Why the Wii won

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SecretTacoNinja

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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.
 

Jumplion

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Gedo said:
I think it was because of innovation, and the huge, huge Nintendo fan base.
You see, I'm reluctant to call anything Innovative/Gimmick. Seriously, we've got one half of the world saying that the Wii is innovating going on about how "The wii is making you go up and do something! How innovative!!!" while the other half of the world is saying "The wii is a gimmick! It's just you flailing your arms around and all the games that use it suck at using it!! And motion control is nothing new!!!"

Can we stop with the "innovation!" and "gimmick!!" crap already? It's as bipolar as a polar bear in the south pole instead of the north (polar bears are in the south pole right? >_>; )
 

Quaidis

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Cheesebob said:
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.


I still enjoy the Wii. I play it on par with my ps2 (yes, 2) games. By far it's a console in which I've collected the most games for under a certain period of time. Twenty some games in the first year, when it took me a handful of years to mount my 27 for the ps2 and 30+ for the snes.

Personally, I believe the Wii is fine where it is. For those complaining of the lack of games, they have not bought enough games or took enough chances yet. Renting from the local video store down the road does not count. Either that or they are of the Xbox demographic where the best games are all first person shooters.

Not everyone is going to like the Wii. That's understandable. My brother, who is a huge buff in running around and killing things with a gun or chainsaw, chose the Xbox. (though the sad news is that, since he got his second RROD, he's turned towards playing more of said games on the computer). My old man is a computer buff and gets most of his games for it, but he shows interest in the PS3 for the bluray device - however will only buy said device once he can afford a 60 gig one with the backwards compatibility.

Most of my friends and personal acquaintances have a Wii and use it regularly to play with other friends. Only one friend has a ps3 and protects it like the cure to cancer. A few friends also have 360s, but - excluding one who won their 360 at some convention - all have had to go through a few 360s due to breakdowns and problems. I believe that is why the 360 is not ahead in sales at the moment. It isn't marketability, it's getting the damned things to work. Almost everyone I have spoke to, including employees at various stores, have said they are on their n'th 360. Parents or graduates who consider a game console these days really does put that into prospective. What is the break rate of the system? Why would I buy a system if it is known for dieing on people? Currently the Wii has the lowest death rate of all systems released at the moment, and most times when the wii does break, it is owner error and easily fixable. The only thing to break on my Wii was the little flap thing over the GC memory card slots - to which I received a new one for pocket change. Meanwhile I have been through Four Ps2s, and over ten Ps2 controllers. I fear the PS3 having similar issues, since high technology tends to have huge glitches or issues (take computers for example).

Yet another barely stated reason why some people choose the Wii over the other two console has much to do with motion sickness. For one of the oddest reasons known to man, that percentage of people that get violently ill off first person shooters and third person games with a bad camera or constantly moving background on the 360, PS3, PC, or other older generation systems, can play similar games on the Wii with little to no problems. I found, being one of these victims, that it literally has to do with the Wiimote and being forced to sit up and move to make the game work. Even the wrist flicking puts my brain back into reality. The only times I found myself ill at all were parts in Metroid and that undersea temple in Zelda. Yet compared to how ill I got on most games for the PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox, Xbox360, PC, what few I've seen on the PS3, and the Gamecube, it is little to no problem at all on the Wii. Nifty, yes?
 

EzraPound

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Getting people into gaming is great. Getting people into gaming where they soon become a majority and affect the decisions of game companies into making shittier games is not great.
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.

To paraphrase someone else: every Wii owner may be an idiot, but you yourself prove that every idiot is not a Wii owner. Update me on how the other consoles are the last bastions of 'real' gaming when Gears of War 2 goes triple platinum.

Sadly, your views are extremely narrow minded and incorrect. The reason why the Wii appeals to the lowest-common denominator is because that's what appeals to the casual gamer. The casual gamer usually doesn't want meaningful and quality gameplay. They want something that can easily be consumed without regard to it's quality (see McDonalds menu). That's why you see shit like "Pretty Ponies Adventures" and "Super Dupper Boogie Groove" on the Wii and DS section at Best Buy. The problem isn't that this stuff is new, the problem is that 99% of these games are utter shit. Sure you occasionally get a gem like Boom Blox, but they are few and far between.
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?

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.

