Well they have to. They had two really bad years (go to Capcom's wikipeia page, but it's not the info there; it's the links to Capcom's financial statements near the bottom), so they have to do this to stay profitable.

Actuly the sales in USA are quit stable, the total tie ratio is 3.733 including Nintendo games (Wii Sport and Wii Play is a part of it). Only looking at 3rd parties you get 1.588. Sales are not OMG how can Nintendodogs sell over 10 million. But they are stable.

The Wii purchases, although aren't exactly impulse buys as per say, there is the basic element of affordability and unaffordability.

The Wii is $250, the 360 is $400 and the PS3 is $600 (you cannot include the Core system, as most people interested in a 360 will not buy the handicapped Core System).

You will probably find that the Wii is at the affordable end of the scale, whereas the PS3 is at the unafforadable end of the scale.

People can more easily allow for $250 spends than $600 spends.

The Wii sales have performed really well and IMHO it's primarily down to cost. If the PS3 and 360 were priced similarily then there would be no contest; Nintendo comes last.

Most people will find themselves in a similar situation to me. I like all 3 systems, but cost is the major player at this moment in time. The system I really want is the PS3, but it's too expensive at the moment. The 360 seems like a great machine with a good few games that look great, but do I really want one and the Wii is the cheapest of the lot by far, but I cannot warrant buying more than 1 system this generation...so what do I do?

Well IMHO, I will be waiting for the price of the PS3 to drop, and I honestly think there are a whole load of similar people out there that are waiting for the same. But the price drop needs to come soon and it needs to be reasonable enough to make the system more affordable and not in the unaffordable band.

If Sony reduced the price of the PS3 from $600 to $450, then I reckon this will be enough to start the ball rolling for the sales to dramatically pick up. Yes, it's a huge reduction and Sony can't afford to do it, but it is required to get the sales stacking up.

If the Wii price was reduced to $150-$170 then it would put it in another bracket and could potentially make it the must have so affordable unit similar to the DS for a whole host of homes. Until then, it will IMHO be competing with the PS3 over the course of the next few years.

 i'm speaking WORLD WIDE:

HARDWARE FROM THIS SITE:

NINTENDO DS: 40.31m

PSP: 21.09m

SOFTWARE ALWAYS FROM THIS SITE:

 PSP :11.6m

http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=PSP&publisher=&sort=Total

NINTENDO DS: 86.3m

http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=DS&publisher=&sort=Total 

NOTE:only million sellers,but we can assume from lineups that numbers  are significative of general trend. 

RATIO PSP

11.6m/21.09m = 0,55  GAMES PER CONSOLE

RATIO DS

86.3m /40.31m = 2,14 GAMES PER CONSOLE

 IF ps3 will have same software numbers would be a failure...

NINTENDO DS: 86.3m Publisher: Nintendo - 79.6m http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=DS&publisher=Nintendo&sort=Total for others like 6,7m ? wau, that`s much. PSP :11.6m Publisher: Sony - 2.2m http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&console=PSP&publisher=Sony&sort=Total i see, that 3rd party developers are dooing better on psp, only nintendo making money on DS/Wii. just watched japan april 8 charts.. a LOT of Wii games.. 4 games in top50 and 3 from nintendo, that`s cool. Wii is more for casuals, it`s like ps3 today more blu-ray player then a console. But after a tear situation may change. :) Still, if audi are selling better then ferrari, it doesn`t mean, that it has won. =))

GOOD EXAMPLE!!

are ferrari and audi on the same sector of market???

audi has less powerful models

ferrari is fast and has extreme technology .

but audi sells more... 

why????

because audi makes cars for ALL people.

ferrari makes cars ONLY for its sector. 

can sony afford to do the same???

no!

that's  because of microsoft...

all of us  here agree whit this.(I hope)

Nintendo ,Microsoft and Sony are on the same market(Home Conosole)

do you remember when sony and microsft execs said that their consoles are to be considered "pc"???

they tried to make people that their consoles would be more than a simple console...

maybe they will have numbers for hardware...

but like psp numbers prove software will sell very poorly..!!!

so in the end graphics/esclusives/price war between sony and microsoft can only be an advantage for nintendo.. 

and so ,like ds teaches, little fiat could become a ferrari!!!!(that is the same since fiat owns ferrari)

And now is when you have to explain to me how it is possible for the PSP to have sold some 30 million games in NA and 11 million in Japan (plus the unknow but probably akin to NA Europe numbers ) and still only have sold 11 million games worlwide .Your numbers are wrong ,so wrong in fact I am a bit embarrased you dont see it .

the sw/hw ratios needs to be fixed.  psp you're looking at top 8 sw titles and ds, you're looking top 22 or 25.  if you want to do apples to apples comparison, then you should either take total sw ever sold, or just take the top 8 games as comparison.  otherwise, the numbers don't tell the whole story.

 NO!!!!!!!

YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!

please take totals software from NA JP and Others...

sum them...

psp is about 1.7

ds is about 2.5!!!!!

my numbers are significative of trend!!!

yours are wrong.

sorry for you all guys!!!! 

 FROM THIS SITE SOFTWARE TOTALS:

http://vgchartz.com/ayearly.php

DS 42,076,000

PSP  29,861,000

http://vgchartz.com/japyearly.php 

DS 64,167,574

PSP 10,542,448

FOR OTHERS NUMBERS ON THIS SITE THERE IS NOTHING...

WE ONLY KNOW THAT DS DOUBLES PSP IN HARDWARE...SO COULD BE IN SOFTWARE!!

SO WE CONSIDER ONLY NA AND JAPAN!!!

 DS GAMES PER CONSOLE:

 42,076,000 + 64,167,574=106,243,574

 106,243,574/40,310,000=2.6

 PSP GAMES PER CONSOLE:

 29,861,000 + 10,542,448=40,403,448

 40,403,448/21,900,000=1.8

PSP OWNERS BUY ONLY ONE GAMES IN RATIO... 

probably the one they buy with the console...then they probably go donwload some isoes!!!

THIS IS THE PROVE THAT I'M RIGHT!!!!!

 EHEHEHHEH!!

returning in topic:

I repeat:

hope that ps3 numbers next year will not be the same of psp ones!