Operating profit per console of $6, for a console that costs $250 is 2.4%. Operating profit is calculated before interest costs and taxes. Depending on Japanese taxes this might be (let's be very generous) a contribution of 2%. If you can put money in the bank and receive 0.5%, then a risky gamble of 2% return, or less than that when dividends are taxed, is idiotic. Hence, following those rules Nintendo would not have been able to fund production in the first place because nobody would have given them money. And all of that assumes Nintendo has zero debt incurred to fund production. In fact, it also ignores that projects that succeed must cover the cost of all projects that fail.
Wait, you're calling this guy clueless? Have you ever noticed the price trend in technology components?
Nintendo made $6 per Wii... in September 2006. Technology prices fall rapidly, so it was certainly higher than that in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Nintendo managed to keep the Wii the same price for three years, before finally dropping it to $200 five days ago.
We used to have a huge tariff on sugar, that is. I believe it was lifted in 2006.
Coke gradually switched from sugar to corn syrup during the late 70s/early 80s. By the time New Coke came around, Coke products were made exclusively with corn syrup. Snopes has more details in its New Coke article.
See also: The Half-Life 2 debacle (or at least I think it was HL2...) where Steam would refuse to activate a copy if you lived in a different region than the game was for.
Also as a practical matter, Apple doesn't seem to understand the computer games market very well. Gabe Newell (Valve) said that every few years Apple comes to the game makers and says "We need more games, what do we have to do to get games on the Mac?" The developers then tell Apple the kind of things they'd like to see, and that is the end of it. Apple goes off and doesn't do anything. As such the game tools on Mac remain inferior to those on the PC and that combined with the smaller market share means most game studios just aren't interested.
Of course, you have to take what Gabe Newell says about Apple with a grain of salt, seeing as he's a Microsoft Millionaire. Not only was he once a Microsoft employee, but his game company only* produces games for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Xbox 360.
*Orange Box was ported to the PS3 by Electronic Arts, whereas Valve created both the PC and Xbox 360 versions. Valve refuses to patch the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version has had several bug fixes, and Valve promised that it will eventually get all the Team Fortress 2 updates the PC version has gotten.
Judging from your statements, I'm going to assume you haven't actually tried any of the new consoles and are making (incorrect) guesses. If you had tried them, you'd notice that the advantage of having networked gaming systems is that you can find downloadable games and demos on their respective app stores. Two of the three major consoles and one of the two major handhelds also offer video-playback. To be exact, video playback is present on the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PSP.
For the PS3 and PSP, downloadable games and demos are on the PlayStation Network (PSN).
For the Xbox 360, downloadable games and demos are on the Xbox Live Marketplace. As is Netflix for movies. Downloadable games start at 200 MS Points ($2.50 USD) and go up from there. Some stores also have Xbox 360 kiosks with demos.
For the Wii, game demos are on the Nintendo Channel; downloadable games are on the Shop Channel, which is split into older games (Virtual Console) and Wii-specific games (WiiWare). Virtual Console games start at 500 Wii points ($5 USD), WiiWare games start at 1000 Wii points ($10 USD). The Nintendo channel isn't installed by default, but can be gotten for free through the Shop Channel.
For the DSi, downloadable games are on the DSi Shop Channel (or so I assume). No idea if it offers demos, but some DS game demos are available from the Wii's Nintendo Channel and are transferred from one system to the other via Wi-Fi. Some stores also have Nintendo kiosks that can transfer demos to the DS/DSi.
Well I think looking at a DS vs PS3 is a little silly, given that the PS3 was by far the most expensive console when it came out. Regardless, so long as you get a platform with games you like, that's all that matters.
Especially silly when you consider that Sony has their own portable (the PSP).
I remember PS2 used to put things on the "Greatest Hits" list (and Mario Galaxy easily would fit in this category), sometimes quickly based on sales. Usually these games were automatically $20.
More notably, Nintendo themselves did this with their Player's Choice program on their earlier consoles, including the Gamecube. Yet, there is no Player's Choice for the Wii...
You are aware that TF2 was written for PC, right? XBox was almost an afterthought.
...and it's clear Valve did just the opposite for Left 4 Dead. Seriously, not having the ability to choose your own server when the game launched, despite having a Dedicated Server program?
Even now, it's ten times easier for a group to join a random server than it is to join a specific one.
I probably should have quoted what you said that I actually replied to.
You said:
The first are the multiplayer FPS. I have long since grown past it, but you didn't play Quake for the pretty graphics, you played it for the instant hard action. But these games all have one thing in common. You are equal. Think about it, everything about multiplayer FPS games, tries to balance the players to extreme, often by simply making them exactly the same, or by playing both sides of the battle in turns.
And if you look at the labels on most American goods, you'll find that they include the metric size (weight, volume) of the contents, along with the Imperial size.
On foods and medicines, yes. That's dictated by the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, with the intent that we would eventually phase out the imperial units.
Take a look around and tell me what besides food are marked with both.
