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Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 17th, 2009, 10:57 pm
by snakeboy1
I recently read on an article that made the case that Wii could be heading for trouble sometime in the near future. They argued that it will make less and less sense for third parties to make games for Nintendo's console because of a few reasons:

1) Third party games usually sell better on the Xbox 360 and PS3 compared to the Wii. Half of the games sold on the Wii are either first party games or Guitar Hero games.

2) Wii sales are already in decline in Japan and could be slowing down in other places as well.

3) Even though Nintendo has sold as many as 19 million Wiis in North America, there have been even more Xbox 360's and PS3's sold (about 22 million). Why make a game for the Wii when you can easily make one for the Xbox 360 and port it to the PS3?

As much as I love my Wii and want it to get great third party support, I do think that these are some pretty good points. The Wii looks like it has good third party support this year, but if these games don't sell well, next year could be a different story.

So, I say if you want the Wii to continue to get good support, go buy the good looking stuff that's supposed to come out in the months ahead:

Boom Blox 2, Tiger Woods '10, Little King's Story, A Boy and His Blob, Grand Slam Tennis, Silent Hill, Cursed Mountain, Muramasa, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, The Conduit, Virtua Tennis, etc.

These games are looking good, and if you want more stuff like it in the future, you need to go out and buy them.

Any thoughts?



Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 18th, 2009, 8:18 am
by steer
I saw that too on my Yahoo homepage - I thought it was stupid and poorly thought out.

Nintendo will have devleopment problems when they start making games for other consoles. They have provided most of the reasons to buy Wii, and still are - not likely to change/

Also Japan in general is slow, and it will take PS3 a LOOOOOONG time to 'overtake' Wii their with both their selling rates. Wii has fallen off, but PS3 has NEVER set the world on fire there...

And if we are just going to add 360 and PS3 together - why not simply eliminate one? They are redundant systems if that is the case....Wii has exclusive development, lets twist that around to make it sound good instead of bad. Why can't 360 trump PS3 as THE hd gen system? Why can't PS# trump 360 as THE hd system?

Wii development is also cheaper, in general.

Nintendo still has 3 to 4 home made games on the top 10 EVERY week - no other developer is doing that, except for maybe Guitar Hero, assuming that is still selling well, I have no idea. Also they have Sports 2 ready to rock. That article reads like fanboy anti-hype.

Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 18th, 2009, 7:17 pm
by N64Dude1
Yes well these kind of people have also said time and time again. " Wii will loose because it has poor graphics and almost no 3rd party games sell and most games are casual" yet time and time again Wii keeps outselling the rest. If anything that encourages developers to make more top-notch games and consumers to buy just to proove those analysts wrong. Most winning consoles have actually been the mocked [PS2 wasn't always the overrated,icon of video gaming it is now] and been what appears to be the worst in every way.

This article is most likely by history-ignorant fanboys,I also noticed it.

So what if PS3 outsold Wii in Japan,if I remember correctly in September 2007 Xbox 360 outsold Wii in America but that was becuase of Halo 3.Don't forget Wii is still facing a supply problem everywhere so naturally he console will slip anyway.

Snakeboy I wouldn't worry if I were you


Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 18th, 2009, 7:29 pm
by VideoGameCritic
I think the Wii has lost a lot of its momentum because by in large it's failed to capitalize on what makes it unique: the control scheme.  Third parties can't seem to get a handle on it, and Nintendo never really topped Wii Sports.  I think the new Wiimote-plus device is Nintendo's attempt to rectify the situation.

But even if the Wii loses steam, Nintendo doesn't have much to worry about.  The Xbox 360 is a hardware disaster, and the PS3 is a basket case.


Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 18th, 2009, 8:31 pm
by snakeboy1


[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]I think the Wii has lost a lot of its momentum because by in large it's failed to capitalize on what makes it unique: the control scheme.  Third parties can't seem to get a handle on it, and Nintendo never really topped Wii Sports.  I think the new Wiimote-plus device is Nintendo's attempt to rectify the situation.
[/QUOTE]

I would agree with that. There have been few games since Wii Sports that use the Wii remote functions in such a fun, engaging, and simple way.

Third parties want to make it sound like there is no good reason why their games don't sell well on the Wii. Well, don't you think it could possibly be because their Wii games don't get the effort put into them that their Xbox and PS3 games do. To me this seems pretty obvious - from traditional games with tacked-on motion controls to hastily created mini-game collections.

As a result of the Wii selling extremely well, this seems to be changing as I pointed out with the games I listed above (also want to add the Ghostbusters game to that list, the trailer for it looks pretty good). However, I worry if these games don't sell, third parties could back off again.

It will be interesting to see what can be done with Wii Motion Plus. The developers for Grand Slam Tennis have already complained that it is too responsive. That kind of sounded dumb to me, but it actually makes a little sense - if you are going up against a computer player who is playing like a pro, it would be frustrating to be constantly hitting balls out because your backhand is slightly off. Overall, though, I think Motion Plus will be a positive thing with some exciting possibilities.

Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 18th, 2009, 9:26 pm
by bluemonkey1
"It will be interesting to see what can be done with Wii Motion Plus. The developers for Grand Slam Tennis have already complained that it is too responsive."

It's because of the inherant difference between a WiiMote and a real tennis racket.  You'll see if you hold your hand out it's impossible to hold it exactly steady, that's because of the rhythmic pumping of your heart pushing the blood round.  You'll see this issue with lightguns how they scatter all over the place when aiming them.  When the WiiMote was less sensitive it wasn't noticable, increasing the sensitivity and suddenly your inputs are erratic.  Developers have to then try to work out some smoothing operation which will be different for each release.

Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 19th, 2009, 12:27 am
by BanjoPickles1
I think people need to take a few things into account when panicking about Wii sales in Japan. I'm not sure if Steer touched on this:

-Resident Evil 5 came out. That game alone has been moving PS3's in Japan. Obviously people aren't going to buy it for the 360 in Japan so it's selling tons of PS3's. Actually, and I could be wrong, it seems like Resident Evil 5 is to the PS3 what Wii Fit or Mario Kart is for the Wii, but on a much smaller scale! If you look at the sales numbers for March, Wii Fit is still lodged in the top ten! You're talking about a game that's been out for a year over there! On top of that, a very expensive game!

-When's the last time Nintendo has released a "killer ap" anywhere in the world? Animal Crossing was pure rehash, Wii Music was purely a love-it-or-hate-it experience(I've never tried it because, frankly, nothing about it intrigued me). Mario Kart Wii/Wii Fit were the last two Wii-related products Nintendo has released that could be described as literal system sellers! Steer, you may not agree with me on this at all, but Nintendo seems to have gotten sort of lazy lately with the games. Punch Out will be the first Nintendo-made game that I have purchased in a year for the system, save for Pikmin which I don't count for being a rerelease. I don't think Nintendo's in dire straits....yet. Third parties are actually what really keeps my interest alive in the system. Bit Trip Beat is my latest obsession and it just goes to show you that innovation doesn't need to be leaps-and-bounds. Critic, it's a damn shame you won't download games(for whatever dumb reason, no offense) because you're missing literally half of the great games out there for the Wii/360!

As for Japan, you'll see those numbers tilt back severely in Wii's favor when Dragon Quest X comes out for it! Anybody that thinks Dragon Quest X will bomb because it's on the Wii need only to look at the series' history! The games, in Japan, are literally system sellers! I wouldn't worry, as so many stupid publications are. They're writing obituaries for one month's sales out of thirty?! Very dumb and premature.

Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 19th, 2009, 3:15 am
by Luke
Has anyone else noticed that there has only been one proper Mario game on each of their systems since the N64?

N64: Super Mario 64
Gamecube: Super Mario Sunshine
Wii: Super Mario Galaxy

Seriously, what's the deal?

Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 19th, 2009, 8:52 am
by steer

 Steer, you may not agree with me on this at all, but Nintendo seems to have gotten sort of lazy lately with the games. Punch Out will be the first Nintendo-made game that I have purchased in a year for the system,

 
And - ironically, the game you are interested in is a 2nd party remake....
 
I do not agree they are lazy. Why look at a handful of games and cry lazy? I did not buy Animal Crossing because I do not care for the franchise as it is, and that looked to be more of the same...so what? It is the 2nd most popular Wii game on gamefaqs,- even bumping Smash Bros off of the top slot for a short while - so it obviously has its fans.....
 
If Wii Sports Resort is going to be a lazy game - why is it being delayed? Why are they bothering to apparently fine tune motion plus? Just release it however it is - it will sell anyway, right???
 
People make so many emotional responses to things that are not emotional at all. Buy games you think you will like - end of story. Why read into 'laziness, arrogance, game developed karma' etc..... 


Problems for the Wii on the horizon?

Posted: April 19th, 2009, 11:00 am
by BanjoPickles1
I wasn't talking about Wii Sports Resort. I'm pretty excited about that game, actually. I'm talking about this:

In 2007, Metroid Prime 3 came out in August, Mario Galaxy in November, then Smash Bros. Brawl in March(?) of 2008, followed by Mario Kart in April, then Wii Fit in May. That's a pretty good, steady release schedule. Since then, it's been somewhat dry. The summer was completely dry(as they usually are), Wii Music and Animal Crossing, if my memory serves me, were released almost at the same time, and then nothing for several months. I definately don't think they've gotten lazy with game design. I can't think of one instance where Nintendo's just crapped out a game before quality testing the hell out of it first.

As for Punch Out, it may be a remake but you have to understand how huge of a fan of the series I am. It sucks because it's probably my favorite series of all time, or one of them, and I've been waiting fifteen years(!) for a new one! While I wish it was more than just a remake with a new character, I hear that they literally(for the first time) had to worry about space issues which is great! They packed a ton of extras into it and Punch Out for me always had unlimited replay so it'll probably be that game I can keep playing. Plus, it was done by the same company that did Mario Strikers Charged which I thought was awesome! We'll have to see. Between that, Little King's Story, and Wii Sports Resort, I should have enough games.