Why the Wii won

[D_987]

Microsoft Achilles' heel is the immense dislike amongst the Japanese demographic.

But interestingly enough, the Xbox 360 has been outselling both the PS2 and the PS3 in Japan for a while now.

Yeah, I read an article about that recently - Microsoft have been trying very hard to get sales up in Japan, and it seems to be working. They are (as you stated) outselling the PS3, and are deliberately buying exclusives they believe the Japanese will buy.

 

[D_987]

The Wii only 'won' because they are selling it more as a toy than a game console, if they hadn't put out all this casual bollocks then it would just be another Gamecube with a fancy control system.

And the PS3 is selling it as a DVD player instead of a console

blu-ray players are selling for £250, so buying a PS3 just for it is still an option, for now...

 

[AceDiamond]

The Wii only 'won' because they are selling it more as a toy than a game console, if they hadn't put out all this casual bollocks then it would just be another Gamecube with a fancy control system.

And the PS3 is selling it as a DVD player instead of a console

And the PSP is being sold as an MP3/Movie player that surfs the internet instead of a console.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Well, the Wii hasn't won yet

but if it does win (and it may), it's because it catered to the absolutely lowest common denominator.

Sony looked at who the 360 were selling to and were like "Idiot fratboys! Screw that! We're catering to the elites!"

then they both saw who the Wii was selling too and laughed "Old men and housewives? You can have them! LULULUL"

Then the Wii started outselling them and they're like "OH SHIT! MAKE SOME SHITTY GAMES LIKE NINTENDO DID FOR THE WIVES AND OLD MEN TO PLAY! Hey! Nintendo Fans! We have crappy games too! Just like Nintendo!"

but it was too late.

well Sony has ripped off from both other consoles and now the 360 has ripped off at least from the wii so... Sony has its sixaxis and "trophies"(acheivements), and now the 360 has its "avatars"(miis)

 

[laikenf]

Here we go, another wii bashing tread.

 

[Aura Guardian]

The Wii only 'won' because they are selling it more as a toy than a game console, if they hadn't put out all this casual bollocks then it would just be another Gamecube with a fancy control system.

And the PS3 is selling it as a DVD player instead of a console

blu-ray players are selling for £250, so buying a PS3 just for it is still an option, for now...

The Wii only 'won' because they are selling it more as a toy than a game console, if they hadn't put out all this casual bollocks then it would just be another Gamecube with a fancy control system.

And the PS3 is selling it as a DVD player instead of a console

And the PSP is being sold as an MP3/Movie player that surfs the internet instead of a console.

Case in point

 

[Limos]

The Wii made good games that were accessible.

When the PS3 and Xbox360 saw this they were like "Lulz, we makes casual games too!!" But they made retarded shovelware and labled it casual.

Third party developers saw the Wii and they also made crappy shovelware, "They aren't REAL gamers, they won't even notice" the third party developers said. But oh no, they noticed.

So the absolutely massive demographic of people who want to play videogames but don't care for the Hardcore crowd all bought the Wii. And the Xbox and PS3 were all like "But why don't they like us!?!?!" And it's because they didn't understand that there is a difference between casual and retarded. Casual gamers are just as intelligent, but they don't want a game that lasts 96 hours and you need superhuman reflexes to beat the tutorial.

 

[Tattaglia]

My friend has a Wii and we laugh at him. And he doesn't have comedic talent. Just thought I'd throw that in there. But does it really matter? I didn't know everyone was having a competition. And it ended... already? Hmm, I see.

Well I'll just stick with my "loser" PS3 and play video games for fun, like a loser should.

 

[runtheplacered]

I have my doubts; perhaps you had Weasel coffee instead, or an imitation version not made from actual civets

There's also a difference between wild grown Civet and farm raised. The truth is though, no matter how expensive something is or what kind of reputation something has, it's always a matter of personal taste. Wine is another classic example of this. I can go through a reserve wine list and find wines I like even more for a heck of a lot cheaper on a core menu.

FYI, I don't even particularly like wine all that much, I've just worked around it for awhile now. So what would interest me versus what would interest an aficionado are two different things. Certain people would say that red wines goes with X-type of meat, while others say white wine goes with Y-type of meat. But, in reality, drink whatever you think goes best. Not what some other unwritten rule would make you think.

 

[Cheesebob]

The Wii has the most shovelware games out of all 3 of this generation consoles, but it does have some gems.

But some beans in the shit doesn't make good coffee so it hasn't won yet

Obviously, you have not had any civet coffee yet. By far quoted the best coffee (and most expensive) in the world at the moment.

On the contrary, I have but disliked it but I had that in mind when I typed that

I have my doubts; perhaps you had Weasel coffee insteadquote]

Ah thats it,

I always get confused between civets and weasels...

