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Techradar: How the Nintendo Wii won the console war

Manmademan said:
Current gen is still selling, there is still massive interest in it- more than enough to sustain 2 to 3 more years before EOL. There is no interest in the Wii, or it's software, it's dead.
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Im not sure who you think you are talking to, but this isnt IGN. Current gens software is doing amazing. But not even the biggest launch in console game HISTORY (GTA) pushed enough HARDWARE sales to convince anyone that 360/PS3 will move another 23 million units.

Perhaps you need to go back and look over the numbers. Software numbers were amazing, but it did not push a mindblowing amount of hardware at all.

Manmademan said:
none of those are on the level of GTA5.
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You might want to wait until GTA5 outsells all of those before you say that. I have no doubts that it should, but its not on Mario Karts level yet in terms of total sales LTD, making your statement ridiculous.
 
One must wonder why SonyGAF need to bring their hatred, their rage towards Nintendo, for both Sony and the big N share a lot in common non?

Both have a failing system but are afraid to admit it, and both have a system thats doing great (or is about to), only the handhelds and consoles are swapped for each.
 
Manmademan said:
none of those are on the level of GTA5.



Again, we're talking viability of current gen. the most successful standalone game of all time is a current gen game for the PS360, 7/8 years after those systems launched. Show me a nintendo game on any platform selling a $800 million in a day, and a billion dollars in 72 hours AT RETAIL, or 7 years in to a console launch, for any platform they've had. I might be waiting a while, it doesn't exist.

Current gen is still selling, there is still massive interest in it- more than enough to sustain 2 to 3 more years before EOL. There is no interest in the Wii, or it's software, it's dead.
Click to expand...

What the fuck does this have to do with anything? Is that your bizarre standard for winning a console generation?
 
Wii Sports 82.98 million

Mario Kart Wii 34.26 million

Wii Sports Resort 31.89 million

Wii Play 28.02 million

New Super Mario Bros. Wii 27.88 million

Wii Fit 22.67 million

Wii Fit Plus 20.86 million

Super Mario Galaxy 11.72 million

Super Smash Bros. Brawl 11.49 million
 
Kimawolf said:
Well Mario Kart sold like 34 million units. Does that count as earth shattering?
Click to expand...

Over what time period? GTAV will pass 34 million units lifetime VERY easily.

Im not sure who you think you are talking to, but this isnt IGN. Current gens software is doing amazing. But not even the biggest launch in console game HISTORY (GTA) pushed enough HARDWARE sales to convince anyone that 360/PS3 will move another 23 million units.
Click to expand...

Why would I need to do that? We've already established that the PS2 was still able to sell 50 million units after 2006. Why would you assume PS360 sales will simply fall off a cliff, given they have greater functionality, and a FAR stronger online ecosystem than the PS2 did?

if either system sells half of what the PS2 was able to (remember, the console market is larger than it was in 2000 due to growth, and emerging markets are stronger as is the overall economy in comparison to 2006-2008) then both will easily pass the wii.
 
MYE said:
Wii Sports 82.98 million

Mario Kart Wii 34.26 million

Wii Sports Resort 31.89 million

Wii Play 28.02 million

New Super Mario Bros. Wii 27.88 million

Wii Fit 22.67 million

Wii Fit Plus 20.86 million

Super Mario Galaxy 11.72 million

Super Smash Bros. Brawl 11.49 million
Click to expand...

How many of those Wii Sports copies were sold as part of a bundle?
 
How the 360 Won the Console War.

Ignore the red ring of death, the Xbox is the real winner here

The PS3 didn't win the console war, the Xbox 360 did.

And in looking for proof of the Xbox 360's position as the defining console of the age, you can refer to no less an authority than President Barack Obama.

It was he who criticised Republican behaviour over the recent US government shutdown by saying "You don't get a chance to call your bank and say, 'I'm not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an Xbox.'"

This bit of partisan point-scoring represents the zenith of Microsoft's incredible success in the seventh console generation - the point at which even the President admitted that "Xbox" had became interchangeable with "games console"in the way that "Playstation" had at the turn of the century.

