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"Another month of Next Gen sales..."

...another month on top for the Wii in the US.

The Wii was selling 259,000 units. Xbox 360 U.S. unit sales were
199,000 in March and Sony's PlayStation 3 unit sales of 130,000. PlayStation 2 is still seeing strong sales with 280,000 units. Still ahead of the Xbox 360.

So PS3 is picking up a bit, but still underperforming against the 360 and Wii. Many people predict the Wii sales will slow once the 'gimmick' dies out, but if new games continue to use the Wii Remote in inventive ways and Nintendo keep appealing to new audiences, it should be able to hold its own, even if it slips out of first place. However, there doesn't seen to be any danger of this at present.

The PS3 will no doubt pick up sales once Sony get their act together and release some decent exclusive titles (or drop the price of the console a bit more).

[URL]http://biffovision.blogspot.com/2007/04/spiked.html[/URL]

Sony's Phil Harrison gets pwned.

I'm not explaining it anymore than that: just read it, it's funny.

I wish I had 800 points worth of money to use each week!

Kawada wrote:
> Hedfix wrote:
> Thing is: 800 points is about a weeks pocket money to a lot of
> kids so I really can't see the problem: if you don't want it
> then don't pay for it.
>
>
> Yea that's fine as long as the content doesn't affect anything
> but when it's new maps or something and you try to go online but
> can't because you don't have that content that others are using,
> that's when it becomes a pain.

Yep, but Ubi have been doing that since Rainbow Six on the Xbox. At-least now they (and activision) have put in a 'match my packages' option into the games searches to help people out. I think people with the content can join the games of those who don't have the content but not vice-versa.

So the best way to get around content problems on Ubi games is to host the game yourself. Not helpful for 16+ matches with your friends but good enough for terrorist hunts etc. :)

2 PS3 games in the top 20? Oh dear.

I know Sony-bashing is a recognised sport now, but I do hope they make some sort of recovery soon. Choice is always good in the console market.

Even in Asia, though, where Sony hoped to win big over the terrible 360 sales, the PS3 isn't that far ahead. The Wii just seems to be dancing around them with a waggly finger and a sticky-out tongue. How long that momentum stays in motion is up to Nintendo and their pursual of new Wii games that make the remote interesting, as well as continued interest by 3rd parties to make decent new games, rather than remakes with a little remote waving added in.

IGN:

"Sales data from the NPD Group has reached us at IGN, and the PS3 can finally claim a strong month for software sales. The arrival of Motorstorm in March ushered in a new era for PlayStation 3 early adopters. The game sold a respectable 199,075 units in March, securing its spot as the fifth best-selling game last month.

Besides Motorstorm, this month's top 20 was pretty much dominated by PS2 and Xbox 360 software. We know what you're thinking: Guitar Hero II came out on April 3, so why is it being included in NPD's March data? The reason is because NPD follows a 4-5-4 retail calendar, so the period this data is from covers March 4 to April 7. That means between April 3 and 7, almost 300k Xbox 360 owners picked up a copy of GHII. Whoa. The only other PS3 game to crack the top 20 was Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which sold remarkably well, especially considering the game came out on Xbox 360 a year ago.

Here are the top 10 best-selling PlayStation 3 titles for March 2007:

1. MotorStorm (Sony Computer Entertainment)
2. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda)
3. Def Jam Icon (Electronic Arts)
4. Resistance: Fall of Man (Sony Computer Entertainment)
5. NBA Street Homecourt (Electronic Arts)
6. Major League Baseball 2K7 (2K Games)
7. Virtua Fighter 5 (SEGA)
8. The Godfather: The Don's Edition (Electronic Arts)
9. Formula One Championship Edition (Sony Computer Entertainment)
10. Armored Core 4 (SEGA)

And here are the top 20 overall best-selling games of March 2007:

