So what do people think the chances of WiiFit eventually outselling the PS3 in the US are?
Mmmm.... nah. It may come within the ballpark, but the only reason it did it in Japan so fast is because PS3 sales are crap there. There's been a decent enough number of PS3s sold (and still selling) that I think it'll keep ahea.
Your consoles are too expensive to meet the sales targets you think they should be meeting.
Reduce their price and the sales will increase.
Sincerely,
Your key demographics.
Don't you own both a 360 and PS3?
And a Wii too.
But while my Wii gets maybe less than 10% of my total game playing time, it was the easiest purchase decision because its so fucking cheap.
You cant ever impulse buy a PS3 or a 360. I got a 360 on European launch (still working today after 3 RROD near misses) and a PS3 last christmas. Both purchases were thought out for a while and the only real reason I have both is because I am the hardest of hardcore gamer.
I bought my Wii as a complete impulse buy while out shopping for something else.
I have no doubt if the 360 or the PS3 were say, 100 dollars cheaper they would have much improved sales, not just short term because of a price drop but sustained sales increases.
They are just too expensive to sell to a large proportion of the market. The market the Wii is raping face with.
Price has and will always be the first and most important barrier to entry. We have been saying that for the last 5 years.
Microsoft will have to design the Xbox 720 to be much cheaper, I expect something akin to the Wii, not in control perhaps but building on the same kind of hardware platform as the 360. Dont know what Sony can do with so many of their eggs in the PS3 basket for their 10 year plan.
Gaming is all just too expensive for the people these companies are trying to sell to. I know so many people who WANT to play games and own all of these consoles but cant afford it. And they arent poor. Its just a purchase they cant justify for circa $700
I am an unmarried 20-something male who earns enough to have a gaming hobby - basically the ideal demographic. I own a Wii and desire to buy another console, but cannot justify paying as much as they are asking for either console right now. A price drop, while perhaps not causing me to purchase immediately, would eventually (once I deemed that I have enough in my slush fund again - been travelling a lot lately) cause me to purchase one.
Also, this whole 'multiple SKUs' thing pisses me the hell off, and I'm considering the first tier which has all functionality, but perhaps not some of the features (ie, having a hard drive is functionality, having an obscenely huge hard drive is a feature) to be the "price." Get that into range and we'll talk.
I was going to write the exact same thing. Clearly you are me in some alternate dimension. I'll add that I probably would have purchased a PS3 at $400 with a small hard drive and PSOne/PS2 hardware back compat. I would buy a 360 at $350 with a small hard drive and a BluRay player (which doesn't look like it will ever happen). As someone with a Wii and a modest gaming PC, neither "next-gen" console offers enough to me at their current price and feature set.
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited June 2008
I think the problem with one of their key demographic(Males 18-25) are usually too busy playing for college and trying to get a job that doesn't pay like crap.
Like it's been said...I would be more than happy to buy a PS3 right now(Already have a 360 and a Wii) but...I got those as gifts and even though I like the PS3 I can't justify buying it until it's at least $250-300
Although the company has avoided a significant price reduction of the Xbox 360 since release in late 2005, analysts and industry watchers expect a cut in time for the Christmas period.
"We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks," said Hufford, speaking to Bloomberg.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believes the PS3 and Xbox 360 must be priced at $199 within the next two years in order to obtain mass appeal. Speaking with Reuters, he believes the Wii has set a standard of expectation and that consumers notice price over tech specs. He goes on to say that "all will need to be at that $199 price point" in the next two years and that the Wii will likely drop to $129 within a "few years."
"The $199 price point for PlayStation 2 has always been part of Sony Computer Entertainment America's strategy to bring the world's leading computer entertainment system to the broadest audience," said Kaz Hirai, president and chief operating officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
It's our goal, and it's always been our goal, to reach beyond the core audience to the outskirts of the mass-market audience, and to supercede our own business goals. We are tracking 2.5 to 3 times better sales with PS2 than we were relative to this point in time with PlayStation, and we feel that a $100 reduction is where we need to be now and for the foreseeable future.
They all know that's the price-point to be at but for some reason they're just letting Nintendo sit right there, plugging away at the mass market. The PS2 had 30 million sales before the price hit the magic level, the other 90 million came after it was $199. People can argue value for dollar, inflation, whatever they want but 200 bucks is the price the masses have settled on for buying video games systems.
