Xbox 360 outsold PS3 in Japan last week

[Lazybones]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/09/xbox-360-outsells-ps3-in-japan/

But Nintendo is number one...

[Shayne]

Yup.  The Wii and the DS have a strangle hold on that island nation.  Now if only they could backup those console sales with software sales...(at least here in the americas)

[Tom]

Yup.  The Wii and the DS have a strangle hold on that island nation.  Now if only they could backup those console sales with software sales...(at least here in the americas)

What does it matter when they have a 50% or so profit margin on the Wii itself? And a soaring stock price? I'm sure they care about getting more software sold (aka: more money) but its not really necessary at this point (though in a couple years they might wish they did...)

[Shayne]

Hard to get developers to make games for your console when people buy the console for Wii Sports.  So sure, if you like Wii Sports then great.  I have a 0 attachment rate currently with my Wii, maybe 1 when Mario Galaxy comes out (if I can find it with little hassle).  Next on my list would be Smash Bros. (another first party game).  It's an issue.

Thats the most im gonna say on that issue.  RW is like Digg on this matter.

[Tom]

Yes, Nintendo's vice like grip on its consoles has always hindered them, there was a day when there were no non 1st party games. These days you have more studios making games, but some have stated they feel like second class citicins...

Hard to get developers to make games for your console when people buy the console for Wii Sports.

Thats a little inaccurate. I'm 100% sure many people get more than one spare controller, several extra games, and mess with Wii Shop. Just ask your friends

[Thorin]

Hard to get developers to make games for your console when people buy the console for Wii Sports.

Bold claim.

I have a 0 attachment rate currently with my Wii, maybe 1 when Mario Galaxy comes out (if I can find it with little hassle).

Anecdotal evidence.  Can you provide actual sales numbers to back up the claim?  If not, then I counter your anecdotal evidence with my anecdotal evidence: we've bought six other games for the Wii, four of which were made by outside studios (two Ubisoft, one Sega, one EA).  And we've purchased a Virtual Console game.

Ubisoft stated from the beginning that they would be developing titles for the Wii, whether Wii-exclusive or console-spanning.  EA stated they would not, but then quietly put out games like Boogie and Playground that are Wii- or Wii/DS-exclusive when Wii sold like crazy.

Now for some statistical evidence instead of anecdotal.

If we were to look at Video Game Chartz for 2007 and add up the numbers, you can see that of the top 20 games between all the consoles and handhelds, there are more Wii games sold (11,176,877) than Xbox360 games sold (10,737,208).  Scrolling down further, though, you can see that there are more Xbox360 games sold total (28,466,760) than Wii games sold total (20,334,647).

Looking at another chart for the Wii you can see that there are, in fact, other development studios making Wii games: Capcom, EA, Ubisoft, Sega, Activision, Take 2, Majesco, Atlus, Midway, Atari, Konami, Disney, THQ, and Vivendi (that's fourteen that have tried at least once!).

So, people are buying and playing Wii games developed both by Nintendo and others.  One of the reasons games developed by Nintendo sell so well compared to the other developers' games, at the moment, is that a lot of the Wii games made by other developers have been half-hearted attempts to cash in after belatedly realizing there's a market.  Cooking Mama Cookoff?  What?  Yeah, it's not that fun.  Carnival Games?  My kids like it, but I can see that it doesn't have a lot of substance.  The developers need to realize that the games they make have to actually be fun and entertaining for people to buy them.

Nevertheless, your bold claim is completely wrong.

[Shayne]

All I got are NPDs.  *shrug*  http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/31/360-leads-hardware-to-software-ratio-wii-and-ps3-trail-with-sim/

As i said.  RW is like Digg.  If it ain't Wii you get the beat down.  Thanks for that Thorin!  Meh.  I'm tired of this.

[Lazybones]

All I got are NPDs.  *shrug*  http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/31/360-leads-hardware-to-software-ratio-wii-and-ps3-trail-with-sim/

As i said.  RW is like Digg.  If it ain't Wii you get the beat down.  Thanks for that Thorin!  Meh.  I'm tired of this.

Your stats do show a very low attachment rate.. Just not 0.. You really are hyper sensitive to people having a different opinion.

I do have to agree with you on the lack of A list single player titles on the Wii.. Mario and Smashbros are the ONLY two games on my watch list for the Wii and as I have said before the most use it gets from me is web surfing in the living room.

[Shayne]

I just find it rather tiresome to have to constantly defend everything I type when a google search of 20 seconds supported by NPD numbers proves the point.  Chartz can put down whatever numbers they want, their not a recognized source unlike the NPDs.  I can make a site too that supports whatever point of view i want to convey.

Sure.  its not zero.  but its not good.  its also heavily slanted in nintendos favor.  I'd love to see the numbers if you remove Zelda from it, does it get to around 2?  All I'm saying is that with such a low attachment rate and first party dominating the attachment rate, even if their were 10M third party developers making a billion games its tough to sell them when people are only buying 2 other games.

[Lazybones]

Again I agree...

P.S. You are not being singled out for fact checking, it happens all the time here. If someone is wrong, post a link for the befitting of everyone.

[Thorin]

All I got are NPDs.  *shrug*  http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/31/360-leads-hardware-to-software-ratio-wii-and-ps3-trail-with-sim/

As i said.  RW is like Digg.  If it ain't Wii you get the beat down.  Thanks for that Thorin!  Meh.  I'm tired of this.

NPD shows the same as VG Chartz - there *are* games besides Wii Sports being bought for the Wii.  I didn't beat you down, I called your bull@%&# post for what it is: a pissy post with an inaccurate statement based on anecdotal evidence.  Just like you hate it when someone says something inaccurate about your beloved 360, I get pissed off when a completely inaccurate factoid is presented about the Wii.

If you had left it complaining about software sales lagging behind and being driven in large part by Nintendo's own development efforts I would have simply agreed with you, as that is a point provable by statistical evidence.

I just find it rather tiresome to have to constantly defend everything I type when a google search of 20 seconds supported by NPD numbers proves the point.

But what you typed was *not* supported by NPD numbers.  You asserted that people are buying the Wii *only* to play Wii Sports.  I went through the trouble of finding some statistical evidence showing that people are buying other games as well, and then you @%&# on me as if I'm the one being an ass.  And then even better, you suddenly change your mind about whether people are buying the Wii only for Wii Sports:

Sure.  its not zero.  but its not good.  its also heavily slanted in nintendos favor.  I'd love to see the numbers if you remove Zelda from it, does it get to around 2?  All I'm saying is that with such a low attachment rate and first party dominating the attachment rate, even if their were 10M third party developers making a billion games its tough to sell them when people are only buying 2 other games.

Now I'm in a pretty pissy mood tonight, and I'll bet that you're not in the best of moods either, but please, please, don't make blanket statements that are not supported by any statistical evidence.

All that being said, you are absolutely correct that people need to buy more games for the Wii than they are currently or the Wii may fall behind.  I'd like to add to that statement that developers need to make better games.  Of course, "better" is defined by the person buying the game so it's gonna be tough on the developers to figure out what it is that people will actually want to buy.

[Mr. Analog]

This reminds me of the ol' Sega vs Nintendo days, to be honest who the @%&# cares?

If @%&# is fun, buy it, enjoy it.

End of story really.