Makes sense, as GTA IV won't have any impact on 360 sales at all ....................

wish they could catch them in software sales Huh?!

Spudd

Wii games sell. I promise.

Is there any picture that exists that doesn't make Reggie look scary?

I predict no spike in Wii sales whatsoever when brawl comes out.

The Wii has been consistently selling out, right? That means that, regardless of game releases, WIi sales will remain constant.

They'll pass 12 million, if they're producing enough.

on a side note, i want a new zelda this year.

i think the triforce guy (that is his name right???) brought that out in me. :)

Who cares when Wii will overtake the 360 in NA? The better race is when (or if) the PS3 will overtake the 360?

I would guess at least 18-24 months.

@LittleBigPlaneteer:

ALL pictures of him are like that.

I thought the Wii already surpased 360 total sales.

Once Nintendo is able to match supply with demand, they will surely pass the 360 in North America.

@DARTH_TIGRIS: well i doubt there will be so many pplz buying a 360 just for gta 4 as most people already have one as in 360 launched like forever ago than the wii

Problem is, everyone i know stops playing when their arms get tired and start yawning.

@DARTH_TIGRIS:are you being sarcastic? I don't think GTa IV will affect 360 sales at all.

@Sailorcancer:

It has, this is just for N. America where the 360 is desperately holding on to first place. I think everywhere else in the world is dominated by the Wii.

Pointless? Luke, I'm hurt.

I freaked out over every pointless Dojo update and I still don't have a Wii. I'm not touching one till the price drops down to $200. Here's hoping I won't have to wait too long...

I don't think your logic is very good, Luke. The Xbox 360 had a significant spike around the Halo 3 launch, and there was a lot of hype surrounding that game.

@LittleBigPlaneteer:

I don't think a field of flowers and puppies could make that man any friendlier looking.

WiiIntimidate.

I still play SSBM on GC just about everyday and i dont have a WII and dont plan on getting on till SSBB is released. (if i can find one)

Wii is so hot it's probably not going to drop in price until the wii Powerglove comes out..lol

@Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB: I'm pretty sure that Nintendo is stockpiling extra Wii's to be released around SSBB. I would expect a modest spike in Wii hardware after the games release.

As Kirby said, the Wii is already high in demand due to Nintendo's production problems, but I do imagine SSBB will even push that demand further. Nintendo really needs to get their act together and find a way to produce these consoles quicker.

@Lancehead: Nintendo pushes units at $250, and continues to sell every single one. The price won't drop until there's a reason for it to drop, and that won't be until sales fall away, which doesn't look to be happening for quite some time. You're not gonna get a Wii at $200 for at least another year or two.

As for Reggie's announcement, I hope no one's surprised. Wii sales haven't slowed, while the 360 seems to have covered the majority of it's market.

Well, they know how much Wii supply they will have, so maybe they can.

Just using available numbers, they would have to outsell the 360 by 300k+ units every month from now.

Unless a flood of Wii's hit the market, I can't see it happening. But I can see a flood of Wii's hitting the market, though.

Also, I have 12 friends who will buy the Wii only when Smash is available.
Not everyone who wants Brawl has a Wii yet.

Yeah, the "fans of game X must have already bought the system by now" argument has never really been substantiated. I can see Smash Bros fans holding off on purchasing until Brawl actually comes out, especially given the lack of similar titles on the system.

No doubt. They are definitely stockpiling? Wii and just opening the floodgate once SSBB release becomes imminent.

@LittleBigPlaneteer: Reggie must be related to Dakota Fanning :)

@Kai_: If yo think SSBB will sell in America like Halo 3 did you're KIDDING yourself.

Lets forget about console sales and talk about attach rates. It'll take a holy miracle from the hand of god himself to make the the Wii attach rate pass the xbox 360 attach rate. The majority of people buying Wii's out there just use it as a Wii Sports/Minigame machine.

I'm sure for many people SSBB will be the first must-have title for the Wii result in a boost to hardware sales. It'll have a similar effect that Halo had for 360, and Metal Gear Solid 4 will probably have for PS3.

@Luke Plunkett:
You do remember how Melee outsold Halo, right?
@Lateralus63:
Actually, the attach rates in NA beat the 360's NA attach rates. Wii's lower attach rate in Japan is what's dragging down the world total.

