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35 Million DSes Sold, 6 Million Wiis By End of March
Wowzer writes "Nintendo just announced its quarterly sales for the end of 2006. Sales for the 9 months were up 72%, while net income was up 43%. From the article: '[There will be] worldwide shipments of 6 million Wii systems by the end of March 2007. Nintendo has sold 35 million DS and DS Lite to date ... As for the next fiscal year, Nintendo expect to sell around 23 million DS Lites, bringing the estimated total of DS units to 58 million by March 31, 2008.' New Super Mario Bros. seems to have legs of its own with 8.64 million copies sold worldwide and continued strong sales. But they seem slow to ship out those Wii with 4 million manufactured last year and 810,000 of those not arriving to stores until now."
So, does this mean Nintendo might just as well print the money itself now?
Sounds like even more evidence that the NPD numbers were faulty. 1.1 million in NA in 2006? I think not!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I know they're making them as fast as they can, but demand just won't let up! Here in Toronto, they are never in stock for more than 15 minutes, and nobody ever seems to know when the next shipment will be arriving. Most retailers get 10-20 units every 5-10 days, and they just fly off the shelves. I would have though that by the end of January the supply would have caught up with demand, but with all the new gamers trying the Wii, seems like it could go on for a while.
(For the record, this will be my first gaming system since the original NES, which I played as a kid.)
I'm looking forward to Wii Sports as a fun way to get my somewhat rounded body back into shape. Guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer. That or stop eating junk food.)
Reality has a liberal bias
The 4 million manufactured would explain the large number differences between what was sold and what was promised. 800k+ consoles that didn't arrive in time for the new year certainly makes a difference.
It is disappointing that they couldn't live up to their word. They may not have flubbed as much as Sony, but they still didn't get 4 million consoles into our hands when they said they would.
However, I'm much more concerned about their ability to sell another 2 million consoles before March ends and hit 6 million. It seems within their reach, but it would be disheartening if it ended up being 6 million manufactured instead of sold.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
If PS3 has showed us a lesson, is that we need a new metric for "x millions sold" with game consoles, that is, "x millions sold minus y millions returned after being unable to sell them at ebay for a premium price".
No, seriously, most PS3 were bought for reselling, while most wii's are bought for playing. And it, for me, it's a pretty big difference.
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Maybe it's the lack of vision that makes the DS so popular--the fact that it isn't a wannabe jack-of-all-trades like the PSP
... when it was released it was wildly different than anything that had come before it and it was Nintendo's unique approach of creating hardware that suits their idea of what software they want to produce that created the popular product they have today. They envisioned the demand for games like Brain Training, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing Wild World, and The New Super Mario Bros. (some of which use a greater subset of the features of the DS than others) and produced the hardware to meet this demand. They knew you didn't need the best LCD screen in the world to be popular and the added cost would drive customers away, thus they choose "grudingly inferior LCD screens".
I don't see anything about the DS that could be classified as a "lack of vision"
The reason people choose a DS is because they want to play unique games which are appropriate for portable gaming; the PSP is far behind because far fewer people want a portable PS2 which has a MP3 player and proprietary movie format.
If you think the DS is hard to find now (apparently, it's hard to keep in stock, just like the Wii), just wait until April. April sees the release of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. The Pokemon series has always been a huge seller for both the games and the Game Boy, but these DS games also include the functionality to use WiFi to battle and trade online. Battling and trading with friends has always been a staple of the game, but you'd have to physically find someone to battle/trade with first. Now you have the entire world to choose from.
I know that's when I'll be buying my DS. (Well, a bit earlier, to beat the rush.)
That makes their handheld killer, the loser.
And that makes their console, the loser.
All this from the company that entered this race pompously telling the world they were the top dog.
It wouldn't be utterly tragic for them if it weren't Nintendo that was kicking their ass. Nintendo
is a tiny, tiny company compared to Sony.
How soon will it be until heads roll at Sony corp?
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
I'm trying to figure out what point you are trying to make. What do you think Nintendo should have done differently with the DS? Who uses the chat app anyway? And who really cares about the 2 second health warning? These seem like trivial complaints.
