I finally decided to buy a Wii and assumed that by now it's possible to see one on a store shelf. Well, I found a lot of games and accessories, but no systems. One of the sales people at Best Buy said they got a shipment this morning and they were gone in "10 minutes". I remember back in the NES/SNES days that one could walk into a store and see gaming systems on shelves. When I wanted a SNES, I walked into a store and bought it. Same for the N64 and Gamecube. But this Wii thing is very different. Are games suddenly vastly more popular or is Nintendo having trouble manufacturing systems? Neither amazon nor ebgames sells Wii consoles separately; they force you to buy bundles at bloated prices. I just want a Wii, the component hook-ups, and Twilight Princess. That should cost around $330. It should not cost $500+.

Same thing has been happening to the DS Lite over here, although it's slowly starting to become available again.
Wii's are pretty rare too.

I do think that, yes, games are more popular now than they were back in the 8 and 16 bit era.
But Nintendo has always stated that they were going for a broader audience with the Wii and the DS, and not just cater to pure gamers anymore. I'd say they've done a brilliant job at it.

The Wiis are selling (out) like crazy.  The same is, oddly enough, true for the DS Lite.

Here are the next-gen console sell numbers for the month of January and lifetime sales for each system from the NPD:

Wii ~ 436,000 - 1,516,000
360 ~ 294,000 - 4,800,000
PS3 ~ 244,000 - 937,000

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7489

I'm certain you'll be able to get one soon enough.  Good luck!

Any Circuit City, Toys R Us, or Target stores in your area?  All three places are supposed to have stock in for sale tomorrow.  It's your best bet. 

I'm giving it a try myself tomorrow morning.  My copy of WW: Smooth Moves is just sitting here on the shelf, begging for me to play it. *_*

Good luck to you too, Angela.  I hope you get one also.  Planning on getting any other Wii games?

Hm, I've been meaning to rent WarioWare, but I sadly chose Sonic and the Secret Rings this last go.  Oh, Sega, what is with the music in that game!?

Yeah, Wiis are virtually impossible to find these days. A shame as I <i>really</i> want one. Unfortunately for Sony, PS3s are all over the place now and no one is buying them.

Yes, they are a lot more popular.  The total market size for the industry continues to grow, and the stockouts you're seeing reflect that.

Music aside, what did you think of Secret Rings? I desperately want to believe that it and X360's Sonic the Hedgehog are a return to Sonic's glory days, but have yet to play either.

Those numbers are nuckin' futs, bro!! If you look in that article, you'll see that in this month, PS2 is STILL outselling 360 and PS3. That made me laugh so hard.

Also interesting: 360 is almost at 5 mill already...granted it's been out awhile longer, but that's not a bad number. I bet Microsoft is enjoying that.

(and PS3 continues to suck).

Ramza

PS - are those US-only or worldwide sales?

I never wanted an X-box... but the 360 is actually tempting. I suppose Microsoft deserves some credit here.

Like a battered wife constantly going back to her husband.

After the shitfest that was Heroes, I vowed never to play a Sonic game again. It was the final insult. Awful in so many ways. But, I downloaded the 360 demo of Sonic. It beats Heroes in the shit department hands down. Maybe the final game is better, but I'm guessing not based on what I've heard about it.

Ryu, that you chose Sonic over WarioWare is, quite frankly, bizarre. WarioWare is great fun. The best WarioWare since the original GBA version. I love it.

Sonic, on the other hand, is dead to me.

WarioWare makes my Wii purchase worthwhile. Aside from that and Zelda (which I didn't need a Wii for), nothing I've played has grabbed me. It's great for Nintendo that they cater for the non-gamers these days. I just hope at some point they also start catering for gamers. Until then, I guess my 360 will be my console of choice. If you're looking for fun party games, you won't find them on the 360. If you're a gamer, there is some fantastic stuff on offer. Strangely (as my XBox gathered dust), the 360 has impressed me in ways I haven't experienced in several generations.

Well put.

If someone's looking for a good Sonic game, just pick up Sonic Rush. It's the best Sonic game since Sonic CD. It's challenging, it has a great soundtrack, and it's a GOOD GAME... something that has been antonymous with the Sonic franchise for a while now.

(Edited because, apparently, I'm still haves trouble conjugated verbs)

Success!  Got to Target ten minutes prior to opening, and there was already a line of thirty ahead of me.  I wasn't even going to bother, since they always claim 15 systems per store.... but it turned out they had fifty in stock this time.  Without a doubt they'll run through that allotment within the hour.

But it was a neat sort of feeling seeing all those beaming customers' faces at checkout.  From teens to young adults and parents, it's obvious these folks have been waiting out for a while to snag a system, and at last the fruits of their patience pays off. 

I was looking long and hard at Sonic And The Secret Rings, despite the recent splotches on the series resumé.  Reviews have been generally good, and they even make it a point that it's a redemption from the the last few dismal outings.  Ryu, can you give any more detailed impressions on the game?

Other than that, nothing really catches my interest at the moment.  In addition to Smooth Moves, what really prompted my Wii purchase is Super Paper Mario, which is just around the corner; it is now officially a day one purchase for me.

They say the 360/PS3 Sonic the Hedgehog is real bad; I've not tried it because I've never been a Sonic fan (although I enjoyed Sonic Adventure, I'll admit).  As for Sonic and the Secret Rings, I'm not liking it much at all.  The control concept is neat, and the game is basically on a rail (with some capacity to shift left or right), but the controls are extremely aggravating more often than it should be.  I say give it a rent, regardless of what you hear---the ability to adjust to controls is really an individual thing.  For me, it didn't work out.

