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Wii's Longevity, Competition Questioned
Gamasutra reports that, despite the Wii's breakaway sales success, some analysts are skeptical of the Wii's staying power. Other analysts are, of course, pointing out that many of the 'hardcore' titles are expected later this year. "[They] not[ed] that 31% of Wii owners surveyed in March said they expected to play the Wii more often a year from now, compared to 21% of Xbox 360 owners." At the same time, Nintendo of America's George Harrison is questioning the staying power of Sony and Microsoft. According to Harrison, the two larger companies 'lack the DNA' to move with the industry, and keep with the the demand for casual, more family-friendly titles. "'They're really good at reaching a certain customer, and have a real difficulty understanding how we succeed with the customers that we have,' said the senior vice president of marketing and communications. With the sales of Wii and DS hardware crushing the competition in the US, Harrison is confident that Nintendo could take up to as much as 50 per cent of the market for this latest 'next-gen' cycle."
I reserved and got a Wii on the launch date along with Zelda and Red Steel. I have also bought Monkey Ball, Excite Truck and Wii Play games. Currently, I am waiting for a good RPG... I was looking forward for the Dragon Quest game but so far there is no sign of it. I do not like the "mini games" as I have enough of them with Wii Play/Sports and MonkeyBall... also I do not have lots of people to play with... WHERE IS THE INTERNET PLAY!!! THIS IS 2007...
I got bored of my Wii... I am still waiting for a good game, the problem with consoles like this with so few games is that sometimes it is impossible to get a game you like if your "tastes" are not standard... Also, I do not have the £40 to spend on some wannabe game without testing... how am I suppose to see if I like that game? considering that these days, online reviews are less worthless...
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
I'd play ALOT more a year from now, as I figure that's about when i'll finally get my hands on one!
Analysts make sweeping unfounded generalizations to get their daily 15 mins. Must be a slow news day for Slashdot.
The Wii is here to stay and dominate. Especially once they start doing some cool DS to Wii integration. It's base is huge, is constantly growing and still a huge demand which outpaces the supply.
I have no interest in one but may be buying one once Animal Crossing 2 comes out (its like crack for my fiancé). Unless Nintendo comes out and says they kick puppies, love Nazis, and wipe their ass with every nations flag in the world they are not likely to drop the ball.
Agreed. PS3's pricerange and lack of game selection at the moment (2 titles released in May -- Pirates of the Shitty Box Office Obligated Release and a Penguin movie that doesn't feature Morgan Freeman as a playable character) and 360's.. whatever. The only disadvantage i see wii at is the staying power of games designed for the system. Sadly a friend and i bought Spiderman 3 (i bought ps3, and he bought the wii version). He completed it in 4 hours, stating that if it was as long as the PS3 version he would probably kill himself from slinging the webs. Button sequence repetition is normal on the other big 2 and can be dealt with (as it has in the past), but such repetition on Wii combined with short games that the populous is apathetic towards spending USD50.00 on is what should be of Nintendo's highest concern if their console is to stay where it is.
oh marmalade.
I've still never even seen one. We're what, six months after launch now? This is the biggest, longest discussion I've ever completely missed out on. I'm not going to sleep outside of stores or get raped on ebay just to join in, either.
Maybe (*maybe*) when Mario finally comes out I'll take another look at store shelves to see if there are any available at that point, but until then, my interest has disappeared.
-- http://frobnosticate.com
There is no news here, analysts have long bashed the Wii because its graphics aren't that great and for the moment their aren't any games. They do have a point after two or three years the Wii is going to be seriously outdated (graphically) while there could be some really great games over the next year or two. But I get the feeling that Nintendo will release an updated Wii (Wii Advanced? Wii Advanced SP?) to compensate. Kudo's to Nintendo for selling so many units but just how long is your product aimed to last? I know a PS3 will still be around in ten years (aparently.)
The comments that Sony and Microsoft don't get the casual gamer market are laughable, Sixaxis was an attempt to steal the WiiMotes thunder. Buzz, Singstar, Guitar Hero and Eye Toy are all products on the PS2 for the casual gamer and they sell really well. What Sony/Microsoft lack are mini games, to think they won't see that they need is to expand their casual game base of course they don't know that (*cough* XboX360 has Guitar Hero *cough* Singstar downloads for PS3 *cough.)
