RSSNintendo Retracts One Million Wiis Promise, Outsells PS3 Anyway
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published December 8, 2006, 4:58 PM
In a press release this morning, Nintendo issued a correction to a statement made the day before, asking readers to disregard just one sentence. That sentence, however, may have been the critical one: a promise that one million Wii game consoles would be available in the US before the end of this year.
Therefore, disregard the following sentence: "Despite spot shortages in some locations, well more than a million Wii systems will be available in the United States by the end of the year." The other part of the disregarded sentence you should regard is the characterization of possible shortages as "spot."
Last July, suppliers of equipment for Nintendo told Taiwanese industry publications that they had been told to prepare to ship enough equipment to make one million Wii consoles available at launch. At the same time, the company was promising to make two million consoles available worldwide by the end of the year.
Based on the latest data released this afternoon by industry analysis firm NPD Group, an estimate of one million units produced might not have been inconceivable. Just since its launch three weeks ago, the Wii sold 476,000 units in the US alone. Worldwide data has yet to be tabulated, though when the final numbers are in, the company may very well have built more than one million units before the end of 2006. But whether one million units remain available after the holiday sales rush, may have been a tall order.
Something else Nintendo might have to think about retracting is its own sales estimates. The company previously boasted of selling close to 500,000 Wii consoles in the US during its first seven days. While NPD's tally remains impressive, the Wii did not outsell the Xbox 360.
For all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 launches, timed one week apart, they may have unwittingly ended up feeding Microsoft's plans. According to NPD's numbers, Xbox 360 sold 511,000 units in November, during a month that NPD vice president for industry analysis Stephen Baker described earlier this week as a strong month for consumer electronics in volume, dampened by lackluster revenues on account of steeper discounts.
"Consumers knew what they were looking for," Baker said in a prepared statement. "They came, they saw, they conquered, and they went home with basically what was on their lists and not much else."
One possible exception: PlayStation 3, which may have been on a multitude of lists of shoppers who went home with an Xbox 360. Only 197,000 PS3s were sold last month, according to NPD, suggesting that if retail sellouts are truly due to lack of availability, Sony shipped about half the number of units for North America that it had promised.
Microsoft did not expend much more revenue for games promotion than in a normal month, but walked away from November with almost 42% of console sales. Given an average software attach rate of 5 (up from 3 the previous year), Microsoft could potentially have generated close to $128 million in sales of games alone in the US during November.
Yesterday, Nintendo boasted a software attach rate of 2 for the Wii. This number, from a retailer's perspective, is not good; typically, the brass ring is set at 4.
If Wii's sales can truly be characterized as lower than anticipated, but good nonetheless, then any shortages seen between now and New Year's Day could very well be "spots." Surely, the folks at Nintendo have ways to work out their frustrations, hopefully without throwing their new remotes around.
In other remote news today, the gaming news site Kotaku reports that Interlink Electronics is taking Nintendo to court in Delaware for alleged patent infringement regarding its Wii wireless remote control device.
Court papers filed in US District Court neglected to specify what part of Interlink's patented device Nintendo's allegedly infringes upon, though drawings submitted with the petition show a extended barrel-like device twisted by a thumb over a hinge, which operates a switch inside a casing. A position-sensitive switch that detects movement by the user's hand, is also described.
I tried out the Wii at gamespot this past weekend and it sucks. Half the time it kept telling me to aim the controller at the screen when playing Zelda, but the controller was practically touching the screen. It was cumbersome to use and I can't imagine playing through the whole game with it.
The only game systems I have ever had are the nes, n64, and gamecube. But for this generation I am switching to the XBox 360. It looks like the best of the 3 systems.
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|you might have been too close. the reader isn't the scrreen itself, but a strip usually placed above.
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|"Outsells PS3 Anyway"
It's kinda obvious when way more Wiis were available compared to PS3s. Couldn't come up with a better headline?
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|"Sony Computer Entertainment America has admitted that day one shipment targets for PlayStation 3 were not met - but says all manufacturing problems have now been resolved.
According to an official statement from communications boss David Karraker, the company is still on track to ship one million PS3 consoles by the end of the year, with new stocks being supplied on a constant basis."
http://www.gamesindustry...tent_page.php?aid=21577
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|why do people buy this crap. mario games went to trash after mario 64. the only game this thing has going for it is zelda and metroid.. the power is xbox comparable. bah
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|I have had a 360 for about 8 months now, and I DO use it to stream TV and movies, to record TV and alot of other uses besides playing great games. anyone who buys one will learn all the other tricks this "Game machine" does in time. Since its conception, there have been alot of upgrades and new functions added that only a software giant like Microsoft can deliver. They are used to bringing a new product to market and backing it to be sure it remains viable and relative to a given market for some time, and expanding that market if need be. Their entry to this market has been the best thing to happen to gaming ever, I know, I have been a gamer since 1979 when I got my first Atari VCS. Their dedication to their products is something a hardware manufacturer is not used to at all. The normal "Build it, sell it, forget it" mentality is not theirs. This is why they upgrade the 360 when they feel it is necessary. Sony has NEVER been a good software company, and could NEVER beat MS in this reguard, I'm not sure theres a company out there who can. In summary I can say this, I have the 360. My brother has the PS3, Neither of us have a Wii ...(YET!) But over the last two weeks, My brother and his son have been "camped out" at my house playing Gears of War until I have to throw them both out!
