Nintendo Investigating Wii Strap Problem

The Associated Press
By YURI KAGEYAMA
December 07, 2006

Nintendo's president acknowledged Thursday the just-launched Wii video-game machine may have a problem with a strap that secures its trademark wandlike remote-controller to the player's wrist.

President Satoru Iwata also said Nintendo may raise its sales target for the Wii, which is selling out at retailers since it went on sale in recent weeks in the U.S. and Japan.

The console from the maker of the Pokemon and Super Mario games is locked in a fierce three-way battle with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360.

'We are investigating,' Iwata said of reports about the Wii's strap coming off as players swung around the controller, at times causing the remote to fly out of their hands.

Players use the Wii remote like a tennis racket, sword and other devices to play games.

'Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected,' Iwata said. 'We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment.'

The company has not decided on any specific measures to change the strap, Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said.

Iwata said he first wants to see how Christmas sales go before revising Nintendo's sales target for 6 million Wii consoles by the end of March.

'I'm not ruling that out entirely, but it's premature to say it now,' he said at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo.

Nintendo has delivered more machines so far to consumers than Sony Corp. has, partly because of Sony's production problems.

Nintendo has shipped about 400,000 Wii machines in Japan and more than 600,000 in North America. The machine went on sale Thursday in Australia and is set to go on sale Friday in Europe.

Sony readied just 100,000 PlayStation 3 machines for the Japan launch, and 400,000 consoles for its U.S. debut. Its European launch has been pushed back until March.

Sony has promised 2 million PS3 machines by the end of the year, while Nintendo is targeting 4 million in global shipments of Wii during the same period. Both Sony and Nintendo are projecting selling 6 million by the end of March.

Selling machines in numbers is crucial in the gaming business because hot-selling formats attract software companies to make more games, which in turn boost machine sales.

Iwata denied that Nintendo was competing against Sony. It's more important to attract novice players and to reach out to older people and others usually not associated with games, he said.

Analysts say Wii appeals to inexperienced players and has a price advantage at 25,000 yen or $250 _ about half of the PlayStation 3.

Analysts expect Wii to mount a serious challenge to market-leader Sony, which has sold more than 200 million PlayStation series machines worldwide over the years, although they say the verdict on next-generation machines is still out for a couple of years.

Sony is expecting to rack up 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in red ink in its game unit for the fiscal year ending March 2007, much of it in startup costs for PlayStation 3.

Nintendo is forecasting profit of 100 billion yen ($845 million) for the fiscal year, as Wii buoys earnings in the second half.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[original post: www.topix.net]

PS3 1.60 Firmware to Add Background Downloading

by Marcus Yam

PS3's next big update to add new Web surfing options and background downloading

The powerful PlayStation 3 will soon be getting the ability to simultaneously walk and chew gum, so to speak. An upcoming system update to bring the PS3 firmware to version 1.6 will give users the ability to download files from the PlayStation Network in the background.

Currently, PlayStation 3 owners must halt all activity and remain focused on the download progress bar. Any attempt at another operation on the console will cancel the download, which is non-resumable. Users will greatly appreciate this new feature when it comes to downloading large files, such as Gran Turismo HD Concept at 625MB.

Another recently announced feature to be included in the 1.60 update is the introduction of Folding@home functionality, giving owners of a PS3 the opportunity to use their new game system to help find real-life cures to diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and many cancers.

Version 1.60 will also improve the Web browsing ability of the PS3. The update will bring zooming and new resolution settings for easier surfing, plus a full-sized keyboard on-screen for more convenient text entry.

Although the 20GB PS3 may soon be extinct, especially after confirmation from retailer memos, Sony is adding a software feature so that the WiFi-less PS3 variant will be able to connect with the PSP for Remote Play.

Details of the update were first found from a Japanese press release dating the release date of the new firmware to be March 22. The timing of the new firmware closely coincides with the launch of the European launch of PS3.

While not yet applicable to Japanese and North American consoles, the European PS3 features revised hardware that omits the Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer, a chip used for hardware backwards compatibility for PS2 games, in favor of costs. An upcoming firmware update is expected to introduce software emulation of over 1,000 PS2 games for the European PS3. It is unclear how the different hardware specification and software requirements will affect future and current Japan and North American PlayStation 3 consoles.

