Revolution is officially called...*drumroll*

[NANOTEC]

It's still a stupid name. You seem to want people to not criticize Nintendo decisions. The console forum isn't just about PR Newswire posts, it's about discussing the industry, and this certainly counts as one of the lamest industry marketing moves in recent history.

And I never said it was a "cool" name. Also I'm not against anyone critisizing the name. In fact I think the name is pretty strange myself when you make the connection with bodily waste, but that isn't the first thing that pops up (pun intended) for everyone who hears it. The logo that comes with it is pretty neat too. I'm just saying the name shouldn't affect one's buying decision. It's a couple hundred dollar game console not a 20K dollar car..

 

[DemoCoder]

What's going to affect people's buying decisions is lack of "next-gen" content, no HD, name (negative), and price, controller, and retrogaming (positively).

Perception of majority of employed 18-40 males is probably gonna be "weak and lame", perception of moms and dads, and kids is probably gonna be "cool"

Retrogaming *might* get the 25-40yr olds on, but many of these people can already retrogame for free using MAME without paying Nintendo. Is retrogaming really that large a market? How many people really wanna pay to play Contra again?

Friend got me a neat 'C64 in a joystick' game. Ok, it was amusing laughing with friends over old Epyx titles, but it gets old real fast after the nostalgia wears off.

Only reason I'm buying a 'Wii' is for completeness. I like to own all the consoles. But I must say, there is nothing released so far by Nintendo on the 'Wii' that gives me great enthusism compared up upcoming XB360 and PS3 titles in development.

 

[Guden Oden]

What's going to affect people's buying decisions is lack of "next-gen" content, no HD, name (negative)

I don't think HD is going to be any major stumbling block for most people. PS2 gfx is arguably inferior to xbox, did that in any way hinder its popularity? Anyone who would argue such a thing would clearly be insane. Geeks put HD as a requirement, normal people are flexible, or more likely, totally indifferent. If the games are attractive, they'll buy regardless.

Perception of majority of employed 18-40 males is probably gonna be "weak and lame",

To be totally frank, I think most male 40yos think video games in general is lame. I don't know of a single 40yo who is a console gamer, and precious few who are close to 40 who play PC games.

Retrogaming *might* get the 25-40yr olds on, but many of these people can already retrogame for free using MAME without paying Nintendo.

Getting the ROMs for MAME use can be a damn bother though, and emulators can often be buggy, quirky and have flaws in both video and audio generation. If you can get your retro fix for a - preferably trivial - sum of money, and the emulation is as close to flawless as possible, that could have a large impact on how attractive the retro feature is to most people. Of course, interest will drop inversely proportionate to the higher the price gets. If 100 people buy SMB at $2, only 10 will likely buy it at $5. Hopefully Nintendo will 'get' that without having to release an overpriced and under-delivering horse armor and get beat up online for being a bunch of greedy sons of bitches.

But I must say, there is nothing released so far by Nintendo on the 'Wii' that gives me great enthusism compared up upcoming XB360 and PS3 titles in development.

Hurm. Well, if 'more of exactly the same' appeals more to you than a fresh and novel control mechanism that opens up new gaming opportunities (just read the IGN interview about Madden Wii for an example ), then I guess you're right.

 

[Teasy]

Yet, the marching Nintendo lemmings espouse how they don't care about any of this and are going to definately own one, based on what information? Mostly Nintendo's brand, and unknown promise of a new controller. And of course, all of this devotion requires alot of mental labor defending their choice all over the boards, hence the cognitive dissonance aspect.

It's like the Apple weenies, where Steve Jobs could announce *anything*, no matter how unimpressive, and legions of hipsters would be talking about how cool it is. Brand addiction and style over substance.

Based on what information?.. numerous articles on how the new controller works and how it effects gameplay and even an in depth look at a launch title using the controller heavily (Red Steel).. Add that to past enjoyment of Nintendo's games and there's no reason why people can't already have decided that they want one. I know that I'll be buying one, and that's despite the fact that I've been one of the most critical of the new name on this forum.

 

[cthellis42]

One can always hope it's a fake. Certainly the "hardcore" would find it ballsy and amusing to pull a stunt like that (and better than the tired "viral" marketing that's gone on of late), so long as the payoff is there. (For instance, not saying "It's actually called PlayWithMe!" at E3.)

One can always hope.

Or get out a can of touch-up paint. (And the aforementioned menu-hacking.)

