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[Terrell]

or maybe i'm only one of a small handful of people in australia who wanted a Wii in the first place

Don't you read the news? Fastest-selling console launch in Australia's history. Congrats, dude, you're one of the mob!

 

[Danthrax]

first off, I was kidding.

So was I

 

[KINGMOKU]

Thread derail complete!

 

[xaosslug]

It means they did it as a "me too" measure in spite of not having the availability, thus they spend their time advertising a product and its superiority to other competitors while not having enough availability to actually sell to even a whole-number percentile of the audience they're advertising to.
Thanks for playing.

somebody's got some mad Google skillz... ;p





KIDDING!

 

[big_z]

I love how ultra sensitive people get when I give credit where credit is due but won't overhype like a fanboy. :lol

Long assed lines at stores all night almost a month after launch say otherwise. Every now and then you see a post saying their stores have a shitload sitting there but no one ever proves it... i know it hurts feeling the fanboy inside die a little.

On the other hand, I really don't think Nintendo is going to get close to the 2 millions Wii's in NA by the end of the year. The numbers that Best Buy and other stores have been getting seem fairly low. Plus there was that retraction in Nintendo's press release a while back about how many consoles they'd have.

It really depends on the store. Major best buys, toys r us, etc up here in canada get about 60 per store each shipment while minor stores get maybe 13-20. I imagine the same or more for the states. It's no where near enough to meet the demand but it might be enough get 1.5+m in NA. 2.5-3.0m world wide.


It'll be interesting to see how nintendo keeps the momentum going. With metroid being moved to Q2(for online im guessing) the first part of the year looks slim for 1st party stuff. Smash Bros. in feb/march would be a huge surprise and wise move imo. Kick off online with one of the most popular games out there. Metroid for summer, mario for christmas. Between stick in games like super paper mario, wario, animal crossing online or nintendogs(it's inevitable) and people will be lining up all year. Hell make some nongames like mii-exersise and that shit will fly off shelves....

 

[Lapsed]

I can agree to that. Many thought it would bomb straight off. Instead it has had a regular successful launch like every other system. However, the spin that it is somehow the next Ipod here on the forum is pure fanboy behavior.

I think I'm on record somewhere of saying that the Wii will be the 'Ipod' of game consoles. Anyway, it is very easy to say that the Wii will be the 'Ipod for game consoles' because the business philosophy of the Wii is identical to the Ipod. Virtual Console = Itunes. Sleek white = sleek white. Easier to use but not 'competing' in traditional way = Easier to use but not 'competing' in traditional way. Advertising shows Wii players laughing and enjoying their console = Advertising shows Ipod users laughing and enjoying their system. Wii is intended to disrupt the games industry = Ipod was intended to disrupt the music industry.

DS is more 'innovative' than 'disruptive'. I'm amazed it is selling like it is. The Wii will end up having more... uhh.. 'traction' as it is fully disruptive.

Apart from the Nintendo fans and parents getting little johnny a present, these early sales are indication of early adopters. This term gets used too much in the gaming press, but it means something extremely different with a disruptive system. When the Blackberry or Amazon.com made their debut, it was soundly criticized for faults (for example, people questioned why Amazon.com should exist since you can't ask an employee in the store for help like in a brick and mortar store). Early adopters, however, realized the value of these new ventures before they became mainstream (the same, I must add, for the Ipod). Early adopters, for example, loved Amazon since they could shop 24/7 and didn't care about not having a flesh and blood sales clerk to ask for help, or need to browse inside the books. With Blackberry, early adopters understood how great mobile email would be.

It would be incorrect to think of the Wii as a 'fad' or something that will lose major steam after the holidays. A disruptive platform is not at its strongest at the beginning, but its weakest. As the disruption worms its way throughout the industry, the Wii simply snowballs larger and larger into an inevitable avalanche as years pass. We are still at the top of the mountain and we are seeing a mighty large snowball already. Disruption is a massive growth strategy.

Some of you are probably thinking now, "Gee, Lapsed, lay off the Nintendo Kool-Aid." But disruption is a legitimate and very real business strategy (and extremely hostile to competitors). I have no doubt in my mind that the business strategies of the Wii will be read in business textbooks (just as the NES is today).

Nintendo's counterpunch is disruption. We've determined that the videogame market is ripe for revival—and we're looking to make it happen by reaching out to the millions of players still on the sidelines, including those over the age of 35.

Nintendo is not going to take over the market. They are going to turn it inside-out. Nintendogs and Brain Age were isolated trial balloons for a longer and more impactful strategy. Every Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo fan needs to read this to know that the Revolution has just begun.

 

[apujanata]

Nice posts

I believe Anihawk will said : "You forgot to mention Lapsed gamers".

