Wii Wins Non-Gamers While PS3 Is Spited By Scalpers

By William Usher: 2007-01-01 00:00:00

Wii Wins Non-Gamers While PS3 Is Spited By Scalpers

For two gaming generations, it was apparent that Ebay was the very choice for scalpers to make a quick buck on new consoles. The Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 ushered in the real phases of generational gaming (viz., I purposely excluded the Dreamcast for obvious reasons) and they proved to be blockbuster hits. With the Xbox 360 nearing 10 million units shipped worldwide, and the PS2 already supposedly established with 100 million units in homes, it seemed like the PS3 would easily follow suit. Except, there was one little thing every hardcore gamer took into account: the price.

Fanboys were going to buy a PS3 regardless, but the average hardcore gamer wasn’t ready to spill over $600 for a gaming console and a meager selection of approximately 20 games. I mean really, why on earth would you pass up on paying rent? Bills? A car payment? Books for college? Food? Heck, a mortgage even? Certainly not for a piece of Blu-ray and fancy graphics.

However, the scalpers scouting the PS3 thought that it would be a dead-sell like the Xbox 360 last year. They figured they would just have to wait in line; get the console; sell it on Ebay; make a fortune. However, fanboys driving up the cost of the PS3 and a gaming community who would rather buy a Wii, put PS3 scalpers in a bad bind, and a Wii-wanting mood. But it’s not only the money grubbing scumbags on Ebay who now want to part ways with Sony’s big black box and grab up a Wii-mote, but non-gamers altogether are interested in Nintendo’s Wii. Hence, the reason why it can’t stay on store shelves.

Whatever voodoo those happy folks over at Nintendo is working on the casual crowd, it sure seems to be working rather swell. The Wii is not only in high-demand from some hardcore gamers, but it’s actually attracting a lot of attention from the casual crowd. While many people would easily choose a PS3 over a Wii, according to some poll results, due to the cost of the PS3 a lot of gamers are simply left out of a two-way option. The costly PS3 has even driven some scalpers to the verge of requesting trades for a Wii..even at a loss of a profit.

And despite the Wii’s Wii-mote strap incidents, it seems many gamers are getting on just fine with all the Wii-elbow swinging action, according to Kotaku’s unscientific gamer’s blog poll results. More-so, the Wii is still going to garner profit, sales, and interest simply because of how affordable it is. And even if Sony decides to drop the price on the PS3 over the course of the next year, it’s still going to get dwarfed in sales by the Wii. That is, if the Big ‘N’ simply knocks off another $50 on the Wii by removing Wii Sports. I’m even convinced Nintendo could steal some former publishers from Sony if they continue to jab the electronic giant with their current marketing tactics.

On a final note, though...even gamers and non-gamers who are more interested in the PS3, will probably give in and buy a Wii to bide their time until the PS3 price drops. Whether Sony knows it or not, they played right into the Big ‘N’s game. And not only that, they did it with a violent launch, an almost thief-ridden controller gimmick, and a lot of interested gamers who just couldn’t afford their expensive black beast. I hope Sony is taking note on how the Wii has picked up hardcore gamers, non-gamers, and even PS3 scalpers simply, via price and innovation.

Tips N4G

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J.ROB Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 09:52
2 words

TOTAL PWNGE!!!!!

Bill James Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 10:33
The poll you reference in your article is totally useless as it was taken before the PS3 and Wii were released. At that time all the buzz was for the PS3, so of course the kids would want it more.

Since release, the buzz has been all Wii, so I would guess now the Wii would be picked about 80% of the time, if not more.