With gas going over 4 dollars on the national average, for the first time ever, and the consumer confidence index continuing to drop I have to wonder if both Sony and Microsoft have already missed the boat. The reality is that the Wii has cemented itself in American pop culture as the system to buy this generation. So for all those families who can only afford one system for their kids it won't matter how much the price drops, the Wii is king.
That is why GTA4 didn't boost hardware sales. The gamers will buy one or the other but everyone else is too busy trying to still be able to afford their lifestyles. Lifestyles that right now do not include HD gaming.
I think it's not a pure price-point thing per se---if it was purely about price I don't think we'd have so many people who buy a Wii, three games, and an extra controller + nunchuk.
Which puts it at $400ish, but you get 4 games (including Wii Sports) and that extra controller out of the deal.
$400ish gets you a 360 and 1 game or a Gold account, or just a PS3. That definitely hurts those systems.
If the Wii didn't have waggle, it would absolutely be seen as a "cheap, goofy system" or "Gamecube 2.0" and that Nintendo wasn't being serious. So I agree that waggle does amazing things for the Wii, and that, in combination with the price point, makes for runaway sales. If it was $400, I'm sure people would be less interested -- as people have pointed out in this thread and previous ones, people are surprised by the low price and that increases sales.
With gas going over 4 dollars on the national average, for the first time ever, and the consumer confidence index continuing to drop I have to wonder if both Sony and Microsoft have already missed the boat. The reality is that the Wii has cemented itself in American pop culture as the system to buy this generation. So for all those families who can only afford one system for their kids it won't matter how much the price drops, the Wii is king.
That is why GTA4 didn't boost hardware sales. The gamers will buy one or the other but everyone else is too busy trying to still be able to afford their lifestyles. Lifestyles that right now do not include HD gaming.
With gas going over 4 dollars on the national average, for the first time ever, and the consumer confidence index continuing to drop I have to wonder if both Sony and Microsoft have already missed the boat. The reality is that the Wii has cemented itself in American pop culture as the system to buy this generation. So for all those families who can only afford one system for their kids it won't matter how much the price drops, the Wii is king.
That is why GTA4 didn't boost hardware sales. The gamers will buy one or the other but everyone else is too busy trying to still be able to afford their lifestyles. Lifestyles that right now do not include HD gaming.
Though the Wii already had a strong grip on the overall mindshare before the economy tanked. The recession has just accelerated it, since the consumer confidence freakout makes a $400 console out of the question, but they just might be able to swing by with a $250 one.
Yeah the high prices are definitely hurting the 360/ps3. Glad I got my 60G ps3 for $350. ($150 credit with sony card) Its actually a pretty awesome value considering what it does for only $100 more than a wii I was able to replace my ps2, dvd player and oXboxMediaCenter as well as play blu-rays and ps3 games. It all depends on how you look at it.
But the problem is most people don't know about or use most of the media functions, they just want to play a game which is why Nintendo is making $$$^10. Which is kind of funny when you consider the fact that the Japanese will pay huge amounts of money for a cell phone that does stuff they'll never use, but are reluctant to shell out cash for a ps3.
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
There might be more people bailing from ESA (the dudes who run E3):
The Entertainment Software Association has hit a rocky patch of late. Beginning with soon-to-be merged megapublishers Activision and Vivendi leaving the representative body in May, the ESA has seen two more high-profile departures, LucasArts and id Software.
A variety of reasons have been cited for the string of departures, including a substantial spike in membership dues to reclaim lost revenue from the downsizing of the ESA-run Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2006. There have also been claims of questionable leadership from the industry body's president, Michael Gallagher, who replaced longtime president Doug Lowenstein in 2007.
It now appears as if the unrest has not yet stabilized within the ESA. Speaking with the Washington Post, Entertainment Consumer Association president Hal Halpin said he believes two more companies will soon be parting ways with the ESA, and there are "several others that are unhappy but remain with the organization."
Continuing, Halpin noted that the string of departures is disturbing, and "anyone who cares about the games business should be concerned about what's going on with the ESA." When asked for a response, ESA spokesperson Dan Hewitt declined comment, dismissing Halpin's statement as "speculation."
