Another Nintendo Wii Victory Over PS3, Xbox 360
Published by William Fletcher June 18th, 2007 in Gaming.
Reporting NPD sales figures for the next-gen race between Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 has gotten to be a tiresome affair. Off the top of my head, I don’t believe the rankings have changed ever since December, 2006. Not a lot of drama there.
The NPD sales figures for May in the USA were as follows: Nintendo Wii was the big kahuna, selling 338,000 units for the month. Next on the totem pole was Microsoft’s Xbox 360 coming in with 155,000 consoles sold. Bringing up the rear was PS3, with 82,000 as their magic number for May.
The handheld department isn’t much of a shocker either. Nintendo DS continues to impress with 423,000 units flying off the shelves. PlayStation Portable sold around half of that — 221,000 to be precise.
If the rankings change in June, I’ll eat my hat.
Source: Gamasutra
This pleases me greatly.
Nintendo have done the impossible and reclaimed their gaming crown.
God Bless Miyamoto, and all that sail upon her.
Dek
Gaming crown? The Xbox 360 still holds the crown of the next gen systems selling the most units to date. As far as the true gaming crown goes, the PS2 easily has it as it continues to sell very well even today. So why the heck do people align themselves with a company anyway? I guess if they want to restrict the games and fun they have access to it’s their choice.
Sure the Wii is selling like hot cakes right now but please keep it in perspective. The main problem I am seeing right now is that while the hardcore gamers make up a lower percent of the gaming consumer population, that is still where the money is. Casual gamers who pick up the Wii, fortunately for them and unfortunately for Nintendo, are perfectly happy with Wii Sports and might pick up 2-3 titles in the next few years. Keep in mind that the Xbox 360 has the highest game to console ratio of any of the next gen systems. It appears to me that Nintendo is just too happy to pat themselves on the back for having a successful console for 6mos. For example, Microsoft is working hard to get exclusive licenses and steal exclusive licenses from Sony such as Devil May Cry, Virtua Fighter, Guitar Hero, Ace Combat, Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, Mercenaries 2, and possibly even Metal Gear and Final Fantasy. At they same time they are improving their game line-up with Mass Effect, Forza, PGR4, Halo 3, Two Worlds, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, etc., while at the same time getting all the 3rd party support in the world with games like Bioshock. Add to this their online movie service and Xbox Live and you have some hard working folks. What is Nintendo doing? If you look at the news they are still sitting around talking about their 6mos old controller.
mmmmmm,dont count the ps3 out yet, it’s not a flop by any means just not as big as it should, its more compelling for me IMO.
Devil May Cry is made by capcom and is known to make multiplatform releases, DMC was also on the PC, Ace Combat is an ok third party developer, assasins creed, Eternal Sonata and GTA IV are still on the ps3 anyways and Ubisoft is also a multiplatform developer, and has never sided with one developer.
Blue Dragon is ok, not great, if it was it would have sold much better in japan, Sony to me seems to be producing better quality first party titles and a more diverse range of games. Im not a fan of shooters and EA, which is what you xbots love, i love British and Jap devs, as i find there content more appealing.
Sony always tries to redefine gaming not make it into a Mac Donalds franchise, which is what MS is doing now. I am looking forward to Folkslore, Ninga Gaiden, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, MGS4, FF13,FF13 Versus, Lair and Killzone 2, and one day Gran turismo 5, Little Big planet, is also a game i wouldn’t mind
THe Ps3 will succeed, and was the unnderdog untill the ps2 rose to the occasion, ps1 was the underdog, ps2 was the underdog, when it was launched, it became tog dog, and is now an underdog with the ps3, I just think people want it but can’t afford it that’s all, games will come, and i dont hate the Xbox i just don’t like MS’s way of doing things, im sorry, i like perfectionism, Sony is always good at that.
wow…
so desperate. The 360 has been out a year longer and it’s shocking that it has the most systems to date? Seriously dude, look at the sales rate. The 360 has been selling in the fair to OK range at best. And the wii isn’t selling like hotcakes just for right now. Try the last seven months. Don’t get me wrong, 360’s awesome and Halo 3 will move systems, but to act like wii isn’t kicking your butt hoping it just goes away is idiotic. Wake up and smell the roses, if you can’t handle that the entire world doesn’t agree with your choice in gaming then stop reading the internet
As a long time fan of Nintendo, we witnessed the fall of N64 & GC and no one knows better than us about the “falling pattern”, and PS3 fits right into this category. Timing is everything, exclusive game is not going to help, look at RE4 on GC.
As for Xbox360, it’s selling ok in US only. I think it’s a good system. But when considering the world gaming crown, it’s not to be included by default.
