Nintendo Takes Yet Another Month in United States

February 13, 2009February 13, 2009| schommerschommer| 0 Comment| 1:42 pm
Categories:

The holiday season is over, the NPD sales data for January 2008 is in and we see a common theme: Nintendo rules the show. While Sony continues to try and persuade gamers that the PlayStation 3 is in a completely different gaming category, statistic gathering companies like NPD put ’em all in one big basket.

wiifitIt makes sense for Sony to try to push themselves away from being classified with the Wii console because it makes them look bad. We’re all equal gamers here, there is no need to break into more sub-categories when only three consoles vying for top spot. Many folks (including us) criticize the slow adoption rate of Wii games, yet they steal top software sales spots as well.

  • Wii — 679,200
  • Nintendo DS — 510,800
  • Xbox 360 — 309,000
  • PlayStation 3 — 203,200
  • PlayStation Portable — 172,300
  • PlayStation 2 — 101,200

Thankfully Sony’s PlayStation 3 product took top spot on their hardware list, so that’s not so bad. Sadly, combining all Sony’s hardware still doesn’t meet the units of the Wii.

On the software sales front, Nintendo took six of the top ten positions including position’s one, two and three. Wii Fit takes number one position with an insane 777,000 units sold. The only closest product to Wii Fit was Wii Play (still!) with 415,000 units sold. Place four was held by a 360 title, Left 4 Dead sold 243,000 units.

Although many gamers haven’t turned on their Wii in ages, there is no doubt the market is red hot for Wii. At this point, we’re all wondering how long it will last — any predictions? It’s already been a long time.

0 thoughts on “Nintendo Takes Yet Another Month in United States”

  2. Jordan posted in the newsgroups:

    Wow, continuing the trend that started in November… all the Sony platforms are down compared to the same time last year:

    Gain from January ’08 to January ’09:

    Wii +147.88%
    Xbox 360 +34.35%
    PS3 -24.46%
    PS2 -61.67%
    NDS +103.51%
    PSP -25.09%

    January ’08 numbers:

    Wii – 274,000
    Xbox 360 – 230,000
    PS3 – 269,000
    PS2 – 264,000
    NDS – 251,000
    PSP – 230,000

    So much for the lie of Sony momentum.

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Microsoft: Biggest Xbox Live Month Ever | Game Stooge
  4. Pingback: Small Games Make Big Waves | Gaming Podcast

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Related Post

Episode 656: Gooey EpisodeEpisode 656: Gooey Episode

This week includes a Gaming Flashback about the sticky puzzle game World of Goo, which was one of the first games released without DLC — which is one of the main themes running through this podcast: videogame obsolescence. The guys also discuss James Gunn’s work on Lollipop Chainsaw and speedrun cheating.

The news for the week includes:

  • Ubisoft to pull online from older games, which also takes away your DLC
  • Sucker Punch has “no plans to revisit” its Sly Cooper or InFamous games
  • Squad’s 50v50 tactical FPS action has moved over 3 million copies
  • Fable reboot gets a new narrative lead

All this and Listener Feedback.

Read MoreRead More

New Australian R18+ Proposal DraftedNew Australian R18+ Proposal Drafted

A new draft of the R18+ classification has been released by home minister Brendan O’Connor through the Australian Federal Government. The new guidelines closely match those in place for Australia’s film industry. The new R18+ rating removes restrictions on bad language, drug use and nudity; in contrast, the current guidelines forbade the classification of any adult-themed games.

O’Connor’s draft claims that the R18+ rating will allow “virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes”, and violence in games “except where it offends against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that it should not be classified.” As far as sex, the draft says, “Sexual activity may be realistically simulated. The general rule is ‘simulation, yes – the real thing, no'”.

Of course, “standards of morality, decency and propriety” is still troublesomely subjective, while “simulation, yes, the real thing, no” is comicly inept for videogames, where everything is simulation. You may be able to tell when live actors are actually performing sexual acts, but when can you tell a videogame character is actually having sex?

O’Connor stated:

“The Gillard government wants to provide better guidance for parents and remove unsuitable material from children and teenagers. The introduction of an R18+ classification will help achieve that and will also bring Australia into line with comparable nations. This issue has been on the table for many years, without the necessary progress to make a change. We’ve recently seen several states publicly express their support for an adult only rating for games and I’m keen to reach a unanimous decision at the July meeting.”

Rather than banning games, why not punish stores for selling mature games to underage children? Or put the onus of raising children on the parents?

Read MoreRead More