I doubt that the Wii shortage is a marketing strategy. The PS3 shortage is not a marketing strategy. The PS3 shortage is mostly due to the shortage of the blue-ray players it uses. With the Wii and PS3 introduction just before Christmas, the name of the game is market share. Microsoft has the market share jump start with the new X-box360, so the Wii and PS3 are basically competing for 2nd place market share (This is in the US market. Microsoft has never done as well in Japan). Since both Sony and Nintendo could sell all the systems they could deliver, whoever could deliver the most systems, would win the market share war for initial 2nd place. Nintendo would not create an artificial shortage and risk being pushed to 3rd place, especially after many gaming industry analysis a year ago were expecting Nintendo to give up and get out of the console game business to concentrate on portables and maybe make their best titles available on other makers consoles.
I have worked in the electronics chip industry for 25 years. It is hard to get these systems ramped up and into high volume productions. At this point it looks like Sony took a big risk by putting blue-ray into its game console, and it make have put them into 3rd place in the console market.
Last year, XBox 360s were in short supply til the spring (April). I don't think that was an artificial shortage, and I'm not so sure this one is either.
Around Christmas, they were taking reservations--pay a deposit, and they'll guarantee you one by Jan 6 or so.
After Christmas, they stopped taking any reservations. Indeed, more than one store manager told me that they are not ALLOWED to take reservations anymore. They're not ALLOWED to.
One offered to make one for me anyway on the sly, then changed his mind.
Yesterday, one told me there was a hot rumor that anyone who showed up at Target or other select stores in the morning would be able to get one. Lo and behold, we could--but they were passing out numbers and only had so many in stock.
Suddenly, also, accessories were hard to come by this morning. For weeks I've been walking into game stores and they have all kinds of things on sale for the Wii--games, controllers, other accessories. I was tempted to buy some. Somehow, suddenly, every store I visited today (I visted 5) had no major Wii accessories at all. They were all sold out. All of them. They'd all had only so many accessories and games in stock. Suddenly, they all got the units, and amazingly, the number of units almost exactly equaled all the accessories they had on hand. No more. Suddenly, all the accessories they'd had on sale for weeks were gone. They had no extras.
I really do think they're doing it on purpose.
I think the best evidence is this:
We seem to have a dearth of press statements by Nintendo saying, "We're really sorry, we're having production difficulties for X, Y, and Z reasons." They're being entirely mum about it. The units just show up when they show up.
I like their products, but they weren't the first video game company I bought from.
Yeah, I had Pong, too. ;^D
I keep thinking how retro-cool in a camp way it *might* be to port something really dumb like Pong to the Wii...maybe a pack of old '80's stuff. I think I could set up my furniture like a PacMan maze...
Nintendo is the only game system company I've ever bought from. They concentrate less on looks than on gameplay, and you very rarely have to worry about anything risque in their work. I like that, and so I'm only too happy to see them back on top.
I think there is something else going on here as well. The main draw for me to the PS1 and PS2, and many other gamers I suspect, was the appeal of more mature oriented content. Little green gender neutral elves are all fine and dandy, but I wanted more.
Someone at Sony heard this and said... well OK.. developers saw the trends in movies and read a few polls. Games with extreme content got the front page and the CNN coverage and THAT sold systems. Players and programmers unlocked (Hacked) other games and now we had virtual soft core porn. More Headlines.... WOW, any publicity is great publicity right?
WRONG, here's where the rubber hits the road, at $600-800 dollars, content that in some cases (The most publicized ones) has moved from just mature to adult, and little to say for the system but "It really is better than a PS2 when you have a $6000 TV", the PS3 is in trouble.
They entire market of kids and teenagers funded by Mom and Dad and Grandma is out in the cold. The only thing my Mother (and my children's Grandmother) could tell you about the PS3 is that "Isn't that the game thing with the prostitutes that you can kill?", the only thing my wife could tell you is "Doesn't that cost like $1000?"... those are the wrong marketing messages you need to be giving the people paying for your systems.
