Network now...FEATURE
Sales Analysis: February NPD
Hardware
In typical fashion, the Wii outsold the combined unit sales of its two high-def competitors, selling 753K units, versus 391K for Xbox 360 and 276K for PS3. To Microsoft’s credit, sales of Xbox 360 were up 53 percent year-on-year during February. PS3 sales declined from 281K in February 2008 to 276 in February 2009, further evidencing the need for a price cut.
In February 2009, Xbox 360 and Wii gained market share at the expense of the PS3.
As Sony’s fiscal year draws to a close and with the company apparently on track to hit its annual hardware sales projection of 10 million worldwide, we expect a price cut to be on the horizon. A more attractive price combined with a strong first-party stable of games in 2009 may bolster Sony’s prospects for the rest of the calendar year.
Over the last 12 months, the Wii’s mass-market rampage is clear on a month-by-month basis. As supply improves, we’ll be able to see how the market reacts to a Wii that isn’t so hard to find. (Graph in 1,000s.)
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
If there was a way to plug an SNES controller into a 360, I'd do it.
NDP will say any thing I don't trust them, I wouldn't be suprised if they get paid on the side from sony and micro soft.
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I think the issue with the 360 having a terrible D-button for fighting games is blown out of proportion. Alot of it (not all obviously) stems from three generations of ps users that have been used to using the p.s pad for years and alot of p.s owners jumping on the "terrible 306 pad" band waggon.(i wonder how many of them have actually used a 360 pad)
There are no shortage of pro players on xbox live that show any sign of struggling to pull of amazing combos and moves with the 360 controller.
I believe you can get accustomed to any controller and be great with it after a while.
Gaz,
I've had an Xbox since the duke days and the dpad has always been garbage. It is a little bit improved with the 360 but not only is it hard to make the person go in the direction you want (jumping when you just want to walk backward etc...) but it's not that responsive. Up, Down, and Left might work fine, but you have to press Right hard or else it doesn't register (just used that as an example). My point is, my personal experience with xbox dpads for the last 6 years has not been good. I love the contoller, just not the dpad. I'm a big fighting game fan, and I managed to land a PS2 to xbox 1 controller adapter (thank god) but no luck this gen finding an adapter.
You may get used to it, but you'll always be not quite as good as you would be with a superior dpad. Again, just my experience. I just spoke up cause you questioned if people who are critical of the dpad had ever used the 360/xbox pad. I've played people online that are pretty damn good and it makes me wonder how good they'd be if using a better dpad (or they're just using an arcade stick). It gets the job done, but it'd be nice if they introduced an official controller with a better dpad.
The 360 d-pad is far too mushy and imprecise in the diagonal directions. It's fine for games like Mass Effect where you just use it for menu/item selection, but not for fast paced control. Of course, users ccn always use the thumbsticks, or buy a third-party controller easily solving that deficiency. Otherwise, the 360 controller is the best, to date, with its firm tension in the sticks and triggers allowing far more nuanced control than those of any competing controller.
I have to say Nick i haven't experienced and major unresponsiveness with the 360 d-button ,no more than i did with the ps2 pad i used for the last seven years. Some people will naturally apply less pressure to the d-button then others and for them will probably result in it being less responsiveness..(just a theory)
I respect your opinion though..
Anyway check the link below it might interest you..(and might interest others that hate using a controller for RTS games)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XCM-XFPS-SNIPER-v3-0-PLUS-BRAND-NEW-Xbox-360_W0QQi...
Its not about the pressure you apply to it, it's about the fact that its poorly designed. I think it's THE subject that 99.99999999999% of gamers can agree on in gaming, regardless of console ownership, i.e. the D-Pad on the 360 is just ever-so slightly rubbish and you can call me Susan if it isn't so.
You're absolutely right....Susan.
Errr even Nick will vouch for the fact that the D-Pad in the 360 controller is cackaroo.
The 360 dPad is rubbish. It's useful only when all of it's directions do the same thing, like push to talk in Halo. Try to make it do anything else and it gets confused.
And the link to this story is still on the front page.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/analyst-forecasts-feb-npd-sales-decl...
Analyst fail.
You should only be allowed to comment on stories like this if you own both 360 & PS3. The fanboys really do get tiresome.
What? Wii owners aren't allowed to comment at all?
What's a Wii?
