Wii Takes US Lead In Console War

Just in case people were actually thinking the Xbox 360 was going to hold out against a viral console, Nintendo is now the best selling console in the United States. Anyone really surprised?

This months sales figures for consoles broke down something like this:

  • Nintendo DS: 783,000
  • Wii: 666,700
  • PlayStation 3: 405,500
  • PSP: 337,400
  • Xbox 360: 219,800
  • PlayStation 2: 188,800

Barring the crazy hand held sales of the Nintendo DS, you can clearly see Nintendo holds top-spot yet again, but this month Sony’s PlayStation 3 followed right behind. Although there was a good 200,000 difference, Sony didn’t do so bad; imagine if Nintendo had an MGS4 killer app?

Metal Gear Solid 4 sold 871,300 copies, individually, and roughly 1-million if you include those bundled with the PlayStation 3. The question is clearly answered, MGS4 helped sell Sony’s consoles. The new question will be: Can Sony keep the 2nd place rank against Xbox 360?

Until Gears of War 2, there isn’t a killer game for the Xbox 360 and GoW2 probably won’t move any consoles, those that love the series bought their console when Gears of War arrived. The next big console mover may, in fact, be Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 as it’s no longer exclusive to Sony and the 360 is a more cost effective way to get into the game.

How does Nintendo continue to keep the pace? Perhaps because their games are still in top positions with Wii Fit in 4th place, Wii Play in 5th place and Wii Kart in 7th on the June 2008 software charts.

(Thanks, 1up)

0 thoughts on “Wii Takes US Lead In Console War”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Storage Solutions for Fall UpdateStorage Solutions for Fall Update

Are you one of those that have a diskless (or low flash disk) based Xbox 360? We’ve been wondering, ourselves, what Microsoft was going to do to “fix” the fact that the upcoming Fall Update is going to require 128MB of disk space.

It seems they’re going to hand you either a 512MB memory card or a 20GB Hard Disk for the price of $20.00. If you’ve got the $20.00, this would be the best route to go as 20GB is way more than a free 512MB flash card. You’ll be hard up to find 20GB anywhere for a buck a gigabyte – definitely a good deal.

Unfortunately, tonights gaming podcast will still have us pondering the news as we’ve already recorded it and asked the question “what are they going to do?” If you want to see if your console qualifies for the storage upgrade, head to Microsoft’s website with your serial number and console ID handy.

(Thanks, GameStooge)

Sony Responds To Crashing Sales with Management ShiftSony Responds To Crashing Sales with Management Shift

ps3Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has made some leadership changes in response to their in-ability to get things going in the sales department of the PlayStation 3. Gamer’s continue to refuse to believe the PlayStation 3 is in a bad situation by explaining how badly Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is doing in Japan and Europe compared to the Sony console. And, of course, the Wii isn’t competition to Sony.

“Andrew House, Chief Marketing Officer and Group Executive of Sony Corporation, has been named President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Chief Operating Officer (Co-COO) of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) as of May 1, 2009.” (smarthouse.au)

We’ve been told this is the year of the PS3, this is when they bring it all together. Nintendo’s losing some of their grip on the industry with slower sales, even in Japan. The economy isn’t playing nice with any of the consoles and sales continue to drop, reportedly 17% in March compared to last years numbers.

Australia isn’t proving to be any help to Sony, “for example in Australia a consumer can now buy the Xbox 360 for $299 and a separate Blu ray player and DVD upscale player for $199. Combined this is $200 under the recommended retail price for a Sony PS3.”

Here in the United States, we’ve bought more Wii balance boards than PlayStation 3 consoles. One can argue that the Wii is a novelty system but that really casts a dark shadow on the PlayStation 3. The PS3 is being beat out by a novelty item? Can the new SCEE management change the direction of Sony?

Episode 255: The Darkness II ContestEpisode 255: The Darkness II Contest

Dan Quick returns again to cover for Paul Nowak, and this week, the Gaming Podcast is offering free copies of The Darkness II Limited Edition, which comes with the main game and some free DLC. The guys are giving away an Xbox 360 version and a PlayStation 3 version. To win, just listen to the podcast and post what your favorite scary movie is.

The game news this week includes:

  • Ex-SCEE senior VP Phil Harrison joins Microsoft’s European team
  • DOOM developer John Romero has “plans” for “old school” shooter
  • EA defends Mass Effect 3 From Ashes DLC data being on disc
  • Notch settles with Bethesda over “Scrolls” trademark
  • DICE: 2GB RAM won’t be enough for next gen consoles
  • Angry Birds theme park to open in Finland
  • GAME puts itself up for sale, GameStop interested
  • Diablo III release date announcement “in a few days“, no PvP in launch version

And yes, they know that the announcement was just made today – May 15th release date for Diablo III.

The contest to win either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version of The Darkness II will run this and next week, with the winners announced in Episode 257.