This is more of an anecdote than a source, but I can state with certainty that the Target I work at got 8 PS3's in, as opposed to 51 Wii's. Both lines were full by midnight on launch day. All stores in my area (I've been given approximate numbers for a Walmart and 4 EBGameStops) have very similar ratios and reports. That may or may not be representative, but at least it's hard numbers.
Another actual anecdote, the Fred Meyer near my place had signs and verbally said they had 70 Wii consoles and 3 PS3 consoles on their respective launch days.
Look, maybe there are secret hidden supplies of PS3 hiding in warehouses. We don't know about that. We're just the buying public, and from our perspective, it looks like there are a lot more Wii's on the ground than there are PS3's. Why? Everything I've read in the Wall Street Journal and Fortune seems to say it's because Sony has a supply shortage at the manufacturing end, whereas Nintendo doesn't.
Is it true? Beats me. But a lot more people lined up and were happy and got Wii consoles than lined up and went home angry at not getting a PS3. That's got to hurt from a marketing perspective.
And think of those of us who bought one. We've already told all our relatives to buy Wii games for our kid(s). That demand won't be there for a PS3 sitting in someone's broomcloset or stuck on Ebay.
Yes, a fact that he "heard on the radio" with no citation or supporting evidence given whatsoever. A fact that also disingenuously refers to "the PS3 lines" even though the statistic given is based on pre-orders.
I heard it on KUOW, the local NPR station. I can't remember what "show" it was, I was waking up at 9 after having been up until 3 playing the Wii. It was a national NPR news feed. The reference to lines was also from coverage on CNN. I also watched G4 on cable for game-day and release coverage, from The Show, from that review thing with Adam whoever and whatshername, and some other thing they do. I also checked Comcast's On Demand G4 game reviews and cheats they posted Saturday.
So I don't like wasting my time posting links. Sue me. If the truth hurts, deal with it. But don't blame me. I'm not the media.
The store owner, who normally gets up at 4:30 am, ended up picking one up at Kmart, third in line. Yeah, they sell them there too!
All the 40 to 55 aged men were talking about how jazzed their kids - boys and girls, ages ranging from 4 to 17 - and their wives and girlfriends were about it. Some of us went with our kids or girlfriends to wait.
Main game buzz - everyone got Zelda, most of the dads were kind of "ho hum" about that, but the kids liked it. Everyone - and I do mean everyone - liked Wii Sports (comes with it). Lot of sore arms today.
Rayman's Raving Rabbids seems to be very fun - everyone who had it said it was the best game.
Excite Truck was apparently fun to play. I haven't tried that yet, but did get a copy. Not enough time.
Someone had Red Steel - they said it was ok, but didn't talk much about it. Didn't seem displeased with it, just not jazzed as they were for the other games.
That's how it's going in North Seattle near Gas Works Park.
I totally don't get how one could apply the razor concept to the PS3. The razor concept depend on the idea that the razor is cheap so that people buy it without thinking, and then buy the relatively expensive blades over time without noticing since in absolute terms the blades still don't cost very much and the purchases are spread out over time.
I can help. Based on the articles in Fortune, it appears Sony intends to make us pay lots of money for DRM-enhanced Music and Movies that we will buy in the Blu-Ray format. Their selling point will be that they have extra video and even mini-game addons for those.
I think it's a very long shot. I remember when I got rid of my BMG Music subscription when I found out they sold unrippable CDs. I paid for the music, I'll be darned if I'll pay just to store it on my (cheap) MP3 player.
Ahh. So I was correct. I think I was doing the same thing, for the same reasons.
So, the moral of the story is trust what works (lining up with the sensor bar, which you already centered above or below the TV), and don't worry about why it works (due to your actual form).
Sorry, it's after release day, but when I think I gave that number it was based on the print edition of the Wall Street Journal.
I'm assuming you've seen the news since then. I think the last numbers I saw recently seem to say that Nintendo is shipping 1 million by year end, but Sony says they shipped 400,000 (including the ones they brought in by air freight and the ones they have on ships right now).
