Nintendo Wii sets record as fastest-selling console in the US
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jun 12th 2009 4:13PM
posted Jun 12th 2009 4:13PM
[Via Joystiq]
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Let's see how many fanbois come bashing Nintendo now...
You're just trying to start a flame-war. Please don't.
I hates me Nintendo!
I loves me Nintendo!
i was bashing wiis before it was popular
FANBOIS FIGHT!!!
I got popcorn!
I dunno about the Wii, but I LOVE your avatar.
tehehe~~ zan kyu ^_^
It's not that meaningful a number, really.
Most of the units they're going to sell of the other consoles have already been sold, because they've been out far longer.
Nintendo does have a lock on the fitness market, though, and it's paying off.
Whether people will actually use them...another question.
Natal FTW.
fastest sold - least used.
I dunno, I can go hours playing smash bros with the mates and girlfriend
i would love it if there was some scientific poll that shows just how many people actually use their wii. im sure the ratio of wiis sold/wiis used would be laughable. i really wish that i had spent my money somewhere else.
Rudy: But then again, why would Nintendo care? They made the money, now you can use it any way you want. Console for shovelware with hard to find gems, doorstop, dust collector...
They are used a lot, just not by regular gamers.
When you said used a lot, did you mean as paper weights or as dust collectors?
I use my Wii all the time, I'm still trying to find some justification for the hype and my purchase 2.5 years ago, I'm just not finding any. I rent game after game and they continue to completely disappoint.
True I never use my wii only for about a week when i got it but now its just sitting there on standby while I play on my 360 and PS3
@Rudy:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/neilsen-report-ranks-gaming-usage-for-wii-ps3-and-xbox-360-con/
@Aguiluz
Nintendo cares very much who uses the console after purchase. It's no secret manufacturers lose money on the console, but make it up on games. If no one is playing with the Wii, then no one is buying the games, and Nintendo is out a bunch of money.
greggo: Nintendo doesn't roll that way. They were making a $6 per console profit off the Wii at launch, and it's probably more than that now.
We're just biding our time...waiting patiently for Gladiator A.D, the conduit, new super mario bros., dead space extraction, metroid: other m, super mario galaxy 2, TMNT:smashup, NMH 2, Legend of Zelda,...in the meantime we'll just play TW:10 which should be sports game of the year. hands down.
It can be used more than the xbox360 that turns into an oven after a few hours of play.
Wii!
Boy I love Nintendo!
Boy howdy I do too!
please define "console". Is iPhone 3G a mobile gaming console as well? If so, they have no record at all as 3G got 40 MIO in 12 months
You're stupid. Go troll on TUAW.
It's 40 mil TOTAL. That's iPhones (both gens) and iPod touches, not just 3Gs. And consoles are in a different market than handhelds. The DS dominates that market.
Boy...let's not bring in Gameboy/DS please...
Keep the trolling to a common sense minimum. Thanks
iDave, please explain what's that supposed to mean.
I don't have one.
I wish they would just drop the price already, but I guess there's no need too when sales are up.
isn't this really old news?
is it also the hardest to find at launch too? yes.
Hopefully the amount of people that buy consoles goes up each generation.... good thing the wii is pulling in tons of people in for next gen- when the true battle will be. More people = more games sold = more monies for developers = more and better games (in theory...)
Maybe Nintendo should pay for the next bailout....
I play my Dreamcast more than my Wii. I hate that piece of shit.I only got it because my girlfriend likes it, and for the 1st party games (whenever those come out after waiting for Jesus to come back)
i dont get it, the wii is such a piece of trash, these sales numbers just illustrate what a bunch of sheeple 95% of the human race are. I always hear these pathedic morons in these threads saying "i cant justify the purchase; it is just collecting dust; i dont know why i bought this; i cant find any good games; the graphics are horrible" i feel zero pitty for them. They just prove my point. Don't people research their purchases before hand? Are they all realllllly that braindead? Its just bizarre that with such a garbage system, with such low end hardware, with such crap games, and such gimmicky controls. that people are still flocking to it,
Boring, really boring
Wow...good thing you're not the head of any major business.
You'd have them making no money at all.
Nintendo is reaching for the Blue Ocean demographic. Those who normally didn't play games.
It's a strategy that even Apple does.
Simple, cheap, and pretty. That's all it is.
Same as with the iPhone. There are better systems out there...but none provide the simplicity, beauty, and cheapness of them.
Nintendo are geniuses when it comes to selling a game system and making one.
Even with the "commercially" failed Gamecube...Nintendo was the ONLY company to make a profit from day one till the end.
So clearly they're doing something right.
And lets not bring into the picture how the DS is KILLING all handheld competition..
i know! it is such a boring console! why would they buy it!
iDavey: Actually, what's significant this generation is that Nintendo ISN'T killing the PSP. They're beating it on sales, of course, but Sony has carved out a niche of their own and are making decent profits. Whereas previous competitors have all been crushed.
the ds has done phenomenal, but yes in no way has it "killed the competitors" psp has been succesful in its own market, and lets not forget the iphone, ipod touch success, 40m units is great, and im sure maybe half of those are being used for gaming, maybe more , maybe less, still a great new platform. There is room in the market now for several platforms which is great in the end for the consumer. Competition is good.
