Heck yeah.  Just like the DS (89M) is whupping the iPhone (13M)!  The iPhone has the most powa for a handheld gaming device you know.  Experts say so! (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/07/30/iphone-wii-of-portable-gaming/)  Can't compete with the DS though!  They are totally competitors for the same marketshare and wii all know it, but they won't admit that it is, because DS is cleaning house!  Why don't we have it up on the front page again, I forget?

Yee haw!  Nintendo beats all socks off!

P.S. I'm trying to provoke some serious thought here, via sarcasm.  Think, don't flame, please.  =)

If the Wii and PS360 were actually competing for the same marketshare... wouldn't multi-plat ownership be a lot higher than it is, given the relative lack of cross-platform (Wii to PS360 crossplat) games and genres?  If cross-platform Wii ownership is a lot higher than we think, then why aren't people just plain satisfied with their Wii alone?

actually ive seen more gamers in wii ads than 360 or PS3 ads. id say adverts with 4 males in their early twenties are for gamers. they usually playing mario kart or SSBB (PS why the hell is nintendo promoting SSBB with harry redknap!??! its crazy)

most of the 360 adverts are for multiplatofrom titles like far cry and fallout3. but the adverts dont show any gamers. on the other hand ive seen lots of adverts with groups at partys. there playing Lips or in the movies or guitar hero IV


same for PS3, the only advert(one of the very few they do) that actually shows the person playing the game are those advertising singstar


conclusion: the majority of all consoles TV ads are for casual games

Heh wow... saying Iphone is a handheld is like saying PSP is a phone because you can use skype on it (DS as well if you use homebrew)... your trolling is kinda lame dude... Wii is marketed to gamers as well as new people just coming into gaming, much like PS1 did during it's generation, except the Wii is doing it in much better fashion and has stole a lot of the customers that PS1 and PS2 had, as well as bringing back gamers that had quit gaming... so yes Wii is the same gaming market as PS3 and 360, iPhone is a cell phone competiting with other cell phones...

Let me avoid the sarcasm for a post, to see if I can stir up some thinking.

Presumably, people who purchase Wiis buy them for the existing software library. The masses could care less about "The Conduit" and its ilk -- primarily because of the simple fact that they have not yet been released.

Also, individual Wii purchasers do not seem to be interested in standard-fare shooters, pro sports games, etc., to the same degree that HD console owners appear to be. However, they love games like WiiSports, WiiPlay, WiiFit, Carnival Games, etc. I think this is pretty obvious from the sales numbers.

The Wii and the HD consoles clearly cater themselves to different gaming genres. They are all video game consoles, without question. However, since game players tend to gravitate toward particular genres... is the Wii really "competing" with the HD consoles in the same sense that the HD consoles compete with each other?

People buy consoles for the games. Ponder that for a while, and I think you'll have a better perspective on this (obviously a HD gamer) author's article.  In his mind, they don't compete.  This is his opinion, and it is shared by many HD console owners.  Stepping back and asking "Do I like the sorts of games the HD consoles provide in spades?" and "Why aren't these games on the Wii?" should provoke some contrasts between the consoles.  Popular to contrary belief on this site, 3rd party publishers are far from "dumb" -- they do look at their demographics, pretty intensively.

Different demographics does, for the most part, mean "not directly competing", in many peoples "books".

Yes, they compete.

You're saying that the Nintendo and HD consoles have different demographics; I agree, and I don't think anyone would seriously argue the point.  However, they still are both trying to get limited resources: products designed by third parties, media attention, space on game store shelves, and, most importantly, customer's money.  The question is: if a customer spends money on a Wii, does that mean that PS3/360 loses out on a sale?  Not always, not 1:1... but sometimes, and often enough to say that: yes, they are in competition.

As a pure anecdote, when I decided to buy a Wii, I decided to purchase it instead of a PS3.  I'm a life-long gamer with interests in many different genres of gaming.  But I have limited resources (not only money, but also time), and I had to make a choice.

Therein lies the competition.

An actual decent post from you that is somewhat thought out for once except one major flaw... you talk of sales yet obviously forget to put in the fact that core games sell well into the millions on Wii as well, things like Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Guitar Hero sells better on Wii, Smash Bros Brawl, Super Paper Mario, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Metroid, Red Steel, and Mario Strikers sell well into the million seller range and are all VERY core titles.

The fact that Mario Kart is selling better then Halo 3 should tell you something, core games sell on Wii and can do it without the massive amount of hype, then if you compared GTAIV sales to a game that came out a little before it Brawl and Brawl is outselling it as well as keeping constant sales show that core gamers are picking it up each week and some picking up a Wii for it each week.

You fail to see the facts like many developers do, if you make a good core game with enough appeal behind it, it will sell, even Okami is slowly but surely getting into the 500k range and selling better on Wii then it did on PS2 with a much smaller userbase on Wii.  So yes Wii is competiting for and marketing to the same core gamers PS3 and 360 are going for, they already have a million selling FPS game in Red Steel, totally original IP built towards core gamers... sold a million... with very little marketing... sounds like 360 and PS3 games are in trouble when you think about that, the budgets that go into those games then the marketing they have to do to break into the million sellers, only for sales to die off fast and then the disc go out of print and people just buy the used copies...

bottom line is the wii IS competing with the 360 and ps3

You do realize, that all of these arguments can also be made for the GC, correct?

Strange how nobody whined about GC not competing with the XB or PS2. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say, probably because it wasn't curb stomping them in sales.

Actually the GC had a load of cross-plat games with the PS2 and XBox. I much preferred GC ports of PS2 games last generation.  I'm playing the GC port of Summoner 2 on my Wii right now, actually.

I think I'm done trying to convince you guys that SSBB and Mario Kart target different demographics than MLB 09, Halo 3 and GT5P, though. Believe what you will.

bingo week? I've barely seen any interesting opportunities to argue with anyone.

There haven't really been any interesting threads.....