Wii still No. 1 as game industry sales soar

[MTK]

The Wii is still rockin' the house

Wii still No. 1 as game industry sales soar | CNET News.com

[MTK]

Good article on Nintendo's return to the top

Wii and DS Turn Also-Ran Nintendo Into Winner in Videogames Business - WSJ.com

[Schneed10]

I got one. I LOVE it. It's so much fun. The wireless internet connection may be the best part; I've downloaded Punch Out, the original Legend of Zelda, and Gradius for NES, MarioKart and StarFox for N64, and Sonic the HedgeHog for Sega Genesis. I love being able to play my old favorites when I was growing up on the same system that has these awesome motion sensing games.

Wii Sports is a riot. Tiger Woods golf is also great, realistic scenery from real golf courses around the world. And the game play is very realistic.

[MTK]

I still haven't seen one in stores yet. But then again I'm not exactly going out of my way to hunt one down. I'll definitely be picking one up once they are readily available.

Now that I have a 360 I think at this point I'll be passing on the PS3.

[jbcjr14]

Matty...did you pick up Rainbow Six Vegas yet???

[MTK]

No not yet, I've played the demo and it's definitely on my short list of games to get.

I'm also leaning heavily towards getting F.E.A.R.

Guitar Hero II is keeping my pretty busy for now though.

[FRPLG]

Big surprise. Sony pissing their dominance away with their ego. Go Nintendo and XBox.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Big surprise. Sony pissing their dominance away with their ego. Go Nintendo and XBox.

It's really amazing to see how Nintendo has gone from chumps to champs and the complete opposite for Sony, all so quickly.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

It's really amazing to see how Nintendo has gone from chumps to champs and the complete opposite for Sony, all so quickly.

This is exactly what we were talking about back before PS3 actually came out. How the price point would kill the product and put them back years. Within 2 years xbox's new system will be out and it will be better than ps3 and cheaper. Until then Wii is going to be the popular one with xbox right behind because in the end I don't know that Sony can lower the price on the PS3 enough to make it more popular without taking a total bath on it. Stupid idiot proprietary crap making Sony.

[MTK]

Yeah I think Sony really banked on product loyalty and totally underestimated just how much their initial price point would turn even the most loyal of PS fans away.

Going over the $500 mark for a console no matter how great it may be is virtual suicide.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Yeah I think Sony really banked on product loyalty and totally underestimated just how much their initial price point would turn even the most loyal of PS fans away.

Going over the $500 mark for a console no matter how great it may be is virtual suicide.

Agreed, especially considering that the target market for video games still centers around teens and college aged young adults. Plenty of 20 and 30 somethings grew up on video games and are willing to spend money on them, but if you want to continue to grow your business in the sale of games and accessories, you need to reach out to the people just coming into the teen years who are new to the gaming industry. Develop brand loyalty with them and you create a well of repeat customers.

But you price the thing over $500 and you just put the thing out of reach for all but the most hard-core teen gamers. And then you're reliant on the 20 and 30 somethings to buy your console, and many of them have increasing career and family responsibilities, and frankly don't have the same amount of time to devote to video games; certainly not enough time to spend $600 on the thing.

The heart of the video game market is the teens. You alienate them, you tank your business.

[MTK]

Seriously, and the parents of those teens certainly aren't going to be too thrilled about dropping $600 either.

I know if I were a parent right now I'd tell my kid sorry, you can have the Wii or 360 but the PS3 is out.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Seriously, and the parents of those teens certainly aren't going to be too thrilled about dropping $600 either.

I know if I were a parent right now I'd tell my kid sorry, you can have the Wii or 360 but the PS3 is out.

Yeah good point. The parents who are buying these consoles as Christmas and birthday presents already can be frustrated by the high prices of these things; but at $600 they just give up.

Why pay that much when you can get the others for half the price?

I can't for the life of me imagine what Sony was thinking. It should be in the Harvard Business Review as a case study of what not to do, and be taught to America's business students.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Agreed, especially considering that the target market for video games still centers around teens and college aged young adults. Plenty of 20 and 30 somethings grew up on video games and are willing to spend money on them, but if you want to continue to grow your business in the sale of games and accessories, you need to reach out to the people just coming into the teen years who are new to the gaming industry. Develop brand loyalty with them and you create a well of repeat customers.

But you price the thing over $500 and you just put the thing out of reach for all but the most hard-core teen gamers. And then you're reliant on the 20 and 30 somethings to buy your console, and many of them have increasing career and family responsibilities, and frankly don't have the same amount of time to devote to video games; certainly not enough time to spend $600 on the thing.

The heart of the video game market is the teens. You alienate them, you tank your business.

Totally.

Those 20 and 30 somethings also have the advantage of age on theri side. They are probably less brand loyal than teens simply based on the fact that as you age you tend to be smarter about buying the best products not just the most popular.

So basically they priced out the lemmings and over priced the product based on value for the smarter consumers. 0 for 2 there.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I can't for the life of me imagine what Sony was thinking. It should be in the Harvard Business Review as a case study of what not to do, and be taught to America's business students.

Right next to Betamax.

Oh and they're heading down the same path with BlueRay. I don't get how a company that has made this mistake before and is in the middle of making it again has started back down the same path with yet another product. It is baffling to me.