Microsoft recommends Wii (its not a joke)

11 May 2006

4 Comments

Posted by:Ferry

Peter Moore, a vice president for Microsoft, asked in a recent interview, “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3?” He went on to explain, “People are going to buy two gaming consoles. They’re going to buy an Xbox 360 and they’re going to buy a Wii … for the price of one PS3.”

Microsoft seems to have decided to side with Nintendo in order to overthrow Sony’s current lead in the videogame market. Whether the strategy will work or not remains to be seen. Though no official announcement has been made regarding the price of Wii at launch, it’s expected to cost in between $200 & $250, whereas the Xbox 360 is available in $300 & $400 packages, with the Playstation 3 consoles coming at a cost of $500 & $600 for a complete package.

Moore then turned pitchman for Nintendo’s Wii, the latest offering from the Japanese company that once dominated the video game industry. “People will always gravitate toward a competitively priced product, like what I believe Wii will be, with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid,” Moore said.

Nintendo has stated many times that it does not wish to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft in the next generation war, opting to move into a new direction with Wii that will indirectly complement the other systems. In this context it’s funny to hear Microsoft’s Bill Gates & Nintendo’s George Harrison speak so similarly about online content and casual gaming in seperate interviews.