Xbox Has a Brief Win Over Nintendo Wii

Microsoft recently announced sales figures for the Xbox 360 for September and for the first time this year, Xbox out sold the Nintendo Wii. If you ever wonder how much a kick-ass game can impact console sales here is the proof.

There’s no doubt the surge in Xbox sales were due to the release of Halo 3 exclusively on Microsoft Xbox. Halo 3 broke all records taking in $170 million in sales during the first 24 hours. In the first 12 days, 3.3 million copies of Halo 3 were sold. Revenue from this single game has far exceeded any profits from Xbox hardware. Oh wait, Xbox still hasn’t recorded any profit.

In the 90’s I worked at MicroProse Software in an office next door to industry guru Sid Meier but I make no claims to be a true serious gamer. I will however still put my money on the Nintendo Wii. Sales of the Wii have out performed expections and will continue to do so.

When the Wii was first announced most gamers looked at the graphics and walked away unimpressed. Game developers wrote Nintendo off and went with Microsoft and Sony. Now they’re scrambling to create games which take advantage of the Wii’s unique features. The Nintendo Wii provided something completely new and innovative in game play while the other consoles just enhanced the pretty polygon graphics you control your with fingers and thumbs.

Some folks claim people will eventually get bored with Wii, but they neglect to see how this machine has attracted a much wider mass audience than just serious gamers. I predict we’ll eventually see additional tactile feedback devices for your body and custom controllers for your feet and head as the Wii phenomenon takes off.

If you’re into selling things on eBay for double or triple their retail price, start now and get your hands on every Nintendo Wii currently available. You won’t find them on the shelves in December.

( Ancient BillP quote of the day, “If they had only called it the Cabbage Patch Computer, the Coleco Adam may have had a better chance to succeed.” )

How Does the Wii Controller Work?

According to Technology Review

“The key to the Wii's main controller is its three-axis microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) accelerome­ters, which measure movement in three dimensions.”

As some of my readers know I’m a big fan of the Wii, even though it’s caused some old aches and pains. Sales of Nintendo Wii are kicking butt even against the superior graphics of the PlayStation and X-Box.

The tactile and audio response along with the realistic play action makes the Wii a generation ahead of any other video game console. The controller includes a speaker so you hear the whoosh sound of your tennis racket, and includes its own micro processor with both RAM/ROM memory.

The controllers use a combination of both Broadcom Bluetooth and infrared signals to quickly detect distance and motion. The console includes WiFi so the Wii can connect to your local wireless network. I regularly send photos back and forth to my grandkids Wii located in Germany.

Thanks to my CNet newsletter I was directed to a great article in the MIT Technology Review called “Hack: The Nintendo Wii”. This article is the best explanation I’ve seen for how the Wii controllers work.

This reminds me of back when Texas Instruments developed a 10th level LPC voice synthesizer for their Speak & Spell toy. They had no idea the significance of what they created. While this motion-sensitive technology was created for the video game wars I expect to see it adopted for many other applications.