Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Even though we're all facing FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON and will be trading berries and colored stones for drinking water this time next month, gamers are still buying consoles like they're going out of fashion.

According to sultan of sales figures Michael Pachter, the Wii and DS each shifted a tidy 600,000 units in North America during September, a respectable rise on sales in August. If the analyst's crystal ball-gazing is correct, that means Wii has added another 40,000 to its lead over the Xbox 360.

Pachter's estimations for Nintendo hardware are echoed by new prediction kids on the block EEDAR, who also have Wii and DS at 600k apiece; apparently people are struggling to make ends meet, but not struggling that much. We'll have the super-official NPD figures later this week.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Nintendo is preparing the duct tape for a new Wii that will feature high-definition visuals. Speaking in an AFP piece about Wii's bid to appeal to "hardcore" gamers, Pachter insisted that Nintendo needs to overcome the technical gulf that exists between its console and those of rivals.

"A Wii HD would really position Nintendo well, which is why I'm absolutely convinced there is a Wii HD coming," stated Pachter, who thinks the console needs to shed its "toy for my mom" image. Ouch. If you're currently experiencing déjà vu, that's probably because Pachter made this exact same prediction more than a year ago, when he estimated a Wii upgrade to be "two to three years" away.

For the record, we non-analysts at Wii Fanboy still think that's too soon for an upgraded version of a system that continues to fly off shelves -- and developers seem to agree.

[Via videogaming247]

We all know Michael Pachter has no problem tossing his two pennies around, and his estimations for the month of August might surprise some of you. When it comes to sales, the Wedbush Morgan analyst sees Nintendo making around $100 million on software. As for hardware, it's a different story, as a decline is expected.

"Because the U.S. has received only around 1/3 of total Wii production to-date, instead of a more normal 40 percent, there has been a severe shortage of Wii supply here that has yet to let up," says Pachter. He thinks that the supposed production increase won't take effect in North America until September.

See also: GameStop CEO sees no 'end in sight' for Wii shortages

Despite what Michael Pachter said yesterday, many actually do feel that Nintendo has forgotten their core gamers and are instead shifting the company's focus to more casual titles. But, the question is are you one of these doubters? Do you think that Nintendo doesn't care about making new Zelda and Mario games for you anymore, or are they simply too impressed with how wonderful stuff like Wii Fit does in sales? Do you think that they'll put out other installments in the franchises that we all know and love, but the games will be reworked so as to be unrecognizable when compared to previous iterations? Do you think this is all a big fuss over nothing?

If you were disappointed with Nintendo's E3 showing, then odds are you have a lot of like-minded folks to agree with you. A majority of the industry feels that Nintendo's showing at E3 wasn't really, uh ... good. If you're not looking for real games, then you were probably happy with Wii Music.

Pachter thinks that Nintendo hasn't abandoned the core gamers. He went on to say that "some hardcore gamers were critical of Nintendo's failure to announce new Mario and Zelda games at the show... we think that Nintendo focused upon building upon its formidable lead with the mass market, and do not consider the lack of major hard core game announcements to be an abandonment of its core." Interesting, but what do you all think? Did Nintendo abandon the core gamer or is the hope for a new Zelda and Mario game sometime in the future proof that they haven't forgotten about those core folk?

Watch out, E3! According to Wedbush Morgan analyst and man Michael Pachter, you could soon be heading the way of the Dodo, the Quagga, and decent Sonic games. In a note to investors titled "Entertainment Software: E3 2008 Review: The Bad, The Great, and the BORING!," the famously quotable analyst concluded that the latest E3 was a crushing disappointment, and described the event as "ill-timed," "boring," and "headed for extinction." Oh, Pachty, you sure know how to make a major industry event down on its luck feel special!

The show, which has been criticized by other industry figures of late, isn't beyond saving itself, but Pachter thinks it should be pulled back to no later than early June, and that "the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."

To give this piece of news a Nintendo slant, we'll add that Pachter deemed Nintendo's presentation to be "just right", but did note the grumblings from core gamers that not enough announcements were made for them.