So...on the one hand, we have a couple of analysts vying for first prize in the unorthodox-opinion contest, because, well, because it's their job to sensationalize things so people talk about their opinions, and on the other, we have the head of one major gaming company that has taken an brilliantly unorthodox strategy (and done very well by it) questioning his competitors' ability to continue to succeed in the market.
C'mon, guys, all that we accomplish by publishing non-news like this is giving both parties exactly what they're looking for in free publicity. Adding together two non-stories doesn't create a story unless there's some really interesting counterpoint, and here all we have is a parallel phrase structure in "questions staying power".
I'm not trying to flame here or anything, I'm just saying that I think we could at least do a little better than this. Analysts and senior figures are always going to try and get themselves into headlines by saying controversial things; is it to much to ask that we don't actively facilitate this behavior?
I left my wallet in El Sigundo!
Are these the same analysts who predicted that Nintendo would be a distant third this cycle?
Funny how you don't see them making a statement of "Oops, sorry we had no clue what the hell we were talking about."
These analysts are as good at predicting the future as any random person off the street, they just get paid a lot more.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
If Sony and Microsoft cant pull larger profits, they will be gone, no matter HOW good the system is. No matter what they want to say about the Wii's staying power, its already done what Nintendo set out to do, made a huge profit for them.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
I am bored with my Wii at the moment but my wife and daughters who never play anything beyond popcap games on the web are still playing it regularly. I dont have many games and do play it alot when I get a new one, but they dont seem to have the staying power with me that they do on the rest of the family. Nintendo really has managed to capture an untapped market and because of that I think you can toss probabilities and gamer opinion out the window, its not a gamers console, its a non-gamers console. That may change as more high profile titles are released, but so far my wife and my parents (who picked up their own after their last visit) would be happy if nintendo just kept cranking out minigames. My mother mentioned that what her Wii really needed was a trivia game and some board games. There are so many of the non-gamer genre's out there that are untouched and dont have to rely on gimics. Imagine "Pictionary" where you could sketch the "clue" on the screen with the remote, the secret word could be given quietly via the remote speaker. Maybe Wheel of Fortune where you can zap away the letters to select them, chess where you can just point to the piece you want to move, Jeopardy using the remote as the buzzer, the possibilites are endless.
Regardless of the AAA "hardcore" titles that come out later, the Wii has all the possibiilty of being the casual gamers ultimate game center.
I guess I could be considered a "hardcore" gamer... Been playing games since the early 80's and never really stopped. It's nothing to log close to 100 hours in a good RPG.
That in mind, I wanted a Wii from when I first saw it, looked to be a very fun system that would give a chance to be more "social".
I would casually look for one from time to time - then last month, one showed up at my local Walmart (very small store, not one of the new big ones), and I picked it up along with Zelda TP.
Immediately, I began to see the way the console changed the way people around me thought of video games... My wife is absolutely hooked on Wii sports, and the neighbors come by at least a couple nights a week for some tennis or bowling. Most interesting however, was the interest of my parents. Both nearly 60, they never liked video games in the past. Could never even get them to try one out. The Wii was different. They watched my wife and I play a game of tennis, and wanted to try for themselves. Now, every time they stop by there will be quite a few games of bowling played.
You shouldn't underestimate the attention span of the casual gamer, look how long SOL.EXE has been around.
It's been 2 years and the DS is still on top..
as long as the Wii keep getting good games, it won't fade out.
"[They] not[ed] that 31% of Wii owners surveyed"
not?
What could the actual unredacted quote have been, in context?
In this age, however, things are different. Want to play with your friends in one spot? You want a Wii. Want to play with friends across the country? Get an XBox360. Want, um, well, uh, a huge selection of very good titles? Get a PS2. Want to [hmm, I'm trying here!] almost successfully buy your estranged step children's love? Get them a PS3.
My point being that there is certainly room for more than one console--yes, maybe even three as sad as that would be for those of us who aren't quite as affluent. This is a different ballgame from the 90's. Stop the bickering & just enjoy the games.
That must be why titles like Buzz and Singstar topped the charts over here, then.
No, wait...
