With the GfK results for 2010 being released today, citing a 16% drop in overall sales, both Sony and Microsoft were quick off the mark, shooting out press releases within 30 minutes of one another, each bursting with hyperbole regarding the incredible year they’ve both had. But who was the winner in this console arms race? I’m not sure. I’m so confused…
The epithet “fanboy” may be one of the useful verbal barbs one can sling at the faithful follower of technology—consumer electronics, video games or otherwise—as the console wars rage on. Where did this catch all insult come from?
The Wii and Nintendo DS killed the competition in the United States last month, partly because the other hardware makers didn’t put up much of a fight. It was, bluntly, an ugly month for video game sales.
Millward Brown Optimor, a “global brand strategy” analyst firm, just stepped into a heaping pile of fanboy doodoo with its latest rankings of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, pegging Sony at 94th. Nintendo is 32nd, Microsoft fourth.
As it is wont to do, Nintendo dominated hardware sales in the United States in March, the Nintendo DS and Wii combining to move more than a million shiny new game machines last month.