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Halo 3 juggernaut launches Xbox 360 to be top selling console

Nintendo has consistently dominated the sales chart with its consoles since the launch of the Wii last November. Despite the best marketing and price drop efforts of Microsoft and Sony, the Wii was the mass market darling, beating all competitor sales by a considerable margin month to month... until Master Chief returned.

Clearly spurred by the release of Halo 3, the Xbox 360 led all console sales in the U.S. during September with 527,000 units sold.

Even without the killer application that Microsoft needs on its side, Nintendo’s consoles continued a strong showing. The Wii sold 501,000 units, while the DS handheld sold 495,800.

Sony’s picture for the month looks as it has in previous months, with the PSP led the way with 284,500 sold. September also marked the release of the slimmer, lighter PSP-2000 hardware in the form of the silver-colored PSP packed with Daxter and other materials.

The PlayStation 2 sold 215,000 consoles, once again outpacing the PlayStation 3 which moved only 119,400.

The release of Halo 3 singlehandedly caused gamers to buy a new console, explaining the sudden skyrocketing of Xbox 360 sales. Retailers reported that Xbox 360 sales roughly doubled around the time of the Halo 3 launch.

Unsurprisingly, Halo 3 obliterated the rest of the fray on the software sales charts. All three Halo 3 SKUs piled up to 3.3 million copies sold – a stunning figure given that the second place Wii Play moved 282,000 units.

Halo 3 pulled in a $170 million first day, with total first week sales hitting $300 million.
"Halo is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of Halo 3 is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for video games as entertainment and as an art form," said Microsoft founder Bill Gates. "Halo 3 embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world's greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling."

Whatever it is, it’s selling Xbox 360 consoles like hotcakes.

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that's because...
By Homerboy on 10/19/07, Rating: 0
RE: that's because...
By Marlin1975 on 10/19/2007 3:13:38 PM , Rating: 2
??? Maybe if you actually looked most have them now. Mind you when the holidays really kick into gear it will get harder but I see them just about every where.


RE: that's because...
By KernD on 10/19/2007 3:46:31 PM , Rating: 2
I've never seen one in stock at any store that I've ever been to since it launched. When ever I go shopping at a Wallmart or a Zellers I always go to the electronic department and there always out of stock. Same goes for all the EBGames in town.


RE: that's because...
By Jkm3141 on 10/19/2007 5:40:17 PM , Rating: 2
I work at Radioshack and about a week before halo 3 launched Radioshack has entered the games arena. Since that time we have had 360's and Wii's and haven't sold either. If we can hold stock of a Wii for that long while advertising the fact we have it, then I'm sure you can find Wii's elsewhere.


RE: that's because...
By Locutus465 on 10/19/2007 5:52:45 PM , Rating: 1
RadioShack isn't good at pushing console hardware... Back in '03 when I was with them they tried with PS2 and couldn't sell them... When it comes to gaming hardware, RadioShack just can't get it right... I'm not sure what the problem is now, but back in the day the bundles they came up with were really expensive and unreasnable.


RE: that's because...
By 16nm on 10/19/07, Rating: 0
RE: that's because...
By mdogs444 on 10/19/2007 6:27:31 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
That's all fine and dandy, but what I really want to know is how many HD-DVD add-ons did Microsoft sell compared to how many PS3 where sold. I want to see how these two formats are shaking out.


Its been said before, and I'm not quite sure why it doesn't sink in with you people.

The PS3 contains a Blue Ray player built in. Not everyone that buys a PS3 does so with the intention of using it to play Blue Ray movies, and there is no way to prove that people are using it for that purpose.

The 360 HD addon is for just that, watching HD format movies. Thats all you can do with it.

This really is comparing apples to oranges.

Its evident when you compare standalone HD vs. BD players in the market on which is selling more. While you cannot discount the PS3 as a BD player, you cannot solely count it as one either.

This is really a bogus comparison by all means. Its used by PS3 fanboys to try and prove that BD is the format of choice for all consumers which is false. Its also used by 360 fanboys to argue that BD is not the format of choice because of the low sales numbers of the PS3, which is also false.

It doesn't really matter which sold more - PS3 vs. 360 add on. Its a bogus comparison. Buy what you want to buy, or dont buy anything at all. Who cares. If you really want to know what is better - then wait another year or two and see how the high definition formats are panning out.


