Wiimarkable

Cute little article in the Seattle PI that talks about relative market share of "the big three" gaming consoles.

In the battle for supremacy in the video-game world, Nintendo Co.'s Wii has now matched the Xbox 360 in total market share, despite the Microsoft Corp. console's one-year head start.

But the Xbox 360 is still maintaining a sizable lead over the console that might be considered its more direct competitor, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3.

Wow. You think it would be pretty big news that the much less hyped (and supposedly less "technically advanced") third place, old school, goofy-named Wii would have sold as many units in only twelve months as the Xbox 360 sold in twenty-four. Or that it more than doubled the sales of the PS3 since they were both released. It's reasonably affordable, innovative, and fun to play. That's a compelling angle, not some pithy statement about "the holiday season [providing] clues to how the market will shake out in the long run, now that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are in better supply, and prices have come down somewhat."

Only one of these consoles continues to be consistently sold-out as soon as it hits the shelves, and for good reason. Nintendo hasn't needed to drop the price of the Wii, also for good reason. How many more clues do you need to know that sales of the Wii will continue to far outstrip the competition?