Wii is just a “novelty device”
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 11:10pm by Jake
This past weeks “big” marketing subject was concerning declining sales and usage of the Wii in Japan. Famitsu publisher, Hirokazu Hamamura released data (taken from a Famitsu survey) that shows 67% of Japanese Wii owners hardly play the system anymore. Don Reisinger of Cnet tech specialists recently blogged his latest rant on the state of low Wii usage in Japan.
….But besides my own preferences, I can’t help but think that the Wii is in trouble. Sure, some go out and tell us about the Wii sales figures, but there are no figures showing us that people actually play Wii games. Worse, Wii video game sales barely scratch the top ten when matched with titles from Microsoft or Sony — another dust competitor.
Could it be that the Wii is nothing more than a novelty? That, regardless of impending Mario game releases, the Wii will enter the boring bin before you know it? Do video game consumers really want to wave their hands around to control something on the screen?
At this point, it may be time for Nintendo to get its head out of the sky and realize its previously infallible device is in danger.
The Wii, once so strong and easily the most dominant console in the industry, is in trouble for the first time. With few captivating games besides the release titles, the Wii has been exposed as a fun device that has yet to fulfill its promise of revolutionizing gaming.
I’ve often heard of the idea that the Wii is perfect for parties. And while I can somewhat understand the justification for such a statement — it’s a great multiplayer platform — I’ve yet to see one played.
Now, before Nintendo zealots rise up and attempt to pick apart my argument that the Wii is in trouble, hear me out: with a study saying 67 percent of people don’t play the Wii, how important are sales? To Nintendo, hardware sales mean almost everything — the more people buy, the higher its revenue rises, the better it looks to shareholders.
But what some don’t realize is Nintendo is reliant upon software developers too. With licensing fees on the rise, Nintendo stands to make quite a bit of money if it can coax developers to make games for the console. But when just 33 percent actually use the console, what’s the impetus for developers to spend the limited amount of capital on the Wii?
For the first time, I truly believe that the Wii is best suited as a novelty device that only plays first-party full-length games and third-party mini-games. Generally speaking, most of the games on the console fit into that category anyway, and judging by those vaunted hardware sales, it seems it’s working for Nintendo.
Now, obviously I would like to see the Wii become a console capable of making me want to play full-featured titles, but I simply don’t see how it could do that. With development costs on the rise and game exclusivity becoming a rarity, most developers realize that graphics and epic titles are still the main selling points for gamers and the Wii has yet to deliver on either of those attributes.
Simply put, the Wii may be too late. If it had come out last generation, it would have easily dominated. But in an environment where games costs millions to produce, “fun” is quickly giving way to an “immersing experience” that third-party developers are willing to create on the Wii.
Sad as it is, the Wii isn’t even a contender in the console wars. With 67 percent of people using it to catch dust, the Wii has become a $250 novelty.
I could possibly see a bit of what Mr. Reisinger was ranting, but the current status isn’t enough of a reason to say “…the Wii is best suited as a novelty device…”. Yes, we’ve been getting a LOT of crappy games this year, many of which could/should of gone to Wiiware, or just cancelled all together (I’m looking at you Billy the Wizard). But after reading dozens of rants like the one above, I really want to shove a list of winter and spring releases under their noses. BW2, Fire Emblem, Galaxy, Nights, Wii Fit, Brawl, Mario Kart, Monster Hunter…do they go temporarily blind when a fact sheet crosses their desks or what? Of course a console is going to have “dead” seasons, but what’s new?! The PS3 just went through one of the longest droughts that I’ve ever seen, and yet PS3 owners are patiently waiting for solid titles, just as we are.
So my counter rant boils down to this…lets give our little, white machine a chance to get some solid titles on the market before we slap “novelty” on the box.
What do you think Infendo? Is the Wii already a failure, or is it just preparing to dominate?
October 17th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
That’s kind of scary. I’m kind of the same way already too, I haven’t played my Wii religiously ever since I beat Twilight Princess. I don’t know if you can say there’s a lack of “deep, hardcore” games because swinging around DOES kind of get lackluster.
