Nintendo Concedes Wii Troubles in Japan

[Virtuoso]

Based on the lackluster sales of the Wii in Japan lately, Nintendo has come out and admitted that there could be a problem (http://www.edge-online.com/news/102/nintendo-concedes-wii-troubles-japan).

Edge’s weekly Japan sales reports show the Wii has sold below 20,000 for six consecutive weeks, on occasion dipping close to the 15,000 mark. And while games such as Wii Music and Animal Crossing City Folk have likely turned a profit for the Kyoto firm, neither has shown the sales stamina of Wii Fit or Mario Kart.

On Monday Nintendo stated that the Wii’s sales decline wasn’t of particular concern. Today, Iwata made a wholesale change of tune at a press conference, declaring that “the Wii is in the most unhealthy condition since it hit the Japanese market.”

While admitting that the Wii’s position is not one that Nintendo is happy with, Iwata refused to be drawn into the idea of selling the console at a lower price. “A price cut in a difficult economy cannot really excite the market and drive up sales. As of now I really don't think that a price cut is a good option for us,” he said.

It was clear that Nintendo has pinned much of its hopes on the upcoming Wii Sports Resort, as well as the Wii Motion Plus controller add-on. The original Wii Sports was a tremendous success in Japan, and June will be the month that its successor will arrive.

Wii is a fad!!!!

[Vacatakarat]

Wii is a fad!!!!


I thought news posters were supposed to keep their fanboyism out of the inital post.

[RMan]

It's interesting that either Nintendo's not saying it, or the press is just picking what they think is more interesting, but clearly Japan is not a console gaming territory, it's a hand-held gaming territory. The second place hand held significantly outsells the first place console, Japan is clearly unlike other territories. Since N still sits on top of both categories, not surprised they aren't dropping prices, but wish they would. Seems reasonable at this point, if not necessary.

[oldjadedgamer]

Imagine that. A company that is honest about their performance in the market place and doesn't hide behind spin and company bull to make them look better then the are.

"Why do we fall down Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up"

[JazGalaxy]

I just find it baffling that Nintendo hasn't supported the Wii with software at ALL. The main products they're released have been conversions of old games destined for Gamecube and then switched mid project, or games wholy stolen from the Gamcube library and retrofitted with new controls.

I always had the utmost respect for the Nintendo because they took their tech demos, their "this is the cool new thing we can do with this hardware" and they turned it into games. They took their insane SNES scaling capabilities and built Pilotwings. They took their ability to simulate dots racing at the screen and built FZero. With the N64 they took polygons and built Mario 64. They took their ability to randomly generate wave physics and made Waverace.

With the Wii, where are all the tech demo games we saw pre-launch? Where's the new Pilotwings that uses the wii remote as a flight stick?

The Wii isn't a fad at all. People believe in the Wii and the Wii's concept of gaming. Nintendo is just massively dropping the ball.

[JazGalaxy]

Another point to make is that there are only so many peopel who are going to buy wiis.

If you're the fastest selling and best selling console ever made... at a certain point everyone is simply already in possession of one.

[lost]

I thought news posters were supposed to keep their fanboyism out of the inital post.

Nope. Italics make the world a better place.

Declining sales on any other console would be met with similar contempt. The PS3 is doomed, the 360 is a failbox and so on.

Nintendo have put themselves in a tricky spot if you ask me. What do they do for the next console? If they upgrade the graphics then it's something of an admission. More motion controls won't capture peoples imaginations in the same way. Combining touch on top of motion and standard controls makes things complicated again.

[Mr.Green]

I thought news posters were supposed to keep their fanboyism out of the inital post.

You might want to turn your sarcasm detector on.

[Virtuoso]

I thought news posters were supposed to keep their fanboyism out of the inital post.

That was a joke. By definition, a fad shouldn't last 3 years.

