Study: Wii fastest selling console ever
VG Chartz reported on Wednesday that as of August 23, Wii worldwide sales will have surpassed life time Xbox 360 sales in less than a year. In so doing, the Wii has become the fastest selling console of all time.
According to the study, total Wii units sold stand at 10.6 million, slightly more than the Xbox 360’s estimated 10.5 million. Since its release, the Wii has outsold 360 by a margin of more than 2 to 1.
By comparison, Sony’s PS3 has sold just 4.3 million systems worldwide since launching last November.
The news marks the first time that Nintendo has been the leader in both the home console and handheld markets since 1994 when the company’s Super NES and Game Boy lines reigned supreme. Currently, the DS and Wii are the top two selling system’s in the industry.
Additionally, the report claims despite continued shortages, Wii has managed to become the fasting selling console of all time selling at a greater pace than the most widely purchased console in history, Sony’s PlayStation 2.
“In just two years, home console sales for the three major manufacturers have effectively reversed,” said VG Chartz in a statement on its website. “This will have a large impact on third party publishers and will undoubtedly influence the decisions they make in the future.”
New search engine focuses on gamers
GenieKnows.com Tuesday unveiled a search engine that focuses on providing video game players with results ranging from gamer reviews, blogs, news, discussion groups and how-to guides.
The GenieKnowsGames engine uses focused crawling and ranking algorithms to streamline search results to provide the best results for game-specific requests, the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company said.
“Our programmers were frustrated with other search engines where a search term like NBA all star would produce 100 sports stories on Kobe Bryant,” said Mark Harper, vice president of strategic relations at Halifax-based IT Interactive Services Inc., parent company of GenieKnows.com. “With our technology, you get the game-related results you’re looking for, like whether Nintendo Wii will let you shoot fadeaways in your living room.”
The new site, which was created by GenieKnows programmers who are video game enthusiast, is targeted at creating a community for the almost 50 percent of U.S. households that own a game console. Other gamers, Harper added, are the best resource for a user “wondering whether you should splurge on Grand Theft Auto IV or stick with the original and just enjoy getting chased by the police.”
The site’s first few blog entries, for example, include an overview of the recent Major League Gaming competition in Dallas, a review of the Xbox 360 and a post about “mini” games created in Flash or other small-scale languages.
In conjunction with its launch, the site is offering a contest called “UGR: The Hunt for the Ultimate Games Room,” an online scavenger hunt offering gamer gear and electronics worth US$25,000, Harper added.
GenieKnowsGames will be competing with Wazap AG, a maker of another game-related search engine that launched in the U.S. last June. In addition to offering game-focused search results, Wazap allows users to input personal evaluations and comments designed to refine later rankings and search results. Users also can create profiles detailing their favorite games and rank and bookmark games.
— Heather Havenstein
Rumour: New Xbox coming in time for holiday
Rumors surfaced recently on that the newly named and upgraded Xbox 360 Core launching in Europe will also make its way to the U.S. in time for the holidays.
A SKU image surfaced as Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360 in Europe by 50 pounds. According to Kotaku, the rebranded Xbox 360 Core is indeed legit and coming to the U.S.
The rumored model, named Xbox 360 Arcade: Just Play, is said to sell for US$279 and come packed with a 256MB Memory Card for saving games, five free Xbox Live Arcade games, and a wireless controller.
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.
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