Analysts predict you won't get a Wii for 2 years
If you still haven't got your mitts on a Nintendo Wii then you may still be missing out in 2009 according to analysts.
Billy Pidegeon told Home Media Magazine that he believed the Wii will still be massively in demand well into 2009 and that they will still be scarce until then:
"I’d like to see Wii hardware shipping in larger quantities or mass market consumers may cool on it. Having said that, I don’t believe supply will meet demand for the Wii until 2009.”
He also went on to outline why he thinks the Xbox 360 and PS3 are struggling, confident that it the PS2 is still this year's console. "Xbox 360 and PS3 need system-selling games ASAP. Halo 3 will help, as will Lair and Heavenly Sword, but that leaves a hole in Q2 which will be filled by Wii, DS and PSP hardware and software. We’ll also see more PC and PS2 software picking up the slack."
Others shared the same view, claiming that "It still seems to be the year of the PS2", though technically we think that was last year according to the Chinese Calender.
Still, they've been right so far and recent sales figures show the strongest followings for PS2 and Nintendo DS.
Fancy gloating that you're one of the lucky Wii-owners or do you think that the PS3 just hasn't been given a fair chance yet? Either way, pop down the forums and let us know.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyThe little kid in Japan finally woke up.
An absolute must for uni students! Utterly unbeatable fun.
Sure, I would like some 1080p gaming on my 1080p lcd, but I just can't justify the cost of the consoles, instead I'll put my money into a gaming rig which will have much more functionality for the cost as it will also be a total htpc with hddvd and bluray when drives are cheap enough.
Still not getting one though, i have a chronic lack of funds :(
going to ayia napa in 6 weeks, and hoping to snap one up with the old duty free :)
looks like a typo to me
well, I'll stick with playing PC games myself, but I wouldnt be surprised if the Wii keeps going strong here
I can understand their strained supplies, and the fact that they could only get 2 out to a Wal-Mart in a relatively high populted area (Tampa, Florida) I imagine for the most part they truly are experiencing a shortage.
Oh and the PS3/Xbox 360 racks were empty. Not that it really means much given the Wii's strong sales, and this only in my area.
Use your own drive?
looks like the glory days of nintendo and the NES are back.
That's exactly what I thought. No offense to Nintendo or the Wii - it's pretty neat. But that's about it.. it's "neat" for a while and then that's it, whereas the 360 or PS3 can hold me for hours with the games and grafix, etc.
What makes me grin is that people for months and months kicked seven kinds of sh1t out of Sony for lack of supply and poor production numbers for release. Then when the EU launch came and went, there was plenty (subjective) of stock remaining, indicating they had picked up their trousers and actually produced a good amount of product to prevent out of stock issues. Well done. And it's a damned good machine (subjective)
The Wii, on the other hand, was hailed by many as the next best console, with a genius interactive UI, etc. But supply is sh1t, the console itself is mediocre (subjective) in power and grafix and to me, just not attention holding.
So why aren't nintendo getting burned as badly as Sony for their "lack of supply" issues?
Well, Nintendo have recently ramped up production to meet demands. The other way to look at it is that Nintendo has vastly outsold the PS3, so when Sony had loads of product laying around thinking they'd be ****-hot and Nintendo didn't it was amusing to see the twist. Nintendo ended up not being able to meet demand and have had to ramp up supply and Sony have been praised with being able to meet demand because they never sold that many to begin with.
I went in shopping at the weekend and asked in the three games shops near the offices how many PS3s they'd sold and have left. Game and Gamestation both told me they had a fair few in and they hadn't sold very fast. The independant shop told me they hadn't had any in and never had got any in. They confessed that when someone wants one they just go buy it from either Game or Gamestation, add a tenner on the price and then sell it. Not exactly good business strategy, but it shows that the reason so many PS3s are laying around may be because of lack of demand.
Oh, but I agree the Wii is more of a family console. It's great for mini-games etc, but I also like a little singleplayer on it. The major thing crippling it for me in this regard is that there haven't been any great 1-player titles. COD 3 was good, but had issues. Zelda I've yet to try.
But you can justify the price of a 1080p LCD :|
You don't need an HDTV to enjoy the 360, yes it looks nice, and on some games, like dead rising, text can be hard to read, but the point of the 360 isn't it's HD graphics, it the games, as it's always been, the graphics are still better than the 360's, and there are great games on there that no other console has.
Well yes you can... its not all for playing games... HD movies as well as upscaling of DVDs allow any DVD collection to look impressive on a HDTV; sound is also an important issue with Dolby Digital HD and lossless formats allowing for a crisp and authentic viewing experience... its therefore not just for games and the price can be justified...
PS3 was very dissapointing. It had ridge racer on it as a demo . Although it looked fabulous the gameplay sucked imo. One game might not represent all but i guess ridge race is a fairly good gam so no PS3 for me.
XBOX360 was a whole lot better it had moto gp as a demo. It looked about as good as the game on PS3 but the gameplay was awesome.
and then the wii. If i was to buy anything right now that would be it.
but i'm waiting a few months for price drops and some reasonably priced games on all the consoles.
ps3 just is too expensive. so what u get blu-ray, so what u get a cell processor. WHO NEEDS IT? honestly if i wanted a multimedia system i bought an htpc.
stop putting all that crap in consoles and making them cheaper and only let them play games. leave out the dodgy gismos and i buy it at launch. would make things a lot cheaper if the could just play games and only play games.
Simple. Sony was getting burned for all sorts of things. They just somehow managed to do everything wrong all at once (DRM, copying motion sensing from Wii, etc). They made an overly complex console with feature overload with an astronomical cost and no really great games except resistance. PS3 only games are few and far between. Essentially, there aren't any stock problems because no one wants to buy a PS3. Sony's name is tagged onto the PS3 and any failures the parent company has trickles down to the PS3 in a way too.
The Nintendo Wii, on the other hand, is half as expensive, has lots of unique games (from both a gameplay perspective and a title perspective). Their console is fun for people who are socially active and aren't computer geeks (aka, the majority of people). The Wii's market is therefore much bigger. They have a big customer base and they underestimated demand. They've sold ~6 million consoles already!
Essentially, the Wii is in demand but being produced quicker compared to the PS3. People understand the Wii is a hot item and harder to make than say, an iPod. People also understand the PS3 is a subpar product (for the price) and there aren't any product shortages because not many people want a PS3. Sony overestimated the impact their console would have and underestimated the competition.
So no one thinks I'm a fanboy, I'm a PC gamer and own none of the current gen consoles, only a dreamcast.
I think the PS3 got burned because it was expected to be a massive hit (if you listened to the sony fans or the sony marketing department at least) and it was delayed by a year on top, then they cut out the biggest region and still only had a small amount of stock to sell, with supplies after the fact merely trackling in.
Meanwhile the Wii has been a relative surprise hit, wasn't delayed and has actually produced and sold quite large numbers, its just that demand is so massive that hasn't been enough, thus no burn.
Myself I want a Wii but I'm not in that much of a hurry, I might just put in an order from someone that will take the money and ship when they get it in and get it when I get it.
blasphemy !! :)
i agree it's good and the level desing is incredible as well as the overall artwork, but the game takes too long to start. Way too long !
However i have to say i really enjoyed the gameplay with the nunchuk and the wii-mote, it works really nicely :)