PS3 and Wii Breakdown... strange

[SE3P_to_E90]

I believed -- from reading some magazine... i think it was game informer...

that at launch, ps3 will be extremely rare as they will only release 400,000 units... and the wii will be readily available as they released 4,000,000 units...

but based on ebay - and this forum... it seems that there's an ample amount of ps3's floating around, and not so much wii's...

of course, they're both sold out everywhere -- in stores i mean... someone want to comment on this?

[Agni]

No one knows how may Ps3's sony shipped. But atleast they are doing Weekly drop shipments.

Nintendo announced they shipped 600k Wii's at launch.

Ps3 demand has waned becuase of the lack of supply, so people/parents gave up searching.


A target store might get 5 PS3's and 50 Wii's.
They will both sell out within minutes.
But again parents would rather buy the Wii becuase its cheaper and somewhat easier to find.


You probably wont see PS3 numbers picking up untill mid/end of next year where supply is equal to or greater than demand and when games like MGS4 come out.

I think the following PS3 titles come in 2007:
-Devil May Cry 4
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Warhawk
-Final Fantasy XIII
-Lair
-Killzone
-SOCOM
-Gran Turismo 5
-Tekken 6
-Virtua Fighter 5

For Wii we have:
-Metroid Prime 3
-Super Smash Brawl
-Mario Galaxy
-Battalion Wars II

360:
-Halo 3
-Blue Dragon
-Forza


Thats all I can think of from the top of my head, I just listed exlusive titles.
I know Mass Effect, Bioshock, and Alan Wake are comming out for 360, but they are also comming out for PC.

[Gripster]

I'm looking hard for a Wii, but PS3 lost my attention because I can't believe that Sony can maintain that price point for long. It WILL see a price cut in the new year. Right now, I think it's deliberately high:

a) to gouge early adopters
b) to keep demand in check while they ramp up production
c) to minimize losses. They lose $hundreds on each unit sold

I may get one when Gran Turismo comes out, but before then, there is no compelling reason to get PS3. And, unless GT offers something more than better visuals, I won't be in a hurry to get that either.

Wii on the other hand looks like fun. I should be able to get family and friends to play along with the innovative control system and okay, Zelda looks like the best game since Ocarina of time.

[325 Baller]

I picked up a Wii yesterday. Woke up at 530 am, got to my local Circuit City at 6 knew they had 30 wii's. Was number 2 in line. I was really number one but these people put there chairs there and left and since i knew they had more then one i didnt cause an argument. Got the wii, zelda, splinter cell, 2k wii points and the warranty. Still looking for another controller and nunchuck though lol.

[SE3P_to_E90]

see, the wii just seems a lot more attractive to me b/c... 1. the cost difference... u can buy 2 for the price of 1 ps3...

and wii just has a lot more party-style games that me and my gal friends can all just play and relax too after we get home drunk from clubbing or what not -- so it'll be a blast.

[Agni]

Originally Posted by Gripster

I'm looking hard for a Wii, but PS3 lost my attention because I can't believe that Sony can maintain that price point for long. It WILL see a price cut in the new year. Right now, I think it's deliberately high:

a) to gouge early adopters
b) to keep demand in check while they ramp up production
c) to minimize losses. They lose $hundreds on each unit sold

I may get one when Gran Turismo comes out, but before then, there is no compelling reason to get PS3. And, unless GT offers something more than better visuals, I won't be in a hurry to get that either.

Wii on the other hand looks like fun. I should be able to get family and friends to play along with the innovative control system and okay, Zelda looks like the best game since Ocarina of time.

Ps3 price point is becuase of Blueray.
Actually the $500 version has everything you need, HDD, internet, wireless controllers, 1080p via HDMI.

I think Wii is really cool, I have one and I love it. If nintendo and 3rd parties release some good games it will be successful...otherwise it will just be a fad.

[- Paul -]

In the UK you can buy 3 wii's for 1 PS3!!!

[NaTuReB0Y]

Sega Genesis rules.......

[06E90Rostik]

Right now on ebay you can buy PS3 for MSRP

[hotsand5]

Originally Posted by Agni

Ps3 price point is becuase of Blueray.
Actually the $500 version has everything you need, HDD, internet, wireless controllers, 1080p via HDMI.

I think Wii is really cool, I have one and I love it. If nintendo and 3rd parties release some good games it will be successful...otherwise it will just be a fad.

