Gizmodo
Amidst the usual video game champions on Amazon's Best Sellers List: Video Games, you might find something out of the ordinary. If you head south to around number 17, you'll see what I mean.
It appears that everyone's old video game flame known as the SNES is outselling Sony's Playstation 3 on Amazon.com. Wonder why? Here's my take:
- People aren't that interested in PS3s.
- Virtual Console games are giving people major cases of nostalgia.
- People are so frantic for the Wii that they'll get their hands on the closest thing.
- Someone is throwing a Mario Kart tourney and ordered a metric ton of units.
- Hell has frozen over.
Note: The list has been updated, and the PS3 has dropped to number 20, now behind Guitar Hero II and Oblivion.
Note pt. deux: The SNES/FC Twin monster is on its way to cracking the top ten and is hot on the tails of the Xbox 360. If it gets up there, then we officially live in Upside-Down Land.
Note pt. three: Welcome to Upside-Down Land.
Video Games [via NeoGAF Forums]
Comments
Oh man.. now i REALLY feel bad for Sony... lol
Well the photo above leads me to believe prices also start at $744 which would deter me from Amazon.
wow, I just looked and it had SNES in the 14 slot and the PS3 all the way in 17... ouch
there are two reasons i havent bought a ps3 yet.
1. cant afford it
2. no good games out yet
the nes is cheap and all games, good or bad, have been out for almost as long as ive been alive...
psha also snes is a timeless classic, brining us some of the greatest games, such as legend of zelda: link to the past, super mario world, super mario kart, starfox, and donkey kong country...
i'll even prove it to you by saying that i have a ps2, and my friend has a gamecube, and when he came over to my house we literally played snes for 24 hours
ps3 just needs better games, and also its probably b/c the price starts at 744
I'd take a NES or an SNES over a PS3 as well. It's cheaper all around and the games are simpler. It's no fun going over to somebody's house who has "INSERT GAME TITLE" and knows all their ways around it while you sit there and suck at it. Older games and systems are less complicated and almost everybody can play them. That's probably the same reason the Wii is doing so well. There are exemptions in the NES/SNES world but who doesn't know how to play Super Mario?
It looks as if the "SNES" actually being sold is not a Nintendo console at all, but a combo NES / SNES unit. I think the press for it has been pretty good so far... so if it was just released I'm not surprised it's doing well. The toploader NES used to go for $80 or more used... I bet plenty of old cart collectors who'd love to have something even better that also plays SNES games for cheap.
I'm going to sound like a fanboy (I'm not), but I just spent a couple hours playing the free motorstorm demo on my new ps3. I like it.
SNES is now at #12 as of 5:18pm, 2/17.
Or maybe, just maybe, the reason is that it is cheaper to buy the console directly from a reputable store? Why buy on Amazon? Amazon is, generally, for things you can't ordinarily buy from other places (at least for the price).
6:30pm and it keeps getting better
#12 SNES
#24 Playstation 3
Yeah it's definitely because the supplies are tight and secondary sellers have jacked up the price.
I never thought this site would subject to idiot-bias.
weird... 12 of the 25 products on the page right now are associated with nintendo.
what console war?
...and 45 out of the 100 total. how accurate is this list? what does it indicate? is the nintendo brand actually this powerful?
Also something you might want to notice. All of the items that are listed without an "Add To Cart" button next to them means that they're not selling directly through Amazon.com.
That means the lowest price available through Amazon.com is the Used and New price listed below it. The cheapest PS3 is listed at $739. That's a $140 premium you're paying for a console that is supposedly readily available at GameStop, EB, Target, Best Buy, etc. at list price.
Why would you be buying it online from a random sketchy 3rd party if you can just walk up the street and get one?
Clearly there is more demand for Wii than the PS3 at the moment but there are perfectly valid reasons why on this particular list the PS3 would be at the place it is.
the ps3 is now at 26, and the SNES is at 11
$55 for a freekin SNES??? I gave mine away to the dump for free!
Uncharacteristically shabby work, Gizmodo. PS3 isn't even available for sale on Amazon - why in the world would it rank higher than other models they actually sell for MSRP? Seems like you guys have it in for PS3 - on one side dissing it for an overabundance of inventory in stores (as compared to the Wii) and on the other side slamming its sales numbers when it's not available. What gives? Is this "investigative" work or simply scare tactics?
haha, the ps3 is now behind Wii, XBOX 360, XBOX, SNES, 3 versions of the DS, Halo 2 (wtf?), Legend Of Zelda The Wind Waker (again, wtf?) and assorted other things.
Nintendo owns the top 5 slots. Hilarious.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
At 8:15 EST, SNES is at No. 11, and PS3 is at No. 29.
What's at No. 28?
The ORIGINAL XBOX.
I'm Glad.
Not even here in the UK yet. Sony thought the PS3 was going to be so *Great* they could just keep delaying it for everybody. But, nope, they had to go the extra mile and delay the european launch until the next year!
Still got just over a month here in the UK before it comes out and it's more expensive than the american price.
Sony are a great company, but the PS3 has killed their reputation IMO, for gaming consoles. They still do good Tv's!
@segment7
I was aware of the fact that it isn't sold directly though amazon.com--just third party retailers, but the SNES is in the same boat. It's just interesting to see that more people are swapping around SNES consoles than PS3s.
Just thought it might be interesting
That is insane, oh wait yeah it costs how much. stupid Sony
btw, Segment7 is a moron.
