I'm rooting for the 360 because I'm sick of anime and senseless/cutesy Japanese story lines. Come on, hasn't this Japanese fad in the West lasted long enough?
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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, and Link,Link. 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.
So I know which console to buy?! Duh
I'm holding off just like I did with the PS2. Eventually the winner(s) will come out. My guess is that this will be Xbox 360 (high-end) and the Wii (fun stuff). The PS3 appears stillborn (I mean the graphics are barely any better than the PS2 and much worse than the 360, I don't see the point; at least the Wii is cheap and has those funky interactive controllers).
Undoubtedly the success of the DS can translate to benefits to the Wii. It would be even greater if Nintendo were able to announce some neat pairing between the DS and the Wii, similar to what Sony has tried to do with the PS3 and PSP (only failing miserably, due to the relative unpopularity of both systems).
-- jchenx
Well first of all, Halo was an original Xbox launch title, so there was no "inchworming along" there. However, I definately agree that's what happened with the 360. Sales have been lackluster until system-seller hits such as Gears of War started appearing.
As for the "wait till FFXIII comes out" angle, the problem is that the game won't come out until 2008, maybe even later for the US. Remember, FFXII just came out for the US, and there's always a gap of a few years between these games. Unfortunately for Sony, the other mega-hit Dragon Quest IX is a DS exclusive, and Kingdom Hearts 2 also just came out so the sequel is probably another 2008/09 title. Are gamers really going to wait a few years before picking up a next-gen console? How long is Square-Enix going to wait on PS3 sales, before they jump ship and go multi-platform? It doesn't help that other former Playstation-exclusives are seemingly being lost as well.
I agree with what you say here. My guess (which comes after unscientifically talking with a bunch of my gamer friends), is that a lot of people want to have a Wii and either a 360 or PS3 for the usual "hardcore-style" games with great graphics, etc. I know that's what I'm going to do, if it turns out that most of the big PS3-exclusives end up being multi-platform anyway.
-- jchenx
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.
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.
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Seems they are posting this crap all over the net, despite everyone knowing there is no evidence yet to back these numbers up. But key, it makes it look like the PS3 is in last place, so lets post it... Why has everyone jumped on the Hate Sony bandwagon, despite the PS3 being by far the best console of this generation?
"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."
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 comparative popularity of the two consoles.
And I'll add my own anecdote to the continuing trend: I saw my first PS3 in the wild this week, an unsold 60 GB model sitting on a shelf, unsold. It looks like Sony is still looking for a killer app.
Actually, no, someone didn't need to say it. Some people enjoy cutesy anime RPGs. Some people enjoy fast paced, guns blazing FPSs and some people enjoy most genres. Simply because you don't care for something doesn't mean you represent anything more than yourself. Grow up and stop being such a nationalist pig.
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
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
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.