ALLS I KNOW IS WHEN BRAWL COMES OUT MY WII IS GOING TO BE ON FIRE.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
As you said, the PS3 and it’s fanbase is doing the exact same thing. So what’s so special about the Wii and it’s fanbase doing it? The fact that the system has sold so well already. Doesn’t matter what they say, only what actually happens.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
This is sensationalist journalism at its best. The Wii has sold like hot cakes since being introduced. 3rd party developers dismissed it right off the bat and so they’re behind already in producing AAA games for the Wii, which isn’t even a year old yet. Nintendo can only develop games so fast.
To say that only 67% of Wii’s sit idle in Japan really says there is a lack of games but doesn’t point out just how large the user base is. I mean, even a game that sells to only 5% of Wii owners could still be a small hit and viable because 5% represents a larger number of Wii owners than 5% of PS3 owners.
I’m still surprised at the amount of negative press that pops up for the Wii. There is negativity from gamers, press and developers and for what? Nobody wants to like last years underdog come super star.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:03 am
I think it’s really more that all the people in the press who’ve spent the last decade establishing themselves as an authority with “hardcore gamers” are either resentful, in denial or both about the declining importance of the “hardcore gamer” and the resurgence of the traditional gamer in the pre-Playstation sense.
The Wii is the most obvious symbol of that phenomenon, so they’re going to seize upon any glimmer of hope for its eventual failure. In some cases, their careers literally depend upon it.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:05 am
The same thing happened with the Ps2. Everyone bought a console and had it chipped in a couple months, and bought nothing. Look at number of the Ps2 (like 100,000,000) and the 10 best sellers were
# Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million)
# Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (11 million)
# Gran Turismo 4 (8 million)
# Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (7.3 million)
# Final Fantasy X (6.60 million)
# Grand Theft Auto III (6.23 million)
# Madden NFL 2005 (3.59 million)
# Dragon Quest 8 (3.48 million)
# Kingdom Hearts (3.47 million)
# Madden NFL 2004 (3.44 million)
what were the other 90 million playing?, according to sales numbers they were not playing anything…
October 18th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Raising licensing fees?
Is the article writer’s aware of the budget for PS3 and 360’s game development. Wii’s development budget certainly is higher than …let’s say Gamecube…. but once put in perspective with the other next-gen systems, Wii development will turn a profit in a better ratio on it’s games than the competition . Those high fees could not be as high as the ones for PS3 or Xbox.
And as Dustin wrote… The drought is mostly due to third parties’ apathy towards the little white box.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Sure, just watch(how this comments fade away slowly as the bombing software keeps being released month after month, starting next week)
Shesh, i thought we were done with this shity arguments.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:36 am
If people are buying Wiis but not playing them then that’s bad news. Nintendo is profiting off of the game sales, not system sales, so they need to cook up some sure-fire ways to get software sold. I think WiiFit might do the trick as well as the Zapper. If the Wii is a gimmick system then why not add more gimmicks? And, much as I hate to say it, if the people want mini-games then let them have mini-games. It is the “casual” system after all. And for the “hardcore” gamers (and those of us who are just gamers who don’t need silly labels) there’s SMASH BROS!
October 18th, 2007 at 12:40 am
This is going to sound ridiculously shallow when I say it, but to put it simply:
It’s not exactly the Wii’s fault. I don’t think Nintendo is to blame for this.
If 3rd parties would make better, fuller games for the system, this overblown issue would not arise as often as it does (regardless of its credibility). We already know that Nintendo makes great games: I buy many of them. I’m getting ready to enjoy Twilight Princess for the 3rd time (yes, the 3rd). I’m going to trade some stuff at GameStop to go toward Mario Galaxy tomorrow, so I can buy it cheap next month. I check The Smash Bros. Dojo every single weekday, right after I wake up. Seriously.
I’m hardly ever excited about 3rd party material, and when I am, I’m usually let down when it arrives. A great example of this? Dewey’s Adventure. In theory, great. In practice, not so much. Is it Nintendo’s fault that this product basically sucked? No, not really.