(c) www.dailytech.com

 

Uni.Console Tags: Playstation 3, PS3, Sony, Update

Consoles in 2007

2007 is going to be a very interesting year for the console wars. Nintendo is off to a fantastic start with the Wii, and it appears the system built specifically to appeal to non-gamers and broaden the market has done just that—everyone who plays one says it's fun and wants one. That initial enthusiasm doesn't always translate into sales, though, much less extended sales. Once the talk shows and morning shows and news updates about the "hot holiday items" wear off, will those non-gaming masses still care? Will the idea of possibly purchasing or trying out this thing even cross their minds? Will Nintendo be able to keep the hot titles flowing fast enough to keep the core gaming demographic interested? After all, Zelda was a huge hit at launch, but nothing else has done very well, and the critical reception for other Wii titles is fairly poor. Nintendo's job throughout 2007 will be to keep the Wii fresh, keep it in the mainstream press as much as possible, and target it toward an expanding market that reaches beyond core gamers. It also has to prove that the sad reputation of the GameCube—only 2 or 3 Nintendo franchise games a year really worth getting for it—won't hold true. Nintendo needs to crank out the Wii hits, and bring forth plenty of great exclusive games from third-party publishers. That's not an easy task.

Sony has its work cut out for it. Despite the company's protests, everybody knows (and sales records have confirmed) that shipments have been below expectation and Sony has to make desperate improvements to increase supply. With a major region launch coming in the Spring (that usually requires stockpiling hundreds of thousands of units), that's going to be tough. The PS3 is at a price disadvantage, and Sony is already taking a big loss on each unit sold. It will be hard for them to reduce the price, but that needs to happen quickly. Many of the hot PS3 exclusives, like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, are only maybe going to be done in time for a 2007 release. In short, Sony has precious little time to lower the PS3's price, fix all the little software flaws and glitches, add competitive online features to better stack up against Xbox Live, and release totally awesome exclusive games. Sony will be very busy in 2007.

Oddly enough, Microsoft seems to be in the best position moving into 2007. Its approach is less risky than Nintendo's and less reliant on shaking up the buying habits of millions of non-gamers. Thanks in part to some software delays (like Forza Motorsport 2, the lineup of exclusive titles for 2007 looks very good. Even the first six months of the year has several potential blockbusters in store. Thanks in part to Blue Dragon and some other imminent releases, Japan is starting to take notice of the Xbox 360. Sales are still not stellar and it is doubtful that we'll see a huge explosion in Japanese Xbox 360 sales in 2007, but the numbers should climb from "insignificant" to "a meaningful part of the business." And then there's Halo 3, part of a franchise so big that it will probably be responsible for millions of 360 purchases alone. Grand Theft Auto 4 will ship simultaneously on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, taking a very important feather out of Sony's cap. What was once an exclusive to Sony's platform and a big system-seller will now be available on both platforms, and the 360 will be the less expensive of the two ways to jump into the game.

Microsoft is entering the second year of production for the Xbox 360. Costs are already under control, with analysts claiming that Microsoft is already breaking even (or better) on each unit sold. With a move to smaller, cooler, more energy efficient 65 nanometer processors assumed to happen in the first half of 2007, the time is ripe for an Xbox 360 price cut. This is going to be hard for Sony to match with the PlayStation 3. Exciting things are afoot with Xbox Live. Microsoft added a video marketplace this year: Will that expand to music in 2007? Will there be a subscription model? The XNA Game Studio Express program that lets common programmers make Xbox 360 games without buying expensive development kits was just released. In 2007, we should see some sort of method for all Xbox 360 users to sample these homebrew projects. If this takes off, it could be a major point of differentiation between platforms.

Microsoft's main challenge is going to be making sure that launching early doesn't turn around to bite them. It has to remind consumers that the Xbox 360 is every bit as "next-generation" as the PlayStation 3 and convince them that the lower price does not mean inferior graphics or gameplay. The Xbox 360 has to continue to be seen as the "hot new thing" or risk being increasingly pushed aside along with the previous generation PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. It also has to make good on many of its release dates, and avoid pushing big franchises back to 2008.

The big unknowns? What will Microsoft do with the hardware? Will the next iteration of the Xbox 360 be more than just less expensive? Will it be quieter? Will it include built-in Wi-Fi, a bigger hard drive, or an HDMI port?

