Wii Wins?
Sony is good at hyping things up, at marketing and promoting a specific image, and, admittedly, the PSP looks sleeker than the original DS, but the DSLite improved upon that, making it slimmer and brighter yet still cheaper than its competitor. And from what I've read and backed by my own experience -- on a Friday afternoon a local store had 4 pink DS and a few black and white ones, but Saturday late morning they were sold out and none of the area stores had it. -- the DSLite is hard to get a hold of in Japan and the US. Yet Nintendo has always dominated the handheld market, so that’s not entirely surprising. What is, however, is how well the Wii has done compared to the PS3.Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Who would have thought, given all the publicity surrounding the PlayStation 3's arrival last fall, that the Nintendo Wii would be the must-have console of the new year? A month after Christmas, it's still hard to find a Wii, and crowds are still lining up in front of electronics stores every time a new shipment is promised. On eBay, Wiis are still being auctioned off for around $500, double the console's list price. It's even tough to track down Wii controllers, since most of us who have been able to buy a console are stocking up on extra "Wiimotes" so the whole family can play.
Meanwhile, Sony's PS3 is pretty easy to buy. The Web sites for GameStop, Circuit City and other nationwide retailers have it for sale, and eBay auctions are starting lower than the $600 list price for the 60-gigabyte model. Several electronics store clerks have told me that buyers have been returning unopened PS3s after realizing they weren't going to make any money selling them on eBay. Serves them right.
A Google News search results in more articles supporting this.Sony announces launch date for delayed PS3
Thursday January 25, 2007
Sony said today that it would launch its long-awaited PlayStation 3 game console in Britain and the rest of Europe on March 23. But the firm risked disappointing gamers on a budget with news that it has no immediate plans to offer a cheaper, more basic model in addition to the high-end 60-gigabyte machine. The news could add to the frustrations of European gamers, who have already been made to wait an extra four months to get their hands on the much-anticipated console following a production glitch last year.
[...] Faced with competition from Nintendo's Wii console, Sony last year made the surprise decision to sell a basic version of the PS3 for the crucial Japanese and US markets.
[...] The firm has sold 2m PS3s in Japan and the US since November and hopes to have sold 6m worldwide by the end of March. Sony was reminded today of how competitive the global gaming market has become when Nintendo said today its quarterly profit had surged by 40% thanks to the success of its DS handheld console, a rival to Sony's PlayStation Portable. Nintendo, the firm behind such popular titles as Pokemon, Donkey Kong and Super Mario, also said it was likely to reach its target of selling 6m of its new Wii game consoles worldwide by the end of March. Nintendo had sold 3.19m Wii machines, which cost ¥25,000 (£105) in Japan, by the end of December.
I've been guilty of viewing Nintendo as a more clunky console maker with a more “kiddie” target audience, so I while I wasn't really anticipating its release, although nor was I seriously considering the PS3 due to it's high price. But this is something of a victory for the underdog, and it goes to show that taking chances can be a good thing. Nintendo knew the traditional "hardcore" gaming market was dominated by the Playstation and XBox, so what was the point in trying to create just another console. Instead they went with something different, and it looks like it worked.
Who would have thought, given all the publicity surrounding the PlayStation 3's arrival last fall, that the Nintendo Wii would be the must-have console of the new year? A month after Christmas, it's still hard to find a Wii, and crowds are still lining up in front of electronics stores every time a new shipment is promised. On eBay, Wiis are still being auctioned off for around $500, double the console's list price. It's even tough to track down Wii controllers, since most of us who have been able to buy a console are stocking up on extra "Wiimotes" so the whole family can play.
Meanwhile, Sony's PS3 is pretty easy to buy. The Web sites for GameStop, Circuit City and other nationwide retailers have it for sale, and eBay auctions are starting lower than the $600 list price for the 60-gigabyte model. Several electronics store clerks have told me that buyers have been returning unopened PS3s after realizing they weren't going to make any money selling them on eBay. Serves them right.
A Google News search results in more articles supporting this.Sony announces launch date for delayed PS3
Thursday January 25, 2007
Sony said today that it would launch its long-awaited PlayStation 3 game console in Britain and the rest of Europe on March 23. But the firm risked disappointing gamers on a budget with news that it has no immediate plans to offer a cheaper, more basic model in addition to the high-end 60-gigabyte machine. The news could add to the frustrations of European gamers, who have already been made to wait an extra four months to get their hands on the much-anticipated console following a production glitch last year.
[...] Faced with competition from Nintendo's Wii console, Sony last year made the surprise decision to sell a basic version of the PS3 for the crucial Japanese and US markets.
[...] The firm has sold 2m PS3s in Japan and the US since November and hopes to have sold 6m worldwide by the end of March. Sony was reminded today of how competitive the global gaming market has become when Nintendo said today its quarterly profit had surged by 40% thanks to the success of its DS handheld console, a rival to Sony's PlayStation Portable. Nintendo, the firm behind such popular titles as Pokemon, Donkey Kong and Super Mario, also said it was likely to reach its target of selling 6m of its new Wii game consoles worldwide by the end of March. Nintendo had sold 3.19m Wii machines, which cost ¥25,000 (£105) in Japan, by the end of December.
I've been guilty of viewing Nintendo as a more clunky console maker with a more “kiddie” target audience, so I while I wasn't really anticipating its release, although nor was I seriously considering the PS3 due to it's high price. But this is something of a victory for the underdog, and it goes to show that taking chances can be a good thing. Nintendo knew the traditional "hardcore" gaming market was dominated by the Playstation and XBox, so what was the point in trying to create just another console. Instead they went with something different, and it looks like it worked.