We are almost half way through the calendar year and still there appear to be no clinks in the armor of this year's hottest gaming console, the Wii from Nintendo. Among the luckier members of our proprietary panel who have been able to score a Wii, their feedback has been and continues to be overwhelming positive in terms of of playability and usage. We first noted the enormous impact the Wii had on an unheralded demo segment of gamers back in January, and that would be female gamers who were typically drawn to casual computer games, not consoles. There was a prevailing thought out there that since supply has been so tight, consumers, especially teens and young adults would eventually lose interest and end up purchasing a competitive system like the PS3 or Xbox 360. Nearly every piece of data and feedback we have does not validate this thought. With a superior price point and unique innovations, the Wii is, in our opinion, the product of the year for the youth market, ahead of the iPod and other digital devices, including the multimedia Razrs. I think it would be fair for us to say now that the Wii will land in one of the top three spots in our '07 Holiday Gift Wish List Report.
It's easy to see why the Wii has surpassed everyone's expectations. The interactivity of the system allows for a much wider segment of the market to participate. I know men in their late fifties who enjoy the Wii just for the cheap pre-packaged Golf game. Just imagine what the demand will be like once better quality games like Tiger Woods and Madden start rolling out.
Posted by: Rob | May 10, 2007 at 02:53 PM