Despite our crap economy, games are still up 19 percent in 2008. And Nintendo says that it's all them, all while popping their collar and drinking one of those beers that comes in the metal bottle.
Okay, so I don't really know if they did all of that, but we do know that they say that the Wii took 55 percent of all console sales in 2008. And the DS? How about 72 percent of all handhelds. That's 10.17 million Wii and 9.95 million DS units in one year. Wow.
According to a press release from Nintendo, before 2008, no video game system had ever been purchased by ten million Americans in a single year. Until now.
Nintendo also claims to have 20 of the top 30 selling titles, including the top four: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, and ugh... Wii Play. For the year, more than 132 million games were sold in America for play on Nintendo systems.
Is there no stopping Nintendo? Or do you see things slowing down soon?
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
28 comments | showing # 1 to 28
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
4:30 PM on 01.16.2009
| 
though the ds numbers is quite astounding, i would have thought the psp would have long passed it....
hmmmmmmm
I see Nintendo dominating for the rest of this generatin, if not the next as well.
3rd parties. Wake up, smell the Nintendo coffer and put all your effort on the Wii.
The PS3/360 are dead. DEADDDDDD!!!!
Only niche NERDS care about the 360/PS3. It's not worth catering to them.
The funny thing is we don't even know yet what Nintendo has planned for the rest of the year between Q2 - Q4. We may just get a few more surprises like with the announcements of Punch-Out and Sin & Punishment 2.
For example, there's Mario Galaxy's gameplay mechanics and the motion control of Wii Sports to the superior FPS controls of Metroid Prime 3 and the concept of Wii Fit and the balance board's capabilities and of course, the Wii controllers.
People said the Wii's popularity would die down and called it a fad yet time and time again Nintendo has proven them wrong. Time and time again Nintendo continues to break records with both the Wii and DS.I don't see that changing any time soon so long as Nintendo continues to catter to both sides of its userbase.
Just like Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has made its share of stupid and frustrating mistakes but it has done more good for this industry and itself than bad in my opinion.
It has offered a new and sometimes, better way to play games and has helped open up a new market of gamers to help increase their own as well as the rest of the industry's growth.
I've got about an equal amount for all my consoles :-)
Animal Crossing was a rehash with some minor new stuff thrown in but it's a good game.
Wii Music was a dud.
Wii Play was really just a way for Nintendo to make a quick profit by including what is essentially a tech demo and bundling it with a Wii remote controller. I didn't care for Wii Play except for the cool Tanks game.
Smash Bros Brawl didn't have any new innovations but it made up for it with more content, some minor but useful new gameplay menchanics and items and cool cut scenes . It could have been better particularly due to the repetitive adventure mode and flawed online multiplayer.
Super Paper Mario had some fairly clever gameplay mechanics but sort of tack-ed on motion control but it was still a good game.
For the most part, I felt the use of the Wii controls in Zelda:TP were fantastic except for the standard sword atttack.
Are you implying that multi-billion corporations are greedy?
A heathen like yourself cannot be tolerated!
This is clearly Paganism of the most heinous order!
Away with you...!
You seem to have missed the point of what Nintendo wants to accomplish in this generation.
Their whole goal was to make a console affordable and rely less on graphics and horsepower and more on the controller interface to add to the player's gaming experience. Nintend was also concerned with rising development costs and it want to appeal to both new and old types of gamers.
A big part of the reaons why Nintendo delayed the release of MotionPlus was because o the cost. The technology was already available but Nintendo wanted to only use if once it was affordable to make.
I expect Nintendo's next console will obviously have better graphical technology and horse power, but only if the technology is affordable and is something that most consumers are interested in. As Nintendo has clearly demonstrated with the DS and Wii, affordable, innovative and more accessible consoles have become more popular.
I do hope that Nintendo does use the ton of money it has to continue to make good looking and great playing games. I also think it would be best for them to acquire some more game companies in order to further expand their video game portfolio beyond. They already have Retro Studios and own most of Monolith Soft but I think another developer, particularly a western one, would give Nintendo an advantage of having another western developer on its side that can make the type of games that Nintendo itself and most other Japanese developers are known for making. Developers like Free Radical and Factor 5 could be ideal choices.
And Free Radical is for sale, right? And real cheap, I guess... ;)
The only thing that makes this *not* hilarious is that I didn't have the cash to invest in Nintendo stock back when I knew I should have.