Strong PS3 and XBOX 360 Add-On sales reported (1 Viewer)

[ppltd]

This should be a shot in the arm for both camps.


While the actual reported deliveries has been stated to be between 150,000 to 400,000 PS3's, (it is probably somewhere between the two extremes), it is certianly just what the doctor ordered for these two formats. Exciting times in the HD arena.

 

[Ryan-G]

I don't find PS3 sales impressive, as Gates said earlier today, Sony could paint "PS4" on a load of bricks and people would line up to buy 80,000 of them.

The add-on though, that's different. No console add-on has ever sold well.

Regardless, I don't think it matters much anymore. Might just give HD-DVD the nudge it needs to woo some more studios, and that'd be a critical turning point...

Either way though, if the format war doesn't end soon, Uni Players will make it a moot point. It's not long before they appear given the rumblings I've been reading.

 

[Grant H]

However many Sony released to retailers, that's how many sold. You can be damned sure of that. Amazingly, no numbers actually given in that story about the PS3 OR the add-on.

 

[ppltd]

Neither do many news reporting agencies Wedbush Morgan Securities. This is just one of many reports analysing the market for the next few months, and while things are looking up for MS, the WII might well be the big winner.

 

[Ryan-G]

Wii's not going to be a winner, it's got too many problems...

1. It's main selling point is it's motion sensing controller. Problem is, it's main selling point is it's main drawback. Most teenagers wouldn't be caught dead bouncing around in front of a TV to play a game, they do their utmost to look "Cool", waving a small stick at a TV doesn't look "Cool". Same problem extends into the other age groups. The only age group that isn't going to have an issue with the whole concept is the children. It might work for a party game like Mario Party, but outside of that, appearances takes over.

2. Nintendo's library is very casual and child oriented. They've improved on it slightly over the past few years, but their reputation is very much one of being the "Kiddie Console".

3. Wii is essentially an upgraded Gamecube. Which is a major problem for the next 12-24 months. It's graphics are simply not going to hold a candle to the other Platforms and I wouldn't be surprised if the shift to HDTV's make it look worse.

Wii's riding a wave of "Lookie new!", but after the shine wears off I suspect Wii will actually end up exactly where Nintendo's been for years, Kiddie Market.

Don't get me wrong, Nintendo's been hands down the best innovator for input devices over the years. But as rushed as the PS3 is, IMO, the Wii is worse because it really doesn't include any kind of significant graphics upgrade. All it'll take is for MS to drop the price of the 360 and their only market advantage is gone, and since MS has used USB ports on the 360 there's no reason why they can't dust off the old sidewinder plans and take over Wii's only game advantage in very short order.

Although I do have to give Nintendo major props for being smart enough to leverage their enourmous back library. It's a dark horse, but if the price point gets low enough, this factor and real controllers could endear the Emulation/Nostalgia crowds. ~$100 and ~$5-10 per old title and Nintendo could gather some significant sales as the "Backup" box.

 

[TravisR]

My friend has a Wii and watching him play it, he was moving his hand slightly to control it. Not jumping around like a jackass (a la Wii commercials).

 

[ppltd]

Nintendo's real strength are twofold: Number one is price, and number two is supply. They will probably deliver 2 to 3 times the console that Sony will, and certainly might be an acceptable replacement for the PS3 for the holidays.

 

[Ryan-G]

I agree that Nintendo has a very significant advantage over Sony.

But IMO, Nintendo's real strength is it's ability to create fun, gamer-neutral, games. By that I mean titles like Mario Party, Smash Brothers, and the Mario series which pretty much everyone can(And often do) enjoy. Even today there's not a single competing title for Nintendo's Mario Party series, which I've personally seen everyone from a gaggle of college girls having a field day playing, to a group of frat boys turn it into a drinking game, to 30-something adults hanging out playing.

On a side note, Emulation's not a little thing anymore either, as MS has proven with it's Live Arcade games. At the right price point, the Wii is a heckuva' good deal for many across the age groups, because with their back-library, they can sell what amounts to 3-4 consoles in one box. Heck, put it at ~150$ U.S. and bundle either the Mario(the platformers) Series or the Zelda Series and it'll fly off the shelves with massive micro-payment income as people look for old faves.

These guys have the right ideas, Microsoft and Nintendo. They can sell alot of boxes with the Emulation built in.

 

[Shawn Perron]

The Wii's big problem at the moment is that they really don't have much in the way of games coming any time soon. Zelda is definitely thier biggest series at this point and it was released at launch. The console is so much less powerful then the other 2 that most 3rd party games will not be making it there. Nintendo's only hope is to maintain whatever lead they manage to get over Sony before the year is out. If they can maintain a lead for the next 12 months, they will get a lot of 3rd party support. If Sony manages to pass Nintendo, then Nintendo is going to be releagated to a distant 3rd like this generation. The main reason for this is that between the lack of ram and the less powerful processor/video card, the Wii will need it's own developement team to even port titles from the other 2 consoles over. Specific developement just for the Wii will cost a lot of money. If the Wii falls too far behind, there just won't be many games outside of Nintendo's own titles.

