How Wii Is Creaming the Competition

CNN has a report on the Wii's success in the games marketplace right now, referring to their sales dominance as 'creaming the competition'. The article tries to break down exactly why Nintendo's console has sold so successfully, discussing the system's marketing, engineering, and philosophy. "Next, engineers settled on a new approach for the Wii's looks. Just as the DS shunned the Game Boy name to appeal to a broader audience, the Wii would adopt a sleek white exterior instead of the toylike loud colors used on the GameCube. Even CEO Iwata got involved in the design process; at one point he handed engineers a stack of DVD jewel cases and told them the console should not be much bigger. Why so small? To work with the motion-sensitive wireless controller Nintendo planned, Iwata reasoned, the console would have to sit directly beside the TV. Make it any larger and customers would hesitate to leave it there. " Their sales strategy is working in spades. CVG reports that at least one analyst thinks that Wii demand won't be met until 2009. This past weekend Chris Kohler had an interesting comment on the 'ambassador programs' Nintendo ran in advance of the Wii's launch, and how that might tie in to the system's financial success.

Comments

Re:They're outselling them?

[Erwos]

The Dreamcast sold extremely well when it first came out, too. Didn't stop Sony from slaughtering Sega later, though. You've got to follow through on that initial lead, and I'd argue NO ONE has done that particularly well this time around.

The Wii outsold the Xbox 360 by 25% last month. That's certainly a sizable lead, yet it's not exactly what I'd call "creaming the competition". I'd also argue that the Wii's monthly software sales have been underwhelming - Wii Play has been propping up the numbers to a large extent, and that's a $10 game bundled with an accessory.

Now, if you want to talk about getting creamed, let's talk about the PS3...

Re:I'm not buying a WII...

[radish]

Speaking as a male, aged 32, with a career and a wife, I can say that I play my 360 MUCH more than the Wii. I still don't play a lot, as you rightly point out time doesn't allow it, but I'd rather play 20-30 mins of Crackdown or a few races of PGR3 than any of the Wii games I have so far. My wife likes the Wii, but that's because she's a Mario fan so she's currently hooked on Super Paper Mario. But I don't think she's even played any of the other games apart from Wii Sports which kept her interested for maybe 30 mins total.

We also play casual games on both platforms, but we both prefer the new games (like Boom Boom Rocket, Cloning Clyde, Zuma, etc) on XBLA much more than the old stuff on VC. I think if Nintendo opened the VC up to non-retro titles (maybe even homebrew as MS are planning to do with XNA) it could be pretty cool. Don't get me wrong, I loved paperboy as a kid, but it doesn't really do anything for me anymore.

So big up to Nintendo for selling all these boxes, I wish them well, but once SPM is done (few days now I'd guess) mine will be back gathering dust.