Those are interesting numbers, but I wonder what the numbers are for actual units in use. I'm sure the PS2 and GBA would still be at the top, but by how much?
With breakage, I doubt either the PS2 or the GBA are that high. Note, I'm not saying that the GBA breaks a lot. However, when you have a portable system owned by a lot of under 12 year olds, then I think you can expect a lot of lost, broken, and run-over units. Furthermore, a lot of PS2 and GBA will become abandoned as owners of newer units stop buying games for their old systems.
Of course, the folks this matters to are the game developers. How many installed units can they target by writing to a given platform?
I just hope it works with content that is not from Amazon. Most of these have been crippled with DRM. I'm OK if it supports DRM, but I'd want it to also support non-DRM stuff.
Mr.D, that's not always true. You say that ... =============================================== Wow, even though they go through every rumor, they really need to check their grammar. Companies are singular, not plural. Unless you're listing another company with it, it's: Nintendo "is," not Nintendo "are" and Nintendo "was," not Nintendo "were." =============================================== I used to run worldwide marketing for a company, and I approved press releases from both Europe and America. I thought my English friends had basic grammar problems, until I learned that rules for plurals of groups were different in the US versus the UK.
In the US we think of a team or company as one unit and we treat them as singular (ie, Nintendo is ...). In the UK they think of a team or company as a collection of units and they treat them as plural (ie, Nintendo are ...).
There was one comment from a guy on the first page that could only hear in one ear, and because of this he couldn't use headphones.
Radio shack sells a stereo to mono plug that will combine both channels into one channel. If you plug that into your source, and then plug your headphone into the plug you should be able to hear both left and right channels in one ear.
"From September to October, the suppliers estimate to ship more than one million sets to the game console manufacturer, the paper added."
Assuming it takes some time to travel from the suppliers to Sony to distributors and to retail shelves, I assume that this means only one million worldwide for the Christmas season.
Don't forget that fully charged rechargeable AA's will typically last at least three times longer than a standard alkaline. It appears that the quoted times are for an alkaline battery, and this would suggest that you could get 90 hour to 180 hours or more on one charge. And as someone else mentioned, newer, higer capacity rechargeables are introduced all of the time.
I stay away from Sony after purchasing three consecutive camcorders from them. All three of them broke within 18 months. Just out of the warranty period.
Now, as a rough estimate the number above is 0.1% of the 22 million. Multiply this by 52 weeks and you get 5.2% a year. This is probably just replacement of existing units by existing owners. Basically, it means that 5 out of every 100 units have to be replaced in the course of a year -- due to things like lightning, theft, and the dog peeing on the PS2 :). Furthermore, remember that some of these existing units are up to six years old. Therefore I think that most of the PS2 numbers are due to the replacement market, not due to growth.
I remember when it was announced. Everyone here (including me) was drooling over it. It looked like a cheap, small pocketable system. It may not have been the DS, but for when you didn't want to be weighed down by the DS it was great. People were guessing prices between $40 and $60.
Then it came out at almost the same price as the DS. I know that miniaturization costs, but a lot of us would have bought it as a cheap throwaway system. As a premium choice it didn't have enough going versus the DS.
Don't overreact to the term 'flagship title'. Here is my guess of what it means. It will be bundled with every Wii similar to the way that the Metroid demo was bundled with the first DS. As a result, no matter what else you buy with the Wii you will be able to play the sports game when you set the system up.
When kids open up their Wii on Christmas morning, they may not want to show it to grandma by showing Resident Evil 6.2, but they can pop in Wii Sports and show of the capability of the system.
It more obviously and immediately showcases the use of the wiimote, than something like Zelda. In this way it is a good vehicle for showing off the difference of the Wii. That is not to say that Zelda, Metroid, ... are not still important gaming series.