RE: that's because...
By KeithP on 10/19/2007 6:50:20 PM , Rating: 2
I don't own either console.

However, from what I have seen from friends and on the net, most everyone that buys a PS3, in part, justifies paying the higher price because it is a BD movie player.

It would seem odd to me to buy a PS3 without any intention of using it as a BD movie player. It simply doesn't have the game library to warrant buying it for games alone given its higher price over the 360.

I would agree that it is unlikely that everyone that buys a PS3 is buying BD movies. I would also agree that comparing the PS3 to the 360's HD-DVD add-on as a gauge to see which HD format is doing better is also problematic. However, I think there is no question that a very high percentage of PS3 owners are watching BD movies.


RE: that's because...
By afkrotch on 10/19/2007 10:21:35 PM , Rating: 2
There really shouldn't be any questions that PS3s contribute to BD movie sales. I mean, when it released, BD movie sales started surpassing HD-DVD movie sales and has stayed there ever since.

I don't think 100% of PS3 owners are buying BD movies, but I also don't think 0% aren't either.


RE: that's because...
By weskurtz0081 on 10/21/2007 12:53:15 AM , Rating: 1
I wonder if all of the BLU-Ray movies bundled with the PS3's count as sales?


RE: that's because...
By Locutus465 on 10/21/2007 2:25:38 PM , Rating: 1
I wouldn't be supprised... I mean if two for 1 sales count as a DVD sale then I don't see why bundled wouldn't...


RE: that's because...
By weskurtz0081 on 10/21/2007 7:31:51 PM , Rating: 1
Well, if that is the case then the Blu-Ray numbers could almost considered to be inflated simple because PS3's come with movies automatically.


RE: that's because...
By SirLucius on 10/19/2007 10:15:13 PM , Rating: 2
I agree completely. I got a PS3 and have yet to buy a single BD movie. I bought the system because the 60GB seemed like the best deal for me at the time, and based on where Sony seems to be going with the system, it still seems like the best deal for me.

If you buy a HD-DVD add on for the 360, you clearly plan on watching HD movies. If you buy a PS3, you get a Blu-ray player, whether you want it or not.


RE: that's because...
By augiem on 10/19/2007 6:04:56 PM , Rating: 3
Maybe that's because nobody knows Radio Shack is selling games. I don't think of going to Radio Shack when I want the latest game. It's going to take time for the word to get out.

I think I did see a Halo 3 poster on the window of RS but I figured they just wanted to get in on the hype. Didn't realize they'd be selling systems too.


RE: that's because...
By bunnyfubbles on 10/20/2007 9:11:49 AM , Rating: 3
holy crap! Radio Shack sell video game consoles?


RE: that's because...
By timmiser on 10/19/07, Rating: 0
RE: that's because...
By Tsuwamono on 10/19/2007 7:37:35 PM , Rating: 2
Check this weekend at Zellers.. they are on sale.. at mine we have a pallet in the back waiting to go out tomorrow morning (saturday)


RE: that's because...
By augiem on 10/19/2007 4:07:00 PM , Rating: 2
Never seen it anywhere in San Francisco either


RE: that's because...
By seamonkey79 on 10/19/2007 4:43:29 PM , Rating: 2
I live about an hour south of Chicago, and it's impossible to get one here either. Walmart, Target, KMart, Best Buy... they're all out. Called Best Buy once and they said they were getting 15 the next morning, I got there at noon and they were all gone. These are all within an hour of where I live. In the last year we've driven from Chicago to Champaign looking for the silly thing, still can't find one, even when we've called ahead.


RE: that's because...
By 16nm on 10/19/2007 6:12:01 PM , Rating: 3
Yeah, the Wii is hard to find. What's really funny is that Nintendo is advertising it like crazy. I often see Wii ads during primetime on television. Those ads can not be cheap. I think the only people who are making money off those ads are the people on eBay selling Wii. I don't see the point in advertising something that you can not find. Perhaps Nintendo should spend the money on making more consoles and then once we can buy them, advertise them.


RE: that's because...
By neothe0ne on 10/19/2007 3:52:39 PM , Rating: 1
Best Buy and Circuit City in my areas are sold out, but Fry's Electronics had a whopping TWENTY in stock, albeit they require a bundle purchase. Basically, take a Nyko Charge Station ($30 value) but charge $300 for the whole package ($20 profit to Fry's).