I for one only think the retail sales numbers are the actual ones we should pay attention to, and they won't be out until January 15, although we should get some preliminary numbers around Dec. 15 for the Close of Day After Thanksgiving sales totals.
the sad part is your way off.. sony makes 8$ per copy of 3rd party games.. at a 306$ loss they need 38.25 3rd party games sales to break even.. i don't know anyone with that many games for one consol..
Wow. Now, that is bad. No wonder they paid so much for all those ads on TV, MTV, etc.
Don't count out Rayman's Raving Rabbids - that's the most fun of all the games I've played!
Oh, and we tried a GameCube game and stuck in two of the GameCube controllers and it was sweet. Graphics were better, load times super fast, and absolutely no probs.
I'm very happy with the games. As to using the Wii-mote - when I did the Wii Age Test, it made me play Tennis - hadn't played the game yet - and I was able to hit more than half of the volleys right off the bat. Same with the Baseball test - I was hitting the ball way more than I'd expect when I'd never used the controller before that day, or the game.
I heard a lot of the PS3 games aren't very PS3-like, more like old-style PS2 or xBox360 games.
Uh, better watch the smack talk, there are more Wii's on eBay than PS3s...
Yeah, but that's cause there were five times as many Wii consoles sold on release day.
Unlike the PS3 lines, where National Public Radio couldn't find more than 5 percent of people who had pre-ordered consoles that hadn't sold them or put them up for auction, most of the people in line to get the Wii consoles intended to play them.
Oh, so that's why it took so long once we hooked up the wireless.
I just figured it browned out from all the people who bought the system and registered it the same day, as opposed to the usually resold PS3.
I also heard from some friends that they had problems with their controllers picking up who was Player 1 and who was Player 2 at the beginning (first player presses two buttons then second player presses two buttons). But it works like a dream once you get that done.
Ours works fine, but could be because we stored our Mii avatars on the remotes.
This, unfortunately, doesn't answer my most pressing question - when can we expect a restock?
I talked to a lot of different stores, and most of them seemed to indicate monday afternoon is the earliest a restock could happen.
Costco won't even be selling their bundle (Wii, controller, Wii Sports, Excite Truck, Zelda) until Tuesday.
Fred Meyer should restock by Tuesday morning.
I think the EBX guys said something similar.
Sears said something like Tuesday.
So, if you missed out on getting one at midnight Saturday (we were 6th out of the store with ours, plus Zelda, Rayman's Raving Rabbids (cool!)), just check by on Tuesday. We have a controller to pick up ourselves (already got Excite Truck and the 2nd nunchuk).
Too bad they will only start making money on the 6th or 7th game they sell(NEW) to the customer.
Actually, it's $240 loss for the 20GB version, and $306 for the 60GB version, not to mention the loss for those people converting them into Linux servers....
At that price point, they'd have to sell 6 games for the 20GB, and 8 for the 60GB version, just to break even.
Sony might want to rethink that. Nintendo makes a profit on the console itself, plus I bought three games already, which are only $50 instead of $60 for the PS3 versions, but it's still profit city from the getgo.
A million sales won't be a surprise. The fun begins when/if the Wii begins to vastly outnumber the PS3s available. Ramping up really fast will no doubt attract a lot of development that doesn't want to wait around for there to be enough PS3s.
Additionally, it's only $2000 for a dev kit for the Wii, but $20,000 for a dev kit for either the PS3 or the xBox360. I can see developing fun games in a small shop for the Wii on a lark - or even a hobby (ok, I'm not poor) - but $20K? This will probably result in a lot more ports to the Wii than you'd expect - not just because 95 percent of game developers seem to be buying Wii consoles for themselves - but also because it's a new mode of play.
I'd love to play the Lego Star Wars II version of the Wii, with my Wii-mote humming when I use it as a light saber, or pinging when I use it as a phase pistol! Plus, I can see doing force moves with the nunchuk!
Additionally, all the game reviewers (justly) savaged the PS3 games - except for Resistance: Fall of Man, they are so lame as to want to make you barf.
Can't say I blame them - after sitting thru the reviews, I'd be angry at the quality of the release games for the PS3.