The same can not be said of any of the PS3 titles so far, at least, not that we've seen as of yet!
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|Hey,
The PS3 finally broke the 400,000 barrier. Wasn't 400,000 the promised number of consoles for the release date?
Perhaps Mark or his clone will know. DaveBG has been silent or his bill to AOL hasn't been paid.
Here's some great links
www.thedvdwars.com
www.nexgenwars.com
www.gamesystemwars.com
www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com
Did you ever notice that HD-DVD actually contains the abbreviation for "high definition" in the name they chose to represent the format. And the tag line for HD-DVD contains the word "perfect".
Strange, since Blu-Ray can't spell the word "blue" correctly. Isn't their tag line "The look and sound of disinformation through large retail chains like Best Buy"?
I think I read that somewhere.
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|"Strange, since Blu-Ray can't spell the word "blue" correctly."
According to the Blu-ray Disc Association the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not a mistake, the character "e" was intentionally left out so the term could be registered as a trademark.
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|Because Amazon is an accurate scale for format sales charts. Riiight.
And nextgenwars.com never works. Do you just copy and paste without thought?
You're as bad as DaveBG and the others.
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|Either way, it's still spelled incorrectly.
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|Hollywood__, haven`t you seen the latest news?
HD DVD is dead. Only you and some fanboys still dont know it.
They are pulling it off the shelves. In Japan no one cares about it months ago...
Better start being used to it...
And dont try to say that @ thedvdwars.com some fanboy made different charts because he has already excused that his data is way off.
"I realized, after looking/searching on Amazon, that my site was missing quite a few blu-ray titles. I made an update, and now the number of buyable blu-ray titles is very close to the number of buyable hd-dvd titles."
And some more.
Check out the graph on Google searches on the dvdwars site then here the official Google stats:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Blu-ray%2CHD-DVD
And more:
The last studio exclusively supporting HD DVD maybe jumping ship!
Many users report that in Japan they have bought Blu-ray movies from Universal!
user1 wrote:
Cinderella Man a Universal movie on Blu-ray in Japan
user2 wrote:
U-571 is another Universal title coming to BD in other regions.
And someone posted a link to Amazon.jp for proof!
http://tinyurl.com/ygjsyn
Some nice links to help you decide which format is better!
http://video.movies.go.com/bluray/ - Buena Vista Home Entertainment
http://foxbd.com/ - Twentieth Century Fox
http://www.disneybluray.com/ - Disney Blu-ray
http://www.playb3yond.com/ - Play Station 3
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/ - Official Blu-ray site
http://blogs.zdnet.com/blu-ray/ - Official Blu-ray blog
http://forum.blu-ray.com/ - The Blu-ray forums
I dont care about the Wii or whatever it is!
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|Its a trade mark. It does not need to be written in the same way as something else (which in this case its the color of the ray)...
Its like if you say that Blue is spelled incorrectly because its should be like Blu-ray LOL!
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|All I saw was hey look I can spout out crap as fact har har har. Then I can post links to some *Sony* websites to *help* you decide better *wink*.
Everything you just posted is nothing but a bunch of hot air.
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|Which one of those is a Sony site except http://www.playb3yond.com/ ?
Is Amazon.jp = SONY ?
Is Google = SONY ?
Is FOX = SONY ?
Is Disney = SONY ?
LOL
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|Which one doesn't have a stake in Blu-Ray or depend on it?
LOL
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|OK, I admit, HD-DVD is dead, lets not dwell on the subject, lets move on..
I already own a Blu-Ray player, and it's quality is awesome...
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|XBox360 is already mature in the market, so customers are familiar with the choice to buy it or not, where as Wii is still to get through to the market-minds.
Also the 360 is a media player. Many poeple buy the xbox and xbox360 to stream media from their home computer system.
The only problem I can see for the Wii is software. There is not enough specific Wii-titles to make this machine a long term success. Nintendo really need to start cranking them out, and to get much more 3rd party developers, onboard.
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|The Xbox360 is a gaming system. It may have Media Play capabilities, but not as many tap into this compared to how many just use it for gaming.