RE: that's because...
By neothe0ne on 10/19/2007 3:57:57 PM , Rating: 2
Best Buy and Circuit City in my areas are sold out, but Fry's Electronics had a whopping TWENTY in stock, albeit they require a bundle purchase. Basically, take a Nyko Charge Station ($30 value) but charge $300 for the whole package ($20 profit to Fry's).


RE: that's because...
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 10/19/2007 4:01:08 PM , Rating: 2
I flat out refuse to buy bundles, either give me the console by itself, or don't talk to me. I've been unable to get my hands on a Wii because of this.


RE: that's because...
By StevoLincolnite on 10/20/2007 5:19:37 AM , Rating: 2
I live in a small town in South Australia, we have 1 shop that sells consoles, and few games, so far they have a Dozen Wii's in stock, and only about 4 games to choose from.
So they aren't exactly "moving" consoles until they have a larger selection, but then again I guess availability would very well determine on the location and the games available for it, or even the "wealth" of the people living in the immediate area.


RE: that's because...
By Locutus465 on 10/19/2007 4:42:19 PM , Rating: 2
Note:

You also can't find X-BOX 360 Core/Arcade systems which I guess made up the bulk of these sales... At least that's true all around where I live (Raleigh, NC). Microsoft has the core/arcade system priced close enough to the Wii that I wouldn't be supprised if sales stay up there... Frankly there are more titles for 360 that will keep you playing the system (at least in my expereince, I own both systems).


RE: that's because...
By BillyBatson on 10/19/2007 5:20:30 PM , Rating: 2
i see them here and there. Every time i go to a Best Buy i seem to hear them announce "we have xx of wiis at the front desk" with the xx number being 8-12. The costcos here in the san fernando valley get them in often and if you go near downtown LA some stores have them like La Curacao which alwyas have them in stock but i believe they still sell them bundled with games and DS lites.


RE: that's because...
By Vertigo101 on 10/19/2007 8:41:42 PM , Rating: 2
I walked into 5 stores in my town this week, 2 Wal-Marts and 3 EB/Gamestop, and every one had 2 or more Wii's in stock.

I got mine in Yuma, AZ on a lark. I wasn't even looking for one, and bought it on a whim. It's cute, but a giant "Meh" is all it really gets from me. My kids however, love Wii sports. My 2 year old daughter loves Wii Baseball.


Just goes to show...
By Marlin1975 on 10/19/2007 3:12:23 PM , Rating: 3
That it takes not only a lower price but also good games to get people to buy. Lowered price and then Halo3 comes out and units start to really move.
I think some people are waiting for smash brother for the wii. So I expect to see that help the wii, not that it really needs a lot if any.

Maybe Sony can learn from this... naaaa.




RE: Just goes to show...
By cochy on 10/19/2007 3:20:08 PM , Rating: 4
Yup. Software is king. You can have all the fancy components on Earth, but if you've got nothing to play on it, it becomes a piece of furniture. This has always been the case and it ain't changing any time soon.


RE: Just goes to show...
By Axbattler on 10/20/2007 8:07:20 AM , Rating: 2
Software is king, no doubt about that. But I don't think there is much doubt that hardware, be it sheer processing power or novelty/intuitive UI (Wii controller) can drive the software further. The N64 might have done considerably better than the Sega Saturn, but it still lagged a great deal behind the Playstation. I don't think there is much doubt that the lack of an optical drive then became a restriction as software developers started being able to take advantage of the additional capacity to enhance gaming experience.

Sony miscalculated this round.. but even if they are not able to fully capitalise on the extra capacity by the end of the round, I wonder if their error won't benefit next gen consoles (not just their own) as developers become find more productive ways to use the capacity. After all, how many CD-based system (either on it's own or as add-on) were released in the cartridge dominant era before the PS got it right both in hardware and software?

[And yes, I am assuming that 8.5GB is not the end and all of all a developer needs to do create a technical marvel with the gameplay to match]


RE: Just goes to show...
By Alexstarfire on 10/19/2007 3:21:29 PM , Rating: 2
Cept that Brawl got moved back to February 2008. Got a call from Gamestop either yesterday or the day before saying that. That really sucks, but I'm still looking forward to Guitar Hero 3.