Not the same on the Nintendo Wii side - so far, all the games are great! Zelda - well, it's Zelda - my son and his friend were jazzed, but I never really was into that game. But it works well. They still have to master the jumping on pillars thing.
Rayman's Raving Rabbids is everyone's favorite - it's just plain FUN! Plus, those bunnies can dance! If you hate dancing, well, you might not like it, but otherwise this is the gem of release day.
Excite Truck is cool. Glad we got it.
And the bundled Wii Sports is amazing! Boxing tires you out, Golf is cool, Bowling takes a bit to get used to (hint - line up with the sensor bar), and the others are good too.
Does anyone have raw numbers comparing the Wii and PS3 sales? (Or noone releases these?)
No, but I'm one of the Neilsen Family Shoppers Panel members, and I already sent in my scanner reads for having purchased a Wii, a nunchuk, Rayman's Raving Rabbids, Zelda, and Excite Truck.
at the EBX (aka Gamestop) at Pacific Place Mall in Seattle, and were 6th out of the store (yeah, that was my son with the RESERVED sign).
Our well-oiled and hot cocoa filled band of three got there around 11:30, only 18 in line ahead of us, but some were like us, a group of people there as support staff. After delegating tasks, we managed to pick up our pre-ordered Wii and got out sixth (6) from the store, with official Nintendo staff taking pics of us. Even though we had forgotten to preorder a memory card, an extra Wii-mote, an extra nunchuk, or any games, we left with the only copy of Rayman's Raving Rabbids as well as someone's preordered Legend of Zelda game. All the controllers - both Wii-mote and nunchuks - were sold out ahead of time, as well as most cool games.
Drove over immeadiately to the Fred Meyer just a few blocks from our house, which apparently let customers into the store (but couldn't purchase) at 11 pm. They were sold out of Wii consoles (they had 70) and controllers as well, by the time we got there at 12:30, and had closed the doors.
We set it up and made Mii versions of ourselves, storing one on the Wii-mote, and played a quick game of bowling, and boxing. Then we went to sleep until 7 am. OK, only four hours sleep. Total cost still way less than a PS3 or an xBox360, with Sims 2: Pets and guide books for both Zelda and Sims 2: Pets thrown in. No, not a Wii version of Sims 2: Pets.
Next morning, tried out the boxing game (fun! exhausting!), tennis, bowling, and golf. Played Legend of Zelda until one of us had to leave (his mom came over, so it was down to my son and I). Also played a fantasy RPG (dungeon) for the GameCube, using GameCube controllers, on the Wii - graphics were sharper, load times were superfast, plays like a dream.
After talking with some friends, we figured out the Sears store might have some controllers and Wii consoles left over - our friends had picked up two consoles out of three people.
So, back in the car, went to Sears (next to Starbucks international HQ), picked up one of their two last nunchuk controllers (sold out of Wii-motes), and got Excite Truck (they still had one copy). Next door, picked up a 1GB SD memory card for the Wii at OfficeMax for $19.99 - sweet!
Then drove over to Costco. They said they won't get delivery until Tuesday, but if you get their sweet package (dirt cheap), you get both Zelda and Excite Truck with it! Best of the bundles we heard of! Think they may also sell it online if you're a Costco member. Well, no Wii stuff, but we bought four two-packs of beef jerky and some nuts, so worth going there.
Back home - played various games. A wonderful day!
I'm not arguing that you don't have those things and I do. I'm arguing that the sales of those other things far surpass the sales of the things you and I might prefer, even though virtually every person "in the know" would proclaim our choices superior. Similarly, it doesn't necessarily matter if the Wii is superior or not. The winner will be the one people actually buy.
Which is why the Wii is winning. In reality, Sony can't ship more than 80,000 units (some flown in, so really loss leaders) to the US, while Nintendo has shipped more than 400,000 by release date.
Hmm. Let's look at your arguments. For the record, I live in the Fremont neighborhood (Center of the Universe) here in Seattle.
-I love Belgium beers. The U.S. buys Budweiser.
