Wii Wins in Famitsu Survey
Japanese gamers are most excited about Wii software, question PS3 price.
by Anoop Gantayat
May 25, 2006 - While we're sure IGN readers have been able to gauge the reactions of the English-speaking game communities for themselves, we've found ourselves being asked the same question over and over again: what do the Japanese think? And so we turn to Famitsu, whose latest issue contains the results of an E3-related survey held at Famitsu.com.
Famitsu.com polled its readers from 5/15 to 5/18 on four key questions related to all the big E3 announcements. The site used 294 responses to come to the following figures.
Responding to the question of which hardware has their greatest interest, 68.8% said Wii. PS3 grabbed 21.0%, ahead of Xbox 360's 7.2% and the DS's 3.0%. All hardware, current generation and next, was included in the survey.
A bit more directly, Famitsu asked survey takers which hardware they expect to win the next generation race. The Wii won this vote at 73.0%, with PS3 coming in second at 22.6% and Xbox 360 getting 4.4%.
Survey takers were also questioned on the PS3's price. In Japan, the base model costs 62,790 yen, a ways up from the PS2's original launch price of 37,800 yen, and sure enough, 88.4% of responders felt that this was too high. Only 10.9% felt that it was a reasonable price, while 0.7% punks said that it was too low.
While Nintendo didn't reveal the Wii's price at E3, Famitsu asked readers what they expect the system to cost. Survey takers selected the 25,000 yen price point to the tune of 53.6% of the vote. This isn't much of a surprise, as all Nintendo consoles including and following the Super Famicom, have been launched at that very price point. The next popular choice was 30,000 yen, with 35,000 and 20,000 yen coming in at third.
Finally, the survey asked readers to select the upcoming game that most interests them. Zelda Twilight Princess for the Wii took the top spot. Trailing behind it were Final Fantasy XIII (PS3), Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3), Smash Brothers X (Wii), Dragon Quest Sword (Wii), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), Final Fantasy III (DS), Monster Hunter 3 (PS3), Resident Evil (Wii) and Halo 3 (Xbox 360).
Nintendo's Wii hardware seems to have been the big E3 winner, at least amongst readers of Famitsu.com. Now the big question is how this will translate into sales later this year.
