It's official: The Nintendo DS pw0ns. Since its launch on November 21 2004, over 21 million Nintendo DS's have been sold worldwide - 23 systems per minute, or one unit every two seconds, as Nintendo pointed out in an ever modest press release.

"In comparison," Nintendo's PR hacks tell us, "Apple shipped one million of its ever-popular iPod music players in its first 19 months."

"We're thrilled to be announcing this milestone today," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of spin, hype and corporate ego masturbation, "especially since Nintendo DS was North America's top-selling video game system of any type in June. We attribute this success to Nintendo's overall strategy of offering something for everyone - from five-year-olds caring for their Nintendogs to 65-year-olds tuning their mental agility with Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day."

Is it just me or did he just tell 65 year olds that they'd better be playing Brain Age or they'll go senile? Shock, horror, someone get Jack Thompson quick; tell him he's going senile!

The Nintendo DS shall continue to dominate, I dare say, now that the DS Lite has been released - and even existing DS owners are buying into that - and will be paired up with the upcoming Wii which, if there is any Good Lord overlooking the gaming world, will be a success.

Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation Portable continues its more technologically advanced slide into the annals of history.

The Associated Press Stylebook is one of the major tomes by which publications ensure that their style for using terms and phrases common and vague is consistent across the board. For example, does a publication use "videogame" or "video game". Both are technically correct, but you only want to use one variation in your publication for consistency.

Well, the new edition of the AP Stylebook says that it's video game. It also recognises the Game Boy, as Kotaku's band of scribes figured out. I'm not going to make any jokes about reading the AP Stylebook being akin to reading the dictionary, as technically we're supposed to do both as journalists. This is however akin to having a word put into the dictionary (a good dictionary, mind you) and now we can rejoice as the word Game Boy is no longer taboo or rife with inconsistency across the board of the AP-using media.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go and pepper my articles with the word "GameBoy", minus the space if you'll notice. I have some wax in my ear, and the most cost effective way to get rid of it is to pick up the phone to a blast of expletives most definitely not in the stylebook, issued by an irate and ever suffering copy editor.

Last month, I wrote a column about PlayStation 3's troubles and examine the
next-generation consoles in regards to the media hype and news cycle. Here's a
quick excerpt:

"After getting beaten up for a few years during the GameCube era and accused of
being obsolete, Nintendo is now emerging as the media darling with Wii. Part of
this is due to how Wii has separated itself from Xbox 360 and PS3 with an
innovative approach and lower price tag. But don't underestimate people's
"Nintendo nostalgia," which I think is leading to many folks to view Nintendo as
the loveable underdog instead of an out-of-touch has-been. In addition,
Microsoft has taken its lumps in years past, but releasing Xbox 360 on time and
ahead of its rivals proved the company has staying power in the video game
market and it has earned Microsoft at least some measure of respect from the
gamer community.

"But again, it's a news cycle. So-called purists are falling in love with
Nintendo's commitment to fun gameplay over realistic graphics, but what will
happen in a year or two? Will people begin to complain that Wii's processing
power pales in comparison to PS3? What will happen if style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px; COLOR: #ff6600; BORDER-BOTTOM:
#ff6600 0.07em solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; TEXT-DECORATION: underline"
href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/08/07/mmr/page2.html#" target="_blank"
itxtdid="2188621">Blu-ray turns out to be the dominant DVD standard and
provides a huge incentive to purchase a PS3? It's important to keep these things
in mind."

Well, I should have written "But what will happen in a month or two?" in the
above paragraph because it seems like Nintendo's hype has reached the breaking
point. I've read a lot of stuff about Wii in the wake of Nintendo's big event in
New York last week, and it appears there may be a little bit of a backlash
against Nintendo after its summer of media love. Nintendo announced the console
will launch on Nov. 19 in the U.S. and be sold in the for $250.

