Slashdot Mirror
Will the Wii Work?
Today BusinessWeek is running an article asking Will Nintendo's Wii Strategy Score? With the Tokyo Game Show this week, they run down the trials facing Nintendo's little-box-that-could both here in the States, and in Japan. From the article: "Few expect truly dedicated gamers to choose the Wii over the PS3 or Xbox. And ultimately, the advantage may go to Sony. Yuta Sakurai, an analyst at Nomura Securities in Tokyo, expects the PS3 to sell 71 million units by 2011, compared with 40 million units for the Wii. Microsoft, meanwhile, is planning a stripped-down version of the Xbox without a hard-disk drive and other accessories that will cost about $250 in Japan, where the U.S. software maker has endured disappointing results."
Wii isn't targetted at "dedicated" gamers - it's for casual gamers or people who haven't tried gaming before. It might be a shot in the arm for the console industry as a whole, in fact. Heck, I haven't owned a console since the NES, and I'm thinking of getting a Wii ... I just wish they'd called it the Revolution instead :)
expects the PS3 to sell 71 million units by 2011, compared with 40 million units for the Wii
As everyone knows the PS3 will be sold at a loss throughout most of its lifetime, while the Wii will be at an unknown profit through its lifetime. I'd say thats pretty successful if they sell anywhere in that area. Even if they only have $1 profit per console thats a lot more profit than -xx million.
"What is Internet Explorer 7? Are you saying we can't access the normal internet?" - I love tech support. Really.
...since Wii-glorifying articles.
We're seeing quite a few articles in that style right now, and I predict we'll see several more before the Wii launches. Creating controversy is an easy way to get hits. And controversy is easily generated by suggesting that a point that was generally considered to be long-established ("THE WII WILL BE THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD!!!") may be incorrect ("...but will it work in the marketplace?!").
> Few expect truly dedicated gamers to choose the Wii over the PS3 or Xbox. And ultimately, the advantage may go to Sony.
The very point of Nintendo's strategy is that the truly dedicated gamer won't be their core audience and in fact only a small fragment of their audience. This seems like a non-issue to me.
Basilisk Digital
ADVANTAGE SONY? Though the Wii doesn't boast all the features and processing firepower of its rivals, Nintendo believes its easy-to-use controller will give it an edge. The Wii's wireless controllers can be moved through the air like a virtual sword, tennis racket, or weapon to pinpoint targets in a game or rifle through the Wii channel menu.
You must provide enjoyable gameplay and a wide variety of game selections. Gamers do not simply choose a console for its controllers. To base your sales on the controllers is stupid.
Goal of all games: Fun (or learning, which can be defined as fun) Can the Wii provide dedicated gaming, RPG or turn based something or other? (rhetorical question)
All this chit chat about game systems not yet released is like little boys talking about sex. The one who has already had sex keeps his mouth shut. He knows everything they say is bunk and will be debunked. The truth will be known.
People still play the Nintendo 8-bit system. Nintendo knows this. They know quality lasts. Each system has its merits. The PS3 has thousands of games (ps2 + ps1). GREAT! PS3 owners will have plenty of fun. Wii owners will have plenty of fun, too. More or lesS? Do you really care? The Wii will have plenty to talk about after release. The PS3 and xbox just do not have the new features to inspire discussion. The Wii WILL work.
Die when you die -GG Allin
..and now look as its place in the handheld market against the stronger and more advanced hardware that is the PSP. Bigger and badder does not equal better. Plus, I love how TFA claims Sony success without taking their idiotic tactics as of late.
I guarantee you that I'm a more "dedicated" gamer than 99% of the people out there. I've been playing all my life, played almost every classic game and every sleeper hit in some form or another. I've played games on every platform, and I've played multiplayer games on competitive levels. I've played almost every MMOG in existence to some extent. Next month I'm joining one of the world's best game developers to work on what will be some of the next few years' biggest games.
;P Just tired of being called a lesser gamer.
AND I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT THE GRAPHICS ARMS RACE!! I WANT INNOVATION, NEW EXPERIENCES, QUALITY GAME DESIGN, AND HAVE A SHITLOAD OF FUN ALONG WITH IT!! THAT is why I can't fucking wait for the Wii to come out. It may not be the second coming, but the DS has proven to me that Nintendo means it when they're going for fun over graphics power. And if WoW, HL2, RE4, Shadow of the Colossus, and other games like them have taught us anything it's that you don't need the ridiculous power to have wonderful graphics.
