Wii sales down for Nintendo, but still higher than the PS3 and Xbox

Even though every hardcore gamer (without a girlfriend) will tell you how much the Wii stinks because its graphics aren't as sparkly, the truth of the matter is it's selling a whole heck of a lot more than the other two "superior" systems.

The Wii outsold Sony's PS3 550,00 to 440,000; Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) has not yet published its figures, but said they were "double" the previous November week's, according to vgchartz.com.

Now, the bad news. Although Nintendo sold 550,000 Wii consoles between Nov. 22 and 28, that's roughly 30 percent fewer than the nearly 800,000 units sold during the same period in 2008. And that is also despite a $50 price cut on the Wii this fall. Some observers blame mediocre software on the decline. Others have noted Nintendo has been slow to offer new gaming titles for the Wii; the company's only recent major releases have been Wii Sports Resort in July and Wii Fit Plus in early September. According to reports, Wii Sports Resort is selling well.

In October, the game maker reported lower profit of 69.5 billion yen ($767.8 million) for the six-month period ended Sept. 30, compared with 144.83 billion yen for the same period in 2008. The company expects lower total earnings in 2009 than in 2008 -- the first annual earning decline for Nintendo in six years.

Well what do you expect in an economy like this? Nintendo is still racking in the money, and while I'm not sure about the Xbox - I know the PS3 is a big hemorrhage of money for Sony. Make fun of it's sophomoric graphics but the Wii is a moneymaker, that is for sure.

The Wii doesn't do so well with Mature games

There's no denying that the Nintendo Wii has been wildly successful and while it may not be the prized console for hardcore gamers, it's reached a wide audience as people are drawn to its social gaming concept. Let me tell you, it's wonderful to have around for parties since the games are easy to pick up and very entertaining. The motion sensor remotes feel new and it's just more fun.

However if there's a downfall to the Wii, it's the console's slant towards family/kid games. I'm guessing that since the GPU isn't as powerful as the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, game makers have to make their 3D models more cartoonish, and due to the controllers - which are more likely to appeal to kids than Joe the Gamer sitting in his mom's basement (who wants 18 different button configurations).

There has been ventures into Mature-rated games but they have largely failed.

...according to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board database. Some, such as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, haven't even been released yet. Compare that to 168 Mature-rated games listed for Xbox 360, or 126 mature-rated games for PlayStation 3, and it's clear where the majority of the industry's grown-up releases end up. But publishers remain intent to trying to make it work on Wii.

Earlier this year, a substantial amount of pre-release hype and critical acclaim followed the most hopeful attempt: Platinum Games and Sega's hyper-violent action game MadWorld. Japanese developer Platinum Games was founded by former Capcom designers Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya. The theory went like this: with that kind of gaming pedigree, hardcore gamers would flock to MadWorld, and its over-the-top violence and Sin City-esque art style would attract Wii owners looking for something different. That theory didn't hold, and MadWorld failed to make a splash.

Even Sega doesn't know exactly what went wrong.

"It’s difficult because it was a critically acclaimed title; it was extreme but good," said Sega of America president Mike Hayes in an interview with Wired. "The thing that we’re saying is, Sega would be extremely arrogant to have a title that didn’t do as well as we thought on a platform and then say, 'Those kinds of games don’t sell on that platform.' I think if you take our slew of more mature games -- House of the Dead Overkill did really well in Europe, and for some reason even though it’s a big (intellectual property) it did less well in North America. So that’s kind of like a win and a miss that’s kind of come out neutral. MadWorld sales were very disappointing, but was that to do with the platform? Was it that people didn’t like the art style? Or that people didn’t like the way the game played through? It could be many things, which we’re obviously researching."

I think for the most part, hardcore games - the ones who buy these Mature titles - go for the powerful machines like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Hence, you're marketing to a smaller market of your core consumers on the Wii. It's just set up to fail from the beginning.

Video: I hate when this happens

I think we have found a design flaw in the Nintendo Wii...

Sony Playstation 3 is king (for now)

After less than stellar sales during the early part of its existence, a new price drop helped the PlayStation 3 become the top selling console in September. What does this mean? Maybe people are sick of Microsoft and waving motion controls around like a drunk uncle.

Benefiting from a significant price drop last month and a hardware redesign, Sony's PlayStation 3 took the top spot in the U.S. gaming console sales rankings for the first time since it was launched in November 2006. According to the latest figures from NPD, the Blu-ray equipped device sold 491,800 units in September, compared with 462,800 for the Nintendo Wii and 352,600 for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

No one managed to topple the Nintendo DS, however, which boasts an impressive 524,000 units sold for the month. The entire industry as a whole enjoyed a 1 percent year-on-year growth to $1.28 billion, breaking six months of straight decline. Of that amount, software was up 5 percent to $649.32 million, while hardware was down 6 percent to $472.28 million and accessory sales were up 2 percent to $157.33 million.

While the PS3 does boast better graphics than the Xbox 360 and definitely the Wii, for some reason it seems to have excluded two key demographics: the kid gamer and the casual gamer. I would guess that hard-core gamers eat this stuff up since it's the most powerful machine on earth (other than PCs) and has several franchises from Sony. However, things have always seemed a little more advanced and adult on the PlayStation. Kids are going to be more attracted to the fun Wii, and the off-and-on gamer is going to be more inclined to buy the cheaper and better franchised Xbox 360.

Serious, name one franchise specifically on the PS3 that has reached main, main stream conscious (NOTE: I'm not talking about being mentioned on your gamer message board, I'm talking about something your mom would recognize). Now do the same for the Xbox and Wii. Mario? Halo? Those have entered the big time and people are willing to hope in bed with those machines. Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy are mainstream in the gaming world but probably not as popular as the other console's marquee franchises.

However it appears this price drop may have earned the PS3 some more fans.