 

[ppltd]

Ryan,

I can't find anything I disagree with you on. Thanks for eloborating.

 

[ppltd]

Actually, what I have read in the industry rags disputes some of what you state. Because of the similarity between the WII and the Gamecube, development is considerably easier, faster and less costly than development on either the PS3 or XBox. UBI Soft has a large quantity of games combing to the WII. As they stated, with the average cost of developing for the PS3 and XBox costing between 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 dollars, the WII development is coming in at half the price, in half the time.

Nintendo is banking on this fact, along with the fact that game systems are for playing games, and great graphics don't necessarily make for a good game. At the price point the WII sells for, they will be selling a lot of boxes and will be a force to contend with. I think, for the next year (or two, if Sony does not get a handle on the production problems), XBox, with it's new development tools being released at the end of the year (Game developers will be able to code for the 360 and easily port to Vista) and with a price reduction that is expected early 2007, MS will maintain it's lead, with the WII moving in to second place, where it now stands. Of course, I am not counting the PS2 into this equation.

 

[Ryan-G]

Nintendo's making a smart play.

They're not fighting for future control of media like Sony and MS. They know their future is assured, if one becomes dominant, they'll just turn to software development and continue to push insanely successfull titles/series like Mario(Everything), Zelda, Pokemon, and such. They'll probably also continue to develop innovate control schemes.

Nintendo knows that neither Sony nor Microsoft can touch the demographic it rules. When one or the other wins, Nintendo will just turn around and sell their services(And their demographic) to the winner.

 

[Shawn Perron]

The problem is that last I heard there were only 11 games that sold more then 1 million copies on the Game Cube worldwide.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Top-Selling-...:-1:LISTINGS:4

Super Smash Bros. Melee (4 million) Nintendo/1st party
Super Mario Sunshine (2.04 million) Nintendo/1st party
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (1.92 million) Nintendo/1st party
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (1.89 million) Nintendo/1st party
Luigi's Mansion (1.7 million) Nintendo/1st party
Metroid Prime (1.3 million) Nintendo/1st party
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (1.14 million) Sega/3rd party
Animal Crossing (1.02 million) Nintendo/1st party
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (1 million) Nintendo/1st party
Star Fox Adventures (1 million) Nintendo/Namco 1st/3rd party
Mario Party 4 (1 million) Nintendo/1st party

10 of these games are Nintendo IP. Only 1 third party made this list with it's own IP. Nintendo sold about 21 million Game Cubes world wide, which would mean that if you add the total numer of units on this list (18.01 million), less then 1 game was sold per console. Which means even for Nintendo, it's hard to sell on thier own console.

Nintendo chose to release Zelda at launch. While this is good for consumers since they want to play it, 3rd parties will lose a lot of money since most gamers will be buying Zelda instead of another title. Add to this that Nintendo gave a game away for free, and those consumers that bought Zelda now have 2 games to tide them over for a few weeks. If you are a 3rd party launch partner, you aren't going to be very happy when the sales numbers come back next month. Also money can be spent on old "virtual console" games instead of on new 3rd party games.

My whole point is that I don't see what the attraction will be for 3rd parties unless this console outsells the PS3. Develpoers can develop for both the PS3 and 360 with a minimal budget increase, while reaching a much larger portion of thier target audience. In order to develop for the Wii, they will have to have a seperate team with a budget that may not be justified when the final sales numbers are added up. You have to remember that all games are gambles, and if the market isn't large enough, even if the gamble pays off, it may not be enough money to interest smaller studios.

 

[BrianB]

It's true that Nintendo dominates its own platforms, but that chart is very wrong on sales, the number of titles that have sold over 1 million, and to base total platform sales & average sales per console based purely on that chart ignores the other 500 (just in the US) titles available for that machine.

 

[Shawn Perron]

I'm just talking about how profitable it's possible to be on the console on a per title basis. If your goal is to sell 1 million of a specific title on a Nintendo console, it's pretty much out of your reach as a 3rd party. Even Resident Evil 4, which was probably the best game released that year, did not clear 1 million units sold on the Game Cube. So it's not a matter of quality, it's just that the target demographic that the Game Cube is comprised of does not buy many 3rd party games.

Now we have stories like:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...readid=2183346

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6736203...7594385230468/

Companies releasing games on the Wii may be exposing themselves to possible lawsuits. They may be held liable for injuries that occur when players get injured during active games. It's just a matter of time before someone sustains a major injury during a more active game. If nothing else, they may have to pay for legal proceedings just to prove they are not liable. You know there are plenty of lawyers ready to jump on this.

 

[Richard Kim]

Actually, Nintendo has never stated that they would leave the console business. And why should they? While MS and Sony are hemmoraging money with the manufacturing costs of their systems, Nintendo is making a pretty hefty profit with the Wii systems.

BTW, this is veering off topic and this discussion should be moved to the Video Game Hardware section.