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One million Wii units at launch in North America

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Lethal_B @ Sep 25, 2006 03:17 | 15 comments

According to Ron Bertram, vice president and general manager of Nintendo Canada, there will be 1 million Wii consoles available at its November 19 launch date, compared to 400,000 Sony Playstation 3 consoles.

"We’re looking at a million (units) for North America at launch. When Sony came out (with their PS3 announcement), they said 300,000," told Bertram. (Actually Sony said 400,000).

Speaking in an interview with Mackenzie Financial, he added, "If we get what we're supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch in the 15 years I've been at Nintendo. All signs are actually extremely positive".

It's one thing to have a million consoles, but selling that amount is a different ball game. Sony, on one hand, has the advantage of a predecessor (Playstation 2) which has sold over 100 million units worldwide; and it's that past success which has given Sony a loyal army of fans. Nintendo on the other hand, might have difficulties convincing the general gamers to get a Wii at launch.

Source:

Digital Battle

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Comments

Comment by: nitrous3 (Sep 25, 2006 07:05)

not too many

Comment by: akkuma (Sep 25, 2006 07:50)

hopefully nintendo will launch the wii with thier best titles! zelda, metroid, etc. in the past we had to wait months after the release of the system to play zelda.

Comment by: halfhere (Sep 25, 2006 10:58)

i am actually kinda looking forward to this.

Comment by: Retro_rc (Sep 25, 2006 11:05)

until when shall we wait to be able to play legal backups

i also heard u can play gamecube games on it

that'll make sure the gamecube COUGH COUGH legal-backup secene will get a boost

Comment by: esrever (Sep 25, 2006 13:03)

That really doesn't seem like alot at all. You figure if each store that has preorders in stock is at around a thousand units, thats around a thousand stores in North America, not just the US...there will definately be more demand than supply IMO.

Comment by: Pop_Smith (Sep 25, 2006 13:10)

:) W00T! Go Nintendo! Nintendo is old school and I believe that they will fill their promises. I personally am getting a Wii, it will take time to get used to the new controlling but with hot titles such as Zelda (which doesn't use the cell shading (or whatever its called) technique like Wind Waker did) I believe it will be easy to pick up and master in a small amount of time.

Comment by: psyantist (Sep 25, 2006 14:55)

Some people might think that is a Wii too many but I think it is just right!

Comment by: Ankoku (Sep 25, 2006 15:33)

Im really looking forward to getting a Wii, either at release or possible waiting until February. The problem with releasing a million at launch is that you kind of overflow the market. The reason Microsoft and Sony release such small quantities is because they want demand to be high for a year or more. The good thing about Nintendo's strategy is that they get their item on the market, before people can make judgements about their motion sensor idea. Could be a brilliant move, may be a bad move, only time will tell

Comment by: oofRome (Sep 25, 2006 17:46)

My friend who works at gamestop said he got about 30 calls from Nintendo fans in the first hour the store opened on september 14. (when launch date and price were revealed).

If there are too many available at launch, it certainly won't be where I live.

Comment by: bomber991 (Sep 26, 2006 03:43)

<i>he problem with releasing a million at launch is that you kind of overflow the market. The reason Microsoft and Sony release such small quantities is because they want demand to be high for a year or more.</i>

Well, I don't know about that. I did want an xbox360 when it came out, and I wanted one up unti the end of January. By then, I had run out of extra money to spend on one, and don't really care for it anymore.

Comment by: borhan9 (Sep 26, 2006 07:44)

The only way i see the Wii even competing with the ps3. Although their price is reasonable in comparison. The Wii console needs to be really powerful in the graphics department and have a great variety of games available for the game console.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 26, 2006 08:36)

borhan9

Come on the WII is in line to throwen this time unless SOny drops the PS3 price...with they do and don't at the same time...so far SOny is padding up the fall in japan....it dosen't look bleak mind you....but Sony right now is making MS look good...

Comment by: oofRome (Sep 26, 2006 14:16)

Quote:
The only way i see the Wii even competing with the ps3. Although their price is reasonable in comparison. The Wii console needs to be really powerful in the graphics department and have a great variety of games available for the game console.

Quote:
The only way i see the DS even competing with the PSP. Although their price is reasonable in comparison. The DS console needs to be really powerful in the graphics department and have a great variety of games available for the game console.

deja vu

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Sep 26, 2006 18:41)

oofRome
preach it!
Quality pawns graphics (altho its not a sure thing for consoles ><)

FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
"Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."
Looking to swap analog sticks on a PS2 pad,need some help or info
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/398201#2403533

Comment by: oofRome (Sep 27, 2006 00:10)

Quote:
(altho its not a sure thing for consoles ><)

I'm sure the NES, SNES/GENESIS, PS1, and PS2 can attest that quality really does trumph graphics.