+1. The built in blue ray dvd player is worth $1000 alone. The only thing that turns me off for wii is that it is not in HD. As with previous gaming systems, when you get a bigger screen tv, such as 50"+, the picture is really crappy...but not in HD.

[GregL]

I bought a nunchuk last week, but still missing the controller, and the Wii system for that matter. I figured I better buy what I can find as I go along. I'm hoping that EB Games here in Toronto will re-stock Wii systems sometime this week, they haven't received anything since launch.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by hotsand5

+1. The built in blue ray dvd player is worth $1000 alone. The only thing that turns me off for wii is that it is not in HD. As with previous gaming systems, when you get a bigger screen tv, such as 50"+, the picture is really crappy...but not in HD.

I remember reading that Nintendo estimated/calculated that global HDTV market penetration is still rather low, as such they decided on a system that could support up to 480p for now and introduce an HD gaming system as it's replacement in 5-6 years.

[SE3P_to_E90]

it's a game system... i have a 32hdtv in my room and i wouldn't care to pay significantly less and get a game console that is more fun than aesthetically pleasing...

the motion controller for the wii and the games just look like loads of fun -- plus i believe the wii comes w/ a game too... so you dont even have to buy a game right away!

[Gripster]

Originally Posted by Agni

Ps3 price point is becuase of Blueray.
Actually the $500 version has everything you need, HDD, internet, wireless controllers, 1080p via HDMI.

I think Wii is really cool, I have one and I love it. If nintendo and 3rd parties release some good games it will be successful...otherwise it will just be a fad.

Actually I forgot about the blueray, but it's not an issue for me. I have a HD TV, but don't want to buy all my content again. I did that once already when VHS went the way of the dodo. Besides, my games are not connected to my HDTV, so I can't benefit.

[NaTuReB0Y]

Originally Posted by 06E90Rostik

Right now on ebay you can buy PS3 for MSRP

$600

[- Paul -]

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

$600

£549.99

[SE3P_to_E90]

currently w/ "markup" the ps3 is approximately $800+ for the 60gb model... which makes me want to

unless, you decide to camp our nursing your hangover waiting in the cold to get one for $600... in which case is still

[- Paul -]

Good article weighing up ps3, 360 and Wii

"Some people might think the consoles are engaged in some fierce battle for supremacy. Well, things are rather different.

Let’s turn back in time a bit: when the initial edition of Xbox first appeared in 2001, its declared rival was clearly the PS2. Despite the Gargantuan dimensions it managed to reap applauses and the prize for the best gaming console at that time. Every gamer thought at Microsoft’s product as a daring and fruitful endeavor, from which all could benefit (competition is good in for the industry).

The superior processing power Xbox brought (compared to the PS2) forced Sony to think at something that they would later call “a gaming PC” (the PS3). This is important, because the competition between the two giants (Sony and Microsoft) actually deepened the old path in gaming: better games means better graphics and in-game physics (in one word- realism). This is what the hardcore gamers like.

The following years have proven once more that evolution for games is intrinsically linked to the powerful hardware built for them. It is clear that games (for both PC and consoles) are among the most demanding software applications today, requiring more and more processing capabilities from the platforms they run onto. But this also means higher costs, for producers and for buyers alike. It is where Xbox 360 and PS3 are now included (if we ignore the PC, which is the classical example…).

If we were to find a single defining trait that would characterize the PS3 and the Xbox 360, that would definitely be power (I am omitting Wii intentionally). Compared to their predecessors and their greatest rival, the PC, next-gen gaming consoles are a lot more evolved concerning internal hardware. This allows them first to run games at higher FPS even on HD screens, bringing also a more realistic game-physics to the panel.

The second most important trait about Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is the optical drive that comes with them. Many are still considering the PS3 as merely a Blu Ray player that sells for only $600. It is a wrong point of view, but it has implications in the other battle Sony is involved in: the HD DVD vs. Blu Ray. Depending on the winner (if there’s ever going to be one…) games will be packed either for HD DVD (favored by Microsoft) or for Blu Ray (Sony’s turf). It is not far fetched to imagine in 5-10 years from now on games that will measure not less than 50GB, with huge high-resolution textures and extremely complex gameplay. This is what awaits us if the Blu Ray wins. This will make Crysis (the famous PC game that will illustrate Vista’s Direct X 10 capabilities) look like an arcade game…