RE: Just goes to show...
By clovell on 10/19/2007 4:34:48 PM , Rating: 2
Didn't know that, thanks for the heads-up. Makes me wonder if they're having trouble sorting out the online MP...


RE: Just goes to show...
By Protagonist42 on 10/19/2007 6:54:54 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Didn't know that, thanks for the heads-up. Makes me wonder if they're having trouble sorting out the online MP...


Could be, or it might be they don't want to release Galaxy and Brawl at the same time.

I might be wrong though, I usually am.


RE: Just goes to show...
By helios220 on 10/19/2007 3:32:27 PM , Rating: 2
Guitar Hero 3 will be fun, but it's not like it's going to give a Wii-specific boost since its multi-platform. Aside from that I'm looking forward to Super Mario Galaxy for some good old nostalgia in the mean time.

I wasn't interested in the Xbox 360 for a long time, but it's gotten to the point now where there enough quality titles that it's getting harder for people like me who were/are more skeptical to ignore. That, and I believe there is general perception that Microsoft has addressed the RRoD issues with the newer revisions of the hardware although I'd like to see some more data before I'm convinced about that.

My whole thing is that in some respects the content available to the Xbox 360 is similar to what is available on my PC. But the prospect of getting quality titles without waiting 2 years for a crappy port from Microsoft is becoming more attractive to me.


RE: Just goes to show...
By Etsp on 10/19/2007 5:06:41 PM , Rating: 2
The fact that the wii version is cheaper might help. But I think it's way overpriced considering what the hardware will cost them...(I bit the bullet and have already paid for my copy...)


RE: Just goes to show...
By afkrotch on 10/19/2007 11:27:58 PM , Rating: 2
Guitar Hero 3 will be better on Xbox 360 and PS3, simply cause you will be given downloadable content and both of these systems have a fair amount (in terms of consoles) storage to place this content.


No wonder so many Wii are in stock at my local retailer
By rsasp on 10/19/07, Rating: 0
By Locutus465 on 10/19/2007 6:04:35 PM , Rating: 2
Oh my... totally... ms couldn't possibly be selling consoles....

I'm pretty sure that warrentee repair/replacement units are not counted as sales, hate to burst your bubble... Halo is popular, it is selling x-boxs... And MS will continue selling software to these new 360 owners because they have a great game library, the best out of all current nextgen systems.


By Janooo on 10/20/2007 11:11:05 PM , Rating: 2
Hm... wrong.

It just happened to me the last week.
My 360 died, I brought it back to Best Buy. MS couldn't repair. Best Buy took the console back and they gave me a gift certificate with the original amount that I paid for the console. I bought a new one. There goes the new unit counted as a sale and not as a replacement.


By weskurtz0081 on 10/21/2007 12:58:33 AM , Rating: 2
Not if they subtract the number of units deemed unrepairable from total new units sold. Who knows, but it would be very easy to subtract X from Y to get Z.


By Locutus465 on 10/21/2007 2:31:13 PM , Rating: 2
Dude what? Did you call MS tech support? My 360 also recently died... I didn't get any sort of certificate... I'm getting a box to ship it to microsoft in, where they will repair or replace my console hardware and send it back to me.... Not a sale.


By dwalton on 10/19/2007 6:06:27 PM , Rating: 2
Well NPD tracks POS figures and not MS shipped figures, which means that even if MS used underhanded numbers they won't show up in the NPD figures.


By mdogs444 on 10/19/2007 6:30:53 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
is that seen as a new console sold, just for free?


Its not seen as either. Its a warranty replacement. There is no incoming money off of the replacement so it will not be in sales figures.


GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!!!!!!!
By Mach Omega on 10/19/2007 7:59:28 PM , Rating: 5
I own a PS3, mostly because I have an HDTV and PSP and I wanted to have Blu-ray. I felt it was the better system and best overall deal and still do. That being said, the difference in quality titles between the PS3 and the 360 has gone from a crack to a chasm. There is such a glut of awesome games for the 360 even I can't ignore it. There are at least SEVEN titles that are bonafide 9.5+ for the 360... I can't think of one off the top of my head for the PS3 and I own the damn thing. Kane and Lynch, Haze and Drake's Fortune look promising and may stem the tide but, if I was a hardcore gamer and had never used Microsoft products, I'd want a 360 for Christmas. There are just TOO MANY great titles (GREAT, not just good) to ignore the 360. I hope game developers for the PS3 have something great in the works because, if Sony can't provide a compelling reason in the next year to buy a PS3, they're done.