Here is my thought on all this. Yes, the Wii is selling like crazy, and is a very innovative, and fun product. But as I see it, it should not be placed within the same category of the Ps3 or 360. When computer sales are broken down and analyzed, typically a distinction is made between ultra-high-performance machines bought by gaming fanatics, and basic packages bought for general use. Just because the two classes of machines are released at the same time, doesn’t necessarily place them on the same level for comparison. Any high-end product will always sell less than a basic product, and that goes for just about anything on the market today. As for the 360 vs. Ps3, only time will tell, but I will say that Microsoft’s rush to get their console on the market first is paying. Although the rush has had some negative effects as well pertaining to product quality, or the lack there of.
Only a pure fool would count Sony out of the race at this stage. The PS3 is an absolute powerhouse of a console, with an enormous amount of potential and is only hampered right now by a shortfall in original IP, and of course that hefty price tag. But what happens when that changes? There are plenty of big name exclusive games like Killzone 2, Metal Gear Solid 4,Heavenly Sword,Tekken 6, Ninja Gaiden Sigma,Time Crisis 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Socom,Lair, and Uncharted; Drake’s Fortune on the horizon, with Home and little big planet on the way too, and we now have confirmation from Sir Howard Stringer himself that they are considering a price cut (which I have no doubt will come to fruition because they know that they need to). With those things in place the PS3 stops being the “turkey” of the next-gen consoles and becomes a very viable contender.
As for Microsoft, sure sales are a bit slower than the Wii, right now, but they are still respectable, and I suspect have more to do with the traditionally slow rate of big game releases in the first half of the year. However, Microsoft have got probably the single most impressive roster of games primed to hit the market from now till the end of this year that I have ever seen(and yes I know some of these are multi-platform, but my point is that all these games and more are available on one system),Mass Effect, The Darkness, Bioshock,Unreal Tournament 3, GTA IV,Blue Dragon, Kane and Lynch, Army of Two,Devil May Cry 4, Too Human and Time Shift. Oh, and lest we forget the small matter of what will undoubtedly be the biggest game of the year, and an Xbox 360 exclusive, HALO 3. Couple that with the best online service around right now and I think 360 sales just might start to perk up as the year progresses.
Yes the Wii seems to be sprinting ahead right now, but it is certainly not the time for Mr. Iwata and the gang to sit around patting each other on the back. Nintendo have done a great job in generating a huge positive buzz around their machine, but they have a lot of work to if they want to keep their momentum going, especially in the software department, because quite frankly, as a serious gamer,and someone who spends a lot on software (which is where the real money is to be made)I cannot find anything in the Wii’s line-up that would make me fork out the money for one of my own. It’s great that the wii is attacting new people to the medium, but without the support of the hardcore gamers, they could find themselves suffering in the long-term.
At the end of the day, there are so many variables that could impact on the console “wars” it would be unwise to bet on who the eventual winner will be.
Wow, i did not realise the PSP is still selling, i thought that console had been discontinued.
As for the sales i feel that Nintendo will continue their success and then eventually user interest will based on games rather than the controller. I feel Microsoft and Sony will try a few bad mouthings in press conferences and try new stratergies, but honestly i feel it is too late for them this generation.
Wii: 300,000,000
Ds 222,000,000
Xbox 360: 33,000,000
PS3: 42:000,000
PSP: 41,000,000
Gameboy advance 22,000,000
CptTickles, you say Microsoft is working hard to get exclusive titles…too bad they cant get anything with mario in it (which make up some of the BEST games the world has ever seen).
No other company can boast characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong which have been able to remain the most recognisable characters in the world and produce gold after gold since their start in the gaming world.
Nintendo win the crown. Screw 3rd party developers, all we need is Nintendo.
The reason the Ps3 hasn’t sold very well is because it does not play copied games unlike the ps1 and ps2. nintendo games consoles have never played copied games which is why they have never competed with the playstation consoles. The Wii is the latest console on the market and is very good however is does not play copied games either so if the playstation 3 played copied games then there would be no contest with which console to buy. However since the ps3 doesn’t play copied games and is much more expensive people are more likley to buy the Wii.
kiriakos you really talk rubbish
im an xbox fan. i will allways be. but quit the ps3 is sh*t xbox slaging. at the end of the day its all money wasted for what ever console u bye. money down the drain. but then u cant live without them. infact i want the games on ps3 to be better, so it drives the developers to make better game.
as long as xbox has AAA games im happy. and as any body has an xbox or ps3 as long as uv got games u like go for that concole
gotto say though xbox live voted best online survice in the world 07-08
so all of the slaggin of the consoles has been because of immature people
good gamin everyone c u on xbox live