But Reggie?

I thought you were not in "competition" with the other two?

Ohhhh I get it, only if you are about to surpass yo are all of a sudden that way.

@ZinkO: The Game (the kind you just lost): But didn't Melee sell more globally? We're talking about North American sales. Clearly Halo will sell more than SSBB if you're looking solely at NA sales.

Wii Fit wii move consoles. They are going to have a megaton of wiis for that launch along with Mario Kart which has captured a lot of causal attention since it is being bundled with a steering wheel.

@Lateralus63: so does brawl go into sports or minigames?

@Lancehead: Man, you're going to be waiting a long time. It's only 250$. They'd be hardly making any money. Wasn't the number 160$ for price of production on a wii?

@PaulHunter: Agreed. I really want a Wii to play SSBB (with all the online goodies and map making magic), as well as a PS3 for MGS4/MGS:Online and upscaled PS2 games. =)

@PaulHunter:

How quickly the halo 3 bubble burst with all those tons of unsold halo 3 edition xbox 360s. All the supposed hardware sellers for the PS3 just bumped up for a week or two then burst like a dam suffering a catastrophic failure emptying the lake.

The wii has passed the gamecube ltd in most regions and has passed or will soon past the worldwide ltd and then the xbox ltd since the xbox was just a million or two more.

The DS is also a monster with over 60 million worldwide. We could easily see the DS pass the Gameboy lines lifetime sales.

@Toasticus: Such as the epic Reggie prediction "Everyone who wants Halo 3 already has an XBox 360".

@hevensxj:

brawl goes into the categorie.. oh well dont have the time for it, kof12, sf4, tekken 6, soul calibur 4 s comin'

Really, it isn't about how many more units the Wii sells than the 360 because of competing for more units sold. It really comes down to how long it'll take them to make enough Wiis to outsell the 360.

Man Reggie is like the biggest douche on the planet. I think Nintendo would have an ever better public image if they sent this guy packing

@ZinkO: The Game (the kind you just lost):

Which Halo are we talking about? The first one? What are the numbers?

How about if we just put brawl in to the fighting game catagory, it is more then that but it does have BRAWL right in the title.

Wii to catch 360 by June.
PS3 to catch 360 by Armageddon.

I'm just kidding, I love the PS3.

@ZinkO: The Game (the kind you just lost):
But then Halo 2 outsold Melee (8 mil vs. 6 mil), and Halo 3 has outsold Halo 2 (currently at 8.1 million).

I have no doubt that Brawl will do well (it already is doing well in Japan), but will it pass Halo 3? Only time will tell...

@LittleBigPlaneteer:
No, every picture makes him look hungry for the flesh of humans.

@Lancehead:
They'll drop the price as soon as it stops selling. So, uh, keep waiting.

Bah, once the wii gets more games that make use of the classic controller or the gamecube one (so I can use my ps2 controller with an adapter) I'll think of getting it, motion controls on the system are far from accurate. You hear me Nintendo, give me traditional controls or I'm not buying the system.

The important thing is that PS3 doesn't overtake the 360.

...and the Wii comes in with a 13 foot piss. It looks like it will be tough to beat in this pissing contest.

Reggie, but you still don't have any games I want to play.

@Luke Plunkett: Oh, but it will. Without a doubt in my mind, it will.

@reptile168:

Yet! :)

Eventually, N. America will be the only region where the 360 isn't in last place.

@Yetanotheruninspiredscreename: I don't think there was a huge Halo 3 burst, if I recall September 2007 was one of the hugest months ever for Xbox 360 sales. Sure Microsoft produced more Halo bundles than the market bought, but it was hardly a bubble burst. Halo 3 probably had the biggest impact on 360 hardware sales than any other game thus far for the system.

As a Wii owner, I do admit that they're not a whole lot of great games for the Wii when compared to the 360. But the few games that are great, are total system sellers (your Marios, Zeldas, and Metroids) I can agree with this article but it also doesn't necessarily mean that the 360 is doiing horrible business.

@Yetanotheruninspiredscreename: Amazon.com is currently sold out of Halo 3 edition 360s. Just what qualifies as "tons" to you?