[3Suns]

Wii Sports Resort should have come out within six months of the launch of the system. Heck, Nintendo doesn't even have arms for their characters in Wii Sports. How long can these games possibly take to develop? New, motion-sensitive sports games should have been forth coming every half year at the most.

As an owner of the system, I say, there are very few enjoyable software titles for it. Luckily Nintendo is making BIG dollars on the sales of the systems themselves, because I am sure (without numbers) that the software attach rate isn't a 1/4 what it is for the 360.

[RMan]

If they upgrade the graphics then it's something of an admission.
An admission of what?

[JazGalaxy]

the graphics in wii sports aren't bad.

Simple, yes, but not bad. There's no texture warping or dissapearing polygons or jagged edges on anything.

If they increase the complexity of the graphics, how is that an admission of anything?

That's like saying if Apple quits using a solid white background "it's an admission"...

[LilAbner]

Perhaps the Japanese have finally gotten over the Wii gimmick and crave substance.

[Exodus]

Meh, wii sports resort with the motion plus will change this. We'll see the numbers then. Personally I really want to see the reviews on the motion plus.

[Stooby]

I still don't get how fancy controls create immersion or improve gameplay. I have fun playing the Wii at my friends house, but only because we are playing games against eachother. The controls are annoying. Everyone is flailing around like a retard. If anything the controls are more distracting than immersive.

I guess I am just old school, I agree with the design principles of the past. The control scheme should be invisible to the user when they are playing the game.

[Hellstorm]

Wii Sports Resort should have come out within six months of the launch of the system. Heck, Nintendo doesn't even have arms for their characters in Wii Sports. How long can these games possibly take to develop? New, motion-sensitive sports games should have been forth coming every half year at the most.

As an owner of the system, I say, there are very few enjoyable software titles for it. Luckily Nintendo is making BIG dollars on the sales of the systems themselves, because I am sure (without numbers) that the software attach rate isn't a 1/4 what it is for the 360.

As to you first paragraph, Nintendo unlike many other companies, understands the value of not wearing out a franchise with six month or yearly updates. You get ONE proper Mario game per generation (all others are ancillary and not a core Mario game), you get TWO proper Zelda games per generation, those are mainstays that you will always probably get. The other franchises, Starfox, Metroid, Punch-Out, F-Zero, go in and out of stasis, which can often be for a decade. Does it suck, yes I suppose for some, I would really love to play a new Kid Icarus, or Star Tropics, but they will remain in stasis until Nintendo sees fit to bring them back, which to me is a good thing.

As to your second paragraph, Wii has the second highest attach rate out of the consoles and is very close to the 360. But attach rates don't always tell the full story, and while they have some value, they don't fully complete the puzzle. The PS2 had the highest attach rate of last gen, but many games still tanked. 360 has the highest attach rate of this gen, but many games fail to make a profit.

[GunnSgtHartman]

I really wanted the Wii to succeed! I bought it at launch directly from Nintendo when I was working for a gaming company. With some regret, I sold it a year ago. It was gathering dust for a few months... only a few games were worth their price IMO.

I managed to sell it at 75% of its original price, I couldn't refuse it :)

Nothing makes me want to purchase the Wii again, especially at the ridiculous price Nintendo is selling it nowadays. I bet they won't be making a price cut soon, they are making phat profit with each unit, no need to care about selling games eh Nintendo? :(

[3Suns]

Hellstorm, I think you misunderstand me. I speak as a very disappointed and unsatisfied customer, not as an analysis, or developer, or shareholder.

When I first bought my Wii, I just assumed that since Nintendo was obviously skimping on graphics (which I never minded) and even features, they would be focusing on quantity: that further explorations of many wonderful sports using their new technology would be imminently forthcoming.

Comparing Wii sports to a franchise like Metriod, or Zelda, or even Mario Kart is a poor analogy, in my opinion...unless Nintendo actually plans on making Wii Sports 2 for the next new system, and only includes enhanced remakes of "batting", "boxing", "golf", and "bowling". Bwahahahahaha

If that is the case, then you are right. One game per gen.

