Wii - what is keeping the demand so high?

[The Mole]

I am a bit confused as to why the Wii is still selling in huge numbers (and no consoles hit store shelves).

The Xmas/launch period is well and truely over now and the major games are still to come, so what is it that is driving sales, more than say The GAmecube in this point in its life?

Do you guys think it in any way eccos the DS situation? As after its launch the software dropped right off for about 9 months, but during this time system sales were still stable.

I am amazed by the sucess of the Wii as the impression i was getting was gamers were not getting it and it was only of interest to non gamers. Is this the reason for its major sales or is it a combination of a strongish launch line up and that impulse buy factor?

[Concept]

The buzz. When it rains it pours, when it snows it storms, when a drunkard rejects a risible curry the pavement is painted orange etc.

The Wii is doing well because it's something fresh and it's selling point is immediately portrayed. You can tell what it is just by watching someone play.

What is interesting will be how it does over the year if the software standards don't improve when the competition becomes a lions' den in Q4.

[dataDave]

Yeah, it's gonna take more than 'troid to keep gamer's interests. I'm sure everyone else will still be after one though regardless.

In my current state of mind, and after Twilight Princess, I'm more than happy with just one kick-ass game each year.

[gunrock]

I was in Cologne last week visiting my brother-in-law and family. He had just bought a PS3 for my nephew (who is 16). I took my Wii.

We spent half a day rearranging his surround sound inputs and stuff hooking the PS3 in. We loaded up Virtua Tennis 3 and played a few matches. My brother-in-law is 46 (a fairly senior person in his Banking organisation) and doesn't play games. He couldn't really get used to the PS3 controller; you know, like inconsistently pressing the buttons at the right time and moving his on-screen player around correctly and concisely. It's like his spacial awareness and mapping it to the controller just didn't work.

Afterwards we put on the Wii. I gave him a controller and booted up Wii sports. We selected tennis.

Him: "What do I do?"
Me: "Just play tennis"
Him: "C'mon... you know I'm no good at these things. What do I press?"
Me: "You don't need to press anything, until you serve. By then you'll have got the hang of it"
Him: "Hmmph"

A minute of two later he was playing great tennis (he's a good player in the real world). He was enjoying himself.

Afterwards we played bowling. Same conversation, same story. He beat me convincingly, just like last time we bowled for real (about ten years ago).

Then golf (he plays golf; managing director and all that ). He couldn't get enough. At 1am we're still playing golf.

Me: "Must go to bed now"
Him: "C'mon Stevie! Just one more game!"

At 3am, I insist I need to sleep.

Of the four stores I visited in Germany (Karstadt and Galeria Kaufhof in Bonn, Karstadt and Media Markt in Köln) none had any Wii's available. All had PS3's to pickup and walk away with. In Media Markt, there were only 3 nunchuks, two Wii remotes and one Classic controller left in a big display. Loads of games, few accessories.

My take on this: Ordinary people like the Wii. It makes tham able gamers and they enjoy themselves. They are a larger market than the usual gaming market, therefore supply is short.

[Big Seany]

I won't go into too much detail because gunrock has summed it up so well, but all I will say is that out of every non-gamesplaying person who has played Wii round at my gaff, all but one of them has said they are getting, or indeed has actually gone and bought the console.

Admittedly, my stepson's dad also immediately bought a 360 after seeing me play Gears of War the other week, but I think that was more a jealousy/blokey one upmanship thing more than anything.

The Wii is the people's choice.

[The Mole]

yeah and like anything that is bthe peoples choice it gets its fair share of mainstream bashing.

gamer.tv - the Wii special seamed to gear everything towards PS3 is better comments.

The Gadget Show - this week compared to Wii to a top spec PC and on gameplay the PC won.

If things continue the way they are by the time the 360 and PS3 get the new AAA software on the market (October time) the Wii will have an almost unbeatable lead.

I think i am right in syaing that the lead console out of the gates has always won that console war.

[Shotski]

gamer.tv - the Wii special seamed to gear everything towards PS3 is better comments.