It was, and is, the device on which most self-described gamers play games.

America led the way

This status is due in part to the console's incredible success in North America: it was the best-selling US console for more than two and a half years, with 32 uninterrupted months between the Wii's downfall in January 2011 to the PS3's GTA-powered boost last month. (It's a position it'll probably reclaim post-Xbox One, when the inevitable price cuts kick in.)

It enjoyed similar success in the UK, and while diehard Sony loyalists in Europe and Japan helped PlayStation 3 close the lead in terms of worldwide sales, Sony still can't claim to be the most influential.

Neither, of course, can Nintendo - the Wii did very well in its time in the sun, and still claims the sales trophy, but the sales collapse of first third-party software and, in the Wii U, Nintendo's own hardware, marks the Wiimote as more fad than fundamental change in the market.

The games

No, it was the Xbox 360 that defined this generation in a way that no other console managed. It was on Xbox 360 that Gears of War made cover shooters the signature genre of the era (and, in Horde Mode, added a new standard to multiplayer gaming, alongside hoary stalwarts like Team Deathmatch).

In doing so, it established Unreal Engine as the de facto next-gen development platform, shaping the look and feel of everything from Mirror's Edge to Arkham Asylum.

It was on the Xbox 360 that we played those first intoxicating rounds of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's multiplayer beta - the other great defining gaming experience of the generation, and the first console game to build a gigantic, mass-market player base off online, rather than offline play.

It did so off the back of Xbox Live, which built on one of the few outright successes of the original Xbox to become what's still the most reliable, best-equipped console gaming service.

YOUR network sucks

At the launch of Xbox 360, console multiplayer was a new and uncertain frontier for people playing Project Gotham and Rainbow Six. Xbox Live and Call of Duty took it mainstream, to the point where it's become entirely normal to join your friends for a round of CoD, match of FIFA, or killing spree on GTA Online.

Sony's online service got there in the end, but it's signature achievement remains one of the world's biggest ever data breaches and the inability to support cross-game chat fives years after it became a standard feature.
Fighting talk!
wii
How the Nintendo WIi won the console war - coming soon

On Xbox 360, meanwhile, a far more successful Achievement flourished. The digital rewards that debuted with Microsoft's second console have become an industry standard.

Valve lifted them in their entirety for Steam, Sony rebranded them as Trophies, but neither challenged Microsoft's design. Similarly sincere flattery was extended to the Xbox 360's controller, with Nintendo mimicking it entirely for its "pro"gamepad.

Admittedly, Microsoft returned the favour with Kinect, but even that's a mark in the Xbox 360's favour: its motion sensor became the fastest-selling consumer electronic device in history, and Microsoft releasing it as a peripheral meant it did so without compromising the console's strengths in traditional "hardcore" gaming.

And what strengths they were. It was the Xbox 360 on which we first experienced the spectacular environmental storytelling of Bioshock, the vast universe of Mass Effect, and the huge open worlds of Dead Rising and Crackdown.
Fighting talk!
ps3
How the PS3 won the console war
Forget the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 is the true winner here!

It was Xbox 360 that lead the way in digital distribution, starting with Zuma and stepping up to classics like Geometry Wars 2, Braid and Shadow Complex. Amid Sony's recent touting of its indie credentials, it's worth pointing out that Microsoft blazed a trail in digital distribution of smaller titles, and went so far as to open a completely homebrew route to market in the form of its Xbox Live Indie Games channel.

While the latter never took off as many hoped it might, it was the first time anybody could get their game on a console without a publisher's involvement, and foreshadowed the indie game-dev revolution of the present day.
Verdict

Ultimately, Xbox 360 ends what became the longest generation as the most influential console on the market - an incredible achievement when you consider Microsoft's first stab at console gaming: the original Xbox barely made a dent in the Playstation's armour, and ended its short life as the Halo-and-emulation box.

