Subscribe by EmailHow Nintendo Got Its Groove Back
April 27, 2007 by Kiltak |Almost six months after the initial release, it is still near impossible to find a Nintendo Wii on an actual store shelf. All the local big box stores around where I live have had the same battered, empty demo boxes sitting on the shelves since November 30th of last year while Sony Playstation 3’s gather dust on the shelves. I’m not kidding either. I happen to work at a store that sells PS3s and although they sold well initially, we now have as many as six on our shelves at any given time with no one even looking in that direction. Not really surprising as everyone had heard of the success that resellers had, making loads of cash off selling their PS3s.
I would know…since I was one of them, buying eleven PS3s and selling each for as much as $3000 but what everyone failed to realize was that I did that on release day (actually, I bought all my PS3s on the November 16th…but shhhhh…) and all the crazy people willing to blow three grand would only do so to get it on the 17th. You wouldn’t believe the number of PS3 returns in January.
 |
That’s not the case with the Wii since the appeal stretches further than resellers. People didn’t buy Wii’s to hawk on eBay. At $249 bucks, they bought them for themselves. They cost less than half of a PS3’s $599 price tag and, I think this is incredibly important, there are actual good games available at launch whereas PS3 owners are stuck with playing Resistance over and over. CNN reports on this, other reasons and the thinking behind the Wii’s success since it wasn’t too long ago that Nintendo was lagging behind Sony and Microsoft.
Source: CNN
You Might Also Like:
- Nintendo Launches MyWiiStory.com
- $25 Dancing WALL-E Knows How to Groove
- Make way for the senior citizen Nintendo boxing champion
- New Star Wars MP3 player lets you groove to the Dark Side
I’m not even a gamer and I like the Wii
Yea, I’m lovin’ the Wii also!
I must say, I now harbor some animosity toward you as a reseller. I wish the people that got their hands on the product were the ones that wanted to use it as intended, not to use it for financial gain. Then again, congrats on making it work for you.
I’ve got a Wii and not a PS3. I’ll agree with the above and say that I do like it quite a bit. I find myself playing Wii when friends are over, and sticking to games on my PS2 when I’m alone.
I purchased my PS3s the day before release and was able to flip them for a nice profit. I saw it as an opportunity to make money, just like day trading and other forms of investment. However, for every one of me, there were at least ten who weren’t able to sell their machine and had to return it, probably losing money and then those were available for people that actually wanted it.
So cheer up that there are still suckers that don’t know how to work the system.
Yes, the Wii is a very social system and much more fun with other people.
I love the wii as well! But, nintendo lost out in their DS compared to the PSP.
I got “twilight princess for my birthday today.
My wife knows me all too well….and she’s a gamer to!