RE: GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!!!!!!!
By ChipDude on 10/19/2007 10:23:36 PM , Rating: 2
Oh Howie and Jackie are you paying attention?

The secret to getting PS3 sales going is as mentioned get some good games. Amazing what even one game can do for ya.

You can bundle a movie, even 5 movies, you can drop the price a 100 bucks but you aren't going to move many more boxes. There is a pile of them sitting on the floor of my local best buy, while the xbox are moving out.

Get some games and maybe something will happen


RE: GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!!!!!!!
By rdeegvainl on 10/20/2007 3:35:35 AM , Rating: 2
Unfortunately, great is subjective. I would love for a one stop for gaming for me. I played a friends copy of halo 3 last night, for about 4 hours.
It was ok. that's it, I played the greatest hyped game ever, pre-sold the most copies ever, and it was ok. Didn't enjoy the story at all, and the only part I really enjoyed was bashing my buddies with the gravity hammer when we were playing co-op.(he would then stab me with the energy sword an we would continue the game)
The multi player wasn't anything that would keep me coming back for more. Nothing it has, I don't already have in PC games that came out years ago.
The only reason I even care about console gaming, is for RPG'/Adventure games. the final fantasy's, the metal gear solids, the ninja gaidens. (and I have a dislike for DBZ art style)
As a hardcore gamer, of different tastes, I will wait for more price cuts to make it just to easy to pass up and/or some killer app for ME.(that is what it comes down to, an individual's preference) And stick with my PC for now.


RE: GAMES, GAMES, GAMES!!!!!!!!
By darkpaw on 10/20/2007 9:27:59 PM , Rating: 2
I bought a PS3 first, and 90% of the time its just a movie player. The holiday pack of the 360 with the two free games showed up at Costco this weekend and Toys'R'Us was also running a buy 2 get 1 free special on any games this week. That combined to be an offer I could refuse.

Picked up the 360 with the 2 free games (extra controller and play and charge too with Costco bundle), gears, bioshock, and halo3 for $520 total. Kinda hard to pass that up.

So after one day I already have 5 times the games I own for the PS3 and twice what I own for the Wii. Both of the other two systems really need to get some games out.


Thumbnail?
By ninjit on 10/19/2007 3:16:43 PM , Rating: 2
Where is that thumbnail from?

Googling for "Halo Hottie" didn't turn up anything relevant.
:)




RE: Thumbnail?
By augiem on 10/19/2007 4:19:19 PM , Rating: 2
Laughable.

In the future coolness war run by gamer-geek generals, I feel REALLLLY sorry for anyone with a daughter in the military.

"I'm sorry, Sir, Maam. A freak shot somehow made it through a weak spot in her body armor."


RE: Thumbnail?
By augiem on 10/19/2007 4:34:54 PM , Rating: 3
RE: Thumbnail?
By InsaneGain on 10/22/2007 12:50:57 PM , Rating: 2
I googled "sexy Halo Chick".
It's a one-of-a-kind figurine of Master Chief's girlfriend and it sold on eBay for over $2000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item...


Math?
By arkcom on 10/19/2007 3:17:30 PM , Rating: 2
300 million dollars/3.3 million copies sold = over $90 average per game?




RE: Math?
By ninjit on 10/19/2007 3:32:50 PM , Rating: 2
Yes cause of the legendary edition (over $100 I think)?


RE: Math?
By DarthPierce on 10/19/2007 4:29:44 PM , Rating: 2
No because the dollars are for a month and the units are "first week"


RE: Math?
By DarthPierce on 10/19/2007 4:30:54 PM , Rating: 2
nevermind... I'm the one who can't read... that is a weird statistic...


RE: Math?
By dwalton on 10/19/2007 6:11:07 PM , Rating: 1
The 300 million figure that MS is touting is related to sales generated from shipping Halo into retail. 3.3 million represents the number sold to consumers.

So 300 million includes those 3.3 million in consumers' hands as well as those sitting on retail shelves or warehouses. MS was touting an average sales price of $78 at one time.


