A Tale of Two Launches
This weekend both Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii next generation consoles were launched - and the aftermath’s couldn’t have been more different.
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The Playstation, a $599 power play for the future of electronic devices disguised as a game player, had a number of eye raising launch day happenings. Lots of recap from Endgadget: a PS3 crime spree, people shot, armed robberies, riots, police using pepper spray, and escaped rapists. You know, your normal, every day type of thing in the adrenaline soaked world of consumer electronics. Look for Jerry Bruckheimer to scoop up the movie rights.
In the other line were the polite Nintendo fanboys. Coverage from that event was described as nothing less than friendly, perhaps even genteel. Could it have something to do with the fact that the would-be Wii owners actually planned on playing with their purchases? That the over hyped and under supplied PS3 was nothing more than eBay bait? Is this what happens when geeks stop being nice, and start being entrepreneurs?
December 6th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
[…] The Japanese launch of the Nintendo Wii, a competing product that has been showered with critical and fanboy love alike, saw 372,000 units sold in two days. At some locations the queues were 1500 deep. Everyone left pacified; unlike the violence that broke out over PS3 scarcity - the kind of violence that Bill O’Reilly believes isn’t good enough to battle the terrorists with. Even Sony executives were publicly stating that the Wii was more fun than the PS3; a tactic that is sure to boost sales… for the other company: “Wii is a core gaming device. It’s a more fun, intuitive sort of product to pick up, where the PS3 is a broader entertainment solution…” […]