Xbox 360 passes the baton as the king of the hill - a position that puts all the more pressure on its successor, Xbox One.
Click to expand...

There.

Now who wants to post the PS3 version of this story, or do we want to continue to have inane discussions about a made up war?
 
Kimawolf said:
A fad.

The wii, dropped off the cliff and didn't sell almost anything for 2 years and the other two STILL have not caught up with it. Sony and MS HAD NO CHOICE but to extend the generation out for 8 years, 2 to 3 longer than normal, because if they didn't they'd had lost even more money and we'd not have a PS4 or Xbone right now.

So bottom line is no matter how you spin it, talk about it, Nintendo "won".
Click to expand...

Yup, a fad. Because it was short. Intense, but short. A fad can't win?
By now Nintendo won the number's race (and money race), it's obvious, but the HD philosophy undoubtedly beat Wii's one. Since now the 1st console was also the most successful in every aspect, but this generation changed this assumption, so it's crearly debatable.
Probably by the end of the generation PS3 or 360 will surpass Wii's numbers, but I don't think that the install base alone is and will be sufficient to describe this generation. If PS3 ends 1st in 2016 this will not make it the "winner". imho, of course! :)

Yes Nintendo won "something", and this surely will make some people happy, but I think that it wasn't a flawless victory.
 
Manmademan said:
none of those are on the level of GTA5.



Again, we're talking viability of current gen. the most successful standalone game of all time is a current gen game for the PS360, 7/8 years after those systems launched. Show me a nintendo game on any platform selling a $800 million in a day, and a billion dollars in 72 hours AT RETAIL, or 7 years in to a console launch, for any platform they've had. I might be waiting a while, it doesn't exist.

Current gen is still selling, there is still massive interest in it- more than enough to sustain 2 to 3 more years before EOL. There is no interest in the Wii, or it's software, it's dead.
Click to expand...
WiiSports did it for Wii through selling the console itself. Pokemon gave the Gameboy a 2nd life. It arguably did so for the N64 as well.

GTA's success is Rockstar's alone, just like Call of Duty for Activison. It can't and won't be replicated by other companies, despite the many attempts we've seen. They are individual successes, not something to measure against.
 
Good Job Bob said:
The PS2 was a dominant console, the Wii was not.
Click to expand...

KuGsj.gif


ItIsOkBro said:
Got a Wii, sold that thing like 1 month later after finishing RE4 and Umbrella Chronicles.
Click to expand...

Either you have very uh, specific tastes or this is the worst use of a system ever.
 
MYE said:
Ignore Wii Sports if you wish. Look at Mario Kart Wii
Click to expand...

Oh, Mario Kart Wii (and the other titles on that list) is an incredible sales success.

I just have a hard time believing that Wii software outsold the other platforms. I may be completely wrong, but there were so many multi-million copy selling runaway successes over this generation that the impression I have, at least, is that people were buying and playing most of their games on PS3/360 this generation.
 
I see a lot of salt in this thread and no counter arguments to the article. If Wii didn't win this console generation, then who did? 360? PS3? lol

Wii made the entire world actually give a shit about video games. That in itself is a victory for EVERY console maker and publisher.
 
MisterHero said:
WiiSports did it for Wii through selling the console itself. Pokemon gave the Gameboy a 2nd life. Arguably, it did so for the N64 as well.

GTA's success is Rockstar's alone, just like Call of Duty for Activison. It can't and won't be replicated by other companies, despite the many attempts we've seen.
Click to expand...

you're missing the point.

The Reason I brought up GTAV is to demonstrate that the current gen is not over by any means. There is still a lot of interest in the PS360, enough for their users to make GTAV the fastest selling console title of all time. Mario Kart sold a lot of copies, true- but it's nowhere on the radar of the kind of interest GTAV had. Gran Turismo 6 is ALSO still coming, and THAT title sells tens of millions of copies very easily. Titanfall is still a 360 title, and it's the largest title microsoft has this year.

