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Gadgets Nintendo Promises Four Million Wiis
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 2, 2006 2:10 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 47 comment(s) - last by smaddox.. on Nov 4 at 3:26 PM
The Big N plans to actually supply the demand

With all the warnings of shortages for Sony's new console, Nintendo is sits on the other side  by announcing that it will have approximately four million Wii systems available globally during the six weeks between Wii's November 19 launch in the Americas and the end of 2006.

Even with the impressive lot of consoles, Nintendo is expecting sell-outs and plans to maximize all its resources to rapidly replenish retailers' shelves as often as possible.

"Wii is for both experienced and uninitiated gamers, and it will be available for the masses," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "Because of demand, we're urging shoppers not to get complacent. The level of demand we're seeing goes beyond the ordinary. Retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers -- people looking for a better way to play. And that's exactly what Wii is designed to provide."

Nintendo cites several sources for its extreme optimism in Wii sales, one being a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association which estimates a 27 percent spending increase this holiday season on electronic goods.

Wii goes on sale in the Americas November 19 at an MSRP of $249.99 (CDN$279.99), and comes packed with Wii Sports. A total of 62 new and classic games will be available for Wii during the five weeks after launch. The American launch is followed by the December 2 Japanese launch and the December 8 European launch.

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wow
By Hyperlite on 11/2/2006 2:41:46 PM , Rating: 3
that is definitely impressive, i actually believe them too.




RE: wow
By michal1980 on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: wow
By Aikouka on 11/2/2006 2:51:07 PM , Rating: 5
*Hands you a half-empty glass*

Michal, it's a toast... to another -1!


RE: wow
By Clauzii on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: wow
By Aikouka on 11/2/2006 3:13:20 PM , Rating: 2
'ey, I didn't demod his post at all, but I used my amazing soothsaying to predict that he'd receive a -1 for that comment ;).

Actually, they do. If you get below a certain average, you also have to verify yourself every time you post. Although it doesn't stop someone, it does make it more of an annoyance.

The point of my post was really in the "half-empty glass" to point out Michal's pessimistic attitude, not necessarily the impendent Wii fan backlash shown by the reddened title bar remniscient of being slapped until you're red in the cheek. There's really no need to be pessimistic, the Wii will sell out and the PS3 will sell out. I can guarantee that the Wii will sell more units at launch, simply because it has more to sell. Percentage-wise, I'm sure they'll also be close or the same.


RE: wow
By michal1980 on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: wow
By Aikouka on 11/2/2006 3:50:19 PM , Rating: 3
Didn't say you did :). I'm just reflecting that the pessimistic attitude isn't really applicable for the launch period as there's a good chance all 4 million will sell out and all PS3s will sell out. It's simply inevitable.

And I know they will be outsold no matter what happens... that's why I said it :D. On pure numbers alone, Nintendo will come out ahead no matter what. Percentages, like I mentioned, may show a different light. Who knows?

Now see, to avoid a lot of negative backlash, you should explain what you think causes the Wii to be a fad and not something that will stick. iPods were considered a fad when they came out, but they're still really popular overall. It seems both Apple and Nintendo have that flair to them at this point. They've got gimmicks, the gimmicks aren't faux and they try to appeal to everyone with their product.

I won't predict anything, but based on games alone, I think XBOX 360 may be in head for a bit as it has been out longer and is going to see some nicely-hyped games in the next couple of months. I think the lack of a Mario game at launch may hurt the Wii a little bit, but not a noticeable amount. Mario is the Nintendo icon afterall. I have been very disappointed with the PS3 launch list though. I don't see any good games coming out until next year (DMC4, FFXIII (hopefully it will be good), etc). I really haven't seen any great games that I want for the Wii either, but there are a few from Mistwalker that I'm looking forward to on the XBOX 360. I just hope they live up to my expectations!


RE: wow
By michal1980 on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: wow
By michal1980 on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: wow
By aGreenAgent on 11/2/2006 6:02:12 PM , Rating: 2
No, it's because of the things you say. I remember when rumble was a fad everybody would forget about. PS3 is more likely to just be the fad device. It's a $600 thing that is looking less and less promising.

For $600, people expect a really solid product that works well. But we're hearing more and more reports of something people didn't like about the PS3 (controller, etc). It's not unusual for a console to have a couple points people don't like, especially at launch - but it's unusual to charge $600 for it.

