November Console Sales Numbers

[Deattribution]

I've never said they haven't made more mistakes than MS. They've made plenty, most are related to their price point more than anything else though in terms of impact. Beyond that, it's a pretty cut and dry system release. It just happens to be amongst heavy competition. Not every system gets out of the gates like the Wii, and the Wii did because of it's friendly price in addition to it's innovative play and being bundled with the perfect party game (my house hold still plays Wii sports regularly and we've had it since launch day).

And I haven't directly called anyone a fanboy, I don't think I need to - I certainly don't come in here defending myself everytime someone says the words 'PS3 fanboy'. Everyone makes their fair points at times. Just not everyone gets credit for it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

FWIW......I think the labeling of any poster as being a 'fanboy' or otherwise is fruitless and doesn't achieve anything. I personally try to address the topic of discussion (whatever it might be) rather than any agenda that I might perceive of a given poster. The one exception might be MattJones4Heismann, because he's openly claimed the title of 'Wii fanboy' with great pride in previous posts.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Microsoft issued an official response to the XBL problems.

http://kotaku.com/343152/microsoft-s...-server-strain

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Reuters is reporting that Sony will cease production and shipment of 20 and 60 GB PS3's in Japan. The 40 GB machine will be the only unit for the time being with other units eventually added to meet customer requests. My guess is that the 80 GB will be added once the 20 and 60 GB machines' remaining stock is cleared out. Probably will result in a short term boost to sales on those models for those that want to pick up the fully BC models.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssC...00294220080110

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

FWIW......I think the labeling of any poster as being a 'fanboy' or otherwise is fruitless and doesn't achieve anything. I personally try to address the topic of discussion (whatever it might be) rather than any agenda that I might perceive of a given poster. The one exception might be MattJones4Heismann, because he's openly claimed the title of 'Wii fanboy' with great pride in previous posts.

MJ4H is one I have respect for. He openly admits where his priorites are and which system he's a proponent of. And you'll note that nobody has said a word to him about it.

On the other hand, an individual who claims he's unbiased, yet is clearly in favor of one system (and there is NO doubt on this point) gets a lot of crap.

See how that works?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

MJ4H is one I have respect for. He openly admits where his priorites are and which system he's a proponent of. And you'll note that nobody has said a word to him about it.

On the other hand, an individual who claims he's unbiased, yet is clearly in favor of one system (and there is NO doubt on this point) gets a lot of crap.

See how that works?

You phrase your post like I was somehow pointing out a problem with MJ4H because of his bias. Couldn't be further from the truth.

I'm assuming you're implying that I've somehow claimed a total lack of bias in these discussions. That couldn't be further from the truth. A majority of the people in this thread carry a bias towards the 360, but that doesn't mean that their opinion is any more/less important than anyone else IMO. A poster's bias doesn't inherently make their points right or wrong. The points that they make and the basis of support for those points are what determines how accurate their perception of a given situation is.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Market analysts Hickey and Pachter discuss the effect of the possible end of the HD movie format war on the game console market:

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...d/19030/?biz=1

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

File under WHAT THE FUCK.

Apparently Darth Vader is PS3-exclusive, and Yoda is X360-Exclusive.

What. The. Fuck.

Rumors are that the missing character on each platform might be downloadable (for a small fee of course) later on. Great to see Namco taking a page from the three console manufacturers and getting every last cent out of the people they can.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A majority of the people in this thread carry a bias towards the 360...

True and false - I believe a majority of people carry a bias towards the 360, but I don't believe most of those people had a predisposed bias towards the 360 going into this generation of the console wars - their bias was earned by what they felt the 360 did right and what the PS3 did wrong.

I fully admit that while I was at MS, I had a predisposed bias towards the Xbox vs. the PS2. Once I stopped working for MS (in late '04) my predisposed bias lessened, and then it lessened even more once I started working for a multi-platform publisher (Midway). I was fully prepared to get on board with the PS3 this generation, but Sony's mistakes have put the kibosh on that so far. I was prepared to embrace the PS3, but so far I've felt no compelling reason to do so.

I'm also a big, big fan of the Wii, though I also think it's more of an indirect competitor to the 360 and PS3.

[Calis]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Rumors are that the missing character on each platform might be downloadable (for a small fee of course) later on. Great to see Namco taking a page from the three console manufacturers and getting every last cent out of the people they can.