(c) www.extremetech.com

Nintendo Wii Outsells PS3, Xbox 360 During January

by Marcus Yam

The Wii off to a great start for 2007

Nintendo’s Wii continues to sell at a torrid place, outselling the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during January. Market research firm NPD Group reports that consumers bought 436,000 Wii, while Xbox 360 sold 294,000 units, followed by PlayStation 3 with 244,000.

Nintendo is crediting much of its success to the broad appeal of Wii compared to machines from Microsoft and Sony. “I do think that we're selling to additional and different customers,” said Perrin Kaplan, VP marketing for Nintendo. “We've had an incredibly healthy start and we think there's going to be a pretty long tail on this product.”

Each console experienced a drop in sales when compared with figures from December 2006. The Wii saw the least decline when compared to its previous month at 604,200, while Xbox 360 saw the biggest decline from its 1.1 million units sold. PlayStation 3 also fell from its 490,700 sold during December.

The PlayStation 2 continues to be a strong seller, likely because of its price point, with 299,000 units—but down from the amazing 1.4 million during the holiday month. The Nintendo DS also loosened its grip, selling 239,000 during January—a steep drop from the 1.6 million during the gift-giving season. PSP also fell to 211,000 from 953,200.

(c) www.dailytech.com

Blu-ray DVD drive no bonus for some PS3 buyers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gamers love Sony Corp.'s (6758.T)new PlayStation 3 for its graphic capabilities and firepower,but the advanced Blu-ray DVD drive is annoying some by raisingthe cost, slowing production and forcing them to buy into aformat they've not yet aligned with.

Sony's move to put a Blu-ray drive into the PS3 video gameconsole is part of the Japanese giant's plan in a high-stakesnext-generation DVD format war that recalls the fierceBetamax-VHS battle, which Sony's Betamax lost.

This time, Sony's Blu-ray is competing against a rivalToshiba Corp.-backed (6502.T) format known as HD-DVD.

Sony said Blu-ray is part of its long term plan to positionits machine as a home entertainment hub, but some experts saythe strategy may be backfiring.

Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman said that whiledie-hard gamers will buy the PS3 at any cost early on, buyerswho come to the product later will be more price-sensitive.

"Blu-ray is adding $150 to $200 to the product. They'vecreated something that is not for today's market. It's not amarket driver, it's only driving the price higher," he said.

Cymfony, a company which culls trends from posts onInternet sites, reported that positive discussions about HD-DVDwere 46 percent higher than Blu-ray in a survey of almost18,000 posts on blogs, discussion boards and consumer reviewsites from October 1 to November 30.

"Negative Blu-ray conversation indicated a lack of consumertrust in Sony, as well as gamer displeasure with sellingBlu-ray in association with PlayStation 3," said Jim Nail, aspokesman for Cymfony, which culls trends from posts on socialmedia sites.

Hollywood and electronics makers are hoping high-definitionDVDs, with better picture quality and interactive features,will reignite the slowing market for DVD sales. But the formatwar, technical issues and the advent of digital video-on-demandservices are creating hurdles for the new DVDs and players.

Andy Parsons, a spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association,called the launch of the PS3 a "turning point" for the format.

"Blu-ray's here to stay. The likelihood of people usingPS3s as DVD players is significant, particularly when you'retalking about millions of consoles Sony expects to sell," hesaid.

There is a good precedent for Blu-ray -- Sony's PlayStation2, currently the dominant game console with more than 106million sold, helped push the standard DVD format. The PS2 cameto market in 2000, about three years after the DVD was firstlaunched.

"We think the same will happen with the PS3 and Blu-ray,"Parsons said.

In the gaming console war this holiday season, Sony's PS3,priced at around $600, faces two main competitors in MicrosoftCorp's (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Xbox 360 at around $400 and Nintendo Co Ltd's(7974.OS) Wii for about $250.

Microsoft recently added an optional HD-DVD player andbegan offering full-length film and TV downloads inhigh-definition via its Xbox Live online gaming service.

Mark Knox, a spokesman for the HD-DVD consortium, saidoffering HD-DVD as an add-on was an important distinction.