My beef is really with the people who buy the wii and then complain afterwards about it being trash. It seems obvious to me, but maybe thats because I read.
@unboring
Gimmicky controls? Good thing the competition didn't buy into it....oh wait.
I still don't get why people keep bringing the iPhone/iTouch into these type of topics. Do you honestly believe those 40 million bought the iPhone/iTouch to play games like the 100+ million did for the DS?
It's the pressure from the little tykes, Daddy and Mommy just can't say no to their munchkins. Whether they play with it or not, Nintendo will gladly take their money and swim on their multi-millions in sales. He He
WWOOOOOO WWWWWIIIIIIIIII! hot cakes for sure
"with the latest NPD figures indicating that the Wii has become the fastest-selling console ever in the United States"
EVER!??!?!?! As in, OF ALL TIME!?!?!?!!?!!!!!!111111oneoneoneone
*Does Jon Stewart flailing of hands*
I don't understand the humor in your comment. Is it supposed to be funny?
No, it's not. And explaining would make it even less funny.
So I shall!
To say the Wii is the fastest selling game console "ever" excludes the possibility that there will be an even faster selling game console in the future. Thus, if/when an even faster selling game console comes out in the future, I shall be back to gloat that the writer of this article was wrong.
Y'kmow, if I'm not dead or anything.
it sets records selling the fastest and staying off the longest in my case.
i seriously havent played it more than 2 times this year.
...but will it run Crysis? @_o
Execute Command Line: Bash Console
--- ERROR. DOCUMENTED UNITS EXCEED PERAMETERS.
Execute Command Line: Console Purchasers are Sheep
--- ERROR. 'SHEEP' NOT A DEFINABLE PERAMETER. REQUEST FAILED.
We've established two things: I don't remember how DOS operates, and Nintendo doesn't really care how often you play your Wii. Except that their software sales are strong too... *Shrug* I'm out of ideas.
I put Homebrew to cure the Wii boredom ;-)
Oops. I think you guys posted a 2008 article.
Nintendo were the first to unlock the door that was holding non - gamers back from buying games... and look what massive records they set. Next up.. Natal
"20 million consoles sold after just 31 months on the market, although that number is of course just a small part of the more than 50 million consoles shipped worldwide..."
OK. Admittedly I'm no math major but according to these figures the United States accounts for 40% of world-wide sales. As of last December, there had been a total of 7 million Wiis sold in Japan. Assuming the same pace of sales since then (sales have been slowing), there are still significantly more Wiis sold in the U.S. than in Japan.
Strange that 40% of a world market "a small part."
blah, wii is still wiik...
see what i did there.
I just got tiger woods pga tour 2010 for the wii with the wii motion plus atatchment and ihonestly say the wii is not garbage.
If more games take advantage of wii motion plus and developers make games artistic then the wii wont be garbage anymore.
I bet the same people bashing the wii are the same ones rooting for natal.
Isn't it obvious? It's the cheapest one at launch. Paired that with the frequent "sold out" status to drum out news and hype. Not only that, all Wiis come with a game out of the box. One can bash Nintendo, but now everybody is trying to come up with motion controller.
I think I have a new quote here, "Not only that, all Wiis come with a game out of the box." LOL =D
i dont know.......i play Call of Duty world at war EVERY damn day on the wii.........i just love the controls with the wii zapper!
Congrats Nintendo, but we all know the Wii was in a way a test to see how it would work. It is just a glorified GameCube with motion controls. I can't wait for Wii HD with 1:1 controls, You will have a great console with HD graphics, a more refined 1:1 controller and all the game franchises. I mean what else do you need? If Xbox has Natal, and Sony has the new eyetoy motion control, I am sure for Wii HD Nintendo has something planed which will surprise us all. After more or less 3 years I am still loving my Wii. Yea there could be better games on it but the 40 or so games I do have satisfy me. Just goes to show how Nintendo leads the way, with the fact that some though the motion control was stupid, most people thought it was great, and now Xbox and Sony copying them. Didn't Nintendo say the future would not be graphics but interface. Look how Sony and Microsoft scramble to get their own. I still love the way the Wii remote and nunchuck feel, its as natural as a regular controller. Soon we have a Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros., A new Metroid, and new Zelda all on the way.
I don't know, I used to be the biggest Nintendo fan ever (Hence the "N" in my online alias going on 13 years now), I even loved the GameCube. But the Wii, I don't know. I haven't really had any fun on it. I've had some "Yeah, that's neat I guess" moments. But nothing anywhere near as amazing as the experiences I've gotten in games like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead, Halo 3, Oblivion, and others.
I'm going to start playing Okami sometime in the next couple weeks, and I'm hoping that will change my mind. But then again, it's just a PS2 port...