Despite my addiction to The Age of Empires (and the rest of the franchise), I’m not much of a gamer. Nevertheless, last year a friend of mine let me borrow his Nintendo Wii and after a couple of hours spent playing some of its simpler games, I was hooked. Apparently I’m not alone, for nearly 10.17 million Americans bought a Wii in 2008, according to The NPD Group, and there are more than15 million Wii consoles in U.S. homes. Also in 2008, another 9.95 million bought the Nintendo DS portable system.
What a sharp contrast to the continuing struggles of Sony (s sne) and its PlayStation 3 game system. Nintendo’s focus on simplicity and experience has allowed it to expand well beyond the gamer crowd to capture nearly 55 percent of the next-generation console market. Apple (s AAPL) has made similar strides in the non-corporate smartphone market with the iPhone. Now if Nintendo and Apple could just find a way to work together, instead of acting like the bitter rivals they’ve become.
I know a number of folks who are in love with their Wii b/c of the Netflix online movie watching feature.
I am also not a big gamer but ya this Wii is really cool, and once addicted can’t leave without it.
Good going Wii
Now if Nintendo and Apple could just find a way to work together, instead of acting like the bitter rivals they’ve become………hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I like the wii because the games get such good reviews despite the fact that the graphics aren’t as “realistic” or high tech. The fact that it engages players to play the game is deserving of being a top seller.
Please explain how Apple and Nintendo are bitter rivals.
Ive said for a few years that the Wii is actually a cloud computing device and I think Nintendo is becomeing very aware of this , I think the next big thing for the Wii will be streaming video services and one streaming video service is going to launch this month on January 27th from Japanese developer Fujisoft.
http://www.gamecyte.com/eyes-on-fujisofts-streaming-video-service-minna-no-theatre-wii
Nintendo is also going to launch a video channel that will have original content including cooking and lifestyle shows which is scarily in line with its Touch Generations video game content .
Nintendo was smart not to include DVD playback with the Wii when they can partner with content aggregators and advertisers and get a cut of Ad revenue .
YA-Wii-Fan
Just look at the the Nintendo DSi and the iPod TouchiPhone and thier respective Ad campains
The iPod Touch is trying to be more like the DSi with its games and the DSi is trying to be more like iTouch with music playback and cameras .
Wii is truly a revolution to home gaming experience. I couldn’t get my self off the wii board for hours…