People ask me about the “console war” all the time. “So, what do you think the best system is an why?” “Which consoles are people buying the most?” “When will the rush be over?” Let me get this off my chest: There is no console war. There may have been a spike in competition between the three systems (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PS3), but now it is over. I’m not talking about which system is the best, I’m talking about overall demand lately. Who emerged the victor? Why the Nintendo Wii of course, and here is why:
The Xbox 360 has been around for awhile. It had an advantage over the other two systems, as it was launched almost an entire year earlier. Microsoft has some great games available and enough peripherals to keep even the biggest Xbox nerd happy. I’m not denying that Xbox 360 is a great system, just merely saying that it has been around for awhile already and people aren’t clammoring for it like they used to.
People waited for hours in line outside of popular electronics stores just waiting to pick up their Xbox 360, much like those waiting for a Wii or PS3. However, this year there were no lines and barely any phone calls asking if the Xbox 360 was in stock. Gaming stores rarely sold out of systems, and when they did, the Xboxs was readily available within a few days.
No one had to fight over Xbox 360s this year, and although the console still sold great numbers, the supply of the console has had enough time to keep up with the demand over the past year. The Xbox 360 struggled to sell at first due to failures and skepticism of the new hardware, especially when developers were still making great games for the regular Xbox.
Now that Microsoft has stopped making games for the Xbox, fans need to upgrade, so Xbox 360 sales started picking up last spring. Many consumers know that there are many great reasons to pick up an Xbox 360, such as: the extensive Live play, exclusive downloads, strong game line-up, and hardware dependability. No one is doubting that the system’s sales are holding strong, but the demand for them is not as immediate as it once was.
5 comments
NeoGeo was the least know of its era due to being ahead of its time but still is remembered as being superior. The titles ported from it on more powerful consoles rarely looked any better. Today, the PS3 has a high price tag and is VERY powerful (7x 3.2Ghz anyone?) but ONLY sold 18.5M units yet! OMG how terrible!!!
Go ahead, follow the cheap hardware trend. Or get a 360 if your into paying $$$ for ONLINE PLAY, proprietary hard drive and LOL BluRay addons (and useless XBOX backward comp.) but PLEASE stop bitchin about the missing HDMI cable cause this is really getting old… >.>
When this article was written, HD-DVD still had a chance. The story has changed with BluRay. I have a PS3 and love it, but the fact is they are in last place in sales.
You are so Biased againsts the PS3…
Well now it is 2008. The Nintendo Wii won't be too hard to find… I'm pretty sure I saw 5 of them this morning at a few garage sales. Thanks Nintendo for a crappy system.
Jason that's your opinion.I don't get why people say it sucks.It's an awesome system and to say it sucks because you don't like it is biased.I like all systems this gen and have 2 favs yet I still speak highly of the other.
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