Packing a lot of processing power is what actually defines the next-generation gaming, according to many analysts. But is it enough? Besides these hardware improvements and their implications next-gen consoles have brought little innovation: controlling a car or a 3D character is still quite difficult and sometimes boring. Microsoft tried to compensate this by introducing on Xbox Live a series of improvements from…the past: arcade games and pack of HD TV shows and movies. So actually what Microsoft did was to somehow deny and also underline the fact that Xbox 360 is a next gen console (arcade games vs. HD offer). Sony will follow that trend too: Vice President of Technology for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Paul Holman said that Sony plans to release a series of firmware upgrades, similar to the PSP, that will enable the PS3 to become more media center oriented and allow for third-party applications and hardware.

It is thus interesting to consider that next generation gaming consoles are naturally evolving towards a PC (this is what Sony claims about PS3), but in different paths: while MS doesn’t want gamers to think Xbox 360 is more of a PC (because it would affect the Games for Windows program; generally, gaming is the second most important activity for Windows users, occupying about 18% of their time), Sony is counting on making PS3 look like a powerful and cheap PC (simply because they just don’t have their OS installed on more than 90% of all computers in the world).

Right now, we are witnessing a hierarchy with PS3 at the top (the “boss’ of consoles in almost every aspect possible: weight, dimensions, processing capabilities and price), the Xbox 360 in its immediate vicinity (cheaper, plenty of additional services to choose from, attractive software package and connectivity with other platforms, especially Windows) and the “outsider” Wii.

I intentionally left Wii as a separate chapter because of a declaration that Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, gave at this year’s E3: that Wii is not a next generation console and that it does not compete with Wii.

You can look at Wii whatever you want, but you cannot ignore it, despite of its outsider status. Actually if we take in consideration the numbers we might just have the huge surprise that Wii is the winner of the console war, at least until now: there have been sold more than a million Wii consoles in less than a month, far beyond what Sony managed to sell and close to what MS declared about its Xbox 360.

It is interesting to talk about Nintendo’s strategy before and after Wii’s launch. While Sony and Microsoft preferred to improve products that have already gained popularity and established a worldwide brand (Xbox vs PlayStation), Nintendo preferred to revolutionize gaming with Wii (by the way, the console’s code name was Revolution).

Starting with the odd name and continuing with the unusual dual-control system, Wii is clearly…something different. Compared to Xbox and PS, Wii has lower production costs and thus a lower price at retail shops. It has a “weaker” hardware, but has a wider range of addressability.

What Wii does is nothing more than follow the line of success established by its even smaller brother, the DS. In Japan, home of one the most powerful gaming communities in the world, Nintendo DS beats PSP by a factor of 1 to 5. DS has shown that today’s gaming can be fun without being extremely complicated and the fact that Nintendo launched the DS Lite especially for Europe demonstrates how popular this handheld console is in this part of the world.

Wii is merely repeating the success of DS: cheaper, innovative and addressing the masses (the slogan used in the ad campaign for Wii is “gaming for the masses”, while Wii-the name- was chosen because of its resemblance with “we”).

Wii “exploits” categories of gamers that Xbox 360 or PS3 ignore: women, elderly people and small children. They can all play Wii Sports, a game which has been voted as ‘Best Sports Game’ at E3 2006, but not everyone can play Halo 2. Games for Wii are not necessarily full of modern effects like soft shadows, bump mapping or specular lighting (although that doesn’t mean they don’t exist), but it seems gamers are not really missing them. Splinter Cell Double Agent for example, has the same gameplay and almost the same look on all platforms (PC, Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360) but what makes the difference is the feeling that the gamer has while pushing buttons on the keyboard, tilting the controller or holding the Nunchak. Actually, Wii’s controllers are another sweet innovation which makes it so attractive: it brings gaming to a level that PS3 and Xbox 360 don’t even dream of. Wii makes gaming more physically active: you don’t just sit on the couch or in front of the LCD screen, you move while playing, and thus your gaming experience is transformed.

In the end, Wii also demonstrates that a game is not all about fancy graphics and astounding physics. People play Mario on Wii with probably the same pleasure they did 10 years ago. And this pleasure is felt by all categories of gamers: even those who play Halo or FEAR are impressed. You could say that Wii brings back memories from the arcade era, but it does that in an original and also modern way and MS or Sony should take that originality in consideration."

[GregL]

Good article.