So all those people saying "Wii won't sell to 'true' or 'hardcore' gamers" or "Wii is for casual gamers, non-gamers, and families only"...you can all fuck off. You wanna prove you're more hardcore than me? Let's hop in a Halo PC or Tribes: Vengeance server and I'll show you what a real gamer plays like.
And no I'm not bitter
Sony's worst enemy is itself. I don't think their outlook is as promising as the article indicates. Nintendo should have no problem at least cutting a good profit.
The argument is dumb because it supposes that people will only buy one console. I have a PC, a gamecube, xbox and ps2. I am not the only one. Funny thing is, the gamecube gets the most use for gaming (out of the consoles). Nintendo is not about to vanish from the landscape and is the only console of the new three that looks to break new ground in going after an audience.
Everyone keeps talking about Wii's multiplayer possibilities, but none of the launch window games are going to be online-enabled. This means you're going to have to play multiplayer with people ::gasp:: in close proximity to you!
Kidding aside, is anyone else worried that he won't have enough room in his living room to fit 2-4 people with arms flailing wildly as they try to use the Wiimote? I had enough trouble fitting two DDR pads (had to rearrange the furniture quite a bit), but leaving enough space for four people to use the wiimote may be difficult.
Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
From 3 to 1, one being top system:
Number 3 - PS3: The theoretical processing power in their 8 cells is fantastic. I've had it explained to me a few times by my friends (who also happen to be computer engineers), and it sounds like, if done correctly, *for the correct game*, it can be a real thing of beauty. 8 mini processors working in parrellel sounds great! However, if you know something about programming, you know that memory dependence is pretty important. For instance, if you do a simple loop, you have various operations dependent on one or two iterators. Let's say you assign these iterators to its own processor (yeah, stupid, but it's an example, k?) then that processor will be INACTIVE for LONG periods of time while another processor does it's thing. So in the most optimal circumstances, the cell technology is amazing, but in it's least optimal, you may as well be using a 386.
Now the problem isn't that the cell power can be optimized, it's just that there's NO TOOLS TO DO SO AT THIS TIME. That's right, it's up to DEVELOPERS to optimize their own code, and I'm going to be honest, the learning curve and time that's going to be spent doing so is just not going to help this system.
There's LOADS of other problems, too. Lack of units. High unit cost. Expensive cables that (opps!) aren't included. The fragility of the Blue Ray CRC (it's so dense that one tiny scratch can destroy an entire disc because it stops the error correction from even being able to do its job). And the lack of any real online system to be demonstrated.
No question, this complete LOSER this round is PS3. It's time to move Sony next to Sega at the E3 conference. I bet those two will have lots to talk about.
Number 2 - Xbox360: The Xbox is in a realm of its own. It focuses on games that are not innovative, but instead improves ever so slightly on older paradigms. In this, those "hardcore" gamers who enjoy playing the best shooters on a *controller* will enjoy the XBox (yes, I know they're coming out with new controls). Bloodlust, violence, action, and adrenaline are all emphasized in the XBox gaming system. Plus, it has a well established community of online players. Nothing new, nothing impressive, nothing to write home about, but very very consistent. Will not reach a wide interest, but reaches out to a market that is quite full of young angry males. And by quite full, I mean full enough to build an entire business off of them.
Number 1 - Wii: This is not because I was raised on Nintendo. It's not because I owned the Mario/Zelda Cerial, subscribed to Nintendo power throughout the 90's, got up early as a kid to watch Captain N and the Super Mario World TV shows, owned mario comic books, and even paid to see that crappy Mario Bros. Movie. I had all but abandoned that company after my two fav gaming companies, Squaresoft and Capcom, left Nintendo. I'm supporting Nintendo because after ALLLLLL these years of CRAP... I'm amazed to find a company that puts out a QUALITY PRODUCT, who gets THIRD PARTY SUPPORT for this product, who INNOVATES the market using this product, who will successfully INTEGRATE other products into this product, and who has made this ANGRY YOUNG MALE feel like a DOE EYED BOY again. Part of me wants to ask Santa for this machine just to relive the feeling of not being able to sleep at night, waking my parents up to go around the Christmas tree in my footies to open the biggest box first and show a level of enthusiasm that only a kid on Christmas day could muster at 4am.
