Still Printin': The Big N quarterly profits quintuples

Nintendo's doing so well now that I'd forgotten that they were making a lot of their money off of Pokemon only a few short years ago...

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July 26, 2007
Japan: Wii Sales Help Quintuple Profit for Nintendo
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Surging sales of Nintendo’s Wii and DS video game systems lifted the company’s quarterly profit fivefold, prompting the Japanese game maker to raise its annual earnings forecast 40 percent. Nintendo posted net income of 80.25 billion yen ($667 million) for the April-June period, up from 15.55 billion yen a year earlier. Sales more than doubled to 340.44 billion yen ($2.83 billion) from 130.91 billion yen the previous year, powered by brisk sales of Nintendo’s hand-held DS machine and its Wii console. The company, which also makes Pokemon and Super Mario games, raised its annual profit forecast to 245 billion yen ($2.04 billion) from the 175 billion yen it forecast in April. Nintendo said it sold 3.43 million Wii machines worldwide in the April-June quarter, bringing total sales to 9.27 million units — 3.81 million in the Americas, 2.95 million in Japan and 2.51 million elsewhere.

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Cue the gifs:

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com...ints_money.gif
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1...tsmoneyos1.gif
http://www.thisiswaiting.com/1185.gif

The best thing about these numbers is that now Nintendo will finally start attracting more 3rd party support for their home console, which is really the main thing that's been holding them back (online play was as well, but they're starting to come around on that one.)

Shame there's been a drought of good Wii games.

I haven't touched mine in a while (RE4 doesn't really count.)

Drought is almost over though, as there's some fun and killer stuff coming out shortly.

Hot damn...I didn't realize they were already so close to the 10 million mark for Wii.
This Christmas is going to cement it for them I think, with all the big Wii titles coming.
It's just amazing what's happening now, given the environment after they first unveiled the moniker for the console at E3 in 2006. It was forecasts of gloom and doom as far as the eye could see.

Among business analysts, the general consensus is that Sony needs to get its act together for a strong holiday season this year otherwise it's lost.

The problems for Sony are bigger than merely losing this generation of the video game console wars: as was noted when they launched, Sony is now making the largest amount of profits off of the video game and home computer markets (it lost a big money generator when the iPod killed off the Walkman), and failing here would be a big problem (though not necessarily deadly) for the company.

And I don't want to hear nonsense that says that the PS3 is a good system, that's not the point. The point is sales, and that also doomed the DC.

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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Originally Posted by xmods

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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I disagree. Nintendo has actually expanded the video game community more in less than a year than any system had since the 2600.

More women are playing video games than ever before. 1 in 4 on Wii, compared to 1 in 6 on other consoles. The DS/Wii have also made enormous inroads into older generations. The ratio of older DS owners is especially striking, thanks to games like Brain Age.

The gaming community needed this. I mean, personally, I found it weird that, the older I've gotten, the more weirded out I get by some of the other people I see in the gaming market --and the fact that I find a lot of the new games uninteresting because they're far too complicated than something I commit time to.

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

The best thing about these numbers is that now Nintendo will finally start attracting more 3rd party support for their home console, which is really the main thing that's been holding them back (online play was as well, but they're starting to come around on that one.)

Shame there's been a drought of good Wii games.

I haven't touched mine in a while (RE4 doesn't really count.)

Drought is almost over though, as there's some fun and killer stuff coming out shortly.

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Agreed.

I wish the Wii could play games from every region. There are several Japanese Wii games that I would like to play and the released games (so far) seem to be a little better as well.

For goodness sake, my boss even owns a Wii and plays golf via Wii Sports. He's 50+ years old.

I've read of several nursing homes buying Wiis for the residents. Obviously the kid factor is already present so that demo is accounted for. The low price is just icing on the cake.

Nintendo has really kicked ass with this system.

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Originally Posted by xmods

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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My 50 year old mother uses her DS Lite daily.

You don't know what you're talking about man.

The retirement community I work at has their own TV station where they do various bits and segments with the residents.

I don't usually give the station a glance whenever I walk past them [TVs] because it's usually just old people talking about whatever the hell old people usually talk about (weather?); but the other day I did look and saw that they had a dozen or so people hitting up some Wii Sports.

A truly "wtf..." moment if there ever was one.

whoop-de-fuckin-do!

So Nintendo has shifted nearly 10m wii systems? Just goes to show there are 10m Wiitards out there.

BTW, ZSNES/SNES9X/PGEN/Magic Engine > VC

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Originally Posted by xmods

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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WTF?

