The Nintendo Wii was judged the most popular of the big three consoles in 2007, despite extreme shortages of the console in the lead-up to Christmas, according to reviews from genuine purchasers collated by independent review publishers, Reevoo.
The Wii achieved an overall score of 8.78 out of ten, compared with 8.25 for the PlayStation 3 and 7.65 for the Xbox 360. Sony's PlayStation scored highest on value for money, rating 7.96, versus 7.70 for the Wii and 7.15 for Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Reviewers praised the Sony console for the integration of a Blu-Ray player, contributing to its leading value for money score.
The Wii was praised for its usability, child friendliness and exercise potential in verbatim comments from buyers collated by Reevoo.
The Xbox 360 scored well for graphics and design, but fared poorly in other areas. One reviewer described it as being "[as] heavy as my nan after she's eaten an entire elephant."
The award for best games titles also went to the Wii, scoring 8.08 out of ten, with the Xbox 360 scoring 6.81 and the PlayStation 3 scoring 5.71.
Richard Anson, CEO of Reevoo, said: "The Wii has been an absolute phenomenon this year and Nintendo would have cleaned up if availability had been better this Christmas."
Demand for the Wii during December saw Dixons experiencing its highest levels of hits to its website in a ten minute period since the site was launched in the late 1990s. Dixons identified the emergence of e-campers, online shoppers emulating the practice of camping outside shops to secure a product, but in this case hovering on the site ready to click on a buy button when stock became available.
Not all children will have received quite what they were hoping for this Christmas, according to Reevoo. An online ad for Reevoo shows a Scottish teen unwrapping a "wee box" from her granny, much to her evident disappointment. The ad can be viewed at http://youtube.com/watch?v=VBbN5Cm_t2g
