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Bloomberg is reporting that the sales of the PlayStation 3 are quickly gaining ground on the Xbox 360. Unfortunately for Sony, the fight is only to see who can win the crown of second place. The Wii has had an unrelenting death grip on first for a good time now. According to Sony’s chief executive officer Howard Stringer, it doesn’t matter where the Wii is, in fact, he doesn’t even consider it as a force to be reckoned with: I've played a Nintendo Wii. I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device. We're selling a lot of PlayStation 3s now and it's still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player.
Stringer made this comment in an interview at a conference in Idaho last week. Bloomberg couldn’t catch a Nintendo executive for comment on the quote. Probably because they were all too busy building mansions and yachts out of cash from the sales of the Wii. Microsoft’s David Dennis got in on the article with the a much more subtle line of “the race is far from over and we are confident that we have a winning strategy.” Personally, I love that Sony and Microsoft are beginning to get neck and neck in sales. The competition can only mean great things for consumers. Yet, I wonder what is up with the particularly rabid Wii comments? It must really hurt to still not be considered the leading console after all those years of leading the pack last generation. For now, we’ll leave these guys to have a nice interview fight, and hopefully reap the rewards from the clash of consoles at E3 this year.
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326 comments + 26575 views
If the Wii is expensive what the hell is the ps3? Also nich does not equal mass market >.>
Damn it, it's too early to be mad or analyze the market, also I spelled niche wrong.
The way I see it at the moment is that most people initially bought a 360 for it's uber gaming potential but now people want a ps3 for the blu ray player. Thats definitely how I feel and a lot of my mates are the same.
Sir Howard Stringer is such a Sony fanboy.
Meh, these comments just keep coming. The Wii is an expensive niche device, the PS3 is a Blu-Ray player that plays games, the 360 is a cheap home heating device. The world keeps turning.
Sony are trying to make themselves feel better, all 3 play games and are not portable, they are games consoles, so all in the same league!
I love that their defense is denial of the Wii as competition. "Wii isn't our competition, so technically we're in first! We're number 1! Woooo!"
Wait till the end of the year when much cheaper blu ray players come from the likes of samsung etc. Some people really are buying the PS3 for its player only. Only one company is still making a huge loss in their division. Sony. They are proud to be down to a 1.16 billion LOSS this year vs over 3 billion the previous year. Well done and good luck, but with present global money concerns I cannot imagine they expect a giant upturn in sales this christmas.
Just because the Wii is selling like hot cakes, doesn't mean his comments don't hold some merit. The majority of the people buying the Wii don't know a lick about gaming, and are just buying one because of the me too, me too consumer hoard thinking. It's ipod mania all over again. You'd be kidding yourself not to realize the Wii is a Gamecube with a motion controller and hundreds of accessories to beddazle the thing with. The Wii can be a lot of fun, but let's not kid ourselves.....Mario Kart, Zelda, Brawl, Mario Galaxy would've been just as amazing on the Gamecube^2 (w/out waggle controller) as it is on Wii.
Meah, his opinions have no relevance on the enjoyment of my Wii. Me thinks he has a slight case of the green eyed monster, then again I'm sure he's got plenty of money to light his cigars with as it is.
It will be interesting if Nintendo responds to Stringer's comments. Especially since he's echoing the statements that Nintendo made prior to the release of the Wii. They were quoted constantly saying that they didn't see themselves as competing with Sony and Microsoft. They stated that the 360 and PS3 were next gen while the Wii was "New Gen".
I've had my Wii since launch day and have managed to find a few good games while sorting past the shovelware. I just bought a PS3 to have a Blu-Ray player and to upconvert PS2 games. Still haven't bought any games for it. It's library is also a bit lacking. I'm not playing favorites.
He's totally being paid by Sony to say that. CONFIRMED.
Oh...
I think Brad's right; tighter competition is better for gamers as each company is trying to push out better game and better features. In the end does it matter who "wins" the console war. It won't affect my enjoyment of the games I'm playing.
@PixelJunky
Unfortunately for your argument, the proportion of population who 'knows a lick about gaming' is small. There are a lot of parents in the world (with kids too young to make their own income) who would consider a gaming console to be an essential entertainment device for their kids. At the same time, they also feel that one console is all that's necessary. The majority of these families would purchase a Wii, especially if they "didn't know a lick about gaming" The most accessible, kid friendly, cheapest console? Yes, please! The point being, there are millions of Wiis that have been purchased exclusively, thereby negating the chance of a possible sale for the PS3 or 360. Stringer's comments equate to "that guy totally kicked my ass, but since I didn't want to fight him, I didn't really get my ass kicked" It doesn't add up.
@Pixeljunky
Totally agree with you. I still see it as a fad myself, like when we all rushed out to the shops for Tamagotchis, Light Up Yo Yos, Those LCD handhelds with '250+' games on them...etc.