Wiitard
Micro$oft
lol PS3

If you've ever seriously used any of these words in a post you're a moron.

the very good thing about this DS/Wii momentum is it's keeping chimpmeister away from these forums

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Originally Posted by xmods

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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More reason for people to not take you seriously.

thanks.

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Originally Posted by kaos

the very good thing about this DS/Wii momentum is it's keeping chimpmeister away from these forums

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word :D

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Originally Posted by kaos

the very good thing about this DS/Wii momentum is it's keeping chimpmeister away from these forums

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A hundred times better than the Wii Sports pack-in.

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Originally Posted by xmods

Why are you celebrating the success of a company that has stiffled the video game industry for so long? They haven't put out a decent home console since the super nintendo and even it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Also they've held the handheld gaming industry hostage for nearly 20 years. Its sad that my turbo express has better grafix and gameplay than 90% of the GBA and NDS games out there. Even right now with the wii and its crappy motion sensing. Its hard to play a wii game and not feel raped by the controller. If you ever wondered what it feels like to not have any control over your limbs (ie: retarded or handicapped) then by all means the wii is just for you. Its pretty sad but i have every single wii game and the only game that is ever played is the one that came with it. So forgive me if i'm not as excited as everyone else about their continued success. Although i guess the typical nintendo fan likes pokemon and sells their old NDS everytime a new color scheme comes out. Maybe i'm too grown up for nintendo. Or maybe i just don't like what i've seen them do over the last 20 years. Either way this news is terrible for the gaming community, period.

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Sandy vagina alert.

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

Wiitard
Micro$oft
lol PS3

If you've ever seriously used any of these words in a post you're a moron.

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:multi_co:

Sure, Nintendo has expanded the market but at the same time, there is a dearth of games I want to play on their system.

NDS wasn't good until 3rd party started to crank out some good games (Castlevania, etc). And Wii thus far has the shittiest catalog of games ever (mini-games, gimmick wiimote control ports of old games).

I don't really want to play games that your grandma is playing. Thank god for 360 (despite their shitty QC).

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Originally Posted by Bobak

Among business analysts, the general consensus is that Sony needs to get its act together for a strong holiday season this year otherwise it's lost.

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Sony's holiday season isn't going to be all the great. Lair, Unreal Tournament III, and Heavenly Sword, that's it for exclusives this year on PS3. Everything else can also be found on X360 or is scheduled for next year. Sony'll survive though, their pockets are deep enough, but they will be in the red for 4th quarter 07'.

Anyway, though I'd never purchase a Wii myself, but the DS is winner for me.

I'm glad the big N is doing well.

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Originally Posted by Magician

Sony's holiday season isn't going to be all the great. Lair, Unreal Tournament III, and Heavenly Sword, that's it for exclusives this year on PS3. Everything else can also be found on X360 or is scheduled for next year. Sony'll survive though, their pockets are deep enough, but they will be in the red for 4th quarter 07'.

Anyway, though I'd never purchase a Wii myself, but the DS is winner for me.

I'm glad the big N is doing well.

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The only other PS3 game that will grab some sales will be Hot Shots 5, as it has already sold over the 100k mark (in Japan) and it was just released. Other than that and what you mentioned, the pickings are slim.

As for the Wii, there are some great games coming out and even though I don't use my DS lite, I am keeping it for Zelda and DQ. For portable play, I pretty much only play the PSP and while it gets a bad rap, there are some really great games on it.

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Originally Posted by Lastblade

Thank god for 360 (despite their shitty QC).

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What's on the 360 exactly?

I was looking at the release list this year and I saw maybe 3-4 titles that really caught my eye and that was about it.

Live Arcade kicks ass, that's for sure.

But other than that?

Not much looked interesting to me.

Sometimes I think it would just be better to pass by this current generation of gaming for a couple years then go back to it when there's actually a decent supply of games to play.

I could live off of a PS2 (and DS) for a while to come.

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

What's on the 360 exactly?

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For me, there are almost a dozen games between now a christmas that I want to play on the X360, not including XBLA games. For RPGs, X360's the place to be this holiday. Given what's coming out, this may very well be the Xbox's best quarter in MS's console history. There's a reason their E3 conference was so blah, they were pimpin' that very fact. Maybe they'll get back some of the 1.2 billion in hardware losses. :tickled: :annoyed:

Sorry guys....

Mario Galaxy will run the tables on everything.

Yeah, Nintendo stock has been climbing like crazy. I'm so glad I got in early.

