400,000 Wiis sold on Japanese launch day
Is the Wii the present to have this Christmas?
One Kotaku journalist was lucky enough to get his hands on a Wii despite suffering from a cold. He chronicled the events of the day via picture which you can see over on Kotaku. Others went even further, with the BBC reporting that one student dressed himself up as a Wiimote whilst queuing, he said: "I made this (costume) by myself yesterday. This is a homage to Nintendo."
With Nintendo already claiming it has sold 600,000 Wiis in the US, it puts the console in a dominant position for claiming the crown as 'most wanted' Christmas present. That pole position will only be strengthened by the consoles launch on December 8th in Britain.
In other Wii related news Engadget is reporting that the console has already been hacked and used to play homebrew games. Taken from the site on how to make your own component cable:
" On the component cable side, it looks like what you need to do is follow the Wii AV pinout, re-arrange the pins on an AV cable, then rewire those to a new set of cables with RCA ends; if you wire it the right way, you can even use a toggle to switch between component and composite. We're not saying it's easy, but it's not heart surgery, either."
On the homebrewing side: "You need an SD card and SD to GameCube adapter, a GameCube Action Replay pack, and some patience while you enter in a 28 line long 474 character code." Two tips for you to keep in mind when you pick up your Wii on the 8th.
Has the world gone Wii crazy? Let us know your thoughts in the forum.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyThe one and only reason I'm waiting to get one myself is because I want to see what kind of online-future Nintendo has planned for the Wii. The PS3 and 360 have a pretty strong online plan, and have already a few games in store that can be played online.
If Nintendo's Wii has similar games (online Zelda, Mario, Metroid or something? Syphon Filter perhaps?), I'm definately going to get one! I like the graphics of the 360, but I refuse to pay 10,- a month just to be able to play online. An MMORPG requires another 10-14 bucks a month, which nearly doubles the price. When you play a PC or PS3/PS2 game online, you don't pay that first 10,- for starters.
If Wii has a similar online plan as the PS2/PS3/PC, I'm buying one for sure :)
Just the new way of playing (nunchuck) is enough actually :P
Though that said im not really a console person but i would certainly like to try out the Wii and see if it grabs me as it seems like the Wii could make for interesting party idea's having a group of freidns round and lots of alcohol playing games against each other.
360 is for gamers,
ps3 is for fanbois,
wii are for the people.
The Wii is a clear winner in innovative gaming, and it didn't change a whole lot regarding the way dev's have to code a game. But I think the PS3 needs about a year to get things rolling. After all, what the Wii did on the outside, the PS3 did on the inside. 360 is nothing more then a loud powerplant; good graphics and nice games, but not really anything innovative imho ;)
it's funny people are saying that, yet so far the only compelling reason to buy one is zelda - a game that was meant to be the gamecube's swansong.
don;t get me wrong - i'll be getting mine on launch day with zelda, but as for proving that it can innovate? i think it still has its work cut out for it. not that it's not possible - the DS was hardly an enticing proposition at launch, either.
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And with the 360 Microsoft has provided a very competant, 5yr life span console without hyperbole, that works very well.
The innovation comes from Xbox Live, having only signed up recently I have been blown away with how smooth it works, tells you which frinds are online, lets you know what everyone else is up to and allows invites to games to be sent/received even when in a different game. It's an extremely accomplished service. Sony's PNS, while free, will take some considerable work to be as user friendly, and more importantly, stable as Live.
As for the Wii, well I already own a Gamecube, so I don't fancy spending £180 on a new controller, my flat is too small and cluttered for four idiots to be waving arms everywhere and we're already got two 360's plus Gears of War, so, no room for the Wii I'm afraid.
...damn it! You're probably right! Sod my 360 I wanna be the new Star Wars Kid!
What will be a real test of the console though is if the sales figures continue at a good rate and the uptake of the general public is good, as lets face it, the current purchasers are most likley to be us geeks and the fanboys.