I have a Belgian alehouse one block from my house. Every bar (about 20) within a mile of my house sells Belgian beer.
-I loved Firefly. The world loves Desperate Houswives.-I have art over my mantlepiece. The suberbanites put a large mirror there.
I have art I was given at Boreal 87 in Chicoutimi, PQ (Canada) when I was a guest for their SF con - over my mantelpiece.
-I love that little place down the street. The U.S. loves Applebees.
I like the American-style diner across the street from where I work and the Organic Bakery (they serve lunch too) a few blocks away. You can have both.
What I'm saying is that the Wii is more American than the PS3. More people - especially those of us bored with all the FPS and Sports games - want to play it. I don't care if I can't see beads of sweat on the football I'm tossing - I want to toss it with my controller not press 43 buttons to do it - the Wii lets me throw it with my arm, jab with my foil, slash with my sabre, and shoot with my gun, reloading my auto shotgun by the usual pump jerk and shoot that I'm used to from my Army days.
word on the street on campus here is noone's interested.
but, I should point out that xBox360 sales are up due to the PS3 flop, and the cool Japan games (but you have to find a Japanese student here who can buy one and bring it back at Christmas, as they're region-locked).
Argue all you want, but puff won't sell stuff people aren't into.
Slashdot Mirror
This is more of an anecdote than a source, but I can state with certainty that the Target I work at got 8 PS3's in, as opposed to 51 Wii's. Both lines were full by midnight on launch day. All stores in my area (I've been given approximate numbers for a Walmart and 4 EBGameStops) have very similar ratios and reports. That may or may not be representative, but at least it's hard numbers.
Another actual anecdote, the Fred Meyer near my place had signs and verbally said they had 70 Wii consoles and 3 PS3 consoles on their respective launch days.
Look, maybe there are secret hidden supplies of PS3 hiding in warehouses. We don't know about that. We're just the buying public, and from our perspective, it looks like there are a lot more Wii's on the ground than there are PS3's. Why? Everything I've read in the Wall Street Journal and Fortune seems to say it's because Sony has a supply shortage at the manufacturing end, whereas Nintendo doesn't.
Is it true? Beats me. But a lot more people lined up and were happy and got Wii consoles than lined up and went home angry at not getting a PS3. That's got to hurt from a marketing perspective.
And think of those of us who bought one. We've already told all our relatives to buy Wii games for our kid(s). That demand won't be there for a PS3 sitting in someone's broomcloset or stuck on Ebay.
Yes, a fact that he "heard on the radio" with no citation or supporting evidence given whatsoever. A fact that also disingenuously refers to "the PS3 lines" even though the statistic given is based on pre-orders.
I heard it on KUOW, the local NPR station. I can't remember what "show" it was, I was waking up at 9 after having been up until 3 playing the Wii. It was a national NPR news feed. The reference to lines was also from coverage on CNN. I also watched G4 on cable for game-day and release coverage, from The Show, from that review thing with Adam whoever and whatshername, and some other thing they do. I also checked Comcast's On Demand G4 game reviews and cheats they posted Saturday.
So I don't like wasting my time posting links. Sue me. If the truth hurts, deal with it. But don't blame me. I'm not the media.
The store owner, who normally gets up at 4:30 am, ended up picking one up at Kmart, third in line. Yeah, they sell them there too!
All the 40 to 55 aged men were talking about how jazzed their kids - boys and girls, ages ranging from 4 to 17 - and their wives and girlfriends were about it. Some of us went with our kids or girlfriends to wait.
Main game buzz - everyone got Zelda, most of the dads were kind of "ho hum" about that, but the kids liked it. Everyone - and I do mean everyone - liked Wii Sports (comes with it). Lot of sore arms today.
Rayman's Raving Rabbids seems to be very fun - everyone who had it said it was the best game.
Excite Truck was apparently fun to play. I haven't tried that yet, but did get a copy. Not enough time.
Someone had Red Steel - they said it was ok, but didn't talk much about it. Didn't seem displeased with it, just not jazzed as they were for the other games.