Halpin has been president of the ECA since the industry body formed in 2006. Whereas the ESA caters more specifically toward the interests of game publishers, the ECA's express purpose is to give consumers a voice in the gaming industry. The two game-industry lobbying groups have found themselves on opposite sides of an issue in the past, most notably in 2007 when the ECA said it would push for a revision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an issue the ESA strongly opposed.
Halpin's statement comes after a belligerent verbal exchange last week in which the ESA lashed out at ECA-owned game-news site Game Politics for a story critical of this year's E3 Media & Business Summit keynote speaker, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Addressing the story, which quoted a Dallas Morning News report where Perry said he believes in "the inerrancy of the Bible and that those who don't accept Jesus as their savior will go to hell," Hewitt charged Game Politics with exhibiting clear bias.
"If the ESA posted a blog and called it a news site, journalists would rightfully balk and it wouldn't pass a smell test," said Hewitt to gaming blog Joystiq. "Remarkably, GamePolitics doesn't face the same scrutiny even though it's funded by the ECA and tainted with anti-ESA vitriol. At the end of the day, calling GamePolitics a news site is as laughable as saying there's a Cuban free press."
Not amused, the ECA retorted, saying in part that, "Comparing a non-profit consumer advocacy organization to communist Cuba is unprofessional to say the least...especially given the broad support that the ECA and our consumer members have shown for the ESA."
Admittedly that last bit is a bit of a pissing match, but it makes me wonder if E3 has been downsized too much, and that most vidja game companies will now handle the big year's announcements themselves.
Take Two may still be in trouble even this soon post-GTA4:
While Take-Two executives yesterday basked in the afterglow of Grand Theft Auto IV's 8.5 million copies sold, not everyone was thrilled with their performance. In a note to investors today, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson laid into Take-Two management, saying GTA developer Rockstar Games has made them look better than they actually are.
"Rockstar has supported this organization for too long and it is right to spend every dollar that it can get from Take-Two for keeping the business alive," Wilson wrote. "Unfortunately, management appears to be doing the same thing without it being nearly as deserved."
The management Wilson refers to is the group that first took control of the company in a March 2007 investor coup. Led by current Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, that group rose to power promising to address five crucial shortcomings of the previous administration. They wanted to lower the company's cost structure, make the sports division profitable, sell off non-core business divisions, improve the green-lighting process to release more games on time and on budget, and resolve the wealth of legal issues inherited from the old regime.
Wilson ran down management's performance (or lack thereof) on each of those fronts. Starting with the cost structure, he noted that the publisher expects operating expenses to be up 23 percent for the year, when it originally told investors they would be the same as last year.
"At the same time as its cost structure is deteriorating, management is telling investors that it is the most efficient organization in the business," Wilson said. "That simply is not true. Management talks about having a lean sales, marketing, and corporate infrastructure behind its development talent. We disagree with this as well."
By Take-Two's own figures, sales and marketing expenses combined with general and administrative expenses are eating up more than 20 percent of the company's revenue this year. Wilson compared that to the totals of fellow US publishers Activision, Electronic Arts, and THQ, which Pacific Crest estimates account for 16.2, 19.2, and 18.2 percent of their respective revenues.
Regarding the sports business, prior to yesterday's earnings report, Take-Two's management stated it would have the division profitable this year.
"That dream just ended with management finally admitting sports would not be profitable," Wilson said, "although the loss is still 'manageable.' Management attributes this to a lower-than-expected attach rate on consoles. For the layperson, this means that Take-Two management has not owned up to the fact that it is not the hardware manufacturer's fault that its sports games have not sold."
As for making release dates more reliably, Wilson pointed out that Grand Theft Auto IV, Mafia II, Civilization Revolutions, Manhunt 2, LA: Noire, Borderlands, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and more had all been publicly delayed since new management took over.
"If it appears that virtually every major game has been delayed, you would be correct," Wilson said.
Wilson was somewhat more conciliatory in assessing Take-Two's remaining areas of improvement, noting that it sold off peripheral maker JoyTech (though it can't find a buyer for distribution arm Jack of All Games), and that it had resolved some outstanding legal issues. As of the company's last 10-K filing, Wilson noted that the "Legal Proceedings" section of the document was down to just three pages.
