As if the excitement around Nintendo’s Wii hasn’t already been burning at a fever pitch, news came out today that the Wii is poised to take over Microsoft’s XBox 360 console in total units sold. There are even reports that the Wii is on pace to beat Sony’s Playstation 2 in overall lifetime sales. That, my friends, is an accomplishment.
In fact, both of these stories are HUGE accomplishments. Why? Well, let’s look at the first accomplishment – beating the XBox 360 in total sales. XBox 360 is a high definition console with a ton of sweet accessories ranging from 120 GB hard drives to headsets to use in an online gaming community. Plus, you can get an XBox 360 ANYWHERE in the world right now. Just go to your local Circuit City, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart and I guarantee that there will be a mountain of XBox 360 consoles in all of their different makes and models.
The big kicker here is that XBox 360 came out a full year before Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s Playstation 3. You would think with a full 12 month head start that XBox 360 would be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. It’s not.
Now there may be many reasons why they are not beating Wii. My belief is that the system is too complicated at the point of sale. For example – when Mr. Casual Gamer (ahem…me) walks into a store to buy a console, I don’t want to have three or four of the SAME console to choose from! Why not? Because I know that if I splurge on the ridiculously priced console, I’m getting the best, but I also know that I can’t afford that. So (in my mind at least) why would I buy anything other than the best? And the prices for these games are just out of control.
In fact, without getting too far into it – the Playstation 3 has the same problems in addition to poor third-party support. Before any of you dorks go nuts about that last statement, yes I know that they do have a good collection of third-party developers, but there just aren’t that many GOOD games out for the system yet. And you know what? The games are too damn expensive for PS3.
Wii? You can’t find these things in the stores and that will certainly hurt Nintendo in the long run (no consoles in the stores = no sales). But, there is only one version of the Wii. Yes, there are rumors that a DVD-enabled Wii will be released soon, but I have a DVD player and entertainment system already. Also, it is worth mentioning that the Wii is Wi-Fi enabled and gives you the ability to play against other Wii owners for free. No Wi-Fi on XBox 360 and you have to buy a subscription to play against other XBox 360 owners. Blech.
Wii is beating the competition because Nintendo went back to basics. What is a home video game console about? It’s about having fun. The Wii is a system that brings families together, it brings friends together, it brings gamers together – how many times have you seen a group of family members gathered around an XBox 360 going crazy over a game of Halo? Here and there?
Now how many times have you seen family and friends going bonkers over a cartoon-graphic Wii game?
Nintendo will almost certainly overtake the XBox 360 in the next day or two in terms of overall units sold. That’s a huge accomplishment for Nintendo, but one that may be short-lived. If the rumor of a worldwide Wii shortage heading into the holiday season is true…it may be back to XBox 360 at the top of the heap in no time!
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