Then why blame Nintendo for these numbers and statistics? Every time one of their flagship titles comes out, it sells like hot cakes and probably pushes a few consoles, as well. They’re doing all that they can, if you ask me.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I think people are just quick to assume the wii is a failure. It is surprising to me just how many people dislike the wii for no apparent reason other than it existing. From a marketing stand point something that sales 12.40 million (or whatever it’s up to now) units in a year does not just disappear as these analyst seem to want to suggest. Besides these analyst still overlook the fact that the nintendo is outselling the competition by the large majority. Realistically nothing can have sales figures like the wii has had during previous months forever. The market is going to have ups and downs and think part of the problem is that too many people think of the wii as some god-like thing that cannot be conquered (or a god-like thing that people are just waiting to fall so that they poke fun at it) but the fact is it’s just another system that has sold really well. I personally believe that the wii will hit its second big wind about the time of wiifit but only time will tell.
For me I have gotten what I paid for and that is what matters to me. I have a healthy supply of games that I still enjoy to play and I enjoy using the wii channels as well. When November roles around I will be bombarded with another nice selection of games. After that games will continue to come and I will continue to play them whether Nintendo is first or last. In the end I seriously doubt the wii will fail. But it’s times like this I say to myself “que sera, sera” because I am happy with what I have bought and I’m sure others are as well.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:14 am
I think we also have to remember all the other great titles that we’ve been experiencing lately: Halo 3, Orange Box, Phantom Hourglass, so on. We knew of this upcoming dry season, which was then going to be followed by a huge rush wii gaming awesomeness. It’s not that I dislike my Wii, or think that it’s dying; it’s just that honestly there’s been a drought, and other venues have been there to pick up the slack. To reiterate what Crunch Bar said, come Brawl, I might as well just leave my Wii on all the time.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:29 am
This report should have included data on how many 360 and PS3 owners don’t use their consoles. The argument is totally useless without context. I bet even more than 67% of PS3 owners don’t use it.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:35 am
^
This is the only data Mr. Hamamura released. Sorry.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:52 am
“Nintendo is profiting off of the game sales, not system sales, so they need to cook up some sure-fire ways to get software sold.” huh? guess you are new to Nintendo… Nintendo already made double the profits of the gamecube, I think a Wii costs about $80 to make and the wiimote costs about $20.
We been through this for years, and even with Nintnedo the number 3 company in Japan they still can’t accept it. If the Wiiends up being the same thing as the gamecube (20 Nintendo AAA titles and 4 AAA third party titles) I’m there. I already bought about 7 3rd party games since they seem good to me, no matter what reviewers say, since many have come out and said they hated the Wii and the DS, who fuckin’ cares? Nintendo already said they took a different path so they don’t care about the other 2 guys. With Nintendo doing their own thing you could say XBox360 is #1 and Ps3 is a close #2. If everyone wants to hear that, let’s keep it like that, I’m sticking with Nintendo (the race dropout) and their crappy new consoles.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:53 am
interesting. i want info on how this compares to other systems though.
personally- i still can’t play wii sports for more than 20 mins before moving on. so i would understand if this were a trend.
October 18th, 2007 at 2:00 am
I know Jake, i wasn’t criticizing your post, I was criticizing the original report. Cheers mate
October 18th, 2007 at 3:20 am
It IS a problem, I think. It’s actually a two-fold problem. One is the traditional/hardcore side and the other is the casual/new gamer side.
On the Hardcore side, aside from Monster Hunter (which doesn’t even count outside of Japan), what BIG 3rd Party games are coming to the Wii?
What 3rd Party games on the Wii are coming out anytime soon that would make PS3 or 360 owners excited and jealous?
The closest thing there is is No More Heros and, frankly, other than Wii owners, only the hardest of the hardcore seem interested in that…probably the art style alone turns the rest of the “hardcore GAMERZ” off, sadly.
We’re STILL waiting for those announcements. They’re GOT to start happening, like, YESTERDAY. Even f-cking BIONIC COMMANDO, which this VERY site noted a few weeks ago how perfect it would be for the Wii, is GOING TO THE DAMN PS360 AND PASSING OVER THE WII!!! Where are the shooters? The epic RPGs? The stupid GTA/sandbox games? Those are the games that the mainstream likes.
