It came as quite a surprise when sales figures released last week revealed that PS3 had outsold Wii in Nintendo-crazed Japan, and it's gone and done it again.
Figures for the week ending November 18 places the PS3 almost 20,000 units ahead of Wii, with PS3 selling 53,000 consoles, Wii shifting 36,000. This is despite the fact that Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles released last week and entered the software charts and number two, with 105,000 sales.
DS still tops the hardware list, with 81,000, boosted slightly by the release of Mario Party DS which topped the software charts with 115,000 sales. PSP's return to form is ongoing, as Sony manages to flog 66,000 of those.
Xbox 360 expectedly struggled to pass the 5,000 mark, which put it behind even the PS2, which managed 8,800 sales, according to the figures compiled by Japanese magazine publisher, Enterbrain (via Famitsu).
Sony boss, Howard Stringer, said recently that PS3's recent fortune "was planned by the PlayStation group."
The sales couldn't last forever but i think the PS3 was going to start shifting units eventually. Good to see though as it benefits PS3 owners as more developers will bring more games to the console in the future.
I said it before and I'll say it again - this is not news, merely economics.
If 80% of the gaming popualtion already has one Wii, odds are they won't buy another. Ergo, if almost everyone who wants a Wii already has one, it's common sense that other consoles are going to be overtaking it in sales.
You buy a car. Someone else buys another brand of car the next week. That means the second brand sold more the next week. Total sales of each brand are even.
These weekly figures mean absolutely nothing. It's the total sales that are important.
I said it before and I'll say it again - this is not news, merely economics.
If 80% of the gaming popualtion already has one Wii, odds are they won't buy another. Ergo, if almost everyone who wants a Wii already has one, it's common sense that other consoles are going to be overtaking it in sales.
You buy a car. Someone else buys another brand of car the next week. That means the second brand sold more the next week. Total sales of each brand are even.
These weekly figures mean absolutely nothing. It's the total sales that are important.
They STILL buy PS2, surely almost every Japanese owns it already - No difference.
That's alright for Sony. But 2 swallows (weeks) doesnt make a summer (console war winner)!
however wait until the third party games start coming out regularly next year - the PS3 will slip into a consistent lead.
Nintendo have recently asked for 3rd party companies to develop new games, i think they realise that a potential problem the Wii has is lazy ports of multi-console games, that dont take advantage of the Wii.
I said it before and I'll say it again - this is not news, merely economics.
If 80% of the gaming popualtion already has one Wii, odds are they won't buy another. Ergo, if almost everyone who wants a Wii already has one, it's common sense that other consoles are going to be overtaking it in sales.
You buy a car. Someone else buys another brand of car the next week. That means the second brand sold more the next week. Total sales of each brand are even.
These weekly figures mean absolutely nothing. It's the total sales that are important.
They STILL buy PS2, surely almost every Japanese owns it already - No difference.
Not just ps2, but the DS also.
I think the Wii has hit a point in japan where people are just looking for the next big innovation for occur. Nintendo released Mario, not much happened. It'll probably pick up once the pull WiiFit out of the works.
I said it before and I'll say it again - this is not news, merely economics.
If 80% of the gaming popualtion already has one Wii, odds are they won't buy another. Ergo, if almost everyone who wants a Wii already has one, it's common sense that other consoles are going to be overtaking it in sales.
You buy a car. Someone else buys another brand of car the next week. That means the second brand sold more the next week. Total sales of each brand are even.
These weekly figures mean absolutely nothing. It's the total sales that are important.
I agree with you sir. Like I said when this topic came up last week, this is all b******s and very VERY boring.
Sony boss, Howard Stringer, said recently that PS3's recent fortune "was planned by the PlayStation group."
Oh shut up!
I second that
Wow 360 really is struggling to sell over there. Why is MS even bothering with this market anymore? Clearly they are wasting their time it seems. Unless they can get more Ace Combats
Is the RRoD prob over there too? I know that the Japanese hate unreliable electronics as much as I do!
