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Wii May Be Succeeding in Widening Game Market
superdan2k writes "When Nintendo brought the Wii to market, one of their stated goals was to get people who didn't normally play video games using their console. Based on an article from the AP, it seems they've made some headway in capturing the senior citizen market. With the Wii's price point, and it being a good way to get people engaged in physical exercise, it's easy to envision it catching on with other retirement homes beyond the one mentioned in the article."
If you'd told me a year ago that my grandmother would actually try a console game, I'd've looked at you most puzzled.
But Wii tennis seems to have near-universal appeal.
But that could because my grandmother is dead.
Oh crap, now I can see the medicaid fund running out very quickly....
That headline could mean either that the Wii is succeeding in a market that is widening independent of the Wii, or that the Wii is having success in trying to widen the market.
"Nintendo's Wii may be succeeding in the widening game market." versus
"Nintendo's Wii may be succeeding in widening the game market."
Hurry up and rush out that Get Off My Lawn! title for the Wii!
I think by now most of us have realized that the wii isn't a PS3/360 type 'gamers' game console. It doesn't push massive graphics and processing capability over good ole' fun. That isn't to say (lest I anger the fan-boys) that it can't have great 'gamers' games, only that it was designed, priced, and marketed beyond that. The wii is more about having fun than the latest and greatest, and is more appealing to people who aren't traditionally console buyers. Nintendo is trying to increase market share by courting buyers who might not normally be interested, and I don't doubt for a second that it will (at least to some degree) work.
Case in point, my 50 something year-old mother asked me about it just last night (as I was working on her computer). She hasn't played a console since the original NES, which she bought for me when I was 6. She said she thought it looked "fun."
It's a heck of a strategy. Consoles have traditionally been the market of kids/teens, and guys who aren't willing to grow up yet (ok, some girls too) and yes I've been one of them. Nintendo went for the "Console the whole family can play, and even grandma might love" market and it's no big surprise it's paying off.
My rantings, only longer and with better spelling..
And THAT is why I bought nintendo stock. Up 7% since December.
Qxe4
Lest we forget, the Wii has also captured the elusive 22-month-old demographic, as evidenced by this video.
If that's not widening the demographic, I don't know what would be.
Goo goo g'joob.
One good thing about seniors playing w/ the Wii...
They usually aren't strong enough to pitch the remote hard enough to break the TV.
[runs away]
I'm normally reluctant to bring a new tech into my house that will make the kids sit around turning into lumps. But with the Wii's apparent success in inducing physical activity and playing games *together*, it offers something that just doesn't seem to happen with the PS/3 or 360.
So I find it interesting that the Wii cracked its way into *my* home: the home of a gamer who didn't want his kids (previously) to have a console. Now if I could only find one in stores...
OK, so I'm a member of the widened market. Unfortunately this widened market seems to be soaking up all the Wii's as soon as they hit retailers' shelves.
Does anyone know when the northeast U.S. is supposed to have a supply to meet demand?
(I know you can get them at Ebay etc., but they're pretty over-priced. And walmart.com sells the bundles, but I don't want to drop $650 initially.)
People seem to forget that the DS started widening the game market with titles like Brain Age and Nintendogs. The Wii is just an extension of that.
Kids, you have to defeat the senior citizens. They wake up too early for us grown ups. But you wake up early for cartoons and school. You might stand a chance. I love South Park
My wife, who has never played games in her life is now regularly beating my ass at wii sports. Tennis and Bowling. Shes scored 273 best score on bowling on wii, I've only managed 144 and I've been playing games for 25 years. Go, as they say, figure.
People who want to use a wii have normal lives. People who use ps3/360 are flourescent dwellers....
Headline poster is from Soviet Russia!
There's no place like 127.0.0.1
So my buddy picked one up a few weeks ago, and we started playing Wii tennis. It's a fun game and we'll play for an hour or two at a stretch. However, we've figured out that you can pretty much 'flick your wrist' instead of moving your entire arm to swing the racket, and be just as successful in the game. In fact, if one of us tries to play as if they were actually playing tennis, 99% of the time they lose.
I'm not saying that you *couldn't* play this game and get some exercise, I'm just saying if you think that 100% of the people that play this will play in the manner that is considered 'exercise' then you are mistaken.
