Posted on 05/21/2007 9:22:25 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
Wii on winning spree, scores fourth consecutive win over rivals by Shubha Krishnappa - May 19, 2007 - 2 comments
Among the trio of next generation gaming consoles, Nintendo has emerged as the numero uno in April for the fourth consecutive month after selling 360,000 of the popular video game devices in the United States, repeatedly outshining both its rivals Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the US video game consoles market.
After attaining the top position in the first three months of the year, Nintendo has once again performed exceptionally well by selling nearly four times as many Wiis as Sony sold PlayStation 3s and more than twice as many as Microsoft did Xbox 360s, a market research firm, NPD Group Inc. said.
According to fresh sales results provided by NPD, US gamers bought 360,000 units of the wii console last month, making it the best-selling video game console in the country.
The more-powerful systems, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 lagged behind in the fierce battle for dominance in the booming gaming consoles market by moving 82,000 and 174,000 units, respectively.
Nintendo sold 436,000 Wii video game consoles in January, while Xbox 360 sold 294,000 and Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 244,000 units.
In February, US gamers bought 335,000 Wii consoles and 228,000 of Microsoft's Xbox 360, while Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles managed 127,000 units.
In March, Nintendo shipped 259,000 Wii video game consoles, while Microsoft and Sony managed 199,000 and 130,000 units, respectively.
In the hand-held category, Nintendo DS remained the most popular game system of any kind in April, with impressive sales of 471,000 units, ahead of PlayStation Portable, or PSP, with 183,000 units. Nintendo DS is a portable game player that is still selling briskly more than two years after its introduction.
Although, Sony's last-generation PlayStation 2 has outshined Xbox 360 in April by selling 194,000 units, but compared to its last three months’ sales data PS2 did not do well this month.
Sony's 7-year-old gaming console moved 299,000 machines in January 295,000 in February and 280,000 units in March.
After reigning as the champ of hardware sales in United States, Nintendo ruled the software game charts too, with the top four best-selling games belonging to the company.
Games for Nintendo DS, took the top two spots, followed by two games for the Wii.
The four Nintendo titles are: ‘Pokemon Diamond’ and ‘Pokemon Pearl’ for the DS that sold 1.04 million and 712,000 units respectively. ‘Super Paper Mario’ for the Wii came in third with 352,000 games sold in April, while ‘Wii Play With Remote’ recorded 249,000 sales during the month.
"Nothing is more valuable in the entertainment world than an evergreen franchise," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO, Nintendo of America. "These new Pokémon titles have cemented their place alongside the most enduring intellectual properties of the book, music and movie industries. And that appeal will expand even further with the introduction of Pokémon Battle Revolution to our Wii home console next month."
The overall market of video game hardware and software came up with booming results.
Total U.S. sales of video games and hardware reached $838.6 million, a 20% increase from April 2006 ($699 million), according to figures sent Friday from the NPD Group.
However, the sales were down from $1.1 billion in March.
After observing the fresh NPD sales data, it seems that consumers still reacting well to lower cost consoles. Launched in November last year, Nintendo’s Wii console retails for $US250, while PS2 costs only $129.
Xbox 360 and the PS3 start at $299 and $599, respectively, while their high-end versions are priced at $US400 and $US600, respectively.
Besides Nintendo console's U.S. price, which is just half the cost of the least-expensive version of PS3, its motion-sensitive controller that has been popular with mainstream gamers as well as new audiences like senior citizens and very young children has helped build buzz for the machine, and made it more appealing to some consumers.
The three companies are locked in a fierce battle for dominance in the $13 billion U.S. video game market.
Our kids play “Dance Dance Revolution” for the Xbox. Talk about aerobic exercise! They love it! For their birthdays a couple of years ago, we sprang for the hard surface DDR pads, which can take a LOT of use.
Yea, kind of sad when you find out the guy who invented that game basically didn’t get squat from it.
They recognize that children are a big market. The game systems going into the McDonalds are Gamecube based, and the DS is the standard at the local elementary school. I can see replacing the Cube with a Wii, but no way am I going to spring for $600 for a Sony.
I believe its because it is now owned soley by VIACOM (Yep the creators of MTV, VHI, BET, CMT, SPIKE, NICK and CBS). Most of which is the most Trashy TRASH on TV Today.