While $250 was the expected price point by most folks, industry rumors this
summer suggested the cost would be as low as $199. While I personally didn't put
much stock in this rumor (hey, $150 less than the next system was good enough
for me), some gamers did. Check out some of the forum feedback for disappointed
gamer who were hoping for a cheaper console. Now other gamers are saying Red
Steel and the new Zelda title don't look all that good, that too many of the
games don't support four players, and that the Broadway processor from IBM will
be too weak to support the system. My, how quickly things can change.

As for me, I'm still pumped about Wii. Nintendo got their hooks into me a long
time ago, and I've never been able to get them out. Like a lot of people, I
suffer from Nintendo nostalgia so I'm more excited about Wii than the other two.
But enough about me. Here are a few good bits from the Web regarding Wii.

Check out a report from TG Daily's Mark Raby href="http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/09/14/analysis_nintendo_wii/"> here. Mark
examines what gamers will really be getting for the low price point of $250 and
wonders whether the money saved on the system and games will make up for the
vastly lower processing power and inferior graphics of Wii compared to PS3 and
Xbox 360.

Kotaku has a number of funny,
insightful posts about the recent Wii news. Check them out. The headlines alone
are priceless.

Joystiq weighs in on Wii's multiplayer shortcomings, href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/15/wii-not-even-remotely-region-
free/">false region-free claims, and other href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/14/critiquing-nintendos-wii-launch-
details/">Wii launch details. There's also a good href="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/14/wii-then-and-now/">"then and now"
post from Ludwig.

Ex-Joystiqer Robert Summa, now at Destructoid, muses about the href="http://www.destructoid.com/a-wiis-day-is-done-looking-back-at-the-nyc-
nintendo-event">NYC event and takes a critical look at Wii.

March 2, 2005

Rep. Mark Foley
Member of Congress

Well, how about that. It's not known how big a Trek fan Foley is; the former
Republican member of the House of Representative has checked himself into an
alcohol rehabilitation clinic, and will probably be out of sight for quite a
while. In addition to being an avid Star Trek supporter, Foley ironically was a
former co-chair for the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and was
one of the leading activists against child pornography in Congress.

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

Anyway, the Congressional letter of support obviously didn't save "Enterprise,"
which was cancelled after four seasons last year. Yes, indeed these are dark
days for Trek.

IGNcube editor in chump Matt Casamassina has said that he thinks that the Nintendo Wii is too expensive at $250 and three weeks late (in the US of Zod, of course). He's wondering what Nintendo is up to, pawning this shoddy, underpowered console off on us for $50 more than expected and weeks after the PlayStation 3 comes to market (not in Europe, mind you, where it'll beat the PS3 by several months. But the pricing issue stands universally.)

"As a gamer," Matt tell us, "I want Wii to sell for $200 for a number of reasons. It has about one tenth the processing prowess and one fifth the RAM of, say Xbox 360, and it also lacks a true hard drive. It doesn't play DVDs. It doesn't play music CDs. Yes, you read that correctly and yes, it's true. In fact, in many ways, it could be called a turbo- charged GameCube. So why the $249 price point?"

He continues, on the issue of timing, to say that Nintendo should launch earlier to capitalise on the vastly superior supply it has over Sony's expected paltry 400,000 units or so on launch.

I don't think that either the issue of pricing or timing will harm the Wii one tiny bit, for two reasons:

1. As Casamassina points out himself, the added $50 sticker price is not going to deter the early adopter crowd who crawl over one another around the Christmas period to get the next big thing. Anyways, $250 is still $250 - $350 less than the PlayStation 3 will be going for, and the Xbox 360 is no charity giveaway either. The Wii remains the cost effective console for the mainstream audience, and anyways they can just drop the price fifty quid come January.
2. The Wii is in a class of its own compared to the other two competing consoles. It is unique and so most of those thinking of buying a Wii have an Xbox 360 and intend on getting one, intend on buying a PS3 and a Wii; or else they intend to buy a Wii and ignore the other consoles. Therefore, the other console makers are, relative to Nintendo's calculations, irrelevant to the largest degree.