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Originally Posted by Magician

For me, there are almost a dozen games between now a christmas that I want to play on the X360, not including XBLA games. For RPGs, X360's the place to be this holiday. Given what's coming out, this may very well be the Xbox's best quarter in MS's console history. There's a reason their E3 conference was so blah, they were pimpin' that very fact. Maybe they'll get back some of the 1.2 billion in hardware losses. :tickled: :annoyed:

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The release list I looked at for 360 was filled with shit games.

I can't come up with 2 that I would buy, let alone 12.

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Originally Posted by not sonic

The release list I looked at for 360 was filled with shit games.

I can't come up with 2 that I would buy, let alone 12.

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One man's trash is another's treasure...

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

What's on the 360 exactly?

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Mass Effect (if you don't like this game, you have no soul)
Blue Dragon
Bioshock
Halo 3
Burnout 5 (PS3 also)
Assassin's Creed (PS3 also)
GTA IV (PS3 also)
Stuntman Ignition
Call of Duty 4 (PS3 also)
Project Gotham Racing 4
Eternal Sonata
Rock Band (PS3 also)

If you can't find something on there that you like, you have shit for taste or just don't like anything post-16 bit generation.

I have not even put down games I am playing now, almost everyday (Gears of War, Rainbow 6 Vegas, GRAW, all the great sports games, etc).

The next generation of gaming will be on Mac, mark my words.

Haha, just kidding.

Boriqua <3 his DS

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Originally Posted by Lastblade

Mass Effect (if you don't like this game, you have no soul)
Blue Dragon
Bioshock
Halo 3
Burnout 5 (PS3 also)
Assassin's Creed (PS3 also)
GTA IV (PS3 also)
Stuntman Ignition
Call of Duty 4 (PS3 also)
Project Gotham Racing 4
Eternal Sonata
Rock Band (PS3 also)

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I'm on board with most of these too, the problem is it's mostly single player stuff.

Bungie's having problems with Halo 3's co-op multiplayer (rumor is it may have to come in the form of a patch post-release, bad news definitely). Call of Duty's multiplayer has been good before, but again it's only versus. Where are my co-op games? It's a fucking dying game mechanic, folks.

the only two games that vaguely interest me are sega rally revo and vf5. i doubt ill buy either.

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Originally Posted by not sonic

the only two games that vaguely interest me are sega rally revo and vf5. i doubt ill buy either.

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Shit for taste confirmed.

Back on topic...

I was reading an article where Neileson states that the Wii is the console most likely to be found in $100k+ Households.

I know that I won't be able to find one this XMAS....

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Originally Posted by norton9478

Back on topic...

I was reading an article where Neileson states that the Wii is the console most likely to be found in $100k+ Households.

I know that I won't be able to find one this XMAS....

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Yeah and that's ridiculous, we're eight months into the product cycle and I still can't find one.

I shouldn't have to camp out at six AM on a Sunday to get one when it's been out for 8 months.

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Originally Posted by BoriquaSNK

Yeah and that's ridiculous, we're eight months into the product cycle and I still can't find one.

I shouldn't have to camp out at six AM on a Sunday to get one when it's been out for 8 months.

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The Wii is everything everybody thought the Iphone was going to be.....

Anyone that can't talk about the business of Nintendo's success without breaking into an anti-Wii rant is a total moron.

I still have only seen a single one actually sitting out on the shelf. If you think the shortage is intentional you don't understand economics.

Of course I'm all for the PS3 doing well, because the market will benefit for the consumer with competition, but past evidence shows that the market can't really support 3 consoles without a clear loser in sales.

Everybody must remember that the V.Smile was the must have console durring the 2004 xmas shopping season

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Originally Posted by BoriquaSNK

Yeah and that's ridiculous, we're eight months into the product cycle and I still can't find one.

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Nintendo has found itself in that rare, truly serendipitous moment in business lore where they produced something that created demand beyond their wildest dreams (or capacities!).

Any thought that Nintendo was "staging" this shortage was debunked when they still couldn't meet demand after 4 months --at that point it technically hurt them from a business standpoint (in terms of potentially unrealized profits and the affect on stock price) --of course, this is one of those business problems that are considered tolerable, to say the least. There must be some bleary-eyed Japanese factory workers out there...

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

The retirement community I work at has their own TV station where they do various bits and segments with the residents.

I don't usually give the station a glance whenever I walk past them [TVs] because it's usually just old people talking about whatever the hell old people usually talk about (weather?); but the other day I did look and saw that they had a dozen or so people hitting up some Wii Sports.

