Link here, article verbatim below: CLICK ME (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/752/752823p1.html)

360 Leads Holiday Sales

But Nintendo was right on Microsoft's heels.

by Daemon Hatfield

January 2, 2007 - According to preliminary NPD data, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console during the holiday season in the U.S. CNBC is reporting that Americans picked up two million units of Microsoft's system during the period.

But Nintendo was not far behind. In spite of limited availability, the Wii sold 1.8 million units from its launch until December 25. Sony only moved approximately 750,000 units of the PlayStation 3, due to manufacturing problems and decreased demand. Over the holidays, IGN repeatedly found PS3s available at retailers while no Wiis were in sight. The price of a PS3 on eBay has also dropped to around its MSRP, while the Wii is still selling for over twice its retail price.

NPD expects to release complete sales data for the holiday season later this month.

Too bad we don't also know how many 360 HD DVD add-on's were sold throughout the entire holiday season. I heard all kinds of rumors and vague data all over the charts for the sale of it but definitely nothing concrete yet. Hopefully we will know something more definitive regarding its sales soon enough...
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Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

I say 750,000 PS3's perfectly capable of playing BDs is great news for Blu-ray! Better sales than I expected. I thought there were only supposed to be 400,000 available in North America in '06. Even if one in 10 PS3 owners get into Blu-ray that helps the format tremendously.

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related? Yeah, it would be in a typical world. But we now live in a world where videogame systems have built-in and attached next-gen movie players that are a very important key to attracting J6P/whoever to these new/rare technologies - not to mention we're in a format war, where seemingly every slight move seems to matter...

Go figure.

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

Let's face it, once the PS3 and 360 add-on were made, the dividing line bewteen HighDef video formats and gaming formats became very blurry. Even though the OP didn't clearly point it out, obviously the point of this thread is to address the ramifications of the relative sales of the gaming consoles on the format war. So no, you're not crazy, but also no, this thread is not about gaming. It is about the the HD DVD/Blu-ray battle.

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

No, not crazy, the gamer boys have taken AVS over.......... :o

750,000 is pitiful. There was suppose to be 6 million of these things on the streets by the end of the year.

Man, then whatever format the Wii supports must be kicking ass! :eek:

Seriously though, this thread is a red herring - it *is* gaming related, and there's no other way to view it. But if we must place it in the format war context, then I'll say given the 750k sold in the US, plus however many hundred thousand sold in Japan, with an attachment rate which - although there are no hard numbers - I'm seeing as anecdotaly a good bit higher than 1 in 10... and I think it's all very positive for Blu-ray.

750,000 is pitiful. There was suppose to be 6 million of these things on the streets by the end of the year.

There are more than 750,000 PS3's in the US in all likelihood - 750k is just the number sold at retail (seemingly). Plus that's the US only, and doesn't include the half million in Japan. The 6 million number is before March 31st 2007. Frankly I don't think they'll be that far off at this rate of production.

I say 750,000 PS3's perfectly capable of playing BDs is great news for Blu-ray! Better sales than I expected. I thought there were only supposed to be 400,000 available in North America in '06. Even if one in 10 PS3 owners get into Blu-ray that helps the format tremendously. Yeah, that's interesting and that figure is higher than many nay-sayers thought Sony could reach - but isn't the real meaning of the article that the 360 and then the Wii really sold over twice as much as the PS3 - with the PS3 still sitting on store shelves against all predictions? Isn't it really saying that people seem to want what the 360 (and by extension, perhaps, HD DVD) is offering much more? That the demand for the PS3 (and perhaps BD) is surprisingly weak in the face of the competition?

Maybe I'm crazy, but that's what it seems like to me.

*waits for somebody to pick apart every word I said in this post, misinterpret some of the words/italics I used, and flame me to hell*

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

Actually, Sony put a large stake in the "Trojan Horse" back door approach to the PS3, but it's looking like it's starting to backfire:
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/activetraderupdate/_msnh/10330004.html?cm_ven=MSNH&cm_cat=FREE&cm_

Where's butler, that insider claiming PS3 couldn't possibly launch in '06...

