Nintendo Wii and DS, crushed competitors in 2007

Posted by Wayde || 01/22/2008 - 10:54 || 21 comments

Shortages didn't stop Nintendo from kicking major D-pad in 2007. The Japanese games manufacturer that many discounted for dead two years ago has emerged from the depths of the Earth fully grown into the 60-foot radioactive monster of game consoles.

Reports of Nintendo's gaming domination are coming in from all over the world.

Canada

Nintendo Wii and DS were declared their category's No. 1 gaming devices in Canada where Nintendo moved more units than Xbox 360, PlayStation3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation2 combined.

Australia

Nintendo was crowned the 2007 console king in Australia where demand for video games grew by 50-percent over the previous year.

Japan

A nationwide survey was run by a Japanese product search site, Kakaku.com, between December 25, 2007, and January 8, 2008. The result shows Nintendo DS and Wii are Japan's most played and most preferred gaming systems.

United States

Industry analysts at NPD Group say Nintendo had a huge month last December overcoming worldwide shortages of its Wii console Nintendo to rise above competition.

For December 2007, Wii sold 1.35 million consoles in the US, just beating out second-place contender Xbox 360 at 1.26 million and demolishing Sony's 797,600 PS3 sales.

For the year, NPD Group said Nintendo sold 6.3 million Wii consoles in 2007, beating out Microsoft's 4.6 million sales of Xbox 360s.

Sadly, Sony only posted an embarrassing 2.6 million PS3 sales for 2007. Heads are sure to roll over at Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated.

Why?

Nintendo gained attention with its clever Wii-mote driven game console. It opened gaming to a new demographic of casual gamers that include heads of state and moms who don't mind if their kid smashes the television with cheap Wii-mote add-ons.

Will these new gamers continue playing Wii through 2008? It'll be interesting to see if the Wii-mote is just the 21^st Century's answer to the hula-hoop.

too much fun?

But Nintendo took advantage of one other important element - the competition's incompetence.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 overheating problems have given that console a bad reputation. Microsoft needed to engineer more fault tolerance into its Xbox 360 before it shipped. But bowed to pressure to beat Sony to market.

What can be said about Sony's sad, sad little PS3? It's truly a technological marvel with everything a gamer could want and a lot of stuff he doesn't.

This strategy may work for Sony in the long term. It's possible that 2008 or even 2009 will be the year of the PS3 when Wii and Xbox 360 might start showing their age.

However, one thing that couldn't have been in Sony's playbook is a dismal lack of games.

There are no marquee PS3 exclusives. You know, the kind of games that force you to go buy the console just to play that game. PS3 needs a Halo in 2008. But until then it'll sit in the sales basement.

KengoFor Sony's dishonor and its lack of interesting games, Kengo: Master of Bushido will fall upon his Wakizashi.

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Comments

Shadow writes:

I agree with this article completely. I've had a Wii now for about 8 months and it's absolutely incredible. I have completely ignored my PS2 over the times I've played my Wii. Also, it brought my family much closer together. This fall, my grandparents have decided to buy a Wii for themselves. It's not only great fun with that Wiimote, but also good exercise. The price is VERY reasonable comparing to the prices of the PS3. The Wii is a great family, and all out, gamer console out there. Wii would like to play!!

nasyvyzq writes:

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Frost writes:

Sony completely forgot about why people play video games in the first place: to have FUN! The XBox and 360 have some of the best (if not THE best) online communities out there with XBox Live. The ability to talk to someone and lay some verbal smackage can be fun if you're doing it with friends. Nintendo did the same thing but locally with the Wii making it the ultimate party console. With the innovative control schemes, ANYONE can play including people in rehab centers working on their motor skills, to seniors in elderly care homes. EVERYONE enjoys a fun time. PS3 seemed more labelled as an uber high tech device for those of us with more money to spend than brains. It's a great technical device but it just isn't cutting it on games or anything gaming related. Graphics only go so far. Heck, I'd still play Wii Tennis over anything PS3 has in terms of Tennis. PS3 may do some catch up with lower prices (and that Bluray is winning the DVD battle) but until the games library picks up, it's nowhere on my shopping list.

Timber writes:

I Like the nintendo wii.....

bruce erikdson writes:

Having the Wi in our home since Christmas has made a lot of bonding between my children and good old mom and dad...we have the Wi Hour, lol every night before bedtime and the house has never had so much laughter and good times. Of course when the little one's are in bed fast asleep, I oftentimes try to beat Tiger at his game..lol..rats and mice!

Wayde writes:

Thanks for sharing that story Bruce. I'm sure that's exactly what Nintendo had in mind when they developed Wii. That's all video games are REALLY about anyway - having fun.

A family that games together - curses and swears together ;)

Gizmo n00b writes:

I've been a gamer for more than 20 years and why have I've been playing for such a long time? GAMEPLAY! I'm not for the eye candy, and thats why I feel the Wii gonna keep the sells up high and always be on top! Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the 360 and PS3, but the Wii is just so fun to play! Innovation always wins and thats what Nintendo always do! Don't forget they were the one that created the D-pad!!!

Gizmo n00b writes:

WTF

Derf writes:

What held back the PS3 was blu-ray, period. It caused the PS3 to ship much later than it could have, and made it much more expensive. All for a feature which doesn't really improve the gaming experience in any way.

It's all part of Sony's big gamble, hobbling the PS3 in so many ways in order to gain an advantage in the HD format war. It's starting to look like they won their gamble.

I doubted Sony a whole lot over the past two years, but now I'm beginning to think that in the long term this machine will be very successful. One day we'll have to come to terms with the fact that its designers really did have vission.