Now, can anyone help me find some accessories? I can't find any wii-motes or classic controllers or anything.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
I would love to know where you got this figure. In fact let's see some figures.
Lack of vision? So the Touch Generation and the Nintendogs/Animal Crossing/Brain Age games show lack of vision to you? As opposed to the "let's just port PS2 games to the PSP it'll work well enough" and "Hey I've got that awesome idea of creating a handheld console with 3 hours of autonomy"?
Damn, if the DS shows a lack of vision, what does the PSP show? Utter blindness?
It has a touch screen, it has awesome games, the DS Lite has corrected the Tank's mistakes (screens and all), I can bask in actually being able to play good games on a game console.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
Amazon had wiimotes two days ago. I ordered one and already got it yesterday at my house. Paid for standard shipping too.
6/01/07 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass nuff said
You demonstrated precisely my point, why did they waste time and resources developing a third class chat app that nobody will ever use? Remember the initial games that would have options to monitor for pictochat traffic? Except nobody cares about pictochat. But if Nintendo had some vision and put some effort into it, I think they could have put something else in there that people would use.
Who cares about the mandatory health warning? Who shouldn't care? That's 35 million users who are forced to pass an unnecessary screen every single time they turn on their DS. Why isn't there an option to disable it? Why can't the DS firmware be upgraded so one could still be instituted (it can be reflashed, but only by opening the system and shorting it which does not sound like something Nintendo will ever do on a large scale) Why do 35 million people have to suffer this nuisance because less than 1% at some degree of risk might actually be too stupid to RTFM?
I'd strongly recommend getting the wireless Gamecube controllers instead of the Classic controllers. At least wireless Gamecube controllers can be used with Gamecube games and they work with all of the VC games. If you buy the Classic controller, okay, it connects to the bottom of the Wiimote, so that makes it wireless, but if you want to play any GC games you'll need to buy GC controllers anyway.
... that whole Wii "continuity" thing, I suppose.
I play all of my VC games with wireless GC controllers after returning the unopened Classic controllers that I bought. Haven't regretted it for a second. And now that rechargeable batteries are dropping in price, there is no reason to get the Classic controller unless you simply want it for the sake of having it
And I've not seen a place out of stock of wireless GC controllers while the CC area remains out of stock.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
I'm running a high-speed wifi cable network which I'm typing on now, and as of this week - the WiiStore for buying virtual console games has been fucked. Basically the damn thing is either slow to load - or times out with a cryptic network error message. If this is how good they're doing NOW - imagine another x-million users.
Great job Nintendo.
"But just consider this: if the DS were the one to utilize UMD, I submit that it wouldn't be the commercial flop it is"
uh, that depends, are they distributing GAMES on the UMD (which then, umd is no different from the DS cartridges, other than rediculous load times... 4+ minutes for some games) or 3rd rate sony movies on UMD to show on a tiny screen that only play on the DS? Hey, AC, are you Ken katarugi?
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
It's not because of marketing, Sony is no slouch there, nor because there aren't people loyal to Sony's platform. Sony's product simply makes it difficult to be loyal. Why do people want to re-buy their DVDs in a low res medium they can only play on the handheld, with no TV output, especially when Sony wants people to buy movies again in the high def Blu-Ray now? If the DS utilized UMD, I doubt it would be as small nor have the same battery life as the DS light. The media would be larger as well. Handhelds get carried around, sometimes on long trips, and these factors can be important. My wife and I used our DS systems on our last trip to Japan and had no worries about battery life on either ~11 hour flight - nor the extra connecting flights in Narita. No problems fitting both DS systems and all our games in carry-on luggage.
We picked up a bit of software for the DS in Japan as well, including DQM:Joker, a Japanese dictionary application for myself that uses the stylus to recognize input Japanese characters, and an English TOEIC training game for my wife. We also left a game from the US for my brother-in-law's kids. The lack of region coding (this even extends to the AC adapters between the US and Japan, both unlike the Wii unfortunately) in the DS systems makes it ideal for our usage. Not sure about the PSP, perhaps it also has no region encoding, but it felt good to not have to worry about regions.