Plus, we've never had an accident whereby the controller flew out of our hands, knocked over a vase, started a fire, killed the dog, broke the TV.. ala http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/
As you can easily buy a usable DVD player (that also does VCD, MP3, JPEGs, CD-Photo, etc), for less than $35, it seems a little silly to not buy a Wii because it doesn't do DVDs.
I think I wouldn't want the Wii to do DVDs anyways, to reduce the wear/tear on the $250 unit, and take advantage of the fact that they're two separate units (e.g. a separate DVD unit is much easier to use with a Slingbox for example).
No. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/13
Kudos to nintendo and all but I live in fear of the day when gaming becomes widespread. Just thinking about how very very few even remotely interesting things get released for TV fills me with horror of what could happen to gaming.
Price point means something when you're looking at a supply and demand graph (price points are "ideal" prices that actual prices hover around), but yeah it's a really stupid term outside of that.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Interesting to note that after only a couple of months release the PS3 has 19 games with a metacritic rating of 75 or above yet the Wii has only 9 games.
(The Xbox 360 has 79 games, but then it has been out for over a year, so not a fair comparison).
I'm sure there are plenty of reasons, especially revolving around the new controller and how to make best use of it - and to be fair, I'm not qualified in any way to comment - but the statistics do show that for whatever reasons the current portfolio of Wii games rated "excellent" is smaller than that of a system which has been out for a much shorter time.
Anyway, just thought I'd throw this into the pot for some discussion.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Good. Very good. Because old-timers "must die". That's my official point.
Probably with hard core gamers going elsewhere we would get more decent enjoyable titles. I mean "enjoyable" - not some "old timer brain f*ck" a-la Mario.
I hope some advancements of PC gaming then have chance of reaching consoles too: decent save/load functionality (which is in PC games about forever, but barely available in console games), adjustable difficulty level (so that places one doesn't like can do on easy setting and other on normal/hard/etc), cheat codes (so that one can hop thru game quickly to see all of its beauty).
To me most console games are primitive and unenjoyable. You hit wall in the straight story line and no way you can get around it. My friend once lent me his PS2 with couple of selected games - and it was like it: stupid unintuitive controls (called "traditional"), some crap a-la "boss monsters" (it's when you die for no apparent reason, or opponent doesn't die no matter what you do) and shit load of "combos" (when you twist fingers and brains (yeah, I have them) to memorize long boring sequence of key presses to pass particular place). Crap, not enjoyment.
"Zelda TP" made a crack in console games cliche, but judging from reaction on Net it is more of exception and it is expected soon to be fixed by Nintendo back into the unpalatable crap for old timers - just as it was before.
I glad you read Nintendo's message correctly: "We do not need you." Go away. Buy Xbox/PS3. Wii is made for people who want to enjoy games in their spare time and do not have time for all the old crap of old style console shit games.
To me WiiPlay/WiiSports best what happened in games in last decade. Regardless what other are saying.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
And she hates computer/console games (with one notable exception - she played Grim Fandango for a couple of hours). She asked me today when I was going to grab one. She thought I we should get one for her parents.
But it already comes with Wii Sports, how many of thos "old-timers" are just going to by the system and then never ever buy another game for it?
I think they realized they weren't going to last long by competing in the same market segment with the Xbox 360 and PS3, so they targeted a different market segment.
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There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
I get tired of hearing about how I should buy a wii because of how much someone's grandmother likes it. Should I start watching Matlock too?
Nintendo isn't widening the gaming market, at least not at this point in time. They are only expanding the Wii's market, because those new gamers still want nothing to do with the PS3 and 360. It's in a niche of its own right now, and will probably enjoy its unique position for years to come, until Sony and Microsoft release their next generation of consoles with ripped-off ideas that still aren't quite as good as the original. The fact that non-gamers are interested in the primal fun of throwing motion sensors around does nothing for the game industry, it's just locking them into Nintendo. It's going to be interesting when Wii gets old and something new comes around. Will they continue supporting more immersive gameplay, or will they turn the page and go back to sit-down thumb-mashing gameplay ? That would effectively lose the fringe gamers, sending back to the boring TV realm they came from.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Sounds like a game title waiting to happen. Could contain all sorts of activities and games that promote specific movements/exercises.
