That, Mr. Anderson, is the sound of Wii-nevitability.

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That, Mr. Anderson, is the sound of Wii-nevitability.

Submitted by Stephen Munn on August 18, 2007 – 11:45 pm15 Comments

It looks as though it is about to happen. The Nintendo Wii is about to take first place in the home console race from the Xbox 360.

“With the Wii now just 29k units behind the 360 and continuing to outsell it in every region and by nearly 170k worldwide this week, its inevitable that — barring any further major adjustments — next week will be the week that Wii passes the 360 in worldwide launch-to-date sales.”

This could mark the beginning of Nintendo’s first definitive console crown since the NES, as the SNES and the Genesis were generally considered as neck-and-neck, and the N64 and Gamecube landed behind at least one of their competitors in installed base in their generations. Look at it this way: Nintendo has always come out on top financially in this business, turning a profit on all of their gaming systems except for the Virtual Boy. Now, with the Nintendo Wii, they are poised to also have the largest installed base in the generation.

It is still anyone’s race to take. With all three consoles’ biggest titles ahead of them in the coming months, this kind of thing could flip in a matter of a few months. And in the end, what I think we all want is a pretty even split, which is what’s best for the consumer.

Tags: 360, installed base, wii

Brent

But just wait til the newest Atari Jaguar comes out this Xmas. It’s gonna rock this generation of consoles!
James

Luckily, the 360 still has the Next Gen race won.
Sifer2400

first things first people have to remember that tthere not in the same race and 2 tell u the truth they nvr have been IMO ive alwys felt that Nintendo has always targeted the causal players second its not really next gen more like last gen feature/graphic wise thrid u have to remember that there 250$ which most of the next gen consoles dont even come close well i guess the core but who really buys that lawlll
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

Well, this is pretty impressive, considering the massive effort and money spent by both Sony and MS.

Well done on the post title as well Paul, that was a really good one.

As for the “wii is not next gen”, please wait a moment while I PUKE.

Next gen has never been defined by specs. Generation has always meant the replacement consoles that come out after ones lifespan has been reached. Anyone trying to define next gen so as to exclude the wii is a tool.

Sure, the wii is trying to hit a broader market, but don’t kid yourself into believing its not in direct competition for many of the same consumers as MS and Sony. I huge number of the PS2 fanbase is made up of people simply buying it as christmas and birthday gifts. This past year, the Wii has been that console. The wii is winning the war for the PS2 crowd. Maybe the PS2 crowd are not the same type of crowd as the xbox crowd or the gamecube crowd, but they did pretty well for Sony last gen, and by last gen, I don’t mean anything about graphics.
Hoosierdaddy812

I would have to agree with used cicso. The Wii is vying for the same customers as the Xbox and PS3. Sifer you say that the Wii is targeted toward casual games but more and more casual games are becoming the big money makers and this is no where more obvious then with the sale of the Wii.

I have done my part and even though I only have two game for my Wii that are many titles coming out in the near future. You can’t beat the price at $50 either. Next-gen is the next generation of console and I personally think its time to drop the title of next-gen but its one that has stuck with this set of systems for some reason. Although, we still call it next-gen because they are still all fighting to gain increasing sales and as cisco pointed out there are over 100 million PS2 users out there so who is going to get all those sales? I’ll tell you who, the Wii most likely. Many PS2 sales came after the initial couple of years because of its price and availability which the Wii seems to be offering.

Yes the Wii has shortages and is delaying production but if I recall its one of the fastest selling consoles. I mean it is about to surpass the sales of the Xbox 360 which was released a full year before it, and it did so in less than a year.

So in short I prefer games for my Xbox 360 but I believe the Wii has and will win the next-gen race because of its price and accessibility to people of all ages.
Brent

do ya think the stockholders care about who’s ‘winning the next gen?’

hell no, it’s all about the money. everything else is semantics and that don’t pay dividends.
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

I’m inclined to agree that it’s wrong to call any of the consoles Next-Gen right now. Next-Gen right now would be PS4, Xbox 480 or whatever it will be called, and Splooge or whatever it will be called.

That said, Wii *is* current-gen, just like the 360 and PS3. If it makes a fanboy feel better to say, oh, at least the 360′s still ahead of the PS3, that’s fine. Dismiss the Wii all you want, it’s still selling much better than the competition.

