Wii is fine despite hardcore cabin fever
Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 12:40pm by Blake
The gaming industry is having a difficult time comprehending Nintendo’s recent success.
Many gamers who have since moved on exclusively to more “mature” Xbox and PlayStation offerings even suggest that the “Wii bubble will burst any day.” That is people will grow tired of Wii’s novelty and inferior graphics in the long-run despite the similar and ongoing success of Nintendo’s DS.
As for me and my house, I’m more than pleased with Wii games right now and beyond.
Is the Wii different than what I first played some 23 years ago? Yes. Do I play it 24/7? No. But then again, I don’t play anything for that long, and all my consoles “collect dust” from time to time.
According to Chris Kohler’s excellent gamer segmentation article, I fall somewhere between being a hardcore and casual gamer, though I consider myself a softcore gamer for girly giggles. I find Kohler’s definition of the primary gaming audience to be spot on, namely hardcore gamers, casual gamers, expanded gamers, and kid gamers.
Assuming he’s right, Nintendo owns the latter three (and larger) groups at the moment even wooing in several hardcore elite to boot.
That wasn’t always the case. Sony’s PS2 formally dominated the entire casual market (not to be confused with “people who don’t play a lot of games”) with its attractive price, a slew of games, and the most inferior technology when compared to the competition at the time. Sounds a lot like Wii with exception to how one interacts with the machine, no?
The real question then becomes, did Nintendo consciously calculate this successful segmentation which is paying off in spades, or did they sorta stumble on success by their willingness to radically change how they make and market their products? I guess we’ll never know as Nintendo will always claim the former.
But one thing’s for sure; the company is more relevant today than they ever have been.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I think if you listen to the real visionaries talk — like Miyamoto and Iwata, not so much Reggie (he’s the marketer for their wares) — you’ll start to see this was more a calculated effort on Nintendo’s part than something they stumbled into. Nintendo is a corporation, sure, but people like Shiggy are inventors and creators who want to make innovative, great games for a mass audience to enjoy. Just look to the story (now lore) of how Zelda was “created” in the fields and mountains in Miyamoto’s backyard to see where all this drive comes from.
The fact that Miyamoto creates games that appeal to large groups of people, and not ones that are not pigeon holed into a niche sect of the gaming community… well, that’s just gravy for Nintendo as company now isn’t it?
EDIT: I also find it ironic that people are now asking “when will the bubble burst” out of one side of their mouth while out of the other side they defend consoles like the PS3 and 360 with phrases like “PS3 was designed for the long haul, just wait until Final Fantasy comes out in 2008″
Complete, hypocritical rubbish.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I am actually amazed at how well the Wii is selling. I love the system, but at the same time, I can’t help feel disappointed. I guess I fall into the category of hardcore gamer (although I hate that term). For me, the system is missing the real hardcore games. It’s been 6 months now and the Wii has a few hardcore ports (Godfather/Scarface/Prince of Persia), and a few others that are superior on other systems. Zelda was great, but I have been patiently waiting since then. Sure the party/mini/casual games are fun, but I need something deeper. Maybe Manhunt 2 will fill the void.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
That image reminds me of the level in Super Mario World where you had all sorts of items and objects floating around in bubbles..
As long as they have games that appeal to a lot of people (read: not hardcore gamers) I don’t see why the bubble will burst. Plenty of quality games is what they need, and will get.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Gamers need to be pacient , the same was said about the 360, there was a drought of games then, same happens to all the consoles. The Wii will have games to satisfy its core, besides 1st party games I think we’ll see more exclusive and new IP’s made for the Wii by 3rd party developers.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
The hardcore gaming niche seems hard to fulfill using the Wii remote. Although I find the Wii remote enticing and quite entertaining to use, Nintendo may want to make more games that utilize the normal controller also. I recently started playing Super Mario Sunshine again and it occured to me that the Mario game scheme would either have to get easier or many gamers would find their t.v. screens broken on purpose.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
seriously…just wait, we already know games are coming, i think the amount of games they have out now is amazing, considering it really hasn’t been out that long….anyway, everyone else is just jealous nintendo is back in business X)
June 11th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I feel very segmented right now…
June 11th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Just wait a few more months… games like PBR, RE4, Mario strikers and such are coming, and it’s going to be a blast!
