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The Wii - Is the Magic Gone?
Computer And Video Games asks the tough question: is the Wii's magic gone? After the flurry of excitement around the launch, lackluster ports and a persistent inability for Nintendo to keep units on the shelves has made it hard for gamers to sustain their enthusiasm for the system. It doesn't help that most of the good games slated for this year won't be out for months. In some cases, there's doubt they'll even make it out this year: Reggie Fils-Aime appears to be backpedaling on Metroid Prime 3 by Christmas, which would be a shame. GigaGamez has additional commentary. Are you still as excited about the Wii as you were when it launched?
I'd say the excitement is still there.
Ask again when you can walk into any Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc and find them sitting on the shelves at any given time.
"And finally, I'll wait until they package a game with it..."
I thought Wii Sports was a game!
Woot for betas.
The inability to put units on shelves is just that. A concert being sold out is a good thing, but a console being sold out is not.
Nintendo stands to make much more money meeting demand, both for the Wii and the DS. Demand doesn't magically vanish once it is met. I don't understand how forcing people to continually assail Gamestop employees at ungodly and inopportune times about the possibilities of Wiis in "the back" helps anyone. Nintendo doesn't make a sale, Gamestop doesn't make a sale and their employees get additional stress, and the customer looks like an idiot and doesn't get what they want.
Some of you may remember the "Vegonomics" vgcats comic that got thrown around every single slashdot discussion on the topic of the PS3 and Wii launches back in November and thereafter. There was a key insight there that applies just as much to Nintendo as it does to Sony. Supply issues simply mean less revenue, which is rarely a good thing.
That said, the obvious abundance of demand for the Wii is a good thing. However, that is the cause (the demand) which is desirable and good for Nintendo. The current effect (a sellout) is not.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
37 Helens agree:
Video game consoles suffer from a "drought" of games between 3~12 months after its initial release.
"It's a fact."
There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead. -V. Marchetti, CIA
Why buy a 3rd party $50 controller when the first party one comminicates with blue-tooth? (See this video for example.
I wonder how long it'll take before there is a wii emulator, with people using the original controller.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Pause the game with (+), hit the "Options" button, and go to "Pointer options", IIRC. It'll walk you through a few simple calibrations, including the sensor bar's onscreen size. It seemed to really improve precision and accuracy for me.
"The motion of the remote is sensed by a 3-axis linear accelerometer located slightly left of the large A button. The integrated circuit is the ADXL330, manufactured by Analog Devices. This device is physically rated to measure accelerations over a range of at least +/- 3g with 10% sensitivity.
Inside the chip is a small micromechanical structure which is supported by springs built out of silicon. Differential capacitance measurements allow the net displacement of the tiny mass to be converted to a voltage, which is then digitized. It is important to note that the sensor does not measure the acceleration of the Wiimote, but rather the force exerted by the test mass on its supporting springs. Due to the sign convention used, this quantity is proportional to the net force exerted by the player's hand on the Wiimote when holding it. Thus, at rest on a flat table, the accelerometer reports vertical force of +g (the mass can be normalized away into the aribitrary units), and when dropped reports a force of nearly zero."
All the geeky details at WiiLi http://www.wiili.org/index.php/Wiimote
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-- jchenx
In addition, since playing the Wii at my house, my other age 40+ friends that "don't play video games" are actively in the market for a Wii.
So, yeah, the magic must be dead.
It's pretty obvious you don't speak Japanese. There is no possible way to write "wii" in Japanese characters. A few hundred years ago, there was a letter for "wi" to which you could add "i". It no longer exists. The closest you'll get is "uii". If you know anything about any Latin-ish language, think of the letter "i" in that. It's sounds like a long e. Heck, short i's always sound like long e's. It's just a matter of how "finished" it sounds. Say "ee" and stop halfway through. It sounds like a short i. Just like the beginning of "idiot" or even better, the second i in "idiot" really sounds like that. Do you speak English?
look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
I managed to play through Zelda without any flailing around. In fact, I TRIED flailing and it just didn't add anything. Tiny movements were sufficient, and it really didn't amount to any more effort or exhaustion than moving around joysticks.
But, to top it off....when you really want to be lazy, and just kick back and play, the Wii controller excels here. Some games you can play single handed. When 2 hands are required, your hands don't need to be together on your lap. You can kick back in a recliner with one hand on each armrest. That's pretty much the ultimate in gaming comfort.
Did no one else catch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reference? (do-the-clowns-always-cry-when-you-pack-up-the-pap er-sky)