I'm not sure why people are shocked by this, Namco has already done this before..with this series no less.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A majority of the people in this thread carry a bias towards the 360 because of my SONY fanboyism attitude.

Fixed.

Everytime I read his posts in these threads, my hatred for the ps3 grows. It's an odd thing, but what can I say?

[Bee]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Fixed.

Everytime I read his posts in these threads, my hatred for the ps3 grows. It's an odd thing, but what can I say?

Little known fact...MBBF actually works for Microsoft and is a viral marketer using reverse psychology.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Bee

Little known fact...MBBF actually works for Microsoft and is a viral marketer using reverse psychology.

He's not all bad, he IS a Mizzou fan.. but seriously man...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Fixed.

Everytime I read his posts in these threads, my hatred for the ps3 grows. It's an odd thing, but what can I say?

As has been mentioned before by other posters, anyone who uses the comments of a message board poster as a justification for liking/disliking a consumer product instead of using the actual merits of said product likely needs to take a step back and reassess the situation.

I'm guessing the rough non-conference start for the basketball team has you a bit grumpy.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

True and false - I believe a majority of people carry a bias towards the 360, but I don't believe most of those people had a predisposed bias towards the 360 going into this generation of the console wars - their bias was earned by what they felt the 360 did right and what the PS3 did wrong.

I would agree with that, though the criticisms of the PS3 tend to be based more on release and early problems just after release than anything they've done in recent months. The PS3 has been the unquestioned whipping boy thus far overall. It's been kicked more than the neighbor's dog, and most of it over the first 9 months was well-warranted. It's taken them a year to finally get their sales figures going. They (Sony) obviously didn't anticipate that, though they should have considering most knew exactly what the problems were on release.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I would agree with that, though the criticisms of the PS3 tend to be based more on release and early problems just after release than anything they've done in recent months. The PS3 has been the unquestioned whipping boy thus far overall. It's been kicked more than the neighbor's dog, and most of it over the first 9 months was well-warranted. It's taken them a year to finally get their sales figures going. They (Sony) obviously didn't anticipate that, though they should have considering most knew exactly what the problems were on release.

Never a 2nd chance to make a first impression...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Never a 2nd chance to make a first impression...

Absolutely. They had to actually work hard to screw up the first few monts as badly as they did.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

New screen shots of Lost Odyssey..........

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_5746_en.html

Interview with MS head of global marketing (long)..........

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184535.html

Sony has reduced manufacturing costs of the PS3 to $400 (was $800 at release).........

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbi...lobal+business

Analysts Applaud Efforts to Shrink PS3 Chips
Stringer's promise to raise Sony's overall margins to 5% by the Mar. 31 fiscal yearend appears easily within reach. And margins should continue to improve as Sony's video-game division, Sony Computer Entertainment, trims the console's manufacturing costs and revs up output.

Nikko Citigroup's Kota Ezawa estimates the games division will lose $1.4 billion this fiscal year, following last year's $2.1 billion loss. And while he doesn't expect the business to be prosperous until late 2009, Ezawa applauds Sony's efforts to shrink the PS3's chips and tweak its design. Already such changes have cut the cost per machine to around $400 now, from above $800 just before it went on sale in November, 2006, he says. (The PS3 with an 80-gigabyte hard-disk drive retails in the U.S. for about $499.) "We think the biggest factor here is that simplification has become possible through a reduction in the parts count, leading to a reduction in costs," Ezawa wrote in a Dec. 27 report.

Warner's shift to Blu-ray is a gift for Sony's videogame business. The console's sales have picked up in recent months after Sony cut the price in October, introduced a $399 model in November, and lowered the fees it charges game developers in a bid to broaden its games offering. But it still trails Nintendo's Wii, which also launched in November, 2006. Last year in Japan, for instance, Nintendo's Wii console outsold Sony's PS3 3-to-1, according to Tokyo market researcher Enterbrain. Macquarie Securities predicts Sony will ship just 9.2 million consoles this fiscal year, not the 11 million the company has forecast.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Apparently Soul Calibur 4 is going to have Yoda and Darth Vader as playable characters?

Soul Calibur 4 CES Trailer

That is really odd. They are really out of context. Spawn was a little out of context in SC2 but not badly. This just seems random.