While the publisher's stock price was trading up slightly earlier today, Wilson warned that its success could be fleeting.
"It is starting to appear that the company is back to where it started," Wilson said. "After the success of Grand Theft Auto [IV], it will be looking at a bloated cost infrastructure relative to its revenue opportunity, which will likely be further muted by game delays and underperformance."
As for the pending EA offer to acquire Take-Two, Wilson again questioned the Grand Theft Auto publisher's hesitance to accept a deal, especially since Pacific Crest estimates the ZelnickMedia management team stands to rake in $80 million in the event of a sale at the initially offered $26-per-share level. (EA has since lowered its offer to $25.74 per share due to possible dilution of Take-Two stock.)
"We believe that the risk of EA dropping its bid for [Take-Two] is greater than the reward of EA coming back with a modestly higher bid," Wilson wrote, "and we continue to recommend that investors take profits. EA's $25.74 offer is more than fair, in our view."
Price isn't the only thing keeping the Wii so far ahead.
At this point in the game the GCN was at least half as much with a pack in and the technologically superior OXBOX was at least $100 cheaper.
Wii has a wider audience then the other two and had the advantage of probably the best marketing campaign of any system ever.
I think that that the price of the games however does help a little bit. There's a psychological barrier between 50 and 60 US dollars. $50 is just $50 while $60 is pretty damn close to $100.
The problem with gauging the importance of price is that the effect of the price depends on the underlying demand curve which could be highly nonlinear, to include discontinuities at psychological barriers like $199 or whatever. As many have pointed out, if no one really wants what you are selling, cough gamecube cough, even dramatically lowering your price may have not much effect.
However I think having a sub $300 price is a necessary but not sufficient condition for mainstream appeal. The problem with the high def consoles is both that the high price lowered initial demand, aka lol $600, putting them behind in the race for install base, and that it seems that lowering the price is also hard, delaying any hope of selling to mainstream gamers until the Wii has established itself on top of a huge mountain of money and users, like some kind of Japanese corporate version of Smaug.
The Wii has another advantage of appealing to people that have a lot more disposable income that the stereotypical gamer who is likely to be a high school or collage student.
Really it is the combination of good pricing and strong inherit appeal of WiiSports that makes the Wii the monster it is.
Still there are no words or theories to adequately describe a situation where GTA literally has a negative bump for console sales. That's just embarrassing.
lowlylowlycook on
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Still there are no words or theories to adequately describe a situation where GTA literally has a negative bump for console sales. That's just embarrassing.
We discussed this a lot during Halo 3 but it really is true that the people who are willing to buy the HD consoles right now by and large already have.
Hell I wonder how few 360s would have actually moved during the Halo 3 period if the price drop hadn't been the month before...
Though of course this sort of thinking counteracts my previous position of price not really mattering when pushing consoles.
I guess it is a complete package of must have games, price, and features, with marketing included. PS3 is niched into a market of futurists. 360 is niched into a bunch of hardcore recovering PC gamers/frat boys and the Wii is "niched" into everyone and your mother, emphasis on your mother.
Still there are no words or theories to adequately describe a situation where GTA literally has a negative bump for console sales. That's just embarrassing.
We discussed this a lot during Halo 3 but it really is true that the people who are willing to buy the HD consoles right now by and large already have.
Hell I wonder how few 360s would have actually moved during the Halo 3 period if the price drop hadn't been the month before...
Though of course this sort of thinking counteracts my previous position of price not really mattering when pushing consoles.
I guess it is a complete package of must have games, price, and features, with marketing included. PS3 is niched into a market of futurists. 360 is niched into a bunch of hardcore recovering PC gamers/frat boys and the Wii is "niched" into everyone and your mother, emphasis on your mother.
Hmmmm, sure talk of 500k PS3 being the normal monthly sales amount post GTAIV was pure crazy Pachter talk. And yes, there is no way in hell that the PS3 will beat the Wii when MGSIV hits.
