mortono said:
Black Wii Bundle has, in fact, pushed hardware sales. Did you take a look at May and June's NPD numbers? They are not amazing numbers, but they are sustaining pretty well. Zelda Wii, like SMG2, will not have that big of an effect on hardware sales. We've already had a Zelda game on the Wii. The only way is if the game is a complete departure from the current formula and attracts different markets. Really, there was no game revealed at e3 that seemed like a giant hardware seller. Wii Party is the biggest thing, but then again many people that buy this game will already own a Wii for the countless party games that already exist on the system. The only thing that seemed like it had a chance of selling hardware was Wii Relax, if it ever gets released. Wii Relax is completely opposite to Wii Fit or any other game out there. It may look like an odd, crazy thing to us, but to people with stressful jobs or others that even just want to measure their heart rate, it is something that could be appealing. If it does come out and sells well, it will be the key to propelling Wii to a second "peak". |
I think a lot of conjoining factors will be required to boost the hardware properly at this point, this goes for all three consoles. Software alone yields a lot less growth in hardware sales four years into (or five in the 360's case) the generation. I could see the Wii picking up a little bit of speed if they cut the price, remake it somehow (a new SKU with internal memory and custom details like colored and decorated cases you can change for instance) and launch some big games again (NSMBWii big). All in all, I don't expect any big surprises this gen, things will remain pretty much as they are (obviously, my PS3 and 360 predictions for end of 2010 will be pretty far off, the gap will be a lot bigger).
I agree with your points though, a lot rides on Relax and new peripherals at this point.