Actually, Sony put a large stake in the "Trojan Horse" back door approach to the PS3, but it's looking like it's starting to backfire:
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/activetraderupdate/_msnh/10330004.html?cm_ven=MSNH&cm_cat=FREE&cm_

You know what, I tend not to like Michael Comeau's articles, so I'll say only that he's right that SCE has risked a lot by putting Blu-ray into the PS3. But at the same time, there's the effect that this act will actually have on the format war (rather than the console war), and I expect that effect to be very pronounced.

It's not looking too good for Sony these days... It's bleeding from all sides, first the rootkit scandal, then the exploding batteries, now the lackuster PS3 and BD sales...

Every store I go to around here has PS3s and Blu-Ray set top players sitting on shelves, not a good sign at all this early after releasing their units... No company can survive a constant loss of money, not even Sony... I think 2007 will tell us very quickly what will become of Sony.

I believe they made some poor decisions, but I would hate to see them disappear altogether.

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

Why would you say that? As many BD supporters have repeated as nauseum, the PS3 is a standalone Blu-ray player, and one of their major premises is that PS3 sales will swamp the competition.

Somehow, I don't think you would have complained if the article said that 4 million PS3's were shipped by the end of the year.

No company can survive a constant loss of money, not even Sony...

Sony is still a profitable company, so... I think they're sticking around for the time being. In fact, it says soemthing about how far their profitability in the core electronics division has come that they can endure the batteries, the PS3 launch, and the rest of it and still ave a profitable year.

At least it seems all the FUD can be addressed in one place the way this thread will no doubt end up going. ;)

Why would you say that? As many BD supporters have repeated as nauseum, the PS3 is a standalone Blu-ray player, and one of their major premises is that PS3 sales will swamp the competition.

Somehow, I don't think you would have complained if the article said that 4 million PS3's were shipped by the end of the year.

Well then you don't know me, because I very well would have. The 'competition' the PS3 is supposed to be swamping when BD supporters say that, is the HD DVD playback device competition. Not the console competition. And in that regard, the PS3 has certainly done so. It just doesn't make sense that there are as many articles posted here referencing the Wii as there are these days. 360 to a lesser extent; without the HD DVD add-on sales, 360 sell through has little relevance.

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?


You must not read many thread around here. Its only a gaming thread if sales are bad, but if sales are good then its a BD good news thread.


wait a minute? Wasnt PS3 on course to sell 2 million units only 10 days ago?

Honestly. I am pretty surprised the 360 outsold the PS3 over the holidays. That is HUGE. A console that has been around for a year beats the sales of a "anticipated" launch of a console like PS3. This is not due to lack of units since Sony them self claimed to be able to sell 2 million by 2007.

I am shock an amazed that sony pomised something that never happend.

And make no mistake about it -- these figures aren't simply low because there were no PS3's to be found. No, demand has NOT been as high as advertised for the PS3, ans even Blu-Ray fans are aware of this.

First is the ebay factor, where consoles are now selling about $50 above cost for a 60GB and selling up to $100 BELOW COST for the 20GB units! With limited production, this is a very bad sign which indicates that the $500 & $600 price is too high for mainstream sales.

Secondly, this machine is MUCH easier to find then the Wii. For example, I used a tracker program that found 6 of 8 local retailers in my area that had the 60GB PS3 in stock, as opposed to 0 of 6 that showed the Wii! Nintendo has already sold more than twice as many consoles as Sony, and the Wii remains much more difficult to find than the PS3, and is still selling up to double its MSRP on ebay! The PS3 may be a better system (hell, it may even be a better value) but the price point is killing its success. Combine that with the 360's head-start, better games, equal graphics, and the HD-DVD add-on, and Sony is in deep trouble.

And there are several threads popping up about dead machines now, after only a few weeks of usage. This launch doesn't look any different than that of Blu-Ray itself...botched, overpriced, and DOA!

Am I crazy, or is this thread completely gaming related?

It is. But the other gaming thread Petra started seemed to be allowed to stay too.

Where's butler, that insider claiming PS3 couldn't possibly launch in '06...
Maybe he's in Europe :)

xbdestroya,

But didn't it surprise you that supply is already up with demand in such a short period of time, and with less than 1M North American sells? To what do you atttribute that, if you believe that is true?

please take game console talk to the gaming forum