Oprah buys a Wii

[Russian Redneck]

I wanted to make up a "the end is nigh" comment but since everyone's doing it that would be a little pointless and redundant. So, I'll just say that I hope Nintendo screws its fans over so hard their pants suddenly resemble overalls overnight. Good riddance!

 

[Shadow Tyrant]

Thing is, if that actually happens, we could see a scenario of actually bringing the truth of art within games to the masses. Say Oprah plays No More Heroes, then talks about it on her show. He have tens of millions of mother who are suddenly hearing that games actually have meaning, have subtlety, are art.

Oprah would never play No More Heroes.

Here's a speculated list of approved games by Oprah:

Wii Sports
Wii Sports Resort
Wii Play
Wii Fit
Wii Music
Wii Cult Brainwasher

 

[plastic_window]

The pessimist's opinion:

I'm well aware that casual games are a success, and I'm going to put my money on the line and say that as games get more popular, you're going to see a shift in the number of "hardcore" games being made. The Wii is opening up a huge market for it's casual games, and both Sony and Microsoft have made a few attempts to appeal to the casual market. I don't imagine that either company would just sit back and let Nintendo help itself to the biggest market in gaming - though it's also possible for many casual gamers to move to the "hardcore" games. Developers will continue to make games for the "hardcore" audience, but casual developers will emerge and I suspect that they would make more money as time goes on. Again, I don't think companies with hungry share-holders will want a slice of a small pie if they can get their hands on a larger one. If this actually does happen, some modern developers will move to the casual market. There'll still be "hardcore" developers, just not a huge amount of them.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

I really don't see the problem. Really. People complain when gaming culture is lambasted in the media, and that we, as gamers, are misunderstood and reviled by 'normal' people. Then, when it looks like gaming might become more widely accepted, they complain because... I really don't know why...

If you're worried about the spread of 'casual' games, well, it's pretty much accepted that it's the Wii's market now. It's not a real competitor to the Xbox and PS3 in the 'hardcore' area of games, it never will be and it was never intended to be. That does not make it any less of a games console, but rather one aimed at a different part of the market, which it does very well. This won't have any real effect on the more hardcore, adult-orientated games, because the consumer base doesn't really overlap too much.

... ok I sort of went off-topic there...

Still, I must extend my sympathies to anyone working in a games store when all the mothers come in

We don't like oprah because she will just push the shovelware and casual games. She probably won't ever push games as art because most of those are more mature titles and mature titles could ruin her look with soccer moms. Us hardcore gamers like it when hardcore games are pushed because there are some real artsy games.

When demomware is pushed we get real iffy cause then if the soccer mums kid gets on xbox live our ears will be fucked for the next hour or so.

 

[the monopoly guy]

Here's a speculated list of approved games by Oprah:

Wii Sports
Wii Sports Resort
Wii Play
Wii Fit
Wii Music
Wii Cult Brainwasher

She will nto approve of Wii fit the moment it tells her she is over weight

Anyway, the moral of this story is
Who. Gives. A shit.
The Wii is mostly casual games and I'm guessing the soccer moms will be casual gamers should she tell them to get one. Therefor it's not a big deal to anyone that's not a casual gamer. They won't be preaching about how GTA is bad over XBL or giving people recipes for cina-buns on PSN, they will be in the living room, alone, wondering why her 17 year old son would rather play Bioshock instead of Super Monkey Balls, and why her husband laughs whenever he heres that name. And her 8 year old girl will cry for a Barbie game. Ok, that was harsh. But they don't really know much about gaming and what we like, why we like it, and why these serious games with some blood aren't that bad for your little baby that's now 17, older, and maybe younger (but, for the love of chtuluu, not too young! M means NO 12 YEAR OLDS).

In summation: whoopty-doo

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

The pessimist's opinion:

I'm well aware that casual games are a success, and I'm going to put my money on the line and say that as games get more popular, you're going to see a shift in the number of "hardcore" games being made. The Wii is opening up a huge market for it's casual games, and both Sony and Microsoft have made a few attempts to appeal to the casual market. I don't imagine that either company would just sit back and let Nintendo help itself to the biggest market in gaming - though it's also possible for many casual gamers to move to the "hardcore" games. Developers will continue to make games for the "hardcore" audience, but casual developers will emerge and I suspect that they would make more money as time goes on. Again, I don't think companies with hungry share-holders will want a slice of a small pie if they can get their hands on a larger one. If this actually does happen, some modern developers will move to the casual market. There'll still be "hardcore" developers, just not a huge amount of them.

Yeah but casual gaming only company's ruin it for developing studios. Because they push a billion casual games out so its harder for newly developing studios to make money to get to the hardcore market..So casual games overall hurt hardcore gaming a lot..

 

[Monarch of Greenwich]

Definately a marketing campaign for all those skanks and gayfurs that actually watch her...