THAT just made my day!! :D
I just rushed my desicion to buy a 360 for xmas because of Gears of War & Rainbow Six Vegas. I wasnt planning on getting a 360 for maybe another 6 months but those 2 games made me want it now.
When there is a game on the WII that makes me wanna have it right now like that, then Ill get one. So im waiting for some decent games on the WII.
Assign my consoel to the cupboard?
I'm also waiting for some news about the Wii's online capabilities and features. Maybe then I'll go out and buy, providing the news is good!
The initial reviews of the online service for VC have been a little poor with quite slow speeds loading each page as its just a cut down opera nabing stuff from the 'web when it 's asked.
and considering this:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/826/semttulo3wn9.jpg
from 28-11-06
i think the wii is selling very nicely.... if this keeps up the wii will even win the 360....
even the 360 is outselling the PS3 :D
Thats the very first thing i thought when i saw people playing a demo of this, of course im sure like most i would look like an idiot using it but hey its all fun.
Uh, yeah, the 360 has been out a YEAR and PS3 isn't even out in Europe yet! Give it two years then come again.
Just to give some perspective on the next gen consoles, the original Xbox, which was branded a failure when launched, sold 4 million more consoles than the 360 over the same period when it launched. Looks like most peeps are either, happy to wait for the Wii / PS3 or are still happy with their PS2. So we'll have to wait and see who wins the new "console war".
I have a 360 by the way, and it rocks.
The two experiences don't really overlap that much, aside for things like Zelda, and I don't think they are supposed to. Wii60 is a very real and smart choice.
For me, I don't need a 360 as the PC is where I do my "hardcore" gaming.
As for the Wii, Wii-sports alone is "revolutionary" in the innovative control schemes. Each night my enitre family does a couple of rounds of bowling. I've had countless epic tennis matches with my dad. Whenever my mates and I get together for a few drinks, vicious Wii Boxing matches break out.
Wii sports alone has my family playing games (which hasn't happened since the NES days), and it's just great fun. The joy of swinging the remote and hearing the "pop" of the ball being hit (comming from the remote no less!) is fantastic.
Red Steel is so-so, a vanilla shooter, not cutting edge in looks department, but the control scheme is "interesting". Definitely not "easy", but interesting. Not sure if I like it better than a controller. It's definitely no substitue for mouse-keyboard though.
Not a fan of Monkey Ball, the Ubisoft 4x4 game is absolute trash, and Rayman seems to be very promising.
I have only gotten a few hrs into Zelda so far, because each time I go to play, I end up just playing another match of Tennis with me dad ;)
Aggies
i got to the site once.... and about 60 minutes later
the 360 sold 3128 consoles
the PS3 sold 459 consoles
the wii sold 1241
the 360 is outselling the wii and the wii is outselling the PS3.......
its all about (number of consoles sold)/(time) = ...... pwnage rate.....:p
even the site: http://nexgenwars.com/ that DXR_13KE posted doesn't reallly give you true idea of real world demand -- I've already pointed out that the sales numbers only reflect manufacturing capabilities at this point. In addition to that, the survey results are going to be drastically skewed towards the type of people most likely to even go to the site and pick a console (along with the number of people who go repeatedly and select the same console multiple times for some reason)...what percentages of the consoles do you think will be sold to parents buying for their begging children? How many of those parents (or their begging children) do you think will be going to the site to assert their opinion? (my estimates: 80% and 4, at least over the life of the consoles).
If we'd like to compare "success of the manufacturing" of the consoles...then that would be a topic for which numbers might directly apply.
how is there 700,000 PS3 out there and there has only been sold about 369,231..... half of its stock.
I've played the 360 quite a lot (although no GoW yet) and I found the console admirable. One thing I couldn't stand was the noise; I know I'm being anal but I found it all very distracting. I'm not necessarily looking for the all encompassing, big set, big sound experience but others are.
In the long term although the 360 is a solid machine I just wonder how well it can survive in effectively two markets. The sales figures for the 360 in Japan thus far are simply unbelievable; I think less then 200,000 units sold in a year at last count.