what if the Wii becomes the new PS2?
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Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Not likely.
Saleswise it has surpassed PS2 in the West, easily, to this point in it's life.
PS2 never reached 700K+ sales in a non holiday month like Wii just did.
That said, Wii wont be the new PS2 because today we must separate gamers into two groups, the casual (Wii) and the hardcore (PS3 and 360). PS2 also belonged to the hardcore, unlike Wii. Therefore, the traditional tentpole franchises (GTAIV) will remain on PS360. Because the hardcore buy games both more dependably and frequently.
Who knows what the next "Guitar Hero" (casual game) to sweep the masses will be. But we do know Halo 4 and COD5 will reliably sell millions of copies. That's what I mean by the hardcore being more dependable.
PS2 never reached 700K+ sales in a non holiday month like Wii just did.
That said, Wii wont be the new PS2 because today we must separate gamers into two groups, the casual (Wii) and the hardcore (PS3 and 360). PS2 also belonged to the hardcore, unlike Wii. Therefore, the traditional tentpole franchises (GTAIV) will remain on PS360. Because the hardcore buy games both more dependably and frequently.
Who knows what the next "Guitar Hero" (casual game) to sweep the masses will be. But we do know Halo 4 and COD5 will reliably sell millions of copies. That's what I mean by the hardcore being more dependable.
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Along those lines, the Wii can never 'become' the PS2 because it's not a lead platform.
In fact, for most of the tentpole franchises, its not even a platform at all. Not in even in consideration.
The PS2 was highly profitable for not only Sony but also everybody else. The Wii is primarily profitable only for Nintendo.
Great for them, but it's almost exactly opposite from where the PS2 was where everybody wanted to make software or hardware for it.
In fact, for most of the tentpole franchises, its not even a platform at all. Not in even in consideration.
The PS2 was highly profitable for not only Sony but also everybody else. The Wii is primarily profitable only for Nintendo.
Great for them, but it's almost exactly opposite from where the PS2 was where everybody wanted to make software or hardware for it.
Possible, but the Playstation family has always been about pushing new ground on the hardware front. Though I doubt it will, the next Wii could be a generation behind the PS4 and Xbox 720 (or Xbox 3, whatever the hell). What I find absolutely hilarious is that the PS2 and it's circa 1999-2000 hardware supports resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 while the Wii is stuck with Gamecube extended hardware that is more powerful than the PS2, but fails to support resolutions above 720 x 480. Now I know that very few games on the PS2 even used the HD support, but at least it was there if a dev wanted to use it and the games that did use it: Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy, used it pretty well.
PS2 was the casual console of last gen, every casual gamer I know owned a PS2 (those same people now own a Wii).. There were no doubt still alot of hardcore gamers owning it, obviously, but I'd bet the highest percentage of owners were casuals, by some way.
No doubt Wii has pushed even further into the casual gamer market (it selling better then PS2 after all), but its also owned by hardcore gamers. Where do you draw the line when calling one console a hardcore one and another a casual one?...
Can Wii be the next PS2? It certainly can in sales. But if you mean being the mainstream console this generation. I doubt it, mainly because some developers will always want there biggest franchises to have the best possible graphics.
No it isn't..
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RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Then who is the Wii primarily profitable for?
"Nerve-Damage"
Regular
No matter how you spin-it (Hardcore Vs Casual), the gaming & entertainment industry doesn’t quite see it that way. If the Wii surpasses the PS2 install base by the end of its life time, then it will be considered a big success, rightfully so. Anyhow, this generation which does includes the Wii...Sony & Microsoft will just have to duke it out for second place (hardware wise) if Wii keeps ahead of them. And maybe between them (Sony Vs Microsoft) duke it out for 1st party software sales leader.
In the end who cares….
In the end who cares….
Its most profitable for Nintendo.. obviously, they sell the hardware at a good profit and make loads of successful games (why would that bother third parties as long as they themselves are profitable?).. You said primarily profitable only for Nintendo. Which made me think you were saying Wii wasn't profitable for anyone but Nintendo.
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Has the wii been lead platform for any 3rd party game that has been ported to other systems? A lot of Wii multi-platform titles so far are actually just ps2 ports. Have 3rd party developers forgone the ps3 or 360 to develop AAA titles for the Wii? The Wii's chances of becoming 'the next ps2' stand right around nil at this point.
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Dont forget alot of time and money had been invested into getting ''hd ready'' so I think that is one of the reasons you dont see many devs doing a sudden major switch, im pretty sure they want to get as much out of their investment as they can and also go to the wii when its at the point its getting very hard to ignore because of its size. The fact is that also hardcore titels can sell (if devs put some effort in it!) so you can get the sales. What also could be a factor is that nobody botherd about the wii when its was announced and everybody thought it would flop. That could be a reason why we see so little good games yet because development of those games would in the best cases probably only started a year ago. Iwata said that the second half of this year and the beginning of next year should start showing the effort 3rd party's made. Ofcourse that are Iwata's words...
If the wii gets the 3rd party support I dont see why it cant be the next ps2 in software terms.
If the wii gets the 3rd party support I dont see why it cant be the next ps2 in software terms.
silhouette
Regular
Why do you guys think neither MS nor Sony were rushing to cut their console prices similarly what they did with PS2 and Xbox? 
Why do you guys think neither MS nor Sony were rushing to cut their console prices similarly what they did with PS2 and Xbox?
The sheer expense of the hardware they are producing, especially for Sony, and Sony still has managed to cut some expense and offer different bundles and system packages, mostly playing with the harddrive size and backwards compatibility. So yes, Sony has been slashing prices really same with Microsoft. With various ways to earn profit outside of software, like accessories, downloadable content, and online services, Sony and MS don't have to worry about making so much profit with the console since they've expanded so much into other things.
Even though 480p supports 720x480p for some reason games never go above 640 horizontal res with 640x448 being used for Wii or 512x448 in the case of PS2.
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26362552
Those Wii software ratio sales charts.
Those Wii software ratio sales charts.
Rayman Raving Rabbids was ported to other systems. Whoever's doing it has announced that the next Crash game will have the Wii as its lead platform and be ported PS2 (the last game was the other way around). Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 was different enough on the Wii that you can't really call it a PSP port (well-done controls, new gameplay mode, different player/weapon models, different lighting engine, about mostly different textures).
Obviously, it's the lead platform for its exclusives.
Even if it sells more hardware and software then the PS2 there will always be the "ya but"-ers who will find any and every reason to marginalize it.
Ya but this dev doesn't make games for it,ya but this franchise sold more on the PS2,ya but it doesn't have this franchise,ya but my cousin thinks it's gay,ya but it's not black......
Ya but this dev doesn't make games for it,ya but this franchise sold more on the PS2,ya but it doesn't have this franchise,ya but my cousin thinks it's gay,ya but it's not black......
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