[Mak213]

NPD group yesterday released its figures representing the video game industry at large, and with total sales up 19% over 2007, Nintendo was responsible for nearly all of that growth.

Nintendo secured the top two spots in number of consoles sold in 2008. The Wii accounted for 55% of all gen7 console sales, moving 10.17 million units in America last year, breaking all previous single-year sales records. The company's handheld system, the DS, fell in just behind the Wii, with 8.52 million units sold. In December alone, the DS sold 3.04 million units and the Wii sold 2.14 million.

Despite economic conditions, the video game industry appeared to be thriving, however, NPD data shows the only company that's truly thriving is Nintendo. The industry's annual revenue was 19% higher in 2008 than in 2007, and Nintendo products were responsible for 99% of that. Not since the days of the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) has Nintendo been such a force.

Of the top ten selling titles of 2008, half were first-party Nintendo titles These include Wii Play (5.28 million, with the controller bundle), Mario Kart (5 million, with the wheel bundle), Wii Fit (4.53 million), Super Smash Brothers Brawl (4.17 million), and Mario Kart DS (1.65 million). Once again, Nintendo blasted away the industry wisdom that said bundling a controller with games would only cannibalize the platform's attach rate; instead, it sent it skyrocketing.

The only title exclusive to a non-Nintendo system on the list of top-selling games for the year was Microsoft's Gears of War 2 for the Xbox 360, the remainder were all cross-platform titles.

Source

[Baez]

Good stuff Mak. I think the "Wii is just a fad" guys have shut up finally.

[Ethan_Kaizer]

Originally Posted by Baez

Good stuff Mak. I think the "Wii is just a fad" guys have shut up finally.

Certainly not a fad, but certainly not as fun for older people as it is little kids, in my opinion.

[35g700]

That's a surprise, but probibly 75% of the wii's sold are doing nothing or after a couple months will be doing nothing. Most people that I talk to that Have a wii only play it about once every 6th months unless they are die hard Nintendo fans. I can't even remember the last time I played our wii.

[aaronkupen]

I will admit Nintendo is driving the industry; however I feel it's driving it backwards/ in the wrong direction.

[Baez]

I agree there are many things that could be fixed about the way Nintendo is doing this.

1. They need to promote the bigger 3rd party games. They have a ton of support now but aren't using it properly.
2. Give more freedom in what you can do with the console. Allow homebrew channels and games. Give players downloadable demos so that people can realize the great games available without Nintendo's support.
3. Focus on a broader range of gamers. They keep stating they aren't focusing on mostly family titles but then only bring the family games out as their big titles. Even Mario Galaxy is fun for me but adding the 2P star cursor is just obvious what Nintendo was trying to do. Adding Luigi instead would have been a better option even.
4. Make games a challenge to play. Maybe it's just me but I find the games I play for my PS3 are tough. LittleBigPlanet's final levels were insanely hard. Whereas even a game like Twilight Princess gave me almost no challenge at all. The original Zelda games I still have a tough time beating and think that's the way it should be. If not even more now.

Anyway those are a few of my biggest concerns. I love Nintendo but they do need some work.

[harmonsmith]

I think every console has its place in the market

[Gabb]

Originally Posted by 35g700

That's a surprise, but probibly 75% of the wii's sold are doing nothing or after a couple months will be doing nothing. Most people that I talk to that Have a wii only play it about once every 6th months unless they are die hard Nintendo fans. I can't even remember the last time I played our wii.

QFT, you know that 50% of Wii games have a metascore of under 50? You know why? Its because Wiis main audience is "casual gamers" which pretty much means people who don't know anything about video games, therefore developers know they can shovel out the crap and people will still buy them.

Theres only a handful of good games on the Wii, and even nintendo first party titles are crap like Mario Kart which has n64 style graphics. Simply no work put in the game, and Wiis multiplayer is a joke which just insults the users. Any hardcore gamer I know that loved gamecube games is forced to only playing SSBB and definately feels betrayed by Nintendo with crap shovel ware like Wii Music. So yes I am very anti-Nintendo now unfortunately, and believe them to be bad at least for the gaming community that wants games where you don't just sit there mindlessly shaking a stick ( as Yahtzee said on zero punctuation ).

PS: Also look at multiplatform games on the Wii like COD5....what a joke! the graphical differences are like comparing a N64 to a PS3/Xbox 360.