360 Games Are Driving Sales
By jrb531 on 10/19/2007 4:19:22 PM , Rating: 5
Bioshock
Madden '08
Halo 3
The Orange Box

All within two months!

This is what is driving sales of the 360. The multiplayer of Halo 3 and Halflife will continue to drive sales for a long time.

This is the difference between the Wii and the 360. People will buy a game like Zelda and play it on the Wii till completion then stop playing the Wii.

On the 360 they will play the multiplayer over and over and over.

PS3? It's in sad shape. The cell processor is a failure which is why Sony just sold off the factory. It's a technical marvel I'm sure but it's just too darn hard to program it.

The day Sony decided to hold back the PS3 for a year in order to use it as a bargaining chip to help win the DVD war was the day the PS3 failed.

A PS3 that came out about the same time as the 360, costs $200 less and only had a standard DVD player would have won.

As much as I hate to admit it Microsoft took the correct route. I can buy a core 360 and later add a hard drive of multiple sizes if I want. I can also add an HD DVD player if I want.

Sell cheap and allow people to upgrade later if they want.

Sony basically forced you to sell the farm to buy the original PS3 and is now backtracking trying to sell stripped down versions of the PS3 to get the price down.

-JB




RE: 360 Games Are Driving Sales
By Murst on 10/19/2007 4:37:36 PM , Rating: 2
If console sales at Amazon can be used as a guide to how well the PS3 will do after the price cut yesterday, I think you might be surprised by PS3 sales.

It may just be due to the recent price drop, but the 80GB sales were up almost 1,000% yesterday nite, and they're up almost %300 since then (sales % increases are tracked over a 24 hour period).

And the 40GB model hasn't even been released yet.

Whether this will be short-lived is anyone's guess, but I think Sony may have hit a price where sales will start taking off.

And yes, Sony needs more good games. They're way behind the 360 in that (and so does the Wii!).


RE: 360 Games Are Driving Sales
By dwalton on 10/19/2007 5:03:29 PM , Rating: 2
The last time a $100 price cut happen for the PS3 (60gb), amazon had a sales percentage increase of something like 2400-2800 percentage and #1 on the amazon bestseller chart for like a week and a half only to sales a 160K during that month according to NPD.


250,000 bought a 360 for Halo 3?
By augiem on 10/19/2007 4:10:43 PM , Rating: 2
So, if sales doubled, does that mean 250,000 bought one for Halo 3? Compared to last months sales? That's a lot of people I guess, but relatively small compared to the number of Halo 3's sold. And its very small compared to the number of 360's out there already.

Of course, it is approaching Christmas too.




RE: 250,000 bought a 360 for Halo 3?
By Murst on 10/19/2007 4:41:28 PM , Rating: 2
It certainly appears that Halo3 isn't moving as many XBox360s as MS would like. But there could be other reasons for that like people waiting until Xmas to get the 360. Due to how close Xmas really is, I wouldn't doubt that at all.


RE: 250,000 bought a 360 for Halo 3?
By dwalton on 10/19/2007 5:28:42 PM , Rating: 2
Month to month sales of 360 went from 276k to 527k, an upswing created by the release of Halo. A 250k increase typically don't happen with game releases and such jumps are only usually seen with price cuts or the holiday season.

Regardless, of the number of Halo titles sold, 250k is a lot. Its like saying a million dollars isn't a lot of money just because Bill Gates gave it to you.


My take on the consoles currently
By Demon-Xanth on 10/19/2007 3:11:42 PM , Rating: 1
Wii: Still great for the same reason it was almost a year ago. (batch of fun to play games)
360: Finally got what it should've had at launch (Halo 3)
PS2: Still great for what it had five years ago. (great game selection)
PS3: Still crap because it doesn't have what the PS2 had five years ago. New cheaper upcoming PS3s less fulfilling than the older ones. Still too expensive.
DS: Continuing Nintendo's handheld dominance by a quality selection of games since 1988. And lets face it, Pokemon=crack. They have about the same profit margins and are guaranteed cash flow.
PSP: Finally, a D-pad that DOESN'T suck! (yes, I broke down and bought one. mmmm, Disgaea in 11 days.)
GBA: I have no clue why this still sells as well as it does, maybe the Japanese airline law has been keeping it on life support.