When I think of another motion-sensitive sports game for this gen, I think of a game that would provide a completely different sports collection (like Wii Sports Resort)- and I don't consider that a sequel, or a milking of a franchise.

Do you consider NHL09 to be a sequel of FIFA08?!

[3Suns]

Hellstorm, I think you misunderstand me. I speak as a very disappointed and unsatisfied customer, not as an analysis, or developer, or shareholder.

Doh! that should have been "analyst"

[Stooby]

Anyone who was surprised by a lack of quality games on the Wii is naive. Since N64 Nintendo has had that same problem.

Also, I like how people who bought Wii right away are complaining about the number of random peripherals Nintendo sells, seemingly one for every new game that comes out. It's not like Nintendo doesn't have a history of doing that too.

[JazGalaxy]

I still don't get how fancy controls create immersion or improve gameplay. I have fun playing the Wii at my friends house, but only because we are playing games against eachother. The controls are annoying. Everyone is flailing around like a retard. If anything the controls are more distracting than immersive.

I guess I am just old school, I agree with the design principles of the past. The control scheme should be invisible to the user when they are playing the game.


Well, a zillion reasons, really.

A new kind of controller should, in a gaming landscape that was working correctly, give berth to new types of games. For instance, how differnet were games when the chief method of input was the keyboard? The mouse? The joystick?

We should be getting lots of games that use the wii's unique controller to create unique gameplay experiences. We're not because developers keep trying to make the same old games they always have and shoehorn them onto the wii.

Secondly, have you never been to an arcade? Light Gun games? Racing cabinets? Fishing games? Music games? All these games have different input mechanisms and every game is radically differnet because of it. In fact, in the 80's and 90's many arcade games were less fun on console because you couldn't replicate the arcade input.

So, yeah, anyone who says the wii's controller is somehow ill concieved needs to rethink their position, but the Wii contorller is definately nothing but untapped potential.

[Rhaze]

Bought a Wii and a WiiFit this weekend actually, and am quite enjoying it. The access to the library of old games I still love is great, and the games are simple, yet fun and satisfying.

[Herald42]

Also, I like how people who bought Wii right away are complaining about the number of random peripherals Nintendo sells, seemingly one for every new game that comes out. It's not like Nintendo doesn't have a history of doing that too.

Do I smell someone who has a beef with the Power Glove?

[Stooby]

Do I smell someone who has a beef with the Power Glove?

Growing up I never could get any of the awesome Nintendo peripherals because my family didn't have enough money. Now I hate Nintendo for not giving the stuff away.

[JazGalaxy]

Growing up I never could get any of the awesome Nintendo peripherals because my family didn't have enough money. Now I hate Nintendo for not giving the stuff away.

Nintendo must hate the Powerglove. It's synonomous with "Nintendo peripherals" and Nintendo didn't even make it. Mattel did.

Nintendo actually had precious few peripherals for the NES. They were all advertised on the back of the box. The powerpad, the zapper, the Nes Advantage and the Four Score. That's pretty much it.

[blackzc]

Im glad, this will force nintendo to be first out of the gate next gen. Which will be as powerful as a 360...but whatever. I want some improved motion controls and more hardcore games. Nintendo basically sat this gen out and still stomped asses.

[lost]

An admission of what?

That customers want that visual upgrade with their new console and that they avoided giving it to them because of penny pinching.

[Rommel]

It is possible the Wii, and gaming that relies nearly entirely on tactile elements such as Rock Band, can be a fad. I think the inclusion of toy-like / VR-elements into gaming is here to stay, but for several years now it has been the dominant force in console and arcade gaming. I am not certain that will continue forever.

[Metal Jesus]

It's possible that the Wii Motion Plus will turn all of this around. I know for myself, I was initially disappointed in the jerky, less accurate controls of the Wii (this is based on my experience with Wii Golf and a few others)...and decided to take a wait and see approach to the console.

