Nintendo Wii is kicking ass.

[nebrazca78]

Important numbers from this article:

Consoles sold:

360 - 10 million
Wii - 5.8 million
PS3 - 1.8 million

Nintendo NETTED 1.87 BILLION DOLLARS this fiscal year through March!


Check it out:

Nintendo Plans to Boost Wii Production
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

Fri Apr 27, 5:22 AM

TOKYO - Nintendo's president acknowledged Friday that the shortage of the hit Wii game machine was "abnormal," and promised production was being boosted to increase deliveries by next month.

"We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters. "We have not been able to properly foresee demand."

The comments came a day after the Japanese manufacturer of the Wii _ which comes with a wand that can be used as a sword, tennis racket or fishing rod depending on the game _ reported that sales nearly doubled for the fiscal year, lifted by robust sales of the Wii and the DS portable, a handheld video game.

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co.'s net profit jumped 77 percent to 174.29 billion yen ($1.47 billion) in the year through March, up dramatically from 98.38 billion yen a year earlier. Sales soared 90 percent to 966.53 billion yen ($8.13 billion).

The Wii has pummeled its rivals in a head-to-head battle in next-generation video game consoles involving Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, which has been plagued with production problems, and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

Iwata refused to disclose the monthly production capacity for the Wii, and said it was too early to say by how much the production was being raised.

But he said efforts were under way to increase production, and more machines will get delivered to stores around the world.

"We will do our best to offer the machine for those who are waiting," he said at a Tokyo hall.

The Wii's motion-sensitive remote control wand has made it hit even with people unaccustomed to playing video games. It faced some minor problems early on with its wand, which flew out of the hands of some zealous players, snapping the strap and at times crashing into TVs. But that hasn't dented profits, and the console is still flying off store shelves.

Nintendo, which also makes Pokemon and Super Mario games, is planning to sell 14 million Wii machines for the current fiscal year through March 2008, having sold 5.84 million Wii consoles worldwide in the five months since its release late last year.

Sony has sold just 1.84 million PlayStation 3 machines so far worldwide, while Microsoft has shipped more than 10 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide.

The PlayStation 3 went on sale late last year in the U.S. and Japan, and in March in Europe. Xbox 360 beat rivals to market in 2005.

Nintendo also has a big hit in the DS, selling more than 40 million since its launch in late 2004. The machine comes with a touch panel, introducing new easy-to-play games such as raising a dog that players can pet on the screen. Nintendo expects sales of 22 million more DS machines this fiscal year.

Iwata said Nintendo is now producing 2.5 million DS machines a month to meet bursting demand, the highest production ever for a Nintendo game machine.

[agbulls]

So by those numbers, Nintendo is only 4.2 million consoles behind Microsoft. Considering they launched last November that is amazing. If this keeps up, Nintendo really will be #1 again.

I just can't believe. Wow.

[diskoboy]

The console may be selling well, but my Wii has been gathering dust for the past month or so.

EDIT - Don't get me wrong - I love my Wii. But you wanna talk about a game drought? Jeez!

[agbulls]

The console may be selling well, but my Wii has been gathering dust for the past month or so.

Sounds a lot like the first year and a half with my PS2. Look what happened there.

It's all about one thing and one thing only: Install base.

Once you have that, the good games come. They always do.

[Nebagram]

The console may be selling well, but my Wii has been gathering dust for the past month or so.

Mine too, but so has my ps3 for the most part, and when metroid prime 3 and smg come out, well, DAMN.

[Parpunk]

Man this is great NES is my favorite system ever. And no matter how much Nintendo slumps, or puts out new repeated mario titles they will always be number 1 in my book just because of the NES and SNES days. So its great to really see them come back once again. Plus i think a big part of all this is the Retro factor of the Wii. Being able to play old classics is just great. And it seems they keep paying tribute to the classics. I saw my friend playing the new Paper Mario and man i have to say when he got that powerup and mario turned into a giant Classic NES Mario and blasted through the stage. I think i got chills lol. I still have yet to get a Wii because honestly i still cant find one lol. ! I still have yet to see any on shelves where i live?

[segagamer4life]

The console may be selling well, but my Wii has been gathering dust for the past month or so.

yeah aside from super paper mario and even prince of persia, nintendo needs to pump out more games at a steady pace.

[diskoboy]

Mine too, but so has my ps3 for the most part, and when metroid prime 3 and smg come out, well, DAMN.

Agreed. MP3, SMG, and NiGHTS 2 are the only games I know I'm looking forward too.

Maybe Alien Syndrome.

