Old Sony console outsold PS3 in US last month
While demand for DS Lite, Wii soars
Sony's PlayStation 3 proved less popular than its predecessor in the US last month. According to market watcher NPD, the PS3 fell way behind the market leaders: Nintendo's DS Lite and Wii.
NPD's numbers for November retail sales put the PS3 down at 466,000 units, around 30,000 fewer than the 496,000 PS2s that crossed counters during the month. These totals put the two consoles on sixth and fifth place, respectively, behind the fourth-placed PSP, purchased by some 567,000 folk during the period.
Microsoft sold 770,000 Xbox 360s, NPD said, well behind the 981,000 Wiis acquired in the US last month. Topping the chart: the DS Lite with sales reaching a staggering 1.53m units.
Still, Sony can take some joy from the fact that the PS3 showed by the biggest year-on-year unit-sales growth: up 285 per cent on November 2006's 121,000 units. The DS Lite's growth was almost as great: up 234 per cent following year-ago sales of 458,000 units.
In Japan, Sony's home territory, the PS3 hasn't proved a strong seller either. Sales have dropped and flattened through the past three weeks while demand for the DS Lite, the Wii and the PSP have jumped sharply, according to figures from local market watcher Media Create.
COMMENTS
@ Andy
*Applauds* Yup, agree. :) Only would add that there are quite a few decent games for the Wii, but it is targeted differently.
Still waiting for Paris and the vat of honey..
Okay, Okay..
Look, you guys sort this out. In a year or two go ahead and let me know who won. I'll buy whichever one that is. Thanks.
@PIB
Wow, hey now. Fanboyish? I support all three consoles, so which one am i a "fanboy" of, exactly? I pointed out that the 360 has great games. I also pointed out that the ps3 is an astonishing bit of kit, is lacking games at the moment but one of it's games is an absolute stand out (fall of man). I should have added "at the moment" to my "no hardcore gamer will buy a ps3" comment. When it has more decent games, i'm sure gamers will flood to it.
A fanboy is someone who expresses an over-the-top love for one console (and generally, only one console) with no real reason other than "mine is best, yours sucks".
So get back in your box, petulant school boy.
I see your lips moving...
....and all I hear is "Blah Blah Blah". Seriously I see all the 360 vs PS3 vs Wii arguments and it makes me laugh. I've played all three consoles and all three have their own benefits, and drawbacks.
The 360, first of all, while they fixed the overheating problem in the later generation, most people still own the original ones, and are still experiencing the issue. It sounds like a jet engine (even the new model - which is a HUGE oversight from MS) and does not come with a built in HDDVD drive - meaning you have to have an extra bit of kit dangling off it to play them, and is missing wireless networking, unless you spunk another £50 on the kit. On the plus points it has an excellent, wide selection of games (some of which are excellent), is "middle of the road" in pricing and very good graphically.
The PS3 has, at the moment, still some issues with the variety of decent games available (although it IS improving at the moment). It is also still (at this time) missing Blu-Ray 1.1 support, although that has been promised this month, and is the most expensive of the three. I also wouldn't buy the crippled 40GB version. On the plus side it has some refinements that the 360 doesn't - such as just whispering in comparison, built in wireless networking and Blu-Ray player, and the decent games are beginning to come. It also, in theory, has more potential graphically than the 360, although not many developers have managed to take advantage of this yet.
The Wii has, by todays standards, poor graphics, no HD player, and I would say very limited scope for improvement. The range of games for it, in MY opinion is pretty poor, as I could never stand most Nintendo games. However, the console was never aimed at the hardcore gamer - it is more of a family console, and is the cheapest of the three, being affordable for more people. Really the Wii is aimed at a different market to the other two.
So the arguments of "which is better" are pointless as the result depends entirely on what you want out of your console. I'm sure Sony won't be too upset by still selling half a million PS2's a month though, considering they make a tasty profit on each one. I seem to remember it took quite a long time for the PS2 to REALLY take off when it came out, as no-one could write games properly for it at first. Oh, the same with the original Xbox as well - which survived mostly due to Halo in its early days.
The Games
When the PS3 gets a vast selection of great games it'll start to sell... it's no doubt the technologically superior console, but it's woefully lacking in games at the moment, and i think we can all agree that's what sells a console.
I'm tempted to get a 40Gb one as a Blu Ray player as it's pretty much the cheapest way to do so and i then have the benefit of being able to buy a couple of games when some newer/better ones come out
As it stands i'm a perfectly happy "one Xbox 360" owner, one that was purchased on the day of the UK release too.....
