Nintendo is gaming, Sony/Microsoft are questionable.

[Ail]

bdbdbd said:
@caio: Wii isn't a different story, even if you wanted it to be. You can only talk about your personal preference, which also doesn't equal quality.

Quality of the games is a key factor in the success of Wii and the games. There's a reason why "Wii" titles are made by EAD instead of a random 5th tier team.

@Leo-j, Kantor, Khuutra: The games market is shrinking for a number of reasons: the household penetration of videogame consoles has been largely stagnant for a long while. Growth have come from new markets, so the demographic haven't expanded.
Most of western countries are going to be hit by a population decline, at the same time the birthrate is low, which means there are less and less new customers coming.
People are getting tired of playing the same games in a new wrap over and over again.

Where does everyone get this idea that the gaming market has been shrinking ?

Aside from Japan, the market has steadily been expanding both in Europe and in NA....

US Console & Handheld Total Sales
1997 - $5.1 billion
1998 - $6.2 billion
1999 - $6.9 billion
2000 - $6.6 billion
2001 - $9.4 billion
2002 - $10.3 billion
2003 - $10 billion
2004 - $9.9 billion
2005 - $10.3 billion
2006 - $12.5 billion

2008 : 21 billion$

 

And the Wii  launched at the end of 2006 so can't say it affected most of  those numbers...