 

[fearsomepirate]

What's going to affect people's buying decisions is lack of "next-gen" content,

Exactly. Since only one console is capable of taking Madden to the next level, Wii is the obvious choice for the masses. Otherwise, you're paying $400+ for last-gen thumb-twiddling.

Yet, the marching Nintendo lemmings espouse how they don't care about any of this and are going to definately own one, based on what information?

Thanks, glad you asked.

1. I don't own an HDTV and won't be able to afford one for several years.
2. This will be the first home console I can afford to buy at launch. My interest in next-gen consoles has always been in a "What I'll spend my entertainment money on in 2008" kind of way. Wii bumped that up to 2006 or early 2007. I'm all for more power. The thing is that the kind of power in PS3 and X360 means I won't be seeing it until 2008 or later, so I was planning to keep myself happy with bargain PS2 and Cube titles.
3. The Red Steel piece in GI was the first article that got me truly excited about the console. Before, I was just "hmm, this could be interesting." The Madden interview has made me more excited. The prospect of having actual draw distance in a Bethesda RPG and bump-maps in a WWII FPS just didn't have the same appeal.
4. Nintendo always delivers some great games and has some great franchises. Who doubts that F-Zero, Mario, and Zelda are going to be fantastic games? And then you've got all the lesser games like Wave Race, Pilot Wings, Mario sports, etc that are generally solid if not amazing.

 

[Cattle-Dog]

Not to throw another stone on this mountain, but...

 

[KimB]

Well, I think "Natural" should instead be "Dehydrated"

 

[L233]

To be totally frank, I think most male 40yos think video games in general is lame. I don't know of a single 40yo who is a console gamer, and precious few who are close to 40 who play PC games.

I've made the observation that computer/video gaming is quite a bit more "mainstream" and more widely accepted in the USA than in Europe and the demographics reflect that. Also, video gaming became popular a few years earlier in the USA. You've prolly got a whole slew of gamers who got hooked back in the early 80s as young adults.

 

[KimB]

I've made the observation that computer/video gaming is quite a bit more "mainstream" and more widely accepted in the USA than in Europe and the demographics reflect that. Also, video gaming became popular a few years earlier in the USA. You've prolly got a whole slew of gamers who got hooked back in the early 80s as young adults.

Yes, gamers don't seem to grow out of their habit. But I think most people that are gamers got into it as children, not as young adults, and so 40's is likely to still be a bit old here in the US. Admittedly, there still was some amount of gaming around that time, and earlier, but gaming wasn't mainstream until the 80's. I'm sure there are a few older people, on the outset, who are into gaming (I've known a couple online), but I doubt many are.

 

[digitalwanderer]

To be totally frank, I think most male 40yos think video games in general is lame. I don't know of a single 40yo who is a console gamer, and precious few who are close to 40 who play PC games.

*cough*-*cough* AHEM!

Don't be forgetting about me so soon Guden, I'll get all hurted and weepy.

 

[DemoCoder]

I don't think HD is going to be any major stumbling block for most people.

We'll see.

To be totally frank, I think most male 40yos think video games in general is lame. I don't know of a single 40yo who is a console gamer, and precious few who are close to 40 who play PC games.

To be frank, you're clueless. First, you take the edge of the bell curve I gave, 18-40. Fact is, 18-35 game MORE than under 18, and 1 out of 5 in the 35+ category game.

If 100 people buy SMB at $2

At $2 it's already outrageously overpriced given depreciation/discount rate.

 

[cthellis42]

Don't be forgetting about me so soon Guden, I'll get all hurted and weepy.

Well we keep trying to, Dig, but you're always around to prevent us!

 

[DemoCoder]

Exactly. Since only one console is capable of taking Madden to the next level, Wii is the obvious choice for the masses. Otherwise, you're paying $400+ for last-gen thumb-twiddling.

Please, we heard the same great claims for mouse gestures in games. Remember how cool mouse gesturing sounded and looked in all of those Black and White interviews/movies? Remember picking up bouldings and 'flicking them' with the mouse. Turned out to be very lame. I've played sword games in Japan that used a real *sword* (dimensions, weight) to slash, block, et al. These gimmicks don't neccessarily add to the fun or the quality of the control of the game.

The ability to use the controller to "tilt" your gun, or whatever, might wear off real quick.

I'll tell you what took Madden to the next level. Online play.

