Wii Will Rock You!
Posted by: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez on March 19, 2007 at 11:27 am
After pulling off the impossible task of appealing to my wife — who hates video games but now asks if Wiis are back in stock yet every time we go to Target — Nintendo has accomplished the slightly less impressive feat of outselling its main competitors’ combined sales in February:
A research firm has reported that Nintendo sold as many Wii game consoles in February as both of its rivals put together. The NPD Group’s latest report found that Nintendo sold 355,000 units during the month, with Microsoft selling 228,000 of its Xbox 360 units, and Sony coming in third place with just 127,000 of its PlayStation 3 consoles.
The article notes that “Microsoft has sold 5.1 million of its consoles, while both Nintendo and Sony have not yet reached the two-million mark for either of their gaming machines,” but considering Wii’s lower price, incredible crossover appeal, and the fact that there’s still a number of high-profile exclusive and cross-platform franchises that haven’t been released yet, it probably won’t be long before it pulls ahead of the pack and becomes the best-selling platform.
At Casa Gonzalez, we’re planning to get one when they’re back in stock as my son and I had a blast playing Wii Sports; my daughter likely would, too; and my wife likes the concept of the more interactive gameplay, though she’s yet to actually play a game. In contrast, my Xbox is rarely used, and then only by me; and my old Nintendo 64 gets the dust blown off it every now and then so my kids and their cousins can beat each other up in Super Smash Bros.
Besides Wii Sports — which would easily be worth $39.99 on its own and has a wider appeal and more replayability than the more elaborate offerings from EA, et al — I’m most looking forward to playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the inevitable Pokémon release, Madden 2008 (though I’d much rather be playing ESPN NFL 2K8!) and, my favorite sports video game franchise, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07!
The Wii Experience is perfect for a golfing game, and EA’s commercial for it perfectly captures that feeling:
Fore!
Dylan Garret March 19th, 2007
Man, I still can’t beat my girl in Wii Bowling for the life of me, and I’m usually the guy she hands to controller to whenever anything involving killing demons or whatever pops up in a game. If she ever manages to whoop my ass nearly as much in Wii Tennis, I may just have to hang up my hardcore-gamer gloves for good.
But yes, it’s a brilliant goddamned machine, that’s for sure.
Jon Haehnle March 19th, 2007
Wii is the only game console I’ve touched in 7 or more years, and that’s only because of short bouts of Wii Sports before and after Heroes or other shows where people come over to watch.
Gary Gallaway March 23rd, 2007
Microsoft can try to brag about the total number of sales but they seem to be forgetting that they had their console out for like a year before the Wii came out.
“(though I’d much rather be playing ESPN NFL 2K8!) ”
Amen to that!