But there is a difference between being relatively saturated and being so totally saturated that GTAIV can set sales records while the weekly sales of PS3s and 360 actually drop. I was looking through the predictions thread for last month and literally not a single person picked either PS3 or 360 at under 200k so there is no use arguing that somehow it was expected.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
The general state of the economy can't be underestimated as well. Hell this could actually be the one thing that absolutely buries the HD systems while at the same time having no effect or even a slight positive effect on Wii sales.
Mom promised little timmy a 360 and GTAIV for his birthday this year but it was too expensive. However looking on the shelves she sees for the first time that Nintendo Wii thing she's always reading about for a lot less, and it even comes with a game...
Yeah, if anything, the fact that the Wii doesn't make any mention of HD means that those without an HD set aren't afraid to buy one. The PS3, and to a smaller extent the 360, are really catering to people who already own an HD set. Those that don't HD anything see the purchase of the television as more important than the gaming system for it, I'm sure.
Yeah, if anything, the fact that the Wii doesn't make any mention of HD means that those without an HD set aren't afraid to buy one. The PS3, and to a smaller extent the 360, are really catering to people who already own an HD set. Those that don't HD anything see the purchase of the television as more important than the gaming system for it, I'm sure.
Anecdotally, damn sure I didn't even bother starting to save up for a 360 until I got around to getting an HD set, whereas I bought the Wii as close to launch as I could find it.
The general state of the economy can't be underestimated as well. Hell this could actually be the one thing that absolutely buries the HD systems while at the same time having no effect or even a slight positive effect on Wii sales.
Mom promised little timmy a 360 and GTAIV for his birthday this year but it was too expensive. However looking on the shelves she sees for the first time that Nintendo Wii thing she's always reading about for a lot less, and it even comes with a game...
Pachter notes that U.S. supply of the Wii has been steadily increasing from an average of 600,000 units per month between April 2007 and March 2008, with some 714,000 units sold through in April, and an estimated 750,000 to sell in May.
He concludes that "we believe that U.S. supply last year should have been somewhere between 720,000 - 900,000 units per month (40 - 50% of total units produced), and expect supply to grow to over 1 million per month in August and beyond," with shipments re-balancing from a push to supply Europe with a higher number.
Some people are expecting ~950k or so for next Wii NPD. I don't quite see it hitting that high... I actually kind of think it's going to be about the same as the previous month. Nintendo was saying that they were going to try to keep a good supply of WiiFit for the WiiFit launch, but they didn't say anything about being able to get more Wii units shipped.... I think ~750k or ~800k is a pretty reasonable number for the upcoming NPD for the Wii, just on the expectation that not a lot more units were shipped to the USA above the ~40% production, which is ~700,000. So with WiiFit pushing the Wii sales harder than Mario Kart did last month, obviously Wii sales will be higher than ~714k. But I think supply is still an issue, so ~750k is not out of the question...
1. Race Driver: GRID (Xbox 360)
2. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
3. Wii Play (Wii)
4. Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends (DS)
5. Training di Matematica del Dr. Kageyama (DS)
6. Grand Theft Auto IV (X360)
7. Wii Emergency Mayem (Wii)
8. Race Driver: GRID (PC)
9. Brain Training del Dr. Kawashima (DS)
10. UEFA Euro 2008 (PS2)
Hardware:
1. Nintendo DS
2. Wii
3. PSP
4. PlayStation 3
5. PlayStation 2
6. Xbox 360
Source: Nielsen
France
12 to 18 May in France :
1.Wii FIT (Nintendo) Wii (-)
2.GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (Take Two Interactive) PS3 (-)
3.MARIO KART Wii (Nintendo) Wii (+1)
4.GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (Take Two Interactive) 360 (-1)
5.Wii PLAY (Nintendo) Wii (-)
6.MARIO KART DS (Nintendo) NDS (-)
7.NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. (Nintendo) NDS (+1)
8.SUPER MARIO GALAXY (Nintendo) Wii (-1)
9.MARIO & SONIC AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUES (Sega) Wii (-)
10.MARIO & SONIC AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUES (Sega) NDS (+1)
11.PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2008 (Konami) PS2 (-1)
12.MARIO PARTY 8 (Nintendo) Wii (-)
13.CEREBRALE ACADEMIE sur Wii (Nintendo) Wii (+7)
14.PROGRAMME D'ENTRAINEMENT CEREBRAL (Nintendo) NDS (R)
15.MARIO PARTY DS (Nintendo) NDS (-1)
16.PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2008 (Konami) Wii (-3)
17.POKEMON DIAMANT (Nintendo) NDS (R)
18.ZOO TYCOON 2 (THQ) NDS (-2)
19.GUITAR HERO III : LEGENDS OF ROCK (Activision) Wii (-4)
20.PROGRAMME D'ENTRAINEMENT CEREBRAL AVANCE (Nintendo) NDS (
Given how bad the overreactions are in this thread I fear for the real NPD one. HD gaming isn't going to die. Infact I'm of a completely opposite opinion from most in thinking that the next gen consoles from Sony/MS won't be low-grade waggle boxes. Nintendo went in the direction that they did because it was best for their business model. Sony/MS on the other hand are technology companies first and have nothing to gain from trying to compete with Nintendo for it's new market.
