Update This Episode 6, “Bleak Bright Future”

We were a few days off schedule, but we’re finally here with the latest episode of the Update This Podcast.  This week’s discussion finds your hosts Neal, Jake, and John covering some Left 4 Dead patch and DLC information, several “shocking” PC statistics, a few stories from CES 2009, and we wrap up the show with a couple stories that take us into the future of video gaming.  Check out the mp3 here, or subscribe to us on iTunes!

Shownotes:

• Viewer Mail – Email Fxdm506e@Gmail.com
• “What We’ve Been Playing”
• Left 4 Dead PC Patch
• Age of Conan Servers to merge
• Best selling PC games of December 28 to January 3
• Microsoft to expand Xbox Live Friends List
• Video games to dominate entertainment of 2009
• Next Xbox?

Update This, Episode 4

In today’s episode we bring you a bit of news regarding Xbox Live Statistics and cover several websites’ various game of the year nominees and winners. In addition, we go over The Update’s very own game of the year winner, and Jake reviews a new “surround-sound” headset for the average gamer. Be sure to download, rate, review, subscribe, and tell your friends! And happy 2009!  Download the mp3 here, or subscribe to us on iTunes!

Shownotes:

• The Update’s Official Game of the Year
• “What We’ve Been Playing”
• Xbox Live Activity for the week of December 22nd
• Video Game Awards from various sites
• Turtle Beach Headset review
• Call of Duty 5 Zombie Mode Tips and Tricks
• Prince of Persia “Defeat the Warrior” Tip

There aren’t any links in the shownotes for this week because there wasn’t really any “official” gaming news this week.  Check back next week for our next episode.

Other Consoles Still Trail Behind the Nintendo Wii in Sales

Nintendo has recently reported selling just over 35 million Wii units since its inception in Fall 2006.  10 million units ahead of the 360 and 18 million ahead of the PS3, the Wii continues to outsell both consoles worldwide.  Even more interesting however is the console battle in Japan.  The PS3 has, since its launch, sold almost 3 million units to its home territory.  The Wii, on the otherhand, has sold almost 7 million units, doubling the PS3’s sales.  In Japan the Xbox 360 is still struggling, but GameDaily reports a 157.1% increase in 360 sales during the past 7 months.  Since its launch date in 2005, the Xbox 360 has sold only a measly 750,000 units to Japan, and, despite the 157.1% increase in sales, the Xbox 360 still trails behind the competition in Japan.

In Japan, console sales are as follows.  This quote has been taken from the original post on GameDaily.

Xbox 360: 748,992
PS3: 2,369,484
DS: 6,449,206
DS Lite: 17,080,747
Wii: 6,826,612
PSP: 10,181,888
PS2: 21,454,325

What makes the Wii so succesful is its huge market group.  The console is aimed at just about everybody except actual gamers (that’s why this is the first Wii post on this blog).  For real gamers and even the markets that the console is selling to, the console won’t last.  I’ve got a few friends with Wii’s, and, even when the Wii is the only console in the house, it still collects dust.  Its controllers are great at first, and prospective users are wowed by the simplicity of its design and gameplay, only to be disappointed when these great features are really only applied to a select few games (very select, very few).  One of my pals has bought a game for the PS2 rather than buy the same game for the Wii because of its unrealiable controls (unrealiable meaning the controls only work for less than 5% of the Wii’s games).

Xbox 360 sales and PS3 sales trail behind the Wii sales, but, if you take it from a longevity and gamer’s perspective, the 360 and the PS3 aren’t really doing that bad.  As far as software sales go (the games), the Wii is doing a little worse than the Xbox 360 but a little better than the PS3.  MyBroadband News reports the following.

The Xbox 360 has sold an average 6.6 games for each console that it has sold in the past 23 months. Nintendo’s Wii in comparison has sold 5.5, and the PS3 comes in last with 5.3 games sold per console.

While yes, the Xbox 360 has been around a bit longer than both the Wii and PS3, I seriously doubt the Wii’s games per console sales to pass up the 360’s.

Right now at the current state of the console wars, the Xbox 360 seems to be doing reasonably well, outselling its predecessor and is dominating the “hardcore” gamer market.  In addition, the 360 is outselling the Wii and the PS3 as far as game sales go.  The Wii seems to be destroying the competition on console sales, but seems a bit behind the 360 on game sales, which is to be expected.  I doubt I will ever own a Wii, but, for the people that do own one, enjoy it now because it gets old pretty fast.  And the PS3, on the otherhand, is doing alright, holding its own in third (last) place.  I think the major problem with the PS3 is just that it got off to a bad start, keeping it from making headway early on, and the PS3 is now playing “catch up” with the rest of the consoles.  Now it’s got the games and the hardware, but Sony’s PS3 just hasn’t made as large of an impact as the Xbox 360 or the Wii.

In short, the Wii sells a lot, but, for actual gamers, fails as a console.  The Xbox 360 is still the best console for gamers, with the PS3 struggling (I wouldn’t say struggling, but I couldn’t think of the right word) to keep up.