Has it not occurred to anyone that the PS3 is outselling the Wii because the Wii is in short supply due to overwhelming Christmas demand whereas you can walk into any store and find a PS3 on the shelf?
Has it not occurred to anyone that the PS3 is outselling the Wii because the Wii is in short supply due to overwhelming Christmas demand whereas you can walk into any store and find a PS3 on the shelf?
No?
Ah well.
Word on the street is that you can walk into any shop in japan and readily pick up a wii.
Sony boss, Howard Stringer, said recently that PS3's recent fortune "was planned by the PlayStation group."
Oh shut up!
I second that
Wow 360 really is struggling to sell over there. Why is MS even bothering with this market anymore? Clearly they are wasting their time it seems. Unless they can get more Ace Combats
Is the RRoD prob over there too? I know that the Japanese hate unreliable electronics as much as I do!
3rded
Also dont ever say just because the sales are low they should give up on the market. Thats why Sega & many others didnt bother releasing games over here. Same with Nintendo taking so long to translate games for us. the small market need to be looked after just as much as the big ones. I hate how many SHMUPS etc dont make it over here. I thinkits great MS still support their few followers over there.
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
You've obviously not played Zelda, Paper Mario, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.... have you?
Wii or xbox 360 is the best right now. Ps3 has a huge amount of catching up to do.
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
What street is that then? Certainly not Japanese streets because like everywhere else in the world they are all sold out. A few months ago Nintendo said they wouldnt be able to keep up with the worldwide demand of Wii's in the run up to Xmas, and guess what? They cant.
You're forgetting the Japanese don't celebrate Xmas so it's not a big thing for them over there. That's why they're not having shortages and why consoles are being shipped to the US and Europe.
What street is that then? Certainly not Japanese streets because like everywhere else in the world they are all sold out. A few months ago Nintendo said they wouldnt be able to keep up with the worldwide demand of Wii's in the run up to Xmas, and guess what? They cant.
You're forgetting the Japanese don't celebrate Xmas so it's not a big thing for them over there. That's why they're not having shortages and why consoles are being shipped to the US and Europe.
No, your forgetting that the Japanese do celebrate Christmas in terms of buying gifts, even if they dont celebrate religiously.
No offence but you'll have to apply a bit more than basic logic and try actual facts to any pont your trying to make.
The Wii is selling out everywhere.
No they dont pal. This was said not long ago. Nintendo are shipping the majority of its stock ATM to US & Europe as Japanese dont start spending stupid amounts at xmas like we do.
While they dont celebrate it to the extent we do, they DO celebrate it. Fact cant be argued with. Also, I never said that they would spend the amount we do at Xmas, of course they wont, but as ive pointed out, it is celebrated and more presents will be bought.
Oh right sorry. i thought you were saying that they do celebrate it on same scale as us. When it is known they dont all go out & spend ridiculous amounts of money on each other like the rest of the world do. this being the reason nintendo are more bothered about our markets ATM.
I'm afriad porntogo is right yet again. I take Japanese classes taught by a lovely Japanese lady. She brought us catalogues of food boxes they sell and they had a Christmas section. With special christmas cakes and everything. So they do celebrate Christmas to a certain extent.
EDIT: Why am I afraid he is right. I'm not. I'm happy that someone who doesn't talk nonsense has joined these forums (not discounting the many others who already do talk sense of course, but we are outnumbered!).
Also dont ever say just because the sales are low they should give up on the market. Thats why Sega & many others didnt bother releasing games over here. Same with Nintendo taking so long to translate games for us. the small market need to be looked after just as much as the big ones. I hate how many SHMUPS etc dont make it over here. I thinkits great MS still support their few followers over there.
I'm ok the Amiga never had that problem all my games were from over here. Don't think there were any US or Jap devs for the Amiga. US Gold and Virgin pretty much converted everything over for me there were Canadians though
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
You've obviously not played Zelda, Paper Mario, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.... have you?
Wii or xbox 360 is the best right now. Ps3 has a huge amount of catching up to do.
