Anyone remeber when everyone said WII was a fad

[mike_intellivision]

Some quick thoughts.

The Wii has 27 Million Sellers, 13 of which are third-party releases. This is more than the PS3 and is about equivalent though slightly below to its ratio (8 of 15 third-party). The Xbox 360 has more Million Sellers and a higher third-party ratio (33 of 42).

Two notes about third parties. Microsoft came on the market first, so making games for them first was natural -- and those games could often easily be ported to the other HD console, the PS3. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii was expected to fail hard (not a fad but a flop), so few people got behind it. Some are moving in that direction (somewhat now).

If you remove Microsoft's head start, Nintendo has sold more than the PS3 and Xbox 360 combined since its release (30.91M vs. 30.20M). That is pretty remarkable given the expected outcome.

Finally, with only exception that I could see, the people who still feel the Wii is a fad are in the 18-24 age demographic (this is based upon the profiles being correct). This is not surprising because that is the group that Nintendo has decided to target less as part of its Blue Ocean strategy. If Nintendo had made games a high percentage of games that appealed to that age cohort at the expense of games that appealed to others, it would still be in third place and still being called a "kiddie console" by the 18-24 year olds.

In closing, if you say the Wii has no games for you, that is fine. But if you think the Wii is a fad, it is my belief that you are sadly mistaken. Only time though will tell which position is correct. But it is trending in favor of the Wii.

Mike from Morgantown