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Nikkei News - Wii sells out on 1st day, nearly 400,000 sold

JDA

Banned
I'm finding the Nintendo numbers hard to believe. I made a bunch of calls today, and as far as I can tell, there has only been one shipment, and some of those were cut.

Are these 600k and 400k numbers provided only from Nintendo? If so, why does anyone take that as credible? People here are supposed to cast doubt on such claims by a single company, right?
 

ethelred

Member
Furoba said:
Forgetting about iPod are we?

Not to mention, you know, Microsoft Windows.

Furoba said:
I say the real battle only starts when all companies can produce their hardware in sufficiënt quantities, and when all hardware is available worldwide...

In a certain sense that's true... but there are other ways in which a long period of constrained supply does have an impact on the longer term war. For every system that can't be sold becuse it can't be produced, those are software sales that publishers aren't going to be seeing. You have to deal with the likelihood that some will go for the systems that are available, where their games will sell, and where they can establish a presence/fanbase on the system over the long-term. It's unclear what incentive they'd have to jump ship five, six, seven months down the line just because supply issues are easing on a competing platform.

Furoba said:
Still, how many months before Wii passes Xbox 360 LTD sales? :lol

In Japan, it already has.

In the US and Europe? What makes you so sure it will?
 
Nintendo: Wii will crush you


Rocky_IV__Sylvester_193003g.jpg
 
ORANGUTAN said:
i don't get it, why are ps3 and wii sales being directly compared?

do people compare ford sales to Ferrari?

the wii has last gen tech. Nintendo has admittedly said it's not a 'next-gen' system. are you guys just looking for revenge because Sony singlehandedly usurped Nintendo from the top spot? these shouldn't even be compared, they don't even have the same target markets.
yes they do, Nintendo just has more target markets than Sony. Nintendo is looking at the entire pie-shaped target market (which usually means the product will fail, but look at how well the DS did/is doing) and Sony is only targeting pieces of that pie. If lightning strikes twice for Nintendo, good for them. If not, well, it's very rare that a company which targets the entire target like that does well for themselves anyway so I wouldn't be surprised.
ORANGUTAN said:
seriously, it's like sony screwed all their girlfriends... or in gaf's case, boyfriends.

what have they done except give us awesome games for the last 10 years?
seriously, it's like Nintendo screwed all their girlfriends... or in gaf's case, boyfriends.

what have they done except give us awesome games for the last 10 years?

see how easy that was? one word changed and you have the general view towards Nintendo for the past 10 years, or at least since the GC failed to deliver on the promised changes from the N64's mistakes.
 

Krowley

Member
JDA said:
I'm finding the Nintendo numbers hard to believe. I made a bunch of calls today, and as far as I can tell, there has only been one shipment, and some of those were cut.

Are these 600k and 400k numbers provided only from Nintendo? If so, why does anyone take that as credible? People here are supposed to cast doubt on such claims by a single company, right?

I think we can all see that demand is insane. I still don't have one and i've been looking for several days. Even if these claims are not true... i honestly think nintendo could have sold 1.5 million on launch day in the US alone.

The wii is becoming a craze... Like "tickle me elmo". People are going nuts for it.

It's not hard to believe these numbers. they fit with what you're seeing. Just look at the number of people on this board that are playing wii in comparison to those who have a ps3... and keep in mind that we are hardcore gamers. the difference in the general population will be more extreme.
 

NetMapel

Guilty White Male Mods Gave Me This Tag
When I have 5+ of my girlfriends wanting or owning a Wii, I can safely say Nintendo has done something impossible with a PS3 and XBox 360. As such, I wouldn't be too shocked by its sell out speed.
 

JDA

Banned
Krowley said:
I think we can all see that demand is insane. I still don't have one and i've been looking for several days. Even if these claims are not true... i honestly think nintendo could have sold 1.5 million on launch day in the US alone.

The wii is becoming a craze... Like "tickle me elmo". People are going nuts for it.

