You'll shoot your eye out!
Posted on 12/18/2006 12:26:42 PM PST by BulletBobCo
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- We all know the new Nintendo Wii is the number one present to give this holiday season. You've heard the stories of those who camp out in front of stores the night before shipments come in, or those who pay double the cost on eBay. It's obvious that people will do almost anything to get their hands on this hot new item.
I found myself waiting for a Nintendo Wii one late afternoon. A massive shipment had just come in that morning and the line didn't look too unbearable, so I decided to wait and try my chances at getting one for my boyfriend. Since it was a little late in the day, I knew the odds were against me, but for some strange reason, I was feeling optimistic. (Snip) Closer and closer until finally, I was handed a white box. (Snip) I was shaking with excitement and felt like this was one great day.
While paying at the register, the man handling the Wii's said very loudly to the line full of people still waiting, "Sorry folks, that's it. There's no more for today." Instantly I started hearing groans and seeing other disappointing gestures. (Snip) All at once, I felt their angry, jealous eyes shift focus to me. To them, I was an easy target. But I felt confident that I could deal with angry Christmas shoppers. (Snip) I was caught off guard in a game of tug-a-war when a security guard intervened and rescued me from the chaos.
He took me outside. And the crowd followed.
The security guard flagged a police car. I thankfully jumped in. And it was a police escort for me and my Wii back to work.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Computer games beat the poop out of watching TV. No commercials and you get to be involved rather than just sit there. I bought an Xbox 3 years ago for $150 and the last game I bought was $3.99 used. For the rainy Sat. morning or weeknight, you can't beat that.
Also, plenty of folks aren't the hard core nerdy gamers that get showcased in news articles. For those of us who don't particularly care for college or professional sports, it can be a good diversion.
Am I the only one here who finds this utter greed to be sickening? I can very well understand wanting to provide a nice Christmas for your kids and such...
But we wonder why our nation is drowning in debt.
WE wonder why our kids are selfish brats.
We look down at other folks for not having the "stuff" we have.
We wonder why society is so self-centered.
We wonder why retailers have fled from the term Christmas.
WE ...oh forget it...
The Christ child, laying in his manger for a bed - a most humble entrance to the world for the Savior of mankind. He grew up and ministered with that same humble servant's attitude, lived a perfect and UN-selfish life, died, and was raised again....
For people to act like selfish heathen this time of year?
"It's as if people having nothing left to live for but possessions."
For a lot of them, that's entirely true. We aren't doing the material celebration this year. We're too put off by the crass materialism. Each year seems to get worse.
The Wiis are going to be plentiful, just may be in short supply for Christmas. I can't imagine threatening somebody or blatantly trying to steal from them to get one. This may or may not have happened, but I'm inclined to believe there's some truth in the article. I've seen the same sort of frantic rummaging going on for other items the last couple of weeks.
They only fly at the TV or window, or other breakables, if you are dumb enough to swing it by the strap, which the instructions CLEARLY warn AGAINST.
These cases of Wii damage are just another case of stupid people doing stupid things... much like whoever the idiots were who were washing their hair in the shower and using the blowdrier at the same time, meriting the huge warning labels on all bathroom appliances...
I don't have a game console. Never have.
But the Wii looks very interesting and very fun.
It's the first game console I am seriously considering.
I agree with this general statement, but I think we have to withhold judgment on .mp3s until a little ways down the road. Apple is having great success right now with its iPod and iTunes, though perhaps its DRM scheme will come back to bite it in the butt.
You'll shoot your eye out!
THATS BECAUSE NINTENDO DOESNT HAVE THE SUPPLY TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND.
If Nintendo had an overstock of 2 million units on top of the 1.8 million thats been sold like 360 and only managed to sale 1.8 million units on its launch then yeah you would actually have a point, but since its not comparable you dont have a real point. Nintendo is actually outpacing what the 360 did at launch.
THATS BECAUSE NINTENDO DOESNT HAVE THE SUPPLY TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND.
