Will Wright Opines That Wii Is the Only Next-Gen Console

PhoenixOne writes "In an article that will probably tick off a lot of PS3 owners, Will Wright calls the PS3 and 360 'incremental improvement(s)'. 'The Wii feels like a major jump - not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic. In some sense I see the Wii as the most significant thing that's happened, at least on the console side, in quite a while ... I still, for the most part, prefer playing games on the computer - to me the mouse is the best input device ever. Every generation it's like 'the PC's dead! The PC's dead!'. But it carries on growing when consoles are flat for five years. At the moment I can get better graphics on my PC than I can on the PS3.'"

Comments

Re:I agree...

[TheGeneration]

I've always felt like Nintendo's game have more soul. The addition of the Wiimote takes that up a notch. Now the on screen characters and gameplay make you feel in your heart and mind while the Wiimote makes your body feel as well. It's a nice touch.

I kinda disagree

[jollyreaper]

I'd originally dismissed the 360 as just like the last generation, just with more shiny. But all of the internet and xbox live services really push this into realms I've not yet seen. The 360 is certainly one direction the next generation can take, even if you disagree with it. The Wii is another approach. I haven't played one or anything but I hear it has an arcade like the 360 and can explore that avenue. Exploring new demographics is a great idea and they've certainly built up some impressive hype to go along with it.

The only console I'd really bag on at this point is the PS3. Whatever they tried to do with it, it ended up a failure. I don't really see that conclusion changing any time soon, a late lifecycle resurrection or the like.

I'm still happy with the idea of multiple game systems vigorously competing against one another. The last thing we need is a video game monoculture that stifles all development.

Re:I kinda disagree

[PJ1216]

the PS3 is set-up to have a lot of potential. it was released early to help push blu-ray. its unfortunate, but from that standpoint, not having the ps3 out there really would have hurt blu-ray. their hand was forced. as they continually update it, more and more features are being added that didn't exist in any previous generation console. while some of them may exist in the xbox360 or the wii, just the same, they didn't exist in the previous generation of consoles. its setup more as a entertainment system as opposed to games only, which, is just another direction next-gen can take.

though, honestly, i don't think he's referring to next-gen in these terms. he's talking about gameplay. as much as you want to say the live services are going into new realms, when you get down to it, its only changing the way you interact with the other players. the gameplay theory is the same. if you played a game on the xbox, you're going to have a very similar learning curve on 360 games as you did on the xbox. however, the whole theory used to develop the Wii was completely different. you could be a master on all other consoles, but be no better than a beginner on the wii.

the gameplay on the PS3 & x360 is *not* that revolutionary. yea, the ps3 uses motion-sensing, but barely. you're talking about added features, which Wright isn't talking about. All of those things are just bells & whistles. The Wii is different. The gameplay is completely different. The way you socialize may be different on the 360. But that's not really next-generation. It may change the way you communicate or plan attacks, but again, its just modifications on a pre-existing framework.

At least, thats my opinion.

What happend?

[Pojut]

Usually I agree with Will Wright (regardless of your opinion of his games, you cannot deny the impact he has had on the industry) however, in this case, I think he is a little off the mark.

The Wii does something new and exciting, yes, but so do the PS3 and the 360...it's not just "shinier graphics", there are many things that game developers are able to do now that they were unable to do before...that extra computing power can go towards smarter AI, larger level design (for example, compare the size of the levels and objects on screen in Beautiful Katamari to the first three Katamari games.)...it's similar to CGI in movies...it is allowing us to achieve things in movies that were previously nigh-impossible.

And let's not forget the online portion as well. Yes, Live was around with the original Xbox, but look at what Live has grown into...a massive marketplace, tons of video and game demos right at your fingertips, not to mention Arcade titles...ditto for the PSN, so much stuff it's nearly overwhelming. The Wii has done well with the Virtual Console in this area, although out of the three I would have to say it has the furthest to go.

The Wii has made some baby steps towards innovation, but it's going to take games where the waggle is no longer labeled as such (Prime 3 is a great example of this, btw.) More powerful CPUs and GPUs don't just make things extra shiny...they make gameplay possible that was not possible before...just like a Wiimote.

Re:Sure, Will.

[BoberFett]

The Sims was innovative when it was new. What's more likely: that Will Wright has slaved away personally over every one of the dozens of Sims expansion packs or that Electronic Arts controlled the massive expansions for that series?

Wright had as much to do with Sims expansions as John Carmack does with community Quake mods.

Re:Poor 360'ers

[Kadin2048]

I think you missed some of his point.

It's not that the 360 or ps3 are bad systems. It's that what they really added to the previous generation was a little better graphics, a little more storage space, small upgrades in individual aspects of the product.

What the Wii did was introduce a really different way of playing the games, and in the process has tapped into a market the ps3 and 360 couldn't dream of. Ergo, the impact of the Wii on the console gaming genre is larger even through the technological advances involved aren't. Very well said. I wrote a fairly lengthy comment on the last Wii thread, so I won't rehash it all here, but I think the Wii is pretty amazing.

The last console I owned was an original NES,* and I do not, as a general rule, play games. I don't even have any installed on my computers (okay, well, there's the free Chess game that comes with OS X, and I might have an old copy of EV Nova around somewhere). I was pretty content to just sit this whole console generation out, until my very much anti-videogame S.O. declared one day that she wanted a Wii. That in itself says something about the Wii ... it appeals to people who really dislike the sit-around-and-thumb-twiddle style of games.

That said, so far we haven't found any really drop-dead awesome games other than Wii sports. We rented Rockstar Games' table-tennis game, thinking it would be like a continued/advanced version of Wii Tennis, but it was much more of a skill/twitch game than something you could pick up and have fun with immediately. And frankly, spending an hour learning how to hit a ball in a table-tennis videogame does not strike me as a productive use of my time. If I'm going to do something that feels that much like work, I'd best be getting paid, or at least producing something tangible. That's what I like about Wii Sports; the games don't feel like work. They're just fun. Plus, you play them standing up, which makes them feel more like lightweight VR than a regular video game.

I think the big challenge for the Wii is whether Nintendo can get a stream of games coming for it that give people who purchased it essentially just for Wii Sports something to do. I have no idea what their margins are on the consoles themselves, but if they're going for the usual razors-and-blades model, selling the consoles for little profit and hoping to make it up on games, they'd best do something about getting some more Wii Sports-like games out there. Otherwise, I know a lot of people who may be content to just never eject that disc and treat it as a single-purpose machine. (And I don't think that any of them will regret the cost, either; Wii Sports really is worth $250 in my estimation; any more games would just be gravy.)

The Wii was a ballsy move for Nintendo, because it essentially lets Microsoft and Sony have the 'hardcore' market. But I think it's proving to be a smart one -- or at least a popular one -- judging from the sales figures. I see a lot of parallels between the Wii and the NES, including the pack-in game being one of the best (and in the long run, the defining) titles.