For the Wiin

[kickaha]

Just ran across this nifty chart showing sales of the Wii, XBox 360, and PS3.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php

Note total Wii sales passing total 360 sales in the previous week or so.

Now here's one aligning launch dates, with two things to note: slope of PS3 sales is almost identical to slope of 360 sales. ie, neither is really selling better, the 360 just had a one year lead. Secondly, slope of Wii is, um, a bit steeper.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&align=1

Even if the data is off by a few % pts here and there, it's kind of stunning.

Comments

[tealynx.livejournal.com]

In support of your argument, I read somewhere (NYT? WSJ?) in the last week that they expect gamers to increase in the US by as much as 50% in the next 5 years. Almost all of that increase will come from those that haven't been gamers finding there's something in it for them. Research in to the Wii implies that a huge amount of it's growth is in the new customers, people that weren't gaming before, that are attacked by the ease and fun of the system.

It stands to reason that if the gaming industry is going to keep growing it needs to bring in new blood, people that have lived with gaming their whole lives but never been that interested. Which means lots of options, serving not only the high end gamer, but also the casual and very occasional ones. And making it like the old arcade experience.

I have to admit, the Wii gets a lot more playtime around here than any of the other consouls. By a wide margin.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I like it because I can put it *down*. I get sucked into episodic games like nobody's business. (Myst? Two days of nothing but, and I was done. The only reason I didn't plow through Lego Star Wars II on a pretty continuous basis was because ginkgo and I were playing together, and she tended to nod off around 3am... I have no idea why, of course...)

But picking up the Wii for 15-20 minutes, as a break? That's nice.