If they get the Motion Plus working correctly and have good support for it, I would be tempted to pick it up.

[Syl]

The wii's "problem" is that it is no longer the best selling game system at the time, after 3 years of selling OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNTS.

Likewise, people, if you're disappointed the Wii has no good games - you simply haven't been looking.

[Exodus]

The wii's "problem" is that it is no longer the best selling game system at the time, after 3 years of selling OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNTS.

Likewise, people, if you're disappointed the Wii has no good games - you simply haven't been looking.

I won't dispute good games but I will dispute type of games. The more mature games are fewer and far between and it's not like we'll see healthy rpg's of triple A proportions on the wii beyond harvest moon. However I do want to play trauma centre that takes advantage of the motion plus because that's the one game that pissed me off due to lack of precision in the sensors.

[TeeCakes]

Imagine that. A company that is honest about their performance in the market place and doesn't hide behind spin and company bull to make them look better then the are.

"Why do we fall down Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up"

And the hypocritical comments from OJG continue without fail!

Or do you now agree with Sony not providing YET ANOTHER price-cut, contrary to what you've said in countless threads about how they "need" another price-cut to stay in business?

Cause it's a clear to see that Nintendo doesn't feel like they need a price-cut, despite losing sales and still being more expensive than the 360.

[oldjadedgamer]

And the hypocritical comments from OJG continue without fail!

Or do you now agree with Sony not providing YET ANOTHER price-cut, contrary to what you've said in countless threads about how they "need" another price-cut to stay in business?

Cause it's a clear to see that Nintendo doesn't feel like they need a price-cut, despite losing sales and still being more expensive than the 360.

Sony needed a price cut a LONG time ago. I don't remember hearing any gamers crying for a $600 machine at launch. They made their own bed with putting Blu-ray in the machine now they have to deal with that. I was mostly talking about spin from Kaz how they are still the market leader in some fantasy land even when the PS3 was down to 7,000 units a week.

The thing is that the Wii is only dipping recently and they admit that it's a bad situation that they should do something about. The PS3 has been taking a nose dive since it launched in Japan (taking 8 months to sell what the PS2 did in 48 hours) yet Kaz has always said that they are in a perfect position over there.

That's what I was talking about. It's refreshing to not have retarded spin to a systems performance.

[Exodus]

Sometimes I wonder...do we enjoy the drama as much as we produce it around these parts. I'm as guilty of this as anyone but deeeeAMN! >_< makes me feel ashamed sometimes.

anyways where's micheal and that popcorn already!

[RMan]

That customers want that visual upgrade with their new console and that they avoided giving it to them because of penny pinching.
Customers want all kinds of things, and Nintendo has made every system upgrade look better, so clearly they care about the visual upgrades, just not so much that they lose sight of everything else. It's interesting that many here might call it penny pinching, and would also likely call the PS3 a mistake too (I'm sure only MS actually got it right this generation, only MS, sweet, sweet MS). Nintendo is not penny pinching because they didn't overspend on their hardware. Nintendo just had more imagination and forethought than MS and Sony this generation, and knew what gamers cared about most and properly prioritized.

So, without wild assumption, when did Nintendo say they felt customers don't want visual upgrades?

[drakkarim]

"A price cut in a difficult economy cannot really excite the market and drive up sales."

WTF??

You mean to tell me that when the economy is bad and people have less expendable income, lowering the price of an entertainment item won't get more people to consider spending some of that expendable income on something with a suddenly lower price?

what's up with japan and their fucked up economic logic on this shit? they're sounding like sony.

next they're going to tell everyone that they made a mistake pricing the wii so 'cheaply' and it should have cost as much as the ps3.

[Anenome]

Actually, the Wiimote is a spiritual successor to the PowerGlove. The Powerglove, in retrospect, is an attempt to do a similar thing as the Wiimote, but the technology hadn't caught up with the concept. I remember testing out the PowerGlove at a mall on the game Punchout as one of those focus-group things. The Japanese market absorbs these peripherals much more readily than the American market, that's why they keep showing up in general.