Also, consoles aren't just used "to bring people together". They are used to play a video game. Extremely narrow minded view of gaming you have there.
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?
 

Bourne Endeavor

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Sewblon said:
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 Xbox 360 and the Playstiation 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.
Microsoft Achilles' heel is the immense dislike amongst the Japanese demographic. I honestly question the taste of gamers across the ocean when a game like Dynasty Warriors <insert number, expansion title> can amass grand reviews and fantastic sales despite a tired and redundant system rehashed game after game, yet they care cite North America releases too many World War II games - which admittedly they do.

Nevertheless Microsoft cannot win until they are able to breach the Asian market, so it is perhaps an unfair battle in their stand. As for the Playstation 3, that was entirely Sony's arrogance in expecting the phenomenal success of the Playstation 2 to carry them to the throne. Game delays, expense and loss of exclusive titles have shattered their sales by comparison.

Nintendo, Nintendo took advantage of a gimmick, gambling with whether or not it would be successful. Despite the novelty of it their marketing approach was absolutely brilliant, in targeting families instead of hardcore gamers. This allowed "family time" so many parents insist on spending with their children to do so without the hassle. The cost was also a large factor in their sales as until recently the 360 and PS3 reached a price few could afford on a single week's salary, whereas the Wii could be purchased along with a game.

Personally I must admit beyond hockey, I have spent the most time on my PS2 playing retro roleplaying games.
 

Cheesebob

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Quaidis said:
Cheesebob said:
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 :D
 

Credge

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TsunamiWombat said:
Apparently i've gotten fat sitting inside and playing videogames for well over a decade for nothing, i'm not an actual gamer! Fie and fiddlesticks, I shall now go and play this shooty hoops game everyone seems so witherdither about.
Did somebody mention shootyhoops? I LOVE SHOOTYHOOPS!

Anyway, I don't see what the big deal is with the "non-gamer" crowd that Nintendo is catering to. I'm a PC gamer first, and console gamer second. Always will be until all console games offer full mouse and keyboard support (read: never).

I also really like what Nintendo is doing. They offer core games that I grew up with (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) while offering some of my more recent joys (SSB, Mario Kart) while also, somehow, managing to captivate those that never gamed before. I don't really see the big problem here.

The Wii-mote is a really great piece of tech. I use it to play AOE3 with and I'm slowly adapting to RA3 with it as well.

I just think Nintendo got it right this gen instead of doing it completely wrong like they did last gen. I do know, though, that last gen was a stepping stone for this gen. They knew what they were doing but they just didn't execute it properly. In the Wii, they did.

Next gen, I imagine Nintendo will be putting some more budunkadunk under the trunk while retaining full support for the Wiimote as well as all of the accessories. I'm fairly sure the next gen will be for core gamers as they now have a console for the non-core audience, have gained a good number of core users from this, and will start making more core games again.

Of course, they'll be making Wii games for a long, long, long, time.
 

Anton P. Nym

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I seriously considered getting a Wii, because it looked fun. However I held off because I just don't see a lot of titles I want to play, so I'd just end up back on my elderly PC or my 360 most of the time and it wasn't worth the money to me.

The Wii is winning the hardware sales race because it appeals to families and is inexpensive enough to make it an easy choice for parents... and it's straightforward enough to use that you do get senior citizens playing them now in recreation rooms, so it's drawing in an entirely new demographic into games. It appeals (as pointed out by others in this thread) to audiences MS and Sony have ignored in their race to put a supercomputer into everyone's living room.

Anybody running down the Wii hardware for its lack of horsepower is missing the point of the Wii, and probably wasn't Ninty's target audience for the console anyway. And anybody with knickers in twists over this certainly wasn't and should probably seek counselling.

-- Steve
 

Zeldadudes

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Remember when you were a kid, or if you have a kid, when you see something another kid has or your friend has.
In this case its the Wii.
You see a Wii, see how fun it CAN be then you end up buying one.
Most of the Wii owners hardly touch it once they buy it, its just fun when you have friends over.
 

clarinetJWD

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Zeldadudes said:
Remember when you were a kid, or if you have a kid, when you see something another kid has or your friend has.
In this case its the Wii.
You see a Wii, see how fun it CAN be then you end up buying one.
Most of the Wii owners hardly touch it once they buy it, its just fun when you have friends over.
And there it is. If I'm going to play any single player or online games, there's no reason for me to sit in the living room and do so. I'm going to play them on my computer instead. When I have friends over, the Wii is definitely the one I want, it's just more fun to pick up and play than any other console.