Not to mention Zak and Wiki, Umbrella Chronicles, Dewys Adventure, Nights and numerous other games.
The PS3 is really only getting games that are on the 360 as well, and the few exclusives that it does have, have been slated, ie Lair and Heavenly Sword.
I know being a fanboy you cant help make such silly comments but please try and contain yourself.
No it's not. It's had about 20+ exclusives this year worldwide. Excellent for its 1st year. A next gen consoles just not going to get it's big blockbuster games in it's 1st year.
yeah, I was about to make the point of Christmas spending not nearly being as high in Japan, their big gift giving holiday is actually Valentine's Day.
Nintendo even stated back at E3that it would be focusing on bringing as many Wii's to the US as possible for the holiday season, even if they had to reduce quantity in other countries. I'd imagine that the sales numbers are due to supply constraints in Japan, especially as seeing how the Wii is outselling the PS3 by a major amount in the US. Need numbers? Check out http://www.vgchartz.com/news/news.php?id=658
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
You've obviously not played Zelda, Paper Mario, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.... have you?
Wii or xbox 360 is the best right now. Ps3 has a huge amount of catching up to do.
Not to mention Zak and Wiki, Umbrella Chronicles, Dewys Adventure, Nights and numerous other games.
The PS3 is really only getting games that are on the 360 as well, and the few exclusives that it does have, have been slated, ie Lair and Heavenly Sword.
I know being a fanboy you cant help make such silly comments but please try and contain yourself.
No it's not. It's had about 20+ exclusives this year worldwide. Excellent for its 1st year. A next gen consoles just not going to get it's big blockbuster games in it's 1st year.
20+ Can you name 10 please? Ive not seen that many & if it has its only got 2 worth a purchase IMO - Ratchet & Clank & Uncharted
Guys!! It's been only 2 weeks that PS3 outsold Wii. Wii did for almost 12 months!!! Sony looses money on every console sold, everyone knows, and looses even more with the price cut. Remember, Nintendo hasn't lost any money yet, and to cut the wii's price won't hurt them. Let's watch and see what happen next year!! Hope Nintendo keep up with this success, Wii is a great console!!
Sony boss, Howard Stringer, said recently that PS3's recent fortune "was planned by the PlayStation group."
Oh shut up!
I second that
Wow 360 really is struggling to sell over there. Why is MS even bothering with this market anymore? Clearly they are wasting their time it seems. Unless they can get more Ace Combats
Is the RRoD prob over there too? I know that the Japanese hate unreliable electronics as much as I do!
Actually 360 has done better than the orginal xbox did, it's supassed the total sales figures in just under 2 years since it came out and it took the orginal machine 4 years to get to.
So 360 has done very well in japan and it can only continue to sell (all be it in small number per week), but their is a presense now in japan of a western console that isnt going to go away, and when bigger rpg's come out for, sales will increase further.
As for PS3 selling more than Wii, i think you will find it down to the fact that nintendo only shipped 36000 units to shops that week and worldwide demand for the thing is still through the roof, specially since they sell all 1.8 million they make every month for the past 12 months.
If nintendo could make 3 million a month, sales of Wii would be a DS levels in japan.
Exactly. The sales figures can be explained by the fact that Nintendo is tiny compared to Sony. They can't just ramp up production.
Hence why stores like overclockers can charge almost double price for the Wii's they have in stock (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CO-000-NI)
I wish, when these news stories were printed, CVG would finish by saying "That means that the PS3 has only sold 6 million copies less than the Wii instead of 6.2!!! Well done Sony!"
I said it before and I'll say it again - this is not news, merely economics.
If 80% of the gaming popualtion already has one Wii, odds are they won't buy another. Ergo, if almost everyone who wants a Wii already has one, it's common sense that other consoles are going to be overtaking it in sales.
You buy a car. Someone else buys another brand of car the next week. That means the second brand sold more the next week. Total sales of each brand are even.
These weekly figures mean absolutely nothing. It's the total sales that are important.
get out, the ps2 sold like 150 million plus units has the wii? NO! so, so no, it's not that, it's not that at all, yeah it's sold a lot but not THAT many, my school for an example, around oooh... 10 people have a wii in my year, when about 10 people in my year don't have a ps2.
