Editorial: Nintendo Wii, Harbinger For The Death Of Gaming

[Teasy]

Personally, I think the main strength for the Wii is its versatile controller, but its weakness is processing power. If I look at a game like Super Rub-a-Dub on the PS3, you have the combination of motion control, a nice physics based water simulation, and a very simple game paradigm, and it makes for a very compelling game. The Wii can do something similar, with a game like Mercury, but it will be much more limited than what a PS3 version of the same game could be.

By which I am meaning to say, that eventually it will be eaiser to make a simple and fun, yet 'new' game on the PS3.

Outside of the obvious financial reasons the choice between Wii and PS3 for a developer comes down to the following. Do you want to make your game on a system with good processing power but limited motion sensing ability. Or on a system with good motion sensing ability but limited processing power. The example you gave for a game on PS3 that could not be done quite the same on Wii because of processing power could be mirrored by an example of a game on Wii that could not be done on PS3 due to its limited motion sensing.

 

[Teasy]

I don't worry much about this. So far with the Wii, I always hear comments from non-gamers: "I gotta get me one of these", followed by these non-gamers NOT getting one of these Wii's. My 71 year old stepfather played the Wii at his son's house on the weekend and loved it, but he's still not buying one.

There will be thousands of anecdotes that contradict yours.

Does everyone here honestly think that last generation's traditional gamers (about 125 million people) are going to pass on GT, GTAIV, Halo 3, FFXIII, etc... so they can play Wii tennis?

For that argument to have any substance the following would have to be true:-

1: Wii Sports would have to be the only game on Wii
2: The kind of games you mention would have to be exclusively released on MS/Sony consoles

 

[Corwin_B]

Any article starting with stuff like

While the results of my study may be a little difficult to stomach, I assure you they are the product of tireless logic and have little if anything to do with personal bias, especially considering I’ve been a Nintendo fan since childhood.

can't be taken seriously, because it always ends with the same boring stuff that has been debunked time after time.

As an added bonus, anyone seriously writing :

Nintendo needs to show that 3rd parties can make money on a regular basis instead of the platform being a crap shoot.

needs to look at the sales of 3rd party software on the PS3 both in US and Japan.

 

[wco81]

Console market has been driven by graphics processing power. Graphics -- greater physics and AI from more powerful CPUs are a theory right now -- is the target of all the research done on hardware design and improvements in software.

It's a little too early to say that has changed for the good because of the Wii.

There was an article a couple of months back about Wii appealing to lapsed gamers. People who had gamed in their youth and even early adulthood but then stopped because of job and family responsibilities as they got older.

They also supposedly were discouraged because of the "twitch" nature of gaming and the Wii brought them back into the gaming fold in their 30s (and older).

If the Xbox was limited by only a hardcore base, will the Wii be limited by too much of a skew towards the casual base? Will they buy as many games or continue playing? After all, these "lapsed gamers" stopped playing at least once before in their lives.

As the price gap narrows, will some of these Wii owners look at the more powerful consoles (especially since HDTV penetration is still growing at a healthy rate every year) or will the Wii continue to hold their attention?

The other thing to consider is, we know all the publishers are rushing into the Wii games market. But are the developers as inspired to innovate with motion controls as they've been to push graphics most of their careers? (same question could be asked about physics and AI, as they are certainly as different paradigms from graphics as motion-control is).

 

[DUALDISASTER]

Sigh, i thought i had a thread like this...
"Perhaps the worst part about all of this is that Nintendo is having a great deal of success with this formula. It’s really only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft wake up and realize that Nintendo is destroying their sales numbers, and when this happens they’ll follow suit and change their aim to target the new gamer."

That's what i'm afraid of. I can't believe people refuse to believe that this as threat. Look at what Playstation has done with the market, luckily they changed it for the better. I like great graphics, huge levels, and muti-genre games. Not pokemon, brain-age, and last gen's casual games like Mortal Kombat. Damn-it i want progression, not mediocrity. But hey, if you guys are willing to tollerate mediocrity, then by all means go right ahead and play brain-age 27. I like what i'm getting out of my costly system. I'm good.

Btw, for all who believe wii has a better chance at grabbing the so-called "casual gamers" answer me this, Why did honda civic blow up in popularity? How are ordinary people obtaining the knowlege to build engines? Where i'm getting at is if people are interested enough, they will learn and these are the people who will stick with it. It's almost as if Nintendo is forcing their reputation of "casual" to the masses so that they could buy. Once people realise it's not as it made out to be or in this case, a game is still a game regardless what controller you have, they may look to a better system if it's done better elsewhere. That said, i'm not really worried anymore.

 

[Nesh]

That's strange, because I could've sworn that everyone was complaining about how hard SSX Blur was, and its fans saying that it simply had a very steep learning curve.

In a recent interview, Reggie mentioned that 2/3 of Wii's software sales are coming from 3rd-party titles, which apparently is much better than it was on Gamecube. Considering the sparsity of quality 3rd-party offerings on Wii, that's pretty significant. Nintendo absolutely had to break out of their "Everything except Nintendo games is crap" typical fanbase, and they appear to be doing that.

