Nintendo Wii U

[Dogg Thang]

The 360 success has been built on the "hardcore gamer" who likes running around shooting things. MS know this, despite their recent lack of decent first party support.

Then why are they so hell-bent on pushing Kinect? You're right - their success has been built on actual gamers. But they seem to want that Wii market.

[Matt]

Then why are they so hell-bent on pushing Kinect? You're right - their success has been built on actual gamers. But they seem to want that Wii market.

You know, I just spent 10 minutes typing a mature, well thought out response. And it got lost when I clicked Reply instead of Post Quick Reply?? ****!! Sort it out mods!

Here's the bullet points:

- Wii sold **** loads to casual people. MS want a box under your TV to stream media. Hence MS want that big market share.

- Traditional gamers getting nothing more than lipservice (new Halo / Fable / Gears / Forza).

- I don't think the Wii market is sustainable and was a fluke.

- I can't wait until the XB3 is launched and I hope MS don't lose site of the dedicated gamer like Ninty did moving to the Wii.


There was more to it than that, honest. But I'm off now

[Brad]

- I don't think the Wii market is sustainable and was a fluke.

I agree with this. Don't try and get new markets. Try to be the best in the one you've got. Those people got you where you are and will stay with you as long as you stay with them.

[Dogg Thang]

Shame I missed the long version but I agree with your bullet points, Matt, and FSW's reply. And, even if the Wii market is sustainable, it is the Wii's market and it would seem destructive to chase it at the expense of the market that has made the 360 what it is. And yet that seems to be what MS have been doing recently.

[Team Andromeda]

You know, I just spent 10 minutes typing a mature, well thought out response. And it got lost when I clicked Reply instead of Post Quick Reply?? ****!! Sort it out mods!

Here's the bullet points:

- Wii sold **** loads to casual people. MS want a box under your TV to stream media. Hence MS want that big market share.

- Traditional gamers getting nothing more than lipservice (new Halo / Fable / Gears / Forza).

- I don't think the Wii market is sustainable and was a fluke.

- I can't wait until the XB3 is launched and I hope MS don't lose site of the dedicated gamer like Ninty did moving to the Wii.


There was more to it than that, honest. But I'm off now

You're spot on , I see a few saying MS got the 3rd parties to look after the CORE gamers and that is a fair point, but if it was 3rd party games none of us would have ever bought into the X-Box dream in the 1st place Not when the PS2 had the best 3rd party support out there .

The prospect of playing HALO, PGR 3, DOA III , JSRF , GV with the most kick ass visuals and sound are what got me into the X-Box dream with it's stunning 2001 E3 showing . MS shouldn't forget the people that got where they are in the console world , and those people imo like core games and do like exclusives and reasons to buy a console and that means the best visuals along with exclusives

It's the depressing the amount of exclusives and Teams MS seems fit to lose this generation, while it's throws cash at Kincet like it's not an issue , and it's seems Remedy and Alan Wake is another team and IP that will go elsewhere to join the likes of Mass Effect, Ninja Gaiden ECT

[abigsmurf]

You know, I just spent 10 minutes typing a mature, well thought out response. And it got lost when I clicked Reply instead of Post Quick Reply?? ****!! Sort it out mods!

Done that so many times. Add a confirm box to the "reply to thread" button that activates is there's any text in a quick reply box!

[Neon Ignition]

I don't think the Wii market as it stands is sustainable but with the proper nurturing it's possible to grow that audience. If companies only ever looked after existing gamers the market would whittle away as people left but no new gamers came in. The thing with the Wii is that even if a huge number don't buy another system now there will be a large number who now have an interest in gaming they previously didn't. It's much like what the PS1 did back in the 90's and those people now relate their gaming with Nintendo. The real danger, as usual, is that core gamers are too quick to dismiss the impact and power Nintendo has in the market place. No doubt the Wiiu won't have the same impact Wii did but if Nintendo handle the system well it should do fine. MS's main issue to watch is chasing the horse after it's already bolted.

[FelixofMars]

Agreed, Nintendo set the trend and MS try to do the same but one better. I can just see the new Xbox coming with a touch screen Windows 7 mobile pad that you can use as the controller as part of the new console. A gambling man would bet money on it.

MS's main issue to watch is chasing the horse after it's already bolted.

[Brad]

Of course new gamers will arrive. They're being born every day. For every gamer that calls it a day a new one discovers the joy of videogames. Both my kids (15 and 10) play games now, even though they weren't really interested a couple of years ago.

[Neon Ignition]

They do but the success of the Wii shows that Nintendo was on the money when it came to the appeal of entry level gaming. Whilst the overall market numbers haven't really grown massively between this and last gen the swing was massively in favour of Nintendo's lower end system which sustainable or not could really impact what the Big 3 classify as a 'next gen' system next time around. A curious stat to know would be out of the 100m+ 360 and PS3's sold, how many of the buyers own a Wii as well. There's a common assumption that the Wii sold to casual gamers en masse but there's a real chance many went to core gamers who might not use it a lot but none the less gives Nintendo more of a back door to core gamers homes that they're given credit for.

[Matt]

Out of my "regular real life gaming friends", there are probably only a handful of us who don't own the Wii. But it sold to my friends because they have families, and the games appealed to the kids / other half / party games. I do not know anyone who actually sits down to play on their Wii themselves. Core gamers may have purchased the Wii, but I imagine most sink their regular gaming time into the PS360, and their gaming purchases follow on.

Building on the Wii's success is possible, but the WiiU isn't it. I keen banging a drum about it, but the biggest hurdle to the growth of the industry is the price of games themselves. Mrs Casual may get a Wii and a couple of party games, but she won't pick up anything else at ?35+ in the shops. Well, until the latest Wii Fitness appears. Games hit ?20 RRP, the market will take off like you won't believe, both new gamers and us old timers buying loads more. Impulse buying

As it stands, the Wii achieved a cultural zeitgeist which you really cannot market. It was novel, and it caught the attention of people. Everyone wanted to try one, then rushed out to buy one. Only to probably find that prancing around like a tit by yourself at home isn't actually as much fun as when a bunch of friends are together and everyone is drunk

[Flabio]

I have a Wii, but haven't even switched it on since I got bored of Smash Brothers on it.

[gamelife]

the wii is a joke in my eyes, i originally bought one to play mario galaxy (which i loved) and mario kart (which was complete garbage).

i know prob 10-15 ppl that have had a wii at some point and sold it months later, i dont think the wiiu will do anywhere near as well. surely people aint gonna be fooled twice by another gimmicky system with 99% shovel ware games...?

nintendo seem hell bent on releasing this stuff for the sake of being different and completly ignoring what we really want, great games.

[Guts]

LOL at all the Wii hate.

The Wii has plenty of great games for many different tastes (Galaxy 1/2, Metroids, Zelda, Mario Kart etc.) although it's true that the 3rd party support hasn't been up with the numbers and quality of 360/PS3 (but this is what they're trying to fix with the Wii U). The Wii is worth owning just for the Nintendo first party games, personally I'm very much looking forward to Skyward Sword, hopefully it'll be a worthy "swan song" for the machine.

If the Wii U will deliver all the big third party titles, along with Nintendo's quality franchises in HD I see no reason why I wouldn't want one if the controller is comfortable to use.

[gamelife]

whats really sad is all the n64 ports and updates for the 3ds, nintendo have become a joke company in my eyes

starfox 64 3d...dayum haha

talk about a company running out of ideas and re-packaging 10 yr old games!