Instead, I think HD consoles will be even more expensive than they were this gen. There's a large, dedicated bank of hardcore gamers that have proven that they'll spend whatever dollars necessary to support their hobby. I would look for near four-figure super machines next gen and $80-$90 dollar Super-HD games to go with them. I know that as crazy as that sounds that I'd still be standing in line for one at next-gen launch (just one next time not both).
If not you're crazy. If Microsoft and Sony follow this business plan they will get slaughtered worse than they currently are in this gen.
Why do people think a company has to be first in units sold or they 'am doomed'? The industry is bringing in record profits... there's plenty to go around.
lowlylowlycook on
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0
SirUltimosDon't talk, Rusty. Just paint.Registered Userregular
With Chains of Olympus going Gold in Japan (やったー！！ビッチズ！), we’re now officially done with PSP development.
So today we sent all our devkits back and seeing all these boxes ready to be picked up definitely marks the end of an era here at Ready At Dawn.
Can’t wait to show you guys what we have in store….
So that leaves Capcom and Sony as the major developers for the system?
Edit: Forgot about Square.
I was thinking about it this weekend, but I think that early 2008 was the PSP's last big hurrah. It got quite a few great games in a short period of time: God of War, Wipeout Pulse, Patapon, Crisis Core. But it seems like pretty much everyone has abandoned the system by now, so while the system will still get some good games they'll be few and far between and pretty much entirely from Sony and their studios.
Posts
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Mmmm.... nah. It may come within the ballpark, but the only reason it did it in Japan so fast is because PS3 sales are crap there. There's been a decent enough number of PS3s sold (and still selling) that I think it'll keep ahea.
I was going to write the exact same thing. Clearly you are me in some alternate dimension. I'll add that I probably would have purchased a PS3 at $400 with a small hard drive and PSOne/PS2 hardware back compat. I would buy a 360 at $350 with a small hard drive and a BluRay player (which doesn't look like it will ever happen). As someone with a Wii and a modest gaming PC, neither "next-gen" console offers enough to me at their current price and feature set.
Like it's been said...I would be more than happy to buy a PS3 right now(Already have a 360 and a Wii) but...I got those as gifts and even though I like the PS3 I can't justify buying it until it's at least $250-300
With gas going over 4 dollars on the national average, for the first time ever, and the consumer confidence index continuing to drop I have to wonder if both Sony and Microsoft have already missed the boat. The reality is that the Wii has cemented itself in American pop culture as the system to buy this generation. So for all those families who can only afford one system for their kids it won't matter how much the price drops, the Wii is king.
That is why GTA4 didn't boost hardware sales. The gamers will buy one or the other but everyone else is too busy trying to still be able to afford their lifestyles. Lifestyles that right now do not include HD gaming.
Which puts it at $400ish, but you get 4 games (including Wii Sports) and that extra controller out of the deal.
$400ish gets you a 360 and 1 game or a Gold account, or just a PS3. That definitely hurts those systems.
If the Wii didn't have waggle, it would absolutely be seen as a "cheap, goofy system" or "Gamecube 2.0" and that Nintendo wasn't being serious. So I agree that waggle does amazing things for the Wii, and that, in combination with the price point, makes for runaway sales. If it was $400, I'm sure people would be less interested -- as people have pointed out in this thread and previous ones, people are surprised by the low price and that increases sales.
