Do you know what the first condition of a perfect console launch is? Releasing enough units so that everyone can get one! Well, if not everyone, at least as many as possible.
Of the three competitors on the console market, Nintendo seems to be the only one to have understood this necessity. Sony would have certainly liked to have millions of consoles available for sale, but problems determined by the incorporation of the BluRay unit didn't allow the Japanese company such a luxurious release of its product.
Microsoft released Xbox 360 a year ago, however, as it didn't respect this condition, the unit was sold out shortly after its launch. Lucky for the Redmond company that they had a whole year at their disposal in order to solve this problem – now they can be proud of having sold 7 million consoles. Microsoft hopes to celebrate having delivered 10 million units to consumers by March 2007.
Nintendo Wii, deemed a bona fide outsider at the beginning of the console war, has already sold 700,000 models if we are to believe what the site monitoring console sales is saying.
In less than a week, Nintendo will launch another 400,000 consoles in Japan and another number of consoles in Europe, undisclosed for now, in an attempt to reach its goal of selling 4 million units by the end of the year.
Sony is in the paradoxical situation of being defeated by a console greatly inferior to PS 3 technically. PlayStation 3 is undoubtedly a must have for any self-respecting gamer, but Nintendo Wii does hold one advantage: it will be available for purchase in stores. Sony has sold out its few hundred thousand PS3s at launch and it is unclear when the next units will hit the market.
As the holiday season is only days away, it's hard to imagine that Sony will miraculously come forward with another couple of hundred thousand consoles, conjured out of thin air.
Surprising as it may be, the war of the consoles is not being fought over technical specs, as we'd expect it to be, but over availability. Whoever produces more units faster will win, and from this perspective, Nintendo is carefree.
Compared to Wii, Xbox 360 is no happier case. The console has already turned 1 year old and Microsoft will have to initiate a publicity campaign or price reductions in order to stimulate sales growth.
In case you've missed the most recent episodes of "Attack of the Next-Generation Consoles: Sony and Nintendo Counter-Attack", don't be mistaken into thinking Nintendo Wii will sell just because there's so much more of it than of its rivals on the market.
While Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were competing in categories such as "who can stuff more memory and processors per square centimeter", Nintendo bet on the human factor and instead of concentrating on graphics and processor power, it reinvented the magic wand, creating a wireless controller which allows gamers to make any kind of movements they desire while playing.
Is Nintendo the winner of the console war? It's still too soon to draw a conclusion, one way or another, especially since Sony will fight mightily to regain its footing. Wii certainly is this season's revelation.
