PS3 Beats Xbox 360, but Wii Outsells All

Sony eeks out another win over Microsoft's Xbox 360 console in the month of May, while Nintendo reigns supreme with Wii and DS sales.


PS3 Beats Xbox 360, but Wii Outsells All

NPD figures for the month of May show PlayStation 3 outsold Xbox 360. A mere 22k separated the two consoles, hardly putting a dent in Microsoft's huge lead over the battle for total sales. 208,000 PS3 consoles were purchased last month and 186,000 Xbox 360s were snatched up by gamers. To date, 19 million Xbox 360s have sold worldwide compared against 13 million PlayStation 3s.

Unsurprisingly, both consoles were obliterated by Wii at 675,000. Even Nintendo DS performed better than either PS3 or Xbox 360, generating more sales than both consoles combined with 452,000 handhelds sold. Nintendo pushed through over a million game systems during May, which nearly doubles PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP sales combined. Counting PlayStation 2 sales and Nintendo still boasted larger sales.

Hand-in-hand with Wii and DS were solid game sales. Seven of the top ten selling games in May were on either platform. Mario Kart Wii took second place with 787,000 copies in a photo-finish behind the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV with 871k. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GTA IV were the only games to make the list for those consoles.

Birthday Post: Pokemon Platinum Version Leaked

A low-resolution cell phone photo appears that announces Pokémon Platinum that features Giratina.

Pokemon Platinum Version Leaked

A low-resolution cell phone photo appears to show a page from the June issue of CoroCoro that announces Pokémon Platinum, a new Nintendo DS game that features Giratina. Because the magazine has not yet been released, the authenticity of the photo has not been confirmed.
The page offers screen shots from the game that show a new overworld scene and a new in-battle scene for Giratina. The male protagonist from Diamond and Pearl is wearing a blue outfit.
According to a rumor quoted by blue skY, the game will be released in Japan in September. Those who reserve the game in advance will receive a ticket to get an egg that will hatch into a Shinx that knows a special move. The eighth gym leader, Volkner, will be replaced, and a Battle Frontier-like area will be added.

Nintendo Still Racking Profilts

Nintendo racked up a record operating and net profit in the fiscal year ended in March

Japan's Nintendo Operating Profit More than Doubles on Strong Game Sales

With still strong demand for its portable and home-use video game consoles and game software, Japanese video game maker, Nintendo, racked up a record operating and net profit in the fiscal year ended in March. The company's operating profit jumped to 487.22 billion yen, or $4.7 billion, from 226.02 billion yen in the previous year.

Although the growth in net profit was much slower than operating income due to the company incurred foreign exchange losses, the Kyoto-based maker of Wii and DS said net profit rose 47.7 percent to 257.34 billion yen. A rapid appreciation of yen hurts Nintendo as it reduces the value of foreign currency-denominated assets, which it reevaluates according to the exchange rate at the end of each fiscal year.

Revenue increased 73 percent to a record 1.67 trillion yen.

Nintendo said global sales of its Nintendo DS dual-screen portable game consoles rose to 30.31 million units from 23.56 million. The company also delivered 18.61 million Wii consoles, up from 5.84 million units in the previous year. Sales of both consoles exceeded the company's targets.

Accumulated sales of Nintendo DS reached 70.6 million units, making it the world's best-selling portable game machine. Wii had accumulated sales of 24.45 million units, making it the top-selling home-use game console, above Microsoft's Xbox360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Sony has long dominated the global home-use, standalone game console market with its PSOne and PlayStaion2, but due to the lack of strong game titles and relatively high price, PS3 has so far lagged behind the rival formats in terms of sales.

For the current year to March 2009, Nintendo aims to achieve another set of record earnings and sales.

Nintendo is expecting net profit to rise 26.3 percent to 325 billion yen, operating profit to climb 8.8 percent to 530 billion yen, and sales to be up 7.6 percent to 1.80 trillion yen.

The forecast assumes that the dollar will stand at 100 yen at the end of March 2009, down from 100.19 yen at the end of March 2007, and the euro will stand at 155 yen, compared to 158.19 yen. Based on those rates, the company expects a forex loss of 12 billion yen. Nintendo aims to sell 28 million Nintendo DSs, and 25 million Wiis this fiscal year.

'Because the sales of Nintendo Wii have already topped what is considered to be the up-limit line, it is not realistic to see any further growth in Japan,' spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa told Thomson Financial News. 'But given the fact that DS is in a state of supply shortage outside Japan, we can expect sales growth in overseas markets,' he said.

Wii Leading in Japan's Game Market

Console sales grow 13.4 percent in 2007, led by the cheaper Wii, says a new report.

Wii Leads Jump in Japan's Game Market

The console game market in Japan grew 13.4 percent in 2007 thanks largely to the popularity of Nintendo's Wii, according to a report due to be published on Friday.

The entire game console market was worth ¥685 billion (US$6.9 billion) in 2007, with the hardware and software markets about evenly matched. In the previous year the software side of the market had led the industry but the sector was rebalanced last year due to the availability of the Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, said Media Create in its annual "Game Market White Paper."

The PlayStation 3 launched on Nov. 11, 2006, and the Wii hit store shelves in Japan on Dec. 2, 2006, but early popularity of the consoles meant that many sales were delayed until 2007. Price cuts for the PlayStation 3, which was criticized early on for being too expensive, also helped boost sales later in 2007.

Total hardware sales rose 31 percent to $3.48 billion and software sales were virtually unchanged at $3.39 billion, according to the report. The estimates are based on point-of-sales system data gathered by Media Create from hundreds of retailers in Japan.

"Sales of Wii software rose strongly but those for the PlayStation 2 fell so they offset each other," said Kenichi Chiba, an analyst at the Tokyo company.

The Wii has been credited with revitalizing Japan's console game market and expanding the gaming population -- the number of people who regularly play video games. Its innovative wireless and motion sensitive controller and a low price have been key to attracting many people who might otherwise not have bought a game console. The Wii currently sells in Japan for $250, versus $400 for the PlayStation 3.

Sales of the console totaled 1.1 million in the few weeks of 2006 during which it was on sale, and 3.9 million during 2007 to take total Japan sales to 5 million units by the end of the year, Nintendo said.

The Wii remains popular. In the week from March 10 to 16 the Wii was the number two-selling games device in Japan with sales of 55,845 units, according to Media Create. In first place was Nintendo's handheld DS with sales of 57,651 units.

Nintendo Number One

For the first time in years, Nintendo displaced Sony as the leader in video game consoles


Wii Love Nintendo

For the first time in years, Nintendo displaced Sony as the leader in video game sales. This quarter, said a new market report on Tuesday, Nintendo's sales of Wii and DS was up 31 percent from the second quarter of this year. That's more than double the amount than the sales in the year prior. This news marks the first time Nintendo has accomplished this feat since first being displaced by Sony with the release of the new Playstation 1, compared to Nintendo 64.

The combined sales of Wii and DS, according to iSupply, totaled US$1.2 billion during the third quarter of 2007. Sony's PSP, PS2, and PS3 combined sales was $1.0 billion on the same period. Microsoft, however, reached $318 million for the combined sales of the original Xbox and the new Xbox 360.

Because of the slow move of Sony to reduce the prices of its products and produce compelling games, third-party game publishers are moving towards a different platform. If this continues, developers may feel that working with Nintendo outweighs the benefits of working with Sony.