Pachter and Pidgeon are back and no, it's not an original USA comedy about two bumbling analysts that can't catch a break ... though we'll be sure to call our agents and see if we can setup a pitch. No, our two favorite tellers of the future (sorry, Raven) return in part two of Bonus Rounds' episode about analysts.
This time, the focus is less on what they do and more on what it is they're predicting -- "it" of course, being the console war. Do watch for a fantastic analogy from Michael Pachter. Spoiler: Xbox 360 is to Victoria's Secret as Wii is to The Gap.
It is amazing the penetration the Wii has had thus far. At my work, everyone is over 26 and female. Most of which have families. Last summer none of them had any interests in videogames what so ever. This summer all of them have Wiis in their houses and constantly talk about it as the best thing ever.
All the people I know with wii's bought it because the media said it was a 'must have' item, they have very little interest in gaming and after playing Wii Sports for a few weeks they left it to gather dust. I am not convinced that in a years time the Wii will still be selling so well, I really believe it is a fad that will pass, most people that bought one will have forgotten about it and moved on to the next big thing whatever that may be.Kids are fickle they loose interest in anything very quickly, I don't expect the Wii to have the generation life of either of the other two.
The Wii will continue to sell in Japan but I don't see the US and Euro market for it lasting much longer. Sure this holiday many parents will buy it for their kids, but by holidays 08 it will all be about the PS3 and X360.
The reason the original Playstation was so successful here in the UK anyway was because it was aimed at 18+ gamers who led a clubbing lifestyle, once it became cool with them it became aspirational to the kids. with the Wii being marketed at kids and non-gamers as soon as must have fad has worn off the sales will go south.
You know something big is going on where you have +50 guys talking about stuff that interest people from 6 to 32.
“Predictions on the future of videogames”,Rlly when?, They pointed at the obvious and shared boring point of views during the whole thing.
It was like those boring sport talk shows where you put a bunch of guys talking about what everybody said. Really I hate how Annalist support Nintendo for example the wii fit and the wii zapper, they say is gimmicky but they love and they believe that is visionary but they don’t say crap about the Pseye, I find the Pseye more revolutionary than the Wii fit.
Wii might be the cheapest of consoles but is still 250$ (Well not here, 350 USD dollars, bite me gameplanet and they try to sell me a 400$ bundle with Red steel, like hell, Amazon FTW) I mean it isn’t free. Other thing was the “X console is like____” ,is something that for some reason they cant skip, someday some annalist will say the Wii is like Chuck Norris,The x360 is like a Pirate and the Ps3 like a Ninja.
Also of course people say the Wii is a toy because it is a Toy, The Ps3, the x360, the wii, the DS, the PSP are toys.
A machine capable of High Def will be pretty cheap, pretty quick, dual cores are dropping fast, and it'll be no time before they could remake the Wii, with improved graphics, and keep the probably insane amount of money they are currently making. 2 years though? I mean, apple may release Ipod generations like crazy, but at least they all still play Mp3's.
Mabui, that won't happen. Games graphic can't just simple be better if the hardware is changed on a console. If this happen think about old Wii owners they won't be able to play the new Wii games. That will be more worse than xbox 360 elite and ps3 80gb.
I don't know if they keep a new version at $250 (or possibly cheaper, release just a new updated box without the controllers or cords that can use the old wii ones for like $200) I could see mainstream upgrading in about 2 years for that price.
That's enough time between the orginal purchase that I feel people would be willing to make another purchase.
It's funny many people don't like putting large sum of money for soemthing that will last awhile but seem more than willing to pay smaller amounts of money multiple times for something that doesn't last as long. Remember we're talking about the general public, traditional video game economics does not really translate to this "new" market.
Wii = Tickle Me Elmo Are these analysts so narrow minded that only console sales determine how well a company is doing? If you sell the hardware and no games, you have an initial high profit and low long term return on investment. The grandmas and aunts aren't going to be buying Metroid Prime 3 and anything else. The 360 attach rate is a more telling sign even though MS loses money on each console.