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

That is really odd. They are really out of context. Spawn was a little out of context in SC2 but not badly. This just seems like a perfect way to sell a few more copies of the game to people who wouldn't otherwise buy it.

SI

Fixed.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

New screen shots of Lost Odyssey..........

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_5746_en.html

Interview with MS head of global marketing (long)..........

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184535.html

Sony has reduced manufacturing costs of the PS3 to $400 (was $800 at release).........

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbi...lobal+business

Cool. Maybe they can put the $20 Emotion Engine back in.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Lots of info about Resistance 2 just released in a preview. Online 8-player co-op campaign mode and 60 player multi-player battle maps are the main feature sets. Summary points of article are listed below............

RESISTANCE 2 preview(Game Informer)

EDIT 1: Huge cooperative game... 8 player story-driven campaign along side single-player campaign. 60 player Competitive modes... Huge United States Landscapes as backdrops.

EDIT 2: "It is, in short, a tour de force for the untapped might of the PlayStation 3"

EDIT 3: Narrative stays with Hale the whole time... not Rachel. Hale shot down in Iceland, escapes to US and becomes part of program called Sentinels...

EDIT 4: Chameleon.. Stalker with total cloaking ability

EDIT 5: Overcoming stigma that boss encounters don't work in FPS games..

EDIT 6: Eight player coop over PSN, two player local

EDIT 7: CLASSES! Unique character with one of three basic templates... tank with heavy weaponry, special ops for distance (bullseye modified with zoom), medic

EDIT 8: Online matching... standard difficulty discarded for scaled challenges for team skill..

EDIT 9: Partially randomized geometry... levels are different with each playthrough

EDIT 10: again... 60 players online. want sense of epic b attle.. dont want fast-furious gameplay to be focus, more focused on squad v squad.

EDIT 11: will log into smaller four-to-eight man lobbies for each squad... encouraging communication and camaraderie, squad will be tasked witha particular objective. careful level design aims to deliver intense combat zones or small team conflicts that flow within arena of larger battle.

EDIT 12: Dedicated gaming community with stat servers for faster matchmaching than any console game of 2007. full-featured profile pages through myresistance.net will incorporate social networking concepts. open clan and party system to encourage community...no player invites needed.

EDIT 13: Aiming to deliver mobile-phone-quality sound for headsets.

EDIT 14: Futher tapped power of PS3... more enemies onscreen, better AI, better lighting and shaders. More comples normal mapping and detail mapping combine to deliver textures that look amazing from afar and at extremely close distances.

EDIT 15: AI getting a lot more attention.. will scaled on-the-fly to players perspective and viewpoint... aka enemies cloesr to the player will actually have more spohisicated AI routines than those further away. assailants in your direct field of view received heightened intelligence. easily more cunning than before

EDIT 16: listened to complaints... working on solution to long checkpoints and health system. not positive what final solution will be.

EDIT 17: "Our time playing was a blast"... each character class contributes in a unique way and "we loved the strategy-laden medic"... unique sense of teamwork

EDIT 18: Mysterious "Cloven"

EDIT 19: "Resistance 2 will be too epic to dismiss as anything but one of the biggest, boldest, and most high-reaching titles of 2008. It's a game that won't be ignored."

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

As has been mentioned before by other posters, anyone who uses the comments of a message board poster as a justification for liking/disliking a consumer product instead of using the actual merits of said product likely needs to take a step back and reassess the situation.

I'm guessing the rough non-conference start for the basketball team has you a bit grumpy.

No, it's just to the point now, that I usually just skip over your posts in these threads.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

No, it's just to the point now, that I usually just skip over your posts in these threads.

I know. You're from the St. Louis end of the state. It must take you all day to read some of these articles, especially without pictures.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Article that discusses the specifics concerning the British Telecom deal with Microsoft.............

http://www.tech.co.uk/digital-home/g...60-disappoints

[Kodos]

I broke down and bought a used 60 GB PS3 off of Amazon. Resistance is the first game that I picked up. PS3 should arrive next week sometime. Reading the problems with the emulation for games that I have and still haven't played convinced me to make a move to get the full backwards compatibility while I could.