"We know that every HD-DVD drive being sold to Xbox usersis being used to watch films. They're not being forced to buyit," he said. "Every PS3 includes a Blu-ray drive, but thatdoesn't mean every gamer wants to watch a movie on PS3."

John Davison, editorial director of 1Up Network, a gamingnetwork with 13 million monthly unique visitors, said mostgamers are not interested in viewing films on the PS3.

"PS3 will live and die by the games it plays. The fact it'sa DVD player is a bonus, but not why people bought it," hesaid.

[original post: www.hitech-news.info]

New Wii, PS3, & 360 Games

January will be another slow month for new game releases for ALL the next generation gaming consoles. There will only be one game available for the PS3 and two games for each the Wii and 360. If you are waiting for new games to purchase, you might as well go pickup a currently available one unless you find something on the list below interesting. From our perspective, the only games worth purchasing this month are Sonic The Hedgehog for the PS3 and Fuzion Frenzy for the Xbox 360.

PlayStation 3:
Sonic The Hedgehog - Sega

Wii:
Baseball - Nintendo
Urban Champions - Nintendo

Xbox 360:
Fuzion Frenzy 2 - Microsoft
Dance Dance Revolution Universe - Konami

Note: The items mentioned above are games for the PlayStation 3 and Wii that are planned to be launched in December 2006. The list is accurate as of 11/30/06, however game may be added or removed. Therefore check Nintendo’s and/or Sony’s webpage for any changes.

(c) www.skattertech.com

SplitFish announces FragFX mouse controller for PS3

by Donald Melanson

Peripheral purveyor SplitFish has already brought some PC-style input to the PlayStation 2, but now, as promised, it's taken its game to the PS3, following up its EdgeFX mouse controller with the strikingly-similar FragFX device. Like the EdgeFX, the FragFX gives you a mouse to improve your aim in FPS games, with the separate left-handed grip controller getting an upgrade this time around to let you take advantage of the PS3's motion sensing abilities. Not one to let a potential selling point go unnoticed, SplitFish is also touting the controller as being "optimized" for use with Sony's recently announced Home virtual world. While you'll have to wait a while to put that particular claim to the test, you will be able to get your hands on a wired version of the FragFX next month for $60, with a Bluetooth version coming "later" for $70.

(c) www.engadget.com

Uni.Console Tags: Sony Playstation, Playstation 3, PS3, SplitFish, FragFX

Microsoft extends Xbox 360 warranty to 1 year

 by Declan McCullagh

Just in time for last-minute holiday shoppers, Microsoft has extended the Xbox 360's warranty from 90 days to one year, bringing it in line with the warranty lengths of rival game consoles from Sony and Nintendo.

The extension is retroactive, meaning that someone who bought an Xbox 360 in the United States or Canada and paid for repairs within the last year is eligible for reimbursement. In many other countries, a one-year warranty already is standard.

"Customer satisfaction is a central focus and priority for the Xbox 360 system," Jeff Bell, a marketing vice president at Microsoft, said in a statement Friday.

Microsoft also said reimbursement checks for repairs done in the last 12 months will be sent out automatically in about 10 weeks. Contact information for warranty questions is available on the Xbox support site.

Microsoft has been the target of an online petition--with 3,382 signatures as of Friday--calling for a retroactive warranty extension to one year. The petition claims that Xbox 360 systems frequently failed after the original 90-day warranty and that customers were unreasonably required to pay between $50 and $129 for repairs.

Nintendo's Wii comes with a standard one-year warranty, with a free 90-day extension if customers register their consoles on the company's Web site. Sony's PlayStation 3 comes with a one-year warranty.

Some credit cards, including American Express and Visa, extend the manufacturer's warranty if a product is bought using that card.

(c) www.news.com.com

Xbox 360 topped US hardware sales chart over Xmas - NPD

But Nintendo Wii close behind with 1.8m units sold

Market analysts NPD have suggested that the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the US over Christmas - with the Nintendo Wii trailing by just 200,000 units.

According to the firm's preliminary estimates, as reported by CNBC, around 2 million Xbox 360 units were sold in North America from November up until December 25.

The figure for Nintendo Wii stood at 1.8 million units - despite the fact the console only launched in North America on November 19, and the first batch of stock sold out within hours.

Stock shortages were an even bigger problem for Sony. Around 750,000 PlayStation 3 units were sold during the same period.

