No the bubble is not going to burst

I don't think the bubble is set to burst at all.

Yes agreed, Xbox 360 sold 527,000 for the month while Wii sold 501,000. PlayStation 3 was in third with 119,000.

So, to the casual eye, it would appear that Nintendo Wii was beaten by Xbox 360.
Nintendo's console was actually the victor for the month.

It faced many obstacles in September, including: hardware constraints, strong first party titles on other consoles, no strong releases of its own platform, and announcements of software bundling and price cuts from its competitors.

Sony has already slashed their price to help sales and the 360 had released Halo 3 which came out in September. Nintendo had nothing, no price cut, no killer titles, no new bundles, and still had the second best month since launch.

So even though the 360 had more sales for the month, it's expected to be short lived with the Wii regaining the top spot for the remaining months in 2007.

I have to agree

I was really interested in the WII because of the new controller and Zelda Twilight princess.

First off, don't believe all the hype about the Wii controller being so wonderful -- it's not. I quickly found I preferred using the old gamecube controller.

Secondly, I was disappointed with twilight princess graphically. It might look good in screenshots in reviews you read on a little 17" or 19" monitor (I thought it did too) but once i bought it (Along with a brand new Sony Aquos 36" LCD) it just doesn't look as good. It seems pixellated and the colours poor -- and yes I was running in high definition, using the high def cable. Compared to a PC game running at 1920 by 1440, it looks lame -- very last generation.

Finally, there's the games. They've had one great game -- Zelda. The rest have been mediocre. I only own two -- the sports one that came with it and Zelda. There hasn't been anything else that an RPG player like myself would be interested in. Oh yeah guys, I seem to remember reading somewhere that RPG's are the most POPULAR genre -- so what the hell are you doing only releasing one??

As the article says, I haven't played my Wii for months -- since the last battery ran out for the controller. Still play my PC and PS2 though...

Unless Nintendo does something about the games they're offering, I suspect the Wii will in fact flame out just as the author says.

Lack of games

The reason that many Wii's are being left to gather dust is because of the complete lack of decent games. Many have been rushed or just turned out plain rubbish. there didnt seem to be the support there from the start.

I cant believe that the solid start from Wii sports hasnt been expanded into standalone games. where the boxing and tennis games???

I think more companies will be supporting the wii now because of its unexpected success. here's hoping for a few decent games next year

I Beg To Difer

I think when it gets closer to X-MAS it'll sell even more consoles but upcoming Wii line-up is supposed to be good.

My friend has one never plays it always his 360 don't even play his PS3 only for DVD's. I do think the Wii fate will be like GameCubes to many disney, childish games and not enough for adults to like. It don't have to be rated 15 just more games like Mario Strikers the Uk is football frenzied.

It's the publishes

The only reason the 3rd party developers and publishes aren't seeing any sales is because all they are putting on the Wii are crappy PS2 ports. If it wasn't for the motion controls most of what's on the Wii the GameCube could do in it's sleep.

Once the developers actually try to use the potential in the Wii they see the sales they deserve.

well it might

The article didn't say it wasn't still going to be number one again next month, but that its sales had dropped.

The games sales trend seems very likely. My flat mate bought a wii last xmas and hasn't bought a single game scince he got it, we still play wii bowling or tennis. I on the other hand have an xbox and have bought 4 or 5 games scince xmas, my flat mate has even bought games for the xbox so we can play them.

Rushed Games

I have to agree with Neil

our wii gets constant use.
Red Steel was a little disappointing
Brunswick bowling is a total loss (what were they thinking? I am a league bowler and its the most antisocial bowling game I have ever seen)

Wii sports, Warioware Smoothmoves, Dragon Ball Z 2, and Zelda are all great titles however.

I was Hoping rockstar tabletennis would be 1:1 control, but alas no, so I wont be buying that either.

The publishers need to spend a little time learning how this excellent console works, and they need to remember if its not 1:1 control then people will go elsewhere for more eye candy/ keyboard,mouse support!

