Half of the Console Market Will Be Owned by Wiis

Ever since he is no longer vice president at Microsoft, Peter Moore appears to have something against the Xbox 360 console and, even more, he just seems to love talking more than actually doing something (OK, I admit, this is just my personal opinion). Either way, one thing is clear: Peter Moore is one of those guys who consider that the Nintendo Wii is the future of gaming. Or, at least, the best thing that has ever happened.

In an interview with The Financial Times, he said, "It looks to me as if the Wii is going to have at least half the installed base of the overall industry and the Xbox 360 and PS3 are going to fight over the balance, based on the run-rates we're seeing".

Of course, his declaration doesn't seem to be way off limits, since it was just announced that the Nintendo Wii overtook the Xbox 360 in North America and the worldwide sales of the console were still going strong. However, we should not forget a very important aspect: according to most of the analysts, Nintendo's gaming device will have a shorter lifespan than the Xbox 360 or the PS3. So, if we're talking about the console war and if the analysts are correct, it would be hard for Nintendo to win half of the market. Not to mention the fact that Sony has recently announced that it is almost certain PS3 sales will get over the 150 million mark (even though, until now, just 13 million have been sold) and the Xbox 360, even though not an Asia-favorite, still gets decent sales worldwide.

However, we can't help but wonder if Moore's declaration isn't actually aimed at Microsoft only. Here's what the guy said in 2006, according to website Spong, while he was still working for Bill Gates: "In a lot of instances, it [Wii] will be a number two box because it's priced accordingly. The fear I would have is that people will buy the box and only play a few games. I think you'll pull it out at parties. It's fun for a few minutes, but I'm not sure [how long that will last]."

A very sudden change of opinion, don't you think?