PS3 challenger instant sellout
2006-11-20 08:50
New York - Nintendo's entry into the game console wars, the Wii, went on sale and quickly sold out in many stores despite stocks that far surpassed those of the rival PlayStation 3, which went on sale two days earlier.
"There were enough people in line to snap up almost all the units of the Nintendo Wii that we had in stock, so it was an instant sellout," said Jim Babb, spokesperson for the Circuit City electronics retail chain. There were a few overnight campers, but most had lined up in the early morning.
Spot checks at New York stores on Sunday when the Wii went on sale turned up only one, the Toys R Us in Times Square, with Wiis in stock. The store hosted a midnight launch event that drew a crowd of more than a thousand people for the sale of the very first Wii.
The first buyer, Isaiah Triforce Johnson, had been waiting outside the store for more than a week. He wore a Nintendo Power Glove, a wearable controller that came out in 1989, while shaking hands with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Johnson said he had legally changed his name to include a reference to Nintendo's "Zelda" series of games.
50% cheaper tha PS3
The launch apparently went smoothly, a contrast to the PlayStation 3 release, which forced police to disperse rowdy crowds at some stores around the country.
Sony had about 400 000 PS3s in North American stores on Friday. Nintendo has said it would have "five to ten" times as many Wiis available at launch, and will have shipped 4 million units by the end of the year.
The Wii costs $250, including one game, half of what the cheaper of the two PS3 models costs. The most common PS3 model costs $600 with no included game.
On the eBay auction site, Wiis were selling on Sunday for twice the store price, indicating that supplies are still tight. The PS3, meanwhile, was selling for around $1 500, already down about $1 000 from Friday.
Brave move
"The people we saw today were much more likely to take these games home and play them and love them rather than flip them on eBay," Babb said. Circuit City expects more Wiis in stock soon, but Babb could not say exactly when.
Launching right after the much-vaunted and technically sophisticated PS3 is a brave move for Nintendo, which lost the top spot in the market to Sony in the mid-90s. More recently, Microsoft has waded into the market as well.
The Wii takes a different tack than the competition, forgoing the high-definition graphics that Sony has spent billions to develop for the PS3.
Instead, Nintendo aims to draw gamers and non-gamers alike with intuitive game play. The Wii comes with a motion-sensitive controller that the gamer waves around in the air, using it as a tennis racket, golf club, steering wheel, gun or sword depending on the game.
- AP