Gray Lady confirms Wii's early success
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jan 31st 2007 at 3:45PM }
You can always count on the New York Times to confirm what most people have acknowledged as conventional wisdom weeks ago. To that end, the Gray Lady today has an article looking at the relatively warm welcome the Wii has received when compared to the PS3.
The Times recounts more now-tired tales of hard-to-find Wiis, PS3s piled in shops, and the Wii's potential appeal to new gamers ("My husband broke a sweat playing golf on there," one mother declares). The biggest fireworks come from Sony spokesman Dave Karakker, who derisively calls the Wii an "impulse buy" and Nintendo marketing head Perrin Kaplan, who angrily argues that Sony's reports of slow Wii shipments are "absolutely inaccurate." Save it for the ring, fellas.
Possibly the most notable thing about the article, though, is the absence of any practical discussion of the Xbox 360 and its effect on the next gen race. Sure, the 360 might seem like old news compared with the more recently released systems, but it does have a multi-million unit head start and just this past holiday saw a multi-platinum ultra-seller. Surely its impact warrants more than a passing mention in the eighth paragraph.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JodyAnthony @ Jan 31st 2007 3:53PM
The real question is, does it matter if Wii is an impulse buy or not? People are still buying it. Nintendo themselves said they wanted the price low enough for it to be an impulse buy, then everyone said that it was too high to be an impule buy. Now all of a sudden it's NOT too high to be an impulse buy?
Oh well, the 'impusle buyers' outnumber the 'serious buyers' in real life in an alarming ratio.
Ryan @ Jan 31st 2007 8:22PM
Poor Sony. Every week it seems as if they find something negative to say about the Wii. This is what Sony thinks of their fans:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=sony_bullshit
Mike @ Jan 31st 2007 4:01PM
The 360 is not even being discussed. Unless you can wave your controller around like an idiot, you're not next-gen. Having the best line-up and the biggest base (in US) doesn't count.
Does it have the biggest base I'm just guessing.
syco @ Jan 31st 2007 4:07PM
People who categorize a $250 purchase an impulse buy are absolutely nuts. That's almost a week's pay. I don't just blow a weeks pay on whatever catches my eye. Saved up $50 a month for 6 months to get a Wii and Zelda as close to launch as I could. That's not an impulse buy.
Ken @ Jan 31st 2007 4:10PM
@ syco,
I realize your point, but you have to remember... People make more money than you do. $250 may not seem like a lot to a lawyer (or heck, I work IT and I make $250 in two days of work). So yeah... don't generalize. :)
White Rose Duelist @ Jan 31st 2007 4:13PM
Potterpuffs FTW!
Frankie @ Jan 31st 2007 4:25PM
It is because I expect the 360 to be mediocre at best. Micrsofot might be doing really well now but even as a Nintendo fanboy, Sony will trump them just because they don't have the support of more respectable Japanese developers. The Wii on the other is not even speculation at this point, it will trash the 360 this year at the earliest.
sonicyouth @ Jan 31st 2007 4:32PM
I bought a PS3 on impulse as did many others. (Actually, not really. I have wanted it for a while but I thought it would be sold out for months like the Wii.) 2 days after Christmas, there it was on the store shelf. No regrets, even sans rumble. Sony does realize that it is alot of money for most people. They said this last year publicly. But it will get cheaper. And if they get desparate (doubtful - despite what Wii and 360 fanboys hope for with their weak comments,) August 08 break-even worldwide is VERY reasonable as production costs come down and more good games flood the market.
Morisato @ Jan 31st 2007 4:32PM
@ Frankie
Well no shit it will trash the 360 this year at the earliest, you cant get any earlier than THE YEAR YOU ARE IN.
TWOO DEE @ Jan 31st 2007 10:53PM
@ Ken
i do believe that was syco's point - don't generalize :)
The Crowing One @ Jan 31st 2007 5:51PM
"Impulse buy"?
How is that a negative term? Right now the enthusiasm of those still camping out for the system proves that wrong. But really, when did a product's appeal as an impulse purchase ever hurt it?
Mr Khan @ Jan 31st 2007 5:53PM
360 = Sega Genesis
The sales philosophy is the same, its appeal is similar, and its fate shall be similar (glorious success in America, dead in Japan, and only barely hedged out by the competition in worldwide sales)
Wii 1st with 50% market
360 2nd with 38% market
PS3 3rd with 12% market all by 2010
Seriosly though, what's with that pic?
Freelancepimp @ Jan 31st 2007 8:10PM
I would really like to know how many 360's were actaully sold to consumers instead of shipped to retailers.
nate @ Jan 31st 2007 8:42PM
well considering over 3,000,000 people have now purchased GOW...a good guess is at least 2x as many people have 360s as PS3s..my guess is probably more like 5 to 7x
Mr Khan @ Jan 31st 2007 9:21PM
@ the above
I use the 2 main sources:
http://www.vgcharts.org
and
http://nexgenwars.com
Then I presume that each one is a little off, and set a range
Nexgenwars says 10.4 million 360s, Vgcharts says 8.6, so its probably about 9 mil sold
Nexgen says 4.4 for wii, while vg says 4.2, they agree
they also agree for PS3, for now, nexgen says 1.6, vg says 1.3
Lampbane @ Jan 31st 2007 10:55PM
Khan: http://potterpuffs.livejournal.com/
John @ Feb 1st 2007 6:39PM
Warrants more than a passing mention... hmmm. It still overheats, gets red rings of death, and is noisy. When the PS3 released without any of these problems, no one paid any attention. And of course, Joystiq didn't whine that none of that attention was paid.