The mass appeal, low price, and fact that it's just plain fun have catapulted it to victory!

On a side note, I don't really care that the graphics are low poly, etc, I just wish it had a bir more oomph to support 720p. The anti-aliasing even in the best looking titles drives me nuts.

On another side note: I've said it before, and I'll say it again. THe same people who complain that gaming needs to become accepted fully into the mainstream consciousness are usually the same people saying that anyone who plays the Wii isn't a gamer. You can't be exclusionary, and at the same time expect people to accept your pasttime. Grow up.
 

Caliostro

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Jan 23, 2008
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Sewblon said:
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 Xbox 360 and the Playstiation 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.
Oh yay... Another controversy based thread... We haven't had any of those around...



Anyways, hasn't someone posted a link to some actual statistics showing that the Wii actually got owned and the only advantage it has is in the "in-house" (that's Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft branded) titles sold? Which is mostly because Sony and Microsoft don't really develop a lot of titles.

Regardless whatever the Wii sold was mostly due to fanboys, people who are too cumbersome to play a real console/computer so they pick the dumbed down version: The Wiimote and the fact that it was originally the cheapest console allied with the "gimmick" effect. But mostly, if Nintendo sold anything to anyone besides fanboys is because of Microsoft and Sony suddenly catching the stupid virus. If I have ever seen worst fuck ups in marketing history I honestly can not recall them right now... Sony and Microsoft just messed up big time.

As it stands the Wii is still quite obviously the worst console out right now IMO, it has 1 full game worth the money (No more heroes) and everything else is either lame, boring, lame AND boring, or best played on any other platform... Even the PSP...
 

GloatingSwine

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Ultrajoe said:
Won is a relative term, and depends on what you call a 'win'
Making huge piles of filthy filthy money for Nintendo. I think that's what they define as "win".
 

Sixties Spidey

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Jan 24, 2008
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Don't call me out on this, but am I the only one that doesn't see the Wii as a real console? it's just a novelty toy. Ok fine fine, it has its share of awesome games like Wii fit, metroid zack and wiki, mario galaxy, zelda, ssbb, and No More Heroes, but I never played it as much as my PS3. Which is a shame really. I can see a really large amount of hardcore based titles for the wii if developers tapped the potential of the console.
 

JediMB

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Bourne said:
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.
 

Eagle Est1986

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Nov 21, 2007
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Fair enough that it's ahead on actual console sales but surely, on average, games on the PS3 and/or the 360 sell better? Because 90% of the people I know with a Wii don't actually use it and because of that, only have 2 or 3 games. Then that 10% only have 5 or 6 games.
So surely, apart from the big games like Mario, SSBB and Zelda, the games on the Wii get relatively low sales? Mind you, don't suppose that matters much, seeing as the production cost for making a game on the Wii is probably bag loads cheaper, which is would explain why most of the Wii games are garbage.
 

Quaidis

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Cheesebob said:
Quaidis said:
Cheesebob said:
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 :D
I have my doubts; perhaps you had Weasel coffee instead, or an imitation version not made from actual civets (which do exist, especially for tourists in Vietnam. Yes, people make fake civet coffee.) Not only is genuine Kopi Luwak ridiculously hard to find (the only real place to get a nice brew is in China), but due to the African Palm Civet being endangered because china eradicated thousands of them during the SARS scare in 2004, it is more than a few hefty chips of currency to get a cup of. I am talking hundreds for one pound of the stuff. If you had acquired a cup of it, then you are one of few who did not find it was the best out there - a nice rich chocolate flavor with no after taste. Which, for my analogy about how not everyone is right for the Wii, still fits.
 

Aura Guardian

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SecretTacoNinja said:
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
 

D_987

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Eggo said:
Yep! It's just like how Wii gamers aren't actual gamers; it's rather ironic how most of the people who say that are also on platforms which aren't for actual gamers.
Yeah, because everyone knows playing a video-game on a specific platform makes you a "real" gamer, but playing a video-game on other platforms don't...(yes this is sarcasm directed at you)