GPL: Free as in will
Add to that:
* for a long time, fairly low cost compared to the PSP, which allows people to buy more games; the PSP price has plummeted since
* decent price on games
* spiffy new redesign with the lite to reinvigorate interest in the hardware (Sony couldn't even do a decent job releasing the various white, silver, etc. colors of the PSP in the US)
* didn't try to make it an end all be all media center like Sony did and lock people in with memory sticks and the like (it's largely a small gaming system)
* can play the entire backlog of Advance games (I don't own a GBA, yet I'm now buying GBA games that I never had the chance to play)
* tapping into the "old" gamers that have jobs and cash to get classics (Super Mario), some which were not released in the US (FF3), and the already 'backlog' of GBA games (Final Fantasy series 1&2, 4-5, 6 I think is coming soon)
* these are "fun" games people can play for nearly all demographics and for short sitdowns, unlike most FPSs that the PSP seem to be focused on
* better advertising--where I am in suburban Pennsylvania, there are far more ads for the DS lite and its games than the PSP. When the PSP commercials do come up, they seem gimmicky, with those dust fuzzballs, or noting 'PSP' with little of actual persons playing a game, focusing on the game being promoted, not the device or combo of game and device; strangely, I think people have difficulty understanding why they'd want a PSP versus a home console
The PSP is surely a superior system on the technical merits. But it doesn't do anything on its list well; it's a crossover device that doesn't succeed. Games seem limited, it's costly, etc. If the PSP had PDA functions, I'd think there would be far far more interest as a be all device, but it really doesn't from what I've heard.
Your response smacks of fanboyism, so responding to it is probably tantamount to just saying "no you shut up". Still, your comment regarding ports amuses me because you say this in support of the company that produced the GBA and a system that launched with Super Mario 64 DS. Speaking of which, do I even need to bring up the point about Nintendo+innovation+hey-let's-release-Super-Mario- 5,431!
My point is that as entertaining as Elite Beat Agents has proven to be, why doesn't the DS do anything else for me? With 35 million other folks out there owning one, it seems like there should be more here than whatever video game is inserted+pictochat. And the fact that there are no potential firmware revisions smacks of finality. Now that presumably 35 million other folks own one we can't look forward to anything good happening because of it. If there were it would have to be sold seperately, and therefore plagued with the same faults underlying all of Nintendo's other "innovations" from R.O.B. to the Gamecube bongos.
Additionally, I could care less what the PSP displays. You appear to think that by criticizing the DS in any way that somehow it supports Sony's abomination. But I will give the PSP credit in the vein of my criticism against the DS: the PSP has upgradeable firmware and nothing that shows the lack of vision that pictochat displays.
I personally disagree with your comments about the lite vs. classic models, but I suppose that's another argument.
And no, you shut up. Cheers.
I'm not sure if you mean Japan, but Zelda is launching in North America around October of 2007.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
To cover their asses, dumbass. They could probably get sued for not having enough warning labels on their console, plus, some people borrow or buy used games that do not come with a manual. A small population of people might not even know that they have epilepsy, and when they start having seizures it would be nice to have an explaination of why they're having seizures.
Also almost nobody reads the fucking manual, so a short warning screen is implemented. So far the warning screens annoyed me less than you did.
It is also recommended. Red Steel is a mixed bag in the control department.
Surprisingly, the PSP doesn't have region locks on games. My consideration here about the DS is because I see a lot of homebrew cases of people wanting to play video and music on their DS (personally I think that's silly, but if the demand is there..) What I basically meant is that if DS were the one to support video and music on their handheld--particularly if it meant a decent built-in media player--I wonder if it would be a success where the PSP appears to be a failure in these respects. Of course here I'm guilty of thinking of this in terms of homebrew: people encoding their own media and playing it on the system rather than buying a second library of movies. So you're right, there are other mitigating factors to be considered such as Nintendo would probably do the same things where protection and limited functionality are concerned.
Not to nitpick - but when we picked up a DS in the States the charger was 110V only, brought back to europe and bought the charger, and it's only rated at 220-240V. Just mentioning in case someone dosn't check and plugs away
Er... yeah, do you have any issue with the GBA?
You're aware that other games have been released since Super Mario 64 right?
