14 DAY TRIAL // As I was scrolling through web pages to find a topic of interest for the common gamer (and not only), my eyes fell upon this article debating console sales figures in Japan. Normally, it goes like this: everything starts out with the Wii and ends with the lagger of laggers, the PS3. But no, the 360 is way behind the PS3, while the Wii and DS are also experiencing some difficulty in sales this time around. Nintendo? Negative numbers? It can't be true!
For as long as I've know how to press buttons in order to move cartoons around colorful stages withy molten lava and acid rivers, I understood that the leader in video games was Nintendo. By whatever magic, they've managed to make themselves loved, not only by children all around the world, but also their parents, as they trust Nintendo hardware to be the most effective and innocent entertainment systems. So they sell like crazy.
But this week is totally different. Instead of hearing the same old boring news that the DS topped sales everywhere on the globe and that Nintendo can't manufacture enough Wiis to ship to retailers, Gamasutra reports of sales going down and not just for the Wii, but for every console worth buying out there. Thus:
- Nintendo DS sales fell by over 52,500 units to 111,239; - Wii sales went down 351 units to reach 52,193 sold weekly; - PSP sales are also down some 7,000 units to 27,505 sold last week; - PS3's figures are remarkably down by just by 180 units to 8,659 a week; - Xbox 360, believe it or not, sold just 2,026 last week
What do you make of this? The PS3's figures I get. The 360's, although kind of hard to swallow, I get too. But the Wii and DS not selling means that predictions of Wii gamers growing up were true. Yes, a Microsoft official once said that Wii gamers will eventually grow up to play the 360. Has the Wii had its moment? Is it time for the PS3 to start kicking the Wii's ass?