Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal
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Microsoft Encarta sorta downplays Nintendo Wii success

howwiiwon.jpgThe paltry entry on video games from the Microsoft-owned encyclopedia currently has only one sentence regarding Wii’s popularity: “The introduction of Wii made Nintendo once again a major player in the video game industry.”

That’s accurate. And I wouldn’t expect up to date specifics — this isn’t Wikipedia, after all. But the language seems to deemphasize reality upon further reading from the same paragraph which quickly shifts gears:

“The continuing popularity of the video game known as Halo, exclusive to Xbox, kept Microsoft in the top ranks of video game makers. The release of Halo 3 in September 2007 set record first-day sales of more than $170 million.”

So the biggest story in video games (personal preference aside) over the last 18 months through October 2007 (the earliest the entry could have been updated) was not Nintendo Wii but Halo 3, according to Encarta. Who spilled conflict of interest on my information?

Whether intentional or not, it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t expect a Nintendo-owned encyclopedia to accurately portray the reception of a competing product — which makes this multinational world we live in all the more crazy.