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are in a premium category of their own. Some might say a bit too premium. They cater to a particular audience, have a particular style of game in mind and will compete with one another. The Nintendo Wii is a different experience, and a damn sight cheaper at that. It will succeed by virtue of ignoring any perceived competition.

I enjoy doing a bit of math in Google every now and again, and I just copped something amazing: The Nintendo Wii is going to have more than double the revenue of the Sony PlayStation 3 come November.

In the US of A Sony is promising 400,000 units of the PS3 at launch. Nintendo is promising around 2 million Wii's for the

US

Now, if we give Sony the benefit of the doubt and say that every PS3 in the US will be sold at the higher $600 price point, and the Wii is obviously at $250 across the board, that means that Sony stands to have revenues of $240 million; Nintendo $500 million, presuming they sell all their consoles. Sony will obviously make much less than $240 million as not everybody is going to be buying their PS3 at $600, so if Nintendo fails to sell off all of their launch stock they still have plenty of margin for error to be able to claim 100% more revenue than Sony.

Half the price and double the revenue, I still maintain that the Nintendo Wii will be the real console to beat. In the past Nintendo has always had the creative edge in certain areas - in 2006 it would seem that they have done their sums as well. Of course, as DFC Intelligence helpfully pointed out, the Wii has to be more than a fad to be truly successful. It's my opinion however that with a wide range of games and the reasonable price point, the Nintendo Wii would be an attractive bet even without its controller.

The Nintendo Wii has launched in the US of America to a distinct lack of ill-will, drive-by shootings or other hyphenated misdeeds. Some stores sold out, some were well stocked enough to meet the demand and, overall, there are a lot more happy Wii campers than PS3 ones this morning.

Chances are that if you're looking to get a Wii for Christmas Santa won't have to spend the pension fund on eBay to get one. Nevertheless there does appear to be a shortage of extra Wii controllers floating about (they'll probably be the premium eBay item, so); but better to be down a controller than a console I say.

Meanwhile the reviews of Sony's PlayStation 3 are coming in... erm, negative. At $600 and hyped to the sun I don't think many have stopped to question whether or not the PS3 would actually be any good. Ohh yes it has Cell teraflops coming out of its ears, but at the same time I could install Windows ME on my Alienware if I wanted to.

Time, T he New York Times (with Joystiq editor in agreement) and others besides have stopped to say to themselves "Erm, it's actually quite a clunky machine; the games aren't that great as of yet and we may have to wait for patches from Sony to get it right." That's correct folks, no longer can console gamers sniff at the constant patching PC users have to regularly undergo - it would seem that the PS3 will need to be patched to make it work better.

Complaints about the machine and its little quirks are abound - comparisons to the Xbox 360 are plentiful, pointing out that the PS3 can't play your music in-game; the wireless controller has to be plugged in before use (work that one out); there's no rumble on the controller anymore (to facilitate the half-baked motion sensitivity Sony mocked before it became popular); you can't download files in the background (try that 400 MB demo at the cost of not being able to play your games for three hours...)

All of these complaints come with the same clause: "Unlike the Xbox 360." Forgetting about the Wii entirely, it would appear that the Xbox 360 is the more polished, user-friendly box. I still think they're both over-priced (in software as well as hardware) and wouldn't buy either unless I got a big tax-break (and even then I'd think twice); but in the "I have money to burn" category it would seem that the Xbox 360 is the lighter of choice.

I await the Wii launch on this side of the pond on December 8^th. Rob gets to sit in LA with his today. No, I don't like him either.

For some time now, I've been trying to get my hands on a Wii. And it's proven to be a most difficult task, even though Nintendo's new console has had much more available units than Sony's PlayStation 3. In fact, the pursuit of Wii- piness has pretty much consumed me for the last couple weeks. See, I lost out of the pre-orders because I simply wasn't quick on the draw. My colleague Mark Raby at TG Daily scored one, the lucky S.O.B. I thought about lining up for one at the EB Games/GameStop at Universal CityWalk here in L.A., where Nintendo held its officia l West Coast midnight launch event. But there was that whole work thing standing in the way. Oh well.

