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)
If you’re into Rock Band and love the songs you’ve played, you may want to migrate them into Rock Band 2, correct? For the price of 400 Microsoft points ($4.99) you’re now able to download an export “patch” to allow exporting of 55 Rock Band songs into the next version of Rock Band.
Blah … I’m biased towards ATI/AMD, so GT, GTX, GTY all the same
@Yoshida admits absence of Vita at E3 was a mistake
Ahem! Ha ha ha ha ha :))
Really?! You have a major event and you don’t make noise around your newest product?! Who’s in charge of the marketing there? Fire the dumb ass who decided that, if you ask me.
Jordan, excellent point regarding the way the subject was shifted from PS Vita games to PS3 games. If you ask me, this was done because Vita doesn’t really have a games library …
@Irrational Games now includes 85+ Metacritic game requirement for employment
Erm, rating is not just about the game, it’s also about the rating agency. If you hire somebody, do that after you administer them some tests that are relevant for you.
Paul, I’m with you on this one, it is crap.
Oh, about good games (not sure how it rates on Metacritic :P), play Ib! (http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/ib.htm)
@UbiSoft patches UPlay rootkit issue
Ok, I don’t use it, I don’t care that much. Still, you don’t code a rootkit by mistake …
Paul, I hope there’s nothing too serious. Get well.
@PS Vita
I complain a lot about the 3DS. Thank heavens I don’t have PS Vita. At least Nintendo is trying. I might pick up a PSP at some point. They are cheap as dirt these days.
@Metacritic scores shaping industry
I agree with Herr_Alien and Paul. It’s crap. Metacritic scores are an average. If they want them to be representative of the true quality, the game industry should have reviewing standards and guidelines. Without them, any critic can review however he sees fit. I use Gamespot a lot. Their reviews tend to rate games 2 or 3 points (out of 10) below IGN reviews. As far as I know both are part of Metacritic. There is the problem right there.
@Impire
Played quite a few of those. There is Crystal Chronicles: My life as a Darklord dungeon/tower builder on WiiWare if anyone cares. It has girls that look like 10 wearing S&M outfits with breasts the size of melons (Japan, you so silly). I’ll admit I find most of these games boring. Although I know how addictive they can get. Blasted RollerCoaster Tycoon.
PS: good luck with the operation, Paul. I promise to write you hate mail so make sure to come back and read it.
@QOTW
Have you ever been overly attached to an NPC? A digital someone who would call up feeling of companionship? Someone you would feel bad for loosing?