Although saying that, Nintendo found their market.
Another thing; Have you looked how many games on PS3 and 360 are suitable for children (12+) compared to the last couple of gens? I rest my case. Once PS3 get back onto that adult/children ratio of games again, everything'll be back to normal. That is, UNLESS 360 beats them to it.
When will developers/Publishers/Console Manufacturers realise that Blood, Brown-vision, violence, gunfire and Guts doesn't exactly sell systems to parents for their kids and I guess with the Wii, parents with bugger all hand eye-coordination can attempt to 'play' games and be 'hip' grinning like a fool as they shake a bloody plastic stick.
@freker
You do realize that the ones who were making the "family friendly" games for PS2 were the likes of THQ, Ubisoft, etc. who've now found money printers in the Wii, right?
@PixelJunky
You say it's ipod mania, but has Sandisk stepped up to claim that they're not competing with Apple for the mp3 player market? Sure, lots of people bought ipods because it was the cool thing, but they're also very capable players. Not my cup o' tea, but they work.
@ lost and freker
You guys are both dead on and I completely agree with you too, but Stringer is quite point on with his assessment. The only thing he doesn't seem to do is give some credit where it's due. The Wii is selling like crazy, but I still don't think it'll catch the PS2 total install. Nintendo will release Wii-2 before that time. Nintendo will follow the ipod model and keep playing off this consumer feeding frenzy before they figure out that many other options are giving you more bang for the buck.
My arguement to the kid friendly games, PS2 and PSP have plenty and are cheaper than Wii.
I like Nintendo alot, but have no intention of buying a Wii at that price. It's WAY too expensive for the tech you are getting, but the majority don't really know that....they just think "the Jone's are getting one, I must need one too".
Since getting my PS3, I barely use the BluRay Player. I play games on my PS3 (and there are games!!!) and barely use the bluray player. Always interesting when people say that it is only a bluray player and not a gaming console. The player is just an added bonus.
@Bloodylip
Actually it was Naughty Dog, Insomniac games, Sony Cambridge, Sony Liverpool and Suckerpunch and they're all part of Sony and old Ubisoft games didn't just involve minigames they were sort of challenging and playable, take the REAL Rayman series, PoP, THQ's Destroy All Humans and SCEJ's Ape Escape.
Just giving games to kids that involve no real logic just makes the idea of a game pointless in my opinion, because from what I see a vast collection of the Wiis library is minigames and have no complete narrative, I find with a lot of the games on the system (Wii) seems a bit of a backwards step compared to what we've previously achieved.
There is only one thing Stringer is forgetting- The Wii has some incredible games on it right now, more than the PS3 by a long shot.
They aren't games for every taste. No one would claim that Zack and Wiki and No More Heroes have the same mainstream appeal as GTA. Even so, it's the huge number of unique titles on the Wii taht make it the"something for everybody" console of the moment, even more so than the 360.
And maybe more importantly, the continued success of the Wii shows that the mainstream doesn't care about the difference between the visuals of Wii games and 360/PS3 games, just as they didn't care about the difference between PS2 games and XBox/GC games.
The console with the most diverse library of fun games always wins, and that's not necessarily the console that provides the most processing power for your buck.
"Niche gaming device"
Niche: "a small area of trade within the economy, often involving specialized products" (from the Cambridge dictionary).
Wii sales - gazillions.
Erm, okay Mr. Sony exec.
I wish Sony would just shut their stupid fucking faces, they sacrificed the PS3 to get Blu-Ray a foothold, Microsoft fucked up with piss poor QA and releasing new SKUs every few months among other things and Nintendo came out with an affordable console that appealed to people who were previously just playing 'casual' games on their PC when they had a spare 5 mins or not playing at all.
Also, lol @ the expensive comment coming from a Sony rep. Fuck you Howard Stringer, and no I don't even own a Wii.
Once people try to play their purchased VC content on a PAL hdtv, they'll see how shit it is.
Then again, at least it's not 450 euro for a PS3 with 1 decent controller, or 260 for a breaking 360 ;)
"It's more of an expensive niche game device."
I agree with Stringer completely. Oh wait, he wasn't talking about the PS3 (or to a slightly lesser degree the 360). We're getting our asses kicked by Nintendo's non-HD waggle box, so let's pretend they're not really our competitor.
Someone needs to refamiliarize himself with the definition of "niche". But then again, can we expect anything other than bullshit PR spin from any of the big three's executive?
I agree. I the Wii won't be remember like the previous Nintendo consoles.
@ PixelJunky
I wasn't defending the Wii - I'm in the same boat as you in terms of my personal feelings towards the Wii. I won't own one, not at the price they're asking for it. The most attractive thing about the Wii, to me, is the retro games available on VC, and I can play all of those games via emulation on my PC, or on a modded Xbox. The Wii will most likely be the first Nintendo console I will never own.
