Wii sells 3 million consoles in december!

Devil_forever

You're only young once, you can be immature f'ever
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
11,852
Location
Head of the naval division of lolibfascon
They've made a console that not just the console generation can enjoy. Parents and even grandparents can enjoy it, its a bloody master stroke for Nintendo.
 
R_Nick said:
They've made a console that not just the console generation can enjoy. Parents and even grandparents can enjoy it, its a bloody master stroke for Nintendo.
Click to expand...

Yep and it seems that the prediction that the sales will die down once the HD market got established look stupid now. Nintendo must be laughing all the way to the bank. Some on Neogaf are saying worldwide sales could be 8 mill + for december alone, un-fecking-real:eek::eek:
 
The most amusing part was that when all these consoles were in development, it was the PS3 and the 360 that were expecting to duke it out for top spot with the Wii miles away and catering only to Mario and Pokémon fans.

Turns out that the Wii is miles away, but it's because it's so far in front it's unreal. I think every single person I know has a Wii in their house, but only about half of them have a PS3 or 360 (so that's a quarter of the households each!).
 
Count Duckula said:
I think every single person I know has a Wii in their house, but only about half of them have a PS3 or 360 (so that's a quarter of the households each!).
Click to expand...

Wow, you have some seriously geekish or rich friends!
 
Count Duckula said:
The most amusing part was that when all these consoles were in development, it was the PS3 and the 360 that were expecting to duke it out for top spot with the Wii miles away and catering only to Mario and Pokémon fans.
Click to expand...

Another thing is despite the much lower price point when all the consoles were brand new, unlike the other two Nintendo were and are making a profit on every console sale and don't need software to do so.
 
R_Nick said:
They've made a console that not just the console generation can enjoy. Parents and even grandparents can enjoy it, its a bloody master stroke for Nintendo.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. Nintendo have branched off to make games accessible to everyone leaving Sony and Microsoft to provide for the 'gamers'.

I've just finished working at Gamestation and Wii's were flying out. The Xbox arcade sold really well and I reckon the reason the PS3 wasn't as popular is because of the price and the reason I still haven't purchased on
 
New Zelda coming out late this year around Christmastime (when else)

Sony just crapped its pants and Microsoft wrote Santa asking if it could trade him Halo for a draft pick.
 
hungrywing said:
Sony just crapped its pants and Microsoft wrote Santa asking if it could trade him Halo for a draft pick.
Click to expand...

That's assuming that most people that want to play a Zelda game haven't already bought a Wii. You see, this is the problem, the introduction of the XBox 360 as a serious contender has fragmented the market Sony once dominated, the Wii has cleverly extended it. If the Wii has basically broken PS2s one month sales record, when the figures are released for all the consoles, it's more than likely that XB360 and PS3 combined isn't that far off the same number, and maybe even more. We'll have to wait and see, but for November 2009, combined sales of XB360 and PS3 were around 250,000 more than the Wii - quite different to then the PS2 hit its sales peak and was selling 2x+ the other two combined. I don't think that the Wii has eroded into the market PS2 used to have that much at all, at least not in terms of hardware. Where is probably has had an affect is in software, as it's most likely that quite a lot of people that have a Wii also own one of the other systems (more than this has happened in the past), which means money for software needs to be spread across more than one machine. Nintendo titles for the Wii sell gangbusters, third party software not so much. It must be the only time a console that sells as many units as the Wii does, does not need third party software support - something, the lack of, that killed the Game Cube. Where Microsoft and Sony will be kicking themselves is that they never thought of providing their hardware with the type of gaming experience that Wii provides, even though Sony were the first to really have a go at it. If it's not bundled with the box however, it's not going to work. That's what the Wii did, all machines had the motion control out of the box from day one, with the software to use it. Launch prices were also a factor due to the vast difference in technical prowess between XB360/PS3 and the Wii. For these reasons, I don't see the Wii as directly competing in the same market as the XB360 or the PS3, it's created a market extension where your granny will stand on a Wii Fit balance board etc.

The interesting thing now is, the next generation of consoles will all have this type of thing, so what is Nintendo going to do to differentiate itself? The next XBox and the next Playstation will probably have these features, be 100% backwards compatible, and be cheap to make, being probably souped-up revisions of the same hardware. How does Nintendo up their game without going for a completely different hardware architecture to that used in the Wii?
 
new-zelda.jpg

fullzelda.jpg
 
I've heard due to the huge losses incurred on the PS3, Sony will be pulling out of the console market and there'll be no PS4.
 
