I think Jay-Z said it best. Mo’ Money. Mo’ Problems. Didn’t Jay-Z say that? I don’t keep up with you kids. From Nextgen:

Nintendo sold 981,000 Wii units in the US during November according to the NPD Group, but according to James Lin, senior analyst at the MDB Capital Group in Santa Monica, Calif., “they could easily sell double what they’re selling.” Along with other industry analysts and retailers, Lin believes Nintendo could be set to lose out on more than $1billion this holiday, not including missed revenue opportunities from associated software sales that won’t materialize.

Man. That sucks for Nintendo. They could be taking over the world, but because they can’t make enough systems (wink, wink) they won’t make nearly as much money as they could be. So sad! Hang on. Where’s my tissue? For all you people looking for a Wii, head to Bestbuy and grab the one I won’t be buying. Its waiting on you.

[via NextGen]

Jayslacks.

There is a lot of talk about how many units the Wii is selling. I mean you still can’t find one unless you wait in line for the goddamn thing and we are already over four months past launch. Though the Wii is definitely selling the most units per month, selling at a rate even higher than that of the 360 who has been out for almost a year longer, I do not think one could say it is winning the console war. What the success of the Wii makes one ask is can it sustain this momentum?

The correct answer to the above is no. The Nintendo Wii is still riding high off of fanboyism and scarcity. Don’t get me wrong, I do own one. I waited in line and acquired a Wii by waiting in line just like you did or will. I just do not think that the Wii has the games to support such rabbid sales and thus it must be the hype built up around it rather than its revolutionary software. The people who are still waiting in these lines to get the systems either have only played Wii Sports or have not had a chance to be sorely disappointed with most of the other current title offerings.

Though Nintendo may be raking in the cash, and rightfully so from their outstanding DS sales, I think that they are in for a social backlash if they do not start putting out titles that people are interested in. For now people are just excited enough to acquire a system and go crazy and buy games they think they may like. I just don’t know how long the hype can last. Sony and Microsoft’s systems might end up making more oustanding additions to their software catalogs, doing what Nintendon’t.

Chufmoney

No other company could pull the shit that Nintendo does.  It has been a combination of both fanboyism and acceptance of Nintendo’s ineptitude at online gaming that has made gamers complacent to their horrible interfacing.  What I am referring to is how Nintendo is using GameSpy to run their online games and that friend codes will be title specific.  According to FalafelKid’s conversation with a GameSpy PR rep., your friend rosters will have to be recreated for each game you play.  Similar to how the Nintendo DS works now.

Why would Nintendo do something that is so obviously out of sync with what gamers expect from “next-gen” consoles?  With the comparative ease with which you can play games online with the PS3 and with the 360 it seems inexcusable for Nintendo to have such an archaic style of online play.  Nintendo certainly doesn’t have the line-up that either of the consoles do and now its online support is set up in the most frustrating way possible.  Suddenly paying more for a console like the 360 or PS3 doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.  

Nintendo is really going to have to step it up in future console generations.  I for one have been a loyal Nintendo fan since my NES, but am pained by their lack of third-party titles and horrible online ability.  I forgave them for shitty N64 games, and even bought a GCN on day one, but the Wii might be the final straw. The future of gaming is through online connectivity, Nintendo needs to catch up or go the way of Sega.

Chufmoney

This article comes via 1up via Falafelkid’s Blog

According to GameDaily, Ubisoft’s strong focus on making shitty Wii titles paid off. They experience a 78% growth in sales during January in the U.S. With strong sales eleswhere in the world as well. Overall Ubisoft is expecting to continue to grow in the coming years.

What does this mean for us? I think Ubisoft is becoming dangerously similar to EA. Ubisoft used to be a company that when I looked at a game and saw their name on the box, I generally thought it had a decent chance of being a good title. In the past, I think this was true. As I look over my PS2 library I still can see that a large percentage of my titles were Ubisoft games. Even with my 360 I still see that I own quite a few Ubisoft titles. But nowadays I think Ubisoft cares less about quality and more about sales numbers. And while I can understand how a company can care about sales numbers, I do not think it gives them an excuse to exploit franchises like FarCry and release sub-par titles in order to cash in on a Wii frenzy.

It is not just the Wii where I feel Ubisoft is really starting to take advantage of its fans either. Amongst my 360 selection I have numerous Ubisoft titles and all of them have some serious issues with bugs or framerate. I have not played a Ubisoft title for the 360 that felt like it had the level of polish that I have seen on previous generation releases. And now with their rushed release of GRAW 2, I think we have a clear picture of Ubisoft’s sales strategy, to capitalize on franchise names while making little effort to put the time in to create a quality product. Stop fucking lettting me down already, make a Beyond Good and Evil 2.

Chufmoney