$tack$ Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 13:07
i have all 3 systems. after i beat zelda, I havent touched the smallest console. 360 has plenty of games which is a plus.... but theyre mostly remakes of xbox games with new lighting and bigger textures. If you think about it though, the ps3's graphics look on par with the 360s 2nd generation games. What I dont like about the ps3 is that i cant minimize a download and multitask. Definitely issues that can be fixed with a firmware update. To me after 5 weeks with a ps3, i would have to say that the ps3 is far from finished. It has been released in a premature stage. I also believe this was sony's scheme. MAKE THE PS3 EXTREMELY POWERFUL but not from launch.. As time goes by we will see what the coders can really do. I have to say that in a year the ps3 will be on top followed by the 360 and then the wii. though i hope nintendo drops at least 2 more zeldas and metroids.

wii ownes Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 13:07
wii will rule the world

111 Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 19:37
All this speculation and conjecture about how the PS3 has mountains of untapped potential is a huge pile of garbage that completely avoids the real facts about what Sony's done. They sold the PS2 on the lie that it had so much untapped power (Emotion Engine, anyone?) that it would be capable of Toy Story graphics. Once it transpired that this was 100% horseshit, Sony fans defended the company and the machine by saying (correctly) that good games are good games, and just because you're not the most powerful machine doesn't mean anything at all.

Now though, look what's happened. Sony is caught in multiple lies throughout the PS3 development, the final product is a sham and nothing like what was promised, it's hard and extremely expensive to make games for, formerly exclusive titles are jumping ship to the 360 because no-one is sure any more whether the PS3 may yet turn out to be the new Jaguar/3DO etc.. Sony's entire company rests on Blu-Ray and the PS3, and even if they lower the price by $100 within a year, that may not be nearly enough to make up for how few people want one.

Stealth luminoth Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 19:37
Get owned Sony.

Shinya Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 19:37
You want something that multitasks? Buy/Build a PC. I don't think people care about how powerful a system is. They want good games, fun games. The Wii has shown average consumers that gaming can be for everyone at a great price. Not some big black box that doesn't use your old controllers and memory cards w/o some sort of extra periph so Sony can cash out on you even more. Blu-ray will fail just like everyone other media created by Sony. People don't want it.

Netty07 Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 22:52
Why buy a PS3 when you can get a Wii and an Xbox 360 for round about the same price? PS3 exclusive titles are crud anyway.

I'm a PC gamer so these console wars don't bother me (I don't have either of the 3 consoles) but it is funny that now DX10 is about to shine and people will see what DX10 can do, PC Gaming will start to populate among the GFX whores.

DrDaPoo Says:
January 1st, 2007 at 22:52
blue team go blue team go!

All the way home Says:
January 5th, 2007 at 08:52
Sony doesnt believe in affordability or innovation. Their heads are so swollen they think anything with the Sony label will sell.
And here comes blu-ray, another fantastic sony 'innovation' to go with the highly successful UMDs, Memory Stick and Beta-Max!

Sam DeRenzis Says:
January 16th, 2007 at 14:20
I'm afraid Sony's days of being the top-notch gaming company are at an end. They had a good thing going for awhile but just couldn't see the fact people can't afford 600 dollars + tax for a gaming platform. They were greedy, and because of that they lost sight of what true innovation can be. Now Nintendo will ultimately rip them to pieces, making them fall into an abyss they'll never escape from. I suspect they'll end up being much like the 3DO system was, great ability yet limited potential in the open market.

Sega might be a good analogy to, although what made them fail is beyond me, they didn't exactly have bad games did they? Dreamcast wasn't all that bad :-P

Cris McDermott Says:
January 27th, 2007 at 01:43
I don't have any of the top consoles, but I want a Wii very, very badly... PS3 sounds neat, but just like when I was young and the Neo-Geo came out, it's is just WAY too expensive... Graphics mean absolutely nothing- as long as the least powerful system is not as low as say- 64 bit... They all look generally just as good, in my opinion... It's about how fun they are to play.. hence GAME system.. if i cared about life-like graphics more than game play I'd just watch a movie, right? What would be the point of playing? Sony screwed up, I hate to say it, but it's true... I think they knew it, too... why else would they through in the Blu-Ray last minute like that? They needed a gimmick that would both boast sales and promote another exclusive Sony technology in case the PS3 failed, like they thought it might. Well, Nintendo made mistakes in the past, too... maybe 5 years from now Nintendo will be on top, lose sight of what we the gamers want, and Sony will knock them back off the ladder when they finally learn what's important to us. Or they could be completely dissolved like so many graphic pioneer casualties before them...

Hiro Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 11:44
PS3 sucks it really does SUCK.
Sony sucks too, they really do SUCK.

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Wii Wins Non-Gamers While PS3 Is Spited By Scalpers

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