Wii outsold PlayStation 3 nearly 4-to-1 in Japan during the four weeks ending on February 24,
reports Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain.
What else is new? Actually, it's a 'real' game, for once, that appears to be driving the ongoing sales surge.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl has managed to move 1.33 million units since its January 31 release, no doubt contributing to sales of 331,627 Wii consoles during the period tracked. In comparison, PS3 conjured up a mere 89,131 units sold.
Additionally, Nintendo managed to unload nearly as many
Balance Boards as it did Wiis, with
Wii Fit selling 309,311 units to become the (distant) second best-selling 'game' during the four-week period. As for Xbox 360...? Put it this way: Wii outsold the poor thing more than 23-to-1.
Damn, yo.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 1:04PM
That's why the PS3 outsold the Wii here in USA for two weeks. Because they send the Wii's to Japan.
But like always, no one believes, and then stories like this proves that I was right.
Shignami @ Feb 28th 2008 1:07PM
Well, come early march I bet they're gonna be sending the Japanese wii's over here.
so the international checkbook of game console sales will still be in balance.
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 1:12PM
Yeah... look, Wii's were available last Sunday, there were displayed in all newspaper ads.
Yesterday, they post the numbers from last week... 270,000 Wii's in just one week. But then, they corrected the numbers... just 70,000. The other 200,000 was from Sunday to yesterday... the 200,000 will appear in the sales of this week.
=)
Shmil @ Feb 28th 2008 1:36PM
...must...resist...grammar...nazism
Farseer (GDI) @ Feb 28th 2008 1:39PM
LOL @ Schmil,
Dude, I'm in the same boat. :)
Blazur @ Feb 28th 2008 1:45PM
Haha Shmil: Your do-ing a good jorb resisting grammer nazyism, despite there best efferts teh spell wright!
/kidding
Farseer (GDI) @ Feb 28th 2008 1:46PM
I think that we should push for legislation to bar people from the internet who cannot use the proper form of "their, there, and they're".
It's not hard, but no one seems to know how to do it.
For those of you who really want to be sure:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-There,-Their-and-They're
(but I imagine that if you don't know it by now, you just don't fucking care.)
/end unsuppressed grammar nazi rant
samfish @ Feb 28th 2008 1:49PM
There/their/they're is easy.
It's then/than that's a bitch.
Farseer (GDI) @ Feb 28th 2008 1:54PM
Hell, then/than doesn't bother me much - I just get really hung up on there/their/they're. Like you said, it's not hard!
upz @ Feb 28th 2008 2:03PM
Those are all easy. As is your/you're. Who's/whose is the tough one.
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 2:08PM
I need help with all the past/present senteces.
Had/have and stuff like that.
And I get confused when is ht or th, like in light, bought etc.
Well... in almost everything.
But I never never have problems with than/then.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 28th 2008 2:12PM
There, They're, Their are not are.
Apostrophy means 2 words: They are
There is a place
Their is possessive.
ITS NOT HARD.
Then/Than is more difficult. I guess then is only used with an if, and Than is used any other time?
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 2:14PM
More easy: than is to compare one thing with another.
"mine is better than yours"
Phranctoast @ Feb 28th 2008 2:15PM
affect and effect always gets me.
samfish @ Feb 28th 2008 2:17PM
I always remember it like this:
There
has the word HERE in it, signifying a place
"The cat is over tHERE"
Their
has the word HEIR in it, as in to inherit something.
"That is tHEIR cat"
They're
has RE, as in ARE. It's just combining two words into one.
"They'(a)re coming to get tHEIR cat."
Phranctoast @ Feb 28th 2008 2:19PM
or worse.. effected and affected.... ahhhhhhh
Trevor @ Feb 28th 2008 2:19PM
Then / Than is not hard.
Than is used to compare things.
"I'd rather lick an ass THAN read most of what Fernando Rocker writes."
Then is used with descriptions of time.
"After said ass-licking I would throw up, THEN brush my teeth."
The two words are not related; they just get muffed up from the way we speak (ie. "Should of" instead of "should have").
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 2:20PM
This section looks more like Discovery Kids "than" Joystiq.