If Nintendo had an overstock of 2 million units on top of the 1.8 million thats been sold like 360 and only managed to sale 1.8 million units on its launch then yeah you would actually have a point, but since its not comparable you dont have a real point. Nintendo is actually outpacing what the 360 did at launch.
Also its rather useless to boast about installed base, Sega had sold 20 million Dreamcasts when it went under, thats over 13 million more than what 360 has sold to date.
Gamespot is notoriously bad on its ranking system. Zelda averaged 9.5 on reviews, yet Gamespot ranked it much lower.
Gamespot is notoriously bad on its ranking system. Zelda averaged 9.5 on reviews, yet Gamespot ranked it much lower. But that doesnt really matter because even if it was terrible it would still sale 6 million copies because of its franchise endearment to players.
Thank you for taking the time for a concise reply.....
I probably won't be able to find a Wii before Christmas so I'll focus in other gift area's until the rush is over......
Freeregards and Merry Christmas!
I've got no horse in this race. In fact, the only system I made any kind of attempt to buy was the Wii.
All the launches have been more or less equivalent in that whatever was produced was sold. I was surprised that the 360 has sold as well as it has since the Wii was launched. You can say that had they produced more Wiis they might have sold more - that's probably true. However it is impressive to consider what the 360 has done.
It may also stand to reason that with Nintendo's recent recall they may have released their system a bit too soon.
It is interesting that you mention the Dreamcast. I was a huge fan of the Dreamcast myself. Nintendo fans trumpeting their early victory may want to consider the Dreamcast - an excellent little system. It was the cheapest of the three relative consoles, it had an oustanding game library, and it had extensive developer support. It sold very well initially. Yet, the public ultimately chose both the PS2 and the Xbox - more expensive systems with more promise.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the PS3 winning this race as well. The Wii won't be able to keep up graphically, and one of the dumbest things Nintendo did was ignoring the ever-growing base of HDTV gamers.
There isnt any recall. They are offering free straps, but they have not declared a recall of any sort.
Graphics is a dead horse, they all said graphics from the PSP would crush the DS, and that the DS was too gimicky and kiddy to stand up to the PSP. Now 30 million sold later its Nintendo thats laughing.
I dont own a Nintendo, I do own an aging PS2, but I refuse to plunk down money on something that will eventually be forced to drop down into the 300 dollar range at some point.
I simply dont see PS3 doing so hot for its first year or so, at least in sheer numbers. I guess it will depend on the RPG's that any system gets in the end since they drive a systems furute for the most part.
I like Nintendo's approach to gaming. They are focusing on new markets, encouraging folks who otherwise would not play, to try video games. Non-gamers are intimdated by so many buttons on the controllers and fast-paced, dark first person shooters. Nintendo has created a simple format that users can pick up and have fun quickly.
Nintendo has put the fun factor back in gaming. Much closer to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell's "social gaming" perspective.
Well, Nintendo has acknowledged problems with the strap and with the DS connection. It may not be a formal recall but it is not good press.
Graphics is never a dead horse. I personally prefer gameplay to graphics but the majority of the target audience loves pretty graphics. There are plenty of bad games with good graphics that sold well.
You might be right about RPGs, and based on the past I would have to go with Sony on that one. Microsoft has struggled to retain solid RPG offerings since the Xbox launch and Nintendo has never been strong (outside of Zelda).
The PS3 will be a slow starter, no doubt. However, I think it will succeed based on Sony's already enormous (and quite enthusiastic to say the least) base.
I can't really comment on the staying power of the Wii until I play it. Once the novelty of the motion-sensitive controller wears off, the system will slow down. That's my intuition, though I have decided to hold off buying one until I get a chance to really play one in depth.
The Xbox 360 graphics are probably a hair better than the PS3 but that's because it's been out a year and it is a known architecture (unlike the IBM/Sony CBE).
The HDTV market continues to grow. I can assure you the lack of HD support for the Wii will cause problems within a year or two if it isn't already.
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