DonWii said: Well said, Rol. That 90% consists of PS2/Cube/Xbox owners. I would say that only 5% of Wii owners never owned a console before. Nintendo still has a long way to go expanding the market with the Wii, but they already did it with the DS, especially in Japan.

would you or Rol have estimates of how the 90% is broken down? [ie better than mine....as mine is just total guesswork based on sales] i reckon about 50% of the 90% owned a GC last gen, though this is decreasing as the world is running out of GC owners. probably 60-70% had a Ps2, because almost every gamer seems to have a ps2 [i was considering buying one recently and getting a few cheap games, but the ps2 is still like £110!..what the hell!] and finally i would guess maybe 10% had an x-box, because Nintendo and microsofts fanbase don't seem to cross over very much.

super_etecoon said: Judging by the poll question that's been up for the last week, quite a bit of forumites are Wii owners. It's been making me wonder what happened between this and last generation. Has Nintendo really hit the blue ocean, or are these sales just the fanboys who would have bought a Gamecube 2, as long as it had Zelda, Mario or Metroid on it? So I'm doing a little survey here of Vgchartz members who own Wii consoles. What was your main gaming platform last generation? Did you own a Gamecube? What about an N64? Please, this is a poll for Wii owners only. No flaming, no trolling.

I think there is a combination of both, new 'blue ocean' users and Nintendo faithfull. The people on this site that you will hear from are the Nintendo faithfull or general gamers who just like videogames and probably will buy atleast 2 consoles. Afterall, you kinda have to be a pretty regular gamer to want to be on a site like this.

 To answer your questions....

 The last two gens I was really busy in school (obtaining my Bachelor's) and thus didn't really have time to game as much as I would have liked.

I bought a N64 soon after release, when I was really early in school and didn't realize how much time it would take. I bought a handfull of games and then a year after when I realized that I just didn't have the time to play games I gave it to my little brother.

When I was nearly finished with my degree, in my last year (2004), I went ahead an bought a gamecube off a friend with the Zelda compilation disc and two wavebirds for $80. I barely played Majora's Mask, since I had gave away my GC before it came out, and then when I graduated bought Metroid Prime 1.

I have always enjoyed Nintendo games better than anyothers and it was a very easy decision of what I was going to buy for this gen. I gave a way the GC early 2005 and two of the then 4 wavebirds I owned knowing that I would be buying a Wii and then finish up MP1/2.

I have owned every Nintendo console, and probably will continue to do so. I will probably never buy a 360/PS3 as I just don't have the time to enjoy more than one console and with the plethora of game chioces I have on Wii from old school favorites to new stuff I don't see myself ever being without something to play.

last gen I owned no console

the last console I bought before the Wii was the Playstation

Well asking people who talk on a forum that it's main site based off videogame sales isn't going to give you any kinda accuracy on what your asking. The majority of people here are going to be hardcore fans. Meaning most of the Wii owners here are going to be Nintendo hardcore fans such as myself. It would be like doing this same poll on say IGN.

But with what is said I owned a GC and N64 before this generation. And an SNES before that. Also own DS, GBA, and GB. Only non Nintendo console I own is Xbox.

PS3 gamers are just a niche of PS2 gamers. When you're in a PS2 game forum you hear arguments like the PS2 version of RE4 is better because it has more features, who cares that the GC version has better graphics. You don't hear that kind of stuff from PS3 fans. PS2 fans didn't care that their system was inferior, they just wanted to play the games. PS3 fans constantly try to flaunt Blu-ray and the cell by arguments like that one game is slightly better looking than another game. Wii gamers have much more in common with PS2 gamers than with PS2 with PS3.

I had a gamecube, ps2, and xbox.

I've owned every Nintendo system save the VB. And all the Segas as well. I'm big into classic sonic. But other than that, Nintendo has always been my favorite.

What was your main gaming platform last generation?

I don't own a system from last gen, but both brothers own a Ps2 and I have spent a great deal of time playing it. I also had a roommate with a xbox. I have spent virtually no time with Gamecube games.

Did you own a Gamecube? What about an N64?

No gamecube but a N64 for sure. I also never owned a handheld until the Ds, but one brother had an original gameboy and an GBA

Also, I worked in a different area of retail then, and was stil occasionally asked about which system to buy. I usually advised the Ps2 because to the built-in Dvd player and backwards compatibility.

super_etecoon said: What was your main gaming platform last generation? Did you own a Gamecube? What about an N64?

1st and 2nd questions: Gamecube.

(I also owned GBASP; I played Xbox but did not own; I neither owned nor played PS2 -- but I do now, on my PS3! I did not own or play Dreamcast while it was current.)

3rd question: Yes.

(I also had a PlayStation, which my brother got for the same Christmas I got the N64. I didn't own or play Saturn while it was current. Also I think I had a Game Boy Color at this time; if not it was GBPocket which predates this gen.)

[edit:  Just for fun, before that it was SNES, Geneses, and Sega CD; before that it was Game Boy and Game Gear; before that it was NES.  Before that I was 5 years old.]

TWRoO said: DonWii said: Well said, Rol. That 90% consists of PS2/Cube/Xbox owners. I would say that only 5% of Wii owners never owned a console before. Nintendo still has a long way to go expanding the market with the Wii, but they already did it with the DS, especially in Japan.   would you or Rol have estimates of how the 90% is broken down? [ie better than mine....as mine is just total guesswork based on sales] i reckon about 50% of the 90% owned a GC last gen, though this is decreasing as the world is running out of GC owners. probably 60-70% had a Ps2, because almost every gamer seems to have a ps2 [i was considering buying one recently and getting a few cheap games, but the ps2 is still like £110!..what the hell!] and finally i would guess maybe 10% had an x-box, because Nintendo and microsofts fanbase don't seem to cross over very much.

Using this chart for reference:

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=All&cons2=GC&reg2=All&cons3=GC&reg3=All&align=1

Looking at the first 33 or so weeks, the Wii moved around 10M units, while the GC moved around 4M units. If you assume that those 4M represent the core Nintendo Fan following, who would buy Nintendo products on a whim(though I doubt that is the whole reasoning, since Super Smash Brothers Melee was a big system mover early on, and the GC's best seller) then you could assume that around the same 4M-or 40%- of the 10M Wii's are owned by this demographic. I would put it at even less, consideing that Super Smash Bros. Brawl hasn't even been released.

Due to the Wii60 phenomenom, I would say that  10%-1M- of Wii owners previously owned an Xbox and either own or plan on owning a 360 in the future.

I will group Dreamcast owners and PS2 owners together. The remaining 40%-4M- Wii owners are comprised of this demographic. They include, I would say, 2M mainstream(core/hardcroe) gamers who upgraded to Wii(myself included) and 2M casual gamers that went with the more casual friendly/cheap system. Of the 2M mainstream(core/hardcore), I would say that 500k either have or plan on getting a PS3 when it is at a cheaper price.

Assuming only 10%-or 1M- of Wii owners did not own a 6th generation console, the demographic that fits this percentage is split in two: those who were lapsed gamers and those who are NEW gamers. This demographic is the one that has the most potential to grow, and is currently limited by the lack of supply. 

I would write-up the possible growth of each for this generation, but about half of it is speculative and very debatable.