Comment by axod | Hacker News Reader

Comment by axod | Hacker News Reader

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The battle over the living room was firmly won by the wii. Households that have never had games consoles, now have a wii in the living room. I'd be willing to bet there are far more wii's in living rooms than any other console.

I think one reason the xbox looks like a great success is due to how badly the ps3 sucks, and how stupid Sony got. £300 for a games console is ridiculous, and basing it on a soon to be obsolete bluray standard is just more idiocy. They never seem to learn - minidisc, UMD etc - they always try to lock in these ridiculous new formats.

For me, the only innovator lately has been Nintendo. They have absolutely turned gaming on its head, and come out with some truly imaginative games that focus soley on fun and gameplay. They've captured amazing large new markets of gamers who have never played before.

The xBox is a good all round console, but it's just more of the same IMHO. I don't see much innovation going on there. I'm sure ms are pleased with xbox, but I wonder just how much money they've lost in total doing it. Maybe they'll break even in the next generation, or maybe Sony will realize just how stupid they've been. Maybe they'll go back to their playstation 1 roots.

I'd be willing to bet there are far more wii's in living rooms than any other console.

And you would be correct. According to data from manufacturers [1], Nintendo has sold nearly twice as many Wiis as Microsoft has sold Xbox 360s.

    Wii       56 million (as of Sept. 30th)
    Xbox 360  34 million (as of Oct. 23rd)
    PS3       27 million (as of Sept. 30th)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_...

Also note that Wii's are sold for a profit, unlike Xboxes and PS3's

While that might be the case, Microsoft and Sony obviously make up for selling at a loss through game revenue and subscriptions (Xbox Live, Playstation Network). I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft or Sony made more money per console than Nintendo after accounting for game revenue and subscriptions.

It depends on Nintendo earning significantly less per game than Sony or MS and Nintendo users buying significantly less games per console.

I seriously doubt this is the case.

Very much doubt it.

Also note that a large number of wii games are 'in house' through Nintendo. So Nintendo makes larger margins on games than Sony or MS.

Even if you just measured the profit from the game 'wii sports' vs profit from xbox live subscriptions, I'd bet Nintendo trounced them.

As far as I'm aware, Sony and MS have to share a large amount of each games sale with publishers and game developers etc. Nintendo does most of that themselves for the big wii games, so they get far higher margins.

Don't forget the large number of game studios that Microsoft has under its umbrella, including ones that no one has heard of like, say, Bungie ;)

Interestingly, it seems as though the MBA's don't harass the game studios very much. Too bad MS management hasn't taken a lesson from them... but I guess that's what happens when you start bringing in "professional managers (tm)".

As of this Sept., Xbox's tie ratio is 8.8, PS3's tie ratio is 6.8, and Wii's is 6.5 [1].

Per console, it does look like Xbox and (barely) Sony did make more money per console.

That doesn't really mean all that much though, since Wii's console base is roughly twice that of the Xbox.

[1] http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4172/npd_behind_the_nu...

Also note that the wii is more of a 'social' console. xBoxes and PS3's likely feature more in teenage boys bedrooms than in living rooms. Which would skew the data even more in Nintendos favor.

Why do you think the PS3 sucks? It's priced similarly to the Xbox and has a powerful CPU and GPU, good game selection, nice controllers, and support for what's currently the most viable way to watch 1080p movies along with streaming capabilities for the future. The Xbox has better game selection, but since I'm not a serious gamer, I'd rather have Blu-ray capability.

I think the Wii is cool and it definitely broke into new markets. Party/casual games are a big thing and I like playing it at friends' places. Families I know get really into it, with parents playing as much as their kids.

I'm sure there's little incentive for Nintendo to do so, but I'd gladly pay another $100 for a more powerful version with HD graphics and more HTPC-like capabilities.

ETA: The only bad thing I've heard about PS3 is how difficult it is to program for from former game developers. Publishers seem to be pretty good at getting good results with it, plus you can install Linux and tinker with Cell programming if you're so inclined. MIT has some really good slides and notes from one of their courses online (http://groups.csail.mit.edu/cag/ps3/).

the nintendo wii is the farthest thing from winning the actual living room. It created a new segment of gaming/consoles/etc and opened it up to the mainstream, which is awesome.

I actually had a Wii. I even waited in line to get it. I returned it within 24 hours. I wanted something more. The ability to rent movies, stream media, download new games, multiplayer over xbox live,etc. I'm not even a hardcore gamer. I only own the Halo franchise of games. The wii is best described as a very very advanced toy, rather than a gaming console. I don't think that's a bad thing either.

I don't want any of that. I don't want to watch movies on a games console :/ Rent movies? On a games console? Why??? Games consoles are the most locked down unexpandable things imaginable (For reasonably good reasons). Why would I want to use one to do things like that.

It won the living room, in that it's the console in most living rooms. You can happily play multiplayer on the wii against people in other countries (xbox live like I guess).

It does what it's designed to do - entertain.

The idea that one device will "win" the living room and provide everything, I think is an unrealistic pipe dream. And certainly not a device that isn't expandable or user modifiable in an easy way like a games console.

The Mac mini is actually an awesome 'living room' device. If they marketed it right they could really capture some market there. Frontrow movie previews, playing backed up dvds, music, etc. It does well for a small cheapish box.

Okay, then we just have different views on what the gaming console should do ie- just games or do the other stuff. The closed systems of gaming consoles certainly makes it hard to provide everything.

The mac mini and the concept of the HTPC is one that I think will certainly flourish over the next decade. There were 141 million LCD HDTVs sold in 2009 alone. $599 gives you a very very powerful machine for its purpose. Most importantly, it always comes down to apps. The killer app for living room PCs is entertainment+content. It's all there. Right now I can instantly access anything I want (movies via netflix, itunes, hulu,etc. or games via steam) within seconds and on-demand. That was NOT possible a short while ago on the hardware or software end at a reasonable price point ($599 or less).

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