As for the Wii in Japan, perhaps everyone who wants one has largely got one now. We can't discount the dropping economy affecting sales. That seems to indicate a price cut coming.

As for what Nintendo will do next console, they'll upgrade the graphics, obviously, expand every technical aspect, and the Wiimote will include the true positional sensor which is being released as an add-on right now. With the true positional sensor, things will get much more interesting. Of course, by then Nintendo will be facing attuned competition from the Sony and MS Wiimote knock-offs. Next gen should be interesting.

[JazGalaxy]

What people should remember is that Nintendo has never been into promoting graphical ability so much as they have been about promoting gameplay experience.

Sony, and I can't hide my distain of the company when I write this, is the company that turned the industry into one driven by nothing but surface level visuals. Nintendo had dominated the market beforehand with prodcuts like the Gameboy (which beat out the visually superior lynx and gamegear) and the NES (which stood toe to toe with the likes of many many consoles with superior visuals).

Everyone tries to suggest that the Wii is gimmicky and a toy, but I clearly see the PS3 as being gimmicky and it's games as being toys. When a game like Heavy Rain is being pumped up as a "AAA exclusive" and the only controlable element we've seen out of it is hte ability to change the lighting in a scene... THAT'S a toy. It's one step above a speak and spell.

[DarkDaY]

You took the money over the people that got you there, fair enough, business is business, but untill next gen and some proof Ill stick with my Sony and MS, ......god I miss nintendo. Fav company once a short time ago

[ONI5]

Now it's time for them to bring it out in a new color.

[blackzc]

You took the money over the people that got you there, fair enough, business is business, but untill next gen and some proof Ill stick with my Sony and MS, ......god I miss nintendo. Fav company once a short time ago


This is me also. Im hardcore nintendo. But after buying a Wii, playing zelda, selling it, buying a Wii, playing MP3, selling it, im done. Ill buy on again when they are 149$ and pick up the AAA for 20$ each. Ill have fun with it then.

Im not to happy with nintendo ATM, but then again, im always pissed at them for something. Usually not putting out enough games.

[blackzc]

Oh cept im not sticking with MS or sony im sticking with my PC.

[oldjadedgamer]

Oh cept im not sticking with MS or sony im sticking with my PC.

So you're sticking with Microsoft? As a Mac user the reason I bought a 360 in the first place was to play PC games without needing to run Windows.

[Anenome]

Oh cept im not sticking with MS or sony im sticking with my PC.

The console is in danger of becoming an anachronism going forward into the future. MS began this process with the successful introduction of the Media Center PC and a long term plan to melt the Xbox into the Media Center (Xbox has media center functionality, as we know). This was to counter Sony's long term plan to turn the PSX into the media center platform of the home, beginning with the CD playing capability of the PSX, to DVD and Bluray with later consoles. Unfortunately for Sony, they tried to push too far too fast and... they had a crazy man running the show, lol. Kutaragi isn't the brightest bulb in the box. Of them all, only Nintendo is focused purely on gaming without largely living-room ambitions. But what happened then, the Wii created the 'Home' channel interface and the Wii has become the center of the living room too, so maybe Nintendo is catching up with the plan, but it's still not their main focus.

PCs will eventually be powerful enough and ubiquitous enough to be everywhere in the home, wirelessly. So where does that leave the console makers? When the console is lost, or rather when the console merges with the PC, the console makers won't be able to extract licensing fees and will go the way of Sega, become content creators.

Nintendo's future is to become a content creator for the PC, and also run the premiere hand-held system, which is what will continue to make them stupidly profitable (until the day that cell-phones catch up and takeover handheld gaming--or will Nintendo try to create a phone of their own to counter that inevitability?).