BadLag writes:

I have owned many game consoles and now have a PS3 for a year...I did buy it for games, the Blue Ray player was a bonus but since then I have discovered this box is the best device I have owned ever, bar none. As the updates are done to the PS3 the capabilities are increased...I have installed YellowDog Linux on it as an alternate OS, I can stream all media from my XP machine with MediaPlayer 11 to the PS3, I can surf the web (a bit clunky interface), there are plenty of demo games and movie/game trailers, and more coming down the road such as Playstation Home (similar to SecondLife) PS3 TV as an addon...I can access the PS3 from any wireless network with my PSP to access the media from either the hard drive or from my XP Box,using Remote Play, so as I said, this is a VERY cool device

Fortin writes:

We had a game day at work on Dec 24th, we got 2 Xboxes and 2 Wii's set up and people came from other dept's to come see/play as well during the day (no one we knew owned a PS3). The Xbox's has Halo 3 going on them, but even from the start never got more than 5 players (out of 8 controllers) going and for the last 2 hours we had them shut off because no one was playing them. People were having as much fun watching people prance around playing the Wii's as they were being the players and the Wii's had huge crowds around them all day. Even some of the exec's came to try the Wii and everyone was laughing and having a great time. At home my wife would never play a game where to do something she had to memorize button combinations and "button mash" her way through a game - but she loves playing the Wii and I admit I don't know if I can go back to button mashing for games myself - it suddenly seems so obsolete compared to just doing the natural motion with the Wiimote and really getting into the games. I just wish the graphics and online play/downloadable content could improve on the Wii's - but they are still the best thing out there and the sales show it.

Gizmo n00b writes:

Is Final Fantasy XIII still PS3-exclusive? That title should help Sony.

Intelliplayer writes:

The Wii is simply an innovation is the console industry that has attracted an array of players of various ages. When one sees these consoles in Retirement Homes you have to applaud the innovative design that enables players of any age to enjoy the games. Having said that the library for Wii is not near that of XBOX, albeit a year older than the Wii yet still staggering more deep in variety. As more titles are produced (can you imagine playing EA Sports NHL 2009 and body checking a player with your Wii remote?) the system will pull further away from the competition in its demographic audience. SONY came too hard and too late to the game with a price point that proves to be a loss for the maker yet they will recover with the deep pockets that they have.

Gizmo n00b writes:

^^dude is rich

Shigeru writes:

Actually, the PS3 does not need exclusives to succeed. Even with system-wide titles, there are incentives to play the game on the PS3 rather than its competitors. A good example obviously is its stronger graphics, though this may not be a strong reason against the 360. One that is, however, is free online.

William writes:

If you really think that the PS3 can win without any exclusive titles then you are living in a fantasy world. What made the PS and PS2 so dominant on the market was theyre massive numbers of good exclusive games. If the PS3 cannot release any big exclusives they will never catch up to the 360, but they can't only get a fewé You say stronger graphics? From what I've seen in screenshots of the same game, I haven't seen much higher quality on the PS3. In fact I have found that some of the 360 graphics, for certain games, are even better then theyre counterparts. Your other reason, free online on the PS3, isn't that tough too. I'm sorry but if they continue with the same perfomances from the online service that the PS2 had, I'm not even afraid of the competition. Microsoft's Xbox Live has now reached over 10 Million subcribers, wich I'm almsot sure Sony will never reach. I'm sorry but the 360 and Wii are the future until the PS3 can release any killer apps, like the next Metal Gear Solid game(wich has been delayed), to survive this consoles war.

Will.i.am writes:

It's funny to see people, mainly Xbox freaks, still talking about the "graphics" between any of the three machines. You're deeply behind the rest of everyone else if you haven't noticed Microsoft bribes. Hmmm... didn't they give Rockstar Games 50 million dollars to make two pathetic add ons exclusive? What a bunch of saps. The game that was meant to be played on the PS consoles is now being diluted by Microsoft. Go figure. Oh, and at the last E3, they were arrogant enough to say that 2004's best selling games were GTA: SA, Madden NFL and Halo 2. I don't argue with the last two but didn't GTA: SA come out on the PS2 and sold 12 million copies to date compared to the Xbox selling *cough*less than a million*cough* copies? It also didn't come out until seven months after the PS2 version. They trick the 15 year old teens with zits all over their body because they know they can. Oh and I'm not going to be a loser and say I'm no fanboy because I own all three consoles. I only own the PS3 and it's served me well. If you consider me a fanboy, so be it.

Vik writes:

Price beats all...PS3 only started to sell after slashing prices.

Rv4Gez writes:

You forgot to mention that PS3 is the BEST blu-ray player on hte market right now! How can you do a story like that and not even mention PS3 is the best Blu-ray player? Wii-fanbois always bend everything their way!

Ubando writes:

Best bluray player? Your comparing apples and oranges. Like its already been said, this is an article about consoles, not about movie players. You cant make up the numbers. Sony had a terrible year. What good is hardware, when you got nothing to play on that hardware. Wow, I can play bluray movies, and the handful of games available for PS3. Xbox had a decent year because of the hundreds of games available for it. Not to mention the huge hype around Halo3. Wii outsold the rest because it has found a new gaming demographic. Sony-fanbois always whine when they hear the truth about thier beloved 500$ console.

Justin writes:

Ha, your funny. Sure the PS3 has blu-ray and admittedly i bought one for that feature. But this article was about gaming not movies. I personally own all 3 systems, I love the xbox and wii; the wii because its hilarious fun, and the xbox because it has media center, a lot of great hardcore games and the 'best' online community, The ps3 is there to play movies, nothing more.

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