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Nintendo pushes back on Wii, DS price cuts

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

April 25, 2008, 11:19 AM

Nintendo said Friday it is confident in consumer demand for its two consoles, thus making a price cut unnecessary at least during 2008.

Both Sony and Microsoft have already cut prices on their current consoles in an effort to keep sales up. Nintendo has so far continually rebuffed calls to similarly cut prices for its own systems.

"Our earnings projection for the year is not based on hardware price cuts, and I don't think we are going to need them," a company spokesperson said.

Things may be slightly different for the company than it is for its competitors, however. Where Sony and Microsoft's hardware has been able to meet demand with an adequate supply, Nintendo generally has not.

Furthering the company's case, both Nintendo consoles sit comfortably at the top of their respective market segments. Add to this a company flush with cash -- on Thursday it announced a doubling of its profits -- and it begins to sound more like a cogent argument to continue riding this wave of good fortune for as long as they possibly can.

Nintendo says it expects to see continued success with the Wii during the year, selling some 25 million consoles worldwide during 2008. Production will also increase from 1.8 to 2.4 million consoles monthly, which could put an end to the shortages.

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By ladylust

posted Apr 28, 2008 - 3:56 AM

I have a Wii.. but its still all about the 360... PS3 sales have been higher lately then 360 but how many more millions has the 360 sold before ps3 was out?. The PS3 is just too far behind, it will always be the "other" game system.

Score: 0

By SlapShot

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 9:25 PM

Wii is still selling very well, no need for a price drop

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 2:30 PM

I'll buy one when the price starts dropping since i only want one for the old school games.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 7:10 PM

What kind of old school games? Arcade? Use MAME.

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 7:34 PM

Not the same playing them on the PC just doesn't feel right.

With the wii controller it's almost just like the old nes controllers when you have them sideways only bigger.

Normally I prefer PC gaming but for the old games like Contra Mega man and such I prefer to be as close as possible to how i used to play them as a kid.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 5:15 PM

No keyboard here. I-PAC board with custom built arcade controls from Happ, SlikStik, and a 3 inch Imperial trackball. It also has a light up Tron style trigger stick, 4 way with ball top joystick, a built in monitor and a single USB out.

Want to see a picture of it..... anyone......anyone......?

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 8:02 PM

Sounds like a sweet setup if you money and know how to do it.

You got pedals on it as well for some of the old racing games or better yet the machine gun(think it was an uzzi been a very long time)from the alien game.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 9:12 AM

I agree. MAME is a lot of fun on the computer, but having the games on the TV is better. I find myself playing a lot of old NES and SNES games. I have bought so many, i lost count.

A good game is a good game and some of those old NES and SNES games are among the best of all time.

Score: 0

By shy_one

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 8:07 PM

The N64 had few good games as well not to mention my favorite controllers of all time.

Played a few games on the gamecube but didn't think it was worth buying.

Score: 0

By Banquo

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 12:45 PM

The Wii is still in high demand, cutting prices would be foolish.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 12:10 PM

Price cut? For what? Wii is not competing with PS3 or Xbox. What's more important is, you still can't find a Wii on the shelf.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 11:47 AM

If demand is good at the current price, there is no need to reduce price if you want to maximise revenue. MS did say that demand was also high for the 360, but decided to lower prices. This was an effort, I feel, to keep the pressure on sony in the monthly sales.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 1:35 PM

M$ has been cutting prices as the Wii and PS3 have been consistantly outselling the M$ 360 worldwide.

No company would cut prices on a hot selling item.

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Apr 28, 2008 - 3:53 AM

360 has been out long before ps3... it has a base of users... ps3 is just beating the xbox 360 and it has been selling long before... pretty weak.

Score: 0

By Sexbarril

edited Apr 25, 2008 - 2:22 PM

Explain Sony cutting the price on the PS3. Must not be a hot selling item.

Or the fact that APple cut the price on the iPhone.

Was that not a hot selling item?

Your statement, as per the norm = fail.

Latz, SB

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

edited Apr 25, 2008 - 4:50 PM

Sony had to cut the price of the PS3 as it was not selling. Once they did cut it, it has been selling much better, beating the M$ 360 every month worldwide.

Apple did cut the price of the iPhone as its sales peaked earlier than they thought. And now, it is selling at an acceptable pace for them and dominating the consumer smart phone market.

Your statement, as per the norm = EPIC FAIL.

Latz, P to the D - squared

Score: 0

By terminalx

edited Apr 26, 2008 - 3:22 PM

Wow talk about being stupid...they cut the prices because the Itouch came out which was the same damn thing except for the phone part, it would have been stupid to try and sell it at those prices.