Trevor @ Feb 28th 2008 2:21PM
^ Exhibit A
baby sea tuna @ Feb 28th 2008 2:21PM
That's all well and good, but when will people untangle the wily it's/its conundrum? I get emails from supervisors that fuck that one up on a daily basis...
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 28th 2008 2:21PM
@Trevor
I bet everything you want that Joystiq readers prefer to read my comments "than" yours.
bm @ Feb 28th 2008 2:23PM
Wow, I'm not even a native English speaker and I have never in my life even once made a mistake with one of those words. Never used any kind of tricks to remember them, either. You all suck!!!1 D:
upz @ Feb 28th 2008 2:23PM
"Than" is used ONLY when you are comparing something. That's it.
Our country's public education system FTW.
baby sea tuna @ Feb 28th 2008 2:24PM
Fernando's got a point "there."
ck @ Feb 28th 2008 2:27PM
I'm obsessed with pointing out grammatical errors. I have bookmarked several grammar police blogs, such as apostropheabuse.com, redpeninc.blogspot.com and quotation-marks.blogspot.com. Those sites are hilarious and it absolutely ridiculous how many people don't know how to write proper sentences, phrases and words.
upz @ Feb 28th 2008 2:27PM
I agree with BM. This is all pretty intuitive stuff. English is my second language and I've never really made an active effort to remember these things. You just kind of...know it.
Also, in general speech, effect is the noun while affect is the verb.
i.e. Effects affect you.
ill trooper @ Feb 28th 2008 2:51PM
Awesome thread!
Farseer (GDI) @ Feb 28th 2008 2:50PM
Wow, who thought that so many people would take up the grammar nazi torch with me... I say we march down these here tubes as a mob and destroy those who befoul our (admittedly convoluted) language!
:)
Seriously, though. If you think you don't understand there/their/they're, your/you're, it's/its, then/than - just Google it.
I think it's such a strange phenomenon that (some)people take half a day or more to research console sales/attach rate stats (or some other unimportant bit of data) to make a fleeting point but never take five minutes to straighten out simple grammatical rules that will fix their posts forever.
Color me confounded.
bm @ Feb 28th 2008 2:53PM
@CK: I hope you're trying to fool with us. I can't tell! ):
xFenixKnightx @ Feb 28th 2008 3:05PM
Uh oh!! This thread...the whole page FTW?!! Like last time with Co, member? You memberrr, member?
NoHitHair @ Feb 28th 2008 3:24PM
This is the best thread I've ever seen in my life.
Blazur @ Feb 28th 2008 3:28PM
I think one of the most common grammatical misspelling I see is your/you're...people ALWAYS mess that one up.
Thankfully, FireFox does a nice job underlining words on the fly which aren't spelled properly which helps out.
Donald @ Feb 28th 2008 5:01PM
..........First?
driven2sin @ Feb 28th 2008 5:02PM
effect affect is a bitch
Kye Wii60DF @ Feb 28th 2008 5:14PM
I am OK with there/their/they're.
And then/than.
And your/you're.
Its the its' that mess me up.
When showing possession do you use its, it's or its'?
Syb @ Feb 29th 2008 1:20PM
What drives me nuts on the internet is how often I see people use the word "loose" instead of "lose". When someone types "loose" online, I typically ask "you mean loose like your mother?"
thomas.williams.jr @ Feb 28th 2008 1:06PM
I think the Wii sold so well because Japan got their Smash Bros. Brawl on a few weeks ago.
deaftly @ Feb 28th 2008 1:07PM
NO WAI
deaftly @ Feb 28th 2008 1:07PM
Dear Sony,
*cockslap*
-Japan
JJ @ Feb 28th 2008 1:19PM
no deaftly its more like
Dear Sony/MS worldwide
*cockslap*
-Nintendo
seriously Nintendo is kicking all kinds of major butt this gen, even if its not "directly" competing with 360 and PS3.
Still, itd be nice for a more robust online entry from them to match the outrageous sales of their console.
Geist @ Feb 28th 2008 1:53PM
I love it, it's like an underdog's triumph, only, you know, with massive corporations and billions of dollars. Everybody was waiting for Nintendo to fail, but did they? No! Cockslap!