[Galaxy]

Any idea of why when I play online, the controller keeps disconnecting. It's not the batteries (3 bars). The globe just went dead, then I would have to reconnect it every 3 seconds.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

FWIW......I think the labeling of any poster as being a 'fanboy' or otherwise is fruitless and doesn't achieve anything. I personally try to address the topic of discussion (whatever it might be) rather than any agenda that I might perceive of a given poster. The one exception might be MattJones4Heismann, because he's openly claimed the title of 'Wii fanboy' with great pride in previous posts.

Come on, you've been trying to justify your purchase of a PS3 to everyone here for a long time. You bought the wrong system, it was a bad choice, no big deal. Heck, some people here bought BETA VCRs back in the day.

[MJ4H]

I still had mine until about 5 years ago.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Come on, you've been trying to justify your purchase of a PS3 to everyone here for a long time. You bought the wrong system, it was a bad choice, no big deal. Heck, some people here bought BETA VCRs back in the day.

LOL!!!!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Come on, you've been trying to justify your purchase of a PS3 to everyone here for a long time. You bought the wrong system, it was a bad choice, no big deal. Heck, some people here bought BETA VCRs back in the day.

Total flame bait aside, I've been quite happy with my PS3 and use it quite a bit. The discussion has nothing to do with justification of any sort. I wish I could say the same about my Wii purchase. I still haven't played that console for a couple of months now.

[Fidatelo]

I still play my Wii more than my Xbox 360, and I haven't even gotten going with Mario Galaxy yet (still playing Zack and Wiki).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]That's because the 360 is garbage, if you had a PS3 you'd play it so much your wife and dog would leave you.[/Mizzou B-ball fan]

[MJ4H]

I think my DS purchase was better than my Wii purchase, but I'd have never considered a DS before getting a Wii. The Wii showed me what I'd been missing with Nintendo.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Xbox Live is moving into the 4th week of server problems. The rumor spreading around is they have run into some deeply embedded server code limitation problems that may require a full rebuild of the server system. Unfortunately, due to the class action lawsuit they are facing, no date for a possible fix will be publicized.

http://kotaku.com/344463/major-nelso...e-live-updates

Major Nelson's Live Update is No More Live Updates

As Xbox Live limps into the third week of 2008 still experiencing slow-downs, and occasional outages, salvation has come in the form of a legal excuse not to explain why the service remains so dodgy.

According to Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, he is no longer allowed to update us because Microsoft now faces a class action lawsuit over the outages. Hryb apologized, but said any future updates will need to come from "the lawyer."

That means no more Twitter updates like "LIVE is looking pretty good now....how is it for you guys-n-girls?" or "I want to thank you all for (mostly) being so understanding during the tough LIVE time. Some of you did decide to cuss at me...but ok.".

The response by gamers over on his Microsoft site is getting quite hostile, hostile toward Larry Hryb and each other and the guys behind the suit. It's unfortunate that this has happened, because the only thing worse than having issues with a very popular service, is not being able to talk about when a fix is coming.

How about you all, are you still experiencing any Xbox Live issues?

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Total flame bait aside, I've been quite happy with my PS3 and use it quite a bit. The discussion has nothing to do with justification of any sort. I wish I could say the same about my Wii purchase. I still haven't played that console for a couple of months now.

Well, you can't say good games haven't been coming out.

Starting in August: Metriod Prime 3, Fire Emblem, Ghost Squad, Guilty Gear: Accent Core, Guitar Hero 3, Lego Star Wars Complete Saga, Mario/Sonic at the Olympics, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, MLB Power Pros, NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy, Tiger Woods 08, Trauma Center: New Blood, and Zack and Wiki.

Now, not all of these are great, insta-classic games (although a few are) but they're all at least pretty good and cover a wide variety of genres.

I've read posts saying you don't like Wii Sports, that you don't like traditional Nintendo first party games, and don't seem to be willing to try any of the several good third-party games that have been released, why not sell the Wii, make a few bucks and buy games for the only console that seems to interest you? Better than posting that you haven't been able to justify your purchase over and over.

[Kodos]

The Wii must be Mizzou's parallel of my Dreamcast fiasco. Worst purchase I ever made.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Kodos

The Wii must be Mizzou's parallel of my Dreamcast fiasco. Worst purchase I ever made.

You gotta be shitting me. The Dreamcast was awesome until the games stopped coming 2-3 years in.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Well, you can't say good games haven't been coming out.

