SOURCE: BrandIntel

September 12, 2007 09:00 ET

Nintendo Wii Poised to Become Consumers' Choice for Next-Generation Gaming Console According to New BrandIntel Report

TORONTO--(Marketwire - September 12, 2007) - On the heels of the busy retail season, a new report from BrandIntel, a leader in market intelligence solutions, states that Nintendo® Wii is well-positioned to become the consumers' choice for next-generation gaming, as it appeals to the widely untapped casual gaming audience. The BrandIntel report, titled Top Video Game Console Report: Consumer Insight Monitor, analyzed consumer sentiment and discussion share around next-generation gaming consoles including Sony PlayStation®3 (PS3), Nintendo® Wii and Microsoft® Xbox 360 (Xbox 360). While Xbox 360 currently holds the top spot with hard-core gamers, Wii has the highest intent to purchase scores and is appealing to a broader consumer base due to its price, innovation and ease of use (see chart below).

Based on analysis of consumer-created content, the Top Video Game Console Report captures data from January 1, 2007 to July 24, 2007. Additional key findings from the study include:

--  The Nintendo Wii generated very positive levels of appeal and brand
    image and came highly recommended by consumers.
--  While it generated the least discussion due to its relative maturity,
    the Xbox 360 received positive sentiment stemming mostly from an impressive
    game lineup, making it the choice console for gaming enthusiasts.
--  The PS3 generated high levels of discussion regarding its processing
    power and hard drive, but was perceived more negatively than the Wii and
    Xbox 360 due in part to its high cost and lack of attractive games.
    

The BrandIntel Top Video Game Console Report provides research, marketing, communications and customer relationship management executives with actionable information to support decision-making through a better understanding of consumer usage behavior, as well as industry trends and influences. The report highlights the video gaming consoles and manufacturers that have generated the most positive discussion and sentiment in online consumer communities such as blogs, discussion forums and other social media sites on the Internet. For this report, BrandIntel tracked more than 437,000 raw search results on the Internet but refined those results through technological filters and human analysis to utilize only the highest quality data -- totaling more than 2,000 consumer mentions on next-generation video gaming consoles. This report follows BrandIntel's 2006 Top Gaming Consoles Report, which found the Nintendo Wii to have the highest amount of online discussion share and sentiment among the next-generation gaming consoles prior to and after the 2006 holiday season.

"As the console war heats up again for the holiday season, Nintendo has been able to successfully target a new audience of casual gamers which has opened up new marketing and revenue opportunities for the company," said Alan Dean, V.P. of Business Innovation at BrandIntel. "As the Nintendo Wii moves beyond the hype, consumers are looking for games that can compete with the bigger name titles produced by their competitors."

Using award-winning Internet monitoring technology combined with the power of human analysis, BrandIntel detects, analyzes and generates intelligence on tens of thousands of relevant comments about gaming consoles on a daily basis. The company scans the entire scope of the Internet and analyzes the most pertinent content to measure for assigned sentiment scores and share of discussion, rating the physical and emotional value of the results (positive or negative) to produce the relevant categorization records of information in all its reports. As a result, BrandIntel gaming customers are provided with the most reliable data possible to leverage in the decision-making process regarding their brands.

To view a summary of the report, visit www.brandintel.com

About BrandIntel (www.brandintel.com)

BrandIntel, a Brandimensions Inc. company, translates consumer-created content into reliable intelligence, enabling businesses to advance the science of decision making. The company offers an information-delivery platform combining human intelligence with award-winning technology for the most trusted market data in the industry. The BrandIntel data helps businesses validate critical business decisions, uncover new opportunities for value creation, and get closer to customers. BrandIntel works with Fortune 1000 companies and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in the United States.