Add the "Can't get one anywhere" and the "People waiting 2 days in line" news coverage and who in their right mind expects anyone but 30 something men with $800 to burn to be buying these things?
I keep thinking how retro-cool in a camp way it *might* be to port something really dumb like Pong to the Wii...maybe a pack of old '80's stuff. I think I could set up my furniture like a PacMan maze...
I think 3D perspective versions of the old classics has great potential, and would be little work for any Wii team. Pong, PacMan, and Space Invaders would all be pretty fresh in 3D perspective with Wii's interactive play.
And Dean, I'm not quite cynical enough to believe the shortages are deliberate; but whether they are or not, Nintendo has got a tiger by the tail. You say that every gamer you know has one or wants one; but I'm not even a casual gamer, I'm a rather vocal non-gamer. And I don't want one, but I desperately want to try one out to find out if I want one. They're reaching markets they never reached before.
My first console was the Atari 2600. I still have it and even buy carts for it off Ebay. The Kid digs Old School games.
That said, I'm interested in the PS3. However I don't see me getting it for at least a year or more. The reason is that it demands hi-def TV. Hi-Def TV demands hi-def Cable, home theater, and of course a hi-def capable television. I have my eyes set on a 50" plasma ($2k), home theater system ($500). But KomKast gets enough money frm me as it is, and I can't justify spending $3000 on "the television experience."
The Wii, on the other hand, doesn't demand that. I also like the idea of making video games more interactive. Sony hasn't seriously pushed interactivity even though it sold the Eyetoy and licensed the tech for the floor pad for Dance Dance Revolution and the guitar for Guitar Hero.
Sony has clearly doesn't take anything but pushing buttons on a controller seriously. They are in love with the technology - the Blue Ray and the hi-def capability of 1080p - but the PS3 controller hasn't changed much.
It reminds me of the way the Germans used to engineer cars. They were technically good, but about as much fun to drive as a milk truck. The Italians were the one who made the cars people loved to drive - when they worked. The Wife still loves her Fiat even though it loved to die on her in the fast lane, earning it the moniker "Fix It Again Tony".
The PS3 is over engineered for now. Maybe in a year or two the technology will make more sense - but not in my house. And I'm a technophile... Sony's target audience.
Nintendo sold 600,000 Wiis in the first eight days after it's launch in the U.S. alone. It shattered the launch day number record in the U.K. set by the X-Box 360 by over 30,000.
Meanwhile, I stand a good chance of finding a PS3 in any number of stores I go into.
600,000 units sold is not an artificial shortage. Not taking reservations for the Wii makes good business sense. Why hold on to a unit for a customer when they're guaranteed to sell it the moment it hits the floor?
I'd talk about the rest of your post but I don't have the time. You don't understand how the video game industry works. You've not spend enough time in the, well, culture. And I don't expect you to. It's not your thing.
As for the $600 PS3 price tag - even at that rate Sony is still taking a huge loss. Heck, Sony wasn't making a profit on the PS2 hardware until the last year or so. And Blu-Ray players alone cost anywhere from $800-$1000. The PS3 at $600 is a frickin' steal.
You write on politics, religion and everything else. Leave the video game stuff to me. ;-P
I still play my Sega Dreamcast regularly. R.I.P. Sega.
I don't know anything about the "Wii" - not even how to pronounce that - I keep thinking "W2" but that seems wrong. It can't possibly be pronounce "wee", can it?? Why not call it the Nintendo Poo instead?
Anyway I know nothing about it but if it has fun games - and not just super 3D graphics - I'm interested...
I'm not certain about Dean's 'artificial shortage' argument, regardless they came out on top of Sony's PS3 for several reasons. In my mind, they include:
1) Impeccable backwards-compatibility. Simply put, every game I've tried on it, old or new, has worked, while I've heard dozens of horror stories about the PS3 on this.
2) $250 is affordable for the average consumer. $500-600 makes you wonder if you really need it right now.
3) It's fun to play and easy to get started.
