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European Wii release plagued by shortages
Wii logoToday the Nintendo Wii was supposed to show up in European stores. Nintendo is aiming to sell at least 4.000.000 Wii consoles world wide before the end of the year. Nintendo claims everything is moving according to plans, but according to Dutch stores the multinational needs to get their act together. As usual the European market gets a raw deal when it comes to console gaming.
As we all know the Wii proved to be a huge success in the territories where it has been released. The revolutionary control schemes, the compact design, it is supposed to be very quiet and the low price are all big advantages that may give the Wii a head start. The Nintendo company has issued a press release stating the huge success of console in Asia and America but refuses to give numbers on European sales. I couldn’t spot a single Wii in Leiden, Utrecht and The Hague for sale today. Some store managers only got one console to sell when they ordered as much as 50. New stocks can be expected not any sooner than January. Stores simply don’t dare promise their customers that they can have a Wii before Christmas.
Contrary to Dutch store owners Nintendo states that its release-stocks are bigger than ever before and promise that shipping of consoles to the stores will continue during the whole month of December. Anyways, the game fans in need of a next gen console might be better of getting that other white console that happens to be produced by Microsoft.
I didn't manage to obtain a Wii today, perhaps MrCustard was more lucky!
- Mark Vergeer's blog
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Comments
Mark Vergeer wrote:Matt,
No, it was definitely for the Wii. It had a definite infomercial air to it, with lines like, "Whether you're an experienced gamer or have never played a game before, this remote controller is your entry into the amazing Wii" or some such claptrap.
Ah, here it is!
Target Wii Promotional Video
That says Target, but they're showing the same one at Wal-Mart.
Matt Barton wrote:I was just
I wonder if they have a good fishing game for it yet?
Matt, isn't that the promotional video for the Ps3 you're talking about here?
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Mark Vergeer - Editor / Pixelator
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Xboxlive gametag
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Bill Loguidice
I asked my local Best Buy rep, who seems very knowledgable about Blue Ray and the various inputs/outputs it will accept. He claims he also knows the PS3 and he said that the only way to obtain Blue Ray video/resolution is to have a Blue Ray TV/Monitor. I find this hard to believe, however, I find it equally hard to believe the PS3 would output in standard HD based on Sony's insistence that it was Blue Ray or nothing. My decision to buy a PS3 would hinge on the answer to the question about the output options the PS3 can support. The Blue Ray capable TV I was looking at was on sale for $7,800 USD!!! They had it right up there next to a similar-sized HD LCD set and except for a richer color on the Blue Ray, there was no visible difference. The rep said you would notice a very visible blurring over the Blue Ray TV vs the HD LCD set. I asked him if he would setup their PS3 output onto these 2 TV's so I could compare and he said no. I got pissed and left!!!
There's no such thing as a "Blu-Ray" TV. All Blu-Ray is is a disc format. A "Blu-Ray capable" TV would be one that outputs at 1080p, which is the highest possible HD resolution right now. The PS3 DOES output at ALL resolutions, including standard definition, just like the Xbox 360. Where there were recent issues was with older HD TV's that didn't support 720p. Apparently the PS3 is having trouble scaling down the 1080i signal to 720p, so it was dropping people down to 480.
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
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Yep, I should have remembered that. The setup was a high-end Blue Ray disk player connected to a widescreen, I believe, plasma TV. The screen next to it was an LCD with an HD/DVD player. There wasn't a whole lot of difference in the picture quality, not $7k worth anyway.
forcefield58 wrote: I asked
I asked my local Best Buy rep, who seems very knowledgable about Blue Ray and the various inputs/outputs it will accept. He claims he also knows the PS3 and he said that the only way to obtain Blue Ray video/resolution is to have a Blue Ray TV/Monitor. I find this hard to believe, however, I find it equally hard to believe the PS3 would output in standard HD based on Sony's insistence that it was Blue Ray or nothing. My decision to buy a PS3 would hinge on the answer to the question about the output options the PS3 can support. The Blue Ray capable TV I was looking at was on sale for $7,800 USD!!! They had it right up there next to a similar-sized HD LCD set and except for a richer color on the Blue Ray, there was no visible difference. The rep said you would notice a very visible blurring over the Blue Ray TV vs the HD LCD set. I asked him if he would setup their PS3 output onto these 2 TV's so I could compare and he said no. I got pissed and left!!!