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
... its not like you always made mainstream appealing consoles that would entertain all family members up to granpa and granma ... anyone with a screen bigger than 40" loves his 360 or ps3 for its graphics and the fun games ... i like 3rd person action, i like 1st person action, i like sports games, i like rpgs ... hell and how i dislike minigames ... just because someone "reinvents" how controllers work in a fun way ... imho shotlived party-gimmick-kind-of-fun ... (yeah we had that virtual stuff already in the 90s with gloves you know) ... doesnt mean he will break how technological evolution works ... thats just not the way it works ... in fact ... maxing out capabilities in a few years on 360 and ps3 will produce photo realistic games ... and they might just add a controller that uses real 3d positioning and not just cheap accellerometers who knows ... and customers might just ask themselves ... hell i spent 250 bucks on that crap lastgen machine and have to spend another 250 for another crap machine when wii is released while current-next-gen would have been 400 (well probably forget about the crazy 600bucks sony thingie ;) ) and still competing or most probably beating wii (since nintendo does not loose money on hardware and sells cheap crap that cant even run a decent AI in shooters or strategy games because its lacking the processing power) ...... and for all you wii lovers out there ... i have a wii, 360, nes, snes, n64, xbox, ps2, ps1, dc, genesis etc etc etc ... by checking my consoles im a friggin nintendo fanboy
And that the Wii peters out in four years. A new console will be introduced with HD capability etc. So, you use your 250 buck console for four years and get a new one. By contrast, will the 360 and PS3 be relevant in 8 years? How about 6? In terms of bang for the buck, even if the Wii doesn't last as long as the other two, it is still a better buy. It costs much less so in the end, it doesn't have to have the staying power anyway.
The real question is how much fun do you have with it? The games are coming, especially with the growing installled base.
I have a Wii, and I like it, but I don't play it nearly enough - mostly due to my internet addiction I guess, rather than watching TV instead as I never do that either.
...
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... on the other hand I don't have a HDTV, so what do I care?!
I find that once I've bothered to turn the Wii on and play something, I can play for quite a while, casual bowling, tennis, etc. I sometimes browse YouTube with it to watch the videos on the TV from my sofa, which is fine regardless of the YouTube video quality. I need to dedicate a few hours a week to the Wii really, finish Zelda,
I have longer term aims to buy virtual console games and play them.
I want a Wii Kart type game. Maybe if Excite Truck drops in price a bit more
Oh, and Resident Evil 4 will be out on the Wii soon, that will be fun.
My parents played Wii Sports the other day. They loved it, and it's probably the first time they've ever tried playing a video game. It brings to mind the old folks homes and centres with Wiis that have bowling leagues based upon a video game.
And on top of it all, Nintendo are making money on everything Wii related. Even if the Wii was dead in 2 years time and topped out at 20 million consoles sold, they'd have made so much money on it in the meantime to equal the profit on the 360 or PS3 over its lifetime.
I'd have liked a 720P option for the web browser and other non-game interfaces. Maybe if they release a Wii+ in the future
There are alot of gamers who bought the Wii, cracked out on Zelda and Wii Sports, and are now waiting for other games worth playing to show up. The publishers, meanwhile, are trying to figure out who exactly is buying these Wii's.
Nintendo has set its self up to be able to ration out what it considers strong releases, but has history has proven, what it considers to be strong is often not what traditional gamers will go for (Warioware, Mario Strikers Charged). And of course, its monster hits have not materialized yet (Metroid, Mario Galaxies, Smash Brothers Brawl).
On the flip side of it, the 3rd parties are rushing to step up. But they did so a bit too late, so we are getting alot of ports of PS2 and Xbox games. The 3rd parties are going to try their hand at the casual games, of course, but it may yet be a while before they start showing up with the kind of games that the traditional gamers want.
Demand has been quite strong though, so I have no doubts that we will see the kinds of games we want. The real question is whether the publishers will be able to make any money at it. There is a very real danger of all the more traditional games only showing up on the 360 or PS3.
There are a great many Wii's being sold, but until everyone figures out who the hell is buying them, there will be a lull. Are they being bought by Core gamers who also own a XBox 360, or Casual gamers who are only ever going to play Wii Sports? Either of those does not help the Wii in the long term.
END COMMUNICATION
Longevity does not mean that the Wii will be the dominant console in this race. All the metrics that they discussed "Will you be playing the Wii in a year from now?" depends on new content being created worth playing. As long as Nintendo is the only decent publisher of games for the system, the Wii can be a viable system for a long time without being "the winner".
