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Nintendo's Sale Dominance Gets Noticed
Via Kotaku, a Wall Street Journal report on Nintendo's continued dominance of the game charts. The piece rehashes the February NPD numbers and discusses the role the Wii and DS have had in revitalizing a company the WSJ refers to as an 'also-ran'. "To take better advantage of the Wii's growth, EA moved quickly to ramp up game production for the system, acquiring Headgate Studios, a developer in Utah focused entirely on making titles for Nintendo hardware, and shifting resources in other EA development groups to Nintendo projects. The company released four titles for the Wii in March, including a version of its Tiger Woods golf game in which players swing the Wii controller like a club. EA is also working on a line of consumer guides for the Nintendo DS that will be aimed at older players in Japan."
Sony's hubris was palpable. I'm not quite sure why Microsoft hasn't garnered more of a lead here though.
http://www.bynarystudio.com
In fact, Nintendo is doing so well, that Square-Enix has suggested that Final Fantasy XIII may in fact be heading to the Wii. (Probably as a port.) In any case, they have 100% confirmed that it will no longer be a PS3 exclusive.
Nintendo execs say only one word as they ride the rollercoster to the top... wiii! (mandatory wii joke, I know its getting old)
[quake3arena]
DOMINATING
[/quake3arena]
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
Aren't businesses *supposed* to innovate and sell their product? Isn't EA supposed to suffer for not at least throwing *some* of their development at the Wii from the start? Whatever I'm just starting to get tired of everyone sucking Nintendo's wii.
First of all, I should mention that I'm somewhat biased (read my profile). That said, I do like what Nintendo is doing, and have been seeking out a Wii for months now. However, I'm not willing to buy one on eBay, or call stores everyday, or stake out early morning shipments at Target. I do look for one everytime I'm at Costco or Fred Meyer (a local big-box store where I do my grocery shopping). I have more than enough games and other things to do, that I don't need one right away, but am willing for it to be a simple impulse buy.
Anyway, I'm confused why the NPD stats show that Wii production is decreasing. Here are the numbers for the past few months:
January: 436,000
February: 335,000
March: 259,000
I think we can all agree that demand far exceeds supply, so these numbers essentially cover production as well. Now, I didn't include the November and December numbers, because they probably still reflect the huge ramp up of Wii units that were pumped out months before launch. I am guessing that most of that initial supply is long gone by January now.
So again, why is Wii production decreasing? As I am not a business person (just a lowly software engineer), someone please correct me if I'm missing something here.
I just want my Wii, dammit.
-- jchenx
How about "Nights: Journey of Dreams" in Fall 2007? That's the reason I'm buying a Wii.
Also keep in mind...that the PS2 is a "mature" system (over 6 years old), half the price of a Wii, with an absolutely massive game library. The fact that the Wii is getting close to the PS2 sales (being double the price) is definitely something to brag about.
I just bought Super Paper Mario two weeks ago and I already have six saved games on it from all my roommates AND my girlfriend, and it is difficult for me to find time to play on my own console because someone is always using it. I own 4 games for it. Twilight Princess, WarioWare (this one got old except for at parties), Super Paper Mario, and Wii Sports. Of the 4, I'd say there are 3 games which are among the most fun I've ever had playing console games. There are great games for other consoles, sure, but i don't own those consoles. I can only speak for the Wii, but I think there are plenty of games on it right now which I have a ton of fun playing.
A SuperGameCube? That sounds totally rad, but I haven't seen one of these in stores anywhere - where can I get one!?
Huh? Those are sales numbers.
They stockpiled an assload before the launch at christmas, and those have trickled out onto the market. The lowering numbers mean the supply sitting in the warehouses in japan is running out.
I'm sure if anything production has increased, just not enough to meet the demand.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
My guess would be the fact that it's launched in Japan and Europe during that time period. Those numbers are too low to be worldwide.
?? Not sure where you got your numbers. They don't match anything in this story or the last one.
February:
Nintendo DS: 485,000
Nintendo Wii: 335,000
Sony PlayStation 2: 295,000
Microsoft Xbox 360: 228,000
Sony PlayStation Portable: 176,000
Nintendo Game Boy Advance: 136,000
Sony PlayStation 3: 127,000
The Wii is beating the PS2. It's not dominating it, no, but it's selling 40k more a month.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Saddly then you would be missing some great Wii games. Madden 07 (for the Wii) is exceptional, and both the Godfather and Tiger Woods are eating up lots of my free time. In fact, I suggest getting Tiger and the Godfather at the same time. I'm stuck on Jim Furyk in the Tiger Challenge, and each time I lose to him I throw in the Godfather so I can throttle someone with Full Motion controls.
If only I could import him into the Godfather game directly... It would be much more satisfying, and I wouldn't mind losing as much.
It's being fucked with by the distribution chain, too.
Example: GameStop held onto thousands of units over a couple of months just so they could horde them into $600 packages and sell them on their website.
Which is how I got mine because, well, let's face it, super paper mario is pretty kick ass.
I don't think it's so much that production is decreasing, as it is that they had a giant stockpile of constructed, un-localized Wiis ready before the initial released in November. along with a stockpile of parts for making more Wiis that wasn't immediately shipped to stores so that they could localize and then distribute them based on what regions were selling the most. However, since it's been regularly selling out everywhere, and possibly as a pace faster than Nintendo or any of their suppliers fully anticipated, they probably are hitting a limit on production for one or two components that are limiting their production output.
Ahh yes, I probably should have mentioned in my post, that NPD is only North America.
People have made many good points about regions. The numbers would make a lot of sense, if it's just a matter of Nintendo shifting production capacity from region to region. If someone could pull worldwide numbers of the Wii, that would help.
That said, it is disconcerting that, at the very least, North America seems to be getting fewer and fewer units. I'm speaking from the point of a North American consumer, who just wants to be able to buy the console. From a business perspective, Nintendo may be doing the right thing, if it thinks that supplying Europe and/or Japan is more important than North America at the moment.
-- jchenx
They can only hit retail as fast as they can be shipped from Japan, and get through Customs.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Sounds like an Audiophile to me. Can I interest you into some great $2000 speaker cables? They are pure copper alloy and have been demagnetized as well. I also have a demagnetized granite shelf to mount your equipment on for 20,000. And a tuned power cable for $500.
You know that price is a sure indicator of quality.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Which has everything to do with the Wii's unique controller and very little to do with EA or Madden.
No, no... It's because of EA's implementation of controls using the Wii's unique controller. The Wiimote, awesome as it is, is not a magic wand. It does not turn shit into gold, and it's perfectly possible for a game to implement shitty controls for the Wii. In fact, seeing how hard it seemed for some game studios to get simple analog stick + binary buttons controls working reasonably, I think the potential of shitty controls for the Wii is very high, and some of the games that are out there bear this out.
I'm not a fan of EA or Madden (nor have I played it on the Wii) but the reason people keep talking about Madden for the Wii is because EA did a good job of implementing the controls and creating a unique experience. Never would have happened without the Wii there in the first place, but hey that's the whole point of Nintendo's strategy, breaking game developers out of their old habits and getting them to do something new.
The enemies of Democracy are
yeah, same with the PS3 it wasn't obvious or advertised. There were two demo units running through a cycle since i was stuck in town i thought i would try my luck and get a controller since the entertainment desk was directly opposite they let me have a controller. I have no idea if its standard practice
And a tuned power cable for $500.
You know that price is a sure indicator of quality.
You're paying $500 for a power cable? What kind of cheap junk is that!
The only thing almost good enough for MY ears is the
JPS Labs Kaptovator Power Cord for $1500.
I can not make up anything as stupid as reality.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.