@PirateThom: Seriously.

@reptile168: Why is that important?

I do believe that SSBB will be the kind of big seller that will become a must have and even attract new people to get the Wii. I'm not even a fan of the series and I'm curious about it after all the effort and detail that they have put into this game.

Comparing it to Halo 3 is kind of tricky. What made Halo's sales so impressive was that mostly everyone who was going to play that game got it on day one. But something that you can count on for games in Nintendo systems is that they sell well months and even years after they are released (New Super Mario Bros, Brain Age, Mario Kart...). So I think that SSBB will very likely outsell Halo 3 in the long run.

I have yet to get a Wii, but that's mostly because I haven't found one when I wanted to get it, so it has nothing to do to waiting for a specific game to come out. So I do agree to the post that said that Wii sales should remain the same through the year as long as the rate of new systems remains the same.

Remember folks, it's not always the game itself that sells consoles, it's the hype involved. We all see the Dojo Dumps and the endless amounts of gameplay videos, but what about the average consumer? Is Brawl really being hyped enough in N. America? Would mainstream consumers know what it is, and be interested in buying a console for it? To be honest, I find the Wii Fit to be more "Mainstream hyped" than SSBB. Even the name Super Smash Brothers Brawl is not all that mainstream friendly.

@boxofthegods: Then you won't be buying the system.

Gilbert Arenas is still sitting in his room waiting for a Wii.

@Veit: The 360 just needs a price drop to $299 for the regular "Pro" version and it will see another large boost. Also, there actually is a shortage of the 360 in some places. Amazon has recently been sold out of all SKUs other than the "Arcade"(Unit GIMP). GTA IV will push units on both 360 and PS3. There are plenty of people who haven't bought into the current gen yet, and yes lots of them will want to play Gears of War 2 amongst other 360 exclusives.

@7th_Ronin: you know i was being sarcastic right...?

In June Wii owns the world, and I'm fine with that :) If I could bet this when Nintendo first announced Nintendo revolution I would be a billionaire.

Grats Nintendo, nice to see a console making it that ain't all about more pixels more tech. I'm serious, Wii is a great machine next to my awsome high tech PC.

And to hell with all the haters. I have plenty of gaming on my Wii and enjoying it, no lack of games for me, I didn't feel that with the ps3 either or the 360, all 3 including PC have a lot of good games to keep one busy for a long time.

@reptile168: Keep fighting the good fight :)

@EnigmaNemesis: lol so true.

Thats very possible. Feb 2008 is almost over and the Wii is still sold out in the US although the 360 is doing great as well. In Japan, an even wider gulf has opened up between the Wii and PS3 hardware sales.

Unlike some blind analysts who claim that the PS3 will win the "console war" in 2020 based on some mythical Sony-biased statistics, Reggie's estimates are more logical and based on current concrete sales trends.

Why do these figures matter (to the consumer)? Attach rate, schmattach schmate. Neither console is in danger of failing and that means there's going to be some healthy competitiveness. Granted, most people don't count Wii in the next-gen race, but clearly they're here to play ball, even if they brought a different one to the court.

If there's one thing that my gaming life has taught me, it's that if you love something, absolutely nothing, not even the fact that it's garbage, will make you change your mind. Look at Halo (haha, I win again!). Or even well-loved misses like Dreamcast, Rare, and the cult of Saturn. So from a standpoint of the #1 spot being the defense for "ha ha, you fanboy, my console is better," why's it important to so many of you?

While yes, the #1 spot governs the freedom and flexibility for attracting devs and signing lucrative deals, the point I'm trying to make is that every console is doing incredibly well. At this point, the #1 spot is like... three supermodels arguing over who has the prettiest eyes when they've all won gold medals or whatever it is supermodels win. It's not like the one in 3rd is going to drop out a-la-Sega.

Also sorry for the double post, but I've never got why a person would buy a system for like one game. As good as Nintendo games tend to be (well excluding Twilight Princess, I felt it was really just trying to recreate Zelda 64 more than anything else) I wouldn't buy the Wii just for their games. When I buy a system I get it for the broad library of games. With the ps2 I got it for games like Kingdom Hearts, Disgaea, Shadow Hearts, and many other games by 3rd party developers. So until the wii can attracts some better 3rd party games that are not ports of games I already own, ie RE4 and Ookami, they are just not going to be able to bring me over to their side.