To be honest I havent specifically playied SSX blur. Its natural that there will always be exceptions.
Still, the hard difficulty of SSX may not be a result of a controller's advandage, but perhaps a not so good implementation or an implementation that doesnt work as well on Wii. Just saying though. I may be wrong on that possibility.

About the last part, well I believe that Wii can sell all kinds of games just with the motion sensing alone and not the actual quality of the games. People get crazed solely with that idea.

A great deal of people I know who own wii dont even know its games. They are excited with anything Wii offers especially party games.

I still fail to see a third party game on Wii that excites me as much as some of the big titles planned for PS3 or 360.

Despite that many Wii owners will buy these 3rd party games. Even if they arent all that great.

If that didnt happen I dont think the author of the above article would have been worried

 

[Tahir2]

Nintendo's core market is not people who love FPS's. The "hardcore gamer" would not benefit hugely from owning a Wii.

You buy consoles on the type of games they have on them - to think that just because you bought a Wii suddenly Nintendo is obligated to release or get 3rd parties to release games you would have played on another system is pure arrogance and inevitably is going to leave the owner pretty miffed.

I am not buying a Wii simply because I have outgrown the kind of games Nintendo and its console excels at. Really fun games they are too but I prefer car arcade or simulations and/or beat em ups.. I know in the long run I won't get that from Wii.

Once my daughter is slightly older I will consider buying her a Wii (no funny jokes please) and will probably enjoy it with her and the missus as a family entertainment unit.. just like the original SNES was billed as.

 

[dobwal]

Sigh, i thought i had a thread like this...
"Perhaps the worst part about all of this is that Nintendo is having a great deal of success with this formula. It’s really only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft wake up and realize that Nintendo is destroying their sales numbers, and when this happens they’ll follow suit and change their aim to target the new gamer."

That's what i'm afraid of. I can't believe people refuse to believe that this as threat. Look at what Playstation has done with the market, luckily they changed it for the better. I like great graphics, huge levels, and muti-genre games. Not pokemon, brain-age, and last gen's casual games like Mortal Kombat. Damn-it i want progression, not mediocrity. But hey, if you guys are willing to tollerate mediocrity, then by all means go right ahead and play brain-age 27. I like what i'm getting out of my costly system. I'm good.

Explain to me how MS and Sony is going to force all its third party pubs and devs to produce games that exclusively cater to the non-hardcore gamers? Have you ever ponder the possibility that the reason for game offerings on the Nintendo consoles was the result of it not being a top console and the quality of the first party and second had an easy time competing against poor and crappy ports and other third party franchises with poor support? Looking at the NES and the SNES I dont see the same situation in game support offered by the GC or Wii in its early life.

Btw, for all who believe wii has a better chance at grabbing the so-called "casual gamers" answer me this, Why did honda civic blow up in popularity? How are ordinary people obtaining the knowlege to build engines? Where i'm getting at is if people are interested enough, they will learn and these are the people who will stick with it. It's almost as if Nintendo is forcing their reputation of "casual" to the masses so that they could buy. Once people realise it's not as it made out to be or in this case, a game is still a game regardless what controller you have, they may look to a better system if it's done better elsewhere. That said, i'm not really worried anymore.

You either writing or thinking too fast or I am reading too fast because I failed to see any point you are trying to make here.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I still fail to see a third party game on Wii that excites me as much as some of the big titles planned for PS3 or 360.

There are two key words there: "I" and "me." See, there are lots of other people like you, and video game companies are still making money off you. They will continue to make machines and games targeted specifically at you. This panic-stricken "GAMING IS DOOMED!!!" from graphics geeks simply because there are people buying a product that they themselves would not choose is ridiculous.

Let's look at Wii and PSP. Is the PSP selling well? Yes. Is its software selling well? Outside of Japan, it's actually doing fine. But now look at one critical thing: Does its software library have much genre overlap with DS? No, not really, not outside of RPGs. The DS doesn't have much in the way of racing, sports, or action-violence, but it appears to be the chosen home of puzzlers, 2D games, strategy titles, Sims-like experiences, and kid games.

Nintendo's products are not really competitors to MS and Sony's, and neither are they "second consoles." They are alternative consoles catering to an alternative game audience with an alternative game library. Nintendo has determined that there are whole game genres, including potential genres, and whole market demographics that are not well-served by powerful, expensive machines. What you are witnessing is market expansion and segmentation, not the "death of gaming."

 

[rbushner]

You can flip this around.

What if the Wii flopped, and the PS3 and Xbox360 elite succeeded beyond expectations? When next gen rolls around, do you think there is any chance that a console will come out priced at $299? Would that destroy gaming?

Hats off to Nintendo, I don't understand it, but they clearly know what they are doing.

The only way I see Nintendo negatively affecting gaming, is if Sony and MS refuse to adjust to the market, and keep acting like the Wii is not competition. Then they will deservedly get steamrolled. But, who is to blame for that, both MS and Sony tried to raise the cost of gaming considerably.

