In short, yes, to both questions.<\/p>\n
As far as processing power and features go it is no secret that the Nintendo Wii is coming a distant third to the Xbox 360 and PS3. Not only is the hardware inferior, but any gamer worth his salt will tell you that the vast majority of games released for Nintendo’s console are rubbish. However, that has not stopped the console from outselling its competitors by the millions.<\/p>\n
This is quite simply due to its mass appeal, and the fact that it has been marketed as a “fitness orientated” gaming device, leading many parents to choose it over the PS3 and Xbox 360 when deciding what to get little Timmy for Christmas. I will not deny that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are far more likely to turn children into couch-potatoes, after all, they feature hundreds of games which kids are actually likely to spend more than 45 minutes playing.<\/p>\n
Another factor which has helped keep the Wii on top for so long is the fact that it has in the past been priced aggressively, and so it should be when going up against consoles which feature things like Blu-ray, HD graphics and proper games.<\/p>\n
So what does the recent reshuffling of console prices mean for Nintendo? As of now the company has not commented on the fact that the 120GB PS3 Slim and 120GB Xbox 360 Elite have both been reduces to $300 (R2400).<\/p>\n
Microsoft SA announced yesterday that the Xbox 360 Elite will now retail for R3400, undercutting the average Wii price by R100.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, we are anticipating a PS3 Slim in October, with the brand new console likely to be priced between R3700 and R4000.<\/p>\n
I understand full well that the Wii is aimed at a different demographic to the two HD consoles, and some go as far as to say that they are not even in competition.<\/p>\n
However, the fact remains that as things stand consumers will be able to buy an Xbox 360 Elite, complete with access to a massive selection of AAA titles, HD and the wonders of Xbox Live for less than a Wii. Throw in an extra R400 and you can get a state of the art gaming console with full Blu-Ray capabilities. The value offered in these two purchases in comparison to the Wii is exceptional.<\/p>\n
If Nintendo does not respond accordingly then it will essentially be openly acknowledging the fact that it is not vaguely interested in competing for the same market as Sony and Microsoft. What makes matters worse is that it could probably get away with this kind of strategy as the average consumer will remain oblivious to the actual value offered by each console.<\/p>\n
In short, if Nintendo does not adjust its price accordingly, then it is essentially turning its back on the core gaming market, something which many will argue the company did ages ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is Nintendo turning its back on \u2018core gamers\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}