Woe is Wii says Sony

Stan Beer
Thursday, 14 September 2006 19:17

Opinion and Analysis

It seems that every time I hear an announcement come out of Sony these days, it's about how the company won't be able to meet its manufacturing commitment. As the hapless Japanese games giant struggles to produce 500,000 PS3 units by late November, it must be grinding its teeth over Nintendo's promise to move 4 million Wii consoles by the end of 2006.

• Announcements

To make matters worse for Sony, the comparison in pricing between Wii and PS3 is so stark that it's downright embarrassing.

Sony was already much maligned for foisting a console on gamers at a price that many simply can't afford. Now along comes Nintendo and, heck, you can buy almost three Wii boxes for the price of a PS3.

What's more, if you're in the US, you stand a fair chance of getting hold of a Wii before the end of the holiday shopping season.

Xbox 360 consoles and games are in abundant supply. Nintendo promises that there will be at least 25 new generation games for the intelligently priced Wii before the end of 2006. Wii has won rave reviews at games shows.

As a result, when the holiday season arrives, many would-be gamers will be asking themselves one question. Should I buy an Xbox 360 or a Wii?

For Sony, that's not a question it wants to think about.