The other side of the problem is the Casuals. It’s a safe bet that everyone here could basically be considered “hardcore”. But for most of these New Gamer folks, this is their first system. There are no Casual styles games coming out, either. Maybe EA’s Smarty Pants, but that’s about it.
The concept of a game drought is bizarre to them, but we can’t fault them for being pissed. If they don’t get something good from SOMEONE *REAL* soon, they’re going to regret buying a Wii and forget about it…even when new, good games come out.
They haven’t bought anything, most likely, since Wii Play…and they know as well as us Hardcores do that Wii Play F’ing sucked.
Nintendo themselves should have had Wii Sports 2 or Wii Golf or Wii Music out 3 friggin’ months ago! Nintendo in particular CAN’T afford to take these New Gamers for granted the way the take us Nintendo fanboys for granted. WE will wait for those games because we’re friggin’ devoted. But they won’t.
If Wii Fit isn’t out in the US for Christmas, then I’m willing to bet that that’s it. It’s over. They screwed themselves.
So I’m not at all surprised to learn that people aren’t playing their Wii. There isn’t crap for ANYONE to play on it, Casual or Hardcore.
Us Hardcores will happily wait, but we’re a pretty small base, all things considered. The New Gamers won’t wait. They NEED to see their purchase justified if Nintendo wants to succeed in bringing in this new market.
And the sad part is, if the Wii flops, the 8th Generation of systems is just going to be more of the same. More powerful than anything ever before, more expensive and no new concepts. Dev costs are going to sky rocket, the gaming niche will continue to shrink and there’ll be another crash.
…and Casual/New Gamers are going to have felt burned on the Wii and won’t be so quick to buy another gaming console for a looooooong time.
October 18th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Women, middle aged people and grandparents DO NOT OWN Wii’s.
It is a marketing campaign. It is NOT reality.
Stop being so naive and beleiving everything you see in the commercials!
October 18th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Expect to see a flood of these type of stories (even many that become so nonsensical you wonder what the article writer is smoking). It is all about Nintendo’s skyrocketing stock value.
When Apple’s stock value skyrocketed, all of a sudden a deluge of stories came out about how IPOD’s fad was over, how all the kids were sick of it, how there was always an IPOD killer over the next horizon, of IPODs that explode in people’s pockets, of how I-Tunes was about ready to collapse, and so on. Some say it is ’sensationalistic’ news and it is true that Nintendo and Apple stories attract the most eyes, but most things in the world are connected to money. There are people out there who do not like Nintendo’s stock being where it is and desire it to go down.
Atari 2600 and NES were declared fads as well. Every year with the NES was Nintendo’s “last good year” they would say (especially as Nintendo skyrocketed in fortune back in the 80s). While there are many investors who are winning out big with Nintendo, many are not and they have some major sour grapes.
October 18th, 2007 at 5:02 am
@Heywood Jablomi
I haven’t seen evidence in my extended family of them being part of an ad campaign. Lord Knows in the UK the ads are frequent enough.
Back on point we must also remember that this is a survey carried out by a hardcore gaming magazine, whose readership is, not coincidentally, made up of hardcore gamers.
Therefore it would be more accurate to say that 67% of HARDCORE Japanese Wii owers hardly play anymore.
You will never get an accurate picture of Wii usage because you’ll never be able to sample from the total userbase due to it’s diversity.
Besides, I don’t hold much stock in Famitsu’s opinion anymore. After admitting they get paid for review scores, even having them vetted before being published, I can’t beleive a word they print.
October 18th, 2007 at 6:54 am
We’re looking at someone taking a single statistic and prognosticating doom for the Wii. Boo this man for trying to attract attention to his writing by building a theory based on smoke and mirrors.
