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."

Comments

Indeed

[26199]

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.

Re:Indeed

[pembo13]

Not to infringe upon your right to choose: but you decided against buying a video game console because it doesn't play movies?

Me too

[Anonymous Coward]

But that could because my grandmother is dead.

Re:Me too

[I Like Pudding]

That's no excuse

RockStar, are you listening?

[Seumas]

Hurry up and rush out that Get Off My Lawn! title for the Wii!

Re:RockStar, are you listening?

[Aladrin]

Wow... Just had a flash of a small, homebrew-ish game played from the point of view of a chair on the front porch... You get to throw porch-objects (shoes, newspapers, etc) at kids that are walking down the street having fun. The girlscout trying to sell cookies somehow made the vision almost real.

I have -got- to seriously think about this one.

Re:RockStar, are you listening?

[QuantumHobbit]

There has to be a side quest in which you walk to school in the snow uphill both ways.

Not just seniors...

[Gothic_Walrus]

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.

Do it for the kids

[DoofusOfDeath]

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...

Too widened to find in stores

[DoofusOfDeath]

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.)

No Doubt About It

[Colourspace]

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.

You can keep your grandmother

[Forrest Kyle]

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?

Re:Top rated games

[Alzheimers]

Common Wii review:
Pros: Fun for all ages, lots of replayability
Cons: Control scheme takes some getting used to, outdated graphics, no blood

Common PS3 review:
Pros: Amazing Photorealism, Super Ultra Deadly Combat 9 almost as good as Super Ultra Deadly Combat 7 (Super Gore Edition)
Cons: Didn't we play this last year? (And every year for the past 8 years?)

what's that stray "may" doing in the title?

[Tom]

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.