One could say "That is a good price" and mean that the item is being sold at a "bargain" rate. There is a distinction between talking about one item being sold at an affordable price versus selling hundreds of thousands/millions of that item. Thus the phrase "price point" is used.
Talking about "price" can involve buying, while the phrase "price point" lends itself to the topic of selling. Is this too subtle a distinction for you?
vV
After a month the Wii came to the market, everyone already knew it was widening the game market [Nintendo market]. Some people still speculating, is a little strange.
Minti: What's that huge shuriken in your back?! Kin: It's the instrument of my victory.
I know for a fact that my Wii has people hooked who are no gamers. From my wife to my neighbour, everyone who's tried it loved it, and yes it's the controllers, the fun-factor, the "fuck the graphics, let's try to make an actual game instead of a tech demo for our graphics engine" attitude.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Yeah, I would never have thought my grandma would be playing a Nintendo system, but she tried mine during last thanksgiving and said she couldn't get it out of her head, she really wanted to play it at home.
Now she plays Wiiplay (which I bought her) and Wii Sports. The rest of the games out there right now are too hardcore for her, but she likes to do the everybody votes channel, create Miis of friends and family, browse the web, check the news, play with the Nasa Weather Globe Channel and message me (I send her pictures using the Wii messaging system).
I couldn't believe how well the system has integrated into her life - seeing as it integrates into my life so well also.
If your looking for a great gift for your grandparents (and like I said, never thought I'd be typing these words) try the Wii.
I was about to order one for Thomas Jefferson's grave. I bet he's a hoot at Wii Bowling Parties.
Heaploads of cash paid to reviewers, games sent en masse to review magazines before they are out, and such.
you know the drill - its the usual marketing stuff. except, apparently nintendo does not do it anymore, but microsoft, and sony still play by the old rules.
Read radical news here
Apart from answering to an obvious joke, you're actually right. We've never had a playable 3D Sonic that felt like the old-style 2D Sonic games, until now. Metroid and Mario aren't out yet, but they look pretty fresh so far (especially Mario), and we've definitely never played an FPS with light-gun mechanics, or a party game which had you use your controller as Macaras. So yeah, you tried to be sarcastic, but it didn't work: These games are new and fresh, and many of them share nothing but the name and the characters with their previous installments.
This title is currently in development by Nintendo (the name seems to be unclear, sometimes Miyamoto seems to call it "Wii Fit" or similar names).
A friend of my ex bought his mother an XBox 360 a couple of months ago; last I heard, she was hooked on first person shooters.
She's 65.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
"My grandmama could beat you at this..."
(Al due apologies and considerations to Larry Johnson)
Well, thanks to new technology soon your Grandmama and many countless other octogenarians may in fact be the person beating you at something at any given moment in time...
I'm waiting for the first time I'm playing some FPS against some other people online (which the Wii doesn't have right now, but I am sure will at some point...) And I get fragged in a most compromising and embarrassing way, and instead of a teabag the person just stands over me and utters those words..
"...and get off my lawn"
On the actual topic, I suppose to some degree my wife and I also represent an expanding demographic, but in another way. We're both in our 30's and neither of us has bought a console new in easily over a decade, I just lost interest in console gaming as we both game on the PC. But we bought a Wii and have been loving it. Currently only have three games for it, but we're picking up about a new one a month.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
My Friend's Father recently suffered a head trauma and is having problems with his balance and is a little slow to react. They are thinking about getting a Wii so he can work on his balance and his reaction time with the Wii Sports. It's a fun way to achieve those things, he is already using my friend's DS and Brain age to try and speed up his reaction time.
I think that using the Wii as a Physical Therapy tool may be unorthodox, but honestly I think it might help him.
"Just call me Girly Blank"
.. till some pensioner confuses their TV remote with their Wii remote and spends the entire day wondering why the Mario is hosting the Jeremy Kyle show.
Gamecube lacked 3rd party support because of low hardware sales. Developers wouldn't spend time creating a new game, or porting an old game, to a console that didn't have enough units out there go guarantee them a profit. Wii is outselling 360 and PS3. Developers have a monetary incentive to make games for the Wii. Graphics quality is irrelevant, or at least less important to an installed base that isn't that worried about stellar HD quality graphics. In a few months time you'll see original Wii games from 3rd party developers who jumped on the bandwagon after Wii's success this Christmas season
I never understood why people can't grasp the concept of "walking to school uphill both ways".
