Wii hits two million mark

Sales of Nintendo´s Wii console have surpassed the two million mark, according to AMN´s Videogame Charts. Here are their current figures:

Xbox360
0,27m Japan
4,41m Americas
1,94m Others
6,62m in total

Wii
0,60m Japan
0,99m Americas
0,49m Others
2,08m in total

PlayStation3
0,31m Japan
0,48m Americas
0,00m Others
0,79m in total

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The other site playing the numbers game, NexGenWars, paints quite a different picture, particularly for the Xbox360:

Xbox360
8,60m in total

Wii
1,77m in total

PlayStation3
0,46m in total

Even with the latter figures, Nintendo is not far away from having sold two million consoles. If they can sustain this pace, Nintendo has a real chance of becoming market leader by the summer. But, of course, it is too early to tell until all three consoles are readily available.

Sources: Videogame Charts, NexGenWars

Upgraded Wii to be released in spring?

Nintendo may be readying an upgraded Wii to be released in spring, which will cost $50 less and feature more colours, new rumours suggest.

eSports site GotFrag has apparently been given word by a store manager in a 'Toys "R" Us' outlet:

After talking to him a bit, the manager revealed a few things in light of the Wii consumer frenzy. He would go on to state that if they [the customers] would "just listen," they could get a "better system" in a few months.

A "better system?" As he would soon explain, Nintendo will be "relaunching" the Wii console sometime before or at the beginning of Spring 2007. The launch, which is said to see many different colors for the Wii system (as seen at E3), will also be accompanied by a hefty price drop from $250 to $200. (...)

Also note that it is undetermined if the "better system" statement includes technical upgrades to the Wii, as recent rumors have suggested.

While a DVD-enabled Wii has been confirmed for Japan, I seriously doubt that we will see an upgraded console for a reduced price so soon after launch. Also, a store manager would not be in on this, while the big news outlets appear to be clueless.

Perhaps there was some confusion here with Nintendo's recall of wrist straps. Most convincingly, though, I believe that Nintendo - still struggling to meet demands - will not burden itself with releasing more colours, further exaggerating the shortages for everyone who insists on matched accessories. And, finally, previous purchasers would surely feel cheated if they could have gotten a much better deal less than half a year later (remember the Xbox launch debacle).

Source: GotFrag
Thanks to: TheSmashMan

European PS3 launch delayed further?

I have come across a new comment that gives rise to further speculation that Sony will delay the European launch of the PlayStation3 further. Speaking to The Associated Press (via Yahoo), Sony Corp. President Ryoji Chubachi made no mention of the March release date:

Sony also expects to meet its shipment target of 6 million PS3 ready by the end of the fiscal year ending March and will launch its next generation system in Europe as soon as possible, Chubachi said.

In early September, Sony pushed back the European launch from November 17th, naming March 2007 as the new date. Two months later, Phil Harrison declined to confirm that date, speaking to semi-official PlayStation blog Three Speech:

Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that. It’s not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up.

The blog later updated the story, quoting Sony officials as saying that the comments had been taken out of context.

A few days ago, though, Ken Kutaragi was quoted as saying that the European launch may be pushed back until May 2007. Again, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe responded to these fresh rumours, categorically ruling them out.

Now, Chubachi´s comments seem to give further credence to the console´s European launch being delayed beyond March.


I will go out on a limb here and state that Sony will not meet March. They might try to launch nevertheless, but I do not think they can rally more than 100.000 units. In my opinion, it would be wiser to delay again and have a sufficient shipment in place.

Also, consider that these delay rumours mostly came from SCEI, while SCEE did all the debunking. This is Sony Japan shafting Europe once again.

EDIT The good people at CVG are citing an anonymous source as saying that the European PS3 launch may even be delayed until September.

Sources: The Associated Press (via Yahoo), Three Speech