I'd argue that the Wii's in a league of it's own , it's not in direct competition with the 360 and PS3 . Many Wii owners( who are also hardcore gamers) are PSWii or Wii360. I can't imagine anyone settling with the Wii alone for current gen gaming.
1) Ordinary people won't buy multiple consoles. Last gen it was obviously the PS2, this gen it appears that the Wii will become to be the "Average Joe" console. Please don't think that gaming is something for the hardcore elite. The big sales come from ordinary people, for example families, that buy a gaming console.
Of course you'll say something about that these people don't buy games, but as a kid I had many games to play on my NES/SNES.
2) You compare the PS3 to iPod and Wii with Chinese garbage. The truth is that the Wii is more like the iPod. It's the absolute must have gadget for over a year now. The people that really mind their gadget also happen to be people that have quite some money to spend. Mostly young people like me that have good jobs. Sony and Microsoft would have loved to be the "hype" item, but Wii steals all their media attention.
3) 3rd parties have limited funds at their disposal. So the 3 consoles definitely compete for 3rd party games. Due to Wii's success more and more quality 3rd party games will come to Wii, which of course will harm the HD consoles. See Monster Hunter and Fatal Frame.
I don't think the 360 or the PS3 (unless you wanna compare the PS3 with sony's last console) should be seen as doing badly simply because the Wii is doing good , I read some where on this site that the 360 has significantly better attach rates than the Wii, wouldn't this imply that a higher percentage of 360 and PS3 owners are different kinds of gamers ?(hardcore gamers maybe)
Wii launched alongsite the PS3 and has better attach rates. Last Christmas period (probably the most important sales period for videogames) Wii crushed both PS3 and 360 in attach rates. So long for your theory.
You still like to prototype harcore gamers as non-Nintendo gamers. Playing Fire Emblem at the moment, which is one of the most hardcore games around, already flaws your argument, but what's even more staggering is that you just "forget" that most hardcore gamers owned or at least played Nintendo consoles, because of its legacy in games.
Up until recently the 360 and the PS3 where much more expensive than the Wii , at launch I coulda bought multiple Wii's for the price of the PS3 , why ? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T IN THE SAME BLOODY MARKET.
A grandma , 40 , 35 year old doesn't walk into a shop and say "oh the Wii's are sold out , i'll buy a 360 instead because it's equally cheap) a large % of Nintnedo's market aren't
IF PS3 , XBOX 360 , PS2 VS WII IS AN ACCEPTABLE COMPARISON THEN SO IS SKODA VS FERRARI OR FOOTBALL VS BASKETBALL , IPOD VS CHEAP IMPORTS.
These examples just point out how frustrated you are with the situation.
What you basically say is: Because Sony made it's console more expensive than the Wii they aren't in the same market???? The PS3 is more expensive because Sony wanted it to be. Literally we were supposed to have an extra job to afford it. The iPod is more expensive than most mp3 players, still it's by far the most succesful one. It's not the price that's most important, it's how customers value the worth of that price.
That there are even grandma's playing Wii is an enormous accomplishment and something everyone that loves gaming should welcome, because it means an acceptation by the general audience. Instead people try to spin this negatively for some unknown reason.
Football vs. Basketball = Skoda vs. Ferrari ?????????
Let's keep the Skoda vs. Ferrari one. First of all the PS3 is not a Ferrari. That would be the high-end PC that is outdated in a month. Videogame consoles are supposed to be mass market products and therefore all are in the category Ford/Opel/VW etc. Within this group there are differences, but not of the absurdity you propose.