I loved Zelda Ocarina of Time or whatever it was called, was a bloody epic game. Not sure if I'll get into another one the same though.
 
esmufc10 said:
I've heard due to the huge losses incurred on the PS3, Sony will be pulling out of the console market and there'll be no PS4.
Click to expand...

Considering they've stated repeatedly that it has been designed with a lifecycle of ten years in mind, it is somewhat early for firm decisions on PS4 to be made.
 
R_Nick said:
I loved Zelda Ocarina of Time or whatever it was called, was a bloody epic game. Not sure if I'll get into another one the same though.
Click to expand...

Aye that was a fantastic game. I might download some ROMS and replay it. A Link to the past was also a brilliant one.

I enjoyed Wind Waker too, but didn't manage to complete it before I sold my GC. Not played any of the ones since.
 
Team Brian GB said:
Considering they've stated repeatedly that it has been designed with a lifecycle of ten years in mind, it is somewhat early for firm decisions on PS4 to be made.
Click to expand...

Hardware development would already be well underway, PS2 is still being produced now. If they were going to pull out, they would cut their losses now, all game production would have been stopped or at least shifted to XB360 and/or PC. It's your typical Elvis bullshit.
 
About time they release a new Zelda game, it's the reason I bought the console in the first place! There's no such thing as a bad Zelda game so it's gonna be awesome.
 
I had the Zelda collection for the Gamecube. It had all the games on there, and the demo for Wind Waker. I played it for a couple of days, then swapped it with my mate for Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2.

I haven't regretted it.
 
esmufc10 said:
It could be true.

Do you think they'll turn a profit on the PS3 eventually?
Click to expand...

Making money on hardware has never been the business model, the trick is to get as many units out there as possible and without losing too much such that you make back your money on software sales. Only Nintendo had the balls to go with cheap 10 year old hardware, market it as something new, and sell it well overpriced. In retrospect it was genius, but it could have gone totally pear shaped, it was a massive risk for them, but one they had to take when considering what happened to the N64 and the GC. The trouble that the PS3 had was its astronomical cost, thus uptake was slow, but it now gaining momentum - worldwide it's above XB360 and no longer selling like crap in the US. Also, some things you have to remember are that PS3 was used as a trojan horse for Blu-ray, and a lot of the losses SCE has made has provided profit for other divisions of Sony. Where do they get the BD drive from? Where did they get the Cell ad other components from? etc. SCE designs and assembles the thing. Also, losses on PS3 (in regards to SCE) have basically wiped out the profits made on PS2, so over the life of the Playstation brand, they are probably about even. Some even argue that PS2 saved the company. PSN is now driving features through their entire product range from TVs to Phones to god knows what else, they will all in the future use the PSN to connect, download content, stream movies, etc.

Why would they drop a product that is now probably providing profitability through software because of a sizeable enough userbase, is getting cheaper to produce by the quarter thus leading to hardware profitability, is driving income from PSN and dowloadable content, and provides a cheap basis for developing the PS4 that can be launched cheaply (maybe even at profit) and hit the ground running due to 100% backwards compatibility and highly developed mature tools?
 
Sc40les said:
I had the Zelda collection for the Gamecube. It had all the games on there, and the demo for Wind Waker. I played it for a couple of days, then swapped it with my mate for Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2.

I haven't regretted it.
Click to expand...

I have that Zelda collection, and I can tell you that you made the worst deal of a lifetime.
 
marchi-91 said:
Don't want too buy another Play station :(. Only had this one for 2 years.
Click to expand...

I doubt that you'll see one before 2012. My bet would be autumn 2013 maybe 2014. Depends on what Microsoft do though. I'm sure that the prototype PS4 will be ready come the end of this year with several options on how to beef it up - basic design will be done though. 90nm Cell was ready for production end of 2004 (a 300nm test run was conducted early 2004), that's over 5 years ago already, approaching 6 for the first silicon. Cell was announced to be in development in 2001!
 