 

[guardian001]

The only real reason the Wii has outsold other consoles is because Nintendo for the most part ignored gamers, aiming instead for the much larger population of people who don't know how to turn on a computer.
So while Sony and Microsoft are fighting over the hardcore gamers, Nintendo is off making billions on the rest of the world.

Please note that I'm not saying the Wii doesn't have fun games or games for hardcore gamers, or that it doesn't appeal to gamers, I'm only saying that most of the games are not aimed at the gaming community specifically.

 

[Bob_F_It]

Won? Someone blew the final whistle?
Well, the reason why the Wii is doing well is because Nintendo marketed it towards those who were alienated by video games, and just sent a message of "this can look fun; all aboard the casual boat!"

 

[axia777]

I have heard a lot of complaints about the Wii And I don't get as much use out of mine as I would like to but it outsold the X-box 360 and the PlayStation 3 combined. How did Nintendo do it? I think it was the marketing and the expectation of gameplay innovation instead of just glistening graphics and Havoc physics.

The battle is not over yet so NO ONE has "won" yet. Don't count the chickens before the eggs have hatched.

 

[StickManRampage]

I think the Wii won for a few reasons: (still dont think it did but this is y if it won)

First: its cheap

Second: because its cheap low wage families can now afford entertainment, and since there is such a high percentage of low wage people in America, thats y so many sold.

Third: it had a good name backin it, Nintendo. well it was a good name till the wii was released...

Fourth: the idea of having a star wars game where u can use ur wii remote as a lightsaber and actually make it have an effect.

Fifth: the Wii was made for fun family entertainment that was acceptable for all ages, and with the amount of families in the US today, and not being able to make ur child shut up because ull be arrested for fucking sayin no, parents will do wutevr they can to shut their kids up.

 

[Graustein]

Am I the only one who laughs at people that use the virtual console because they're (presumably) too stupid to use an emulator?

Or maybe they don't like pirating their games?
Did that not occur to you?

 

[RhinoTuna]

I'd never buy a Wii, when it's late and i want to play a game, i really don't want to be flailing my arms around like a loony. I want to be lazy

 

[Joeshie]

And by your ass-backward logic I suppose Nintendo "sold out" the game industry by making Super Mario Bros.? And, yeah, admittedly mainstream gamers can be expected to have mainstream tastes, but on the whole the game industry has only become more diverse and bountiful since it vaulted to success in the mid-eighties - which has occured concurrently with its commercial growth.

You call an influx of shitty shovel-ware "more diverse and bountiful"? Aside from the one or two new innovations we have seen from Nintendo themselves (Wii Fit, Wii Music, and Wii Sports), the Wii is a garbage dump of shovel-ware. Instead of focusing on high quality games, we see Ubisoft shit out a new Petz or Animalz or Prostitutez. Why? Because they see casual gamers eating this shit up in barrels.

I dig how you've unilaterally appointed yourself judge, jury, and plaintiff in deciding what kinds of gamers buy the Wii, and the statistical occurence of bad games on the console. Yeah, the Wii has alot of shovelware, but so what? Don't buy it. It also has a handful of the best games on the market, and is pushing the industry in a new direction both technologically and demographically that may prove to be far more influential than the categoric enhancements offered by the Xbox 360 and PS3. The Wii is the only console that's not adjoined in the Xbox 360-PS3-PC trinity wherein they all release the exact same titles. Is that worth remarking?

This isn't some thing that I myself have seen. Just about every other passionate gamer has seen this happening too. Gamers, developers, and Nintendo themselves knows that the casual market is the primary target for the Wii. You would have to be a damned idiot to say otherwise.

I have no doubt that the Wii already has and will have a profound influence on the industry. Of course, you seem to be under the assumption that any influence is necessarily a good influence. I praised the Wii early on in it's life-cycle due to the innovative controls that it brought, but have quickly come to realize that these innovative controls have largely been ignored by third-party developers and only Nintendo has occasionally stepped up to the plate to use these innovative controls in interesting ways.

Additionally, games with titles like "Pretty Ponies Adventures" and "Super Dupper Boogie Groove" don't necessarily exist as a result of the "mainstream" demographic, but as a result of kids owning consoles. Unless you hate kids.

I don't hate kids, it's just their under-developed taste for entertainment tends to put out pretty bad stuff.

Games are a continually evolving medium, and are apt to take on different incarnations (many of them social) beyond merely clutching a controller and glaring lone and uninterrupted for hours on end at the screen. So who's really being narrow-minded?

Of course. I never said they were just for single-player. I said that they weren't just for group multi-player, as the original poster had suggested. Please don't put words in my mouth.