 

[_xxx_]

Sigh, i thought i had a thread like this...
"Perhaps the worst part about all of this is that Nintendo is having a great deal of success with this formula. It’s really only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft wake up and realize that Nintendo is destroying their sales numbers, and when this happens they’ll follow suit and change their aim to target the new gamer."

Well, (my personal opinion) the thing is that Wii simply is way more fun than 360 and PS3 combined to everyone but the hardcore bunch. Go figure. And I was kinda hardcore before until it became boring. I was a sucker for GFX and Wii "healed" me from that once and for all. And it even keeps me fit, FWIW...

Now if it could also produce coffee and chocolate (kinda like the Star Trek replicator), it'd be perfect

And I think this discussion is redundant, since the two schemes will surely converge at some point. The goal is eventually full VR, I hope.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Why are people giving me negative rep because I've posted my opinion that Nintendo isn't taking over the gaming universe? Where is the maturity?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

There will be thousands of anecdotes that contradict yours.

For that argument to have any substance the following would have to be true:-

1: Wii Sports would have to be the only game on Wii
2: The kind of games you mention would have to be exclusively released on MS/Sony consoles

I don't think there are thousands of contradictory anecdotes. Do people here really know boatloads of non-gamers that are buying Wii's?

As far as I know, GTAIV, GT, Halo3, and FFXIII haven't been announced for Wii. Did I miss something?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

The other thing to consider is, we know all the publishers are rushing into the Wii games market. But are the developers as inspired to innovate with motion controls as they've been to push graphics most of their careers? (same question could be asked about physics and AI, as they are certainly as different paradigms from graphics as motion-control is).

I don't see a rush of publishers moving to Wii. Other than the odd announcement from EA it's not like there is a ton of activity there. I agree with the rest of your post though: It remains to be seen whether the Wii has really changed the market dynamics. Somehow I still think that millions of FF fans are still going to want the latest and greatest summoning spell effects.

 

[quest55720]

I don't think there are thousands of contradictory anecdotes. Do people here really know boatloads of non-gamers that are buying Wii's?

As far as I know, GTAIV, GT, Halo3, and FFXIII haven't been announced for Wii. Did I miss something?

Who is buying the nearly a million Wiis a month world wide then? If it is not hardcore gamers or non-gamers who is buying it then?

If you don't think that if Wii sales continue like they are that big name franchises like FF and GTA won't appear on the Wii then you are mistaken.

I don't think graphics will affect the Wii for years. Most people put the console in the kids play room or secondary room. It is going to be years and year before people are buying a HD-tv as a secondary TV.

 

[quest55720]

I do laugh my as off at the double standard in gaming. Brain training is evil and bad non game. On the other hand no one says a word about sing star,DDR, or guitar hero ect. I also like how Wii is full of non games but home and blue ray are the saviors of the PS3.

Every console will have games for hardcore,casual and non-gamers.

As far as I am concerned the PS3 and its outragous 599 dollar price point to help win a movie format war is 1000 times worse for gaming than the Wii.

 

[quest55720]

Nintendo's core market is not people who love FPS's. The "hardcore gamer" would not benefit hugely from owning a Wii.

You buy consoles on the type of games they have on them - to think that just because you bought a Wii suddenly Nintendo is obligated to release or get 3rd parties to release games you would have played on another system is pure arrogance and inevitably is going to leave the owner pretty miffed.

I am not buying a Wii simply because I have outgrown the kind of games Nintendo and its console excels at. Really fun games they are too but I prefer car arcade or simulations and/or beat em ups.. I know in the long run I won't get that from Wii.

Once my daughter is slightly older I will consider buying her a Wii (no funny jokes please) and will probably enjoy it with her and the missus as a family entertainment unit.. just like the original SNES was billed as.

I am a hardcore gamer and I know I would benifit from owning a Wii. I want to play zelda, mario, metroid ect. I also think that sports games could hugely benifit from the Wiimote.

 

[Teasy]

I don't think there are thousands of contradictory anecdotes. Do people here really know boatloads of non-gamers that are buying Wii's?

As far as I know, GTAIV, GT, Halo3, and FFXIII haven't been announced for Wii. Did I miss something?

Why would any one person here need to know boatloads of these people? There are billions of people on this planet Johhny. I've seen many posts on forum contradicting your post, but just like your anecdote, they're pretty pointless on there own.

Also the games you mention not currently being announced for Wii is utterly beside the point, do I really need to explain why?

 

[NERO]

The Wii has the big guy - Mario. The Wii also has Zelda, Metroid and the potential for DS connectivity which no other console has. I'm willing to bet if things continue as they are, the killer 3rd party apps will have Wii(ified) versions and maybe eventually Wii exclusives. The Wii by default already forces 3rd parties to make exclusive titles and if momentum continues to build there maybe some loss of what "hardcore gamers" (aka the techno illuminati ) consider killer app franchises. Note that SE decided to ditch cutting edge tech and throw DQ9 on the DS.

 

[wco81]

Wii is selling a million units a month?