It’s also not fair to dismiss the Wii’s user base as “casual” as if, even if it were 100% representative, that makes them less important to the gaming industry. Trends like the Wii open the industry to more positive attention. We need more “look how fun this is” and less “look how violent video games are” in the press.
Sifer2400

@ used cisco
like i said “last gen” graphic and feature wise
@ Hoosierdaddy812
i didnt say they werent the “big money makers” i just said that they target general populace so of course there going to sell faster
@ Stephen
Fine In your Opinion would you say that most of its audience is causally idk lets say around 80-90′s and i never said they were less important i apologize it if seems that way.

And last of all people you have 2 remember the huge price difference im sure it the wii cost around the same as a PS3 or A premium 360 it would have not sold as much
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

Sifer2400, while the Wii is less powerful than the 360 and the PS3, it is still more powerful than last gen’s strongest machine, the Xbox, so I can’t accept that it would be considered last-gen, even graphics or feature-wise.

I also don’t know how the Wii’s audience breaks down, but I do know that it’s selling very well to every audience. It’s not as if the “hardcore” are not buying the Wii. Everyone is. I would daresay that it’s mostly going to be the “hardcore” who are going to be determined enough to get a Wii right now while supply is below demand. I’ve heard reports of grandmothers standing in line for systems early in the morning, but everyone in the pictures I’ve seen looks a lot like me.

Regarding price, Nintendo’s consoles are always cheaper than the competition, and as we’ve seen, that didn’t help with their last few systems. The Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 AND cheaper, and still it sold less. The N64 was stronger than the PS1 as well, though crippled by a lack of ROM capacity, and was creamed by the PS1. Price is irrelevant within reason, and the Wii isn’t *that* cheap, especially right now. Most Wiis, outside of retail, are selling for more than a 360 does, despite the 360′s better graphics and larger game library.

Just accept that all three of these companies are competing with each other on purpose, and the Wii’s doing the strongest numbers right now. Trying to pretend they’re not selling the same product just does not feel like a solid argument.
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

@sifer,

Honestly, considering that you have had to stand in line at 8 AM to get a Wii for most of its life span, what are the odds that the current install base is mostly casual? I say slim to none. Casual gamers are not going to be standing out in the cold on a january morning to get a Wii. I’m sorry, they’re not. I know I’ve stood in line for a Wii 4 different times and most of the people in line were clearly gamers. In fact, I would argue that if you are a casual gamer trying to get a wii and you go stand in line at 8 in the morning, well, you just became hardcore in my book. Congratulations.

Also, graphics aside the features of the wii are decidedly current gen. That fact that it uses an industry standard SD memory card instead of proprietary memory cards is very current gen thinking to my mind. Even the 360 held on to this antiquated strategy of proprietary memory cards. Built in Wi-Fi? Very current gen feature. Not last gen at all. Online enabled out of the box? Downloaded software titles released every week? Upgradeable Wii-channel interface? A web browser? Even the 360 still lacks this decidedly current gen feature known as web browsing. The PS3 has it, the Wii has it. But nope on the 360. Also, you can stream music and movies to the Wii from a networked computer. You can look at photos, slide shows and watch movies on an SD card. Wireless controllers out of the box. Not all the 360s have that feature. Built in flash memory for storage. Not even the 360 core has that. Yet somehow the 360 is automatically next gen. So yeah, the features on the wii are very robust, just as much so as the 360 or PS3, even moreso than the 360 in many respects. The only thing you have in your argument is graphics. Let it go already with the graphics.
Mac

To the victor goes the spoils. hooah nintendo.
Sifer2400

well you’ve all made very good points ive changed my mind on somethings but somethings eh. still i guess we all have our opinions, this was an interesting convo. =D Used ur manking me seem like the 360 fany boy here i do won one but the ony thing from owning the other 2 is the $ i just dont have o well
http://thexboxdomain.net Hoosierdaddy812

Either way I am loving the Wii and the only console I don’t own is the PS3 (to expensive for my tastes and my wallet). Also, this added competition will only benefit the consumers and these develops all vie for our precious money. Yes, victory is mine after all (well, all of ours I guess).
Harry

I will get a PS3 when I see at least a dozen good games.
http://www.aeropause.com Stephen

Of course, if I had lots of money, I would also have a 360, Sifer. I only have the budget for one console and one handheld right now, and that’s a Wii and a DS. If I had more money, I’d have a 360 and a PSP as well.