And the winner is…

So, in the Wii versus PS3 market share and mind share war that I’ve been blogging on in the last few weeks, it looks like there is a clear winner.

From the London Times Online:

THE Nintendo Wii is this year’s must-have games console, and should delight the lucky few who receive one tomorrow morning. But the huge public acclaim for the Wii and its unusual motion-sensing remote control has already ruined Sir Howard Stringer’s Christmas.

Stringer, the Cardiff-born chairman and chief executive of Sony Corporation, is relying on PlayStation 3 to help revive the misfiring Japanese electronics giant that he has run for the past 18 months. This Christmas, however, the Wii is estimated to be outselling the PS3 by more than two to one.

From GigaGamez (originally available at: http://gigagamez.com/2006/12/22/ps3s-being-traded-for-wiis/):

So, first people camp out in front of Best Buys for days at a time to get the PS3, and then they trade them for Nintendo Wiis. Seriously…. There are people out there trying to trade their PS3s for Nintendo Wiis and some of them are offering to take a loss. In order to check out exactly how widespread this phenomenon is, I had to venture into the dangerous, uncharted waters of craigslist.org and start doing a little searching of my own…. In San Francisco, there are 48 different PS3 for Wii trades going on at this moment. Now, keep in mind, most of these trades are requesting a Wii plus cash difference, but there is the occasional barter that will take a loss just to get their hands on the latest Nintendo console.

Not to mention reports of PS3 orders slowing down, and even being returned faster than they are being sold in some places.

The issue is as much problems with Sony’s manufacturing, distribution, and technology as it is a strength of Nintendo’s Wii. But I’ve been interested in the face-off more because Wii’s triumph represents a victory for thinking outside the box–quite literally in this case.

Epistemic games are about changing the landscapes of education and of gaming: they are about a new way of thinking about learning, about technology, and about thinking itself.

As a result, they meet a certain skepticism: Could schools really change that much? And perhaps more important: could this kind of game be commercially viable?

What the Wii proves is that a good idea coupled with the right technology and impressive execution can make people think about an experience in a whole new way. Wii’s are opening up a whole new market of gamers–I’ve had several colleagues who say their spouses NEVER played games with them until the Wii. Another said:

it really is a breakthrough. you can’t help but think, “I’ve never done this before”.

So, to the epistemic skeptics I say: Wii can do it.