It was about time the japanese finally felt the urge to upgrade to a true next gen machine .The Wii is alright for party games and for grannies ,girls and little kids ,but the real gamers cant rely solely on it to play .
Now lets see if the PS3 can keep up this month and a half in the lead and win the Christmas there .The delay of DMC4 has hurt it but still has Singstar ,Pro Evolution Soccer 08 (launchs ) this week and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue to counter Wii Fit (the only weapon Nintendo has left in Japan ) .
well, why would there be less of a supply than there was 3 months back?... it's all bull, can no-one just be happy the ps3 is doing better, it doesn't matter how many the wii sold, it's still doing better than it was. You've obviously not played Zelda, Paper Mario, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.... have you?
Wii or xbox 360 is the best right now. Ps3 has a huge amount of catching up to do.
Not to mention Zak and Wiki, Umbrella Chronicles, Dewys Adventure, Nights and numerous other games.
The PS3 is really only getting games that are on the 360 as well, and the few exclusives that it does have, have been slated, ie Lair and Heavenly Sword.
I know being a fanboy you cant help make such silly comments but please try and contain yourself.
People go on about the Wii being out of stock. However I have friends that work at Virgin (Zavi) and Blockbuster and they tell me that they are always sold out of 40GB PS3's. They sell out as soon as they get them in.
The price is finally right, along with some great must have games.
Seeing as most of my fave developers hail from the far east I am glad of this news. Not to strut around like a fanboy, only to know that more quality games will now be released for the Ps3. That is all that matters. It is a shame that the 360 is suffering in japan because it would be nice to see some more eastern influenced games on the console. As for the Wii, it was only a matter of time before it started to lose the initial popularity. Only time will tell.
People go on about the Wii being out of stock. However I have friends that work at Virgin (Zavi) and Blockbuster and they tell me that they are always sold out of 40GB PS3's. They sell out as soon as they get them in.
The price is finally right, along with some great must have games.
I work in Zavvi... We have a stock room full of 40gb PS3s, in the past 3 weeks we've sold 4... We had a shipment of 6 Wiis last friday and had 20+ people queueing up for them and refusing to leave incase we got more in stock than we were expected etc. On a daily basis we recieve around 20 calls just about Wiis, and get asked numerous times every hour if we have any in stock by customers in store.
Next stock tomorrow morning, and customers are getting more aware of the fact we're getting them every friday, I swear I'm going to get mobbed bringing them into the store tomorrow morning.
Has the Price drop of PS3 finally pleased the Japanese public or are the people that buy them are peed off with the shortage of Wii and are looking for a good value Blu ray player that also plays games when they are released!
It appears to me that the only fanboys on this thread are Wii fanboys making excuses for it's fall in sales.
Thats sounds like a fanboy post to me. Wink
Lets be honest, only a fanboy would take this premature chance to have a cheap shot at the Wii. Sony have sold more PS3's than Wii's for 2 weeks. It has more to do with PS3 sales picking up than Wii sales plummeting. The Wii is also sold out all over Europe and in the states, not to mention more Wii's have been sold worldwide than the 360 and PS3. So I dont think we are too concerned just yet.
Are you serious that I sound like a fanboy. Take a look at the spiel you're coming out with. If you're not too concerned then why are you speaking so much b******s.
I love the way that this news piece is full of Fanboys getting excited about a console that has excessive stock available and isn't selling out, that is outdoing a console that is in short supply and unavailable.
Use your heads people. The Wii was selling 100,000 units a week about a month ago, suddenly Nintendo say there will be short supply and sales drop? Hmmmmm 'Go Go Gadget get some common sense brain light bulb' not working for most of you that one.