It's not hard to believe these numbers. they fit with what you're seeing. Just look at the number of people on this board that are playing wii in comparison to those who have a ps3... and keep in mind that we are hardcore gamers. the difference in the general population will be more extreme.

I find them hard to believe on one other 'notion'. Nintendo wants to target casuals, right? How did they get such huge numbers when the only 'ads' I've seen for Wii are on Comedy Central shows?

Are the buyers today all Nintendo faithful or are they getting casuals already?

Even if it was a craze, wouldn't a 1.5 million unit on a single day number be the biggest 'craze' ever to hit the US?
 
I think the reason people are taking the numbers as credible is because we know the Wii is sold out everywhere, and everyone is talking about it.

I haven't had this many non-gamers asking/talking to me about videogames in a long time.

Also if you've been watching Japan, the lines for Wii were insane. It's also been almost a given that the Wii was going to do very well in Japan because of the performance of the DS, and the similar approach Nintendo is taking with the Wii.
 

Newzboyz99

Losers! My wife has me on lock!
Sony=ferrari and Nintendo= Ford???? :lol :lol :lol :lol

They are targeting different markets (Nintendo=non-traditional players) and Sony (hardcore/HD/Blu-ray market) but its more akin to Lexus verus Toyota. nevertheless comparing the videogame market to the car market is simply stupid.

You think Sony and their investers are 'unconcerned' about Wii because it's "targeting a different market?" :lol They could both be targeting diametrically opposed markets but the reality is there is a finite amount of developers and market share will be the thing that pulls these developers and thus their software to either the Wii or PS3.
 

Krowley

Member
JDA said:
I find them hard to believe on one other 'notion'. Nintendo wants to target casuals, right? How did they get such huge numbers when the only 'ads' I've seen for Wii are on Comedy Central shows?

Are the buyers today all Nintendo faithful or are they getting casuals already?

Even if it was a craze, wouldn't a 1.5 million unit on a single day number be the biggest 'craze' ever to hit the US?

Maybe, but they could have sold twice as many on launch day in america alone. That's almost a cetainty.

The lines that formed were so big that usually half the people left without a system. Add in the effect of word of mouth and things are pretty nuts. My mom is dying to play one. It was on VH1's best week ever... it's everywhere.

I have no idea what's generating the hype, but it's there.
 

PROOP

FREAKING OUT MAN
Avutta1978 said:
I need some software numbers, I wonder how Redsteel is doing in Japan.

I would imagine that it could be doing quite well, but I would also imagine that it pisses off a lot of the Japanese gamers with all of the overblown stereotypes crammed into the game.
 

Krowley

Member
pol's voice said:
Word of mouth advertising is the best advertising you can get.

Also what does this 1.5 million figure have to do with anything?

Just a quote from me... i think they could have sold that many on the launch day if they had them in stock. I may be overestimating by a little, but they definitly wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of days.
 

Diffense

Member
Nintendo is going to succeed.

I knew it with DS and I can see it with the Wii.

You don't fight fire with fire.
That is a stupid saying.
You fight fire with water.
To be disruptive you have to be innovative.
Sure, it's risky, but there is no other choice.
Wii's strangeness is its very appeal.

Just like the DS, software that makes the case for the system's innovations must keep coming. If that happens, Wii will do very well.
 

Newzboyz99

Losers! My wife has me on lock!
Wii/DS's quirkyness is its best weapon in japan. Now if they can lure the majority of developers....
 
Jammy said:
Does anybody have the U.S. NPD Xbox 360 LTD? We can then add this to the ~180,000 360 has sold in Japan and then get a pretty good estimate on Europe's (and elsewhere's) sales.

Is the system just at like 5 million worldwide?

313180999_44f2d9c7dd_o.png


X360 WW L-T-D (Oct 06) ~ 4.45m
XB WW at this point (Oct 02) ~ 4.45m


So X360 just now caught up w/ WW XB sales after its first year, in October...
 
marc^o^ said:
Nintendo studios know the wii technology by heart now. There's no learning curve: it's a GC turbo. They have many assets they can reuse from previous GC games. In other words: development times will be short.