WeasteDevil said:
I doubt that you'll see one before 2012. My bet would be autumn 2013 maybe 2014. Depends on what Microsoft do though. I'm sure that the prototype PS4 will be ready come the end of this year with several options on how to beef it up - basic design will be done though. 90nm Cell was ready for production end of 2004 (a 300nm test run was conducted early 2004), that's over 5 years ago already, approaching 6 for the first silicon. Cell was announced to be in development in 2001!
Click to expand...

You say the PS4 will be backwards compatible, but will the PS3 play all the games for the PS4? They marketed the PS3 as the only console you'd need for ten years; people will be pretty fecked off if they go back on their word and release a new one after only five.
 
Count Duckula said:
You say the PS4 will be backwards compatible, but will the PS3 play all the games for the PS4? They marketed the PS3 as the only console you'd need for ten years; people will be pretty fecked off if they go back on their word and release a new one after only five.
Click to expand...

My guess, and it's only my guess, I'm not a tech blogger, or very much in the know, is that games could be forced to run on both - this works now with the PC upping certain things on higher powered hardware. I could also hazard a guess that you could have a light slim little platform for your PS3 to sit on and connect to via the gigabit ethernet port that could up its capabilities to that of the PS4. Why on earth does the PS3 need gigabit ethernet? They have shown GT5 running on more than one PS3 either giving 4x resolution or 4x framerate, why did they bother tech demoing that?

Also, they said that it would have a 10 year lifespan, not that it would be their only console for ten years. PS2 is coming into its 10th year and still in production.
 
Ok, some perspective.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that the holiday season retail sales of PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment systems during the five weeks following the last week of November 2009(*1) exceeded 3.8 million units worldwide(*2). The PS3 platform experienced a 76% increase in hardware sales compared to the same period in the previous year, marking the highest record sales for PS3 hardware for a holiday period. With the release of the new slimmer and lighter PS3 system combined with an exciting line-up of compelling software titles, as well as with the expansion of new content and services on PlayStation®Network, with more than 38 million registered accounts(*3) worldwide, the PS3 platform continues to surpass its momentum every year and remains on track to further accelerate the growth of its worldwide installed base into 2010.

With continued strong support from game developers and publishers around the world, highly anticipated and exciting game titles on Blu-ray™ disc were released for the PS3 system during the holiday season. The software line-up includes platform-defining franchises that contributed significantly to PS3 hardware sales such as UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves from SCE, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed® II, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from Activision, and FINAL FANTASY XIII from SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. FINAL FANTASY XIII for North America and Europe/PAL territories will be available on March 9, 2010. In addition to this extensive line-up of software titles, multimedia capabilities that PS3 offers, including Blu-ray disc player functionality, combined with various rich content and services available for download on PlayStation®Network, continue to attract more and more users around the globe making PS3 the ultimate interactive entertainment system for the home.

In 2010, SCEI will continue to deploy various measures to further expand the PS3 software line-up, including highly anticipated titles such as God of War 3, Gran Turismo™ 5, MAG, Heavy Rain and ModNation Racers. The company will also vigorously enhance the network content and services, while tapping into a wider audience through the introduction of a new Motion Controller(*4) supported with a variety of software titles as well as delivering outstanding 3D experience in homes with 3D stereoscopic games and movies(*5), that is possible only on the PS3 platform.

(*1) From November 23 to December 27 for Japan and Asia, from November 24 to December 28 for North America, and from November 21 to December 25 for Europe and PAL territories.

(*2) Retail sales number is estimated by SCEI.

(*3) Number as of January 3, 2010.

(*4) "Motion Controller" is a tentative name.

(*5) Users will be able to enjoy 3D stereoscopic games and movies by updating their PS3 system with the supported firmware updates. Details of the firmware updates will be announced when they become available.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, using that figure, you can sort of guess the North America numbers, so, I'm guessing that XB360 did even better, it sort of reinforces what I was saying earlier about the Wii numbers and market penetration/fragmentation.

During Sony's CES conference in Las Vegas tonight, SCE president Kaz Hirai announced the company sold 3.8 million PlayStation 3 consoles worldwide during the five week period in December 2009.

North American sales reached 1.7 million units for December 2009. For comparison sake, U.S. sales in November 2009 totaled 710,000 units sold. December U.S. NPD results, due out next week, should put Sony well over 1 million units sold for the month.

Kaz also noted there are currently over 38 million registered PSN accounts worldwide.
Click to expand...