MS's future is to finally ditch the Xbox gaming division and turn it into a PC publishing house. The whole point of this division is to keep Sony from railroading Windows as the media center of the living room. That's why it didn't matter how much money they lost with Xbox 1.

Sony's future is: bankruptcy. lol. It's actually a has-been company desperately struggling to be relevant in a world that's left it behind. Sony is still banking on its name to charge 10-20% more money for inferior electronics, it's formerly bread and butter industry. But other creator's quality has come up, and it has faced harsh competition from Samsung and others. Even if Sony does survive in some capacity, they seem to have lost the media-center argument, or MS has muddied the waters enough to keep them from winning or dominating. And, bungling the cost of the PS3 was enough to keep them out of the mainstream anyway.

[drakkarim]

The console is in danger of becoming an anachronism going forward into the future.....

Interesting read. Seeing how each generation of consoles seems to be going UP in price, and each generation of computing power going DOWN in price, I suspect its quite viable that at some point in the near future, buying a single console would be financially retarded in comparison to buying a pc that can play anything the consoles can play...and still offer all the other flexibility that a pc offers that a console never will.

not to mention we could actually use mice if we so chose :)

[TeeCakes]

Interesting read. Seeing how each generation of consoles seems to be going UP in price, and each generation of computing power going DOWN in price, I suspect its quite viable that at some point in the near future, buying a single console would be financially retarded in comparison to buying a pc that can play anything the consoles can play...and still offer all the other flexibility that a pc offers that a console never will.

not to mention we could actually use mice if we so chose :)

Nice try. Find me a laptop with a Blu-ray drive for less than $399 new and I'll call you The Jesus.

[Anenome]

Nice try. Find me a laptop with a Blu-ray drive for less than $399 new and I'll call you The Jesus.

What's this incestuous obsession with the Bluray drive? Bluray is no different than its green and red-laser predecessors in the sense that it is destined to go from 'wow awesome' new thing and hideously expensive, to being so ubiquitous that it's a total commodity selling for $25 a pop like any other CD drive. Just a matter of time. A CD-player in 1980 cost something like $2,000.

[Anenome]

Interesting read. Seeing how each generation of consoles seems to be going UP in price, and each generation of computing power going DOWN in price, I suspect its quite viable that at some point in the near future, buying a single console would be financially retarded in comparison to buying a pc that can play anything the consoles can play...and still offer all the other flexibility that a pc offers that a console never will.

not to mention we could actually use mice if we so chose :)

- The ancient problem which created the console was that dedicated hardware could perform a task far better than generalized hardware. So, with the computer you could play Mario on the NES, a system which was specifically designed to play games, for a reasonable price. Furthermore it was designed to hook-up to the television set, something a computer wasn't.

But look at the situation today: televisions and monitors have merged. In fact, I'm writing this on a widescreen Vizio LCD which was designed for HDTV but has RGB inputs and functions perfectly as a monitor (my old monitor burned out) and costs about the same.

So now, generalized hardware in the form of a PC has caught up to dedicated hardware. The only thing that makes consoles superior from a developer stand-point is the absolute hardware specs. That can be dealt with on a PC by building to the hardware average. The first company to do this, and find massive success doing it, was Blizzard, who began pushing titles that anyone with a computer could play rather than developing toward the bleeding edge of hardware. I could see the current console makers creating their own controllers, Wii-like USB interfacing controllers, and then creating games on disc that have a USB foible designed to decode them (perhaps preventing piracy), and continue to license games using the key-foible as leverage. Who knows.