I had planned on scouring the earth -- or at least the greater L.A. area -- for a Wii at various retail outlets Sunday morning, but I was thoroughly exhausted from my second midnight console launch event in three days that I slept late. Again, I just wasn't quick on the draw. I called a number of stores to see if they had any in stock. No dice. This is the problem with living in a city that has millions of people, tons of gamers, and lots and lots of folks who evade steady employment. So I jumped online early Monday morning to see if there were any sites still selling the console. And I found one:

Wal-Mart. Ugh.

I normally don't shop at Wal-Mart. I find some of their practices to be distasteful. But hey, they had Wiis, and I wasn't about to split hairs. I pulled the trigger and scored. Finally! The price was steep: $796.84. Wal-Mart was only selling the super-duper bundle that required the purchase of eight games. Like I wouldn't have bought eight games anyway! I was crushed, however, when I discovered there was no Twilight Princess or Call of Duty 3 units available. Whatever. Live to fight another day. I snatched up eight games, and ordered next day-shipping via UPS. Here's how it broke down:

Wii console: $249.82

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance: $49.82

Red Steel: $49.82

Cars: $49.82

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent: $49.82

Excite Truck: $49.82

Far Cry Vengeance: $49.82

Dragon Ball Z: $49.82

Need for Speed Carbon: $49.82

Shipping: $94.97

Sales tax: $53.49

So the order was confirmed on November 20. With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I wasn't sure that Wal-Mart would be able to ship any of the stuff by Wednesday. But to my surprise, my Wal-Mart order track said most items, including the Wii itself, "will arrive" by Tuesday 11/21 and Wednesday 11/22. Next day shipping indeed! So why after more than a week hasn't anything showed up yet? Stay tuned...

Well, our little bundle of joy finally arrived today. Actually, it arrived yesterday afternoon via UPS, but I didn't unwrap the Wii until his morning. I'm currently in the process of setting it up in the THG office. Can't wait to actually start playing it.

I'm still curious as to why it took this long to arrive. Ordering the system on Nov. 20 and receiving nine days later when you selected next-day shipping is kind of lame. But that hasn't been the worst part. When I bought the Wii online at Walmart.com, I was "forced" to buy eight games along with the console. No problem, I was going to buy at least eight anyway.

However, over the last week, Walmart has sent a steady stream of e-mails to me with disappointing news. As I wrote in yesterday's column, I purchased eight games in the bundle. As of today, one has shipped - Dragon Ball Z - and three games still "processing" according to Walmart.com (Far Cry Vengeance, Need for Speed Carbon, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent).

On Sunday, I got an e-mail informing me Dragon Ball Z was delayed. I got another e-mail telling me Excite Truck was cancelled because the game is on back order and unavailable. Then the real bombshell dropped - another e-mail stating my orders Marvel: Ultimat Alliance, Cars, and Red Steel were all cancelled.

Seriously, what happened? At this point, I've got the Wii and Wii Sports. Who knows when Dragon Ball Z will arrive. And believe me, I ain't holding my breath for Far Cry or Splinter Cell.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky - apparently, this was one of the last remaining Wiis available via Wal-Mart of the 600,000-plus that Nintendo shipped in the U.S. for the launch. But being thankful so soon after Thanksgiving seems kinda silly.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to play some Wii Golf.

If there's one thing we learn from major console launches, it is that technology and particularly gaming companies hold their customers in the utmost contempt. Customers are mugs who have money in their pockets, and as far as the gaming industry is concerned it seems to be a crying shame that they actually have to provide you with any product to get it.

Ultimate example: Pre-orders. We've all heard a great deal about these over the past couple of months - "PS3 Pre-orders sell out in seven minutes", "Pre- orders being sold on eBay" and so forth. Really and truly however, pre-orders should be renamed "Non-statuatory expressions of interest and tokens of false hope."

When Nintendo launched the Wii here in Europe yesterday there were many people with pre-orders who have been told that they're not going to get their orders by Christmas; though, paradoxically, any games they may have pre-ordered are now in the post while gamers who did manage to secure a Wii are scouring the country for extra supplies of actual software. We could, quite amusingly, now see games rather than consoles going on-sale on eBay.