I think it is fairly good news that Sony are picking up in Japan. Both the Wii and PS3 are not in direct competition in the same way as the 360 and PS3 are. They will both receive vastly different catalogues due to control method and power differences. Considering the 360 has not made the impact it would have hoped,it would be good to see a successful HD generation machine as a viable domestic option for developers in Japan. In turn this should increase the amount of software produced in the longterm. I think the Wii is fantastic and a definite purchase for me. But I am also interested in other consoles and what directions they take. Only someone resentful of Sony getting positive feedback would consider this a negative or bias news story. It is a huge turnaround regardless of the past. Especially considering Sony has not yet received a truly system selling IP in the country.
It is a huge turnaround regardless of the past. Especially considering Sony has not yet received a truly system selling IP in the country.
But this brings me back to my point. This isn't a massive turn around, this is a massive downturn in availability for the Wii, the PS3 sales have marginally increased, whereas the Wii sales have dropped because of availability not a loss of demand. If Nintendo could put 200,000 units on sale next week in Japan, I think this falsely glorified news would disappear in an instant.
Im usure what people qualify as a mature game or gamer.
A mature gamer is not simply someone who is over 18. Half the over 18's i know are immature, christ i know 50 year olds that act like children. If the definition is simply "over 18" then its defined by the government or law, and not by gamers or people in in a social context.
As for a mature game, does that simply involve killing people? Or scary content? Or boobs juggling? These are simply things that bump its age rating up, and the point above then applies. For me a mature game would be one that requires rational thinking. While it may also invovle things that make its content unappropriate for youngsters, this is not sufficient itself to define it as mature. Only instead to define it as not appropreate for children.
My point is, to say the wii is not for mature gamers is rubbish, as a game like mario galaxy requires more rational thought to collect 120 stars than Call of Duty 4( the best fps ive played this year by far) will ever need to complete.
The look and content is simply a selling factor, one that mature people shouldnt be influenced exclusivley by.
Much of the "story" content of games cannot be described as mature either. Unless mature thought considers illogical or right wing propaganda as the definition of mature stories.
Fighting big mushrooms is no less mature than beleving that setting a game in the context of a propaganda led war on terror is mature.
"Planned" my bottom. They "planned" people buying their pos console just because it had "playstation" writtn on it. They planned ojn charging $600 for it for 5 years. People told them to shove thier $600 paperweight, so they were forced to bring the price down so much that they lose a ton of money on each one they sell.
If they truely had "planned" it from the get-go, then they are admitting to ripping off their most loyal fans by making the loyal fans paying twice the price everyone else would pay 1 year later.
The PS3 seems to have jumped over the wii due to the release of the new white edition. Now that spike is over the PS3 sales have dropped sharply while the wii rises slightly.
Quick question!! Why are you all arguing about sales? Do you guys have shares in these companies or something for it to matter to you?
Do you spend your evenings on the internet looking at the sales figures for each company or do you spend them enjoying games?
At the moment from where I stand you all seem to be forgetting about the games!
because the Sony fanboys dont have any gamesto be talking about. So when they here they are outselling Wii its the only positive that they can brag about.
Quick question!! Why are you all arguing about sales? Do you guys have shares in these companies or something for it to matter to you?
Do you spend your evenings on the internet looking at the sales figures for each company or do you spend them enjoying games?
At the moment from where I stand you all seem to be forgetting about the games!
because the Sony fanboys dont have any gamesto be talking about. So when they here they are outselling Wii its the only positive that they can brag about.
"You're a fanboy" "No, you're a fanboy" "I can't be a fanboy, I have more than one machine" "I'm not a fanboy, I own a PC" "Fanboy" "Fanboy" "Stupid Fanboy" Etc. etc.
How come these pointless stories always produce the most comments?
If we look at the facts it boils down to that Wii has pretty much sold out the world over and Nintendo are unable to keep up with demands. If PS3 could not overtake a console that is in little supply vs its surplus supply Id be very surprised indeed.
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all my games were from over here. Don't think there were any US or Jap devs for the Amiga. US Gold and Virgin pretty much converted everything over for me 
Can you name 10 please? Ive not seen that many & if it has its only got 2 worth a purchase IMO - Ratchet & Clank & Uncharted