The Gadget Show - this week compared to Wii to a top spec PC and on gameplay the PC won.

I don't get why the gadget show and gamer.tv try to compare the wii to something else, i mean its completly different to the 360 & the PS3. Bear in mind that the wii has only been out for a couple of months and the full wii dev kits didn't go out till the just before the launch. So we wont see the full power of the console till christmas or next year. Its too early to make comparisons because we don't know whats gonna happen this generation, just like its too early to write off the PS3.
Gunrock made a fantastic point for people who dont usually play games the wii is so easy to pick up and play and thats what nintendo want even if the people who are buying the wii wont play Metroid, Zelda or Mario they will play wii sports, wii play, Wario and all the party games. You can tell Nintendo might be onto a winner when EA and Ubisoft are falling over themselves to release games on the wii. But like anything that could change.

[eastyy]

no stock lol

went into dublin into a few games shops in february....one shop said prebook and check back in april

[Number45]

I think one of the reasons demand is so high, in spite of the serious lack of games, is that a very large amount of the people looking for the console are basically interested only in Wii Sports. Of the people I work with, several have expressed an interest and a few have managed to get one, none of them have bought any extra games and neither do they intend to (Until Wii Sports 2, obviously).

That's why, in my opinion. Lack of games is just not a factor when it has its killer app as a pack-in. Nintendo must be kicking themselves.

[MattyD]

A friend of mine bought one on a whim and after his parents played it they went out the very next day and bought one with five games. They'd never owned a video game in their life before that. The Wii might seem gimmicky and shallow to the inveterate gamer but it's bringing so many new people into videogaming that it's success is assured even if it doesn't receive the kind of third-party success we might expect.

Lack of games is just not a factor when it has its killer app as a pack-in. Nintendo must be kicking themselves.

The analysts and business people told Nintendo they were crazy for packing Wii Sports in with the machine when they could easily sell it at full price, but they decided to include it to make sure that every single person who plays the Wii gets a fantastic first experience. I believe they were absolutely right as the machine's success is largely down to that first time playing Golf or Tennis or whatever.

[angel]

kicking themselves over it's success? seriously though..wii sports had to be included..to demonstrate why it's so great.

i was a bit down over my wii but since i got a ps3, i really appreciate how brilliant the wii is. how strange.

[AllYourBase]

I think the reason why we are seeing Wii being a run away success is the proposition is very appealing. Pay £180 and you can play a fun colourful sports games you can really interact with. There's virtually no barrier to entry once you get past the stupid name.

Game stores are fighting a losing battle getting Joe Public to get overly excited about the PS3 at this stage mostly on the basis of cost and no 'fun' games people can connect with (other than singstar but you'd be mad to pay £425 to play that!)

I have a HDTV but a lot of my friends don't and won't upgrade until their old TV packs in or Argos are doing them for £200. The PS3 has another barrier to entry in that you are paying for the bluray player which is only really useful on HDTV. I think it's a case of too much too soon and too expensive!

The PS3 will no doubt be successful in the long run I think. For that to happen I think it will have to cost closer to £300 and have some killer exclusives.

[DANGEROUS]

The buzz. When it rains it pours, when it snows it storms, when a drunkard rejects a risible curry the pavement is painted orange etc.

The Wii is doing well because it's something fresh and it's selling point is immediately portrayed. You can tell what it is just by watching someone play.

What is interesting will be how it does over the year if the software standards don't improve when the competition becomes a lions' den in Q4.

Definatley.

[J0e Musashi]

Wii - what is keeping the demand so high?

The long rectangluar thing that vibrates. I'm sure this is why the girls upstairs haven't left the house since they borrowed the Wii.

[eastyy]

yeh i have to admit the wii is gathering dust at the moment

ps2/x360/pc is getting far more play at the moment

fun party games are good for a quick play but i would not want a console filled with them i am pretty sure even the people who dont normally play games would get bored with them

anyway with a wii you can use it straight out of the box and have fun.....the ps3 i dont think you can and its double the price and you would need to fork out more money to get a game