Nice post, but I do believe it is too soon to declared Wii as a true disruptive console. It has shown the capabilities / potentials, but we have better wait at least 1 year before we declare it as true, proven disruptive.

 

[AniHawk]

Well I for one welcome our Nintendo overlords

 

[AndoCalrissian]

Bunch o' stuff

I said "wow".

Something else that is somewhat interesting is Wii's relative lack of power. If Wii really catches on and becomes super mainstream, Nintendo can easily come along 5 years from now and release a new Wii with the graphical and otherwise capabilities of the 360 or PS3, which will seem like a huge upgrade to consumers. It would also be as cheap as the original unit is now and make a profit. And it would still be economically appealing for developers, as they could use the engines they've perfected on 360 and PS3 over the previous five years on the new system.

If Wii really takes off -- and I'm talking like DS over the last year -- the future of this industry is going to be very interesting.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Long assed lines at stores all night almost a month after launch say otherwise. Every now and then you see a post saying their stores have a shitload sitting there but no one ever proves it... i know it hurts feeling the fanboy inside die a little.

Sounds like a good launch to me, not an Ipod cultural hysteria. Yall just keep hitting that Ipod button for all its worth and keep on not accepting a compliment , k? :lol

Its downright ridiculous how some of you can't accept it when someone says good about your console of choice. Jeff Foxworthy should start a "You know your a fanboy if........." line of jokes in here.


"You know your a fanboy if someone compliments the sales of your console but you still get offended becuase he won't suck your Wii in a GAF forum thread."

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

I was able to find Wii units on the shelf the first three days when shopping at retailers. I saw two Wii units yesterday at a Best Buy.

My statement still holds up. Its great to live in a college town after school is over.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I was able to find Wii units on the shelf the first three days when shopping at retailers. I saw two Wii units yesterday at a Best Buy.

My statement still holds up. Its great to live in a college town after school is over.

Shoot ya. The chicks come out by the gobs once class ends.......

 

[Pureauthor]

I said "wow".

Something else that is somewhat interesting is Wii's relative lack of power. If Wii really catches on and becomes super mainstream, Nintendo can easily come along 5 years from now and release a new Wii with the graphical and otherwise capabilities of the 360 or PS3, which will seem like a huge upgrade to consumers. It would also be as cheap as the original unit is now and make a profit. And it would still be economically appealing for developers, as they could use the engines they've perfected on 360 and PS3 over the previous five years on the new system.

If Wii really takes off -- and I'm talking like DS over the last year -- the future of this industry is going to be very interesting.

Another interesting thing (if the Wii really takes off) is whether or not Microsoft or Sony will still go the route of pushing graphics as much as possible with their next console iterations.

 

[wonderfuldays]

Another interesting thing (if the Wii really takes off) is whether or not Microsoft or Sony will still go the route of pushing graphics as much as possible with their next console iterations.

If they don't, Nintendo will have chance to catch them up in GFX way.:lol

 

[Beer Monkey]

Another interesting thing (if the Wii really takes off) is whether or not Microsoft or Sony will still go the route of pushing graphics as much as possible with their next console iterations.

Why release new consoles at all?

I like my Wii as a secondary/tertiary console, but I have to go throw up now. This talk is making me sick.

 

[andthebeatgoeson]

Pfft, I don't believe it. She started lining up in the afternoon and got one that day? And there was a huge line? Where are these imaginary stores? Oz?

 

[Deleted member 284]

Just to defend Dragona: she was referring to the belief that Nintendo wouldn't have any problems manufacturing enough for the launches due to the ease of making the system. No one (myself included) believed they would have this unbelievable level of demand.

 

[soundwave05]

If they could somehow make 2 million for December in North America, they would probably sell that much.

The Wii is like other mass market game launches ... but it's also like a Tickle Me Elmo type craze on top of that. The 360/PS2/PS3 launch crazes were generally relegated to hardcore game players. The Wii ... you see college girls/soccer moms/couples/regular shoppers also lining up or inquiring about the system.

That's probably the main thing ... Nintendo is finally starting to win the mindshare war. Their image has basically been reset in North America in a lot of ways, which has large repurcussions. They have never been able to find an "image" that suited them ... well really since Sega changed the rules during the 16-bit race. They've been kind of awkwardly trying to "stay Nintendo" but adapt to changing demographics, but they've finally I think found the right balance here.

A lot of that comes down to leadership I think. Iwata has given the company a clear focus and that's translated to products that make a clear impression on people. Reggie at NOA is also a lot better than whoever they had during the GCN era. Nintendo Europe is far, far better than they used to be as well.

 

[CaptainABAB]

... but it's also like a Tickle Me Elmo type craze on top of that. ... you see college girls/soccer moms/couples/regular shoppers also lining up or inquiring about the system.