NPD is expected to release complete figures later this month.

(c) www.gamesindustry.biz

Just how fast is this Wii of yours really?

Apparently quite a bit, as long as it's not compared to the unfairly brawny Playstation 3 or the Microsoft priced Xbox 360. Better compare the Wii to the Gamecube, a console much more powerful than Sony's PS2 and quite capable of producing the rather impressive graphics of Resident Evil 4:

Beside the obvious differences of the Wiimote, the WiFi networking, the Channels and the Virtual console, the inclusion of a full-sized DVDx6 (that's its speed really), 16:9 support, the new design and the SD cards thingy, the Wii improves on the core Gamecube hardware as well.
According to Felix Domke's speech at the 23c3 Chaos Communication Congress in the free and always radical city of Berlin (see the speech here), this is what the difference between the two consoles actually looks like, when compiled into a chart by a gnome:
MaxConsole, on the other hand, estimates that the Wii is actually 1.5 times faster than the Gamecube, and then goes on to provide an extensive list of specs. Read it here. Just don't buy this outrageous Wii bundle...

(c) gnomeslair.blogspot.com

Sony exec: nobody will ever tap full power of PS3

In an interview with MTV, Sony executive Phil Harrison talked about the PlayStation 3 and where his company was planning on taking their latest game console.

To start off with, Harrison talked about how excited he was about the new possibilities offered by the online capabilities of the new generation of game machines. "The video-game business for the past 20 years was about shipping closed experiences," he said. Somebody made a game. Gamers bought it. They played it. End of story. Now comes a new trend, he said, where "the start of the relationship with the consumer is when you launch the game."

A cynical person might comment that the "relationship" being referred to is simply one where the consumer continues to empty his pocket on a monthly basis by purchasing extra add-ons and unlockable content for the games they have already paid for. However, there are plenty of possibilities afforded to consoles by the inclusion of online access. Many of these have already been explored for some time by the PC platform, such as the development of communities based around popular games.

Harrison talked about some of the problems his industry faces, such as the relentless attack on the morality of gaming by publicity-seeking politicians, and the struggle for the industry to be taken seriously as a legitimate art form. "I fervently believe that the biggest challenge we face is that our industry is referred to as 'video games,' and games are supposed to be fun," he said, echoing the words of Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). He defended games such as Grand Theft Auto by saying that "games should deal with fear, should deal with comedy and with death. They should deal with peril, with drug offenses."

Harrison saved his most interesting comment for last. In discussing the future of the PS3, he stressed that developers are not currently using the machine to its full capacity. In fact, he stated that the current crop of games are using "less than half" of the machine's power, and that "nobody will ever use 100 percent of its capability." Of course, it is common at the beginning of a new console's life for games to not make full use of the power of the hardware: it takes some time for developers to learn the best tricks and techniques for squeezing every last bit of calculating power from any new platform. But to claim that nobody could ever make full use of the system's power, ever, seems a bit hyperbolic. Some developers, at least, will be wanting to tap the full power of the Cell, such as IBM's high-end customers in the HPC market. Some of this knowledge is bound to leak over to the game development world.

The major reason Harrison wants to hype up the "unlimited" potential of the PS3's architecture is to downplay comparisons between games running on Sony's console and Microsoft's Xbox 360. The two systems are not completely dissimilar: they both contain a PowerPC core running at 3.2 GHz, both have similarly-clocked GPUs, and both come with 512 MB of RAM. The 360 adds two additional cores running simultaneously, whereas the PS3's "Cell" architecture eschews the extra cores in favor of seven smaller "Synergistic Processing Units" (SPUs) that act as vector processors with a separate instruction set and a tiny amount of on-board memory. Whether or not two extra cores are equivalent to seven SPUs is a matter that has not yet been adequately resolved: many have argued that the Cell architecture has more theoretical potential power, but whether this will translate into significantly better-looking games is still unknown. Many games still don't take full advantage of the Xbox 360, either, and as the two heavyweights battle it out, it will be fascinating to watch what developers on both sides can accomplish. Still, in the end it is more about whether or not the games will be fun, and thus the race is on to sell as many systems as possible in order to create a larger market to encourage widespread third-party developer support.