You may be aware that the Nintendo DS is a game console, its first and foremost goal is to allow you to play games, not watch movies of listen to MP3s (even though first and third-party addons do actually allow you to)
The fact that it was built, marketed and thought of as a portable game console focused on allowing the user to play games, the very fact you criticize, is in fact probably one of the DS' sources of success. A minor one compared to the SW library, but one nonetheless.
Not to mention the complete and utter failure of the PSP's "entertainment center" strategy (have you checked the UMD movies sales as of late? Do you see many people using the PSP as their MP3 player? They're in the shitter and I don't, respectively)
As a matter of fact, there are, and they are already.
Haven't seen the PSP's upgradeable firmware feature used for any upgrade yet, unless you consider "homebrew" crackdown an upgrade.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
I tried to pick up a DS lite lately. I can't find one in my area. They tell me they've been out of DS's since before Christmas. And Wii's? Ya, right. I have one friend who allegedly has a friend that was able to snag one. Other than that, vaporware.
C'mon Nintendo, ramp up production already!!!
People DO use the chat. Maybe not everybody and maybe not often but it is a cool feature when your in a situation to use it. The chats fill up quick in huge conferences and I've used it in a few classes too. What time and resources would they have saved by not adding it? A few short months if even that? So what would that have done? Helped a game get shipped a little quicker? Big deal I'm glad they added the chat. Plus the ability to use the chat is starting to be built into games (that club house card game has it and I believe true swing golf does also to name 2).
It saves those companies the time and resources to build their own chat software. They can just include the ability to use the built in stuff. Hmmmmmmm.
And the warning screen is a big DUH!! Why does anything have warning screens?
I'd be bitching about wasted time and resources on the DS if there was a reason too. It's not like Nintendo sat on their asses and did nothing to help the system along. They have done everything they could to make it a hit system. They've made games people want and they've gotten 3rd parties interest peaked in the system. I'd say they are doing a pretty fucking good job.
Nintendo got sued over some guy dying from hitting a table during a seizure after playing his N64 all day for years. Ever since that lawsuit they add that annoying warning to everything. The Wii has it, the DS has it, all new GC and GBA games from Nintendo have it. If you want to blame someone blame the US legal system that allowed people to go to court because the warning was only in the manual and not on the screen itself.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
As long as they have enough Wiimotes to plug them into. From what I've been seeing, getting additional Wiimotes appears to be a bit of a problem right now. ;)
If you buy WiiPlay, you get a bundled Wiimote, plus the games - for the same price as the Wiimote by itself!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
http://www.gamestop.com/search.asp?Ntk=TitleKeywor d&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&Ntt=phantom+hourglass &N=0 shows 6/01/07 ship date
This link redirected me to a server named pr0n.encyclopediadramatica.com instead of www.encyclopediadramatica.com. I just hope my job doesn't automatically red-flag employee URLs browsed through the mandatory proxy, or I may soon be out of a job.
So, thanks. Thanks for sharing that.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
The PSP has no region encoding on the games, and is actually better in terms of the AC adapter. The PSP adapter is universal 100-220Volts, whereas the AC adapter for the DS sold in Japan/US is only 100-120Volts.
That makes no difference when I'm traveling between Japan and the US, but it certainly did when I went to Europe. I was able to charge my PSP there but not my DS (yes I took both with me).
That's exactly where I got my Wii two weeks after Thanksgiving. I never expected it. In fact, I was in a Game Stop in the same plaza asking when they expected to get more Wiis in when the guy behind me said, "I just got one at Target. They got ten of them in an hour ago." Sure enough, they still had six of them on the floor -- five after I was done. :)
:) situations where a store like Best Buy will get four or five Wiis in a city store but they'll get twenty or so in one of their out-of-the-way stores.
:/
Another thing to do is to avoid the chain stores that are in prime locations. I got three Wiimotes and an additional nunchuck in a Toys R Us and GameStop that were in two different but not-very-popular malls. Trying to find them in a popular mall shows an immense trust in luck. I've also heard of very Wiierd
Of course, if you want to pay a premium, there's always eBay.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Completely agree.
I have recently purchased Elite Beat Agents, an astoundingly fun game that I can only describe as being "DDR on crack." Without the touch screen, the game would probably never have been created. The lower quality graphics doesn't stop it from being a great experience.