A truly "wtf..." moment if there ever was one.

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Heh, I can imagine. You should've played and thrown down the gauntlet.

Haha, the Wii is like "Kick the Can".

The "Intentional Short Stock" people are idiots.....

You might want to short your stock intentionally when you are the only console on the market, but not when you are competing with 2 other potentially Hot systems....

You want to get consoles in every home to impress third party devs....... It's a ground game....

These are electronics's, not Beanie Babies.

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Originally Posted by lithy

Anyone that can't talk about the business of Nintendo's success without breaking into an anti-Wii rant is a total moron.

I still have only seen a single one actually sitting out on the shelf. If you think the shortage is intentional you don't understand economics.

Of course I'm all for the PS3 doing well, because the market will benefit for the consumer with competition, but past evidence shows that the market can't really support 3 consoles without a clear loser in sales.

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You have seen approximately one more Wii in the wild then I have.

I see the games, acessories, and other Wii related stuff all the time though and always in stock.

Wii's sell out as soon as they get in stock.

I hope Nintendo's amazing success w/ the Wii lures more 3rd party developers to their side as was stated previously.

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Originally Posted by Lastblade

Mass Effect (if you don't like this game, you have no soul)
Blue Dragon
Bioshock
Assassin's Creed (PS3 also)

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That's about it, yeah.

And I'm still not even sure about Mass Effect.

It's looks amazing but it's just not the kind of game for me.

I'll give the game credit but I'll more than likely be skipping it.

I'd also throw Guitar Hero 3 up in there too.

I'll probably get Halo 3 as well and then sell it off a couple weeks when I realize I really don't care enough about playing with/against other people in the FPS genre anymore.

Grand Theft Auto IV will be bought and played as well, but if it's anything like the last two GTA releases, I'll end up getting bored with it shortly into it (I'm hoping it's not since I do like the series but I can't deny my short-lived dedication to them.)

Sorry man, I'm no old-school biased gamer, I just don't see much coming out for the 360 this year that interests me.

For the PS3? Even less (MGS4 is about it.)

For the Wii? More, but still not that much.

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Originally Posted by Lastblade

Mass Effect (if you don't like this game, you have no soul)
Blue Dragon
Bioshock
Halo 3
Burnout 5 (PS3 also)
Assassin's Creed (PS3 also)
GTA IV (PS3 also)
Stuntman Ignition
Call of Duty 4 (PS3 also)
Project Gotham Racing 4
Eternal Sonata
Rock Band (PS3 also)

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Out of those, I'm interested in :

Mass Effect
Bioshock
Halo 3
Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4

(I already have BD and ES)

The Wii only has a few more intersting games coming out than the PS3 does.

:oh_no:

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Originally Posted by lithy

Of course I'm all for the PS3 doing well, because the market will benefit for the consumer with competition, but past evidence shows that the market can't really support 3 consoles without a clear loser in sales.

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That's not really entirely correct, I mean, the GCN was number 2 in worldwide sales and turned a profit from day 1. The XBox was a success, but didn't turn a profit until the second quarter of its fourth year.

What we have here is a clear splintering of the market where the system's are no longer competing with one another directly, but are instead providing services that branch out into completely different markets.

For example, XBox Live Marketplace competes more with iTunes than it does Nintendo's VC, and PS3 Home is a direct competitor to Second Life. The PS3, despite its dubious success as a game console, is pushing BluRay as the increasingly clear winner of the format war.

Of the three, the Wii is the only system whose primary focus is still gaming. The 360 and PS3 are branded as media centers, and damned good ones at that.

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Originally Posted by BoriquaSNK

That's not really entirely correct, I mean, the GCN was number 2 in worldwide sales and turned a profit from day 1. The XBox was a success, but didn't turn a profit until the second quarter of its fourth year.

What we have here is a clear splintering of the market where the system's are no longer competing with one another directly, but are instead providing services that branch out into completely different markets.

For example, XBox Live Marketplace competes more with iTunes than it does Nintendo's VC, and PS3 Home is a direct competitor to Second Life. The PS3, despite its dubious success as a game console, is pushing BluRay as the increasingly clear winner of the format war.

Of the three, the Wii is the only system whose primary focus is still gaming. The 360 and PS3 are branded as media centers, and damned good ones at that.

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Well making money is a bit different I guess. What I meant by the above was that ultimately we will brand a clear 'loser' in this generation. The follow up to that is whether or not the product is still profitable. Especially when you compare a company like Microsoft to Nintendo in strategy, Nintendo is nearly a lock to make money (how much can vary) every generation while a total bomb from a company like Sony or Microsoft, who make a huge initial investment in hardware expected to be recouped later, means serious financial trouble in the gaming division.