That's how it's going in North Seattle near Gas Works Park.
I totally don't get how one could apply the razor concept to the PS3. The razor concept depend on the idea that the razor is cheap so that people buy it without thinking, and then buy the relatively expensive blades over time without noticing since in absolute terms the blades still don't cost very much and the purchases are spread out over time.
I can help. Based on the articles in Fortune, it appears Sony intends to make us pay lots of money for DRM-enhanced Music and Movies that we will buy in the Blu-Ray format. Their selling point will be that they have extra video and even mini-game addons for those.
I think it's a very long shot. I remember when I got rid of my BMG Music subscription when I found out they sold unrippable CDs. I paid for the music, I'll be darned if I'll pay just to store it on my (cheap) MP3 player.
Ahh. So I was correct. I think I was doing the same thing, for the same reasons.
So, the moral of the story is trust what works (lining up with the sensor bar, which you already centered above or below the TV), and don't worry about why it works (due to your actual form).
Sorry, it's after release day, but when I think I gave that number it was based on the print edition of the Wall Street Journal.
I'm assuming you've seen the news since then. I think the last numbers I saw recently seem to say that Nintendo is shipping 1 million by year end, but Sony says they shipped 400,000 (including the ones they brought in by air freight and the ones they have on ships right now).
I for one only think the retail sales numbers are the actual ones we should pay attention to, and they won't be out until January 15, although we should get some preliminary numbers around Dec. 15 for the Close of Day After Thanksgiving sales totals.
Hope this helps.
the sad part is your way off.. sony makes 8$ per copy of 3rd party games.. at a 306$ loss they need 38.25 3rd party games sales to break even.. i don't know anyone with that many games for one consol..
Wow. Now, that is bad. No wonder they paid so much for all those ads on TV, MTV, etc.
Don't count out Rayman's Raving Rabbids - that's the most fun of all the games I've played!
Oh, and we tried a GameCube game and stuck in two of the GameCube controllers and it was sweet. Graphics were better, load times super fast, and absolutely no probs.
I'm very happy with the games. As to using the Wii-mote - when I did the Wii Age Test, it made me play Tennis - hadn't played the game yet - and I was able to hit more than half of the volleys right off the bat. Same with the Baseball test - I was hitting the ball way more than I'd expect when I'd never used the controller before that day, or the game.
I heard a lot of the PS3 games aren't very PS3-like, more like old-style PS2 or xBox360 games.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
Uh, better watch the smack talk, there are more Wii's on eBay than PS3s...
Yeah, but that's cause there were five times as many Wii consoles sold on release day.
Unlike the PS3 lines, where National Public Radio couldn't find more than 5 percent of people who had pre-ordered consoles that hadn't sold them or put them up for auction, most of the people in line to get the Wii consoles intended to play them.
And spent until today doing just that.
It was on the radio yesterday morning.
So, you're saying I curve because I release the ball to late?
Oh. I thought it was my bowling form.
Hint to everyone: clear off a large portion of space to play the games in, or you'll whack people a bit.
I'll try it on Turkey Day.
Oh, so that's why it took so long once we hooked up the wireless.
I just figured it browned out from all the people who bought the system and registered it the same day, as opposed to the usually resold PS3.
I also heard from some friends that they had problems with their controllers picking up who was Player 1 and who was Player 2 at the beginning (first player presses two buttons then second player presses two buttons). But it works like a dream once you get that done.
Ours works fine, but could be because we stored our Mii avatars on the remotes.
This, unfortunately, doesn't answer my most pressing question - when can we expect a restock?
I talked to a lot of different stores, and most of them seemed to indicate monday afternoon is the earliest a restock could happen.
Costco won't even be selling their bundle (Wii, controller, Wii Sports, Excite Truck, Zelda) until Tuesday.
Fred Meyer should restock by Tuesday morning.
I think the EBX guys said something similar.
Sears said something like Tuesday.
So, if you missed out on getting one at midnight Saturday (we were 6th out of the store with ours, plus Zelda, Rayman's Raving Rabbids (cool!)), just check by on Tuesday. We have a controller to pick up ourselves (already got Excite Truck and the 2nd nunchuk).
