by Playfuls Staff |
21st November 2006
Two days after its official launch, Nintendo Wii quickly
sold out in many stores from North America. According to media,
in United States Nintendo sold about 600,000 devices within a few minutes after launch. The [more]
success of Nintendo Wii was the same in Canada. Canadian retailers sold out
of Nintendo's new Wii video game console on launch day, CBC reported.
"It's another vindication of Nintendo's
strategy," Farjad Iravani, a marketing manager with Nintendo of Canada,
told CBC News Online from his Vancouver office on Monday.
Nintendo Wii is about 8.5 inches long, 6 inches wide and
less than 2 inches thick (roughly the size of 3 DVD cases stacked on top of
each other). The Wii console communicates wirelessly with the Internet via IEEE
802.11 or a USB 2.0 LAN adaptor. Wii also can connect wirelessly with Nintendo
DS. Wii features A single self-loading media bay plays single- or
double-layered 12-cm optical discs for the Wii console, as well as 8-cm
Nintendo GameCube discs.
A major feature of Wii is the console's wireless
controller, the Wii Remote that may be used as a handheld pointing device and
can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. The controller also
contains a speaker and a rumble device to provide sensory feedback, and can be
used to turn Wii on and off.
One of the few things that Nintendo's Wii console is still
missing is full DVD functionality, something that many gamers would like to see
implemented before jumping on the Wii wagon. A couple of weeks ago, a Nintendo
spokesperson confimed that the company plans to release a version of Wii in
Japan featuring DVD playback, but at that time there were no such plans for
European or North American territories.
Nintendo intends to ship 4 million Wii systems globally
during the six weeks between Wii's Nov. 19 launch in the Americas
and the end of 2006.
The main focus of the Nintendo Wii in on user-friendly
playability that appeals to gamers of all levels - including aging
"greygamers" as they are called - and not just wealthy supergeeks in
need of a real life.
According to NexGenWars.com,
Sony sold only 266,739 PS 3 consoles. There's no doubt about the PS3's
technical chops - it's actually a mini supercomputer with a new multicore cell
chip that is 40 times more powerful than the ultra-successful PS2 that it
supersedes.
It also includes a BluRay compact disc that Sony is
betting on as the media format of the future. With its internet access,
built-in wi-fi and ability to play movies, music and other digital formats,
Sony is hoping the PS3 will be the household media centre of the not-too
distant future and at the heart of our entertainment world.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is also bidding to be the control hub
of home entertainment. It already has a year's head start and by March 2007
will have sold 10 million units. For the moment, according to NextGenWars
website, Microsoft has sold 7,199,744 units.