I can only agree with the chaps above

Me and a mate bought wii's based on the rumour of a light sabre game coming out. We got 1 game each with it. I play Zelda, he plays the sports titles with his missus but neither of us even inclined to get other games. They're all utterly un-interesting (might look at resident evil 4 but that's it) and no online games.
But ha-ha! Once the star wars game comes out I'll buy again unless it's a complete Lucas arts turkey... Zwwwwong! Have at ye!

-

Mario Galaxy doesn't agree with this

also, www.vgchartz.com

The inquirer fails, again, they just want microsoft to win cause its western.

@Jamie

I'll be up front on the fact that I don't own a Wii, it's all PC for me, but I've played at a friends house. Wife and I found it fun and the graphics looked nice on their LCD TV(and theirs isn't a top brand either). Not nice in comparison to a 360 or PS3 but nice overall. Jamie says it didn't look nice on his Sony Aquos at all. You did say a "new Sony Aquos" Jamie. Maybe it didn't look nice because you don't know what the hell you're doing when setting up an HD TV...you obviously don't know your TV is a Sharp and not a Sony. Maybe you should have a professional install it for you before you go bashing a Wii or anything else you may try to connect to it.

I still get good use out of it

I'm still enjoying my Wii.

Games that I've picked up:

Metroid Prime 3 - fantastic!

Zelda - haven't played it to the end yet, but very fun. I'm not a stickler for graphics if the games good.

WarioWare - just plain fun, you have to try it to understand

Mario Party 8, its alright, gets boring a little quick, rent it first

Manhunt 2 Wii...

The only reason the 360 sold more was because of the anticipated release of Halo.

October should be promising for the Wii, as Manhunt 2 should be coming out. If I hear right, from all the hype, Wii sales should be back on top soon.

Think of the Children!

My kids like it. It gets more time than the PS2, and the new SIMs game is a big hit with them.

Not an avid gamer in my old age, but I heard the Tiger Woods title is quite good, and so is the John Madden Football 2007, so they are both on my x-mas list.

I don't think the bubble will burst.

I pretty much agree that there aren't any interesting Wii games available right now, and they certainly aren't being released on a regular basis.

But I wouldn't say the Bubble is about to Burst. WIth Smash Bros, Mario Galaxy, Zack and Wiki, and Nights all coming, I think Wii will still go strong.

They're selling well with no games coming out, so I think it's safe to assume it's going to get better when they finally do. They do need a steady stream of games though, which I think will happen since developers only started switching resources to the Wii a couple months ago.

If this were true-

Wouldn't it be incredibly easy to find a used Wii below MSRP?

I defy anyone to find a suply of used wii consoles at their local Gamestop. They just don't exist, they're sold as quickly as they receive them. You have to know someone at the Gamestop to find a used Wii. This assertion is not congruent with the facts. If the ebay price for used/second hand is above MSRP, then there's still a huge demand.

@Brad from Brad

Coincidence that I find your comment apt and humorous?! I think not . . . .

Casual players don't read or post in forums

It is silly to try and apply the rules that worked for hardcore gamer population to the population that plays Wii. Metacritic ratings mean very little. How frequently it's being used means nothing. What matters is, when it gets used it can really be enjoyed. I could argue that all you folks buying one game after another for your XBOX 360 are doing so due to dissatisfaction with the titles you played before. It's a great deception then: looks great and shows promise, but gets boring after a week. Keep in mind that NTDOY turns profit on every Wii sale, and compare it to how the other two are getting it. Wii is a huge, unbelievable success.

Love my Wii

I love my Wii. I play it every day. 18 holes of Tiger Woods 2008. I even lost 10kg over the past 4 months just by playing TW08 and Wii Sports.

Not busting

Not busting. There may be a self correction at some point, but half a million consoles in a month is nothing to sneeze at. Even with Halo 3 release, Microsoft just edged them out aby about 5%.

As for the lack of qulity games, I think that's about to be over. What happened was right at the beginning you had developers willing to put their toe in the water. When the Wii took off, you had two types of developers: the ones that shipped out shovelware (cheap, poorly designed software based off of licensed IP like Sponge Bob) and then you had the developers that started to work on real games (such as the poorly named Zack and Wiki).