There's no such thing as a "Blu-Ray" TV. All Blu-Ray is is a disc format. A "Blu-Ray capable" TV would be one that outputs at 1080p, which is the highest possible HD resolution right now. The PS3 DOES output at ALL resolutions, including standard definition, just like the Xbox 360. Where there were recent issues was with older HD TV's that didn't support 720p. Apparently the PS3 is having trouble scaling down the 1080i signal to 720p, so it was dropping people down to 480.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
Bill Loguidice
That's a good question. I know that there was some talk that these hi-def DVD's wouldn't output over anything less than an HDMI cable connection due to copy protection schemes. However, I know that Microsoft backed off from them with their HD DVD add-on for the 360 and it can output hi-def signals over standard component video cables with the claim that no titles now or in the forseeable future will be implementing the digital protection. It's my understanding that you can't do 1080p over component cables (just HDMI), though, but most TV's save for the newest ones don't even support that resolution. The PS3 is able to output at various resolutions, so there's no reason why blu-ray HD movies couldn't be enjoyed on 720p or 1080i HD sets (issues the PS3 has been having recently with resolution aside). However, I too would like to hear if anyone knows about digital protection schemes and whether HDMI cables are required to enjoy blu-ray movies at even 720p resolution... (my guess is not)
My Sony DVD/surround sound system is supposed to upscale regular DVD's to hi-def like resolutions, but it refuses to do it over a component video connection - it will only do it over HDMI, which I'm not going to bother with at this time. I'm actually dissapointed that the last major 360 update didn't offer this, as I heard it was. Perhaps in the future it will offer upscaling.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
I asked my local Best Buy rep, who seems very knowledgable about Blue Ray and the various inputs/outputs it will accept. He claims he also knows the PS3 and he said that the only way to obtain Blue Ray video/resolution is to have a Blue Ray TV/Monitor. I find this hard to believe, however, I find it equally hard to believe the PS3 would output in standard HD based on Sony's insistence that it was Blue Ray or nothing. My decision to buy a PS3 would hinge on the answer to the question about the output options the PS3 can support. The Blue Ray capable TV I was looking at was on sale for $7,800 USD!!! They had it right up there next to a similar-sized HD LCD set and except for a richer color on the Blue Ray, there was no visible difference. The rep said you would notice a very visible blurring over the Blue Ray TV vs the HD LCD set. I asked him if he would setup their PS3 output onto these 2 TV's so I could compare and he said no. I got pissed and left!!!
forcefield58 wrote:I had a
That's a good question. I know that there was some talk that these hi-def DVD's wouldn't output over anything less than an HDMI cable connection due to copy protection schemes. However, I know that Microsoft backed off from them with their HD DVD add-on for the 360 and it can output hi-def signals over standard component video cables with the claim that no titles now or in the forseeable future will be implementing the digital protection. It's my understanding that you can't do 1080p over component cables (just HDMI), though, but most TV's save for the newest ones don't even support that resolution. The PS3 is able to output at various resolutions, so there's no reason why blu-ray HD movies couldn't be enjoyed on 720p or 1080i HD sets (issues the PS3 has been having recently with resolution aside). However, I too would like to hear if anyone knows about digital protection schemes and whether HDMI cables are required to enjoy blu-ray movies at even 720p resolution... (my guess is not)
My Sony DVD/surround sound system is supposed to upscale regular DVD's to hi-def like resolutions, but it refuses to do it over a component video connection - it will only do it over HDMI, which I'm not going to bother with at this time. I'm actually dissapointed that the last major 360 update didn't offer this, as I heard it was. Perhaps in the future it will offer upscaling.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
I live in Virginia (USA) and
I live in Virginia (USA) and got a tip from a friend that games are 5-10 dollars less at your local CostCo store. I went to check it out, and sure enough, he was correct. One of the store reps said they usually don't have new releases until a week after everybody else gets them, but to save 5-10 dollars a game I think I could wait.
I had a question that I've
I had a question that I've been trying to find the answer to, but haven't had any luck. Ok, the PS3 has Blue Ray DVD technology. Do you need a Blue Ray capable TV in order to obtain the Blue Ray detail/resolution? If you don't have a Blue Ray capable TV, what does the PS3 downgrade to, or what is it the equivalent output on a standard HD-equipped TV? I'm assuming you can't view the output in HD.
I was pretty amazed at the frame rate issue as well as I played one of the offroad racing games on the LCD screen at my local Best Buy. The video would actually glitch for a split-second to catch up about every 30 seconds or so. It might have been the game, but at any rate, it did pause regularly to catch up...the video that is.
I was just at Wal-Mart and
I was just at Wal-Mart and caught a bit of the Wii promotional video they're showing there. It really sounds like something from George Foreman. Nintendo is really betting the farm on that wacky controller.
I wonder if they have a good fishing game for it yet?
I'll probably get a PS3 and
I'll probably get a PS3 and Wii at the same time, probably by April-ish. In regards to the PS3, I'm actually very disappointed in the almost universally poor framerates of all the launch games. I didn't expect the games to look better than Xbox 360 games until at least the first year has passed (assuming it can look much better), but I certainly didn't expect frame rate issues, even from ports. The Blu-Ray features do nothing for me, as does the Xbox 360's HD-DVD add-on, since there is no hope for a two market hi-def DVD format. One or the other will have to win out eventually and we'll need a standard that supports both in the end. Probably the thing that most intrigues me about the PS3 beyond the optical disc and hard drive capacities is the Six Axis controller. I actually like the concept a bit better than that of the Wii in theory, since it tries to implement something new in a more traditional form factor. However, I'm still not sold on the "necessity" of either one.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================