Didn’t catch that? I lost. Failed, really, when the 14th of April rolled around and I was still PS3-less. Hindsight is 20/20, but Helen Keller could’ve told me that this was a stupid fucking bet, yet another product of my overactive medulla badidea. Break tried to tell me as much on the Show – good advice apparently passes through me like Casper the Friendly Ghost – while I still had time to back out. But that wasn’t the first time I’ve neglected good advice, and it won’t be the last. Besides, as if a live Show, great games and a cool location weren’t enough, LAN Party attendees now get to see me wear ‘LIAR’ in permanent marker on my forehead. It’s all for you guys.
But back to the outselling. The March NPD numbers should be out by the time you read this, but other analysts are predicting yet another month of Wii domination, with the PS3 edging out the 360 for the third month in a row. One time is a fluke, three times is consistent. That’s right – the PS3 is now consistently outselling the 360.
Microsoft did their preemptive damage control in January, citing supply issues, which is reasonable enough. February, PS3 on top again, and Microsoft says…supply issues. Have you ever known someone who wanted to buy a 360, but couldn’t due to availability in the past year? Of course not. I’m gonna go ahead and call them liars.
The industry has been saying this would be the year for the PS3. The big exclusives are finally coming around, the first price drop, Home is due to come online, and Blu-ray now officially wears the Hi-Def crown. The PS3 needed a surge like this a year ago, when PlayStation Deuce was outselling its replacement, but better late than never. The upswing is certainly welcome.
A digression on the Wii: I still believe the success bubble will eventually burst, probably within this year. Why? Certainly, graphics are not the most important feature of a game, and I think most will agree. But Hi-Def is going to become standard within the Wii’s lifespan, and it’ll be fresh out of tricks, with nothing but a warmed over GameCube to power it. And oh, we do so adore those first-party Nintendo releases, but they can’t hold out forever. Past those, the Wii will have to rely on its mountains and mountains of shovelware, as appealing as poop on a stick.
The PS3 is expected to pull a 50,000 unit advantage over the competition for the month of March, and I’d expect this to become the norm over the next few months. By no means will the 360 take a nose dive in sales, but its time to shine has past, and even then it couldn’t shine for long without red-ringing.
All that said, my 360 isn’t going anywhere, and a PS3 is still in the cards for Richie. But after Mario Kart, the future of my Wii is in question. Seriously.
See you in the game.