October 18th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Yes, as you just stated PS3 owners are going through the same thing which may lead me to believe that the writer of this blog entry either is a fanboy or just an idiot. I mean come on, as you said, all game systems go through this. Hell, even there was that LONG period of time when all there was on the 360 was Gears of War. Just give it a chance and it will blow your mind. This is the DS thing all over again, you’d think these bumbling idiots would have learned by now.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:13 am
To say that there is no 3rd party support is extremely fuzzy math. 3 Games that I am greatly looking forward to, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki, and NitroBike, are 3rd party games, not mini games, and Wii Exclusive. And those are all coming out in the next 6 months. There are some other big 3rd party full-length games coming out, but these 3 really grab my attention.
Regarding No More Heroes, sure the art style might turn some people off, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a hardcore game. In addition, Zack & Wiki may have a “kiddie” art style, but it looks gorgeous and I’m sure is going to be a great game. From what I’ve read, some puzzles are going to stump players for over an hour. If that’s not hardcore, then someone tell me what is.
I think that the whole “hardcore” argument is ridiculous for the majority of the time. Why don’t people just come out and say that hardcore means “HD graphics, lots of violence and/or boobies, and a brown/grey color scheme”? Because I really get the impression that gameplay doesn’t get its fair place in the argument.
If you put Smash Bros. Brawl and Dead or Alive 5 in front of one of these people, they would immediately say that DOA5 is hardcore and Smash isn’t. Every Smash player here knows that it is one of the most hardcore games on the market… go YouTube some Smash vids and try to keep from crapping yourself in fear of playing some of these people online in Brawl. My friends and I played hundreds of hours of Melee, and we are very good at it, but there are some truly “hardcore” Smash players out there. But wait, DOA5 has more boobies. Big, jiggly boobies. Slap a hardcore sticker on that sucker, and toss Smash into the casual games bin.
I bought a Wii, and a DS, and pretty much every Nintendo system since NES because I love Nintendo 1st party games. To me, everything else is gravy. I guess that means I’m not hardcore. Tell that to the thousands and thousands of dollars I’ve spent on these systems over the years.
Boobies and Explosions FTW!
October 18th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Man this is an argument I don’t have the energy for. Personally, My 360 has been getting way more play time lately than my Wii. The only thing I’ve played on my Wii in months is Metroid Prime 3 and a handful of Virutal Console games. On my 360, I’ve been playing Orange Box, Halo, Pac Mac Championship Edition, NCAA Football 08, Halo 3…
I agree with the quoted article. The Wii *is* in danger. Not immediate danger, but danger nonetheless. The Wii may be loved by soccer moms across the world, but if it’s disregarded by video game fans, the ones who were “getting bored without realizing it”, then things could start looking less shiny for the system.
I hope that doesn’t happen, but I’m not convinced it won’t.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:42 am
@Instant Awesome
Your exactly right. We cannot say that 3rd party support for the wii is none existent. Has anyone forgotten about wiiware? Besides where was the gamecube this time last generation? What was the game situation like? Nintendo has already shown improvement with 3rd party support over last generation and I for one think that is a success in and of itself. Besides I don’t think that with the new revenues that Nintendo has received from console sales that we will be seeing the wii go the way of the dodo any time soon.
October 18th, 2007 at 8:54 am
To be honest my Wii has been collecting dust for several months now. The only time I turn it on is if there is a good VC game I want to download on Mondays (which is VERY rare thanks to Nintendo’s sometimes sub-par VC selection.. but there are diamonds in the rough). I only have 1 real Wii game, which is Metroid Prime 3, and even that game I dont play too much.
So my Wii is just sitting in my living room, not getting much love. Maybe I’m just getting tired of video games? I dunno.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Too soon to dismiss the Wii as a failure, or as a success, I think…
But to be sure, the Wii has five serious problems in my view:
Lack of marketing for games: The system itself has got really good coverage, but new games are hardly ever heard of in the media (compared to games in the other two consoles);
Internal competition: The DS gets far better and more games than the Wii, believe it or not! Especially in the “hardcore” area. If you add price, I get far more entertainment for my dollar on a DS title than on a Wii title;
Low entertainment value: While I think $50 is a fair price for a Metroid Prime 3 or a Super Mario Galaxy, more than $20 is far too much to pay for most of the 3rd party titles that come out for the Wii… The titles that are more “casual” play, such as Dewey, are not competing with the $60 titles of other consoles, but with the $10 ones in the download services, such as LIVE Arcade;
The Wii not seen as a game console: Most of the people who bought a Wii bought it as a Wii Sports machine, not as a console to play other games on. So called “casual gamers” don’t care for buying video games for their Wii Sports machine. Tthis problem gets worse with the lack of marketing I mentioned above.