Would the wiimote, since it's a new method of controlling a game, add more time to development? Since it is different from a standard controller, my guess is that testing may take a bit longer to ensure it's used fluidly with the game.
 

Krowley

Member
Newzboyz99 said:
Wii/DS's quirkyness is its best weapon in japan. Now if they can lure the majority of developers....

I'm shocked at the demand for it in the US. That was a surprise to me. We are going almost as crazy for it as the Japanese and i don't think anybody saw that coming. I don't know what it means longterm, but it's certainly interesting.

edit// i figured they would sellout in the early going, but not with this kind of insanity. every shipment sells out in an hour or so.
 

Newzboyz99

Losers! My wife has me on lock!
agreed. I think people are just ready for something differnt. Hell I don't have time to play a game for 50 hours, I like the idea of Wii Sports and shorter pick up and play games.
 

water_wendi

Water is not wet!
Krowley said:
Maybe, but they could have sold twice as many on launch day in america alone. That's almost a cetainty.

The lines that formed were so big that usually half the people left without a system. Add in the effect of word of mouth and things are pretty nuts. My mom is dying to play one. It was on VH1's best week ever last week... it's everywhere.

I have no idea what's generating the hype, but it's there.

I dont know if it is the same everywhere else, but in Las Vegas every weekend might as well be launch day. A friend and I stopped by TRU last night and the clerk said that the store would have 45 available tomorrow at 9am. Well I got up early this morning (7am).. well, it wasnt early enough thats for sure. There were more than 45 people in line by far.

At first I went home disappointed. Then I found a post online about how Circuit City was going to have anywhere from 30-40 at most locations. It was about 9am when I got to the parking lot. To my surprise, it was empty. Not a single person in line. I got to a payphone to give my friend a call about the situation.. got a drink from the corner store in the same parking lot.. and by the time I got back there were about 5 people in line. My friend wanted me to call him again incase a line started forming so I called him again. By the time I got off the phone, there were about 20 something people in line. This is all over the course of about 10 minutes. Thinking I had a chance to get a Wii I found a space to park and got in line. Boy was I wrong.

The 45 minutes passed quickly as everyone in line chatted. We started to notice something was odd when nobody came out to hand out tickets a good 15 minutes before the store was supposed to open. The line had since grew in size to about 40-50 people. With a whole group of people massed in different pockets standing in the parking lot. Some more sitting out the cold in their cars. Well, 10am rolls around and bitter disappointment hits as the manager who opens the doors informs us that all the Wiis are already accounted for. Circuit City handed out tickets at 7am and the people in the parking lot were those lucky 40.

Thats this weekends unsuccessful Wii attempt. Each time I tell myself I have to get up earlier.. next Sunday Im getting there at 5am.
 

Krowley

Member
Number 2 said:
I dont know if it is the same everywhere else, but in Las Vegas every weekend might as well be launch day. A friend and I stopped by TRU last night and the clerk said that the store would have 45 available tomorrow at 9am. Well I got up early this morning (7am).. well, it wasnt early enough thats for sure. There were more than 45 people in line by far.

At first I went home disappointed. Then I found a post online about how Circuit City was going to have anywhere from 30-40 at most locations. It was about 9am when I got to the parking lot. To my surprise, it was empty. Not a single person in line. I got to a payphone to give my friend a call about the situation.. got a drink from the corner store in the same parking lot.. and by the time I got back there were about 5 people in line. My friend wanted me to call him again incase a line started forming so I called him again. By the time I got off the phone, there were about 20 something people in line. This is all over the course of about 10 minutes. Thinking I had a chance to get a Wii I found a space to park and got in line. Boy was I wrong.