4) Shortage or not, Sony's was far worse, so their big competitor for launch was badly out of position.
I do have one beef with them, though - they started off with Wi-Fi only. It should have been incredibly simple to add an RJ-45 port somewhere.
Supposedly the Wii Lan Adaptor is available for purchase now... but it's not in the local stores yet. I'd be happy to buy it if I had a local option instead of trying to get UPS to work with me.
Mark: The Wii plays Sega and TurboGrafx-16 games. Having it play Pong would be easy, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it available sooner or later.
JonD: The retail prices for the PS3 were $599 for the basic unit and $699 for the slightly upscale unit last I looked.
Martin: It's already been done with Pac-Man and some other classic games.
Nicholas: It's pronounced "whee," exactly as you thought. It sounds silly at first but once you get over it, it's fine. Think "Wheee!" as in fun and you get it. It's also easy to say in almost any language, which is a major attraction for the marketing folks.
It makes perfectly good business sense to take reservations, by the way. What they were doing until Christmas was letting you put a deposit down so you'd be guaranteed your unit. This helps mollify angry customers and make sure they don't jump to another platform like Xbox 360 instead.
What I have found interesting about the marketing strategy (or, at least, the commercials) is how blatantly they're making this a JAPANESE product. In the commercials it's two Japanese dudes going from door to door across America to bring the glory of the Wii to households from sea to shining sea.
Japan's got street cred these days, though. My truck is a Toyota and I'm very strongly looking at Fujitsu for my next notebook (in large part because they're actually manufactured in Japan, as opposed to China). I feel good about Made in the USA products, but I feel confident about Made in Japan products.
I really don't think the last couple months could have gone much better for Nintendo. Instead of being an also-ran, "I can't get a PS3, so I'll get the kids this thing" console, they have firmly grabbed that place in the forefront of people's minds. This has got to be Sony's biggest nightmare. They've lost their buzz, the thing that was going to make people pay that extra money to get a PS3 instead of an 360, the thing that was going to relegate the Wii to the 3rd place, picking-up-the-family-market.
Also, Scott, are you sure that Sony had anything at all to do with either the dance pad or the Guitar Hero controller? I'm pretty sure that Konami was the primary developer of first the arcade DDR games, and then brought them to PS2. Similarly, Red Octane and Harmonix developed GH and the controller for it. Sony licensed their use for the system, but had zero to do with developing the controllers.
Sony has stuck with essentially the exact same Dual Shock controller now through three systems. They should have known better after the original Xbox and Gamecube came out with evolved controllers, that worked better and felt better. In fact, the Microsoft Controller 'S' is the best controller I've ever used (never used a 360). For Sony to release the same controller again is an embarassment.
LOVE the Wii. And in a weird sort of way, the challenge of the hunt before we finally scored a console three days ago added to the enjoyment. While my kids are the primary gamers in the house, I find myself picking up the incredibly intuitive controller and whipping out a set of tennis or a quick game of bowling. Plus, making a Mii and putting my likeness into the game itself is pure genius. Nintendo hasn't just hit a home run, they've hit the cycle.
We just bought a used Xbox (not 360) two months ago, when I finally caved in to my 10-year-old's pleas. I like the fact we are able to use it as a DVD player, something the Wii won't be able to do until the next iteration gets released later this year.
There was no artificial shortage. Nintendo had 4 million Wii's already available in a warehouse. Before they had an opportunity to SHIP all the units a few idiots decided to not hold on to the controllers and destroy their $5000 plasma TV's. So Nintendo recalled all the controllers to replace the strap. The 4 million stored in the warehouse just became JUNK until they replace the strap. It takes time. As others have said XBOX360 was in major short supply last year. Now this year they had plenty. The real arms race begins next Christmas season. Each console will have a year under their belts and the real selling point begins to shine. The GAMES make the console.
Lets see how it all shakes out next year..
Jerry
1.22.2007 10:35am
Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.