The 360 was pushing it price-wise. The Wii is probably more expensive than I'd like. The PS3 isn't worth the cash at all. So because there is, as you stated, an established market for video games and hardware, the Wii will come out very well, if only because Sony screwed up this round so bad. Same thing happened to Nintendo with the N64/Gamecube. The PSX/PS2 wouldn't be so popular if the N64 had an optical drive, or the GC wasn't so...unimpressive.

Bottom line: if you think the ONLY reason people are buying the Wii for is the controller, then you could be right, it could be a fad. But there are many, many reasons to buy a Wii, and the controller will just end up as an interesting controller, not the console selling point.


RE: wow
By Clauzii on 11/3/2006 9:24:43 PM , Rating: 1
And there are many many reasons to by a PS3 despite what rumors might say about it. The first handson is pretty positive allround :)

And I actually don't like judging it until I've touched one. Until then I want to be "Happy and Naive"-believing the important stuff about PS3.

Maybe it's because I also look forward to the Linux-stuff on it :)


RE: wow
By aGreenAgent on 11/2/2006 6:04:01 PM , Rating: 2
How is there no need? FPS games suck on consoles. Two tiny little analog sticks is not even close to a fun shooting experience. There are tons of situations where the Wii takes advantage of a particularly lacking aspect of the console industry.


RE: wow
By Clauzii on 11/3/2006 9:26:09 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, a mouse would be nice :O If they really make some Linux for it one can hope.


RE: wow
By smaddox on 11/4/2006 3:26:03 PM , Rating: 2
Excuse me?!?!?

You obviously never played a little game called Goldeneye. Or Perfect Dark for that matter.

OR, probably my favorite console FPS, SOCOM. That was such a freakin fun game, I played nothing but it for at least a year.

Also, TimeCrisis II was an awsome game.

I can actually think of a comparable amount of BA console FPS's to PC FPS's. Given, the KB&M is a better interface for FPS, because it mimicks an actual gun much better.

And, on the topic of the Wii, I dont think the wiimote will be very usable for FPS's. It's to much like a lightgun, and if you like Area51 style games, then congrats, but for a real FPS, it just wont cut it. I think the wiimote is much more applicable in that it allows games we dont currently have. It allows games that couldn't be made with the past input methods. For those games that are just rehashes, or improvements over older games or game types, I think its better to use the retro controller.

Then again, thats just me.


RE: wow
By PrinceGaz on 11/3/2006 8:08:04 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
the wii is not filling a 'need'


I think it is very much filling a 'need'; the need for some innovation to be brought back into console gaming rather than churning out the same old games year after year, but with fancier graphics and (for sports games) updated teams. You can only push the same thing so far, and the variety of games has been getting narrower rather than wider for several years now due to the increasing development costs involved, so publishers have been reluctant to try anything new. If the only two consoles this time around were the XB360 and PS3, it is likely we'd be headed full-steam ahead for a second console-gaming crash to rival that of the 1980's.

The Wii is very much needed to bring new life to console gaming, encouraging the creation of both new genres of games as well as bringing about a much needed advance in control of those games with its motion-sensitive controllers.


RE: wow
By akugami on 11/2/2006 3:55:22 PM , Rating: 5
I'd say you're just predicting doom and gloom for the Nintendo Wii without any true basis for your predictions. The last time I checked, Nintendo has made money hand over fist from every console except the Visual Boy.

Heck, everyone and their grandmother branded Nintendo a failure due to it's 3rd place (in console sales) finish behind the Xbox and PS2. What many don't mention or don't even realize is that Nintendo made a lot of money off the Gamecube while Xbox lost roughly two billion. I don't know about you but if I was the owner of a company, I'd rather be number three and raking in millions than number two and losing two billion.

Judging by Nintendo's past performance of making money on every system they sold (excepting the Virtual Boy as stated) it is logical to conclude they will of course buck the trend and lose money on the Wii.

Sony of course lost money initially and then raked in money like crazy due solely to the PS2 having the most 3rd party developer support. However, due to the very high cost of entry for the PS3, it is impossible to sell PS3's at the rate PS2's went for. You'd need a very large price drop (more $ loss) for the PS3 to keep pace with the PS2.

Another problem is the already very high cost of producing and subsidizing the PS3. Sony Senior VP Takao Yuhara is already on record as stating the PS3 will take 5 years to recoup it's costs. I'm sure those numbers are based on Sony retaining most of it's PS2 sales numbers. Sales numbers which I seriously question due to the high cost of the PS3 even with Sony eating a good chunk of the cost to make the system.

