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How Wii Is Creaming the Competition
CNN has a report on the Wii's success in the games marketplace right now, referring to their sales dominance as 'creaming the competition'. The article tries to break down exactly why Nintendo's console has sold so successfully, discussing the system's marketing, engineering, and philosophy. "Next, engineers settled on a new approach for the Wii's looks. Just as the DS shunned the Game Boy name to appeal to a broader audience, the Wii would adopt a sleek white exterior instead of the toylike loud colors used on the GameCube. Even CEO Iwata got involved in the design process; at one point he handed engineers a stack of DVD jewel cases and told them the console should not be much bigger. Why so small? To work with the motion-sensitive wireless controller Nintendo planned, Iwata reasoned, the console would have to sit directly beside the TV. Make it any larger and customers would hesitate to leave it there. " Their sales strategy is working in spades. CVG reports that at least one analyst thinks that Wii demand won't be met until 2009. This past weekend Chris Kohler had an interesting comment on the 'ambassador programs' Nintendo ran in advance of the Wii's launch, and how that might tie in to the system's financial success.
The Dreamcast sold extremely well when it first came out, too. Didn't stop Sony from slaughtering Sega later, though. You've got to follow through on that initial lead, and I'd argue NO ONE has done that particularly well this time around.
The Wii outsold the Xbox 360 by 25% last month. That's certainly a sizable lead, yet it's not exactly what I'd call "creaming the competition". I'd also argue that the Wii's monthly software sales have been underwhelming - Wii Play has been propping up the numbers to a large extent, and that's a $10 game bundled with an accessory.
Now, if you want to talk about getting creamed, let's talk about the PS3...
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Speaking as a male, aged 32, with a career and a wife, I can say that I play my 360 MUCH more than the Wii. I still don't play a lot, as you rightly point out time doesn't allow it, but I'd rather play 20-30 mins of Crackdown or a few races of PGR3 than any of the Wii games I have so far. My wife likes the Wii, but that's because she's a Mario fan so she's currently hooked on Super Paper Mario. But I don't think she's even played any of the other games apart from Wii Sports which kept her interested for maybe 30 mins total.
We also play casual games on both platforms, but we both prefer the new games (like Boom Boom Rocket, Cloning Clyde, Zuma, etc) on XBLA much more than the old stuff on VC. I think if Nintendo opened the VC up to non-retro titles (maybe even homebrew as MS are planning to do with XNA) it could be pretty cool. Don't get me wrong, I loved paperboy as a kid, but it doesn't really do anything for me anymore.
So big up to Nintendo for selling all these boxes, I wish them well, but once SPM is done (few days now I'd guess) mine will be back gathering dust.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
BTW... the English title you are looking for is "Wii Play"
I don't have a microwave. I do, however, have a clock that occasionally cooks shit.
"Cream" is a vernacular term for semen, which comes out of the same male human body part as wee.
Which has me baffled. The 360 is much LESS 'casual player' friendly than the Wii, Yet XBLA has much more Casual friendly titles than the VC. I have a Wii60 myself, and While the 360 has networked Hearts, Uno, Poker... Even Pac Man!... come on Nintendo where is the Sudoku game, or Dr. Mario, or Poker, or a 'Crossword Puzzle game' something, anything even universal staples like pacman / frogger would be great.
Personally, I love the classics on the VC, and I'm one of the few people I know who thinks they are fairly priced (IF you don't think Zelda: lttp, Donkey Kong Country or Gunstar heroes are worth $8 each you're crazy.), but what about say, my retired parents?
Nintendo has tapped a broader demographic of casual gamers, but what can they buy? Most of the games out now (at retail, and VC) are still catering to the hardcore...
http://www.vgchartz.com/?b=6
360 = 9.68 million
Wii = 6.54 million
PS3 = 3.16 million
From what I understand of the book "Blue Ocean Strategy", this is what Nintendo did to position themselves back on top of the gaming market. Instead of playing in the same "Red Ocean" as the PS3 and Xbox360, they decided to create a different market niche which hadn't been developed (i.e. older gamers, less hard core gamers, even people who hadn't gamed before). They realized they could target this niche with a lower price point and could give up the fancy graphics if they concentrated on simple fun games. The Wii is the result. It means that they have little, if any, competition in their target market, which means they don't really have to compete on price - they can charge enough to make the product profitable, and the customers will pay because there's nothing quite the same to compare it against.
That's why the Wii is beating Sony and Microsoft.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
In all seriousness, my local EB Games (they still haven't converted to GameStop up here in the frozen north) has 8. The game rental chain (Microplay) has 3. Not to say they're not selling - I only finally managed to get one a few weeks ago - but they seem to be over the hump as far as supply/demand are concerned.
Godless heathen.
I believe you meant to say "How Wii Are Creaming the Competition"
There's one precedent I can name - the Atari 2600. The day my parents bought the Atari, they stayed up until sunrise playing breakout. They bought probably 15 games for that system, and never bought another console - until the Wii.