"Hiking" the controller? "Kicking" it? Good grief. Your throw a pass by pretending to do a pass motion. Ok, but the actual way you do it in no way is said to control the accuracy of the pass or where it lands. So in other words, they've replaced moving the analog stick or pressing a button hard or soft to launch a pass (essentially a trigger event) with a swinging motion of your arm to do the same event. How is this supposed to make the game radically funner? It did not change the game play mechanics (still a TRIGGER to launch a pass), only the way the controller triggers the pass is mapped differently, mapped to a much more muscle tiring motion.

One can say that a mouse changes how you play FPS by increasing precision. But this Madden Wii sounds like a much less imaginative use for the controller. It seems in fact to be a pretty boring mapping to standard game play that anyone would come up with.

1. I don't own an HDTV and won't be able to afford one for several years.

Well, poor you. The majority of games 18-35 aren't in the same boat as you. They are also the majority of high-res desktop PC gamers, and they have the moohla to go HD, infact, given HD buying statistics, a huge portion of the already have. So I guess Nintendo is now the console for impoverished people.

3. The Red Steel piece in GI was the first article that got me truly excited about the console. Before, I was just "hmm, this could be interesting." The Madden interview has made me more excited.

The Madden interview sounded *lame* to me, almost fit the definition of gimmick to a T.

4. Nintendo always delivers some great games and has some great franchises. Who doubts that F-Zero, Mario, and Zelda are going to be fantastic games?

There's no accounting for brand loyalty to kiddie games.

 

[KimB]

I don't think the lack of HD will be significant for Nintendo.

Specifically, just look at the current/last generation console systems: the X-box, the Gamecube, and the Playstation 2. The one that still sells the most is the PS2, and it is by far the technically-inferior of the three.

Console sales are mostly about the games. Nintendo has great potential with the Wii, in particular its controller (but god I hate the name). The different control interface will make the Wii a unique gaming platform on its own. If Nintendo's emulation of the Gamecube controller with the Wii's setup is good enough, it may be capable of producing all of the gameplay of the other consoles, in addition to its own unique gameplay due to the different control interface (On different games, clearly).

I think that the biggest danger for Nintendo right now is that the Wii may be too different. In attempting to expand the gaming audience, Nintendo may end up alienating many current gamers.

 

[DemoCoder]

I said in my first post that content matters, and that's why PS2 did so well. Wii will be competing with next-gen content in stores, side by side with PS3 and XB360 kiosks on big LCDs, while the Wii will not only be low-res, and probably aliased, but will pale in comparison to games like Gears of War.

Will the controller save it? To me, that's like asking if Guitar Hero, DDR, or the PS2 camera would influence someone to buy a console. It might. But I think it the honeymoon period could wear off real quick, with lots of awesome next-gen titles on PS3/XBL, and Wii stuck with paulty third party support, retro-gaming, and a gimmick titles.

This could very well be Nintendo's "Dreamcast", ending their competiton in the console HW sector, relegating them to handheld and software.

Personally for me, the underpowered console and lack of HD is a huge negative. I have an incredibly large screen, and 480i/p content is going to look bad. The only way it would look good is if they have really good 4x+ antialiasing, but given the underpowered nature, I don't think so.

I'm looking at next-gen CPU power using software like NaturalMotion in real time. Will the Wii even be capable of running it?

Madden Wii is the wrong game for this controller. I'll tell you which game is perfect: Rockstar Ping-Pong(TableTennis) If they ported that, call me up.

 

[KimB]

But those games required their own control interface. The Wii's has a different default control interface, so it's not the same thing at all.

In particular, I think that the Wii controller is the first console controller that could really allow for good FPS control. Given the rise of FPS's on consoles in recent years, that alone could sell the console.

 

[Natoma]

Well, poor you. The majority of games 18-35 aren't in the same boat as you. They are also the majority of high-res desktop PC gamers, and they have the moohla to go HD, infact, given HD buying statistics, a huge portion of the already have. So I guess Nintendo is now the console for impoverished people.

I'd be very careful with overgeneralizing there DC.

 

[DemoCoder]

Which part? That a large portion of 18-35 year olds don't have, or won't have, HD screens, and arent' influenced by HD support, or that Nintendo isn't the console for impoverished people?

The person I am responding to can't afford an HD said nor an XB360 or PS3, but claims he is price sensitive to Nintendo Wii. So therefore, clearly, a larger proportion Wii buyers will people who are more price sensitive.


Anyway, I'm waiting for the first Japanese Wii porn game, where you have to put your 'Wii' in.

 

[NANOTEC]

DVDs (720x480) look great on my 61" plasma (1366x768).