November NPD: revised data reveals current install bases
Dec 14th 2006 3:57PM (Joystiq)With breakage, I doubt either the PS2 or the GBA are that high. Note, I'm not saying that the GBA breaks a lot. However, when you have a portable system owned by a lot of under 12 year olds, then I think you can expect a lot of lost, broken, and run-over units. Furthermore, a lot of PS2 and GBA will become abandoned as owners of newer units stop buying games for their old systems.
Of course, the folks this matters to are the game developers. How many installed units can they target by writing to a given platform?
Michael
Amazon Kindle: meet Amazon's e-book reader
Sep 11th 2006 12:20PM (Engadget)Nearly every Wii rumor demystified
Aug 2nd 2006 3:18PM (Joystiq)===============================================
Wow, even though they go through every rumor, they really need to check their grammar. Companies are singular, not plural. Unless you're listing another company with it, it's: Nintendo "is," not Nintendo "are" and Nintendo "was," not Nintendo "were."
===============================================
I used to run worldwide marketing for a company, and I approved press releases from both Europe and America. I thought my English friends had basic grammar problems, until I learned that rules for plurals of groups were different in the US versus the UK.
In the US we think of a team or company as one unit and we treat them as singular (ie, Nintendo is ...). In the UK they think of a team or company as a collection of units and they treat them as plural (ie, Nintendo are ...).
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Singular_and_plural_for_nouns
Colorblind gaming or: Table Tennis is impossibly hard!
Jul 31st 2006 12:24PM (Joystiq)Radio shack sells a stereo to mono plug that will combine both channels into one channel. If you plug that into your source, and then plug your headphone into the plug you should be able to hear both left and right channels in one ear.
Michael
PS3 begins production in Taiwan
Jul 19th 2006 4:07PM (Joystiq)"From September to October, the suppliers estimate to ship more than one million sets to the game console manufacturer, the paper added."
Assuming it takes some time to travel from the suppliers to Sony to distributors and to retail shelves, I assume that this means only one million worldwide for the Christmas season.
Nintendo Wiimote details emerge
Jul 17th 2006 1:28PM (Joystiq)Sega, Ubisoft want a PS3 price drop in 2007
Jul 3rd 2006 5:18PM (Joystiq)I stay away from Sony after purchasing three consecutive camcorders from them. All three of them broke within 18 months. Just out of the warranty period.
Japanese hardware sales, 12 June - 18 June: Phat's back
Jun 23rd 2006 4:42PM (Joystiq)http://www.ps3portal.com/sony/article/219.html
Now, as a rough estimate the number above is 0.1% of the 22 million. Multiply this by 52 weeks and you get 5.2% a year. This is probably just replacement of existing units by existing owners. Basically, it means that 5 out of every 100 units have to be replaced in the course of a year -- due to things like lightning, theft, and the dog peeing on the PS2 :). Furthermore, remember that some of these existing units are up to six years old. Therefore I think that most of the PS2 numbers are due to the replacement market, not due to growth.
Nintendo's Iwata and Miyamoto talk Wii, DS, Micro, more
Jun 21st 2006 4:44PM (Joystiq)I remember when it was announced. Everyone here (including me) was drooling over it. It looked like a cheap, small pocketable system. It may not have been the DS, but for when you didn't want to be weighed down by the DS it was great. People were guessing prices between $40 and $60.
Then it came out at almost the same price as the DS. I know that miniaturization costs, but a lot of us would have bought it as a cheap throwaway system. As a premium choice it didn't have enough going versus the DS.
Michael
Miyamoto: Wii Sports will be flagship title, Wiimote not finalized
Jun 19th 2006 4:29PM (Joystiq)When kids open up their Wii on Christmas morning, they may not want to show it to grandma by showing Resident Evil 6.2, but they can pop in Wii Sports and show of the capability of the system.
It more obviously and immediately showcases the use of the wiimote, than something like Zelda. In this way it is a good vehicle for showing off the difference of the Wii. That is not to say that Zelda, Metroid, ... are not still important gaming series.
Michael