Are you serious? Oh, so they lose more on the base machine ...
Thanks!
Too bad they will only start making money on the 6th or 7th game they sell(NEW) to the customer.
....
Actually, it's $240 loss for the 20GB version, and $306 for the 60GB version, not to mention the loss for those people converting them into Linux servers
At that price point, they'd have to sell 6 games for the 20GB, and 8 for the 60GB version, just to break even.
Sony might want to rethink that. Nintendo makes a profit on the console itself, plus I bought three games already, which are only $50 instead of $60 for the PS3 versions, but it's still profit city from the getgo.
A million sales won't be a surprise. The fun begins when/if the Wii begins to vastly outnumber the PS3s available. Ramping up really fast will no doubt attract a lot of development that doesn't want to wait around for there to be enough PS3s.
Additionally, it's only $2000 for a dev kit for the Wii, but $20,000 for a dev kit for either the PS3 or the xBox360. I can see developing fun games in a small shop for the Wii on a lark - or even a hobby (ok, I'm not poor) - but $20K? This will probably result in a lot more ports to the Wii than you'd expect - not just because 95 percent of game developers seem to be buying Wii consoles for themselves - but also because it's a new mode of play.
I'd love to play the Lego Star Wars II version of the Wii, with my Wii-mote humming when I use it as a light saber, or pinging when I use it as a phase pistol! Plus, I can see doing force moves with the nunchuk!
Additionally, all the game reviewers (justly) savaged the PS3 games - except for Resistance: Fall of Man, they are so lame as to want to make you barf.
Can't say I blame them - after sitting thru the reviews, I'd be angry at the quality of the release games for the PS3.
Not the same on the Nintendo Wii side - so far, all the games are great! Zelda - well, it's Zelda - my son and his friend were jazzed, but I never really was into that game. But it works well. They still have to master the jumping on pillars thing.
Rayman's Raving Rabbids is everyone's favorite - it's just plain FUN! Plus, those bunnies can dance! If you hate dancing, well, you might not like it, but otherwise this is the gem of release day.
Excite Truck is cool. Glad we got it.
And the bundled Wii Sports is amazing! Boxing tires you out, Golf is cool, Bowling takes a bit to get used to (hint - line up with the sensor bar), and the others are good too.
Does anyone have raw numbers comparing the Wii and PS3 sales? (Or noone releases these?)
No, but I'm one of the Neilsen Family Shoppers Panel members, and I already sent in my scanner reads for having purchased a Wii, a nunchuk, Rayman's Raving Rabbids, Zelda, and Excite Truck.
I'd expect numbers by Friday.
at the EBX (aka Gamestop) at Pacific Place Mall in Seattle, and were 6th out of the store (yeah, that was my son with the RESERVED sign).
Our well-oiled and hot cocoa filled band of three got there around 11:30, only 18 in line ahead of us, but some were like us, a group of people there as support staff. After delegating tasks, we managed to pick up our pre-ordered Wii and got out sixth (6) from the store, with official Nintendo staff taking pics of us. Even though we had forgotten to preorder a memory card, an extra Wii-mote, an extra nunchuk, or any games, we left with the only copy of Rayman's Raving Rabbids as well as someone's preordered Legend of Zelda game. All the controllers - both Wii-mote and nunchuks - were sold out ahead of time, as well as most cool games.
Drove over immeadiately to the Fred Meyer just a few blocks from our house, which apparently let customers into the store (but couldn't purchase) at 11 pm. They were sold out of Wii consoles (they had 70) and controllers as well, by the time we got there at 12:30, and had closed the doors.
We set it up and made Mii versions of ourselves, storing one on the Wii-mote, and played a quick game of bowling, and boxing. Then we went to sleep until 7 am. OK, only four hours sleep. Total cost still way less than a PS3 or an xBox360, with Sims 2: Pets and guide books for both Zelda and Sims 2: Pets thrown in. No, not a Wii version of Sims 2: Pets.