Regardless of who is in first place, I think this generation will largely be equalized with the #1 spot taking roughly 40-45% of the market at best and I wouldn't at all be surprised if all three systems took roughly a 3rd of the market.

Unlike Tickle Me Elmo or the Beanie Babies, Nintendo has sustained long term success judging by it's 100+ year history of being in business. It is one of the oldest companies in the video games business and has outlasted giants like Atari and Sega and upstarts like Bandai, Neo Geo, 3DO and others. While the Playstation has largely eclipsed Nintendo, it's not like Nintendo was ever in any danger of going out of business due to the fact that they made money every single year. I really don't see the next 3-5 years being any different.


RE: wow
By Clauzii on 11/2/2006 3:35:59 PM , Rating: 2
I know You couldn't have modded him down, since you've posted.
What I mean is that since PS3 got delayed a lot, at the same time people have bin able to save up for it :)

And when PS3s are enough in shipment they will be the new talk of the day, taking away attention from Wii. I'd be surprised if Wii sells the 15-20 mill units Nintendo want's.


RE: wow
By Aikouka on 11/2/2006 3:53:33 PM , Rating: 2
Eh, like I mentioned in the comment above... it's all about the games for some people (including myself). I never bought an XBOX 360, because I didn't like any of the games on except maybe Dead or Alive 4. I eventually ended up buying one for Ninety-Nine Nights only to dislike the English audio. Now I've got a couple other games that are pretty decent overall, so I guess it was an alright purchase, but I pretty much waited until a year after it came out to get one, because the titles simply weren't there. But Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey should see some money come their way from me ;).


RE: wow
By Clauzii on 11/2/2006 3:02:04 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, I haven't heard anyone in DK talking about Wii - all want's PS3.... Not that I don't like the Wii. It makes more sense than 360 to me, but today with so many PC-gamers, PSers and such, is there actually the market for so many consoles today....


They deserve a medal
By BioRebel on 11/2/2006 2:39:33 PM , Rating: 4
They were the only ones to actually deliver on their launch promises. And they're still gonna sell every single unit.




RE: They deserve a medal
By Aikouka on 11/2/2006 2:44:40 PM , Rating: 2
I think it's fairly safe to say that the reason they don't have shortages is that they aren't using any new-tech (such as Sony's Blu-Ray). New-tech manufacturing usually suffers from slow-downs, but if you're using a redesigned core based on the same architecture, it shouldn't be as bad. So as much as people mock the Wii's similarities to a GameCube when it comes to hardware (I'm not trying to start that debate, so don't start), any similarities would help Nintendo have more units for their launch period.

For this, they earn the Forsight Accomplishment! Gah, too much XBOX Live playage making me think of Accomplishments.

Oh and just a little off-topic thought... I see that darned Oops message so often, I bet I alone flood Kris' message box quite a bit :o.


RE: They deserve a medal
By Clauzii on 11/2/2006 3:07:50 PM , Rating: 1
Reg. Off-Topic: I 've experinced ONE OOps since the new post-system, WAY less than before. But the Voting system has a flaw somewhere I think. I´ve tried a couple of times, that votes get lost or count the wrong way.... not that numbers matter that much, but anyway.


RE: They deserve a medal
By clayclws on 11/2/2006 5:38:22 PM , Rating: 2
You know, I have been wondering all along. If Wii is not using some "new-tech" gadgets or the sorts, why they need to wait so long to update their GameCube? GameCube was 3rd all along the race for the current (or last) generation. Why wait when they can unleash their next generation way before Xbox360 and PS3?

I am not a fan of any. I have PS2 (plus PS1, SNES, Sega Genesis, etc.) but no GameCube simply because I have grown out of their games (mostly kid games). Not a fan of Xbox (games are not interesting enough - no killer apps). Of course Nintendo is trying to rebrand themselves, but I have yet to see a preview of a really good mature game for Wii yet. All I read are either bogus news or unconfirmed studio works. Or maybe I have been in the cave for far too long? GTA Wii anyone?

Anyway, shipping 4 million units in the US alone is one big feat. Yeah, I agree they should be awarded the medal. But what are their killer apps? I won't be getting any Wii till I see some killer apps. Zelda is not my cup-of-tea.

Sony talked about million-unit release worldwide...and we all know talk is cheap. They are reducing all their units now for launch day. Too bad for Europe, and even worse for me in South East Asia. I won't be able to get a PS3 off the local retail store till end of 2007. But I am still keeping an eye for PS3. FFXIII, MGS4, GranTurismo HD, VF5, Tekken5 and DMC4 are the killer apps. Xbox360? Not interested...yet.