I had to do it.
If there is a large hill BETWEEN your house and the school, you have to walk up it (and afterwards down it) BOTH ways.
It is perfectly possible, and it's a huge PITA, especially to bike.
The install base has of course an impact, but the graphic qualities does matter for many developers. Epic, id Software, Crytek and Co. are not throwing their last few years of engine development away just because Nintendo thought that last generation graphics would be enough. They will continue do develop what they did and will create games based on those engines, they however won't release them on the Wii, but on PC, PS3 and XBox360.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Wii isn't selling 6 million to the hardcore gamers, its selling it to the casual one, those that don't care about graphical progress and don't care about normal games, they will be happily playing a handful of casual gamer games and will be happy with that, they won't buy 30 games like the hardcore ones.
What will happen and already is happening is that developers use the Wii as a dumping ground for quick&dirty ports from last generation, you might also see some original games, but those will be the Raymen: Raving Rabits, not the Gears of War, BioShocks or AssessinsCreed, since there simply isn't much of a market for them.
So far I haven't seen a single third party AAA title on the Wii, neither announced nor released, beside Mario and Metroid there really isn't much interesting coming out at all and even those will only get release at the end of the year. The future of the Wii doesn't look all that bright right now, sales numbers alone don't change that, Wii needs developers and so far it simply doesn't seem to have them.
"they won't buy 30 games like the hardcore ones."
I'm afraid you're quite wrong here. My wife is the very definition of a nongamer. I picked up a DS:lite in September as a birthday present to myself. I made the mistake of showing her Brain age and my DS was gone. To date, she has purchase at least 2 games per month. I believe her total is collection somewhere around 12-14 games. Not just quirky games like brain age. She has also started to enjoy games like Contact. The fact is, 'hard core' gamers are the purchasing minority.
Have you seen Japan's sales numbers for the last few years? The fact is, gaming was declining. The DS, DS:Lite and Wii are directly responsible for the revival of that market. It's not that they saw the threat of competition, they saw the threat of stagnation.
Weird I thought Tiger woods was going to sell my dad too but it turns out Zelda is what did it. I can't believe he got into a game that big and complex (not that I consider it complex or anything but my dad is well into his 50's and hasn't played any real games since he owned an Atari and Coleco which he mainly used for programming.) and he did it without any real push. I mean... My bro left the system there (he plays WOW and could really care less I guess).. My dad set it up and instead of putting in Wii Sports he goes for Zelda and as of this weekend has put well over 40 hours into it. A few months ago I couldn't have PAID him to turn off sports or one of his netflix movies to see how bad ass the 360 would look on his TV.... and now he's playing Zelda every day on his own. Freaking weird.
He did go get Tiger Woods but he told me that it is too annoying. He doesn't like the announcers and listed off a bunch of other things he didn't like.
Eh it's a first generation game..
I'll back this up and say that hardcore gamers do buy the Wii. Not all of them, but a fair number of them.
I've got a Wii and a DS, and I've already got as many DS games as your wife, and a fair number of Wii games as well including VC titles. That said, I also have significant libraries of PS1, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360 games.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
I'd much rather have a hypothetical grandma calling up her friends and saying "Hey Gladys, how are the grandkids? Say, want to come over to my house for some bowling? Oh, that is bold talk girl -- I am a PRO Wii bowler! Bring it!" than sitting around watching Wheel of Fortune all day. The Wii combines light physical activity, which has obvious health benefits but won't shatter Gladys' fragile hips, with the emotional pick-me-up that hobbies, friends, and competition bring. That can only save on Gladys' trips to the doctor.
I'm as Republican as the day is long. That being said, if a study showed that a Wii Sports a day kept the doctor away, jack my taxes up a notch and give every senior one of them. A Wii and a game is $300. That won't even buy half a day in a hospital bed. If I have to pay for one of the two of them eventually, and I know I will, I want to pay for PREVENTATIVE medicine.
Note: if any government administrator takes this post seriously, please, do so AFTER I have bought my next round of Nintendo shares.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.