Their handheld systems have clearly shown the demand for retro games, and their Virtual Console fits that bill perfectly. However, playing the Legend of Zelda circa-1988 for the tenth time does not mean the Wii is the greatest system of it's day. It only means that there's nothing better being created *now*.
The success of the Wii will fall to games such as Manhunt 2 and Resident Evil, which will be the true metrics of how this system will be remembered. And if it never gets the Star Wars-lightsaber game that the interface was clearly designed for, it will be a monumental disappointment no matter how many other games come out.
I've not heard of a game coming out for the Wii called "ALOT", and I just got my Wii update from Nintendo in e-mail yesterday. I know that Alot is the name of a town in India, but ... OOH! Is this going to be some kind of Indiana Jones type of adventure game with the key being the mystical town of Alot? Now my curiosity is piqued!
:P
I hope to play ALOT a year from now, too. Does anyone know who the developer and publisher are?
[/SARCASM]
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
My Wii made an excellent Christmas gift after I realized that Mario Galaxy and Zelda were the only reasons to have one (and I had played through Zelda.)
Since Micro$osft and $ony both make their dough on licensing, they have a huge incentive to have games made. They push and push and push to get the games made. They even pay for development of some of the really good titles to get them going.
Whereas Nintendo is already making dough. Their incentive on making games is much lower and they tend to spend most of their time thinking up worthless doodads to pimp your Wii box with. I have a Wii and Zelda was a fantastic game, which I played through in a week. But since then I basically haven't played more than an hour or two. The titles for Wii just aren't exciting at all. Begin Rant: I mean, Excite Truck? I don't think so. Super Monkey Ball makes me seasick (and anyone watching anyone else play as well). Raving Rabbids was a lot of fun. While it lasted. Played through that in 2 days.
I am still waiting for a golf game that works. The reviews (and screenshots) of PGA '07 was less than stellar.
I'm sure you could make the same arguments for PS3 and XBox 360 when they came out, that there were few games, but the quality of PS2-games (God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom of Hearts aso), for example, more than makes up for that and Oblivion for 360 would have been killer (I already played through it twice on the PC). Maybe you notice that I'm a fan of RPG and that I'm not a fan of FPS on consoles (where is my mouse!?). So where are the RPG's for Wii. There is a serious hole in the lineup here. End Rant
The main problem, and advantage, of the Wii is the controllers. After the initial excitement dies down, you realize that games made specifically for the Wii are going to be fewer than the games made for PC/XBox 360/PS2/PS3/Game Cube because of the controllers. I'm not going to count games that only use the controller's sensors as glorified buttons (80% of Zelda's control scheme was the same as the Game Cube, except instead of pushing B-button to slash, you shook the nunchuck, the only Wii specific control was pointing the controller at the screen to aim, which I liked a lot). The feeling so far for me is that the controller is not sensitive enough for gyroscopic control (as in Rabbids when you fly) and it is hard to tilt the controller forward (the wrist just doesn't bend that way) and that we're just going to see an endless stream of games ported from other consoles with some adapted Wii controls, except for the games that Nintendo themselves make or have made.
Badgers, we don't need no stinking badgers! - UHF
My 500 shares of Nintendo stock bought at E3 from proceeds from Sony stock say no.
But I will predict, in 2009, when HDTV becomes mainstream (e.g. market share of more than 50 percent in US), that if Nintendo doesn't have a new console utilizing HDTV, then they should start worrying.
But for now, I'm just raking in the stock growth.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The new version of Nintendogs will include pitbulls and have Michael Vick as a trainer.
A breakaway game system that provides the first real innovation in over five years does not lack staying power. Similarly, when the industry consists of three companies, you can't say that two of them aren't wired to keep up with the industry...no matter how advanced Sony likes to think of themselves, they are still not "the gaming industry". The article pretty much tells me nothing more than the three companies like to throw stones at each other. Brian
In our hood, there are xbox 360s, PS/3, PS/2, and Wii. Guess what everyone plays with? They play the Wiis while the xbox360s, PS/3s, et. al. collect dust. Why? Because the Wii is just more fun. This changed a little bit a few months back when someone got ahold of a developer version of Halo 3 via a Microsoft employee and the xbox 360 at the lucky home ruled. That lasted for about a week and then back to the wiis. The xbox 360 and PS/3 do have awesome graphics 'potential' but there is nothing in the current or even upcoming games that makes that a compelling feature. Nintendo was obviously dead-on when they focused on the game play and the fun-potential and downplayed the graphics.