Yeah so.....we gunna see more than 4 wiis a month at my store?

As long as there is a ps4, xbox whateva and wii 2 i'll be happy.

@zztopp: Don't forget Europe, more then 6mill sold over here, and I expect "other" to have Wii in the lead too.

Anyway, the real fight is between the 360 and PS3, and whomever wins, probably the Wii, No one is going to throw in the towel this or probably next generation too. I hope anyway, this 3 console competition is great for innovation, great games and prices etc for the consumer, for the most part. I love competition :)

@boxofthegods: OH NOES Nintendo must be hurting because of our not buying a wii...

I would love to buy a Wii just so I can play games with m girlfriend. The only game my girl can get in to is Super Rub a Dub on my PS3.

Yeah, I hear thats what all the kids are playing these days. And by kids I mean old people in retirement homes and fat people who don't want to exercise.

@ZinkO: The Game (the kind you just lost): Are you saying the Wii's attach rate in NA beats the 360's attach rate in NA? Lets see the numbers and don't cite vgchartz.

@oblivionatm: Yes, in that pic up there thats exactly what I see - a fat old man in grabbing a Wii while Reggie looks on...

@oblivionatm: I bet I'm more fit then you, but go ahead and cry whatever camp of fanboys you belong too.

@Veit: @skullpanda: @BPM IIDX 8th style: I'm prepared to wait it out. It's not like I don't have anything else to do. I'm already swamped in work and games and other activities anyways.
I just don't feel like the Wii is worth $270 ($20 more in Canada... yeah, go figure) considering how far the 360 and PS3 have come in terms of prices.

This makes me sad

@Spartan1308: surely if you didn't bite on GoW1 2 won't grab you either

How can you not see it?

@hevensxj:
I don't see where I said Nintendo's hurting because I'm not buying their system. I stated my opinion on the state of the wii, and you replied with flame bait. I look forward to super ban hammer Monday.

Reggie is very scary indeed. I thought the Wii had already decimated everyone in each of the regions? Shouldn't take long then.

@reptile168:

Why does it matter if sony over takes microsoft?

Not like either will vanish any time soon...

I eagerly awaited every smash bros. update and as of yet I've been unable to get my hands on a Wii. It's incredibly frustrating.

Speaking as someone who is picking up a Wii next month because of Super Smash (it isn't the only reason, just the deciding factor), you should rethink your position, Mr. Plunkett

*Laughs at all of the 360 fanboys comments*

I don't doubt that the Wii will surpass it, but I sure hope they start manufacturing (or releasing, whichever you prefer to think ;)) more Wii's.

Now I await the next article with an estimation of when the PS3 will surpass the 360. Of course it'll take a little longer, but it's going to happen eventually.

As I consider myself someone who prefers the 360 despite owning all 5 consoles (the two extras being DS and PSP), I've come to terms with the fact that the 360 will probably not be the biggest seller of this generation.

However, I do know that every publisher has a chance to actually turn a profit on it because every hardcore gamer has one and buys games for it because it's the platform on which hardcore games sell.

No matter what happens, it's a viable platform.

Lost Planet sold over a million copies over a year ago.

The future is bright, guys, the future is bright.

You know, I've spent a good amount of time with both the 360 and Wii (still haven't spent more than an hour or so with the PS3, seems like a solid system) but, in the least fanboyish way possible, I simply don't get the continued appeal of the Wii. I have friends with it who bought and loved it for a week and haven't touched it since, and I've yet to find a non-Wii Sports game that used the controls in way that was actually a complement to the game. I understand the appeal of the novelty, and the accessibility for the casual gamer, but the catalog is way more shallow than the much-slighted PSP. The only game I've found for the system that was actually engaging was the critically-loved commercial failure Zack and Wiki, and even then I spent half the time wishing I could just control it with a mouse. There's a place in the upcoming future of gaming that includes motion sensitivity, but the Wii has proven to be more of an emperor's "new clothes system" than I've encountered in 3 decades of gaming.

