MikeB said: Interesting, people seem relatively rich in this country. So entry pricing may be less of an issue for many (or buying multiple consoles if so desired). Wikipedia states the country is ranked 5th (est 2007) on GDP (PPP) per capita ($55,200).

 

 Saudi arabia , Qatar , Bahrain , Oman and Kuwait are rich countries, very rich

oil is there first -and almost only- money maker for these countries

blackstar said: Noobie said: The UAE gaming console market has achieved Dhs17.78m (around 4.8 m US$) sales from January to May this year with 4.448 million units sold according to industry studies consolidated by Jacky's Electronics. Pro Evolution 6 is presently the best selling game in the UAE with Smack Down VS Raw 2008 ranking second. Halo 3 and FIFA08 are in third and fourth places respectively. Complete article http://www.ameinfo.com/166223.html    the PES series is the favourite game for most of the Arabic gamers ,, it's really surprising that the ps3 is the market leader there :S i thought the hacked 360 is gonna take the lead in the arabic countries

 

 no it's not, winning eleven is (or maybe that's just here in my country).

 

modded 360's should have taken the lead in the region but that didn't happen (there are modded wii's but nobody buys them because it doesn't have popular soccer or shooter titles,the ones that made ps and ps2 popular), but the fact is that the majority of people either don't know what xbox360 is or don't care. everybody i have met says that they will buy ps3 once it becomes modded.so expect a rise in ps3 hardware sales in others once that happens.

@krimoz : PES = winning eleven it's the same game but i think PES is for europe or something

yes, ps3 sales in the other arabic countries won't increase until it's hacked

and that's gonna take so much time to happen ,, :)

btw i study in egypt

@blackstar:

Counted by who? Third world term originates from Cold War period and it was dividing world acording to political blocks. Third world mean neutral countries that weren't aligned with either USSR or US. It should not be used anymore.

If someone really want to categorize countries he should use HDI and talk about countries with high/medium or low HDI.

UAE is of course a country with high HDI (however not as high as same GDP would indicate).

blackstar said: MikeB said: Interesting, people seem relatively rich in this country. So entry pricing may be less of an issue for many (or buying multiple consoles if so desired). Wikipedia states the country is ranked 5th (est 2007) on GDP (PPP) per capita ($55,200).    Saudi arabia , Qatar , Bahrain , Oman and Kuwait are rich countries, very rich oil is there first -and almost only- money maker for these countries

when i visited palestine 3 years ago ...i did not believe how many ppl owned a ps2 !! and i was amazingly shocked at how much wwe was famous there , they LOVE soccer so im not suprised that fifa and raw aretwo top selling games in emirats

PS : blackstar wallak inta arabi????

 

 

 

when the wii was first out in bahrain it was 1,191.91 USD
and nope im not joking
people from the "royal families" buy it
there are so many poor people here and the rich people are REAAAAAALLY REAAALLY rich, this is why piracy is all over the place, people in the middle east arnt rich and they are stupid.

wiifit is 370.817 USD btw.. thats pretty lame

@ gimmebanana

I just came back from a 1 month vacation in Iran, the situation seems to be a little different there than in most countries due to boycotts, lack of company focus and/or other issues.

PS2, PSP and PC copies seem to rule the retail shops near completely, I was actually quite amazed by the extend, the only original games I could find were a few dozen PS3 games in some major game retail stores and Sony centers (PS3 is often used to show off Bravia TV sets). People love soccer there as well, how many times people approached me and starting to talk about Holland's performance at Euro 2008.

Everything else (including movies and music) seem to be cracked and copied en masse, sold in nearly all other software and media shops, this complete with unofficial redone packaging and official looking CD logos. Apart from PS3 games I only found one DS cartridge being sold at one shop within Tehran's most important shopping center.

MikeB said: @ gimmebanana I just came back from a 1 month vacation in Iran, the situation seems to be a little different there than in most countries due to boycotts, lack of company focus or issues. PS2, PSP and PC copies seem to rule the retail shops near completely, I was actually quite amazed by the extend, the only original games I could find were a few dozen PS3 games in some major game retail stores and Sony centers. Everything else (including movies and music) seem to be cracked and copied en mass, sold in nearly all other software and media shops, this complete with unofficial redone packaging and official looking CD logos. Apart from PS3 games I only found one DS cartridge being sold at one shop within Tehran's most important shopping center.

i think u got palestine and pakistan mixed up buddy !!  but u make a valid point.

 

@ gimmebanana

Pakistan is nothing like Iran though and there's no connection. Palestine does receive much economic aid from Iran (world's third largest reserves of oil) though.

BTW, it is estimated up to 10% of UAE's population are Iranians and about 4-7 thousand Iranian companies operate from its capital Dubai. About 25% of real estate transactions are conducted by Iranians and even some of the tallest skyscrapers in the UAE belong to Iranians.

i wonder if this site tracks the sales from that country