The Wii is my next-gen console of choice, but I'm still holding off until more titles are released. The reason I want this system is for multiplayer RL party fun and the opportunity for online play of fan favorites like Mario Cart and Super Strikers Charged. What sold me (or more accurately, what will sell me) on the Wii is that both the Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution franchises will be coming over to Nintendo... eventually anyway.
The PS3 has potential but it's just too darn expensive and isn't really releasing my style of game, and while the 360 is a great choice (especially on online play), the fun mini-games is what captures my family and friends. So, the Wii it will be!
Monkeyball on the Wii is a big stinking pile of digested bananas. Half the minigames have terrible controls. Some of the minigames last thirty seconds and some grind on for twenty minutes. You can't select enough rounds of the good games to have a worthwhile match -- they're limited to something like best 3 out of 5. That game was clearly rushed for launch and is unworthy of the Monkeyball name. Maybe if they release a proper sequel then it'll be more fun.
My impression is that Wii is a great console for parties and fun for two players with comparable skill. But the controls feel sloppy to me and for single-player games I'd rather be on my Nintendo DS or my Mac.
My buddy comes over with beer a few nights a week to bowl on the Wii. Millions will purchase and use the Wii on a regular bases because of this game alone.
None of the other consoles or games I own have this great of cross-over appeal. I don't think the analyst's have quite caught on to the tremendous success that Nintendo has made in expanding their market beyond traditional gamers.
The Wii wasn't made to last for years, I'd give it 4 years, tops, before Nintendo comes out with their next system. Seriously, I think they were probably planning on replacing it after 2 years, but with the success they're having now, it's going to be hard to justify coming out with a new console when you've only just bearilly started to meet demand with the original!
No, it's obvious that Nintendo had planned to shorten the generational cycle, as a way of getting a leg up on Sony and Microsoft: wait for them to bring down the prices of expensive hardware, and then come out with a faster system while they're still financially unable to justify building a new system. Maryl Lynch, at one point, predicted that Sony won't be able to financially justify a new system after the PS3 for about 8-10 years, Microsoft about 6-8 years. Nintendo could practically do it NOW. in 2010, the next system will be released, and will blow the PS3 and 360s specs out of the water, and Sony and Microsoft will be caught holding their dicks.
Interesting thing, though, for all the talk of hardcore gaming, I frequent a lot of jRPG communities, these are people who play games day in and day out, and the common consensus among them is that they're all desperate to try some good jRPGs with the Wii. Reception to the PS3 has been fairly negative, although reception of the 360 has begun to pick up. I know that this is a very small subset of hardcore gamers, but it's kinda interesting to note the Wii is generally highly regarded among this crowd.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
The Wii makes money on every unit shipped. If the Wii's run only lasts through the end of 2007... Nintendo still has cash to make a next-gen console (with such a short run, it may end up being a bad investment, but it won't be a cash-draining investment). Because the Wii's made from commodity parts, it should get dramatically cheaper as time passes, which means that the price of the system can drop. Didn't the GameCube end at $99 or something? How many people would buy a Wii at $99 in 2009?
By making a system that was profitable out of the gates, Nintendo preserved its options in the future. MS and Sony need to keep producing their systems for years to make back their investment, or write off the investment and try to develop a next-gen system with less cash in the bank. Sony, at least, is relatively cash-poor right now.
And, heck, not only did the Wii get Nintendo cash flow, it also got them headlines, and helped get Kutaragi fired. That's a success by any measure, one that will continue to pay dividends in the years to come, even if the Wii itself is a dead end.
Nintendo will keep their cycle; it works and even when they were "losing" they kept it.