The ps3 still is not outselling the xbox360 yet, only place is in Japan, in the others field MS is still selling more, nice try though.

Also you do realize without the USA and its spending habits, most of these companies wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Hate on the USA all you want the fact remains we fuel other people's economies and their consumers alone wouldn't allow them to stay along forever.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 27, 2008 - 8:41 PM

hate to break it to you M$ fanboi, the M$ 360 has been getting outsold by the PS3 for quite some time.

http://www.vgchartz.com

The M$ 360 was rushed to market a full year+ earlier than the Wii and PS3. M$ got its teeth kicked in by the Wii and now the PS3 is gaining rapidly. Pretty sad when you can not win this generation with a full year headstart.

Hate to let facts get in the way, but Rest of World > USA

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Apr 28, 2008 - 7:29 AM

Once again you are a moron, I do not even own a xbox360 I own a ps3 but I can see that the xbox360 is better in almost all areas. The fact also remains that the xbox360 has been out now for 2 years and is still keeping up pretty well with the ps3 (despite its hardware issues)I agree MS did rush it but the ps2 was plagued with problems as well. Once the hardware issues are clearly resolved more people will pick up a xbox360. 20k for this week is not a huge margin of beating the leader in hd games race.

I wouldn't be surprised if next weeks sales shows more xbox360 as gta IV sold 400,000 more copies then the ps3 did.

Overaall - Others + USA = still greater then Sony PS3

Score: 0

By adento

posted Apr 27, 2008 - 3:02 AM

"The ps3 still is not outselling the xbox360 yet, only place is in Japan, in the others field MS is still selling more, nice try though."

Don't bother to argue with that kid. He's one of those Sony fans who thinks they can keep wishing and repeating something false over and over again, until it magically becomes reality. Yes, the PS3 is outselling the Xbox360 in Japan and it always will. No surprise there. But worldwide sales are a whole other story. The Xbox360 has been out a year longer than the PS3, yet it STILL outsells it month after month. No amount of repeating the opposite by Sony fans is going to change that.

Score: 0

By cescam66

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 8:23 PM

can you back up your data? please?? pinga

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 6:53 AM

sure.

http://www.vgchartz.com

http://www.australianit....,23591373-15306,00.html

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 5:01 PM

Nice spin there dingo

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 3:26 PM

Douchedingo will ignore that part of the equation since he hates MS.

People see all the $20 shovelware for the Wii and see a great price advantage over the competition. Then after a couple of months the Wii goes in the closet next to the gamecube, virtual boy and laser disk player. Simple people like the simple system. Heck as long as Nintendo can get people to buy their system might as well milk it for all its worth.

Score: 0

By nycborg

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 5:48 PM

What system doesn't have shovelware.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 9:20 AM

Don't mind him; He is just a M$ drone who routinely puts down everything that is not the M$ 360. He and the other M$ employees on here spew nonsense about the Wii all the time, like it does not sell software, and the only software it sells are $20 games. LOL.

They are just pissed because the Wii is dominating the M$ 360 in hardware and software sales, and now the PS3 is gaining rapidly on it. Typical childish fanboi's

http://arstechnica.com/n...-gaming-juggernaut.html

Nintendo wins this generation and it is not even close.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 28, 2008 - 11:46 AM

Maybe some day you will get past your hate and open your eyes to reality.

Once again I will point out that I have all three systems so I could care less who is selling more. Nintendo did a better job appealing to a broader audience good for them. The fact remains that you refuse to admit that the other two consoles also have very good games and are selling well.

I find it funny that the person posting childish statements is you and some how I am the child. What ever you say there. Your M$ posts are also very juvenile. But then again we expect nothing else from you.

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 3:25 PM

Don't mind Pit as long as it says MSFT on it he will spit the same thing over and over, have never read anyone else's comments and making stuff up so he feels better, as has been pointed out we all do not use MS products, we use what works best for US, sometimes its MS, sometimes its Sony, sometimes its Apple, sometimes its all three.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 26, 2008 - 12:41 PM

You are such a clueless twit it is beyond funny. If you look at what I have said in the past you will clearly see that once again you have no idea what you are talking about. So I am a mindless MS employee that says there are other systems that have more good games. Other systems is the part eldoucedingo misses. I have said before and I'll say it again there are others systems like the PS3 and the 360. Yup an MS employee saying the PS3 is also a fun system. You are such an idiot.

Once again I could care less that the Wii is selling well. The only one on Wii is king soap box is you, moron.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 25, 2008 - 8:11 PM

That is true but no where near as much as the Wii.

Score: 0

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