Gizmodo doesn't make the news, it just reports them.
Hm. I'll bet you a significant amount of the SNES buyers are old people trying to buy their grandson one of those new Nintendos he's always on about.
nakmario, something only becomes news when it is reported as such... Anyway, this is a blog, not a reputable news source, though it may often be treated as such.
Honestly, I still can't understand why anyone would be surprised to see an unusual item at a reasonable price beating out PS3s marked above MSRP from sources less than reputable... They just aren't rare enough to support that. No "WTF" about it.
bazald, are you serious? the SNES is 17 years old, countless emulators are out for it allowing free play, you could get it on ebay for mere dollars or garage sales, and yet at FIFTY dollars it is selling faster than the ps3. THAT is crazy.
It's now down to #36, behind the Nintendo 64, the Playstation 2, and the original XBOX. I do believe it's about to be taken over by Final Fantasy VII.
i have ti say i just got a wii, i love zelda etc but i am far to self conscious to play wii play whilst sober and by myself. However i found that 2 girls (possibly + wine) had no end of fun. Which in the gaming industry wasnt it always harder to get the women and kids? If thats the case then the wii meets that critera of appealing to women and children no matter what! So yeah even if the ps3 is shit hot could it beat the universal appeal of the wii?
It was outselling the Wii not to long ago when the Wii was out of stock there. The PS3 is currently out of stock on Amazon. That's why its ranked low.
People should realize these SNES aren't actually been sold through Amazon, and they are those cheap SNES knock-offs that aren't compatible with all games or are used units through re-sellers.
Those reseller ranking is based on the amount hits to the product, reviews and how many go through the resellers, its not really based on sales. Also, Amazon is based on a small sample size. This means nothing, Gizomdo is just making a fuss so that can get eyeballs from Digg. Pathetic.
It's not just that the PS3 is out of stock on Amazon. Half the items on that list are out of stock, they're all being purchased through third party buyers.
I mean, do any of you honestly think Amazon has SUPER NINTENDO Systems in stock, now, or *ever* for that matter?
The issue at hand here is simply that the PS3 is only being offered by third party buyers at a significant increase over the MSRP.
Still, even with that in mind, just looking at this list gives an idea of how truly popular Nintendo goods are right now. 7 of the top 10 items are (mostly) *out of stock* Nintendo goods.
@ Segment7
The Wii isn't even sold by Amazon - it's currently sold out. However, it still stands in the top 5. Actually, most of the items on the list are sold by 3rd party, ps3 included. They just cant seem to hold enough inventory for anything Nintendo related.
@ Scaramanga: I'm pretty sure the "Best Seller" list is ranked according to, um, best-selling items, not hits. The page even says:
If there's a disclaimer somewhere that contradicts that, I'm not seeing it.
I went to two Gamestop's and one Best Buy today all to buy a Wii....no where to be found, but I could have bought 10 PS3's.
Your post does not make sense at all:
People are getting rid of their SNES and not of their PS3. That's it. That's all.
How about:
One's at least $50 and one's at least $750?
Why would someone buy a PS3 off Amazon for at least $750, when they can get for $500/$600 at retail stores or $430/$530 on Ebay?
haha the SNES passed xbox 360 and is now at #8....sweet
Slow newsday for Gizmodo I see
I bought a PS3 when it came out, played it and then returned it. I was disappointed. I bought a Wii and 360 instead with Zelda and Gears and a year subscription to Xbox Live. I'm so much more happy with this purchase. I have a system that everyone loves (girlfriend/parents/non-gamers even). Then another system with a better online system and very comparable graphics. Both of them gives me the best multiplayer experience than I had with the PS3.
I have a sneaking suspicion I know the real reason why SNES is still so popular, but first I have to find a comparison of the number of SNES owners with the number of emo kids still out there.
hehe, someone doesn't know the french word for three...
You think it has anything to do with the fact that you can apparently buy 15 SNES for the price of 1 (yes, ONE) PS3?
Darn, it's at 44 right now, it's being outsold by even the PS2 slim and just 2 notches above the PS2 classic.
Blu-ray killed the video-game star?
Wii is now in the top 4 products.
SUPER NINTENDO is now 10
Xbox 360 is 11
PS2 is 24
PS3 is 53
I think it's odd that the page claims to list "non-accessory" items, yet controllers and network adapters show up there. i don't think it's a particularly useful list at all.
Now it's at 54. Doing just a bit better than the Logitech wireless PS2 controller (59), and doing a lot worse than PS2 memory card (37), N64 (32), and the PS2 network adapter (18).
That's pretty embarrassing, although I think it really is very relevant that they are only available through resellers, for no less than $159 above list price, when they're not even hard to find in stores.
I am definitly not buying the PS3 but this list is as useless as a bike for a fish.
THE FACT THAT THE PS3 MADE 54TH PLACE AT 150$ OVER RETAIL PRICE (whilst available in stores) JUST SHOWS THERE ARE STILL MORONS IN THIS WORLD DUMB ENOUGH TO BUY, nothing more nothing less.
I really get annoyed by people looking at this list and drawing the wrong conclusions...
Could it just be that you don't find SNESs at the stores, so buyers have to turn to Amazon.com and the likes to buy the system... thus skewing the stats for sales? Also, I'm sure that a lot of people buy the PS3 directly off the stores since online retaliers have still been sketch about supply...
Please everyone become more serious about what a store is reportedly selling.
It's awfully important.
haha now the ps3 is at #52