RE: They deserve a medal
By aos007 on 11/2/2006 7:51:54 PM , Rating: 2
GC is not that bad. Resident Evil 4 is not only an adult game but one of the best games ever. It IS worth buying a GC just for that game alone (though it's available on PS2 now too). Also Metroid Prime games are comparable to most AAA titles on other consoles (though they are way too hard
even for hardcore players). The only issue is that there were far too few of those games, and RE4 came way too late in the console's life. I have a GC and about a dozen games and I can't say I played it much, but the same can be said for my Xbox - a fair bit of their games were available on PC
(original Halo, KOTOR) and the only real killer apps
were Halo2 (I bought Xbox the day this game came out
and did not regret it) and Jade Empire. Compared to
these two, PS2 is in a completely different league (
I own 50+ PS2 games and have finished at least 3/4 of
that, and they are STILL coming out - and we're
not talking peanuts either but AAA titles).


Southpark
By tarv on 11/2/2006 4:14:26 PM , Rating: 5
Nintendo also just got a major free plug from southpark. There last episode was about Cartman wanting to get a Wii and freezing himself because he couldn't wait.

Nintendo is definitely going to get some very early momentum and will catch up to the Xbox pretty fast. Hopefully they can keep it going and make a good race out of this console generation.




haha
By NotAok on 11/2/2006 3:50:49 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Retailers are telling us a significant fraction of customers pre-ordering Wii are nontraditional gamers


lol, yeah, because that fraction of people are going to turn around and sell it on ebay.

I can't see many non-traditional gamers running out to preorder a console... It's either the hardcore crowd or the people looking to make a profit, that's it.




Decent availability
By AMDfreak on 11/2/2006 2:29:55 PM , Rating: 2
....and this little piggy went wii wii wii, all the way home....




RE: Decent availability
By RandomFool on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
By Le Québécois on 11/3/2006 12:03:45 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Wii goes on sale in the Americas November 19 at an MSRP of $249.99 (CDN$279.99)


For once somebody at DailyTech remembers that Canada is part of North America and I thank you (Marcus Yam) for not forgeting us up here.





4 Million Wii's? Gonna smell!
By Combatcolin on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: 4 Million Wii's? Gonna smell!
By Tsuwamono on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
Well....
By Corrupt4d on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
may i just be the first to say...
By pepsimax2k on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
I just don't even like Wii
By IMPoor on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: I just don't even like Wii
By sxr7171 on 11/3/2006 12:24:40 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah good for you. I'll be playing Red Steel all day while you whine like a bitch.


November 19 at an MSRP of $249.99
By kibets on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: November 19 at an MSRP of $249.99
By GhandiInstinct on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: November 19 at an MSRP of $249.99
By aos007 on 11/2/2006 7:57:13 PM , Rating: 1
In fact it should have been $199. I was hoping for that price all along and was fairly disappointed when they announced $250. The only consolation is that I'm in Canada and the pricing here is for a change fairly reasonable (30 bucks extra).

But hey, if that's the reason that they can make money from day one, good for them. At least we get a game bundled with it, so that helps it balance out a little.


By sxr7171 on 11/3/2006 12:27:02 AM , Rating: 2
I was also hoping for $199, but hey $250 isn't stopping me for a second. A free game is nice. I have to pick up at least Zelda and Red Steel on day one so - $350 for me not counting extra controllers. Still a better deal than the rest.


OK DT!
By Clauzii on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: OK DT!
By ChronoReverse on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: OK DT!
By Clauzii on 11/2/06, Rating: -1
RE: OK DT!
By NuroMancer on 11/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: OK DT!
By SilthDraeth on 11/2/2006 10:29:37 PM , Rating: 1
I made a bad vote, so this post is to get rid of it. My apologies.


RE: OK DT!
By Serlant on 11/3/2006 5:28:32 AM , Rating: 1
did you even read what he posted? he couldnt see his vote SO he posted its not like voted posted then complained that his vote didnt count

because if his vote had shown he wouldnt have needed to post in the first place.

Get it?? ...


RE: OK DT!
By Clauzii on 11/3/2006 8:55:34 PM , Rating: 1
Thanx Serlant, U got it :)


RE: OK DT!
By Clauzii on 11/3/2006 8:57:28 PM , Rating: 2
And it makes some Colorfull non-Greyish forum pages too :O


"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." -- Robert Heinlein











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