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Xbox Finally Outsells Nintendo's Wii in February

by - source: Tom's Hardware US

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console has topped NPD's list of monthly console sales for the first time in two years.

Each month, NPD Group releases the numbers for monthly console sales and the Xbox 360 hasn't been at the top of NPD's list for a very long time. However, February was a great month for Microsoft, even if it wasn't exactly a great month for the market in general. NPD reports that console sales in February were down 15 percent compared to February of last year.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 422,000 units during February, while the number of Wiis sold came to 397,900 units. Sony came in third place with the PlayStation 3, although it's not as bad as it sounds. The PlayStation 3 sold 360,100 units, a 30 percent increase on the same period last year.

Nintendo's DS topped the list for handheld consoles (613,200 units), while the PSP sold just 133,400 units. Top game for the month was Bioshock 2. Second place went to Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. and Modern Warfare 2 placed third.

Read more here.

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sliem 03/12/2010 5:12 PM
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Well of course. All the kids have their Wiis and they got bored with it and it's collecting dust. Now the kids want something that has more value: XBOX360 or PS3. Hm mommy thinks PS3 is too expensive and they never watch or need to watch Blu-Ray... XBOX360 Arcade it is, $150 vs $300-$400.

tayb 03/12/2010 5:16 PM
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Outsold the Wii by 25,000. Just keep this up for another 160 or so months and you'll pass the Wii in sales! These analysts were totally on the mark.

ayssius 03/12/2010 5:19 PM
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This title was very misleading, I had thought it meant gross sales. Not just for one month.

icepick314 03/12/2010 5:21 PM
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there's got to be saturation point to Nintendo systems....

one of these days, DS will hit ceiling too...............maybe.......

dman3k 03/12/2010 5:22 PM
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Maybe people realizes that the XBOX does more for media integration, have better games (and even have better graphics), and actually have friends you know who plays on XBOX Live.

I have a PS3, and besides Borderlands with multiplayer single-player missions co-op, there's not much else in terms for gaming. Blu-ray is pretty much the only reason one would need a PS3. And with BR players cheaper, the reason to get a PS3 is even lower.

Not to mention, I am a mobile game developer. Windows Phone 7 will be cross-platformed on XBOX and Windows PC. So I will probably need to get my own XBOX.

And this is without mentioning Project Natal > Playstation Dildo, I mean, PS Move.

thegreathuntingdolphin 03/12/2010 5:26 PM
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Quote :This title was very misleading, I had thought it meant gross sales. Not just for one month.


The Wii still has sold several million more than the 360 and PS3 combined in gross sales.

dark_lord69 03/12/2010 5:28 PM
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ehanger :
do a 360 and walk away



LOL! You mean a 180?
360 would leave you facing the same direction!

Just wanted to say I have those top 3 games and I am yet to play through Bioshock 2 but the other 2 games were pretty good.

megamanx00 03/12/2010 5:28 PM
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The PC has outsold them all ^_^

toastninja17 03/12/2010 5:29 PM
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All I gotta say...YEAH WHOO!!!

megamanx00 :
The PC has outsold them all ^_^



However that is also true ^^

lightsaber 03/12/2010 5:31 PM
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It's going to be a pretty interesting holiday season once Microsoft's Project Natel and Sony's "Move" make their debuts....talk about becoming a level playing field as far as video game interaction is concerned, Nintendo better watch out.

aethm 03/12/2010 5:35 PM
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The Wii was/is a fad. I don't think the Wii is done leading sales, but if Nintendo doesn't want their system collecting dust it's time for some quality games.

trueno07 03/12/2010 5:36 PM
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Bioshock 2 is an incredible game, I'm happy to see it selling so well.

hillarymakesmecry 03/12/2010 5:40 PM
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I bet if PS3 didn't have the availability problem right now they'd be selling quite a few more consoles. All of the retailers I know of have empty shelves. Even the online retailers have a wait time.

captaincharisma 03/12/2010 5:44 PM
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not surprised at all because its just sucker...er..i mean xbox users who put up with a failing console and continue to buy replacements knowing they will have to buy a new replacement again down the road.

tayb 03/12/2010 5:50 PM
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hillarymakesmecry :
I bet if PS3 didn't have the availability problem right now they'd be selling quite a few more consoles. All of the retailers I know of have empty shelves. Even the online retailers have a wait time.



Do you live in the middle of nowhere? That's about the only explanation I can think of because I could go out and buy 50 Playstation 3's without going more than 15 miles out here in Austin.

Anonymous 03/12/2010 5:54 PM
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Wow! Someone actually thought that the 360 passed the Wii in lifetime sales? LOL! You must actually have a life!

The Wii wouldn't have gone from the crazy month that was December's sales to being second to the 360 without its supply being constrained.

The PS3's increase in sales are only so good because the sales were so low in the past. Their probably coming close to the numbers they were expecting at launch.

Nintendo sure as hell better come correct with the games. But I think that if they focus too heavily on core gamers, they'll only be disappointed. I've seen far too many folks say, "Nintendo has no games for the Wii in 2010!". Then we look and see that they have Mario and Metroid for Q2 2010 and perhaps Zelda for Q4. That should be enough for Big N. But I doubt that the 3rd-party games like Red Steel 2, Monster Hunter Tri and Epic Mickey will be enough to convince that stubborn "hardcore" to take a plunge.

I'm really excited about the Wii's lineup for 2010. WAY more than I was in 2009. And I still haven't even gotten Bioshock 2 or Heavy Rain yet.