My wife got sucked into it and bought a wii. She is not into video games. I didn't want a wii and actually tried to persaude her to wait until next year. But no, she said she wanted to get one b/c it was so hard to get one. So she ended up waiting outside a Target for an hour or so a couple of weeks after the launch.

Get this: she bought Zelda and extra controllers solely due to hearing others in line say how hard it is to get the game and extra controllers.

Thing is, has she played it after the first few days? No. She did like creating the mii character and she did like bringing the console to a family dinner to show-off wii sports.

Do I play it? Once in a while - she doesn't even like Zelda so I'm the only one who played it so far.

She wants some games besides wii sports but is not interested in anything out there right now.

Does she brag she got one? YES. Has she even picked up the controller since the first week? NO.

(I think she is dissapointed I am not impressed or super thankful she got it "for me" considering I never once asked for it. She likes reading forums about how hard it is to get as if she won the damn lottery.)

It will be interesting to see how this console does in 2007.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

My wife got sucked into it and bought a wii. She is not into video games. I didn't want a wii and actually tried to persaude her to wait until next year. But no, she said she wanted to get one b/c it was so hard to get one. So she ended up waiting outside a Target for an hour or so a couple of weeks after the launch.

Get this: she bought Zelda and extra controllers solely due to hearing others in line say how hard it is to get the game and extra controllers.

Thing is, has she played it after the first few days? No. She did like creating the mii character and she did like bringing the console to a family dinner to show-off wii sports.

Do I play it? Once in a while - she doesn't even like Zelda so I'm the only one who played it so far.

She wants some games besides wii sports but is not interested in anything out there right now.

Does she brag she got one? YES. Has she even picked up the controller since the first week? NO.

(I think she is dissapointed I am not impressed or super thankful she got it "for me" considering I never once asked for it. She likes reading forums about how hard it is to get as if she won the damn lottery.)

It will be interesting to see how this console does in 2007.

I had a friend who bought a Wii and hasn't touched it in a while. I went over and messed around with it briefly. Meanwhile, him and his roommates are blown away with Gears of War and play that game constantly. Meanwhile, the Wii now is a grayish white color from all the dust accumulating on it.

You got a point. Look at those people that went nuts over those beanie babies. Most people who bought them hated them almost after buying them. They had to get it because it was such a rarity (well, some of them anyway).

I think Holiday 2007 will be the time to see who will win the console war.

 

[LOCK]

Yeah this is crazy.

Nintendo must be making deals with the devil or something.......

 

[Lost Fragment]

but I do believe it is too soon to declared Wii as a true disruptive console. It has shown the capabilities / potentials, but we have better wait at least 1 year before we declare it as true, proven disruptive.

Yeah, no kidding. The Wii might own Christmas, but it's way too soon to be declaring victors. There's a chance that this thread will be quoted in a reverse-crow-eating thread 6 months down the line

As far as people who are buying a Wii just to get the "rare Christmas item" and not playing it that much following the first few days go, I don't think Nintendo would care too much. 99% of stores etc really only care about getting people in stores or asses in seats. And it's really none too surprising that some of the demographic they're going after will have that type of reaction.

 

[Zynx]

When the Blackberry or Amazon.com made their debut, it was soundly criticized for faults (for example, people questioned why Amazon.com should exist since you can't ask an employee in the store for help like in a brick and mortar store). Early adopters, however, realized the value of these new ventures before they became mainstream (the same, I must add, for the Ipod). Early adopters, for example, loved Amazon since they could shop 24/7 and didn't care about not having a flesh and blood sales clerk to ask for help, or need to browse inside the books. With Blackberry, early adopters understood how great mobile email would be.

It would be incorrect to think of the Wii as a 'fad' or something that will lose major steam after the holidays. A disruptive platform is not at its strongest at the beginning, but its weakest. As the disruption worms its way throughout the industry, the Wii simply snowballs larger and larger into an inevitable avalanche as years pass. We are still at the top of the mountain and we are seeing a mighty large snowball already. Disruption is a massive growth strategy.

Some of you are probably thinking now, "Gee, Lapsed, lay off the Nintendo Kool-Aid." But disruption is a legitimate and very real business strategy (and extremely hostile to competitors). I have no doubt in my mind that the business strategies of the Wii will be read in business textbooks (just as the NES is today).

The bolded point is a very good one. The Wii is actually at its weakest, before the majority of potential buyers have been convinced that it fulfills what they really desire. Before it becomes a norm.

I do believe it is too soon to declared Wii as a true disruptive console.

True. It's the software that makes use of the hardware that will determine whether or not it really breaks through. And this part is the worrying part, because at least the announced list of software is rather thin. But Brain Age and ilk really came out of nowhere, so there may be smaller, unique projects that are in the works.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I tried getting my hands on a wii but was punched in the face for my efforts.