AfterDawn: News

Japan will see 400,000 Wii units on launch

Nintendo is preparing for the holiday seasons with announcing that it will have close to 400,000 Wiis on sale in Japan when it launches there on December 2nd. This comes in contrast to console rival Sony who was only able to provide some 100,000 units of it's PS3 due to shortages.

As many already know, the unorthodox move of launching in the United States first on November 19th has not officially given way to details as to how many units will be available to US gamers. The same can be said for it's launch in Europe on December 8th. Although earlier reports showed 1 million US units, Nintendo has been pretty tight lipped as to what their official numbers will be. However Nintendo will have tough competition with Microsoft and Sony both expecting to have huge sales this holiday season. To possibly pad their chances of a profitable season, Nintendo says they will have around 1.5 million units ready for shelves in Japan for its handheld device, the DS.



In related news, Nintendo has hinted that another version of the Wii will make it to market that will be capable of DVD playback. While they once stated at gaming conventions that they did not want to stray from their pure gaming intentions, it appears they are going to try to get the Wii to appeal to a larger audience. Unfortunately, these DVD capable units are only slated for launch in Japan sometime in 2007.

Source:
BBC

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 15 Nov 2006 6:03

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• 19 comments

• Pop_Smith

  I personally like this news.
  I am a big fan of Nintendo and I am getting my little brother and I a Wii for Christmas. I also have a 360 and would have gotten a PS3 if the cheapest unit wasn't $500 (Which, in my opinion, is worthless you have to buy the $600 unit to really get anything good).
  
  So don't dismiss me as a Nintendo fan boy. Heck, I even have a PS2 (for God of War and Guitar Hero).
  
  Nintendo knows how to play their cards, they have been around and know how to create something new that people will get excited about.
  
  Some people don't like the idea of how the Wii is controlled because its new but I am sure most of them will like the Wii's innovative design once they try it.
  
  Peace,
  
  Pop Smith

  15.11.2006 07:51 #1

• kiiveri

  I ordered my one about month ago, just cant wait to get it :) interesting information would be how many wii is coming to europe.
  
  Next year will be interesting to see how many console sony, microsoft and nintedo sells and which one sells most, it will disturb counting some that ps3 is coming so late.
  
  And I agree with Pop_Smith, playstation is too expensive for me too.
  
  btw. sorry if my english is bad to read :)

  15.11.2006 08:02 #2

• oofRome

  Regarding the DVD availability to other regions; Nintendo has confirmed that DVD-playback enabled units will also be available in the the States. However, the version may be more expensive than the current $249.99 price.
  
  http://www.thewiire.com/news/557/1/Sonic_Solutions_to_Provide_DVD_Technology_for_Future_Wii
  (see their update)
  
  Luckily for me I have too many dvd players to know what to do with.

  15.11.2006 08:58 #3

• handsom

  I have a feeling that DVD-enabled versions will simply replace the regular ones about a year later. Really, I doubt it's even a major hardware issue, because it uses DVD discs for games already. It's probably just some sort of firmware update; so maybe they can just release it online as a patch or something.
  
  Overall, I'm glad to see that the system launch is still looking so very smooth.

  15.11.2006 09:07 #4

• riplord

  <q>Nintendo knows how to play their cards<q/>

  15.11.2006 09:10 #5

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  ture Nintendo is cheap and dose a ok job about cutting pork.
  
  MS and PS3 just bleed money by doing things half arsedly...
  ----------
  kiiveri
  Bah! my grammar beats your grammar anyway :P
  -------
  Pop_Smith
  Sony is retarded I wonder if they will even flinch if sales don't go as expected or will sales even be effected...mmmm *sigh*

  15.11.2006 18:35 #6

• tabletpc

  im not worried
  
  reason if the dvd playback is availible in japan then they will have to make it availible to u.s consumers as well in a system update becasue the nintendo wii has a dual layer dvd drive in it right now but they didn't want to ship a problematic dvd player app that malfunctions or worse i think nintendo is going to take us all by surprise this hoiliday season and the reason is if you orderd a ps3 you are not getting your console untill the end of december which gives nintendo 1 month to ship there 400,000 consoles which will damage sonys rep because i have my ps2 and my beta testing of the ps3 i didn't like at all due to the console running a recycled operating system and the fact that in order to unlock most of the cars and characters in the ps3 titles will require you to pay for eery thing you unlock which is unfair nintendo has the right idea free online play free downloadable content except when downloading new games and even better replacable batterys in there controllers unlike sonys 50.00 controller that has no replacment battery at all on it so im happy and i think that nintendo will have a good market shre this year due to the other fact they released zelda on wii first sucks for gamecube owners
  

  15.11.2006 19:21 #7

• ZippyDSM

  tabletpc
  neither am I since I would be buying a game machine not a VIDEO PLAYING MACHINE.....

  15.11.2006 20:15 #8

• limelight

  Its nice to see that Nintendo has plenty of units in stock for the consumer, rather than creating artifical hype and consumer demand because of "shortages", (ahem SONY).

  16.11.2006 02:02 #9

• limelight

  Its nice to see that Nintendo has plenty of units in stock for the consumer, rather than creating artifical hype and consumer demand because of "shortages", (ahem SONY).