[Oobgarm]

The console may be selling well, but my Wii has been gathering dust for the past month or so.

Agreed.

[RCM]

It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft responds. It's time to drop the 20 gig system to $300. a $250 Wii vs. $300 Xbox 360 (non-core) will be a tough choice. Congrats to Nintendo, if they win will they fumble again? This is the first console cycle since the NES that their marketshare is increasing.

[8-bitNesMan]

It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft responds. It's time to drop the 20 gig system to $300. a $250 Wii vs. $300 Xbox 360 (non-core) will be a tough choice. Congrats to Nintendo, if they win will they fumble again? This is the first console cycle since the NES that their marketshare is increasing.

What about the SNES?

[heybtbm]

It amazes me that you still can't find these things. Not counting the day I found mine, I've never seen a Wii in a store...anywhere.

[jajaja]

Didnt PS3 sell like 3 million consoles?

[RCM]

What about the SNES?

While the SNES was a success, it didn't capture the same amount of marketshare the NES did. Each generation from NES-GC Nintendo lost ground compared to their last system (Nes-SNES, SNES-N64, N64-GC).

[Anthony1]

The sales of the Wii are going to present an interesting conundrum for Publishers. On one hand, you simply can't ignore the installed base that the Nintendo Wii is developing. Yet, on the other hand, the publishers best developers aren't very interested in making GameCube games, despite the Wii-mote factor. So as a publisher what do you do? Do you pull your triple AAA development team away from Xbox 360 and PS3 projects to make games for the Wii because it's a hotter system from an installed base standpoint....risking to piss off the developers, because they want to push the boundries of game design, and feel they can't do that by making a GameCube game......or do you have one of your lesser development teams make Wii games, (which is what is going on at the moment). But how can you have your 3rd string development team make the Wii games, when the Wii is the hottest thing going right now, and continues to stay hot?

It's definitely a Catch-22 situation for the publishers. You have to wonder how long the PS2 and PSP port train is going to go. Right now, it seems the standard operating procedure, is to make a game for the PS2 and PSP, and then port it to the Wii, with minor Wii-mote control alterations. Of course, the developers that are still making PS2 and PSP games, aren't typically the top tier developers under the publishers umbrella. Those developers are making the big Xbox 360 and PS3 games. They are trying to make franchises that will last another 5 or 6 years, along with the 360 and PS3's expected lifecycles. As popular as the Wii is, can it's lifecycle really extend that far with it's lack of technological prowess?


The other thing publishers have to debate about, is what kind of game do we put on the Wii. Do we continue with the party type games, and the mini games? Certainly these kinds of games have been very popular on the Wii so far, but it's starting to get kinda crowded out there. Tons of party games and mini games are available, so how much is too much? Do you try to make an in depth adventure type game that normally is better suited to the Xbox 360 or PS3? Or will you end up getting panned by all the critics like Red Steel did? Do you take existing GameCube games, and try to re-work them with Wii controls and promote them as a totally new experience? There are lots of different avenues that publishers can choose, but it's going to be very interesting to see how all this stuff plays out. The funny thing is, sales of the Wii are probably going to slow down a little bit, but then just as they start to begin to slow down and normalize, that's when we are going to see Metroid and Mario Galaxy, and then sales are going to pick right back up. And with Nintendo making $75 profit on each Wii sold, that means they have tons of wiggle room to lower the price if they so choose. This is really going to make it a very interesting video game market over the next 2 to 3 years.

[mregashu]

I keep hearing about the Wii software drought, and I just don't see it. I think Nintendo will always have accusations of droughts on their systems because of the software they make. Quite frankly no other hardware maker makes games like Nintendo. So, if there is a long pause between Nintendo releases (like there always is) the system is suddenly in a drought. I know if the EBGames fairy came with a handful of giftcards right now, I could easily find another 3 or 4 games for the Wii I want.

As far as the types of games that will work on the Wii, I'm pretty confident just about any game can work on the system with some creative and top notch programming skills. Just because it has been a party game machine so far doesn't mean it has to be. Sports games, driving games, FPS (still waiting but it will work well in the right hands), and most importantly adventure games will all work well. I wasn't sure about adventure games until playing The Godfather. If you haven't played this yet on the Wii - do so. A GTA clone to be sure, but the Wii controls are so well implemented that the game has single-handedly assured any fears I had the Wii was a one-trick-Wii-Sports pony.