1. God of War II (PS2) Sony
2. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (360) Ubisoft
3. Guitar Hero 2 W/ Guitar (360) Red Octane/Activision
4. Wii Play (Wii) Nintendo
5. MotorStorm (PS3) Sony
6. Major League Baseball 2k7 (360) 2K Games
7. MLB '07: The Show (PS2) Sony
8. Def Jam Icon (360) Electronic Arts
9. Guitar Hero 2 W/Guitar (PS2) Red Octane/Activision
10. God of War (PS2) Sony
11. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PS2) Rockstar
12. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Wii) Electronic Arts
13. Crackdown (360) Microsoft
14. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) Sega
15. TMNT (PS2) Ubisoft
16. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) Nintendo
17. Gears of War (360) Microsoft
18. Major League Baseball 2K7 (PS2) 2K Games
19. Warioware: Smooth Moves (Wii) Nintendo
20. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3) Bethesda"

\Trawl for spin

IGN:

"Wii and DS Take March
Nintendo's systems beat out nearly all competitors for yet another month.
by Matt Casamassina
US, April 19, 2007 - According to new monthly software sales data released by the NPD Group, Nintendo's DS handheld and Wii console were the number-one and number-three best-selling videogame systems for the month of March. Nintendo's machines have owned the charts for the last three months. More than 500,000 people bought a DS and 260,000 a Wii in March. DS was the overall number-one best-seller and Wii trailed behind PlayStation 2, whose sales were spurred by the release of God of War 2, by 30,000 units.

According to Nintendo, Wii has sold through more than a million systems in America alone during the first three months of the New Year and DS has managed sell-through of 1.25 million for the same period. "Wii remains the fastest-selling new console in more than a decade, based on NPD sell-through information over the last five months of availability," Nintendo stated in a release.

"The message delivered by both Wii and Nintendo DS is the same one," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president, Nintendo of America. "Innovation is compelling both current gamers and new gamers to experience a new way to play. Nintendo is bringing gaming back to the masses."

Nintendo said that Wii hardware shipments are expected to grow over the next month and beyond as a result of increased production.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console sold almost 200,000 units in March. PSP managed 180,000 units and PlayStation 3 continued to lag behind all others with sales of 130,000.

"So far this year, Nintendo has sold more video game systems than all other manufacturers combined," the company stated."

----------------------------

Next up, the Sony spin, if there is any.

*Attempts to kick life back into the thread*

IGN:

"March NPD numbers were released yesterday, and each of the big 3 console manufacturers has spent all morning scrambling to spin the results in its own favor. Microsoft happily announced this morning that it has continued to lead Sony's next-gen offering in sales with a total of 199K units sold in March. Microsoft made no mention of the Wii's March sales figures.

Microsft reps went on to boast of the console's attach rate, with on average 5.7 games sold per console for the month of March. Microsoft was quick to attribute these sales to several of its top-selling titles, namely Def Jam: Icon, Guitar Hero II, Major League Baseball 2K7, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

Microsoft seemed particularly giddy regarding the success of the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II, which sold a whopping 291,000 units after only five days on store shelves. The company is quite clearly reveling in stealing a major exclusive from Sony, stating, "Games like Guitar Hero II that were once PlayStation exclusives are now enabling consumers to have more choices when it comes to platform selection, while also broadening our portfolio of games that appeal to customers of all ages."

Looking forward, Microsoft mentioned a number of licensed titles that it expects to have wide appeal through the summer. The company expects Shrek the Third, Spiderman 3, and Pirate's of the Caribbean all to have appeal to a broad audience. The company also reiterated the imminent April 29 release of the Xbox 360 Elite."

So really, in America, the PS2 is *still* the top-selling console?

FFS!


I'm not really keeping up with the whole thing any more. But it's nice to hear how everyones' doing.

Microsoft targeted Korea with a "What's wrong with you?" Slogan/Ad campaign listing why the 360 was very good.

Apparently it totally missed the mark with the market they were aiming for. A bit like if MS targeted us with 'You've only bought HOW many 360s? BUY MORE, IDIOTS!"

I'm sure there's a link/page to/with the ads somewhere but I can't be bothered to find it.

Microsoft just haven't really put the effort in with asia, the xbox brand is very much a western brand and is aimed accordingly by the types of games they release.

Someone on another site was saying that there are very few xbox 360 games that they bother to translate in to japanese so turning away even more of the market.

This could be partially why the ps3 seems to be struggling as they are trying to keep up with the 360 in terms of the types of games they deliver and the general direction of the system.