Was the Wii a fad?

[Panama]

d21lewis said:

Panama said:

 

Of course not. Anything that sells insanely well initially and then sells less than its two competitors for nearly 2 years straight, then sure i'd qualify it as a fad. I'm honestly surprised people are adamant that the Wii wasn't a fad when the PS3 and 360 hammer it sales every week now. People are aware the 360 is one year older than it right?

Well, the Wii U has been announced and releases this year.  That could be part of the reason why Wii sales are going downhill.  The Wii also has weaker graphics, bonus features, and online than the two HD consoles.  In spite of its shortcomings, the Wii managed to gain a comfortable lead over its competitors.  

We're getting off track.  The Wii sold very well due to a combination of great games, innovative hardware, low price, social experiences, and more.  It's selling poorer now because it has a successor, and less capable hardware.  The 360 is a year older but it was also many times more powerful and can be had for as little as $100, now.  None of this has anything to do with the fact that the Wii has lived a full life that several consoles in the past could only dream of and it continues to sell.

It's 2012.  The Wii came out in 2006.

The power of the console is irrelevant to the question. If it wasn't a fad it wouldn't be getting outsold 2:1 for over a year now when it was outselling the competitor by at least 3:1 at some stages in its lifecycle, simple as that. There's no sugar coating it. I'm simply answering the question with what I deem to be the most logical approach. I'm quite certain that the NES, SNES, PS1 and PS2 were not so greatly outsold by their competitors on a weekly basis towards the end of their lifecycles.