The PS3 Gets a Faceful of Wii in '07

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Amidst all the hoopla in the $40 billion global video game industry, it seems Santa doesn't care about Blu-Ray or overpriced consoles either.

Nintendo's Wii, the little arm-waving, ass-shaking system that could, outsold Sony's Playstation 3 by more than three to one in Japan in 2007, regaining first place in total sales. Mario & Co. couldn't be happier.

Nintendo's Wii outsold rival Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) three-fold in Japan last year, helping the country's multi-billion dollar video game market to notch up its best ever year, a survey showed Monday.

Nintendo sold about 3.63 million Wii consoles in its home market in 2007 while Sony sold 1.21 million PS3s, according to magazine publisher Enterbrain.

The Wii also trounced the PS3 more than three-fold in the key year-end sales period between November 25 and December 30, selling 774,123 Wii consoles against Sony's sales of 232,421 PS3s, the survey showed.
Nintendo enjoys the same 3-1 margin in sales against Sony in North America. When your system can't last long enough on shelves to gather dust (and customers are left sucking the dubious cash cow cock of chain stores to buy overpriced "bundle" packages), you're doing something right.

Or, you know, your company fails at increasing supply to meet demand.

I happen to have a sunnier disposition where the Wii is concerned. Mostly because I camped out for 12 hours outside the nearest Target that fateful November morn to be #2 in line. Your personal experience may differ.

"Consumers both in Japan and overseas are still attracted by the Wii, which remains a fresh concept," said Hiroshi Kamide, a game analyst at KBC Securities.

Sony "either has to slash the price further or increase the number of games available, which is something software makers are reluctant to do" because there are too few owners in the US to make it worthwhile, he added.
Kamide also notes the Xbox 360 is still going strong this side of the pond. That's right. Microsoft is still #1 in the US, selling more than 4 million units this past holiday. However, Bill Gates' little "Red Ring of Death"ed love child is still holding the rear in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Microsoft sold 257,841 Xbox 360s last year in Japan, continuing to struggle on its rivals' home turf two years after the console's launch, the survey showed.
Not to mention the problems they encountered with Xbox Live outages.

Video game blogs such as Joystiq recently reported that users had a slew of problems with the site over the holidays, including trouble signing in, downloading media and getting matched with online opponents.

"We are disappointed in our performance," wrote Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, on the Xbox 360 support Web site.

Whitten said record-breaking traffic and new-member sign-ups caused the "intermittent Xbox Live issues.".
Much like the storied sports rivalries of old, the fight between the Big Three and their loyal fanbases is everlasting. I don't know about you, but I'm too busy killing zombies and saving princesses to go throw the ball around.

thefreak owns 15 different gaming systems. He's a bigger dork than you.

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