I agree with this 100%
As do I.
Though the Wii already had a strong grip on the overall mindshare before the economy tanked. The recession has just accelerated it, since the consumer confidence freakout makes a $400 console out of the question, but they just might be able to swing by with a $250 one.
But the problem is most people don't know about or use most of the media functions, they just want to play a game which is why Nintendo is making $$$^10. Which is kind of funny when you consider the fact that the Japanese will pay huge amounts of money for a cell phone that does stuff they'll never use, but are reluctant to shell out cash for a ps3.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192287.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;5
Admittedly that last bit is a bit of a pissing match, but it makes me wonder if E3 has been downsized too much, and that most vidja game companies will now handle the big year's announcements themselves.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192200.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;9
So much for a GTA4 investor honeymoon.
At this point in the game the GCN was at least half as much with a pack in and the technologically superior OXBOX was at least $100 cheaper.
Wii has a wider audience then the other two and had the advantage of probably the best marketing campaign of any system ever.
I think that that the price of the games however does help a little bit. There's a psychological barrier between 50 and 60 US dollars. $50 is just $50 while $60 is pretty damn close to $100.
However I think having a sub $300 price is a necessary but not sufficient condition for mainstream appeal. The problem with the high def consoles is both that the high price lowered initial demand, aka lol $600, putting them behind in the race for install base, and that it seems that lowering the price is also hard, delaying any hope of selling to mainstream gamers until the Wii has established itself on top of a huge mountain of money and users, like some kind of Japanese corporate version of Smaug.
The Wii has another advantage of appealing to people that have a lot more disposable income that the stereotypical gamer who is likely to be a high school or collage student.
Really it is the combination of good pricing and strong inherit appeal of WiiSports that makes the Wii the monster it is.
Still there are no words or theories to adequately describe a situation where GTA literally has a negative bump for console sales. That's just embarrassing.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I think another SKU would be a better option.
haha
But does Europe even get a BC SKU now?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018
We discussed this a lot during Halo 3 but it really is true that the people who are willing to buy the HD consoles right now by and large already have.
Hell I wonder how few 360s would have actually moved during the Halo 3 period if the price drop hadn't been the month before...
Though of course this sort of thinking counteracts my previous position of price not really mattering when pushing consoles.
I guess it is a complete package of must have games, price, and features, with marketing included. PS3 is niched into a market of futurists. 360 is niched into a bunch of hardcore recovering PC gamers/frat boys and the Wii is "niched" into everyone and your mother, emphasis on your mother.
Hmmmm, sure talk of 500k PS3 being the normal monthly sales amount post GTAIV was pure crazy Pachter talk. And yes, there is no way in hell that the PS3 will beat the Wii when MGSIV hits.
But there is a difference between being relatively saturated and being so totally saturated that GTAIV can set sales records while the weekly sales of PS3s and 360 actually drop. I was looking through the predictions thread for last month and literally not a single person picked either PS3 or 360 at under 200k so there is no use arguing that somehow it was expected.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Mom promised little timmy a 360 and GTAIV for his birthday this year but it was too expensive. However looking on the shelves she sees for the first time that Nintendo Wii thing she's always reading about for a lot less, and it even comes with a game...
{fill the rest out}
Anecdotally, damn sure I didn't even bother starting to save up for a 360 until I got around to getting an HD set, whereas I bought the Wii as close to launch as I could find it.
She can find a Wii?
Wii Fit and Mario Kart might be the best selling games in May. One and two. Wouldn't surprise me, though 360 GTA IV might split the difference.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
[edit] In theory 1M/month in August would point to 2M in November and 4M in December, right?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Not necessarily, if it's still supply constrained, it'll probably stay around the same. Look at how it barely rose for this last holliday season.
Edit: Forgot about Square.
It's amazing that this company has survived this long.
So... they aren't just HD, but Super HD? And apparently, all that extra definition costs more money?
Yeah, uh... nope.
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Well, since most of the biggest "HD" games aren't even 720p....
Same thing really.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
In fact...I would say comparing this generation to last...
Wii = PS2
DS = Game Boy Advance
360 = Xbox
PS3 = Dreamcast (Without the whole pulling out early)
PSP = Gamecube
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