RE: My take on the consoles currently
By augiem on 10/19/2007 4:45:40 PM , Rating: 1
GBA is the most awesome hand-held game system in history! A huge library of quality 2D RPG's, adventure games, and other fun genres that haven't seen the light of day since the SNES. There is a lot of crud too, but that's the case for every system.

I have a DS, but all I do is play GBA games on the great screen.

Too bad GBA is eventually going to die. It'll mark the final and long-in-coming end to a truely great era in gaming history.

Low-res pixel art rox, btw.


RE: My take on the consoles currently
By Gholam on 10/19/2007 7:35:47 PM , Rating: 2
You forgot to add,

PC: Still has more and better games than all the consoles combined, while costing more than all of them combined.


Halo 3 success
By timmiser on 10/19/2007 6:22:25 PM , Rating: 2
I think another contributer to the Halo 3 sales success has been the lower price at launch. There were many deals both in store and online offering Halo 3 for $49.99, $10 off.

Any game purchased at $60 for me is a hard pill to swallow no matter how good the game is and seeing $10 off the regular 'new game' launch price helped me pull the trigger.




RE: Halo 3 success
By 9nails on 10/20/2007 4:04:47 PM , Rating: 2
You're absolutely right. Very few titles deserve a $60 price. For me, Halo 3 was one of those titles and I even went above to get the collectors edition. But it also got me to pull the trigger and to buy an Xbox 360. I had full intentions to hold out on Xbox 360 or PS3 purchases until I owned an HD TV Set.

Now I have an Xbox 360 Halo edition on a standard definition TV set. And I love it!

As for the rest of the Xbox 360 games at $60, I tend to look for them second hand or on sale.


Interesting
By RjBass on 10/19/2007 3:12:50 PM , Rating: 3
My kids and I are die hard computer gamers, but the 360 is already in route from Newegg with Halo 3. The kids have been asking about it since it was released. Looks like it will make an excellent Christmas present.

As a side note, they have interest in a Wii at all, and I don't even know that they know what a PS3 even is. Well I'll bet they do, but their interest in that is even less then the Wii.




Dust collector
By ted61 on 10/19/2007 10:54:42 PM , Rating: 1
We have a brand new Xbox to go with Halo 3 and gears of war. The console sits next to tv stand and collects dust. Fortunatly, it has a nice sleek profile that does not collect much dust. The power supply is quite the eye sore but at least the xbox looks good.




RE: Dust collector
By ted61 on 10/19/2007 10:57:48 PM , Rating: 1
I did not get to the point. We got an Xbox just for Halo 3. If the Wii was available, I would have given the xbox games away and bought a Wii.


Halo 3 or Controller lawsuits?
By ancient46 on 10/20/2007 9:20:36 AM , Rating: 2
We did not get Wiis to sell for several weeks recently. The ones that came in this week all have remotes with rubber sleeves. It was said that Nintendo held shipment of Wiis until the sleeved remotes were ready. We received and sold 21 units the past few days.




Headlines here have a way...
By gochichi on 10/21/2007 2:57:31 AM , Rating: 1
360's are fully available in the pipeline, just waiting for a release like this.

The Wii is just not sitting on the shelf for very long at all. They are still exceedingly difficult to find. I wonder if the XBOX would have still outsold the Wii this month if everyone that wanted a Wii could get a hold of one.

Nintendo was totaly planning to go into basic survival mode with the Wii. Look, they can't even produce enough of them. I think it would be great if they made a real console now that they're back in the running. I'm not saying I don't like the Wii, I'm just saying I wish it were a real console.

Nevertheless, Wii will outsell the XBOX again next month, and the next, and the next.

I don't get it, just as I don't get the Halo thing (or the 1st person shooter with a dinky controller thing for that matter) but the Wii will outsell real consoles for the forseable future.

Frankly, the Wii will continue to outsell and outprofit the competition. That's until a hardware change takes place... and I would think that lean-running Nintendo would be the best one to release a new generation of consoles (Wii2)... at which point there will be Nintendo and computer gaming and nothing in between.

Sony and Microsoft make desirable little items, that seem like useful electronics to have around the house but seriously... what are they thinking? I mean, making no profit, expecting a tremendously long life cycle for the hardware in hopes to break even by 2015. Nintendo just aimed for profits from day one.

To think that Nintendo could sell the Wii at the $150.00 price point and not only would it remain profitable at that low price... it would sell twice as much as it does now.




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