A-Troll-Named-Slickback (Yes the A Troll Named part, and yes every time!) @ Feb 28th 2008 2:28PM
"@Troll
4D, 120Fps, $600, working 2 jobs to afford it, you are going to buy it even if it had no games, giant crabs, rrrrrrrriiiiiiiddddgggggggeeeee rrrrrrraaaaaacccccerrrr.
Sums it up pretty nice i think."
First of all...
No,No,No... My name is A-Troll-Named-Slickback like A Tribe Called Quest, you say the whole thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jimuOe3Vvq8
Secondly
Why don't you update your troll stats
"4D, 120Fps, $600, working 2 jobs to afford it"
those are outdated ($399/$499... the rest, I hope, is sarcasm)
Third...
Where do you work to assume you need 2 jobs to afford a PS3?
Not everyone makes minimum wage *clears throat*
bm @ Feb 28th 2008 2:58PM
I think Troll has been Trolled.
Roto13 @ Feb 28th 2008 1:15PM
A super amazingly awesome and popular killer app will do that. Something similar will probably happen when Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out. Maybe not to the same extent, though.
Geist @ Feb 28th 2008 1:17PM
I think FFXIII is really going to be the one that'll move the most units.
Chris @ Feb 28th 2008 1:18PM
Not in Japan anyway. It's more of a Western game, despite its Eastern roots.
Now for a person to tell me MGS is BIGGER in Japan then in the states:
Yourself @ Feb 28th 2008 1:36PM
Though MGS4 will undoubtedly be well-received and will sell well, it's not a console-mover on nearly the level that SSB is. It just doesn't have the same mainstream appeal.
JayVe @ Feb 28th 2008 1:43PM
Metal Gear Solid won't move enough consoles.
Metal Gear Solid
5.59 Million Sales (PS1)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
5.56 Million Sales (PS2)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
3.96 Million Sales (PS2 with larger install base)
Each game sells fewer and fewer. Add in the PS3's price tag, and you'll find that Metal Gear Solid 4 won't sell as well as its predecessors.
But for the sake of argument lets say that:
* Everyone who buys Metal Gear Solid 4 ONLY buys the $500 80 Gig bundle
* Lets also say that Metal Gear Solid 4 sells as well as the original version did.
Yes, I know, both of these points are more than extraordinarily unlikely, but lets hold on for the sake of speculation...
So in our imaginary scenario, Metal Gear Solid 4 would sell around 5.6 million systems. That would take the PS3 from 10.35 million systems sold, up to an impressive 15.95 million PS3s sold worldwide - a number that is STILL BEHIND Microsoft's 17.22 million systems already sold.
Even in the very best case imaginable, where Metal Gear Solid 4 sells better than any other version AND every purchaser of Metal Gear Solid 4 ALSO purchases a PS3 it still will not sell enough systems to surpass Microsoft's 360.
upz @ Feb 28th 2008 2:35PM
JayVe, you're right, of course, but I'd like to point out a confounding effect. Established franchises almost always sell best on their first outing on a particular system. Look into this with the long-running franchises: Mario, Final Fantasy, Zelda, etc. It's the shiny new toy factor. I say "established franchises" because it often takes a game or two before this takes place, but after that, it's almost always the case.
FidliousWong (Oatmeal Defense Force) @ Feb 28th 2008 2:55PM
JayVe,
Wow, that was a thorough and well thought out arguement using actual stats to back this point up as well. It's a pity then, that I must tear it apart. Because, you see, we no longer live in the ten years ago, before the Darkness, with the Neverwas. Our industry has grown significantly and in unusual ways. Some simple examples....
COD4's performance. Has it breached 7 million yet? When has the industry even had a modern warfare game do this well? More importantly, when has a Call of Duty done this well?
Devil May Cry 4, possibly one of the best selling games in this genre. Doing so well despite 2 and 3's lackluster reception.
Gears of War, Bioshock, and Assassin's Creed. All came out of nowhere and did phenominally well.
Essentially, we don't know how well MGS4 will do and using a series history is rather unpredictable. After all, no Smash Brothers game has blown up like this before, they were all slow burns.
Also, even VGchartz has stated PS3 reached 10 million in sales 4 months faster than 360. Das gapen be closen.