There are still MANY MORE titles coming down the pipeline that will extend that interest- it's premature to claim "the generation is over" when current gen is still moving massive amounts of copies. EA and Activision have even stated they intend to produce cross gen titles like Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed for Current Gen for the next two years, so any large PS4/Xbone title will have a current gen equivalent.

There are still many, many more sales to be made in current gen. Microsoft will see dividends from this, Sony will see dividends from this, Nintendo will not as the Wii is a dead platform.

so who won?
 
Zefah said:
How many of those Wii Sports copies were sold as part of a bundle?
Click to expand...

Why does it matter? Wii Sports is one of the best games on the Wii, and it's easily the most popular. People didn't buy the Wii despite Wii Sports being packed in. They bought it because of Wii Sports. (And it wasn't a pack-in in many regions.)
 
JazzmanZ said:
One must wonder why SonyGAF need to bring their hatred, their rage towards Nintendo, for both Sony and the big N share a lot in common non?
Click to expand...

"Said dude with Bowser avatar" - i can do that too.

One side here argue that Nintendo essentially lost because it lost what it matters games devs and people.
Other side presents information about revenue for nintendo.

No one here is "angry" or "salty". There is no "hatred". Just discussion. Like normal people.
 
If anything it just shows the massive gap between the 2 audiences this past generation. The numbers say the Wii won but the console felt as irrelevant as N64 and Gamecube did. No third party support worth mentioning (the games it did get were massively downgraded ports) and virtually no one in the gaming industry, from the media to the developers to the gamers themselves, talked about it. From a gamer's perspective the ps3/360 (and PC) dominated this past generation since it was heavily driven by 3rd parties. Hell sometimes I forgot the Wii even existed.

What a strange generation it was.
 
Tripon said:
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/how-the-nintendo-wii-won-the-console-war-1197348
The PS3 didn't win the console war, and the Xbox 360 definitely didn't either.

No, it was the Nintendo Wii that defined this gaming generation.

Did it have the graphical might to stand shoulder to shoulder with the PS3 and Xbox 360? Hell no. Did it have the hardcore library of the GameCube? Nope. Did it have a stupid name?
Click to expand...

What? The Wii library stomps the GC one in every aspect. It's a very controvertial statement form the author.
 
Manmademan said:
you're missing the point.

The Reason I brought up GTAV is to demonstrate that the current gen is not over by any means. There is still a lot of interest in the PS360, enough for their users to make GTAV the fastest selling console title of all time. Gran Turismo 6 is ALSO still coming, and THAT title sells tens of millions of copies very easily. Titanfall is still a 360 title, and it's the largest title microsoft has this year.

There are still MANY MORE titles coming down the pipeline that will extend that interest- it's premature to claim "the generation is over" when current gen is still moving massive amounts of copies. EA and Activision have even stated they intend to produce cross gen titles like Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed for Current Gen for the next two years, so any large PS4/Xbone title will have a current gen equivalent.

There are still many, many more sales to be made in current gen. Microsoft will see dividends from this, Sony will see dividends from this, Nintendo will not as the Wii is a dead platform.

so who won?
Click to expand...

Ps3 and 360 would basically have to sell at the rate they did in 2012 for this whole new gen to pass Wii.

They're fighting for second place. Wii won.
 
They alienated the core with waggle then alienated the casuals with expensive tablet standard controller. So not sure they "won" considering what it cost them with the Wii-U.
 
MYE said:
KuGsj.gif
Click to expand...

Don't laugh.

He expressed himself badly but I think I know what he means.

The Wii sold a lot. True. But I don't know a single person that actually uses it.
It sold a lot among casual gamers, but casuals gamers don't play that much.
As a result, even though it sold more, it died a lot faster than PS360.
It was also a lot less talked about (this is important because mind share matters when going into nextgen).

EDIT: It is also important to say that, because it was so underpowered, it did not have most 3rd party games that ended up on the PS360.

The same did not happen with the PS2. It sold a lot more than both competitors combined, and was appreciated by casuals and "core" gamers. It also had all the 3rd party games and helped Sony going into nextgen.

