Conducted by ChannelNews and SmartHouse the research also revealed that the most crucial component in the gaming market in 2008 will be new software. Overall retailers said that the PS3 was selling well because it had a Blu ray drive and that the Nintendo Wii was appealling to both women and "Kids" because of it's interactive capability.
The retailers claimed that the Xbox 360 as a brand had suffered from their "Ring of Death" problems in 2007 and that consumers did not see the Microsoft gaming console as "Value" when compared to the PS3 or the Nintendo Wii.
One major retailer said "Both the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii appeal to women and families and with Sony now winning the HD format war we can also sell the PS3 as a Blu ray player. This will allow us to also sell Blu ray content".
Another Melbourne based retailer said "The Xbox 360 is dead. We are stocking it because of our relationship with Microsoft however all our energy and marketing is going into the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii unless Microsoft come up with something new or additional marketing dollars. Halo 3 was big on the Xbox but that was about it. They have tried discounting and value add offers and even that is not working. We are even thinking of dumping the console all together".