(C) www.arstechnica.com

Moore, Satchell savage 'talentless' Sony at CES

by Patrick Garratt

Peter Moore - VP of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, entertainment and devices division and Chris Satchell - general manager of Microsoft's game development group - launched an unprecedented attack on Sony's PlayStation 3 business at CES in Las Vegas yesterday.

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, the two senior executives branded the Japanese firm's online service for the newly-launched console a "disaster" and said the company lacks the talent and the "DNA" to ever deliver a suitable online console service for consumers.

"It's going to take [Sony] a couple of years to get up to speed on this, and I'm not sure that they necessarily have the talent, or it's built into who they are as a company," Moore said.

"They're struggling with some of their hardware issues, and apparently they're going to deliver another five million in the next 90 days. But this business is about hardware, software and services now. And the consumer expects that."

Moore's comments came as he explained how much commitment Microsoft has needed to create the currently available Live offering.

"It's taken a company like Microsoft four solid years to get where we are today - the richness of the experience, the consistency of the experience, constantly updating features and making it feel fresh - and we're a software company and this is a software plane," he said.

"It is not in Sony's DNA to be able to get that up and running from zero."

Satchell bore similar sentiments. "If I wanted to make my online service better, and I wanted to give [Sony] a little piece of advice, it would be to copy Xbox Live a little more closely," he said.

"My honest opinion is that it's pretty much a disaster. They keep saying that they have a free service. Well, if they don't have anything, of course it's free. And you know what: what's free about $600?"

Moore and Satchell were speaking after announcements at CES from Bill Gates on Sunday that Xbox Live will be brought to Windows Vista this summer, and an announcement from Sony on Monday that 1 million PS3s have now shipped in the US.

The full interview with Peter Moore is now on GamesIndustry.biz. The interview with Chris Satchell will follow tomorrow.

(c) www.gameindustry.biz

IBM Corp: True winner of the console war

The triumvirate of next-generation consoles are all out. The war is now on. And IBM Corporation is sitting comfortably on its fortune at the backstage. As all of you might be aware, it was this company who developed the Power chip that powers Xbox 360 and Wii, as well as the Cell chip found inside the PlayStation 3.

The videogame deals earned IBM up to US$ 2.9 billion last year and US$ 2.5 billion in 2004. At the end of 2006, which by the way is just few days away, the company is expected to see about US$ 3.7 billion in sales of chips and associated design services. Aside from the actual sales, IBM has formed a new "technology collaboration solutions" unit that is expected to post US$ 4 billion in revenue this year.

This is actually a glaring contrast to status of the company before the deals. Prior to 2004, IBM was struggling to attract enough outside chip-making work to cover the enormous cost of manufacturing. As a result, their hardware division suffered a lost of US$ 252 million in 2003. The head of the said division, William Zeitler, couldn't hide his astonishment:

I think of this at the same stage of development that outsourcing was in the early '90s. There were a lot of people skeptical and now it represents a large part of IBM's portfolio. We had exactly the right proposition at exactly the right time. Ten years ago it would have been inconceivable that all the game processors would have used IBM product. Nobody would have thought of it because all we had was standard things.

Now that they've conquered the videogame market, IBM is looking on new prospects. They reported that possible future application of the chip includes computers for medical imaging, defense and complex simulations. Currently, IBM is expecting to ink a deal with companies like Mercury Computing Systems and Toshiba.

(c) www.qj.net

Wii still leads brand perception study

The latest update to BrandIntel's ongoing brand perception survey of the new crop of video game consoles finds the Nintendo Wii leading the pack. The data is compiled from criteria including general appeal, purchase intent and brand image in order to track consumer impressions. The Wii was the most talked-about console, leading the Sony PlayStation 3 by 12 percent and generating more than double the amount of conversations than the older Microsoft Xbox 360 does. Factors like price and the fun-to-play factor helped the Wii maintain the lead, although perceptions had cooled as availability has been limited.

More bad news for Sony as the PS3 continues to generate negative conversations due to the high price tag, plague-filled development and launch, and the highly debated merits of the graphics. In particular, conversations about the graphic capability of the console rank lower than those for the Xbox 360. On that same token, the Xbox 360 has indeed benefited from the shortage of Wii consoles, and its strong lineup of games has generated positive consumer discussion.

(C) www.fiercegamebiz.com