Next morning, tried out the boxing game (fun! exhausting!), tennis, bowling, and golf. Played Legend of Zelda until one of us had to leave (his mom came over, so it was down to my son and I). Also played a fantasy RPG (dungeon) for the GameCube, using GameCube controllers, on the Wii - graphics were sharper, load times were superfast, plays like a dream.
After talking with some friends, we figured out the Sears store might have some controllers and Wii consoles left over - our friends had picked up two consoles out of three people.
So, back in the car, went to Sears (next to Starbucks international HQ), picked up one of their two last nunchuk controllers (sold out of Wii-motes), and got Excite Truck (they still had one copy). Next door, picked up a 1GB SD memory card for the Wii at OfficeMax for $19.99 - sweet!
Then drove over to Costco. They said they won't get delivery until Tuesday, but if you get their sweet package (dirt cheap), you get both Zelda and Excite Truck with it! Best of the bundles we heard of! Think they may also sell it online if you're a Costco member. Well, no Wii stuff, but we bought four two-packs of beef jerky and some nuts, so worth going there.
Back home - played various games. A wonderful day!
I'm not arguing that you don't have those things and I do. I'm arguing that the sales of those other things far surpass the sales of the things you and I might prefer, even though virtually every person "in the know" would proclaim our choices superior. Similarly, it doesn't necessarily matter if the Wii is superior or not. The winner will be the one people actually buy.
Which is why the Wii is winning. In reality, Sony can't ship more than 80,000 units (some flown in, so really loss leaders) to the US, while Nintendo has shipped more than 400,000 by release date.
Hmm. Let's look at your arguments. For the record, I live in the Fremont neighborhood (Center of the Universe) here in Seattle.
-I love Belgium beers. The U.S. buys Budweiser.
I have a Belgian alehouse one block from my house. Every bar (about 20) within a mile of my house sells Belgian beer.
-I loved Firefly. The world loves Desperate Houswives.-I have art over my mantlepiece. The suberbanites put a large mirror there.
I have art I was given at Boreal 87 in Chicoutimi, PQ (Canada) when I was a guest for their SF con - over my mantelpiece.
-I love that little place down the street. The U.S. loves Applebees.
I like the American-style diner across the street from where I work and the Organic Bakery (they serve lunch too) a few blocks away. You can have both.
What I'm saying is that the Wii is more American than the PS3. More people - especially those of us bored with all the FPS and Sports games - want to play it. I don't care if I can't see beads of sweat on the football I'm tossing - I want to toss it with my controller not press 43 buttons to do it - the Wii lets me throw it with my arm, jab with my foil, slash with my sabre, and shoot with my gun, reloading my auto shotgun by the usual pump jerk and shoot that I'm used to from my Army days.
It gets me off my couch.
Now THAT is worth paying for
Also, would you honestly think that would fly with a paying audience? I highly doubt it.
Exactly. For example, my local Fred Meyer has 3 PS3 consoles on launch day (hah!) and 70 Wii consoles two days later on launch day.
Waiting in line for the PS3 - waste of time.
Waiting in line for a Wii - lots of fun, friends, and you can pick up the 1GB memory chips while you wait for 12:01 to roll around Saturday night!
Also, would you honestly think that would fly with a paying audience? I highly doubt it.
It worked fine when I did the first large scale play-by-mail role-playing-game.
It was only a risk when you went up against characters you normally shouldn't be fighting, who had magic weapons.
E.g. I'm a level 2 Dwarf and dumb enough to use my +2 mithril armor in a fight against Elric with Stormbringer.
Look, fighting Elric is always risky. If you managed to get away and your Helm of Light was cracked and fell apart, you counted yourself LUCKY.
weapons and armor never shatter and break.
Do that and you'd have a lot less problems.
I'll be with the 133L H4XX0RS lined up at Fred Meyer and ToysRUs.
word on the street on campus here is noone's interested.
but, I should point out that xBox360 sales are up due to the PS3 flop, and the cool Japan games (but you have to find a Japanese student here who can buy one and bring it back at Christmas, as they're region-locked).
Argue all you want, but puff won't sell stuff people aren't into.