Of course it'll happen.

All I have to say is... If someone put a gun to my head and said I have to get rid of one of my consoles, my Wii would be out the window in an instant. And not just because it's the lightest and therefore, easiest to throw out the window. (possible Nintendo design decision?)

I think SSBB would sell more consoles just like Halo 3 sold more consoles but hasn't Nintendo consistantly sold out of stock? How could they possibly sell more if more aren't available? Unless. . .

@Toasticus:

And it took a long time for amazon to run out of that edition however I can still find brick and mortar stores with dozens of that edition. Decemeber I saw tons of PS3 80 gigs and tons of Premium xbox 360s and even Elites. This was in a ton of a quarter million people in one of the largest cities in my state.

The Wii is a casual gaming platform, a great tool for families with younger children, and relatively cheap. I would probably expect it to outsell something like the 360. However, the 360 has the ultimate game library, something the Wii can't even come close to. Casual gamers go hardcore all the time, but I have yet to see a hardcore gamer go casual.

@LongDarkBlues:

The wiimote on zack and wiki does function like a mouse. You can click and then have Zack hurry by holding the button down.

@Kovitlac: I know many people who used to be hardcore gamers but are now casual gamers. After you graduate college and get a real life and family, you won't get the time to invest 100 hours on a deep RPG or stay online all night long getting pwned in Halo 3 on Xbox Live. But you might still want to play games once in a while and thats where the DS and Wii come in.

@Moonshadow101:

Its simple. 360 is as close to a computer as you can get. Aka. Its inferior to a computer yet has the same appeal as the computer to some extent. therein the strangely addictive styled games that you will most definitely spend hours and hours playing.

The wii is something different by itself. I'm sure it'll eventually get all those types games onto the system but for the most part its developers atm that aren't releasing games "to your tastes." (Which i might add, for the most part, probably is not RPG grinding, nor platforming, nor casual)

For the most part. FPS geared games are more attractive and long running especially when combined with multiplayer. Thats just the simple fact, we all want that immersion to some extent but the actual fun games are elsewhere!

@Kovitlac: Actually tons of gamers play casual. In fact the most hardcore gamers go casual! like myself! And no you aren't hardcore, not until you sit and number crunch meaningless numbers because a combination of two items giving %x and % y of this item when combined with skill which gives %z of something results in dmg output a. (ohh and boy does it ever apply to FPS' as well, so don't try that whole, RPG (and i need to mention this aint like jrpgs either) stunt eh :P?)

I only bought the wii cuz it was fun O_o seriously... aside from that its all hardcore gaming.

@LongDarkBlues: I think that's partially the developers fault. It SHOULD control like a mouse, and it probably 100% does, the difference lies in its lack of responsiveness to clicks sometimes-- and therein a result of the game engine. Most likely had you replaced the wiimote with the mouse the responsiveness would be similar. but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

@interstate78: It was made by capcom, they have a high return rate. similarly you need to actually take into consideration the budget... for a game like that it seriously can use up millions. Game development is not a bright future my friend... if anything it's XNA WiiWare and PSN that are going to become the "future" where devs can actually dev again without having to waste a movie's production worth where only the big wigs can afford to play

I doubt it will happen .Itwill proably by the end of this year. Thing is, it's not that the wii can't do it by the date Reggie says but it's the inability to supply the correct demand for the wii. Just look two weeks ago the wii sold 200k, last week it only sold 40k.The console can't keep a constant flow and that was ok when it started but it's been a but it's been a year and a half.

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This is why we need an edit button

Most of the Wii games out are shovel-ware at best, with a few notable exceptions. Third-party support is what the console needs in order to survive any length of time, and that happens to be exactly what the Wii lacks. I bought the Wii over a year ago and haven't touched it since RE4make. Out of all 3, I've spent the most time with the PS3 (gaming and media) with the 360 pulling a close 2nd. I want the Wii to survive beyond simple console sales, as loss of competition in this "Console War" would only hurt the fans in the end.

*yawn, stretches arms*

*enters topic, see's more of the same old same old Wii arguements/potshots*

*yawns, quietly exits stage left*

*not before making this post*

*yawn*