Nope, not unless you own a 360 and PS3, too. Sorry. ^^
Hear hear.
1. Street Fighter 4 sells on a 1:1 ratio at this point in time simply because Capcom produced and shipped an equal number of units for both systems in the first batch of logistics. JIT (Just-In-Time) delivery will cause the Xbox 360 version to outsell the Playstation 3 more and more on the record books as each month passes. The first batch of games are "sold" to places like movie rental stores. It's the months afterwards that determine whether or not a game is truly a winner. For example, Metal Gear Solid 4 sold well during its first month, but during the next month it had dropped all the way down to #34 in sales--which was a BIG disappointment for Sony and Konami.
2. Soul Calibur 4 sold better on the Xbox 360 version for one simple reason: The Xbox 360 version was better! The Xbox 360 version had 40% higher resolution. The Xbox 360 version ran at 1365x960p while the PS3 version ran at only 1280x720p. Also, it was fairly pathetic that the PS3 version didn't even have rumble in the controller, not even if you had wasted $60 on the Dual-Shock 3 controller. The Xbox 360 d-pad worked perfectly fine with Soul Calibur 4 because there aren't many complex "circular" motions. Games like Virtua Fighter 5 Online and Dead or Alive 4 are the same thing.
Xbox 360 has a better reputation for games in the Fighting genre because there are so many more people to play with online...And Virtua Fighter 5 on the PS3 doesn't even let you play online. Thankfully, the Xbox 360 version does let you play online.
The new joysticks for the Xbox 360 and PS3 are absolutely amazing! So are the control pads with the incredible D-pads that work perfectly with circular motions.
3. Shooting games always sell better on Xbox 360 because there are so many more people to play online with, and the Xbox 360 always offers better online features. With Xbox 360 you know that everyone has a headset to talk with. The same cannot be said for Playstation 3.
"Shooting games always sell better on Xbox 360 because there are so many more people to play online with"
Including you Kim? Will you play the mythic maps with me? Let me know, thanks bud!
So much for Little Big Flop....i mean Planet being an evergreen title. Still nowhere to be seen on these monthly charts.
Are you surprised?
I'm not . But after the non-stop barrage of hype and advertising it got for months, and fanboys and media outlets hyping it as the second coming of Jesus practically, I sure expected more people to buy it. Guess people are more able to see passed that kind of stuff then I gave them credit for. just another flash in the pan, I guess.
I don't find the SFIV numbers surprising at all. The Playstation brand has a stronger affinity with fighters than the x-box brand. The fact that the d-pad on the standard x-box controller is awful for fighting games may have been a factor too. :)
That $39 MadCatz controller is pretty good though, although I don't like that it's wired since MS only licenses their wireless technology for game "instruments". I don't have SFIV since I'm terrible at fighters, but bought that controller for many of the Arcade games.
Good analysis, Kris.
I think the fact that the Street Fighter IV sales are so close together is easily explained, but the fact that the figures are very close is purely coincidence and causing people to make spurious conclusions.
Remember, if the Xbox 360 and PS3 had nearly identical user bases then that fact would imply that there is no preference either way. Which seems to be what is being alluded to. However, the fact is that, at the moment, the Xbox 360 has a significantly larger user base than the PS3. Therefore, the fact that they have sold about the same actually tells you that a proportionally larger percentage of PS3 owners have brought the game than Xbox 360 owners. It is merely coincidence that the figures are so close because the two differences just happen to offset each other - if there happened to be a million more Xbox 360s, the corresponding increase in game sales would mean there was nowhere near parity.
This leads us to wonder why a larger percentage of the PS3 user base has bought the game. This may be because of the style of games preferred by the relative user bases, or it may be due to a more simple reason: the PS3 has a controller much more suited to the game. Thus, there are people with only one of the consoles who have to buy the game for that console, but then there are those who own both consoles, and in that case, they are much more likely to chose the PS3 version (as I did). It is these people who account for the proportionally larger PS3 sales that happen to give the parity in sales.
Good point. I didn't consider people who owned both consoles. If I had a PS3 I would have purchased the PS3 version, and am still contemplating getting a PS3 for Tekken 6 I'm just concerned that the online space for Tekken 6 won't be nearly as populated as the 360 version.
Mmm a stats breakfast. Tasty!
Enjoyed the analysis. Nicely done.