xPixelatedx said:
Yeah it did outsell the PS3 and Xbox originally, all while starting underpowered, but you are not really seeing the forest for the trees. In the 6 year course it ran, it's limited graphical abilities were constantly used against it; in the spite thrown it's way and the excuses developers used to avoid making ports for it. People hating on the wii might not seem like a big deal, but it was. They alienated a whole crowd, which would have added even more sales. Worse yet, the crowd they alienated was the crowd most likely to buy again and buy consistently. Nintendo even came out and admitted their new, current audience wasn't sustainable even if they did shower them with money before, which is exactly why they have stated several times they are trying to once again coax back the more seasoned gamers. Being a big seller or not, there is a reason why the wii sales teetered off into oblivion over the last two years. That's a big contrast to the PS3 and Xbox which are still selling strong right now. The wii was a console that could have used a better library of games, but too many developers didn't want to go the extra mile to optimize and downgrade what they were making for the PS3 and Xbox, because that was considered the standard now. This is why half the wii's games (maybe more) are just cash-grab, shovel-ware party games.
It would be extraordinarily unfortunate for the wiiU to repeat history, especially since that new audience that Nintendo caught last-gen is already bored of them and moving to tablets and cellphone games. Nintendo knows that, game industry analysts know it and you should know it to. That said, I don't think the wiiU will do as bad. But the fact that developers have to go above and beyond to optimize and downgrade their games again is very disheartening and once the new gen gains momentum we will see less and less cross-platform games making it to the wiiU. So, yes, it's the wiiU's failing. The only reason why the wiiU is getting the frequency of cross platform games it's getting now is because the other platforms are the last gen ones, so it's easy to make it work on the wiiU. That's going to change in a year or two.
Your sentences in this block of text are very long which makes it hard to break up and respond to, so I'll just number my points as we go:
1. It outsold the Xbox and PS3 "originally?" Those numbers are based on the total number of units sold up to the present. At this moment, the Wii has sold nearly 100 million units, the PS3 is at 77 million, and the 360 is at 70 million. It beat the 360 and the PS3, and is still beating them. The Wii is the clear winner this console generation, going by units sold. And sales for the PS3 and 360 are only declining even more at this point while people wait for the next consoles to be announced.
2. Again, the Wii made it into more households than the 360 or the PS3. If there are any consoles that appealed to fewer demographics, it's those two. Yes the "hardcore" gamers are a demographic that exists and that shouldn't be ignored, but the Wii has proven that there is a lot of money to be made in other demographics as well. The Wii catering to the more casual market has only proven that there is
more money to be made in cheaper more "gimmicky" consoles, not the opposite. You can argue all you want about the quality of the games that came out on the Wii compared to the quality of games on other consoles, but if you're going to sit here and argue that they "failed" and lost money in the investment you are simply wrong. You can't argue with numbers.
The very least people expect from Nintendo consoles is Zelda, Metroid, Mario, and Pokemon. The Wii has done just fine in providing those games, in fact it has been argued by many that the Mario Galaxy games are some of the best games from both the franchise and from this entire console generation.
3. I can understand your concerns about the quality of the games in Wii, but we already have two "hardcore" consoles and PCs. Why do we need a third? It's clear there are people who want to play what the Wii and WiiU have to offer, so why do you want to ruin their fun because you've decided the games you like can't be contained on merely two consoles (and the PC market). Nobody was alienated by the Wii catering to lighter games. It's been pretty clear since the PS1/PS2 and Xbox that Nintendo is no longer the console to go to if you want the more "hardcore" titles. All of your major FPS and horror franchises had been PlayStation or Xbox exclusive long before the Wii. If anything, it's developers that abandoned them.
4. The Wii was not made with the intention of easily porting from the 360 or the PS3. It was made to be a new option for gamers, to offer things the PS3, 360, or PCs could at a price they could never compete with. And they won. So just stop it with this elitist nonsense. You've got plenty of places to play your hardcore titles, and none of them are being hurt by the mere
existence of the Wii. For fuck's sake it's been out for, what, seven years? Get over it, the games industry certainly has. I haven't heard of any hardcore titles getting cancelled because they couldn't port to the Wii. I don't recall Bioware or Bethesda being hurt because they couldn't put Mass Effect or Skyrim on it.