I'm shocked at the PS2 sell numbers---I don't see how they are that high.  I'm curious if the DS shortage is really hurting its sales and kept it that low, as in, could it have surpassed any of the top 4 had they been more plentiful.

I'm happy for Microsoft---it's a great system and deserves some good, solid support.

Sony's getting what it deserves.

And these were just US-only numbers at the end of January.  Here's Japan's numbers for the week of 1/22-28.  It reflects that week's sales, 2007's sales, and lifetime sales:

Wii - 83,754 - 459,188 - 1,378,831
PS3 - 19,996 - 136,576 - 594,134
360 - 7,365 - 41,676 - 306,378

For the hell of it:  PS2 - 20,995 - 115,864 - 20,270,723

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7440

I don't get why Japan hates the 360.  It baffles me.

Why aren't there any European console numbers reported?

I totally agree with what you are saying about the Xbox and the 360---Microsoft really got things right (or lucky) with the 360.

As for Sonic, the interview with the director tempted me a bit.  The game is hampered by its control scheme for me, but others online on GameFAQs seem to think the game is great.  So, who knows?

I've not been a fan of WarioWare at all, ever.  I always found the game quite lame.  However, the "Wiimote Revolution" has me interested in trying all sorts of games with the Wiimote, which includes SSX Blur when it gets here Monday hopefully and WarioWare eventually (maybe today, as I return Secret Rings).  Yeah, I should've known better about Sonic though.  You can't fault hope, right?  ...Right?

Zane, I've never played Sonic Rush, but I do have its soundtrack.  I like Hideki Naganuma's work.

Angela, congrats on getting the Wii!  I'm guessing you already got Zelda on the Gamecube?  As for Secret Rings, I'm guessing you already caught my recommendation of rent over buy---you might be surprised, yet you just as well may also be disappointed.

Ah, now if you didn't like previous WarioWare incarnations, I can't recommend the Wii version. It won't convert anyone who didn't enjoy the early ones. It's the same little silly minigames and, while playing with the remote is fun and varied, it doesn't really change the game.

Ryu, putting aside the gameplay aspects of Secret Rings, what did you feel was wrong with the music?
How does it compare to other 3D Sonic Soundtracks?

Well, the game was returned earlier today and I haven't played it since yesterday evening, so I'll try to go by memory.  I got far into the second world (Dino-world) when I finally threw my hands up in annoyance and had enough.  Sega decided it was best to play a godawful rock song every chance it gets.  It's called "Seven Rings in Hand" and, as Wiki says, it plays it at the game preview screen on the Disc Channel, the game opening, after finishing a stage, etc.  However, the normal music has an arabic flair to it and was fine from what I recall, thanks to the oft-played 'Seven Rings in Hand' song being so bad and frequent it was nice to hear anything that wasn't that rock song.  I have only played Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 and so really can't do any worthwhile music comparison for you.  All I can say is I really didn't think much of it.  Sorry.

I was hoping to walk in a store and find one, but that won't be the case for a while. I'll have to do what everyone else does - get really familiar with a sidewalk. I get 3 weeks of paid vacation this year, so I'm looking forward to Zelda. It's so much cheaper (and safer) to play a video game, and arguably, our planet is not as cool as a video game world.

you're better off with the Cube version anyway (on the whole).
i'll be patiently waiting for re5 on ps3 (no separate fan to buy and built-in next-generation movie playback, although standalone bR players will be slightly cheaper by then).

Even if i hafta buy re5 and let it collect months of dust before i can actually afford a ps3, that's the version i'm set on at the moment.

If i want to play classic TG-16 games i'll look to ebay, huCards will always be retro-chic (although you're right about (S)NES carts taking up too much physical space, someone should just release a couple of homebrew 716 megabit NeoGeo comp. carts, heh.

I don't think I'd go quite that far.  Microsoft really got things right with Xbox Live, absolutely, but not with the 360 itself.  The defect rate for the hardware is way too high, it runs too hot (who ever heard of a console needing a fan in its external power brick?), the hard drive is too small (at least the PS3 allows you to install generic HDs), there's no HDMI port, and it's the only one of the five current gen systems (including portables) not to have built in wi-fi.

Of course, the Zephyr (sp?) rumors point to Microsoft increasing the HD size, switching to 65nm chips (heat reduction), and adding HDMI, but it's clear the system was really rushed.

I still don't know which of the two I'll get for RE5, but it'll probably be PS3 simply because I have to buy a PS3 anyway for MGS4, and I really don't want to have to get both of those bloated machines.

I hear what you're saying. I think the system was rushed a little... but not as much as Sony rushes their stuff. Also, Microsoft's policy is "it's defective? let us ship you a brand new one" whereas Sony's policy is "it's not defective, YOU'RE defective!". With the redesign of the 360, and possible price-cut, I'm definitely going to pick one up, especially since I have a bunch of original Xbox games I never played As for a PS3, I have no idea when I'll get one of those, and MGS4 definitely is not a system-seller for me.

cheers,

-avatar!

Just in case, here are February's results, which doesn't include Angela's Wii since she got it in March:

Wii ~ 335,000 - 1,851,000
360 ~ 228,000 - 5,028,000 (Congrats to 5 million 360s, MS!)
PS3 ~ 127,000 - 1,064,000 (Congrats to a million PS3s, Sony!)

Just in case you care, #1 was the DS with around 485,000 (it should, in March, cross the 10 million mark) and PS2 at #3 with around 295,000, even though PS3s were a'plenty.  Even more depressing for Sony, the GBA outsold the PS3 with around 136,000.