Where to start? Old games. All of them. Downloadable (small price, price I'm willing to freaking pay). Eventual online play. Wifi. Wii controller. The most amazing Zelda game to date. DS connectivity. Reasonable price range. Company profit. Innovative games like Mario Galaxy. The return of third party support. And the list goes on and on and on and on.
Yeah, hey, this guy is clearly out of touch with what it means to be a gamer if he thinks that people are all about the PS3. In fact, fire this man. He's a bad reporter.
Finder of the any key.
Nintendo always runs a profit on both the game consoles and the games.
And, since they're third-place worldwide, it's hard not to go up when Sony still doesn't get it that their console is overpriced.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
You are slightly off-base on two points. First, all Wii owners will have at least one nunchuk. It is included in the box. If they need more, they will buy more. Secondly, and more importantly, this is better than a third-party controller in the fact that it is a first-party controller that is included with the system. They are two different creatures. Dev's will be far more inclined (probably even required) to program for the Wiimote given the very fact that it comes with every system and is core to the concept.
Will there be crappy implementations tossed-off by barely competent developers? My Magic 8 Ball says, "Outcome likely." Will there be plenty of games that use it flawlessly and in ways that we have yet to consider? Let's ask the 8 Ball again, "Definitely Yes." Will playing with the Wii become a novelty or part of future interface schemes? "Outcome hazy. Ask again later."
Quit being such a troll, go enjoy your X-Box, and bugger off while others (like me) try the Wii. If it catches on, you'll either be playing with one yourself soon enough, or you'll be using some bastardization of the concept from MS or Sony. Hell, Sony already tried to borrow the idea before the full info was out and they're already appearing half-assed... if not quarter-assed.
Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
Perhaps you've not heard of marketshare and mindshare, but in modern business they are more important than profitability. Consider Amazon.com, who didn't make a profit for the first 5 years of their existence. Hugely successful, but losing money every day. The reason they were successful is that everyone knows they will eventually make all that lost money back, plus more. The same with Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and the list goes on.
Microsoft are spending money to win. They don't care how much it costs, they just want to have a lot of Xboxes out there so that it can link up to Windows Media centre or a PC or whatever else is in the plans. And if they are successful they start to rake in big money.
The Gamecube was a loser because Nintendo came out with a badly tarnished reputation. They make a kiddie console with no serious games, they got left behind by the 'cool' companies Sony and Xbox, and their future was bleak. That's exactly why they have to take relatively risky options now, with the DS and the Wii. Nintendo would never have gone bust, but when their popularity falls behind the other two makes they lose support. The 3rd party support of the Gamecube was abysmal. Many retailers have stopped selling Gamecube a long time ago.
It's not just about money.
At first I was a bit dismayed with the 250 price. I don't have a buncha spendable cash like some, but after thinking about it, 250 still seems like a deal for a system that wants to try something this ambitious.
It's the kind of device that I think was designed the way products SHOULD be designed. Someone with an imagination said "What if...?" rather than a marketroid saying "We want to try and appeal to such and such a market so we're going to release products based on this data."
No sig for you!!
Come again? Who the hell are those "truly dedicated gamers" that prefer a 360 or a PS3 to the Wii?
I have in my living room right now about a dozen consoles - from the Pong to the Gamecube. I have about 30 more consoles stored in various places. I own tons of new and vintage consoles. I also own portables. I own a PSP, a DS, and every version of the GBA. I am a "truly dedicated gamer" if there ever was one. Guess what? I haven't yet bought a 360. When it came out, I thought I'd get one about a year after release, but so far, there's simply nothing which compells me to buy one. I probably won't get a PS3 until late in its lifespan, either. There's simply not a whole lot of stuff going on with those two "next-gen consoles" that excites this particular "truly dedicatd gamer." Same games with better graphics? Sign me up... Not!
I'll get both a 360 and a PS3 - as soon as some really compelling and interesting games come out for them, and as soon as the prices start to reach less absurd levels. For now, neither console interests me all that much.
I will, however, get a Wii the day it comes out.
Because I'm a "truly dedicated gamer," not despite of it.