CES 2010: PlayStation 3 Nearly Tops Four Million Holiday Sales Worldwide - story - at IGN

I'm sure that XB360 + PS3 sales outdid the Wii, that's over 6m consoles sold in December for US alone.
 
WeasteDevil said:
That's assuming that most people that want to play a Zelda game haven't already bought a Wii(...)

(...)The interesting thing now is, the next generation of consoles will all have this type of thing, so what is Nintendo going to do to differentiate itself? The next XBox and the next Playstation will probably have these features, be 100% backwards compatible, and be cheap to make, being probably souped-up revisions of the same hardware. How does Nintendo up their game without going for a completely different hardware architecture to that used in the Wii?
Click to expand...

I used to think you were just weird. (Those infamous pics) You sound quite normal. That being said, I was just kidding about Sony and MS and I feel strangely obliged to you after that long and detailed mini-lecture.

R_Nick said:
I loved Zelda Ocarina of Time or whatever it was called, was a bloody epic game. Not sure if I'll get into another one the same though.
Click to expand...

You haven't played it until you've played it at 5:40 AM with two bleary-eyed dorm mates while all of you had final exams the day before, have more final exams in less than ten hours, and are already agreeing to get together that night to try and finish the Water Temple by the day after, when you have more final exams and one of you is flying home for winter break and all of you know that an unspoken solemn oath has passed between you that the game will not be touched until you're back together again. And you don't even really like each other. Thanks to that game I now get to tell people with pride that yes, I know what it's like to have done hard drugs.

WeasteDevil said:
Nintendo had the balls to go with cheap 10 year old hardware, market it as something new, and sell it well overpriced. In retrospect it was genius, but it could have gone totally pear shaped, it was a massive risk for them, but one they had to take when considering what happened to the N64 and the GC.
Click to expand...

I think it's interesting that instead of cop to "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and delve into the "mature" gamer market, Nintendo arguably made its console even more kiddie-oriented. I understand your criticism(?) of Nintendo's console mark-up, but I think credit is due for them sticking by their company traditions AND risking a lot on something way too exposed to being called a gimmick.

The trouble that the PS3 had was its astronomical cost, thus uptake was slow, but it now gaining momentum - worldwide it's above XB360 and no longer selling like crap in the US. Also, some things you have to remember are that PS3 was used as a trojan horse for Blu-ray
Click to expand...

Which was itself a massive risk. What I wouldn't give to have been a content owner during that format war for reasons that shouldn't be verbalized because there are minors here.

and a lot of the losses SCE has made has provided profit for other divisions of Sony. Where do they get the BD drive from? Where did they get the Cell ad other components from? etc. SCE designs and assembles the thing. Also, losses on PS3 (in regards to SCE) have basically wiped out the profits made on PS2, so over the life of the Playstation brand, they are probably about even. Some even argue that PS2 saved the company.
Click to expand...

Didn't they release figures proving as much? I could have sworn I saw data back then indicating that with Samsung and LG wiping the floor with the electronics divisions, Sony's gaming division was single-handedly keeping the entire company afloat, with the first Spiderman movie more or less giving them much-needed breathing room.

WeasteDevil said:
Maybe because he bought one for 300 quid and then realised he already had a Game Cube?
Click to expand...

Wait, are you upset at Nintendo for doing what they did because you expected more of them technically or because they're swindling the consumer on the nuts and bolts of the console?
 
hungrywing said:
Wait, are you upset at Nintendo for doing what they did because you expected more of them technically or because they're swindling the consumer on the nuts and bolts of the console?
Click to expand...

I'm not upset, I was simply surprised, as most people, even the professional analysts were. I admire the Wii for what it has done, and by the figures available, it has expanded the home gaming market by at least 100%. This is a good thing for all consumers, developers, and platform holders going into the future.

As a side track, Microsoft and Sony are going at each other hammer and tongue for something that is completely unrelated to gaming, and that is control of standards and systems that will not only run the living room, but at some point every electronic device in the home. As these device get more powerful, the need for the stand alone PC goes out of the window. If these devices are running Microsoft software, Sony will have to pay Microsoft royalties for every device it makes - both are infringing upon the others traditional business base, and neither wants to lose out as the difference between these once two quite separate worlds blurs ever more as time passes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.