Lackluster online experience: The Wii online support hasn’t reached even the levels of the DS, and it is light years behind something like LIVE. There is simply not a big Wii online community out there, despite the sales of the console. Most people that bought a Wii don’t even realize they can easily connect it to their network! That alone might not be a big problem, but it does add up with the other five issues I see.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Either way, I couldn’t give a crap.
So long as Nintendo makes games then that’s enough for me. I played nothing but Nintendo through the cube era, which, many people will tell you, was crap (I couldn’t disagree more for the record).
I have more or less 30 games for my cube too, plenty of which are 3rd party. Although they may not be awesome, they were worth picking up.
I’d be quite happy with all the stellar 1st party titles and a few 3rd party sleeper hits - much like there was on the cube, and, to a lesser extent, the 64.
But the bottom line is, articles like this should not be around for at least another 12 months yet. The Wii is barely even a year old!
October 18th, 2007 at 9:45 am
lol, I’ve been hearing for the past year now that ANY SECOND NOW the Wii is going to be in zomg BIG TRUBBLE and the 360/PS3/Atari 3600/whatever are going to make some big mega-comeback. All this while Nintendo has been diving into their Olympic swimming pools full of money and a year after release, the Wii is still darn near impossible to find. Yeah, Nintendo must be quaking in their boots.
Denial is an amazing thing.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Agreed, Invisible Man. But sadly, we’re apparently sensationalists who are in denial because of Nintendo’s stock price.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Well, there is one big problem with the whole statement. All consoles, DVD and MP3 players are novelty devices. You will not die if you don’t have or use them. I do agree that there are marketing and online issues, and they will matter to a great many consumers. There are strengths however, no other major console has the same local multi player appeal. One problem I am seeing is developers who are unable to develop a fun party game. They are stuck in the mindset of developing for online or single player i.e. one person paired to the console. I am actually looking forward to games that I am sure will range on critics and the typical gamer scale somewhere between crap and meh. I am actually starting to get excited for M&S at the Olympics for the Archery alone. The key is to reach the expanded market each game has to be more dramatically different than other games on the market. We can tell the difference between Bioshock and Halo, but they don’t see a point in shelling out for another bowling game when the system came with one bowling is bowling ffs. The bubble could burst, it could expand again, but why debate it. I bought one, I can’t turn back the clock if I become dissatisfied I will get rid of it. I still have games I am looking forward to so I will not. The big thing here is I could give a shit if Nintendo wins the console war, I have already won because I will never have to rent smelly shoes ever again.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Yeah the Wii is done. I just threw mine out after reading this article, better save up for my PS3.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:59 am
What a nice discussion, very interesting comments indeed :).
Anyway, i´m not the case, cause my Wii has seen no rest since it´s purchase, but for the people complaining about a drought(wtf?) worry no more, next week will skick off a plethora of good releases, and that will never stop from now on, it took some time for the 3rd parties to get the big picture, but now they are all on board.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:10 am
“Women, middle aged people and grandparents DO NOT OWN Wii’s.
It is a marketing campaign. It is NOT reality.
Stop being so naive and beleiving everything you see in the commercials!”
My mom, aunt and girl I work with all own a Wii. They would be considered Casual/New Gamer.
I am the only person I know who owns a Wii. I would likely be considered Hardcore. It’s NOT a marketing campaign. Nintendo is really on the cusp of something big here if they don’t screw it up like they do with almost everything else.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Ok, this is going to said odd, but blame yourselves sometime. I still play Wii Sports all the time. I play Red Steel and Metroid Prime 3. I will be getting more titles soon.