Starting in August: Metriod Prime 3, Fire Emblem, Ghost Squad, Guilty Gear: Accent Core, Guitar Hero 3, Lego Star Wars Complete Saga, Mario/Sonic at the Olympics, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, MLB Power Pros, NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy, Tiger Woods 08, Trauma Center: New Blood, and Zack and Wiki.

Now, not all of these are great, insta-classic games (although a few are) but they're all at least pretty good and cover a wide variety of genres.

I've read posts saying you don't like Wii Sports, that you don't like traditional Nintendo first party games, and don't seem to be willing to try any of the several good third-party games that have been released, why not sell the Wii, make a few bucks and buy games for the only console that seems to interest you? Better than posting that you haven't been able to justify your purchase over and over.

I stopped following along closely in these threads, but if what you're saying is true about mizzou's comments regarding what he likes and doesn't like... why the hell would you get a Wii in the first place?

It's like if I said I don't like Metal Gear, Gran Turismo, FPS on consoles, RPGs, Halo, and couldn't care less about graphics... yet bought a 360 or PS3.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

You gotta be shitting me. The Dreamcast was awesome until the games stopped coming 2-3 years in.

Yeah, I agree here. But it all depends on what you like. As a 4-player party system it was king shit.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

I've read posts saying you don't like Wii Sports, that you don't like traditional Nintendo first party games, and don't seem to be willing to try any of the several good third-party games that have been released, why not sell the Wii, make a few bucks and buy games for the only console that seems to interest you? Better than posting that you haven't been able to justify your purchase over and over.

Actually, I've consistently stated that Wii Sports was one of the best games on the console, though that's quite telling on its own merit. The third party lineup has been awfully rough outside of a couple of games. I made the mistake of thinking that a Nintendo console would finally somehow garner some AAA third-party titles. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case thus far.

I actually considered selling the Wii over the holidays. Unfortunately, there were people offering the Wii with 4 controllers and between 5-15 games for $500 or less online. Given that competition in the auction market, I likely couldn't make back my initial investment in what I had, so I held onto it. I have considered donating it to a local church or hospital as an alternative.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I stopped following along closely in these threads, but if what you're saying is true about mizzou's comments regarding what he likes and doesn't like... why the hell would you get a Wii in the first place?

It's not all correct, but you certainly make a good point. There's been several posters in these threads that have similar feelings about the Wii. I certainly ask myself the same question that you just brought up.

[Big Fo]

No More Heroes and Burnout Paradise both get 9's in this month's Edge (which has only given a 10 several times in the last decade), can't wait to play NMH next week.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Actually, I've consistently stated that Wii Sports was one of the best games on the console, though that's quite telling on its own merit. The third party lineup has been awfully rough outside of a couple of games. I made the mistake of thinking that a Nintendo console would finally somehow garner some AAA third-party titles. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case thus far.

I actually considered selling the Wii over the holidays. Unfortunately, there were people offering the Wii with 4 controllers and between 5-15 games for $500 or less online. Given that competition in the auction market, I likely couldn't make back my initial investment in what I had, so I held onto it. I have considered donating it to a local church or hospital as an alternative.

They still sell for decent money here it seems like... I find it hard to believe 4 controllers and 5-15 games for <$500.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

They still sell for decent money here it seems like... I find it hard to believe 4 controllers and 5-15 games for <$500.

No kidding, considering some were going for 300-400 on EBay before the holidays for just the base unit.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

They still sell for decent money here it seems like... I find it hard to believe 4 controllers and 5-15 games for <$500.

There were several wholesale sellers on eBay with those exact deals on December 17th. They obviously get the goods at a significant discount, so they can still make good money even at those prices. I was pretty sure that I could sell my used system for a pretty good profit until I saw those numbers. It was actually quite discouraging when I saw it. You can easily search the completed deal listing to see those listings.

[MikeVic]

Are you sure you weren't seeing bullshit like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nintendo-Wii...QQcmdZViewItem

[gstelmack]

My kids just LOVE the Hot Wheels: Beat This game on the Wii. They can't get enough of it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

My kids just LOVE the Hot Wheels: Beat This game on the Wii. They can't get enough of it.

That's the thing. I think the Wii is ridiculously good for people with kids 5 and up. They aren't overly particular about the quality of the game and they just want to have a bit of mindless fun. My kid is only 10 months, so I'm not really in that demographic. I'm guessing my tune will be quite different in a few years once my little one reaches elementary age.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

You gotta be shitting me. The Dreamcast was awesome until the games stopped coming 2-3 years in.