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|I got the 360 thinking I'd be able to get more into gaming now that I graduate college. But as it turns out, I'm not much of a gamer. I the 360 mostly for watching DVDs and quick arcade games. I was considering getting the HD-DVD add-on this weekend, but it was sold out at my local best buy. They picked out a good variety of TV shows on the Marketplace for download. The right genre for people who buy 360s. And a decent movie selection. I just don't have enough room on my hard drive to download them since I've downloaded a bunch of demos already. I think I could use an external USB drive, but I haven't tried it.
The 360 has become one of the most versatile elements in the home media environment, even if people don't use all that is available to them.
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|Nintendo Retracts One Million Wiis Promise
Sony Reasserts Commitment to Ship 1 Million PS3s in 2006
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/750/750191p1.html
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|The whole article seems to be biased towards Microsoft, as opposed to against Sony or Nintendo. The Xbox 360 was released a year ago, so before November it got 100% of each month. The PS3 was released Nov 19th and the Wii on Nov 21st. So the fair comparison should be made between Nov 19th and Nov 30th (or today), although being sold out puts a system at a disadvantage.
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|The point is the Xbox 360 sold more over the holiday period thus far, not in total. However, much of that likely was because nobody could actually find a Wii or PS3.
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|"However, much of that likely was because nobody could actually find a Wii or PS3."
While this may be true, why are the PS3 fans no longer willing to wait for their console? I remember back before the PS3 was released, a lot of the hardcore fans were touting the fact that most people who want a PS3 will not settle for an Xbox360. Not then, not ever. What has changed? I mean, people who wanted an Xbox360, had about a year to get one. Why is the Xbox360 still the best seller when two new consoles are finally released? Even if there are no PS3s/Wiis to be had right now, you would think the Sony/Nintendo supporters would hold off a little while longer to get one. I guess we could blame it on the holiday season, but it makes you wonder. :)
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|Gears of War perhaps? I know I've convinced 3 friends to buy a 360 just for this game. I'm sure theres plenty more out there with the same story.
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|Who's saying the PS3 and WII fans are not holding out? XBox360 sales seem not have have increased above the seasonable average, thus it seems most people are willing to wait for their console of choice, rather than getting 2nd best..
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|My friend, you could not even BE more right. When you play Gears, Play it two player, And then online with 7 other people head to head - There is NOTHING at all else like it! This one game shows off not only the power of the console and the fact it has more "available memory" than the PS3, but the great job MS has done in ASSEMBLING an awesome online community,(not just letting the game company kind of "put one together" for their respective games...) really shines through. this game can be played for a very long time, Simply because the plot changes with every new game played. If your not familiar, you can talk to your team mates to plan strategy - Until one of you die, then your taken out of the loop, You can however talk to the other DEAD players on BOTH teams, till the next game begins!
This foresite and delivery are matched by nobody, Xbox live is alone in the world. This combined with their large library of online enabled games is what gives their games the "Afterlife" online that NO other company has delivered to date. And, in my opinion, to make all my games fun to play after the single player campaign has been achieved for a small fee per month - Quite a bargain, you actually DO get what you pay for...Free is not always better...
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|"Yesterday, Nintendo boasted a software attach rate of 2 for the Wii. This number, from a retailer's perspective, is not good; typically, the brass ring is set at 4."
Hey I bought Twilight Princess and I don't even HAVE a Wii yet (can't find one). That's a personal attach rate of infinity right there.
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|"Outsells PS3 Anyway"?
How utterly irrelevant and biased.
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|While I agree that this article does appear to be biased against Sony--that statement was just worded in a way to grab people's attention to it--hence, never read just the headline without the article as they are almost always biased by themselves.
The bias that I see is from looking at the big picture: it basically says XBox 360 beat everybody, and although the Wii didn't meet expectations, it still did better than the Sony PS3.
However, it is hard not to be biased against Sony as I have read more news about the PS3 from them that was incorrect than is correct, between the 2005 holiday release, Spring 2006 release, "only console with true high definition", "there will only be one version released, not a premium and a basic", all of those "we are waiting to release the PS3 so that we can have more than sufficient quantity available at release", and now the "We will have 300,000 available in the US before 2007".
Yes, my quotes are not exact, and I do not claim that they are--but I only have so much time to waste digging up dirt on Sony today, and most of you remember something about these broken promises.
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|Oh this is true, I remember some of those. I also remember how they called the 360 "Xbox 1.5" and said something like "we will decide when the next-gen begins"
Oh and don't forget "people will buy the PS3 even if it doesn't have any games for it" or whatever he said. I also don't have time right now to dig up exact quotes, but I do remember those!
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|"Oh and don't forget "people will buy the PS3 even if it doesn't have any games for it" or whatever he said."
So far, they're right.
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