And the backlog continues to grow on all 3 platforms for me! :(

Regulas 03/12/2010 6:13 PM
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Right now the PS3 is sold out almost everywhere. I had to go to 4 stores to find one on the day of FF XIII release. I love it and with more and more movie rentals having the Blue Ray option it is a win win situation. I used a HDMI cable (not the supplied RGB) to hook it up. It flawlessly found and linked up to wireless network.
Off subject, FF XIII is gorgeous and runs in full 1080P even during gameplay. Still prefer FF XII battle system

tenor77 03/12/2010 6:19 PM
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Yay, I feel justified other people bought something I have.......and I feel so empty inside as well.

datawrecker 03/12/2010 6:26 PM
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aethm :
The Wii was/is a fad. I don't think the Wii is done leading sales, but if Nintendo doesn't want their system collecting dust it's time for some quality games.



I am not sure that is going to help either. The only thing the Wii has going for it now are titles like Mario and Metroid.

The sharks are swimming closer to the Wii's territory and there is nothing significant the Wii can throw at it. (pardon the pun)

Vestin 03/12/2010 6:27 PM
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dark_lord69 :
LOL! You mean a 180?


It CAN be done !

dr sleep 03/12/2010 6:33 PM
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The possibility of market saturation aside, we knew the Wii would lose steam. Nintendo is typically not a modern-thinking company, and tends to lag in business strategy. I'd go so far as to call them oblivious. It's been almost 4 years now. If they had wanted to hold the top spot they gained, they'd have capitalized on their lead and started R&D on a successor way back in '06. Instead we get hints about a wii that "might" support hi def - or something, or a newer, slightly different DS. But research shows only 49% (or whatever) of homes can use HD content, so they just rest on their laurels instead. Now the competition is catching on with motion gaming and nintendo's answer is, "Hey! New Mario/Zelda/Metroid game on the distant horizon!" and stupid stuff like selectively not releasing games (i.e. Fatal Frame 4) that could widen the fanbase - for no good reason besides that Mario was selling enough.

HalJordan 03/12/2010 6:55 PM
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...and my wife still won't let me get an X-Box 360!

restatement3dofted 03/12/2010 7:10 PM
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sliem :
Well of course. All the kids have their Wiis and they got bored with it and it's collecting dust. Now the kids want something that has more value: XBOX360 or PS3. Hm mommy thinks PS3 is too expensive and they never watch or need to watch Blu-Ray... XBOX360 Arcade it is, $150 vs $300-$400.



Did you miss the part of the article where it mentioned that the Wii still sold 397,000 units?

Given that the Wii has sold over 68 million consoles world-wide, still holds the record for the highest single month sales of any console in history, and is still pushing almost 400k units in a month during which console sales generally were down 15% from the year before. That being the case, your conclusion hardly seems justified.

restatement3dofted 03/12/2010 7:15 PM
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icepick314 :
there's got to be saturation point to Nintendo systems....one of these days, DS will hit ceiling too...............maybe.......



The same reasoning would apply to XBOX 360 and PS3 as well. And given that Nintendo is the only one of the three companies that has presently found a way to reach a vastly larger segment of the population, it makes sense that the point at which the Wii's market would become saturated is considerably higher than the 360 and PS3.

The Wii is selling faster, but there appear to be many more potential buyers right now than for the 360 or PS3. That may change once the new motion controllers launch, but only time will tell. For now, the Wii appears to be going strong.

gerohmygosh 03/12/2010 7:18 PM
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tayb :
Do you live in the middle of nowhere? That's about the only explanation I can think of because I could go out and buy 50 Playstation 3's without going more than 15 miles out here in Austin.


Actually there is a shortage on the PS3 as they are making a revision on the system.

Manos 03/12/2010 7:19 PM
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captaincharisma :
not surprised at all because its just sucker...er..i mean xbox users who put up with a failing console and continue to buy replacements knowing they will have to buy a new replacement again down the road.



Its actually uninformed reta... erm I mean PS3 only users who have no clue about anything unrelated to their console which makes you not aware that the failing issues from 360s are covered from MS when you will be the onlyone paying for repairs on your console and Sony is very very good from the beginning of time in charging big time for repairing their products. Good luck with that one :) ( I wont give you prices cause due to my job I know very well costs but I rather you get the bill in the face when the time comes ;) )

requiemsallure 03/12/2010 8:05 PM
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don't care, watered down computers...

matt_b 03/12/2010 8:20 PM
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This is what happens when a company just sits on their cash cow....

Not to mention the saturation point is apparently within reach for the Wii.

victomofreality 03/12/2010 8:33 PM
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Requiemsallure :
don't care, watered down computers...



I wouldn't say watered down as much as overly specialized for gaming... unfortunatly that doesn't work too well considering the speed at which tech advances and how long a console has to be out to make a profit. Xbox is still running what DX9?

rhino13 03/12/2010 9:37 PM
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Today is a great day for all mankind

j51 03/12/2010 9:47 PM
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hillarymakesmecry :
I bet if PS3 didn't have the availability problem right now they'd be selling quite a few more consoles. All of the retailers I know of have empty shelves. Even the online retailers have a wait time.



PS3 has been sold out!

wow... at first I thought this is just a rumor..

but after I checked with amazon and new egg... guess that is true, at least for a slim at $299. Amazon does not have any slim @ $299 and Newegg is ETA: 3/17... hmm... why?

production problem? or.. just way too popular?


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