So yeah. The Wii sold a lot. But it was not as "dominant" as the PS2.
Our friend there expressed himself badly, but he is not wrong.
 
Perkel said:
"Said dude with Bowser avatar" - i can do that too.

One side here argue that Nintendo essentially lost because it lost what it matters games devs and people.
Other side presents information about revenue for nintendo.

No one here is "angry" or "salty". There is no "hatred". Just discussion. Like normal people.
Click to expand...

Uh huh.

It's people not responding to the actual topic/article.

They're furious and/or depressed or they would.

Many at least, not all.
 
Perkel said:
"Said dude with Bowser avatar" - i can do that too.

One side here argue that Nintendo essentially lost because it lost what it matters games devs and people.
Other side presents information about revenue for nintendo.

No one here is "angry" or "salty". There is no "hatred". Just discussion. Like normal people.
Click to expand...

But this thread isn't about "what matters". It's about sales. That side is moving the goalposts and desperately trying to save face because they have an agenda.
 
Nilaul said:
Nahh Wii doesn't have a heritage at all, that's why you you never ever have the option of using motion controls for driving games in PS3 games or future PS4 games. Its is the reason why people don't complain about the lack of move support for Killshock. Its the reason why battlefield 4 has no head tilt detection. It is the reason why Dualshock 4 has no motion sensing built in. It is also the reason why no mobile games use any motion sensing. It is not the reason why the new XBOX shoves a kinect down everyone's throat, it is not the reason why the PS4 has a 3D camera.

In conclusion the Wii has no heritage; and motion detection of any sorts is a fad.
Click to expand...

motion controller failed to impose itself as the predominant form of controller, and will fail too on PS4. Sales volumes aren't even comparable.
by the moment motion controller isn't a gamechanger anymore, what we se now on consoles isn't the philosophy of the Wii.
WiiU have a new tablet-controller, a new pro controller. I can't see a new wiimote.
But WiiU is a HD machine, with apps, with touchscreen, with online servicies, with more traditional controllers. In conclusion, great Wii heritage there.
 
Manmademan said:
There are still many, many more sales to be made in current gen. Microsoft will see dividends from this, Sony will see dividends from this, Nintendo will not as the Wii is a dead platform.

so who won?
Click to expand...

Still Nintendo. The money they made off of the Wii even with its early demise has eclipsed what Sony and MS made this gen so far (probably combined) and will eclipse everything they will make off of the PS360 going forward.

I think its time to drop the chart again.... Some people clearly don't realize the rift they are talking about. If you want money to be the decider of who won the gen, then you clearly just don't understand....

silver.tongue said:
Don't laugh.

He expressed himself badly but I think I know what he means.

The Wii sold a lot. True. But I don't know a single person that actually uses it.
It sold a lot among casual gamers, but casuals gamers don't play that much.
As a result, even though it sold more, it died a lot faster than PS360.
It was also a lot less talked about (this is important because mind share matters when going into nextgen).

EDIT: It is also important to say that, because it was so underpowered, it did not have most 3rd party games that ended up on the PS360.

The same did not happen with the PS2. It sold a lot more than both competitors combined, and was appreciated by casuals and "core" gamers. It also had all the 3rd party games and helped Sony going into nextgen.

So yeah. The Wii sold a lot. But it was not as "dominant" as the PS2.
Our friend there expressed himself badly, but he is not wrong.
Click to expand...

All your friend explained was that the PS2 won by a bigger margin than the Wii won. But the Wii still won. The rules don't change just because you don't like the winner this time.
 
Of course they won. It doesn't change the fact that the Wii has one of the worst libraries of any best selling console from any generation and in general was just a bad system.

Don't listen to me though! salt lol!!!!
 
Manmademan said:
you're missing the point.

The Reason I brought up GTAV is to demonstrate that the current gen is not over by any means. There is still a lot of interest in the PS360, enough for their users to make GTAV the fastest selling console title of all time. Gran Turismo 6 is ALSO still coming, and THAT title sells tens of millions of copies very easily. Titanfall is still a 360 title, and it's the largest title microsoft has this year.