I have worked in the electronics chip industry for 25 years. It is hard to get these systems ramped up and into high volume productions. At this point it looks like Sony took a big risk by putting blue-ray into its game console, and it make have put them into 3rd place in the console market.
After Christmas, they stopped taking any reservations. Indeed, more than one store manager told me that they are not ALLOWED to take reservations anymore. They're not ALLOWED to.
One offered to make one for me anyway on the sly, then changed his mind.
Yesterday, one told me there was a hot rumor that anyone who showed up at Target or other select stores in the morning would be able to get one. Lo and behold, we could--but they were passing out numbers and only had so many in stock.
Suddenly, also, accessories were hard to come by this morning. For weeks I've been walking into game stores and they have all kinds of things on sale for the Wii--games, controllers, other accessories. I was tempted to buy some. Somehow, suddenly, every store I visited today (I visted 5) had no major Wii accessories at all. They were all sold out. All of them. They'd all had only so many accessories and games in stock. Suddenly, they all got the units, and amazingly, the number of units almost exactly equaled all the accessories they had on hand. No more. Suddenly, all the accessories they'd had on sale for weeks were gone. They had no extras.
I really do think they're doing it on purpose.
I think the best evidence is this:
We seem to have a dearth of press statements by Nintendo saying, "We're really sorry, we're having production difficulties for X, Y, and Z reasons." They're being entirely mum about it. The units just show up when they show up.
I'm pretty sure they're doing it on purpose.
Yeah, I had Pong, too. ;^D
I keep thinking how retro-cool in a camp way it *might* be to port something really dumb like Pong to the Wii...maybe a pack of old '80's stuff. I think I could set up my furniture like a PacMan maze...
Someone at Sony heard this and said... well OK.. developers saw the trends in movies and read a few polls. Games with extreme content got the front page and the CNN coverage and THAT sold systems. Players and programmers unlocked (Hacked) other games and now we had virtual soft core porn. More Headlines.... WOW, any publicity is great publicity right?
WRONG, here's where the rubber hits the road, at $600-800 dollars, content that in some cases (The most publicized ones) has moved from just mature to adult, and little to say for the system but "It really is better than a PS2 when you have a $6000 TV", the PS3 is in trouble.
They entire market of kids and teenagers funded by Mom and Dad and Grandma is out in the cold. The only thing my Mother (and my children's Grandmother) could tell you about the PS3 is that "Isn't that the game thing with the prostitutes that you can kill?", the only thing my wife could tell you is "Doesn't that cost like $1000?"... those are the wrong marketing messages you need to be giving the people paying for your systems.
Add the "Can't get one anywhere" and the "People waiting 2 days in line" news coverage and who in their right mind expects anyone but 30 something men with $800 to burn to be buying these things?
I think 3D perspective versions of the old classics has great potential, and would be little work for any Wii team. Pong, PacMan, and Space Invaders would all be pretty fresh in 3D perspective with Wii's interactive play.
That said, I'm interested in the PS3. However I don't see me getting it for at least a year or more. The reason is that it demands hi-def TV. Hi-Def TV demands hi-def Cable, home theater, and of course a hi-def capable television. I have my eyes set on a 50" plasma ($2k), home theater system ($500). But KomKast gets enough money frm me as it is, and I can't justify spending $3000 on "the television experience."
The Wii, on the other hand, doesn't demand that. I also like the idea of making video games more interactive. Sony hasn't seriously pushed interactivity even though it sold the Eyetoy and licensed the tech for the floor pad for Dance Dance Revolution and the guitar for Guitar Hero.
Sony has clearly doesn't take anything but pushing buttons on a controller seriously. They are in love with the technology - the Blue Ray and the hi-def capability of 1080p - but the PS3 controller hasn't changed much.
It reminds me of the way the Germans used to engineer cars. They were technically good, but about as much fun to drive as a milk truck. The Italians were the one who made the cars people loved to drive - when they worked. The Wife still loves her Fiat even though it loved to die on her in the fast lane, earning it the moniker "Fix It Again Tony".