The 45 minutes passed quickly as everyone in line chatted. We started to notice something was odd when nobody came out to hand out tickets a good 15 minutes before the store was supposed to open. The line had since grew in size to about 40-50 people. With a whole group of people massed in different pockets standing in the parking lot. Some more sitting out the cold in their cars. Well, 10am rolls around and bitter disappointment hits as the manager who opens the doors informs us that all the Wiis are already accounted for. Circuit City handed out tickets at 7am and the people in the parking lot were those lucky 40.

Thats this weekends unsuccessful Wii attempt. Each time I tell myself I have to get up earlier.. next Sunday Im getting there at 5am.

I'm running into the same kind of crap and i live in a very rural part of north ga with only a couple of walmarts and a gamestop within a hundred miles.

I don't know how i'm gonna get one before christmas if they don't get supplies up to snuff. My local stores are only getting around 20 at a time since it's such a small place.
 

empanada

Member
Mojojo said:
I beg to differ ! THis is the best.
OhWiiiiii.gif

who can resist commercials like these :D
That is a system seller right there.

Man, 2 weeks after launch and there's still lines at Best Buy, Circuit City and Target early in the morning here (SoCal).
 

Deku

Banned
Newzboyz99 said:
agreed. I think people are just ready for something differnt. Hell I don't have time to play a game for 50 hours, I like the idea of Wii Sports and shorter pick up and play games.

Well I want my 50 hour games, but a lot of traditional games that can work on the Wii aren't meant to be played for 50 hours either.

I just want some freshness and a bit of everything.
 

JDA

Banned
Did anyone in the media ask Wii liner uppers where they heard of the Wii?

Doing a poll like that could have been good marketing numbers too.

They did a lot of that at the PS3 launch (aka tons of ebayers)
 
When I have 5+ of my girlfriends wanting or owning a Wii, I can safely say Nintendo has done something impossible with a PS3 and XBox 360.

That statement speaks volumes. If Nintendo plays their cards right and consistently produces unique and compelling software that takes advantage of the control scheme of Wii over its entire life cycle, there's no telling where this system will wind up after all is said and done. This could very well be the system that FINALLY attracts the non-gamers into the market. And that market is far bigger than the existing market that both Sony and Microsoft cater towards.
 

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
The funniest part about all this is how after the Wii specs were revealed, hardly anyone thought of Nintendo as a threat (well, Sony was at least nervous enough to steal motion sensing). It's just amazing that this is happening, and Wii is selling more than previous Nintendo consoles at a HIGHER price no less. Kinda scary, really...

Now, what could Nintendomination mean for the future? Well, what one could hope is that Nintendo makes so much money using 5 year old tech and reused assets that they might feel comfortable enough to spend more on power next time around. Or the opposite happens and Nintendo goes mad with power and makes yet another incremental upgrade.

As for the competitors, if Wii wins I really don't think MS or Sony would feel that there would be any compelling reason to go with another generational leap as well (well, MAYBE Sony might). And instead would just opt to copy the controller or find another feature of some sort. That's the only bad side I could see happening.

But ah well, this is pretty entertaining anyway. :lol
 

Newzboyz99

Losers! My wife has me on lock!
I think MS is in it for the long haul. But the best thing that could have happened to Nintendo was Sony/MS pricing so high. Nintendo just undercut them badly AND charged the most ever for one of their consoles; making them profit from day one. :lol


What I am really interested in is software sales; especially for 3rd parties. I see Wii has a very inviting option.
 

JDA

Banned
Oblivion said:
The funniest part about all this is how after the Wii specs were revealed, hardly anyone thought of Nintendo as a threat (well, Sony was at least nervous enough to steal motion sensing). It's just amazing that this is happening, and Wii is selling more than previous Nintendo consoles at a HIGHER price no less. Kinda scary, really...

Now, what could Nintendomination mean for the future? Well, what one could hope is that Nintendo makes so much money using 5 year old tech and reused assets that they might feel comfortable enough to spend more on power next time around. Or the opposite happens and Nintendo goes mad with power and makes yet another incremental upgrade.