I still can’t figure out why some publisher hasn’t released like the entire 2600 catalog on a disk for the modern consoles.
Would cost them pennies to make, and I’m sure would sell.
Write the emulator, and just have the roms on there.
Even if it sold for $5 or $10 would still make a fortune.
Same thing with the Commodore 64 stuff... would have loved to see the Wii VC support that! So many old games, 10,000 games or something like that released for that machine over the years....
I think someone with retail power begs to differ. With Wal Mart going this way, it is only a matter of time before Blu-Ray goes the way of the Mastadon, as HDDVD has a greater chance to get in the consumer's hands than does Blu Ray. I agree that Blu Ray is superior technology, but HDDVD is cheaper to make, AND it being exclusive at the Nation/World 's largest retailer, doesn't hurt either.
Sony has screwed up again with their flawed marketing of:
BetamaxMiniDiskMemStick
BluRay
Many older games are available in one form or another. What I hate are the arcade games -- they bring back the 90s stuff I never played and ignore the heydays of the 80s when the stuff really took off.
Wal Mar thas Blu Ray as well, and yes Blu Ray is more expensive.... but its also far superior.
Check ou that $200 HD-DVD... it can’t do 1080p.
I have not bought an HD TV yet because I will settle for nothing less than 1080p... not 1080i, not 720p, 1080P.... And when I do, I won’t be settling for movies that won’t play at that format either.
Americans by and large are holding off buying HD players, until the format war cleans itself up. More studios are releasing Blue Ray, PS3 has given 3 Million installed units around europe the world, etc.
Wal Mart cannot create a market, as much as they want to. All research states US consumers are by and large sitting this battle out, waiting to see who wins Europe before investing in the technology.
Exactly
MAME is out there, and can play nearly every video game made now.... Why Nintendo didn’t persue that route with its VC is interesting to me as well.
Play the original roms on your system... beautiful.
The Wii is being bought by a lot of people who ordinarily would not buy a game system. People 60+ are snapping them up as something to do when company comes over.
PC gamer here, too. I have a PS2, but I play it when I’m using a treadmill or bike machine. The consoles are nice and all, but the great games for those come out for PC eventually. (FF VII, Halo, etc.) If I did pick up a console for this generation, though, it would be a Wii just because it’s a lot of fun with a group. It’s hard finding a good group game for the Playstation or XBox, but the Wii has dozens of them.
lmao, oh yes they can.
Uh, no they can’t. They can create exposure, but they do not control supply and demand in the marketplace.... I know that is their desire, but they don’t... if they could, you’d never see thta “clearance” basket in the middle of the isle of stuff they bought that they thought would sell, but didn’t.
Now that 1080p is getting cheaper, it might be worth getting—but my understanding is that no channels will be broadcasting in 1080p because of bandwidth issues, so the only things that you will actually see in 1080p on your television will be from pieces of hardware that you will be able to plug into your television.
I think it will be interesting to see if manufacturers will continue to make 720p television sets. If they are a good value, as they are now (around half the price), seems to me like that might be the better buy.
Sure they can. Manipulating the markets for every possible type of good sold is what they do. It’s all they do. You’re kidding yourself if you believe otherwise.
I do agree with your points on waiting out the HD war. I don’t want to settle for a half-solution that is wipped out in less than a decade either. However, what the Euro’s do won’t mean crap to me.
I rarely watch TV, only have basic Cable, and I mean BASIC 12 channels, and now that I live on top of a mountain instead of in a valley I may drop that.
When I watch a movie, if I have a 1080P I will want to watch in 1080P... HD-DVD should have Died, MS threw its weight behind it at the last minute to try to hurt Sony in the console arena....
When I do get my 1080P, I will probably buy a PS3, since it is the cheapest Blue Ray on the market, and it also plays games.
We got our Wii right before Christmas. After the initial excitement, the kids haven’t turned it on since February.
What I am wondering is why the heck did MS put all this DRM crap into Vista? I thought it was at the behest of Sony and the RIAA.
Why help your competitor, Sony, if you should be able to deduce that the bloated DRM garbage is going to drive a measureable percentage of your customer base away? In other words, what the heck did MS gain with DRM, when it appears DRM is going to be an ongoing issue as the PC industry evolves?
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