There is no need for HD. even though more consumers will have HD as time goes on, consumers are not exactly jumping to buy HD DVD or BR movies. Normal DVD quality will be just fine for most people for quite some time to come. Then you'll start to see a sizable cycle of people re-buying their movies on DVD in the new HD format. The result of this will naturally push them to try to get superHD about 15 years from now and outdate all our TVs again... (and force us to switch again...) Many people will not want to re-buy some movies; especially if the cost doesn't go down much (remember how long they artificially kept DVDs high priced?)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
why? because its cheap.e s-at-their-six-month-birthday/
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/18/the-console-sal
what SHOULD ms and sony do now?
ms: cut the core system to $199 and add an HD, get ride of the mid system, reduce the elite price to $349.
sony: hm, tough call here, come out with a new ps3 without blueray for about $299?
what WILL ms and sony probably do?
ms: cut prices Q4 2007 by a little, making almost no difference in sales.
sony: cut prices Q4 2007 by a little as blueray becomes cheaper to make, making almost no difference in sales.
The games that are out for Wii right now don't make it a must-have purchase. Granted, neither does the PS3's lineup, but that's still where we are. Neither of these consoles has delivered an exciting line-up, and the only reason for the Wii's current success is novelty and a lower price point.
I've heard it said many times that the major moneymaker for consoles is game sales, not system sales. I just don't know how the new gamers who have picked up the Wii for the novelty will behave in a year or so. Are those elderly people playing Wii bowling at the senior center going to pick up Brunswick Pro Bowling and Deal or No Deal, or will the Wii be put up next to the dusty old pacman arcade machine?
These are the same analysts that predict that the PS3 needs a price drop or that a price drop is imminent.
It's funny these analysts rarely bash Microsoft's console...
There are two ways to argue about consoles:
a) About the Industry and Business Impact
b) About Personal Preference
When you argue point A, basically in this topic you have to focus on the Wii's ability to generate profits for Nintendo and sustain market share. It's ability to generate profits is the best (as it was the GC) because Nintendo is not giving away their hardware, they are making a ton of money on it, later, if sales slow down, they can still bring it down to the $99 point range and aggressively get more market share and break even in revenue. As far as longevity goes, any educated gamer knows that the GAMES are what matter and what will keep a system afloat (platforms like the original Gameboy, NES, Genesis, SNES and even PS1 lived longer as some of the best games were released towards the end of the life of the console - same can be said about the PS2).
Speaking about point B, there's nothing I can say because taste is as diverse as colors in a 32 bit pallette.
Groups of People: I have friends that get together to play games, they take a look at the new stuff (Halo, Gran Turismo, etc), but suddenly they plug in an old 16 bit console with SF2 Turbo, Bomberman or MarioKart and then the smiles dominate the room. I see that same smiles when people play some of the Wii's offerings. Maybe Miyamoto's game design philosophy is right... make a concept, try it out and see if the person is having fun.
Individual Gamers: This may be related to personality - certain games reflects our own values; I personally used to play old school dragon warrior as I used to complement the graphics with my imagination; I used to be a loner then, but as I grew older and more social my taste changed. There's also the question of time, I can't commit to a 40 hour game anymore as there's life happening: work, family, outdoors, etc. then the Wii is a viable solution (even the DS or PSP too); but if you can and you like fps, driving simulators and sports sequels, (with some great game released here and there), then the XBOX/PS3 is perfect for you.
Oh well...
Yeah that's a shame. I was hoping to play Madden, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DDR, Final Fantasy CC, the Sims, or Even Manhunt 2 (just out of morbid curiosity...) on the Wii. Unfortunately that will never happen...
The Irony is that the presence of the Wii might keep PS2 development around longer. Why target the 15 million ish PS360's out there, when they can make a game for less money and have more exposure? They can use largely the same assets (only downscaled so the PS2 could run them... like RE4) and I'm sure the porting tools (both ways) will be get quite mature.
Why not? The Wii is the hottest selling platform and there are how many PS2's out there? 100+ million?
Ironically no. XBLA has a MUCH better selection of games for casual gamers than Nintendo's VC, or main library. This is despite the VC already having more titles available. Nintendo needs more casual titles in the mix, and they simply aren't there yet, despite the console being MUCH more casual friendly than the PS3 or 360.
To say there isn't 'mental room' for more than 1 console, is rather demeaning, but I do agree that people tend to stick with what is 'familiar'. This is the Wii's #1 issue with the gaming press, Nintendo is challenging what they are confortable with. If the Wii becomes the dominant player in the market (like the PS2 did) then the market will shift in ways they don't like.
