Screen Digest: "There’s no stopping Wii"

Despite

Nintendo’s admittance

that it will not be able to meet the demand for its Wii console this Christmas, and the recent price drops on both Xbox 360 and PS3, analyst Screen Digest has said that there may be no stopping Wii’s rise to market dominance.

In material terms this won’t affect Nintendo’s market position this Christmas save for the possibility of a little unfulfilled potential – given sales rates in all major territories through 2007 it is natural to be bullish on Wii hardware this Christmas,” Screen Digest’s Ed Barton told Gamesindustry.

Even with efforts to ramp up Wii manufacturing earlier in the year Nintendo is fostering the idea that there will be shortages this Christmas. If this is the case then demand will have outstripped Nintendo’s most optimistic expectations and is a wonderful problem to have as a hardware manufacturer.

There are nearly forty casual titles scheduled for retail release on Wii in Q4 2007, compared with five each for Xbox 360 and PS3 and this reflects the belief of third party publishers that Wii is the platform for a more casual, less hardcore, console owner.”