As for the competitors, if Wii wins I really don't think MS or Sony would feel that there would be any compelling reason to go with another generational leap as well (well, MAYBE Sony might). And instead would just opt to copy the controller or find another feature of some sort. That's the only bad side I could see happening.

But ah well, this is pretty entertaining anyway. :lol

I think it's more likely if Wii succeeds, MS and Sony will start making systems designed like Wii. I think Nintendo will feel they did the right thing and continue on a path of making new controls or interfaces, but not really increasing computational power.
 
The funniest part about all this is how after the Wii specs were revealed, hardly anyone thought of Nintendo as a threat (well, Sony was at least nervous enough to steal motion sensing). It's just amazing that this is happening, and Wii is selling more than previous Nintendo consoles at a HIGHER price no less. Kinda scary, really...

Nintendo has always been the dark horse here, at least in my eyes. Yes, it's still a bit too early and premature to declare Nintendo the victor this upcoming generation, but Wii's potential cannot be denied. As crazy as it sounds, I think we may still be underestimating Wii and its effect on this industry. I can see Will completely changing the entire landscape of this industry.
 

JDA

Banned
Newzboyz99 said:
What I am really interested in is software sales; especially for 3rd parties. I see Wii has a very inviting option.

Wii is a mixed blessing for 3rd parties.

You get less power to work with, so you have to do 'tighter' work to get better results.
You don't need to invest as much money in development, and less staff is needed, which they'll like.
You need to make something that stands out with something other than graphics or presentation, this will shake up 3rd parties who only really do the graphics thing (a large portion of them).
 

Krowley

Member
Oblivion said:
The funniest part about all this is how after the Wii specs were revealed, hardly anyone thought of Nintendo as a threat (well, Sony was at least nervous enough to steal motion sensing). It's just amazing that this is happening, and Wii is selling more than previous Nintendo consoles at a HIGHER price no less. Kinda scary, really...

Now, what could Nintendomination mean for the future? Well, what one could hope is that Nintendo makes so much money using 5 year old tech and reused assets that they might feel comfortable enough to spend more on power next time around. Or the opposite happens and Nintendo goes mad with power and makes yet another incremental upgrade.

As for the competitors, if Wii wins I really don't think MS or Sony would feel that there would be any compelling reason to go with another generational leap as well (well, MAYBE Sony might). And instead would just opt to copy the controller or find another feature of some sort. That's the only bad side I could see happening.

But ah well, this is pretty entertaining anyway. :lol

Yeah, i love the system, but it could actually be sort of a disaster if it wins.. especially if you are really picky about graphics.

It would totally shake up the industry and fundamentaly change the future direction of consoles. The model of not upgrading graphics would have 10x more effect on the industry than the controller.

The next round of consoles would all be minor graphcs upgrades with big interface changes. It's a "me too" industry...

Even this gen will be a total clusterfu** because all these big franchises would be updated on hardware that's only a minor upgrade over last gen. Games like DQ8 will end up skipping a generation in terms of graphics.

It will be an appocolypse for the industry and all the conventional thinking will go right out the window from here on out. Lambs sleeping with lions and all that stuff..

But it would have to win convincingly for that to happen.
 
The way i see it, most 3rd parties are scratching their heads with no clue what to do, kinda like the DS, it came out of no where.

UBI has made a wise decision and they will be rewarded by the Nintendo fan base.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Hope this doesn't lessen my chances of getting one (because now nintendo has to keep supplying the demand for both NA and Japan). It was never this hard to get a new system at launch in my small town.

Mojojo said:
I beg to differ ! THis is the best.
OhWiiiiii.gif

who can resist commercials like these :D

drooling.gif
 

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
Nintendo commercials are incredibly effective:
Wiimotes ad are perfect as teasers. There's a lot of gameplay footage. We see people in situation, playing the games. It's very easy to understand and to identify oneself playing these games. Last but not least, this whole white environment (being either people clothing of the background) creates an angelic/zen feeling around the wii. It deculpits playing games which is perfect for the target they are pursuing.

Nintendo must have changed of agency.
 
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