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)
It’s funny to think that, in this age of multi-million dollar games and the obsession with companies wanting to kill the (future) retro market by making all of their games online and possessed by themselves, a remastered DuckTales game comes along and reminds people of a better time, when games could be challenging and fun all at once. Can’t wait for it! Viva La Side Scroller!
DuckTales? I can get down with that. Bioshock Infinite seems to be the game everyone is most excited about right now. Or maybe we’re excited because that is what they want..? Good thing I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. I want to play! Retro is ok…but personally it doesn’t get me excited. Wait does 1999 count as retro? That I am excited about! 🙂
One really does have to wonder why nobody at THQ bothered to tell the higher-ups that a non-Wii uDraw would’ve been a terrible idea. What would’ve been the worst thing to happen – people get fired?
Ha! That happens so often in this industry that it’s looped well past the point of not being funny and become funny again. Regardless, you’d think that THQ, for having been around for so long, would’ve had the foresight to avoid such a disaster.
Regarding American McGee’s reactions, I really can’t blame him. The PS4 was mostly unimpressive, not helped by the fact that we’re still being left in the dark on little things like HOW MUCH IT COSTS and WHAT THE THING LOOKS LIKE.
As for the Sim City issues, while it is true that gamers as a whole need to relax when a company does something new such as always-online games, a company also has to be responsible for accurate predictions of factors such as server stress and large amounts of registered product users. It goes both ways.
As for Levine, it’s no surprise that he put so much effort into a game that, judging from all the reactions I’ve been witnessing along the internet, has been quite thought-provoking. I’d want my wonderfully-crafted pride and joy to sell well too, especially if it cost that much in total investments.
Other than that, not much else to say. Broken Age looks to have a good concept, and DuckTales Remastered looks to be an awesome remake.
Post a good comment? What’s a good comment what should my comment be about? I need a little more information then that!
I’d love a copy of Bioshock! Hit me up with a copy for the 360! Love ya!
What if BATMAN traveled to the Bioshock Infinite Universe? XD That’s a good comment right there XD.
You know seriously though i heard they debunked that 100 mill rumor. Sales would be crazy to have to cover 200 m would NEVER happen
@Darklurkr23 THanks guys
@Udon’tDRAWsowell
I heard that it was multiplatform. But I never saw a reason for it. If you wanted to draw on a pad you could just buy a draw pad for a PC for the UDRAW release price. Not difficult to see why it failed. Pity it took THQ down with it.
@Bioshock Forever
For me it was one of those games that made occasional noise pre-release but was developed for so long I eventually lost interest. Nevertheless, it got good reviews and you can even see advert posters here in UK. A privilege generally reserved to FIFA.
@American McGee
I bet he was bullied in school. His parents probably did not expect him… Anyways, regarding the PS4 remark, I was also unimpressed by the showcase but am reserving my judgement until I see the new Xbox. If that also fails to impress me maybe lame is just becoming an industry standard.
@Kickstarter
I will be sceptical about Kickstarter untill something finally comes out of it.
@Games going retro
The current economic climate is very averse to innovation. Developers prefer to be safe and develop games based on standard mechanics rather than take risks and introduce new ideas. When was the last time you played an innovative AAA title? Assassins Creed. Mass Effect. Gears of War. Since then all we had was sequels and carbon copies. Bottom line: it’s not safe to innovate when the industry is crumbling around you.
I never played Chrono Cross but also enjoyed Chrono Trigger a lot thanks to the magic of emulation. When it comes to the color pairs you mentioned as one of the mechanics, Final Fantasy Tactics had a similar mechanic based on the signs of the Zodiac.
As Arthur already mentioned, the marketing campaign for Bioshock has reached Europe in full swing. Never before have I seen so many game-related posters in Poland for a game that is not FIFA. That makes me feel even more excited about the game.
But before that happens, I still have several PS Vita games to finish, because there are games for the platform, even though you so blatantly disagree ;). I’ve started Metal Gear Collection HD since I’d never played those games before and thay will be good for many hours of play before I get those Platinum trophies. Overall, there are many smaller games that are great on the Vita, such as Zen Pinball 2, Lumines Electronic Symphony or Knytt Underground.
Surely, there is a market for games with a retro look-and-feel which is clearly visible based on the number of Flash games that pop up all over the place and are mostly targeted at more casual gamers. However, I don’t believe that this is a worrying trend, taking into considerations that games such as The Last of Us, Beyond Two Souls, Remember Me or Rain introduce new and exciting mechanics and often are a treat to look at.
Obviously, it’s very hard to come up with something completely new and you can often argue that new games are just rehashes of older ones with better-looking graphics and slightly tweaked mechanics but that’s true for other entertainment media as well. Constant and steady progress and evolution in game mechanics and visual and audio styles is the way to go and I believe that’s what we’re seeing.
Kaczogrod! (Duckburg in Polish – it will all make sense in a second 😉 )
P.S. Read the first letters of all the sentences in this comment.
P.S.2 Yes, Johan, you did say Crapcom 🙂