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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?
So the fact that they are selling so fast Nintendo can't keep them in stock is used as proof that excitement is diminishing for the Wii? This reminds me of the alleged Yogi Berra saying about a certain resturant - "It's so crowded nobody goes there any more."
--- There are two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don't know it
Nintendo did an excellent job speeding out a few good, solid games when the Wii launched. IMO, these games weren't intended to have an incredible lifetime, indeed, they served their purpose; to create enough hype so that the Wii would still sell in the face of other systems during the holidays. Now, as with most of the other systems, we must wait for what I'm sure will be a solid game base to flourish.
You have to think about it - developers have just been exposed to a massively, paradigm-breaking gaming concept. Give them time. Just because the hype has settled down, doesn't mean the magic's gone.
Blerg.
I just spent my second weekend playing with friends I introduced to the Wii during New Years. None of them are "gamers" as we think of them. They play poker and that's about as close as it gets.
One actually went out and got a Wii and is very happy with the graphics. Non-gamers may see it as "good enough." You and I of course know that the other systems are far more powerful graphicly, but my friend wasn't about to go out and spend $700 to get a PS3 as his first game system. We had a new friend over as well. Another non-gamer. Even after I had gone to bed, they were up to 3am, playing Wii Sports Golf.
Nintendo has hit the nail on the head I think. We might see the hype die off, but the hype that goes on is word of mouth. You know, plain old conversation in real life. Not everyone's primary mode of contact is email or web bulletin boards. I think this kind of "hype" goes far further in expanding the video gaming population than any ad campaign could.
The magic is there, the mass media (NOT video game specific media) simply set their expectations HIGHER than hardcore gamers. The Wii had by far one of the best video game launches in history, thats a fact. Video game consoles suffer from a "drought" of games between 3~12 months (depending on who you ask) after its initial release, thats a fact. The Wii is just over 3 months old, thats a fact. When you compare the outstanding launch (Zelda + Wii Sports pack-in = Profit!) to the current lack of games (Warioware and Elebits are fun but they aren't Metroid or Super Smash Bros), of course you'll be extremely disappointed.
A lot of this commentary is still focused on Nintendo's old core "hardcore" fanbase. Metroid Prime? Super Smash Bros? Even Super Mario Galaxy ... these are not games that are going to be consumed by the new casual owners of the Wii (folks like your parents and even grandparents). So what if the only game your parents play is Wii Sports, and they only turn it on to entertain their friends/family/guests? Your father is not suddenly going to be a hardcore player of Zelda, nor should that expectation be there. The next title they will pick up might be Wii Play. Critics will complain, "Wii Play is just more of the same Wii Sports type of action", and they'll be right. So yeah, it's not that great for typical hardcore gamers that want 10+ hours of content in their games ... but it's perfect for mom and pop which still consume the Wii casually. And that's the point.
All you need to do is take a look at the DS to see where Nintendo is going with the Wii. You've got a ton of light, casual content, in the form of brain training, casual sims (Nintendogs) and light puzzlers. Plus in Japan, there are all sorts of "non-games" (cookbooks, dictionaries, etc.). In the meantime, because the userbase is there and so large, there's plenty of traditional "hardcore" content as well (Castlevania, RPGs, etc.) to keep the main fanbase pleased.
I think it's a bloody smart business model to adopt. However, it's going to take a while for it to take shape on the Wii, just like it took a year to develop for the DS. Just be patient, gamers. In the meantime, there are all sorts of other games to play on "those other consoles", if you prefer the traditional hardcore games.
-- jchenx
Play WiiSports with a group of friends, the magic will be back, trust me. : ) That's what we're finding, is the Wii is just an awesome social platform. Even if you're just watching someone play a solo game, seeing them flail about with the Wiimote is much more entertaining than watching someone button mash a traditional controller. Example: Rayman Raving Rabbids... some of the motions required for some of the minigames are downright hilarious.
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Well, maybe. They claim that they've ramped manufacturing up to a million a month. They've left the PS3 in the dust and they're shipping units faster than Microsoft was at the same point. They are also experiencing shortages with DS's. These are selling at three times the rate as the Wii. The company's last quarterly earnings announcement could be summarized as "We're printing money". Game makers are changing their plans to include Wii releases.
I am not sure anyone really expected the Wii to be selling at the rate it is, especially when its described as "a minor upgrade over the PS2 and a reinvented light pen". I wouldn't be surprised if most games companies banked on the high graphic consoles taking the market and therefore never really included the Wii in their plans. With the way its selling, I am sure there are many companies that are revaluating their plans.
What we learn from the Wii, IMHO, is that if you get the price point right and the right kind of innovation, then people will buy. While Sony will continue to sell consoles, their price point is wrong and they have the wrong kind of innovation. What I mean by the wrong sort of innovation, is that high quality graphics is already being catered for by the Xbox 360 and BluRay is a passable extra. Sony gets more points deducted for a difficult to develop for games platform, where Nintendo makes it easy by keeping it simple. Sony will probably be seeing the great games that really take advantage of the console eventually, but the graphics engines need to get there first, since few programmers truely master highly multithread develpment.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Yeah, this is one of those annoying question-based articles, where the author takes something that's highly popular and asks a controversial, irrational question ("Is the magic gone for the game console that's so popular it's still flying off shelves?"). Framing it as a question allows them to ambiguously avoid taking a position that they would have to back with clear evidence. That makes it easier to stir up reader reaction for ad revenues.
"Sufferin' succotash."
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