June 11th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
As usual, Jack is spot on.
This is what I’ve been seeing from the hardcore, around the internets….
“Just wait, the Wii is gonna bomb eventually, you’ll see. Everyone will wake up and realize how bad it sucks once they get tired of game X”
“Just wait, the PS3 is gonna RAWK eventually, you’ll see. Everyone is gonna realize how awesome it is, once game Y comes out”
The hilarity comes from whats implied by these comments. These comments imply that the Wii is currently awesome, with games that people enjoy and implies that the PS3 is currently NOT awesome and has no games, because you have wait for good ones that are coming “eventually”. Even the PS3 lovers NEVER say to run out and buy one right NOW. They always say, just wait till X comes out. Even they know it’s struggling right now.
I don’t hate the PS3, but these types of comments always give me a chuckle. Not a girly chuckle like Blakes chuckle, but a normal, manly chuckle.
June 11th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Blockss… is right. It take time in a new system life span to get the core deep games out. All will come in due time. I expect Nintendo to drop a few gems in their press conference next month.
Hello!!!… remember that 360 had their share of drought before the key core games starting to come out. Hell look at the over price PS3… what games do they have and that system is created for the hardcore gamer. August start with MP3 and I am sure they will be many AAA titles to follow going into “08″. I for one don’t have a Wii yet and I am sure to get one once MP3 drops. I consider myself a passive core gamer. Hell i am still working on completing Zelda…yes i know but i have very little gaming time (only on Sundays).
June 12th, 2007 at 12:27 am
i don’t know, i don’t feel the same way as many of the ‘hardcores’ do based on many comments. but at the same time, i am definitely a gaming veteran with 20+ years of gaming. i actually have enjoyed some of the wii’s games, and i don’t get where this idea came from that the wii will suddenly one day suck, and the ps3 will someday be great because of one game. am i easily satisfied? not in the least. i love the idea of motion controls, and obviously that is a big reason the wii’s appeal is so vast. on the other hand though, there are many games out there that are just terrible with the motion controls. the reason probably being because developers are still getting use to programming with it. i think what makes the wii intriguing is that motion controls will only get better. i can’t wait to see what kind of games wii is capable of in year 3 and year 4 of wii’s life cycle both control wise and graphically. also factor in that 3D tv’s are coming within those few years, and seeing what kind of impact that has on gaming in general. these are some exciting times for game fans. i for one, am not as pessimistic as some other game fans. i love the wii and direction its going. the other intriguing thing people must realize is that in another 6 months there’s going to be a ton of quality games coming for the wii, be it ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore’. many people fail to realize that this initial success of the wii has brought many 3rd parties to the fold, and that it takes about 1/2 year at least to see the fruits of it.
June 12th, 2007 at 3:05 am
It’s funny how these haters keep trying to come up with new reasons the Wii will fail almost every week. Even Bill Gates had to start back pedaling from his recent remarks about new ideas in gaming in which he really just described the Wii. One friend of mine will tell me the Wii is boring, then the next day can’t wait to tell me he’s downloading Milon’s Secret Castle. If they can just be a little patient, the Wii will eventally have something for everyone.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:04 am
The Wii will only get better.
The bubble can only get bigger. I have no fear of the bubble bursting.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:13 am
sounded calculated, given all the blue ocean talk before launch. but, its clear they didnt believe the hype themselves, as they were very very underprepared for the system’s success, as evidenced by the crappy supply available for months and months and…
June 12th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
By the way does anyone know that the record for any system sales wise in their first year? its just 6 months and Wii is now over 8 million sold. Plus what makes this even more impressive is that Wii is selling like hot cakes and none of the key 1st party, core games and major 3rd party franchise are out yet. So for those PS3 fanboys that keep on saying “wait till this and that games comes out” just remember that both Wii and 360 have key AAA titles to drop too.