European Users: How well is PS3 selling in Europe?

[johnlucas]

To all discounting Nintendo's ability to put out product comparing it to Sony & such. Nintendo is smaller than Sony. Nintendo is smaller than Microsoft. Yes all they MAKE is games & playing cards. Sony & Microsoft are conglomerates with extensive resources to draw from. Nintendo might as well be called a "mom & pop corporation" A single focused shop that has done amazingly well but still is one dimensional for the most part and has to account for every penny. That's why you never see them make waste. If they got stupid & overreached themselves they WOULD have ended up like Sega long ago. Sure there are occassional flukes of malfunctioning Wiis. That's to be expected in any manufacturing process. Humans are in the mix. Errors are always going to be made as a result. But as a rule the Wii has shown itself to be a quality system & that's because Nintendo doesn't cut corners on the manufacturing process. That's why they earned that reputation as a quality company that makes durable goods. GameBoys that survive bombings in the Gulf War. Accounts of Game Boy Advances that can be accidentally left in the rain & still function as good as new as soon as the wetness evaporates. Accounts of GBAs falling down fire escapes stories down, cracked up on the ground, yet still working just fine despite the damaged shell. Accounts of DS's forgotten in pockets, washed in washing machines yet still working just fine afterwards. And Gamecubes that survive all kinds of abuse and still operate just fine regardless. I took my Wii over to my cousin's family's house & we were playing a Gamecube game (Mario Party 7) with the GC controllers attached. There was a little kid playing with us about age 5 or something. We had food in the kitchen & took a break to go into the kitchen to get the food leaving the game running & leaving the controllers on the ground. The little kid started to get up with us & accidentally got caught up in the cords. He tripped & pulled the system down to the floor with him when he got tangled up. The game was running live when this happened. The Wii was on an entertainment shelf about 2 1/2 feet or so off of the ground & a carpet was beneath. I inspected the Wii to see if any damage had been caused. The little GC doors on the Wii popped off (as they were supposed to) & I snapped them back on. I looked to see if any problem was made to the disc. Mario Party 7 didn't glitch or show any sign of error. I put the system back where it was & after we ate we went right back to playing. My Wii has never shown any signs of damage afterwards & this happened 2 months ago. If I was playing any other system besides a Nintendo one I wouldn't feel so confident if an incident like that occured. I've dropped my GBA violently on the floor by accident a few times. So bad the batteries popped out & the battery hinge came aloose. Never gave me a problem. All I did was pop the batteries back in & close the battery hinge door. I remember my hand getting slippery playing WarioWare: Twisted one night & that thing flew right out of my hands with velocity onto the hard wooden floor. Still no damage & no signs of damage afterwards regardless of my faux pas. They earned that reputation because they make quality goods. I talked to a Rhino's employee (before it became Gamestop/EB) one day asking about Atari systems after seeing NES controllers & Zappers even NES's in their stores (shocked to see that). He told me Atari's stuff wasn't sold because the systems in general didn't work anymore. But that Nintendo's stuff still worked. I am testament to that because my SNES is 14 years old and still works as good as new. My NES is 18 years old and with the exception of the AC adapter works as well (i gotta replace that adapter). I got a 22 year old Game & Watch Tabletop "Mario's Cement Factory" that works just as good as the day I got it to this day. So knowing this I understand why they must be careful in making their goods. They underestimated demand (who could estimate this phenomenon really?) & now have to ramp up manufacturing. BUT they are not going to sacrifice the process of production just to get stuff in stores. What would be the point in that? Make it right the first time around & you won't have to worry. Quality takes time. I have never liked the lower standards Sony & Co. have brought to this industry. You got people thinking it's common practice to have bad launch products and "beta" "gamma" & "delta" systems that correct the initial production errors. No it wasn't that way. Stuff should be good from launch FIRST. NOT Second. If I'm paying hard-earned money to buy your product it should be working the FIRST time around flukes aside. The PS2 errors are well-known & these aren't ones like the infamous NES front loader which was just an annoyance (as well as a necessity to help revive the games industry in the first place so it's forgiven) these were problems that forced people to rebuy the systems after the original one stopped working. I actually wanted a PS2 at one time to play all the PS1 games I missed as well as the new library. But after learning this I didn't feel comfortable putting that kind of investment behind something that wasn't gonna last. I'm a pack rat & I keep stuff for decades. I expect what I buy to last with me. I got a GE alarm clock I've had since I was 6 & that makes it 25 years old. It still works. Still with that loud alarm! LOL! Look over these links before you dismiss Nintendo's commitment to quality. That quality is the prime reason I had no qualms buying a Wii at launch. I expect quality out of ANY company I buy things from. Gulf War Game Boy at Nintendo World Store G4 Console Damage Test *HARDCORE* Console Damage Test! Gamecube car drag test (one of the coolest clips) John Lucas