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Your email address will not be published.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

Episode 733: More DelaysEpisode 733: More Delays

No Gravatar

In this podcast, they discuss Skyrim lead designer saying it will be ‘almost impossible’ for Elder Scrolls 6 to meet fan expectations, Minecraft is ditching PSVR support next year, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered rated for PS5 and PC, and Dead by Daylight PvE spin-off Project T being canceled after “unsatisfactory” player testing.

The news includes:

  • Square Enix confirms lower-than-expected Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 sales
  • Cities: Skylines 2 Creator Packs and the Bridges and Ports Expansion are being delayed
  • EA confirms next Battlefield will have a modern setting

Feel free to reply.

The post Episode 733: More Delays first appeared on Gaming Podcast.

Diablo 3 Content Creation PhaseDiablo 3 Content Creation Phase

Now that Blizzard feels their engine is solid, it’s time to move on to creating content for the full game. Jay Wilson, Diablo 3‘s lead designer, says the game engine is in an advance stage of completion and much of the art team has moved onto Act 2. Don’t read into that, he said game engine.

Blizzard is obviously not hurting for money, given the success of World of Warcraft and they’ve always taken their time with projects to make them solid products. Blizzard’s name is on the line and they’re brand consists of three major franchises: Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. When you produce so few games you’re expected to do them perfectly.

How do they do it? As Wilson says, “If we haven’t rebuilt something five times it really doesn’t deserve to be shipped. That’s pretty much our policy.” (eurogamer) While a game engine is the foundation for a great game experience, the content is king. Blizzard is deep in the mire of content production so, although the engine might be solid, the final product is probably still far from complete.

End result, expect a high quality product once again from Blizzard.

Episode 282: Resident Paul 6Episode 282: Resident Paul 6

This week’s episode is light on news but heavy on features, as the Gaming Flashback checks out the coin-op arcade racer Omega Race while the Gaming History looks at the failed GameBoy Micro.

This week’s news includes:

  • Resident Evil 6 on-disc DLC unlocked by modders
  • Sony sues Kevin Butler actor for appearing in Wii commercial
  • World of Warcraft cities laid waste by first level priest

We also have a single Reader Feedback and the Question of the Week is, “What is your game purchase in the Fall season with the highest priority?”