However, dismissing it simply because it approaches gaming from a different perspective and is not quite as powerful is simply arrogant and ignorant. It is being bought by a much more varied group of people than the other consoles, which I think is overall a good thing for the industry. Yes, it definately has a good deal of shovelware, but those games are quickly left at the wayside. There are still a good deal of games that work fantastic on the Wii, you don't need me to name them if you read this site. While the Wii may not be direct competition for the PS3 and 360, it is still worth taking notice of.
I disagree. I think Wii WILL be remembered just as fondly as any other Nintendo console. What what you will, but Nintendo has already released a BUNCH of classic games for the console, games that kids growing up today will remember playing for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the waggle. Like it or not, they'll remember the waggle.
@The Wrath
It does not matter that most of the great games are by nintnedo, they are still great games, as for your request of what games are whort playing, you could try Boom Blox, Ssx blur and medal of honor heroes 2, and of course those nintendo games that you seem to discard, i dont know why.
I agree with "The Wrath". If you look at my Wii library now, outside of no more heros, their all made by the N.
...However I also agree with sweetchuck. You have to give them credit. The system launched about 2 years ago and they till can't keep them in stock. Reminds me of the old Sega/NES 8bit/16bit argument.
At any rate, I own all 3 systems and I like each one. Wii is more party/pick up games, where as my ps3 and xbox is my "spend hours playing" machines.
@ The Wrath: "just like with every Nintendo console, the only good games are ones made by Nintendo"
Yeah... if you consider the N64 to be Nintendo's first console. And ignore handhelds.
Anyway, there are some great third party games for the Wii- Zack & Wiki, No More Heroes, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Trauma Center, Boom Blox, Okami (a port, but still great on the Wii), RE4 (ditto), Umbrella Chronicles, and Mercury Meltdown Revolution, to name my favorites. Then there's WiiWare, which brings a lot of smaller developers to the fold and has already launched a cool new (third-party) franchise- LostWinds.
I would love to see more third-party devs making games that really take advantage of the Wii hardware, and I'm hoping that E3 will bring some surprises for the back half of 2008, as it's looking prety dry, but I'm pretty satisfied at the moment.
You would think competition would be good for the consumer however, in the gaming industry it seems to be quite the opposite. For example the troubles that Rockstar had in getting GTAIV going on the PS3 means less time for polish. This is for all multi-platform games where they have a specific window for release. Think how great the ea sports games could be every year if they only focused on one platform rather than everything under the sun. Then with the console exclusive games people, if they want to play these games, have to go buy a new console. The only people that win are the console manufacturers and it is disingenuous to claim that the console wars benefit the gamers.
I still think it would be in Sony's best interest if their execs would shut the hell up, but they haven't since pre-release so why start now? "it's still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player" you do realize you're selling a gaming console right?
I know a surprising amount of non-gamers who own a Wii.
These are people who would never have considered buying a PS3 or 360. And Nintendo is pulling these people in by the truckload.
So in essence, Stringer is right. But I'll bet he wishes he was wrong, and could get at least some of that Nintendo market for the PS3.
If Hannah Montana outsells Spider-Man in the box office, will they consider that competition?
Wouldn't the device that sells CONSIDERABLY LESS, be the niche market device?
Pixel Junky, I see you're one of the ones who ignores the fact that everyone who owned a PS2 had to buy multiple machines. Let's go ahead and divide it by 3, which would be the average number of PS2s each of us owned (and don't lie and say you're still on the first, noone will believe you unless their IQ is below Stringer's). Now all of a sudden we're at 40 million, which is doable for the Wii. Hey, Nintendo could make a shity console that breaks down constantly too, just like Sony and Microsoft have, but why lower yourself to their level?
Also, how long does something have to be successful before you morons realize it isn't a "fad"? Nintendo apologizes that the visuals aren't quite as good as the other boxes that cost way more money. Brawl looks just fine on my 1080p tv, no complaints here. (NG2 looks good as well). But the only people who care about the overemphasized, yet realistically, slight jump in the visuals is Microsoft and Sony fans who need fuel for their fire. Get over it. How can the cheapest console be overpriced? and furthermore, if they're still selling out, why the fuck would Nintendo lower the price? So the $1500+ you spent on that big bad hdtv is ok, but the $250 is too much? You guys must have failed debate class.
I don't have a PS3, but thanks to the 360's unreliability my Wii has been getting a lot more play time and games for it.
Wow, the Sony exec doesn't see the Wii as competition? Why isn't there a Captain Obvious picture here anywhere?
I swear I love my PS3, but all the people who work for that company are idiots.
I like my Wii and PS3 but I do feel that my more "hardcore" gaming experiences are on the PS3. I have never come home from work, opened a beer and just sat on the Wii for 1-2 hours. You can't waggle and drink...lol
The only game on my Wii that gave me some what of a sweet involving game romp was No More Heroes and Mad World looks to be like the next one in line.