People are too easily bored. It’s a part of our greedy human nature to move on to the next thing before even finishing the first thing. We should be able to play the fun Wii games that we do have, and play them a lot. Instead we are worried about the next great game or griping about the lack of said great game. Try being a little satisfied with the nice things that we do have. There is a lot of enjoyment in the games we already have. There will be a lot of enjoyment to be had in the next Wii titles we purchase.
I can play any of my games over and over again. I don’t have to whine about the lack of mega title X, Y, and Z. Yes I happily await them and hope to see them, but in the meanwhile I am still having fun. Fun. You should try it sometime.
In closing, since most people are NOT like me, I guess Nintendo and third parties do need to put out 3 blockbuster titles every month. Sad but true.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Every system has its lull period and the Wii is no different. There was a time I didn’t touch my 360 for a while (and I haven’t been playing it lately either). There was period I thought the DS was going to fail due to lack of games and the subsequent release of the PSP, but look at it now. One statistic is not going to spell doom for the Wii especially when it’s not put in context with other systems. Why aren’t there articles about how poorly the PS3 is selling despite the huge fan base of the PS2? And let’s not forget the almost non-existence of the 360 in Japan.
October 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am
You know when I look back on the fact that just last month we were all still hearing about about how wii supplies were still hard to find in some places and how Nintendo was still enjoying massive success. It hasn’t even been a month but it is apparently doom an gloom time for Nintendo. Just seems a bit humorous to me. No system is going to be perfect and every system is going to have highs and lows and we aren’t going to know anything about what the market is going to do until we can look back on the past and see what really happened. Besides market analyst are silly beasts and we shouldn’t trust them :).
October 18th, 2007 at 11:52 am
i play my wii almost everyday and i’m having a lot of fun. i consider myself a long time gamer, since the atari days, and i’ve been gaming throughout these years. first of all i don’t agree with this wii drought, to me there’s more games out there that i can play. i definitely don’t understand people that say they don’t play their wii. i guess i will never understand these people. and to the invisible man, how is the DS now all of a sudden a ‘hardcore’ machine?? it never was. that’s the most ridiculous thing i ever heard. from what i remember, the ‘hardcore’ folk said the very same things about DS as they said about wii. the only difference being that the DS has been out a few years longer, and the game lineup had a chance to mature. also a lot of 3rd parties had the time to finally understand what nintendo is doing. aaahhh…..how easily people forget. point is, give the wii a couple more years; it will eventually follow the footsteps of the DS. these arguments from this article are a waste of time. this is definitely wishful thinking on his part.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
The only reason my Wii is collecting dust is the fact that I just don’t have the time due to building a business and the fact that my kids keep getting grounded from it. I am so looking forward to the games coming up and hope to have the time to play.
There always seems to be the “calm before the storm” feel in October right before the Christmas shopping season hits. I think one reason that people’s Wii’s are collecting dust is due to people getting back into the swing of schooling and people putting in the extra work hours before the shopping season and holidays.
I could be wrong, but I feel that when the holiday season hits the Wii’s will be burning the midnight oil.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
As it stands, there are only a few 3rd party devs that ‘get’ either Wii or DS.
You just do or you don’t, it’s in your DNA.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I thought the Wii was through the hard times and was really starting to shape up. For the longest time there weren’t that many quality games. It amazed me how it could sell so well month after month, even through the summer, with so few major releases. After Metroid 3, there seems to be a lot of quality games (both first and third party). These should keep those sales high.
As far as the situation in Japan, they haven’t had a major release there for awhile. Even at it’s worst though, the Wii has outsold it’s nearest competitor, the PS3, 3 to 1.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I remember, back in the day, that I didn’t play my NES/SNES/GB/PS1/PS2/DS for weeks sometimes. Through my gaming years I have lots of spells of boredom, even with the AAA/KILLER/KILLAHHHHH!!!! titles. You know, when you’ve got a life, sometimes you like to do something else. Like read a book or something.
It always amuses me how media and gamers hype up a game for months on end, only to hype up the next game a week after the title is released. We bought it, we scored it, we shelved it, OMG LOOK AT THAT FUCKING NEW GAME IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!