This I doubt. XBLA has Solitare, Bejeweled, Online Poker, Online Uno, Online Hearts... The issue isn't that they don't exist it's that it does not exist to them. It's like having the food they enjoy served at the wrong resteraunt where (for whatever reason) they simply won't go to eat.
To summarize my point, it doesn't matter if the PS360 adds a ton of casual games, and marginalizes the price difference AND even bolts on their own Wiimote like controller... These systems will not gain the Mindshare back from Nintendo. Nintendo is bringing people in with a fun, intuitive system that they are confortable to use. Once that mindset gets established brand loyalty strengthens and the other systems effectively don't exist.
People shop for a Wii, not a 'Video game system' much in the same way people shop for an iPod and not an 'MP3 player'.
"Also, I do not have the £40 to spend on some wannabe game without testing... how am I suppose to see if I like that game? considering that these days, online reviews are less worthless..."
Gamefly
In my book, the Wii caters to a more diverse market than the Xbox and PlayStation systems. I do own a 360.
I find myself getting ever more bored by rehashes of the same game over and over and over again on the Xbox and Xbox 360. Gears of War, although fun for the first little while you play it is not a whole lot more than what you get if you mix Doom 3 and Halo.
The entire FPS genre is getting stale in my mind. There are only so many times you can play these before they're all the same.
I would absolutely LOVE to see more diverse types of games make it to the Xbox and PS platforms. Silent Hunter III, Microsoft Flight, Civilization, etc. PC gaming, for me, is just too bloody expensive. Often, the hardware requirements are ridiculous.
Like other forms of entertainment, though, the cost of developing a game is extremely high, and the companies don't dare move away from the beaten path of shooters, sports and RPGs.
Except Nintendo. They have a long history of bringing different stuff to the table. Sure, their Wii offerings include sports, shooters and RPGs, but the interface is pretty unique and the games are less intense. I also suspect they are not nearly as 'network multiplayer' happy as the other guys.
I like multiplayer games, but not usually online. It's not fun for me to run around fragging 14-year-olds. It IS fun for me to snap open a beer or Coke with one of my friends and play a 2-player game of something on the couch.
I want to see Microsoft and Sony encourage developers to release alternative games AND also to encourage developers to make same-console multiplayer better as well as improve the value of the single-player experience.
But yeah, the Wii definitely seems to have more staying power because they're not shooting their wad on the highest-end equipment and most glitz-and-glam features.
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I wonder if people still keep them?
I bought a Wii. My only real complaint about the graphics is that it needs anti-aliasing. Granted, true HD-graphics would be nice; but anti-aliasing would make its graphics much smoother.
What the analyists don't understand is that the Wii was designed to be small and affordable, which is one of the reasons why it's so successful. Now, if Nintendo comes out with an HD-Wii for $250, I would definatly upgrade!
No, I will not work for your startup
Whether or not a console has staying power, depends on whether 3rd developers/publishers can make revenue from the platform. If the attach is crummy on a platform, then the number of hardware units sold starts to become useless (note I'm excluding the first party titles from this argument).
:)
If 3rd developers/publishers start to feel that a platform is not giving the return they expect, they might start moving higher risk games onto the platforms that do give them higher attach rates. Of course having a HUGE install base starts to hide low attach rates... so we have yet to see really
Can you buy Nintendo stock? Over a year ago I wanted to buy shares in Nintendo, but couldn't figure out where they were traded and how to buy them. They weren't at Nasdaq, and if they are publicly traded in Japan, my bank apparently doesn't trade there or doesn't allow me to do so. It would have been a nice couple of thousand dollars profit, I think.
NTDOY is what you want. Nintendo is traded on the Tokyo Exchange so to buy it in America you buy it as an ADR. I bought some pre-E3 last year, and it has more than doubled. My only regret is not buying more...
Usually the first batch of games on a new console dont realy show of the full power of the platform but im feeling that maybe the Wii has already reached its hardware limits. If this is the case should we expect an updated version comming in the near future if its sales drop to keep it in top spot or will game producers learn to work with the platforms limitations better.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, go play some N64 games and see how much you enjoy the blurovision. And given what the Gamecube is capable of, there's no excuse for how ugly some Wii games are.
NTDOY.PK is the symbol, It's where to be.
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Although I made more from shipping
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