World loves Wii today, but is PS3 the winner in 2010?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 24 February 2007 20:16

Your IT - Entertainment

Having several devices under your TV may either look cool or look like digital overkill, and there may be a killer rat’s nest of cables behind the TV (unless you’ve used some cable ties to keep things tidy), but the stark reality of today is that there is no single digital box, and multiple boxes are common.

After all, people have the TV itself, a DVR of some type being a TiVo or DVD/HDD recorder, a cable TV or satellite TV box, perhaps a VHS video cassette recorder and one or more games consoles – along with a PC if you have a flat screen TV with a VGA, DVI or HDMI input (or all three).

With the Wii much cheaper than the PS3, at least in terms of initial purchase price, and with price cuts to come in the future, the financial requirement to buy a Wii is not heavy. Chances are, if you have a PS3, or an Xbox 360, you’ll be more than interested enough in buying a Wii as well, especially as all kinds of new games are promised, even if they seem to be thin on the ground right now. And if the PS3 or Xbox 360 doesn’t interest you, the Wii might be the clincher it has seem to be for so many previous non-gamers, with Wii certainly breaking new ground in the casual gaming space.

January’s sales figures seem to back up that argument so far, with the Wii selling out everywhere in the world, save for Japan where fussier gamers are said to be waiting for the games to actually arrive before buying new Wii’s, with a reported 50% drop in Japan’s January Wii sales. Still, you can easily expect anticipation, excitement and satisfaction once Nintendo releases some big guns, starting with Mario said to be coming soon, will see Japanese sales rise again, and rise in the rest of the world too.

Nintendo are also promising more online experiences for us to enjoy, and other surprises – and they are sure to have their own plans on keeping interest in the Wii going for as long as possible.

One theory of mine is that we might see a Nintendo refresh quicker than we normally would. While most consoles have a five year lifespan, Nintendo released the Wii as the least technologically advanced next-gen console, in terms of hardware spec.

The fact that they have arguably delivered the most innovative gameplay experience is testimony to the fact that brilliant, lifelike and colorful graphics coupled with the most amazing animation does not equate to gameplay gold every single time.

But Nintendo’s labs must already be hard at work on the Wii’s successor, aiming to drive up the graphical quality a few notches will refining and advancing the motion sensing technology even further to new levels of accuracy and realism.

Could Nintendo release a new console in mid 2009, ready to take on the PS3 and the Xbox 360 with a whole new ball game? The power of today’s technology is on Nintendo’s side and they could easily have the upper hand in this space, releasing a Wii 2 to worldwide acclaim and stealing the 2009 Christmas/holiday season sales.

Could all three consoles actually be winners in 2010, with each enoying strong market share? Read onto page 3 for the thrilling conclusion!