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Nintendo has launched a thinly veiled dig at Microsoft and its record breaking launch of blockbuster FPS Halo 3.
Speaking at a press conference this morning in London, David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK, said: “For all the recent talk of record breaking entertainment launches, it might just be that the defining and most influential video game of this generation is a simple game of tennis that the whole family can gather around and play and enjoy together.“
Although Yarnton didn’t mention Halo 3 or Wii Sports by name, the “record breaking entertainment launch” is obviously a reference to Halo 3 and the “simple game of tennis” is clearly Wii Sports.
Microsoft’s Halo 3 sold 3.3 million units in a 12 day period following its launch in North America, generating more than $300m in revenue in its first week. At the time, Microsoft said the game “was the biggest entertainment launch in history“, eclipsing action film Spiderman 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In comparison, Wii Sports will be owned by the entire Wii console user base outside Japan, because it comes bundled with Nintendo’s machine. This doesn’t include individual Japanese unit sales.
At the same press conference Yarnton revealed the Nintendo DS had sold an astonishing 4 million consoles in the UK to date, and claimed the Wii holds a 68% market share.
Update: Nintendo has issued a statement clarifying David Yarnton’s speech. He did not reference Halo 3, but merely placed Wii Sports “into a wider
cultural context alongside cinema, books and TV”.
