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Nintendo Already Anticipating Holiday Wii Shortages
As we approach the holiday season, Nintendo has already said that they don't expect to keep up with demand for the Wii console. In an interview with the LA Times, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime said they're ramping up production by 33% already, with further increases planned. They're hoping to avoid the scarcity of Wii's that occurred last year, which cost them a great deal of money in potential sales. "We're now producing 2.4 million units a month worldwide. Last year, we made 1.6 million a month. So we've made a 33% increase. One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that's three months of production. We're producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand."
...water is wet, the sky is blue, and Macs and PCs use the same hardware. i.e. There is nothing surprising here. The demand for the Wii has been mercilessly out of whack with what is possible (or at least practical) to manufacture, since day one. I know a lot of people thought the shortage was over when Wiis temporarily became available during the summer. (Note that I said "available", not "abundant".) The problem is that console sales always cycle during the summer. The best sales are obviously around Christmas, both before and after. (After for all the folks who couldn't get one during the Christmas season.) Being at the opposite end of the year, summer is obviously going to be the low-point for sales. Consumers are spending their money on vacations and outdoor fun rather than game consoles.
What I find far more interesting is the extreme vitriol expressed by those who commented on the ComputerAndVideoGames.com story. It seems the more successful the Wii becomes, the more the hardcore gamers hate it for its success.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Is it official yet, or do the other contenders still have a shot at avoiding humiliation?
The English word fart is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary.
1.5*1,600,000 = 2,400,000
No, people arn't eating them, but I hear that their CPU when ground up makes a powerful aphrodisiac.
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
To me, there is a serious problem with the Wii.
I've not checked many review sites so if I'm bringing up a biased, poor review site by all means, reject what I'm saying:
2 years in and according to Gamespot only 8 games have made a score over 8.5 - 12 if you count 8.5
This is woeful. You go to the Wii section in any store and the shelves are stocked with what I deem "exploitware". That is, poorly designed games attempting to sucker the Wii mass market into buying games based on advertised novel mechanics (that rarely work).
A year ago, you could forgive this type of situation on the industry having not caught up with the prolific popularity of the console. Now, I find myself losing faith in the Wii. With all the Mario lineup accounted for and Smash Bros done, a "not completely awesome" Metroid. What do we have to look forward to?
Url may or may not work for you (localised) http://au.gamespot.com/reviews.html?type=reviews&platform=1031&mode=all&sort=score&dlx_type=all&sortdir=asc&official=all
I record my sleeptalking
Tell me about it, I mean just look at their sales for the last two years... oh wait.
Hey, look! It's Bono's brother.
One comment I'd like to make is that Gamespot is useless. They have no journalistic integrity, and their reviews are awful to boot. Check IGN or MetaCritic instead.
I do not disagree with this statement. However, I would caution you to think carefully about the PS2 before you derive too much from it. How much PS2 software was AAA stuff? How much of it was excellent stuff that didn't get the attention it deserved? How much of it was pure, unbridled crap? (Even worse, do you know how much of the last category has been ported to the Wii to "cash in"?)
The biggest issue with the Wii is that some of the best games fall into the category of "don't get enough attention". Gamers pay attention to Monkey Ball Wii when Mercury Meltdown Revolution is the superior title. Zach and Wiki bring back the point and click adventure genre, but no one can be bothered to buy it. Geometry Wars Galaxies is several dozen shmups in one, but hardcore gamers ignore it. Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection is the most amazing pinball simulation EVER, but it goes directly to the bargain bin. Boom Blox... well... Boom Blox is just overpriced IMHO.
And then there's WiiWare. Awesome, great, terrific, incredible games like Defend Your Castle, Toki Tori, Strong Bad, World of Goo, Wild West Guns (if you like light-gun games), Mega Man 9, Bomberman Blast, and LostWinds, yet most of the Wii owners I see don't even bother to hook up their Wii's Wifi.
I don't know if this is a failure to market on Nintendo's part or what. Obviously Nintendo's stuff sells well enough, so one has to wonder what gives. In part, I have seen publishers take a defeatist attitude toward the Wii. (e.g. The only reason why anyone heard of Zach and Wiki was because IGN tried to jump-start a grass roots movement. Capcom spent diddly squat on advertising and promotion.) Which, unsurprisingly, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, you'd think that publishers would want to nail their support for this machine while the iron is hot.
I honestly don't think they "get" it. Until they do, a Wii owner has to be a discerning owner. Because that's the only way you're going to find the good games. And there are PLENTY. From Excite Truck to Wario Shake It, the games are there. They're just not getting much attention.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Now, I find myself losing faith in the Wii. With all the Mario lineup accounted for and Smash Bros done, a "not completely awesome" Metroid. What do we have to look forward to?
One thing I am looking forward to is the MotionPlus wiimote attachment. You know those lightsaber games we where promised? All the great game ideas that turned out lackluster because the wiimote's motion detection isn't that great? This will make all that possible. The MotionPlus gives 6 degrees of freedom, registering motion and rotation.
Remember how long it took the PS2 to build up a solid library of titles?
Sure, there were dozens of titles at launch, but it took ages for it to build up its now-formidable library, while Microsoft rested on its laurels with Halo.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
And how do we know that the "motion plus" add on wont also be a POS? Since that same argument that except using the wiimote was used before the release of the wii "well it cant be done with a controller but it would be with the wiimote" when in reality the motion controls remain for the most part a novelty. very few games ACTUALLY take advantage of the wiimotes motion sensing capabilities currently and i dont think an add one is going to change that.
Unfortunately, it seems like all that developers have been able to do with the PS3 is create a bunch of crappy first person shooters where the only point seems to be to fire guns in random directions and hope you hit something.
I don't know how up to date you've been keeping with the Wii, but the age of mini-games is over. Save for Rayman Raving Rabbids 3, I can't think of a single title in recent memory that's based on mini-games. If any exist, it is probably a shovelware title that you should avoid. Spend your money on Boom Blox, Wario Shake It, Zack and Wiki, or one of the many excellent WiiWare titles instead.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
To a lot of people complaining, those games you list *are* mini-games. As in, not beefy games - the blockbuster ones that really drive things. In this context, the definition of mini-game has changed, and has glommed together with portions of "casual game," "low budget game, "shallow game" and "simple game."
i think the system is great, and it fills something that wasn't around at all, me and my friends will play wii for 10minutes (what ever game * people) while we wait for a taxi, or someone to get back with pizza and a movie etc. One of the best features of the system is that you can pick it up, play it for 5-10 minutes, AND have fun. it's hard to do that with almost anything else on the market. Your welcome to call it a fad system, but be aware, to alot of people that own one, the power is in been able to play it for 5-10minutes and put it down. Hardcore gamers might see it as a fad, but not every one is addicted to gaming
Wiiagra? :D
This is the sig that says NI (again)
I don't mean christmas, i mean Atheist Kids Get Presents Day, but i don't want to offend all the overly sensitive christians, so i say "holidays" instead.
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