There are still MANY MORE titles coming down the pipeline that will extend that interest- it's premature to claim "the generation is over" when current gen is still moving massive amounts of copies. EA and Activision have even stated they intend to produce cross gen titles like Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed for Current Gen for the next two years, so any large PS4/Xbone title will have a current gen equivalent.

There are still many, many more sales to be made in current gen. Microsoft will see dividends from this, Sony will see dividends from this, Nintendo will not as the Wii is a dead platform.

so who won?
Click to expand...

Lets see

Wii 100.30 million

PS3 80 million

X360 80 million

Nintendo did. The fact that they managed to be so far ahead in a shorter amount of time just makes it even more impressive.
 
What a radical article.
The article said:
"How the Nintendo Wii won the console war"
By selling lots of systems and games, to lots of people.
Click to expand...

If you preferred another console, great. Play it. It has lots of great titles. It's been a pretty good generation.

There's just no point in denying Nintendo their victory last generation with the Wii. If you must, you can take solace in the knowledge that the upcoming generation is not looking to be headed the same way.
 
There is a big undeniable proof that the Wii brought gaming to the masses who before shunned it and indeed won the hearts and spirits of an entire generation naysayers be damned: it's called WiiU.
 
Kimawolf said:
The wii, dropped off the cliff and didn't sell almost anything for 2 years and the other two STILL have not caught up with it.
Click to expand...

That's true. On the other hand, the other two are still selling enough hardware and software to remain relevant over the next 2-3 years. Both of them actually stand a chance of eclipsing the Wii hardware and software sales when the dust settles.

The Wii, on the other hand, is seemingly on its last legs now. It had a good run for about 4 years, but then interest rapidly dropped off. The transition from Wii to Wii U was poorly managed. Most of Nintendo's newfound customer base has no desire to upgrade to Wii U. Either they've converted to PS3/Xbox 360 (in order to get the games that Wii and Wii U weren't delivering to them) or they've lost interest in video game consoles altogether.

Kimawolf said:
Sony and MS HAD NO CHOICE but to extend the generation out for 8 years, 2 to 3 longer than normal, because if they didn't they'd had lost even more money and we'd not have a PS4 or Xbone right now.
Click to expand...

No, they extended the generation simply because they could. They designed dynamic systems that were able to grow and evolve with changing market conditions. They built strong online gaming networks and embraced downloadable games, add-on content, and multimedia services. They are now generating a lot of excitement for the PS4 and Xbox One, while still offering a great amount of support for their existing systems as well.

Sony and Microsoft are doing their best to have a smooth transition. They ensure that existing PS3/Xbox 360 owners are still satisfied even if they're not ready to leap to next-gen, and strive to maintain customer loyalty that will carry them over when they finally do make the leap.
 
silver.tongue said:
Don't laugh.

He expressed himself badly but I think I know what he means.

The Wii sold a lot. True. But I don't know a single person that actually uses it.
It sold a lot among casual gamers, but casuals gamers don't play that much.
As a result, even though it sold more, it died a lot faster than PS360.
It was also a lot less talked about (this is important because mind share matters when going into nextgen).

EDIT: It is also important to say that, because it was so underpowered, it did not have most 3rd party games that ended up on the PS360.

The same did not happen with the PS2. It sold a lot more than both competitors combined, and was appreciated by casuals and "core" gamers. It also had all the 3rd party games and helped Sony going into nextgen.

So yeah. The Wii sold a lot. But it was not as "dominant" as the PS2.
Our friend there expressed himself badly, but he is not wrong.
Click to expand...

I wasn't laughing at what he said, but at the fact that it has nothing to do with this article about winning the WiiPS360 gen.

What was that comment. A counter-argument? A random fun fact thrown out there?
 
I think all 3 companies won this generation. They all had their ups and downs. Wii was the worst system i ever bought. But it sold like crazy so i must be in the minority...or am i? lol
 
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