While every popular console will have more then it's share of shovelware, it takes a while for good games to come out.

What are you guys playing on the wii?

First of all, to the comment that jamie left about his wii games not looking any good on his 31' T.V. I have a 61' Samsung 1080p T.V. and Twilight Princess looks beautiful even at 480p. So does Metroid, which is a game that every single one of you should try before talking s*it about the wii. You also have RE4 which is a great game made greater on the wii...Soon you'll have Manhunt2, Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros., Wii fit will also do very well when it does come out. If developers would get on the ball and put some time into making an original game on the wii, you would see them making more money...With Capcom, Rockstar, and of course EA now putting some time on the wii, You will see better games and more sales for both the hardware and software. Here is hoping that Bungie also jumps in.

What are you guys playing on the wii?

Oops 36' T.V. Sony Aquas is what I meant...But if it looks good on a 61' why would't it on a 36'?

Sales Fell?

Correct me if I am wrong, but sales FALL?
August 403,600 http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/09/17/40gb-ps3-set-to-ruin-halo-3-launch
September 501,000

Just how does that show a sales fall, as far as I see almost 100,000 extra people bought a wii, even thought no new stuff is out for it yet... unlike the 360

Rule of thumb: Wait about a year

I got extremely lucky and bought a Wii a few months after launch. It sits and gathers dust. Why? Because theres not enough games! So irritating! I don't like just any game, I'm a picky consumer, so I should have done like what I did with my original Xbox and 360: wait at least a year before purchasing that shiny new console. It also can net savings in price drops on the system and games. I've had my 360 a year so far and no Red Ring Of Death, so thats another good reason to avoid being an early adopter.

A year gives 3rd party devs the time they need to catch up with the first party devs. Heck, the first party (Nintendo) games that I have wanted for Wii are just now (approx 1 year later) about to come out in this or next quarter. Such as Mario Kart and Smash Bros Brawl.

It is not the Wii, but the game developers

The main reason the wii is collecting dust is because of the poor quality of games out currently. That isn't the wii's fault though or nintendo's. The reason all these games suck are because the developers making them are still in the previous gen of development in a way. By that I mean that they still follow the "port" rule, where they take a game for the ps2 or GC and just port it over with slight control changes. This does not work for the Wii most of the time and hence doesn't make a good game. You have to adapt the game a bit more to the controls. Even nintendo originally did that with twilight princess. When games designed specifically for the Wii start emerging, they will finally stop collecting dust and be used. The graphics will be better, and the controls will be more unique. For now, enjoy ps2 games with a wand instead of a controller, if you can't, then you will have to wait.

@Jamie2

Brad is correct about Jamie's lack of credibility here. Anyone worthy of having a sensible view on the quality of images on an LCD screen would know the max 16:10 WS resolution for most people is 1920x1200. The resolution he speaks of does not exist, unless someone has found a way to hack the driver settings on a monitor capable of 2560x1600.

I have my Wii attached to my Dell 24" monitor through the component input and it looks pretty damned good. Sure, it doesn't look as refined as many 360 or PS3 games, but they are far from ugly. Heck, I still think SSBM from the 'cube looks good on this monitor, as do many other games, so the only thing letting the Wii down is the lack of any quantity of well-made games at present.

Nintendo always do well with their first party games, so I'll kindly ask any naysayers to stick to their fanboy corner and try to realise their "poor graphics" statements will be mostly labelled as misinformed or a result of improper setup on their TV/Monitor/Wii.

On an end note, my Wii hasn't had that much gaming time recently because I've been playing other games on the PC mostly, but also because the killer games aren't out yet. But would I go back in time and not buy my Wii when I did? Of course not! You'll have MAJOR trouble buying a new one now in time for Xmas!!!

By comparison, for all its technical marvels, can the PS3 really boast a better line-up at present? At least the 360 has had Halo 3, which -- for the record -- I am a huge fan of. About the only game that remotely interests me on the PS3 will be Little Big Planet. They've even apparently lost Beautiful Katamari completely to the 360 now!!!