Good point though that they aren't really even competing with each other anymore on secondary levels, though I'm not ready to concede first and foremost that they compete for the game market dollars.

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Originally Posted by lithy

Well making money is a bit different I guess. What I meant by the above was that ultimately we will brand a clear 'loser' in this generation. The follow up to that is whether or not the product is still profitable. Especially when you compare a company like Microsoft to Nintendo in strategy, Nintendo is nearly a lock to make money (how much can vary) every generation while a total bomb from a company like Sony or Microsoft, who make a huge initial investment in hardware expected to be recouped later, means serious financial trouble in the gaming division.

Good point though that they aren't really even competing with each other anymore on secondary levels, though I'm not ready to concede first and foremost that they compete for the game market dollars.

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Oh I definitely agree with you there, I think that as the gaming market gets more and more complex and diverse, it's gonna be nigh impossible to pin this sort of thing down.

What it looks like we're seeing is an emphasis on services, where Microsoft is utilizing its xbox live brand to push subscription services and using it as a model for all of their other live brands (live search, office live, windows live, live hotmail, and Zune), Nintendo and Sony have taken a much more google like approach by offering their expanded services for free, which I think makes more sense in the long run.

Microsoft has never believed in added value services, their corporate philosophy has always been backwards compatibility, not bending over backwards, and it's proven profitable. But from a business and marketing perspective, Live's subscription services are only successful in xbox, they're a wash in every other product segment.

Contrast that with Sony, who despite offering tremendous added value platforms in the PSP and PS3, they've still managed to flounder. I just don't understand it really, I mean the PSP got what is tantamount to a processor upgrade for FREE. The PS3 is more powerful than most consumer PC's, yet it still sits on the shelves.

Then comes the Nintendo, offering competitive pricing and barebones services for free, releasing two consoles that look like they were designed by Apple but keeping them priced profitably and below their competitors, all while ensuring their bottomline stays black from day one.

This is a fascinating case study for marketing students.

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Originally Posted by BoriquaSNK

Oh I definitely agree with you there, I think that as the gaming market gets more and more complex and diverse, it's gonna be nigh impossible to pin this sort of thing down.

What it looks like we're seeing is an emphasis on services, where Microsoft is utilizing its xbox live brand to push subscription services and using it as a model for all of their other live brands (live search, office live, windows live, live hotmail, and Zune), Nintendo and Sony have taken a much more google like approach by offering their expanded services for free, which I think makes more sense in the long run.

Microsoft has never believed in added value services, their corporate philosophy has always been backwards compatibility, not bending over backwards, and it's proven profitable. But from a business and marketing perspective, Live's subscription services are only successful in xbox, they're a wash in every other product segment.

Contrast that with Sony, who despite offering tremendous added value platforms in the PSP and PS3, they've still managed to flounder. I just don't understand it really, I mean the PSP got what is tantamount to a processor upgrade for FREE. The PS3 is more powerful than most consumer PC's, yet it still sits on the shelves.

Then comes the Nintendo, offering competitive pricing and barebones services for free, releasing two consoles that look like they were designed by Apple but keeping them priced profitably and below their competitors, all while ensuring their bottomline stays black from day one.

This is a fascinating case study for marketing students.

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How many other products can you think of that were inferior tech, but priced lower than the competitors that emerged as the market leader?

Price makes a huge difference.

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Originally Posted by GregN.

How many other products can you think of that were inferior tech, but priced lower than the competitors that emerged as the market leader?

Price makes a huge difference.

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That's the thing, what market are they fighting for dude? If it's videogame consoles, the Wii takes it, if its media centers, the 360 takes it, if its HD Home Theater Centers, the PS3 wins. I'm arguing that the market is too complex to boil them down like you could last generation, it'd be like asking "Who's the king of TV's?" Well it depends on the type of TV now doesn't it?

As far as consumer electronics go, this is good news. It's usually the case that the shinier more expensive market leader takes the cake, I'm thinking of the Walkman and iPod as prime examples. Both came out at twice the price point of their competitors.

I'm not taking sides, I think they're all great at what they do, I'm just saying people have the wrong mentality regarding what this is really about.

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Originally Posted by Average Joe

Wiitard
Micro$oft
lol PS3

If you've ever seriously used any of these words in a post you're a moron.

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I'm guilty as charged of using Wiitard. :emb: