Wii could top record-holding PS2

[vairox]

SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) -- Sales of Nintendo's quirky Wii video game machine could top the legendary PlayStation 2, making it the biggest hit in the industry's history, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said on Thursday.

Nintendo Co. Ltd. sped past Sony Corp. in market capitalization last month to become one of the 10 most valuable companies in Japan.

Iwata in an interview also played down the threat to Nintendo's business of a price cut in Sony's PlayStation 3 and the introduction of a thinner PlayStation Portable.

The Wii has outsold Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 monthly since its November launch, helped by its relatively affordable $250 price tag and a motion-sensing controller that can be swung like a bat, for instance.

Instead of offering lifelike graphics to appeal to hard-core gamers, who are mostly men, Nintendo has appealed to an audience including women and the elderly with innovative but easy-to-play games.

"Sony's PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved," Iwata said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/13/e...eut/index.html

[BuggyLoop]

Wii's biggest competition is DS

Its certainly heading toward that goal at a fast pace.

[monroeski]

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said

I'll wait for something a bit more objective, especially since they didn't compare sales numbers with the PS2.

[PointlesS]

imo they need better and more diverse games to top the ps2...the ps2 has everything...rpgs...sports games...fps games...adventure...hell even a mmo...I look at the wii and all I see is casual and "non games" with the occasional good first party nintendo game...

I know it's only been out for so long but it's not like their e3 conference is the talk of the show

[hongsc]

It's possible since Nintendo has tapped into the casual gamer audience but Nintendo needs more third party support and/or exclusives *must have* games that they haven't had since the SNES. Right now Nintendo is in a great position but it's too soon to speculate about total potential sales. With Sony's price drop and actual good to great games coming out this year, sales will be much better. Also there was a strong rumor around E3 that Sony is paying large sums of money to Epic to tweak the engine to run on the PS3 efficiently and make an exclusive game like Gears of War. The 360 is sitting pretty with a great line up this year.

[Fig]

It's possible since Nintendo has tapped into the casual gamer audience but Nintendo needs more third party support and/or exclusives *must have* games that they haven't had since the SNES. Right now Nintendo is in a great position but it's too soon to speculate about total potential sales. With Sony's price drop and actual good to great games coming out this year, sales will be much better. Also there was a strong rumor around E3 that Sony is paying large sums of money to Epic to tweak the engine to run on the PS3 efficiently and make an exclusive game like Gears of War. The 360 is sitting pretty with a great line up this year.

If Sony can do this, this will secure my PS3 purchase once it happens. Good news for Sony if they can pull it off.

[Farmer_BOB]

If they can keep this pace, then yes. Like hongsc said, it's appealing to people that even the PS2 couldn't entice.

But it's really all too early to tell. Give a few more years, like the DS.

[Transfurzz]

imo they need better and more diverse games to top the ps2...the ps2 has everything...rpgs...sports games...fps games...adventure...hell even a mmo...I look at the wii and all I see is casual and "non games" with the occasional good first party nintendo game...

I know it's only been out for so long but it's not like their e3 conference is the talk of the show

+1

Agreed. The Wii has mass media appeal, but momentum ? I think not, at this time at least. They need excellent third party games badly. If not it might go the way of the gamecube. Selling incredibly well, then flying off the radar entirely.

As much as I like Resident Evil 4, I've played through that game enough times to warrant a free exclusive unlocked Handcannon. On two seperate consoles too. I've completed it what ? 7 times, perfect number. I've seen everything the game has to offer and frankly, it's tired. I've wasted about two weeks on the PS2 version playing 24/7 during my holidays. I've just about cracked. So that's what I'm doing, downloading a savegame. To be fair, I'll just start an entirely new game and pick up the special weapons in the second round.

[dmonk]

imo they need better and more diverse games to top the ps2...the ps2 has everything...rpgs...sports games...fps games...adventure...hell even a mmo...I look at the wii and all I see is casual and "non games" with the occasional good first party nintendo game...

I know it's only been out for so long but it's not like their e3 conference is the talk of the show

good call. I own a wii and i completely agree.

[DJBeanPole17]

imo they need better and more diverse games to top the ps2...the ps2 has everything...rpgs...sports games...fps games...adventure...hell even a mmo...I look at the wii and all I see is casual and "non games" with the occasional good first party nintendo game...

I know it's only been out for so long but it's not like their e3 conference is the talk of the show

+2

For me... all I keep hearing about is these damn mini-games. I've played a few myself, and its alot like masturbation. It's fun, but it can only last so long. I happen to own Fuzion Frenzy, which is a collection of mini-games in itself... but it gets boring after awhile. I would like the Wii to broaden itself as well, but if (and I guess they are...) these games are so successful...

[monroeski]

I think we'll start seeing the mini-game games start to slow down. I think there have been a lot of them so far because the devs are learning to work with the hardware, and the mini-game style is very conducive to gaining experience working on a lot of different things, if not working on any of them in-depth. Also, since the whole motion control thing is pretty new in the first place, players themselves are still having fun with all the random things you can do. As devs get more comfortable with the hardware, and the things they can do with it over the course of a "normal" game, and as players move past the initial "wow" factor of motion control and begin to want something more, we'll see the mini-games get much less frequent.

Of course, there will still be a new Mario Party game each year until the end of time...

[PriMaTe]

Does the wii have any good games yet? How's paper mario did it come out yet?

[pwain]

Does the wii have any good games yet? How's paper mario did it come out yet?

Nothing amazing. Paper mario came out, but....meh.



So glad I camped out for one

[ryanwv]

Nothing amazing. Paper mario came out, but....meh.



So glad I camped out for one

meh is right. That game started out awesome but about halfway through really really started to drag on. After E3 I have pretty much lost my faith in the Wii. I dont think the Wii will surpass the ps2, the DS has a chance but the DS also markets to core gamers.

It would be interesting to see the 3 companies tie but I think Microsoft will come out with a price cut and then we will see people accept the 360 as this gens winner.

[ksuohio]

The Wii also needs to get the online play into swing. I know that online play helped the PS2 towards the end for sports and other games and really helped the Xbox/360. After awhile, people get tired of "gimmick" like devices that don't have a lot of content.