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August NPD Numbers Look Good For Wii, 360
To add a little more context to yesterday's announcement that the Wii had outsold the 360 worldwide, we have August's NPD numbers courtesy of 1up. From the article: "The story hasn't changed much -- Wii remains on top, PlayStation 3 continues to have trouble gaining steam and Xbox 360 maintains a position behind Wii but gaining momentum as the fall season moves into gear-- but the numbers have shifted. Encouraging news for Microsoft, however, as Xbox 360 moves nearly 100,000 more units compared to last month's 170,000, while Madden NFL 08 pushes 896,600 boxes and BioShock moves 490,900 copies -- impressive numbers for the Xbox 360 platform, software-wise. Nintendo must be happy with the performance of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as the latest sci-fi Samus Aran shooter managed 218,100 copies in late August, with Wii Play (released in January) only beating it by nearly 50,000 units."
Poor Playstation 3. It Really is sad to see something with so much potential get burried. I really do wish Sony would pull it together, as the PS3 is still may favorite. But what good are favorites when you can't play what you want. SM
Latest /. discussion has been focused entirely on hardware numbers. Lately it has been Wii > 360 > PS3.
One thing is for sure, in terms of software, the 360 is top dog. This system flat out moves games. With Halo3 coming out in a little over a week, expect the 360 to have record quarterly numbers.
So you lump all sony products together to get
202 + 130.6 + 151.2 = 483.8
And you claim that makes it outsell nintendo and the xbox? Ok by that logic it's correct that it outsells xbox but if you're going to compare it to nintendo it's a little bit of a double standard if you take all three systems and compare it against only the wii OR it DS... by your line of reasoning shouldn't we combine all nintendo platforms and get 403.6 + 383.3 = 786.9k so you should be saying
"the nintendo family is outsellin the sony family and the xbox gg xbots and ps3tards"
If you want to troll at least try not to look so obvious (and just for the record the only console i currently own is a PS3)
Although I am sure that Sony will find some way to spin this in a good manner, I can't imagine they will be too happy that sales have actually decreased from July. With the expectation that the 60 GB version with true backwards compatibility would only be around for a short time, I am certainly surprised there wasn't a longer spike in sales. There might be some increase in sales due to high profile games like Lair and Heavenly Sword In September, but all signs point to these being disappointing and may do nothing to drive sales.
I am not shocked to see Xbox 360 sales increase. Bioshock is an amazing game, and as the de-facto console of hardcore gamers, the Xbox 360 version of Madden certainly helped sales. With Halo 3 only days away, I would expect the Xbox 360 will finish off the year with units flying off the shelf (and I would expect that sales will rival the Wii for the rest of the year).
The Wii continues to have strong sales, hampered by a continuing lack of supply. Nintendo will be happy with the sales of Metroid, and I imagine this game will continue to be a top seller for the next year or two. I'm betting Nintendo has started to hoard some units for the upcoming Christmas rush, so probably the rate of sales will be steady until November.
I'm no expert but it seems to me like the wii has less of a catalog of games than the 360 and that the future lineup also doesn't look as good.
This is the major reason why i've held off buying one, i'm currently thinking about going for a 360..
The 360 sales spike is because of the price drop. Any influence Madden 08 and Bioshock had is minimal compared to the effect the price drop had. The PS3 didn't get this much of a sales surge in their price drop because I think the $499 price is still too much to swallow, and the library is too shallow. But, people are still buying relatively good amounts of PS3s at high prices and few games worth mention. If the PS3 intro's a $399 SKU as is rumored, and if games keep flowing in as planned, all bets are going to be off.
This Christmas is going to be interesting as far as sales numbers go. While we dealt with the two new systems last Christmas, things have radically changed in only a year. The Wii still sells out quickly, though stores are able to keep it in stock now, but will that last into the holiday season? Added to this is that two AAA titles, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, are coming out before Christmas.
DDR: Hottest Party (Or was it Hottest Dance?) comes out in a few weeks on the Wii, too, and will likely be scooped up in droves by the "casual" gamers as it is yet another way to play games without sitting on the couch.
Then the 360 and PS3 have both had hardware changes and price drops, so the general public will be more receptive. And now that there is a larger selection of high-def movies available, both will be interesting to HD buffs (probably more the PS3 than 360 due to integration).
Oh yeah, and how could I forget Guitar Hero III? All three systems. It will be interesting to see which system gets the highest sales for this.
And the DS will still outsell everything. It prints money, after all. (And the DS is getting a Guitar Hero, too)
360 doesn't even have the HD-DVD built in, it's an "add-on".
This, to me, is even a bigger issue than the difference in processing power. The 360 has a slightly better GPU, which helps, but the PS3 has much more raw available power. (Emphasis on "raw.")
Really, the big deal *is* the BluRay, and not for movies. The fact that Sony included both a hard drive and a BluRay player means the game developer can assume certain things-- a fast hard-drive cache and 50GB of data storage topping the list.
I believe Microsoft was foolish to skip the HD storage medium for their HD-capable game machine. Games are getting *way* above 8GB these days.
The 360 fanbois are counting Sony out on this one. I don't think they realize Sony has the edge here as games grow to take advantage of the new system capabilities. What you see on the 360 today is about what you'll see on the 360 in four years. The PS3 is still in the Rayman stages.
But, to each his own. I'm very pleased with my PS3. Others will be pleased with their 360s. And we all win.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I have to say that while Nintendo is selling lots of Wii's the game is not over yet, developers have to be successful in releasing games on the Wii and see if the demographic which purchased the Wii will bite.
I think the Wii will subsidize the hardcore segment of the market, but I have doubts that the people who bought the Wii for wii sports / Wii play will have much of an interest in hardcore games. I'm taking a wait and see approach. It looks to me like the Xbox and Wii will be king in North america and the PS3 and Wii will be king in Japan.
Nintendo though has been really having problems developing their first party games and the 3rd party software developers have REALLY caught up with Nintendo in terms of game quality.
I was playing Twilight princess and Wind Waker and found myself underwhelmed by it compared to a game like say God of War and God of War 2. They are both action games, but Zelda was not as combat heavy, nor as interesting as other more explorative games.
For every Xbox 360 sold at retail, Microsoft ships at least 5 to 10 replacement units.
Does this stuff still matter enough that it should be posted every day?
If you look at Metacritic it will show you every 360 game, & PS3 game including the Live arcade ones and an occasional Japanese import, but you will not see reviews for Wii Virtual console games. These games do get reviews from various outlets, do cost money, and do bring value to Wii owners, so why are they excluded? Castelvania: SoTN shows up, why not Mario64 ?
Or point out, that despite the much greater install base of the Wii both the PS3 and the 360 are selling way more units of software.
Guitar Hero III will be available on all 4 systems, and Rock band will be on all but the Wii. I actually think GH 3 and RB will boost PS2 sales (note necessarily hardware) more than the other systems combined.
1- When the Xbox 360 was launched, it was too early to have HD-DVD on it (not technically possible I hear?)
2- If it had, it would probably be as expensive as the PS3, and would fail terribly (like the PS3 is failing, or probably worse due to having a weaker brand name)
So yes, Microsoft was smart by sticking to DVD.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
I posted it yesterday, but as its almost the same story, I will post almost the same comment:
(insert submitter's name) writes in to tell us that (insert URL) is reporting that the Nintendo Wii has sold (x) number of units, barely itching out past the XBox 360, which has sold (y) units. Both are still well outselling the poor Sony PS3 which has only sold (z).
Automated comments:
Score 3, Funny - And is anyone surprised by this
This must generate a thread of at least 10 posts
Sore 4, Interesting - If Sony would stop (insert profanity) their developers, maybe PS3 sales would be stronger.
This must generate a thread of at least 15 posts.
Score 2 - I just bought a PS3 because it was a cheap BluRay player.
HD Format Wars Automated news generator:
(insert submitters name) writes in to tell us that (insert URL) is reporting that (Company X) has decided to go with the (insert format name). Recent sales figures shows that BluRay is currently outselling HD-DVD (y:z)
Article approver will comment: "I am just waiting on (insert movie) to be released, that will get me to decide which format to go with..
Mandnatory comments must include:
Score 5, Interesting / Funny- The Porn industry has decided to go with HD-DVD
this must generate a thread of atleast 20 replies
Score 3 - I just hope BluRay wins out, not because of the format, but because I want the storage capacity.
Score 4, Informative - Neither format will win, both will quietly die, because there is not a significant enough improvement over DVD to justify a format war. The reason DVD won over VHS is because there was a huge technology leap. We are still on discs here, the next big leap will be with downloadable content, not HD-DVD
This must generate a thread of atleast 20 replies, some agreeing, some disagreeing, at least one funny comment with will spur a whole other conversation not remotely related to the story
Is which console sold the most games last months.
It doesn't matter if everyone is buying console X if that market only buys one game a year for it...
My Journal
It's up to the developers to handle this sort of thing. If there is no HD, you load everything each time. If there is one, cache the important stuff on it. If the user chooses the cheap-ass version of the console, then they can put up with the inconvenience.
Similarly, once the HD-drive takes off, I'm sure you will see games coming on either format. If you have an HD-drive, you can buy the single-disc version. If you don't, you buy the one on 3 DVDs. Don't some games on the 360 already come on multiple DVDs, eg Blue Dragon?
I'm sure MS will start selling a version with HD drive built in sometime soon, when the manufacturing cost comes down, and the drive has popularity. And they'll keep issuing games on DVD and HD formats, the same way that, even now to some extent, game developers on PC issue games on DVD and CD, the consumer gets to choose which they buy.
All this is to keep the price low, which as MS shrewdly worked out, is what is winning this generation of the console war. If Microsoft had started selling the 360 at $600, you can bet they'd have had the same amount of problems moving units as Sony has had over the past year.
You know what is interesting? The real winner in the "console" wars, although many may not realize it, is the PC:
/. Pick up a cheap $200 video card (e.g. ATI Radeon X1950 XT) that can run pretty much any game out there with very good quality and good resolution, It will be very speedy and you have something that is cheaper than any of the consoles. And needing an expensive computer for games is a myth.
1. Vast library of titles available and also has titles available on multiple consoles (vs. PS3's dearth of a game library)
2. Option to have non-faulty hardware (vs. XBOX 360 "red ring of death"; btw, I'm not saying all have it--mine is in an extremely well ventilated area and I have no problems)
3. Superior graphics capabilities. Being able to play Oblivion at resolutions 1280x1024 and up--gorgeous (vs. the Wii)
4. No need to deal with figuring out the complexities of HDTV or even buying one (just choose the resolution your monitor, which you already have, supports)
5. The expense. You already have a computer if you are reading
6. No loading times (for the most part). Forza Motorsport 2 or Oblivion on an XBOX 360--painful, after a while
Something to think about.
The GC had no wifi at all. What it did have was a broadband adapter. There was one game that really supported it, Phantasy Star Online. There were a few games that used it for local multiplayer gaming (F-Zero and Mario Kart, I think). Those features presumably don't work on the Wii, since there's no place where you can plug in the broadband (or modem adapter).
Since the Wii sports GC controller and memory card ports, even the weirder games requiring special controllers or other attachments work. Stuff like Odama, Four Swords or Donkey Konga work just fine on the Wii.
However, some (unlicensed) Freeloader discs don't work (haven't tried mine yet, I guess I'll keep the Cube for my foreign games).
In other words, all games work perfectly fine. Some hardware can't be plugged in anymore, and one unlicensed third-party application stopped working.
Well, you could point that out, but you'd be lying.
The Wii's attach rate is actually higher than the PS3's, and comparable to the 360's at the same time in its lifespan. This and are two of the newer links I could find.
I know I'm repeating myself, but here goes: Wii Attach Rates are higher than PS3's and comparable to 360 at the same point in its life.
The idea that most Wii owners stick with Wii Sports and Wii Play simply doesn't hold.
Personally, I own about 14 non-VC Wii titles and a grand total of 5 PS3 titles (that is counting the online version of Warhawk).
You already named four: Wii Play, Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario and Metroid. Obviously, there's also Wii Sports, but everyone owns that anyways :-)
Other good games are Resident Evil 4 (clearly the best version of an excellent game); Wario Ware (if you like local multiplayer games); Trauma Center; Mario Strikers; The Godfather (actually a crappy game, but the motion control really makes this one a whole lot of fun, same applies to Scarface); Rayman; Elebits; Excite Truck; and Sonic (in my opinion, the best 3D Sonic since Sonic Adventure 2).
Also, there are a bunch of excellent games on the VC. Check out ActRaiser if you haven't already.
The way I see it, the reason Wii is winning the race is because so far its the only new console with a working mod chip solution.
The moment the mod chip community finds out how to make a mod chip and copy games for the PS3 or the 360, sales will begin to rise.
Yes, you play it with one controller. The reason for this is that you can play it with more than four people, so you just hand the controller to the person whose Mii's turn it is :-)