People see facts and figures constantly and brush them off as, well, facts and figures. But, when people see charts and graphs they “oooh” and “aaaah” over them because the visualization is easy to understand. Now, thanks to the NPD Group and Deutsche Bank, people are seeing some pretty graphs about the console battle. These show just how well the race is going on all fronts of the war.
Although the data is fairly small the colors show it all, the Wii crossed over the Xbox 360 numbers in unit sales and hasn’t stopped since the launch. Here we are, on the third holiday season since the Wii launch, and people still cannot find them in stores. Shortage? Doubtful. Considering the massive sales numbers and the fact that they did take the 360 in numbers it seems the supply just can’t meet the over-the-top demands, but why is the demand so high for the little Nintendo bundle of joy? People just can’t get enough Wii.
The Xbox 360 has much to brag about as well, they’re not first in the race but their nearest next-generation graphic console, the PlayStation 3, isn’t even close. The chart shows them both rising in much the same way, with the same “pops” along the sales chart but in a completely different scale. Since Microsoft doesn’t want to consider Wii a competitor, they’re clearly winning the war in their eyes.
Oddly enough, one of the big pops in Xbox 360 sales where around the PS3 launch. Perhaps these consumers were waiting for both consoles to launch before making a decision? More than likely, it was holiday related and had little to do with the PS3 launch but it is fun to ponder anyway.
What about software sales? We’ve heard the Wii has little to offer in terms of games while the 360 wipes the floor with the competition.
To our surprise, the Wii is rocking the sales figures in terms of software but still doesn’t compare to the Xbox 360. Microsoft pulls out 93-million units while Nintendo takes home a modest 73-million units in software… yet again Sony doesn’t show up to the fight. Looking at November 2007, you can see the Wii jumps significantly in unit sales, no doubt related to the Super Mario Galaxy launch — once they hit that figure they never looked back and continued to climb.
Although a few of us expected Sony’s PlayStation 3 to make huge progress this year, each month they have marginal growth is causing their competitors to excel beyond anyones imagination. We’re starting to wonder how well Sony’s “10 year plan” is going to work out with their competitors taking advantage of the market now when, in 10-years, they will be sitting on their pile of cash to re-invest in the 8th generation of consoles.
(Thanks, GameDaily)
In this episode we’ve got a lot of MMO-style content and news. Although we’re not reviewing Wrath of the Lich King yet, we’ve got other subscription based news. This weeks gaming flashback is Defender and this weeks news includes:
Did someone say Yoga? I have returned from my deep educational derangement, securing my graduation and unemployment. Now that I am a professional vagabond with a smexy new Xbox One, I will dedicate more time to gaming and ultimately this podcast. Don’t go Paul. Here is some love. Manly comrad-like non-platonic love.
@Non-tangible gaming
I purchased the Xbox One Titanfall bundle and had to endure a 4 hour download of the game. I fully understand why console gaming is still disk based. On the other hand, my Steam library has 170 titles which I can download at high speed at a moments notice. Until my Xbox can pull off that kind of performance at Steam like prices, I don’t think I will download that many console games. I have loads of digital PS3 titles for that very reason.
@Gaming conventions
Never been to one purely dedicated to a single game. Never really been that dedicated to just one game. Here in UK it’s rare to find a gaming convention at all. Even major events tend to skip out a year or two. I know there are some dedicated communities in London but it’s easier to buy weaponised uranium then to find one. However, if I could ever go to one, it would most likely be about Elder Scrolls or Halo.
PS: City of Heroes was made in the dark days of gaming when homophobia was supreme and untraditional sexual orientation was frowned upon. Allowing a city full of adolescent boys running around in coloured briefs would be marketing suicide. It’s quite amusing. Since then homosexuality went mainstream and even became a marketing selling point for some games. It’s only a matter of time until you can create a transgender 5th generation foxkin character in an RPG.
Another good episode guys and I’m glad you enjoyed the Princess Bride reference.
@Console Digital gaming: I’m all for this as I really do enjoy not having to worry about where disks are. I have quite a few in digital format on my PS3.
@Sims4: I agree with Jonah, it’s one thing to re-write the mechanic on how something works in a game like with Civ V’s Espionage and Religion being vastly different to how it worked in previous games. To just stripping out features that you know will be repackaged into a expansion pack not looking much different or better for it’s delay. All the things that have been left out has had us feel like we’re going back to Sims 1.
@Youtube offline: Hey if they want to give me free music who am I to complain? heh
@QotW: I almost went to a Minecon in Orlando since that’s near to where I live. However it was really hard to get tickets. They sold them in groupings of 3k and they all went in seconds. Freaking jackals.
heyaaaaa xD after 2 years lol downloading an episode here feels like a trip to memory lane haha not sure if u remember me xD