The PS3 is over engineered for now. Maybe in a year or two the technology will make more sense - but not in my house. And I'm a technophile... Sony's target audience.
Idiots..
Meanwhile, I stand a good chance of finding a PS3 in any number of stores I go into.
600,000 units sold is not an artificial shortage. Not taking reservations for the Wii makes good business sense. Why hold on to a unit for a customer when they're guaranteed to sell it the moment it hits the floor?
I'd talk about the rest of your post but I don't have the time. You don't understand how the video game industry works. You've not spend enough time in the, well, culture. And I don't expect you to. It's not your thing.
As for the $600 PS3 price tag - even at that rate Sony is still taking a huge loss. Heck, Sony wasn't making a profit on the PS2 hardware until the last year or so. And Blu-Ray players alone cost anywhere from $800-$1000. The PS3 at $600 is a frickin' steal.
You write on politics, religion and everything else. Leave the video game stuff to me. ;-P
I don't know anything about the "Wii" - not even how to pronounce that - I keep thinking "W2" but that seems wrong. It can't possibly be pronounce "wee", can it?? Why not call it the Nintendo Poo instead?
Anyway I know nothing about it but if it has fun games - and not just super 3D graphics - I'm interested...
(Hi Dave!)
I'm not certain about Dean's 'artificial shortage' argument, regardless they came out on top of Sony's PS3 for several reasons. In my mind, they include:
1) Impeccable backwards-compatibility. Simply put, every game I've tried on it, old or new, has worked, while I've heard dozens of horror stories about the PS3 on this.
2) $250 is affordable for the average consumer. $500-600 makes you wonder if you really need it right now.
3) It's fun to play and easy to get started.
4) Shortage or not, Sony's was far worse, so their big competitor for launch was badly out of position.
I do have one beef with them, though - they started off with Wi-Fi only. It should have been incredibly simple to add an RJ-45 port somewhere.
Supposedly the Wii Lan Adaptor is available for purchase now... but it's not in the local stores yet. I'd be happy to buy it if I had a local option instead of trying to get UPS to work with me.
I'll have to ask my resident Game King for his opinion.
JonD: The retail prices for the PS3 were $599 for the basic unit and $699 for the slightly upscale unit last I looked.
Martin: It's already been done with Pac-Man and some other classic games.
Nicholas: It's pronounced "whee," exactly as you thought. It sounds silly at first but once you get over it, it's fine. Think "Wheee!" as in fun and you get it. It's also easy to say in almost any language, which is a major attraction for the marketing folks.
They stopped rather suddenly after Christmas.
It struck me as an unusual and gutsy move.
Also, Scott, are you sure that Sony had anything at all to do with either the dance pad or the Guitar Hero controller? I'm pretty sure that Konami was the primary developer of first the arcade DDR games, and then brought them to PS2. Similarly, Red Octane and Harmonix developed GH and the controller for it. Sony licensed their use for the system, but had zero to do with developing the controllers.
Sony has stuck with essentially the exact same Dual Shock controller now through three systems. They should have known better after the original Xbox and Gamecube came out with evolved controllers, that worked better and felt better. In fact, the Microsoft Controller 'S' is the best controller I've ever used (never used a 360). For Sony to release the same controller again is an embarassment.
We just bought a used Xbox (not 360) two months ago, when I finally caved in to my 10-year-old's pleas. I like the fact we are able to use it as a DVD player, something the Wii won't be able to do until the next iteration gets released later this year.
There was no artificial shortage. Nintendo had 4 million Wii's already available in a warehouse. Before they had an opportunity to SHIP all the units a few idiots decided to not hold on to the controllers and destroy their $5000 plasma TV's. So Nintendo recalled all the controllers to replace the strap. The 4 million stored in the warehouse just became JUNK until they replace the strap. It takes time. As others have said XBOX360 was in major short supply last year. Now this year they had plenty. The real arms race begins next Christmas season. Each console will have a year under their belts and the real selling point begins to shine. The GAMES make the console.
Lets see how it all shakes out next year..
Jerry
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.