There has never been a period that saw one killer game a month per console. There were lots and lots of games that were just good. And frankly, I enjoy playing those the most. For instance, I docked more hours into Yakuza than into GTA SA (played it for three hours, died with boredom). I had more fun with Double Dragon II than with Street Fighter II. And the list goes on.
October 18th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I hate to say it, but my Wii has been gathering dust ever since I finished off prime 3. Seriously, I have not turned it on.
Before Prime 3 ? I only played it occasionally on the VC, the internet channel, and Wii sports with people who ” never played that Wii thing ”
My 360, on the other hand, has been on almost EVERY DAY. Halo 3 and GOW KEEP ME COMING BACK time and again with online gameplay. Also Live Arcade is more appealing to me then VC, at least now.
Still, I love the Wii. And I hope to enjoy Mario, SSB, and all the other goodies soon!
I don’t think the Wii is in any real trouble here. However, it IS true that many people are just not playing as much Wii as they did. Nintendo is missing out on software revenue. Partially due to sh!ty advertising of the big titles that ARE out.
October 18th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
The Wii’s history is mirroring that of the DS - an exciting start followed by some rather one-dimensional games.
It wasn’t till the second year that developers (including Nintendo) REALLY learned how to use the DS. Remember when Yoshi Touch ‘n’ Go was the only real game to use the DS’s special features?
I predict that Wii development will really hit its stride next year, and then it will be the DS all over again!
October 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
There are a lot of people out there who want the Wii to fail. They cling tenaciously to any data that might support their desires. The famitsu poll is by no means good news, but if they are polling readers, then you can give it less concern. Famitsu readers are hardcore and thats not the sole purpose of the Wii. As a gamer, the Wii has me more excited for the next 6 months of gaming than any other console out there. Period.
October 18th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Yeah, like I said before, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t play Mario Strikers Charged. And that’s pretty much all myself and my friend do for hours on end whenever he’s over. And that’s gonna get even worse when Smash is out.
I haven’t played a game console this much since my NES & SNES. That said, all the new people buying Wiis are good for about 1 or 2 purchases a year - What else did you expect from ‘casual gamers’? Why is this gloom and doom for Nintendo?
The more people that know about something, the better it will take. How do you think Arnold won California?
October 18th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
i dont play my wii that much, untill smash bros (u noe, since ill be playing it all the time) and i like the wii. i wonder y people like to give bad news more than good news? besides no game system has a crazy killer game list every month on the first year when it comes out. ps3 and 360 are like that also, no one gave them negative comments (maybe ps3) but there are just too many whiners
October 19th, 2007 at 12:04 am
I’m kind of on a break from posting while I focus on the real world for a bit, but there’s one thing I noticed tonight while watching the Red Sox win: Nintendo DS and Wii ads, every commercial break.
What does that mean? I’ll let you figure that out.
My thoughts? Pretty much with Malstrom, who as usual blows every hater and dissenter out of the water, even though they don’t think so. But that’s exactly how this sort of disruption happens.
There’s a wave coming this holiday the likes we haven’t seen since 1986-87. Believe that or not, it’s coming, and gaming in general will be better in a year because of it.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I’ve got news for you. My 60 something Mother in law begged my wife to find her one after they played ours, and she bought it. They love to bowl with it. So that’s my evidence so far that older people buy the system.
I would mention, though, that they don’t seem to be buying any games, and the concept of looking up reviews for opinions on new games is alien to them. The internet is for E-Bay. For the moment, the Wii is a Wii Sports device.
When there is something Wii Sports-like (Not Wii Fit) that shows up on E-Bay, they’ll probably be interested in buying it, sight unseen.
October 27th, 2007 at 11:41 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
October 28th, 2007 at 1:14 am
The poll is unreliable because, the way I see it, a person who doesn’t play their Wii regularly is MUCH more likely to participate in such a poll than one who does. You see similar results in public polls on the failure rate of 360s. While the number of defective consoles obviously isn’t more than 50%, the results show that the majority of respondants are people who have had one or more failures of their consoles. For those with working 360s, this kid of story isn’t attention-worthy, thus the skewed results.