Nope. I bought it because I fell for NFL 2K after seeing it in the stores. But I ended up preferring the gameplay of Madden on the PS1, so I ended up going back to that. Then I tried buying other games like Crazy Taxi to justify my purchase, but I ended up not liking those games either. I think a big part of it was that I hated the controller, and loved the dual shock (whichever version was in existence at the time).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wedbush-Morgan preview of December Northa American NPD numbers and market trends...............

December 2007 Video Game Sales Preview: Expect +28% Sales Growth
• We expect December U.S. retail video game console software sales data to be released after market close on Thursday, January 17. We forecast sales of $2.222 billion, +28% compared to last year’s $1.740 billion. This was an exceedingly difficult month to forecast, given that November sales of $1.3 billion were so phenomenal. Historically,December has never yielded results lower than 2x the results in November (at least since 2000), and we are prepared to be spectacularly wrong with our forecast should the historical pattern hold this month.

• Our estimate reflects $1.837 billion in sales contribution from new platforms (PS3, Wii, 360, PSP and DS) and current generation software sales of $385 million. We believe that PS2 software sales declined 41% year-over-year, as contribution from next generation software has more than offset the decline in current generation software sales. We
estimate sell-through of 1,450,000 Wii, 1,250,000 Xbox 360 and 875,000 PS3 consoles. For purposes of comparison, The simExchange prediction market forecasts 1,730,000 Wii, 1,450,000 Xbox 360 and 854,000 PS3 consoles.

• Sales growth over the first 11 months of 2007 was a robust 33%, well ahead of our forecast of 19% growth for the year. Notwithstanding last month’s up 62% on broad strength in video game products and a beneficial calendar shift, we continue to expect robust sales in December, with the sector appearing recession-proof. It is important to note that November included nine days of sales post-Thanksgiving, compared to only two days of sales last year, which likely accelerated some sales from December.

• Sony and Microsoft have already announced strong holiday sales of their consoles. Our console sell-through forecasts are consistent with these announcements. In addition, in December, Activision and Ubisoft significantly raised Q3 (Dec) quarter guidance.

• We think that solid software sales growth will continue into early 2008, as the holiday lineup includes high priced (and sold out) games like Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, and the post-holiday line-up is also quite strong. Werecommend that investors accumulate Activision, Electronic Arts, GameStop, Nintendo, THQ, and Ubisoft shares at current levels.

• For December, we expect the following revenue results:
o Activision -- $440 million, +74% y-o-y.
o Atari -- $14 million, -28% y-o-y.
o Electronic Arts -- $445 million, +45% y-o-y.
o Majesco -- $12 million, +11% y-o-y.
o Midway -- $18 million, -50% y-o-y.
o Nintendo -- $325 million, +37% y-o-y.
o Take-Two -- $72 million, +2% y-o-y.
o THQ -- $150 million, -5% y-o-y.
o Ubisoft -- $175 million, +91% y-o-y.

We expect December sales of $2.222 billion (up 28% compared to December 2006’s $1.740 billion). We expect next generation software sales of $1.837 billion and current-generation software sales of $385 million. We believe that PS2 software sales declined 41% year-over-year, as contribution from next generation software has more than offset the decline in current generation software sales. The rate of PS2 software sales decline decreased slightly last month (-23%) compared with -24% YTD through November. The degree of PS2 software sales decline over the next several months will likely be highly correlated to next generation console sales, with year-over-year increases in next generation consoles purchases likely to accelerate declining demand for current generation software.

We expect December sales to be driven by recent top selling releases Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Play, Activision’s Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero III, Electronic Arts’ Rock Band, THQ’s WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed. December is usually a light month for new releases as most publishers try to release their biggest games before the holiday selling season. The top December releases were Electronic Arts’ Rock Band (PS2), Midway’s Unreal Tournament III (PS3), and THQ’s MX vs ATV Untamed (PS3, PS2, PSP, 360, DS).


Our forecasts for console hardware sales are as follows:

Wii 1,450,000
PS3 875,000
Xbox 360 1,250,000
PS2 975,000
PSP 1,075,000
DS 2,450,000
GBA 85,000