Around here, speed limits are posted in miles per hour. Cars themselves have speedometers in miles per hour, with tiny little numbers for kmph. Gasoline is measured in Gallons. Scales at the deli, despite being food, show the weight of something in decimal pounds (rather than pounds and ounces, since those aren't base 10).
Now, a few industries settled on metric units so that they could sell things internationally, but besides those are food/drugs, everything else here is in imperial.
Further, I'd wager the real reason stuff in the US has both metric and imperial units is so companies can use the same packaging in multiple countries, ie Canada, Mexico, Britain. They already have spanish on most of them, and french is starting to become more and more common >: In fact, they often list two phone numbers for customer relations. Canadian and American.
Actually, for food items, they're required by law to have the metric units on there.
Three years? Please check your math. (Note: I'm using North America release dates here; the only calculation where this would make a difference is the PSX-PS2 cycle)
Nintendo: 5 years between N64 and Gamecube (1996-2001) 5 years between Gamecube and Wii (2001-2006)
Sony: 5 years between PSX and PS2 (1995-2000) 6 years between PS2 and PS3 (2000-2006)
Microsoft: 4 years between Xbox and Xbox 360 (2001-2005)
Microsoft is the only one of the major three to use less than 5 year cycles. In fact, the numbers above average out to exactly 5!
I think the fact that Wii was selling so well early on and has dropped off at this point just indicates that a large portion of the people who actually wanted the Wii have already acquired it by now.
It's not just that. With price drops, the good model of the Xbox 360 and the current-best* PS3 were within $50 of the Wii. And those support HD content.
*The best PS3s being the original 20GB and 60GB models that had hardware PS2 support. Followed by the 60GB and 80GB models with software PS2 support.
Your point may be valid, but the Wii hasn't proved anything of the sort. It won out in terms of sales by being more noob-friendly, more affordable (until the required add-ons are purchased) and marketing the trendy 'fitness' angle.
I think you understate the price bit.
The Wii launched within weeks of the PS3... for half the price of the cheaper PS3 model. (Wii $249 vs PS3 20GB $499). When the Wii launched, the Xbox 360 was still selling only $400 and $500 models. Then the 360's bastardized $280 Arcade model came out, but you couldn't really use it with Xbox Live Arcade (ironic considering the console name) without adding a (Microsoft-blessed*) HDD... but since the Xbox 360 Core was only $350 by then (albeit with no Wireless controllers), there was little reason to buy an Xbox 360 Arcade.
It's only now that the PS3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Elite were within $50 of the Wii that Nintendo has any competition in this price space, and it appropriately countered by dropping the Wii's price by $50.
* Off the shelf hard drives don't work in the 360. This is one of the things Sony was quick to point out when the PS3 launched, as the PS3 works with any SATA HDD.
No. People like what they are used to, but there is no automatic connection between time and usability. My father was brought up with a currency here in the UK that until 1971 was a total headfuck. You should have seen the howls of pain from those who tried to make out that base 10 was utterly confusing.
How on earth you can equate longevity with usability is utterly beyond me.
For an even more recent example, look at the United States and its reasons for not switching to the (clearly superior) metric system.
I don't know about Valve, but considering that an mp3 of an instrumental version of Europe's The Final Countdown is sitting in the maps directory (final.mp3), the RIAA could definitely sue them...
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It's my understanding that they did do this with Vista... simply by refusing to sign hardware drivers that didn't have 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Wait, you're calling this guy clueless? Have you ever noticed the price trend in technology components?
Nintendo made $6 per Wii... in September 2006. Technology prices fall rapidly, so it was certainly higher than that in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Nintendo managed to keep the Wii the same price for three years, before finally dropping it to $200 five days ago.
For comparison, Microsoft was losing $71 per unit on the $399 Xbox 360 in at launch in 2005. By the end of 2006, the same model was now at break-even.
We used to have a huge tariff on sugar, that is. I believe it was lifted in 2006.
Coke gradually switched from sugar to corn syrup during the late 70s/early 80s. By the time New Coke came around, Coke products were made exclusively with corn syrup. Snopes has more details in its New Coke article.
See also: The Half-Life 2 debacle (or at least I think it was HL2...) where Steam would refuse to activate a copy if you lived in a different region than the game was for.
Shouldn't that be "Pick any one"? This is a Microsoft product after all.
He meant to say a different default set of packages. They still use the same package repository, so all the packages are available to both editions.
Of course, you have to take what Gabe Newell says about Apple with a grain of salt, seeing as he's a Microsoft Millionaire. Not only was he once a Microsoft employee, but his game company only* produces games for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Xbox 360.
*Orange Box was ported to the PS3 by Electronic Arts, whereas Valve created both the PC and Xbox 360 versions. Valve refuses to patch the PS3 version. The Xbox 360 version has had several bug fixes, and Valve promised that it will eventually get all the Team Fortress 2 updates the PC version has gotten.
Judging from your statements, I'm going to assume you haven't actually tried any of the new consoles and are making (incorrect) guesses. If you had tried them, you'd notice that the advantage of having networked gaming systems is that you can find downloadable games and demos on their respective app stores. Two of the three major consoles and one of the two major handhelds also offer video-playback. To be exact, video playback is present on the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the PSP.