And with the extra hardware I purchased to make my DS homebrew-capable, my DS now functions as a PDA and media player as well. All in all, the DS was one of the best purchases I've made. I'd say Nintendo had the right idea when making the product.
How to test your DS firmware version
It is disappointing that they couldn't live up to their word. They may not have flubbed as much as Sony, but they still didn't get 4 million consoles into our hands when they said they would.
However, I'm much more concerned about their ability to sell another 2 million consoles before March ends and hit 6 million. It seems within their reach, but it would be disheartening if it ended up being 6 million manufactured instead of sold. Boo-Hoo, would you like a tampon? Give me a break... This is why fanboys are bad.
I wasn't aware that expressing something that was less than unfettered praise for a Nintendo product was deemed trolling (baselessly seeking angry responses). Well shit, let's hope they get a Constitutional amendment passed prohibiting people from defacing images of Mario too.
You know, I agree to a point but I like the mix of both.
I have a Gamecube, and I now have 5 Wavebirds. Yeah 5. 4 on the Wii which I use to play Gamecube games on (in progressive scan) and 1 on my Gamecube that is now a full time Gameboy Player. Technically, I'm using 4 Wavebirds and 5 receivers since the GC one is set to the same channel as the player one on the Wii.
Now, I couldn't IMAGINE playing any N64 games with the classic controller, as it is poorly designed for it. The 'Dual Shock Design' is piss poor for use in 3D games. It is however superior for 2D games.
Considering the Virtual console is mostly made up of 8 or 16 bit consoles designed around 2D games, I think it's well worth it to pick up one or 2 classic controllers to get the best experiance with them.
That, or they would have had to use the FantaVision control scheme.
*sigh* I can never escape you, can I? =)
Not to nitpick - but when we picked up a DS in the States the charger was 110V only
Not at all, that's an excellent point. I mentioned between US and Japan, as the US is typically 110-120v at 60hz; both our DS systems come with chargers that work from 100-120v at 50 and 60hz. Since my wife's family is in Japan I tend to travel there more than other places, so it's been perfect for us.
GPL: Free as in will
That's good news for the PSP, but I haven't seen anything that made me want one just yet. We already have a Wii, two DS systems, a GBA SP, and a PS2 (along with several older consoles.) It has to differentiate itself somehow for me to add it to my console collection though, these things happen when you get married...
GPL: Free as in will
EBA is great, but Cool Cool Toon did the same "shrinking circles" idea 6 years ago on the Dreamcast.7 4653.html)
(http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/data/3
Don't worry, you're not missing much as EBA is superior in every way.
I play about half an hour of Wii Boxing every day. I put small weights on my wrists (you can buy these at sports shops), and I can tell you, after 15 minutes, I'm sweating like a pig and my heart rate is pretty high. Obviously, you could just sit down, but it's a lot more fun while standing, especially for Boxing, which really requires you to move your body left and right to dodge hits.
And yes, I'm hoping there will be more "physical" sports games. There's another Golf game, but I'm guess it won't do too much in that regard. Wario Ware works somewhat, but not as well as Wii Sports. Dunno about Madden, I think Football games are just confusing (I'm not American, so I don't really get the rules).
I'm guessing that Nintendo probably could easily ramp up production. However, sooner or later, a large part of the "launch demand" will be satisfied, and they'll end up with production capacities way above what they need. You can't adjust production capacity to meet demand during the launch period, bcause it will always be very high. It's just bad business.
But you are right, they should at least meet Gamecube production.
It's fascinating how quickly DS perception went from "too much innovation" to "lack of vision." It's a testament to how ubiquitous and "normal" the DS has become. When it came out, people cried "gimmick." Now, the dual screen is as normal as the d-pad. I'm guessing the Wii will go a similar path.
Stop browsing Slashdot and get back to work, you lazy fuck.
Yep, the classic controller has a great d-pad (seems to be the same as the one on the DS lite). It totally blows the Cube's d-pad away. OTOH, the classic controller has the awkward "sony-style" analog controller placement. Can't have it all, I guess.
Feh. An employer that uptight isn't worth working for.