One woman who spoke to the Beeb put it quite well: "I pre-ordered the console in November from Woolworths website for my son's Christmas present.

"I received an e-mail today informing me that as Nintendo had not shipped enough I might not receive my order.

"So the fact that I had the foresight to pre-order and not disappoint my son means very little as they obviously expect me to camp outside Woolworths for days on end."

Precisely. A pre-order is not a promise that you'll receive a console - indeed, a pre-order isn't for your benefit. It's something for the sales folk to smile about and send out press releases on the back of, while it's the guys and gals who freeze their nuts and other assorted pieces of fruit off in the December nights camping outside of HMV who get the units. Nobody wins, really, except the people selling the consoles: They know that 9/10 disappointed pre- orderers will pick up the console at a later date.

This might seem like a crazy idea, but how about we make pre-orders stick? That is, if you pre-order in the allotted amount of time, you get a unit. Crazy idea, huh? No camping outside of HMV, on top of your pre-order, and no disappointments at Christmas for those with foresight.

Fat chance, but a nice idea. One day, the consumer will be king. For now, he's just a walking, talking wallet.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. According to Research and Markets, Sony's PlayStation 3 will eventually win the hard-fought next-generation console race. It's time to ask a simple question: does this research firm know something that the rest of the world doesn't?

Let's think this through for a second. First, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has an enormous head start on Sony and has already sold around 10 million consoles. In fact, another research firm, NPD Group, recently reported that Xbox 360 sold 2 million units in the U.S. during the holiday season (November to Dec. 25). Plus, with hit titles like Gears of War and forthcoming games like Halo 3, the Xbox 360 has a stronger library of games than the PS3.

Then there's Nintendo's Wii, which sold nearly 2 million units in North America since its launch on November 19th and has attracted positive buzz like it was a giant flood light pulling in hapless moths. The Wii has gotten outstanding critical reviews for the most part, while the PS3 has been ravaged by negative reviews in the mainstream press from the likes of the New York Times.

Plus, the PS3 suffered shortages for its launch and sold less than half the number of Wiis Nintendo sold. Also, the PS3 launch library is significantly weaker and a number of big titles scheduled for 2007 will be available on the Xbox 360 and in some cases the Wii as well. Oh, and don't forget the seemingly endless stream of stories about people returning their PS3s because they couldn't sell them on eBay for a mammoth profit and numerous retailers with PS3s sitting on the shelves, unsold and collecting dust.

So why will the most expensive console with the least amount of buzz and positive reviews eventually win the race? That's a good question, and frankly, I don't have the answer. And I'm not sure that Research and Markets does either. I haven't read the report - because I don't have it - but here are some excerpts from the press release:

"The PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360, dubbed the next generation of consoles, each hold a unique position with regard to console offerings. While Sony and Microsoft aim towards increased functionality as a key driver for adoption, Nintendo look for innovative game play and the elusive fun factor. The Sony PlayStation 3 is expected to win the console war in the long term with an install base of around 75 million globally by 2010. The console is not expected to dominate as much as its predecessor, the PS2, due to late launch issues in the PAL region and the early lead of Microsoft's Xbox 360."

If you figure this one out, please let me know.

Another hallowed game developer is experiencing the all-too predictable talent exodus that comes after being acquired by a behemoth. Brothers Chris and Tim Stamper, who founded Rare in 1982, have departed the developer, which was purchased by Microsoft in 2002 for $377 million (quite a high number, historically speaking, for a game developer).

Rare is responsible for creating some of Nintendo's greatest titles, such as Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, and the immortal GoldenEye 007. Oh, how I love GoldenEye. I loved that game since the first day I played on the N64, and I still play it today, which is the true sign of a classic.