[Graham Mitchell]

@Anthony1: Realistically, there's no type of game the Wii can't do. Using the nunchuck plus wii-mote combo isn't all that much different from using a conventional controller most of the time; although it is sometimes a little more comfortable than a conventional controller. And in regards to the Wii being incapable of "pushing the boundaries of game design"...dude I hate to tell ya', but game design hasn't changed all that much since PSX. So it doesn't have the graphics muscle that 360 or PS3 have. So what. I really doubt that anyone will develop a game that is truly too complex in design to run on a Wii. I know visuals are your thing, but there are a lot of people (myself included) who are no longer impressed by graphic muscle because the improvements between generations are not earth-shattering, but still appreciate a game with some depth to it. Hideo Kojima makes Gameboy Advance and DS games. I'm sure top-tier developers will be designing Wii games in the future. If not, Nintendo is hands down the best game maker in the world, and always have been, so the Wii will always have an edge there.

[nebrazca78]

Didnt PS3 sell like 3 million consoles?

Apparently not.

[bangtango]

Wii - 5.8 million
PS3 - 1.8 million

Nintendo NETTED 1.87 BILLION DOLLARS this fiscal year through March!

That is one hell of a head start. So does that mean Sony will actually acknowledge a competitor for a change?

And with Nintendo making $75 profit on each Wii sold, that means they have tons of wiggle room to lower the price if they so choose. This is really going to make it a very interesting video game market over the next 2 to 3 years.

So what about your statement awhile back that the Wii was going to be irrelevant in a couple of years or so?

[Anthony1]

So what about your statement awhile back that the Wii was going to be irrelevant in a couple of years or so?

I said it's hard for me to imagine the Wii being viable for more than 3 years.


http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...ghlight=viable


Key word is "more". So I can definitely see the Wii being viable for 3 years, but I'm not sold on it being viable for more than 3. The 3 year anniversary for the Wii is November 19th, 2009. That's still a long time from now. I will admit that I had no idea that the Wii would still be hot in March and April. This is very suprising to me. It continues to be a very hot ticket, and I don't see that slowing down significanty in the very near future. I do think sales will slip a bit, but right as sales start to slip, whatta ya know, Metroid and Mario are released, and then sales go thru the roof.

When I did the thread about not being able to see the Wii viable for more than 3 years, I was thinking sales would slow down big time once Xmas was behind us. I really thought it was the Xmas hype that was driving it. It was the hot ticket for Xmas, and it was "THE" gift to give for Xmas, and it was super hard to find, and all that played into it's favor. I thought that once Xmas was behind us, that novelty of being the "IT" gift of Xmas would wear off, and the sales would start to slow considerably. Obviously, this hasn't happened at all. It continues to be red hot, of course, I think the lack of availability is adding to the allure of the Wii, and if it was super widely available, I'm not sure it would still be so hot, but that's a different story. (I concede by the same token that it has lost many sales because it wasn't available, so those factors probably cancel each other out)

My current take on the Wii, is that it will continue to sell well to the non-gaming and casual gaming crowds. The word of mouth on the Wii is tremendous. I recently had a large gathering at my house, and I had the Wii going, and tons and tons of people were talking about it. Many grownups seemed interested in getting it for their kids. Grownups that normally had somewhat of disdain for video game machines. So, based on all that, I think it will continue to sell well, there will be a slight slowdown in late summer, but I think right around the time the Wii sales start to slow down/catch their breath, then you are going to see Metroid and then Mario, and then sales are going to shoot right back up. I think the biggest problem for the Wii, is that I think alot of people are going to buy the system, and some accessories, and a few Nintendo published games, but I just don't see the Wii being a big thing for third parties. That fact, along with it's graphical inferiority, will cause it's lifespan to be aborted earlier than normal. This could be perfectly fine for Nintendo, cause they could easily release a Wii 2.0 in November of 2009, to maintain their gravy train.

I'll admit that I was wrong, but I still think the Wii isn't built for the long haul, but 6 million sold is 6 million sold. Publishers simply can't ignore the Wii or treat it like a red headed stepchild. I'm still skeptical that we are going to see development teams like Infinity Ward or Rock Star North or Pandemic or any of those guys making Wii games, despite the 6 million sold. They want to push the boundries of graphics, sound and game design, and I still think that if you are trying to push those boundries, the Wii isn't the place for that. The only thing you can really do with Wii in terms of pushing the boundries is to push the boundries of just how inovative the Wii control scheme can be. Can you really make the Wii control scheme non-gimmicky for a real deal action/adventure type game? I don't think we will see studios like Pandemic trying to do that. They will continue to work on PS3 and 360. They might be slightly intrigued by the control possibilities, but that won't be enough to get them to go back to making GameCube games in the year 2008 and 2009.