  16.11.2006 02:02 #10

• xhardc0re

  Why everyone is so friggin' hot for DVD playback i don't know....other than Blu-Ray I don't see the market needing an all-in-one system at all.
  Actually Nintendo has put themselves in a very good position. If they can wait for $$$ony to shake out Micro$oft, or vice versa, they could 'upgrade' the Wii with Blu-Ray support and maybe add some video ram. For existing owners, they could add in that stick of RAM in the expansion port (yup, the Wii has one like the GC does) or simply upgrade.
  
  Most important thing is for *N* to keep their options open in regard to upgrades. If they can bring out a Wii v2.0 sometime in early 2008, i think they could really beat $$$ony down. But then again, the PS3 could fall significantly in price if Blu-Ray sales take off.
  
  Let's home NOBODY buys a friggin' Blu-Ray & everyone goes HD-DVD :) :)
  
  Eff Yew $$$ony!

  16.11.2006 07:07 #11

• mark5hs

  actualy, I think blu ray will win by a long shot. It holds 25GB per layer as opposed to 15 with HDdvd, and blu ray has alot more companies supporting it.
  
  kind of funny how japans getting 5x as many wiis as ps3s

  16.11.2006 14:07 #12

• handsom

  I'm much less optimistic toward Blu-ray as a format. But really, I'm not saying either one will win; it's more a question of who I'm rooting for.
  
  What I'm not rooting for is a proprietary format where $ony collects profit shares for each disc sold; which digs into studio profits, and in turn means that we, the consumers, don't get markdowns. It's easy to say that a new format is always more expensive, but given a profit structure like this one; there's no telling if it ever really WILL go down. But that's all to be seen, no one knows, not even Sony.
  
  I'm very pleased to see how this race goes, there are bew aspects that have never existed before, so this time around could be entirely different than before. I think all three companies will be fine, ultimately, but I believe they're all going to have to completely rethink their strategies in the next couple years. Nintendo is pushing different; an idea that worked very well for them in the DS, showing there is a market for 'different' that actually beat out Sony's market of 'power' in the form of the PSP. I was certainly not expecting that. Sony is pushing for the most powerful; but depsite their eight pipelines, I'm wondering how much that will *really* help. Technically speaking; it CAN make a huge difference; but it comes down to whether the developers program for it correctly. And then you have the 360; graphically far superior to the Wii(And as much as I am twitching with Glee for my Wii this Sunday, it's the truth, just looking at CoD3 Screens makes that abundantly clear.) and still being lower spec'd than the PS3(But not nearly as much as $ony and fanboys would like you to believe) it holds a mid-point price title. This almost seems to be the introduction of a tiering system, depending on how much you're willing to invest in your gaming platform for quality ratio. Now, that may change completely, and there's also the point that Nintendo is setting themselves apart with a completely different gameplay focus, but it would be interesting to see gaming enter a tiering system of this sort for a while. Although, ultimately, the companies won't be content with it, and will keep trying to take eachother's spots. But it's interesting nonetheless.
  
  I think M$ is going to have to bite their tongue, and lower the 360 price point. Now, a lot of people are going to jump at that statement to all kinds of outlandish numbers; but in reality, a simple $50 price reduction in each model will make their system look much more appealling, especially if they do it before Christmas, but there's no telling.
  
  Really overall, this could be a very interesting console battle...
  

  -------------------------------------------------
  Will the PS3 dominate the console market?
  Maybe, if Sony lowers the price and stops lowering the hardware specs.
  For News on this: http://www.megagames.com

  16.11.2006 15:48 #13

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  meh one you stop and see that BR only real advantage has not been draged out of the labs yet the only way it would gain any headway is if it was cheaper than HD DVD AND got as close to that 100GB 1 side they claim,but as it is BR is chasing its tail while HD DVD seems to be finding its way alright.
  
  In the end the market will crown the cheaper one victor anyway...

  16.11.2006 18:57 #14

• theridges

  Like Everybody Else the DVD Playback function is a big deal to me, i have a modded Xbox for my Media needs :)
  And about the BR Vs. HD were not going to have to worry about it for another 5 years because the average person will not own an HD TV even by then...

  16.11.2006 23:53 #15

• ZippyDSM

  theridges
  running DVD would be smart however its a distraction on a GAME SYSTEM...MS has no ieda whats its doings but oh hell that got piss poor streaming video ><,sony has 5 years to get the PS3 right and you know they will do it at a premium for the consumer >>
  
  as far as the normal players go now is not the time to go ga ga over one....

  17.11.2006 01:04 #16

• theridges

  LOL Quote:Like Everybody Else the DVD Playback function is a big deal to me, i have a modded Xbox for my Media needs :)
  And about the BR Vs. HD were not going to have to worry about it for another 5 years because the average person will not own an HD TV even by then...I For Got Something
  Like Everybody Else the DVD Playback function is [B]NOT[/B] a big deal to me, i have a modded Xbox for my Media needs :)
  

  17.11.2006 09:45 #17

• sniper78

  How manys wii's is NA getting? I know my walmart has 30 cause i saw them.
  

  
  
  In fact I think we would be fooling our selves if we have a community this large, and did not realize that there are some enemies present.

  17.11.2006 16:31 #18

• theridges

  400,000 i believe and 800,000 by the end of the Year :)
  

  
  
  (\__/)
  (='.'=) Copy Bunny into your sig and help him rule
  (")_(") the World!
  
  

  17.11.2006 22:14 #19