I haven't cared for Rare's recent work, as Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power failed to impress me. While some felt Rare's best days were far behind and that the developer's games had slipped since becoming part of Microsoft, its latest game, Viva Pita, has emerged as one of the most critically acclaimed and popular next generation titles. I haven't played it yet, but a number of people have raved about it and encouraged me to pick it up, including Vicious at UncleGamer Radio.

Still, Rare pretty much dropped off the map for me after 2002. The developer stopped making Nintendo console games, sticking only to Microsoft console and Nintendo GBA titles, which was great disappointing. I can't help but wonder if being pigeon-holed to the Xbox platforms led to their departure. Now the question is, will the Stamper Brothers start a new game developer? Perhaps they want to flex their muscles on the Wii platform. Let's hope so.

How quickly things can change in the gaming industry.

Sony, which had been riding a bumpy road of bad press, negative reviews and disappointing developments, pulled a coup of sorts this week at the 2007 Game Developer Conference. Sony impressed gamers yesterday during its keynote with its announcement of PlayStation Home and its preview of a loveable new PS3 title called LittleBigPlanet from independent developer Media Molecule. Suddenly, Sony had a good buzz going again.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's keynote today fizzled, despite the presence of Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the true luminaries of gaming. Nintendo didn't really have any announcements this morning, no breaking news and no real earth-shattering innovations or developments. Worse, the new console's Miis look positively ancient comared to the new PlayStation Home that Sony debuted yesterday. And perhaps worst of all, the library of Wii games coming this year doesn't look all that impressive outside Super Mario Galaxy (Metroid has apparently been pushed off again).

Is Sony really on the comeback trail? Is Nintendo and the Wii losing its luster? Time will tell.

The producers of the Entertainment for All Expo announced today that Nintendo of America has signed on as an anchor exhibitor for the show to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in October.  IDG World Expo, the organizers behind "E for All", describe the event as, "a new event created for people who are passionate about video games and everything related. The Expo was launched in response to strong demand within the consumer audience for an opportunity to see and try new products before they reach store shelves. Event organizers anticipate its mid- October dates will launch an early and successful holiday shopping season for the industry."

This sounds like an E3 for all the people who try to fake up credentials every year and get turned away, except that you can also buy stuff.  I also don't see anything about an age limit, so there could be an abundance of children flitting about from station to station.  On paper it sounds like lots of fun.  In practice, this could be a huge disaster.  E3 is almost a huge disaster every year, and this is compounding the issue.  IDG World Expo goes on to say, "E for All Expo will offer consumers the opportunity to test-drive the latest in games and gadgetry, as well as purchase products they enjoyed over the course of the 4-day event at on-site retail facilities. Additional attractions are in the works, including high-profile videogame tournaments; job fair/networking opportunities; and the acclaimed Video Games Live concert. In addition to the Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the event will take advantage of soon-to-be-expanded LA Live/NOKIA Theatre area directly adjacent."

If you're a video game fan, plan on being in LA October 18-21.

I made my triumphant return to Uncle Gamer Radio podcast this week to talk about our solar- powered Nintendo mods with our friends Liquilife and Vicious. For those that don't know, the gang here at Tom's Hardware Guide and TwitchGuru built a mobile, solar-powered Wii station and followed that creation up with a DS Lite mod that runs entirely on solar power (which we affectionately call the DS "Light" or Sun of the Solar Wii).

After wowing Uncle Gamer's hosts with our mad mod skills, Liquilife, Vicious and I discussed a number of other subjects, from the worthiness of Xbox 360 Elite (I said I'd buy one); new racing titles on the horizon; the evolution of Sonic the Hedgehog; Microsoft's efforts to win over game developers; and the new Grand Theft Auto 4 trailer.

Speaking of GTA 4, Vicious and Liquilife discusses the GTA series and its clones, such as Scarface, Godfather, Saint's Row and other games. Interestingly enough, Vicious and I agreed about GTA: San Andreas being more offensive than, say, Saint's Row. And with games like Saint's Row stepping up the GTA formula, we wondered what Rockstar can do with GTA 4 to bring something new to the table.

If you haven't checked out Uncle Gamer yet, give them a listen.