Wiiconomics
One thing you'll have noticed being advertised heavily on television recently is games consoles. This is interesting for several reasons. For one, it demonstrates the fierce rivalry between the manufacturers to be number one. For another, it's that each console is being sold on different merits.
The XBox 360 is selling itself as the cheapest option. Every single advert ends on the price ("consoles start from £129.99") because Microsoft are desperate to make their mark. They should do very well out of this because - although it lacks the very useful hard drive - even the cheapest XBox is a phenomenally good piece of hardware, with a great selection of games and features.
Faced with this threat, Sony are pushing the PlayStation 3 as the home of a range of exclusive games (like Little Big Planet). Oddly, the most unique of the PS3's Unique Selling Points is never mentioned in the ads: its Blu–Ray drive means that the PS3 is the cheapest high definition DVD player on the market, yet I've not seen a single ad pushing this feature. Perhaps Sony are a little bit embarrassed by it because it means they make a loss on every single console sold.
The PlayStation Portable is being sold as the device that can do everything: play movies, stream television, surf the web, play games and music, take photos...
Then there's Nintendo's Wii (and DS). Last Christmas, they had to pull adverts for the Wii from TV screens because they would have been advertising a product that was impossible to get hold of. Since then – in fact, since launched two years ago – sales have remained incredibly strong. Nintendo have said that they have no plans to cut the price of the Wii until 2010 at the earliest (because frankly, they don't have to).
They have hit upon a winning formula that has confounded the games industry, and defied all predictions. Developing a console for people who don't play on games consoles could have been a disastrous gamble, but its paid dividends. Not only are people like my Mum buying them, but they're also shelling out on expensive games and accessories. Wii Fit is the perfect illustration of this: I saw an old couple in John Lewis last week spend hundreds of pounds on a Wii console with Wii Fit that they would never have spent on Mario or Sonic in a million years.
The Wii doesn't have the best selection of games, but it's shown that a little but of innovation goes a long way. You can already snowboard and skate on your Balance Board, and chat online through the Wii Speak microphone; from next year, there'll be yet another must-have accessory which will bring the Wii even closer to the sort of virtual reality games portrayed in science fiction. Now that's progress worth paying for.