For the PS3 and PSP, downloadable games and demos are on the PlayStation Network (PSN).
For the Xbox 360, downloadable games and demos are on the Xbox Live Marketplace. As is Netflix for movies. Downloadable games start at 200 MS Points ($2.50 USD) and go up from there. Some stores also have Xbox 360 kiosks with demos.
For the Wii, game demos are on the Nintendo Channel; downloadable games are on the Shop Channel, which is split into older games (Virtual Console) and Wii-specific games (WiiWare). Virtual Console games start at 500 Wii points ($5 USD), WiiWare games start at 1000 Wii points ($10 USD). The Nintendo channel isn't installed by default, but can be gotten for free through the Shop Channel.
For the DSi, downloadable games are on the DSi Shop Channel (or so I assume). No idea if it offers demos, but some DS game demos are available from the Wii's Nintendo Channel and are transferred from one system to the other via Wi-Fi. Some stores also have Nintendo kiosks that can transfer demos to the DS/DSi.
Especially silly when you consider that Sony has their own portable (the PSP).
More notably, Nintendo themselves did this with their Player's Choice program on their earlier consoles, including the Gamecube. Yet, there is no Player's Choice for the Wii...
Even now, it's ten times easier for a group to join a random server than it is to join a specific one.
I probably should have quoted what you said that I actually replied to.
You said:
On foods and medicines, yes. That's dictated by the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, with the intent that we would eventually phase out the imperial units.
Take a look around and tell me what besides food are marked with both.
Around here, speed limits are posted in miles per hour. Cars themselves have speedometers in miles per hour, with tiny little numbers for kmph. Gasoline is measured in Gallons. Scales at the deli, despite being food, show the weight of something in decimal pounds (rather than pounds and ounces, since those aren't base 10).
Now, a few industries settled on metric units so that they could sell things internationally, but besides those are food/drugs, everything else here is in imperial.
Actually, for food items, they're required by law to have the metric units on there.
Three years? Please check your math.
(Note: I'm using North America release dates here; the only calculation where this would make a difference is the PSX-PS2 cycle)
Nintendo:
5 years between N64 and Gamecube (1996-2001)
5 years between Gamecube and Wii (2001-2006)
Sony:
5 years between PSX and PS2 (1995-2000)
6 years between PS2 and PS3 (2000-2006)
Microsoft:
4 years between Xbox and Xbox 360 (2001-2005)
Microsoft is the only one of the major three to use less than 5 year cycles. In fact, the numbers above average out to exactly 5!
Yes, but you can move things to SD cards on the Wii.
Also, XBLA games tend to be larger than WiiWare games.
You also lose the ability to install a 360 game to the HDD to speed up load times.
You also can't play Xbox (original) games on the Arcade.
It's not just that. With price drops, the good model of the Xbox 360 and the current-best* PS3 were within $50 of the Wii. And those support HD content.
*The best PS3s being the original 20GB and 60GB models that had hardware PS2 support. Followed by the 60GB and 80GB models with software PS2 support.
Actually, the Xbox 360 Arcade is already below $200... it's $199.99.
However, buying the Arcade is a mistake, seeing as how it has no HDD and Microsoft uses proprietary HDDs in their units.
Not having an HDD would kill my enjoyment of the 360*, because the Xbox Live Arcade has quite a few good games you can buy from it.
*Note: I have a 360 now, but I didn't buy it.
I think you understate the price bit.
The Wii launched within weeks of the PS3... for half the price of the cheaper PS3 model. (Wii $249 vs PS3 20GB $499). When the Wii launched, the Xbox 360 was still selling only $400 and $500 models. Then the 360's bastardized $280 Arcade model came out, but you couldn't really use it with Xbox Live Arcade (ironic considering the console name) without adding a (Microsoft-blessed*) HDD... but since the Xbox 360 Core was only $350 by then (albeit with no Wireless controllers), there was little reason to buy an Xbox 360 Arcade.
It's only now that the PS3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Elite were within $50 of the Wii that Nintendo has any competition in this price space, and it appropriately countered by dropping the Wii's price by $50.
* Off the shelf hard drives don't work in the 360. This is one of the things Sony was quick to point out when the PS3 launched, as the PS3 works with any SATA HDD.
The $100 is the yearly fee to Apple that they require before they'll review your apps for the App Store.
Oh, and if you want to distribute these apps within your own organization and not the App Store, make that $299/year.
Aw, I don't have any mod points to give you.
Yes, this is yet another vector for XSS attacks that aren't even under the site owner's consent or control.
If users talk about my site, it isn't instantly accessible to the whole Internet in a permanently archive-able form.
It's a take on the Out of Sight, Out of Mind principle.
For an even more recent example, look at the United States and its reasons for not switching to the (clearly superior) metric system.
(Note: I'm a US citizen)
Maybe the law should not mandate it for images that are obviously manipulated.
Like the ones posted to this site.
I don't know about Valve, but considering that an mp3 of an instrumental version of Europe's The Final Countdown is sitting in the maps directory (final.mp3), the RIAA could definitely sue them...