Aside from his prediction that he thinks Wii Fit will sell 3-4 million this year, Michael Pachter has grabbed another estimation out from within his bag of tricks: Wii Fit will keep Wii shortages going as it will increase demand for the console. Pachter cited Nintendo's plan to market the crap out of Wii Fit, stating "the increased buzz will drive increased demand for the already difficult to find Wii hardware." Well, we know the UK is crazy over Wii Fit, but Nintendo shouldn't have as hard a time filling demand over there as they have had here in the states.

On Pachter's part, this is a pretty safe play to make. The preorders at Amazon are going through the roof and with Wii Fit being on Good Morning, America recently, we're sure the public is very receptive to the product. We're still not sure about that price tag, though.

With the official NPD numbers due any day now, Michael Pachter has tossed out his prediction for the winner of March in the U.S.: Nintendo. He is claiming that the Wii will have moved 700,000 units in the month, with Smash Bros. Brawl being the big reason. Even though he says that Nintendo is still sending more units to Europe than the U.S., he says that March will be different because of, obviously, Smash Bros. Brawl.

And, even better is Pachter's prediction that April will see Nintendo doing even better, with both Mario Kart Wii and the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon sequels being huge draws. Let's hope he's right!

Michael Pachter is at it again. This time, of all people, he spoke with a writer for the Dallas Morning News. Now, we're not experts in this institution that reports real world news, but we do know that video game news tends to usually fall below their radar. But they care about the Wii because, well, everyone and their grandmother bought one.

Regardless, Pachter did, and he is saying that those of us in the U.S. need to blame it on the rain the Brits. You see, his estimation is that due to the weak U.S. dollar and high demand for the console in the UK, Nintendo has been shipping more consoles over there because they profit more from sales in that country. This has supposedly been the reason that store shelves in the U.S. still don't have the console stocked.

His belief is that the console will be more readily available in the U.S. later on this year, when the dollar is expected to bounce back some. Based on the fact that the console released over a year ago, though, we're not going to hold our breath.

[Thanks, Matt!]

Michael Pachter, the man who makes a living predicting sales trends and corporate decisions in the gaming industry, is saying that Nintendo should cut Wii Sports out of the package and sell the Wii for a cool $199. "I think that if Nintendo were to do so and cut the price to $199, it would still sell a piece of Nintendo software to 80% of new Wii purchasers, and would end up effectively lowering revenues per console by only around $10," he explained in an interview with Gamasutra. You see, Pachter thinks this is not going to be that great of a year for the Wii.

Pachter further explains that the high-definition features of the other consoles make them "more likely to end up in the living room, which could relegate the Wii to the playroom." He says this could be bad for the Wii, as if it "is not at the center of the home entertainment system, software sales could suffer as a result."

We can't say we particularly agree with Pachter. We're not sure we'd see Nintendo cut the price on the Wii anytime soon, and if they did, we would hope it didn't involve losing one of the best experiences one can have on the console, let alone the best Wiimote trainer we've ever had time with. What do you folks think?

2007 was the year of the Wii. So, which console's cuisine will reign supreme in 2008? According to super-analyst Michael Pachter, that would be the PS3.

In the latest issue of EGM, Pachter predicts that the Wii will fall to the PS3 this year. The thing that will bring about this fall is not software (well, that too), but price. That's right, Pachter predicts that the price will soon be right for the PS3. The Wedbush Morgan analyst stated, "I think the Wii momentum will last until the Playstation 3 is under $300, so another year."

Perhaps Pachter is making too many assumptions: Will the PS3 drop to under $300? And if so, does that necessarily mean that Nintendo won't cut the price of the Wii to compete? If Nintendo doesn't price drop, will people even care (check eBay, for example)?

Of course, it's his job to make assumptions, so we suppose we can't fault him for that.

[Via NeoGAF]

It's been more then a year since launch, and demand is still heavily outweighing supply for the Wii. According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, the two won't manage find balance in the U.S. until April. That means that people won't be able to walk into a store and find a healthy supply of Wiis for another four months. Pachter also estimates that the Wii will sell 1.7 million units this December, beating out the Xbox 360 and PS3 despite its limited supply.

Need we really bring up the printing money meme again?