LucasH

In spite of the dire warnings of doom and gloom and scary words like global recession, Christmas shoppers were still out in force and still buying consoles. Nintendo sat happily at the top of the ladder, with the Wii outselling both its next-gen competitors, the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3. The only gaming console to outsell the Wii is Nintendo's other happy puppy, the DS Lite.

It isn't difficult to see why these two are at the top of their respective ladders , either. Both are substantially lower priced than their competitors, and more family oriented. Could Microsoft and Sony stand to learn from this? Sure they can! As it stands currently, the Wii is the only console which actually turns a profit per unit sold, approximately $6 US, whilst Microsoft makes neither profit nor loss for each 360 sold, and Sony is actually losing money for each Playstation 3 they sell. Both Microsoft and Sony stake their profit margins on the games they sell.

If you were to take a walk into your local gaming shop and poke around the different console sections you couldn't help but notice the difference in software options available. Whilst Nintendo have set themselves up with a huge (sometimes overwhelming and less than discerning) range of titles available, especially aimed and younger players, Microsoft and Sony have been more narrowed in their approach. Sony seems to be trying to corner the 'party game' market, with their Singstar range and other similar titles, whilst Microsoft seems to be trying to appeal to the 'hardcore' gaming niche with their many Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and other adult content and difficulty level games.

Well each of them still seem to be turning a tidy profit, but this ol' gamer is of the opinion that they could give themselves a little nudge in sales figures if they put out a few more brightly coloured, fun for any age games. Just nothing that ends in the letter 'Z' , please!