It'll be a fun decade upcoming. The next console war should be interesting. I really can't say who is likely to come out on top. Nintendo had surprise on their side in this generation. But for the next one...? Sony, depending on how their company fares, may actually decide to forego another console, though I think that unlikely. But they are in the weakest financial position. Nintendo and Microsoft are actually one of the two most profitable companies in the entire world, with Nintendo being the most profitable in Japan. Both on the strength of a secondary product MS:Windows and Nintendo:Gameboy (so, Wii cash is pure gravy to them). Sony? Sony had electronics, but it's not the cash cow for them it once was. Sony had music, music's on hard times right now. What's left, movies? Nope, hard times also. Actually, gaming was their cash cow, and that's where the problem is. They spent sooooo much money on the PS3 becuase it -had- to succeed for them, virtually in order for the company to avoid bakruptcy, so Sony's been shook up ever since it largely failed.

[Syl]

I won't dispute good games but I will dispute type of games. The more mature games are fewer and far between and it's not like we'll see healthy rpg's of triple A proportions on the wii beyond harvest moon. However I do want to play trauma centre that takes advantage of the motion plus because that's the one game that pissed me off due to lack of precision in the sensors.

No AAA RPGs?

Dragon Quest X was announced for Wii, the next major Tales game (Tales of Graces) has been announced for Wii. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - The Crystal Bearers looks fucking amazing, and you can't forget the outrageously popular Monster Hunter Tri that's coming out before the end of the year.

As for mature games, I've been playing Mad World and House of the Dead: Overkill, both games with more gratuitous violence and cursing than anything i've seen for the 360/PS3. No More Heroes and Manhunt are also good older candidates, and how can you ignore the recently announced Silent Hill remake or The Conduit?

I realize that some of the games I love on the Wii (Geometry Wars Galaxies, Boom Blox, Blast Works, Zack and Wiki) may not be the most "mature" titles, but i really don't care for tits and ass if the game has no need for them. Excite Bots, coming out next week, looks to be the best pure arcade racing experience i've seen in years.

Likewise some really awesome stuff has been coming out for Wii-Ware that's incredibly addicting, like the Art Style games and Bit.trip Beat, World of Goo and all the obvious VC re-releases.

I honestly have no idea how people are complaining the Wii doesn't have games right now, it has a ton.

[donkeydrop]

Another point to make is that there are only so many peopel who are going to buy wiis.

If you're the fastest selling and best selling console ever made... at a certain point everyone is simply already in possession of one.

Not even half way to PS1 sales never mind PS2 so they arent anywhere close to saturating the market.

[donkeydrop]

No AAA RPGs?

Dragon Quest X was announced for Wii, the next major Tales game (Tales of Graces) has been announced for Wii. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - The Crystal Bearers looks fucking amazing, and you can't forget the outrageously popular Monster Hunter Tri that's coming out before the end of the year.

... and how can you ignore the recently announced Silent Hill remake or The Conduit?

Excite Bots, coming out next week, looks to be the best pure arcade racing experience i've seen in years.


I honestly have no idea how people are complaining the Wii doesn't have games right now, it has a ton.

But all of those games are NOT out right now. When the most popular game for your system in the last 3 months is Guitar Hero Aerosmith, an ancient port of an overexposed series then that is trouble.

[Syl]

But all of those games are NOT out right now. When the most popular game for your system in the last 3 months is Guitar Hero Aerosmith, an ancient port of an overexposed series then that is trouble.
The most popular game rot he Wii recently has been Guitar Hero: World Tour. I know this because I look at the charts, followed by stuff like Mario Kart Wii and still being beaten by stuff like Wii Play, etc.

The Guitar Hero series is also in the top 3 best sellers for Xbox 360 and PS3, so I don't really see how this is a "problem".

I also don't care much for game popularity, i buy things based upon what is fun and interests me, not what interests the average consumer. There have been many Wii games in the past few months that interested me; thus I bought them.

Simply because I don't buy 200,000 copies for myself doesn't make the games any less worthwhile to own. The failure recently has been on the consumers, not on the publishers.

[JazGalaxy]

You took the money over the people that got you there, fair enough, business is business, but untill next gen and some proof Ill stick with my Sony and MS, ......god I miss nintendo. Fav company once a short time ago

I think you're choosing to look at in inaccurately.

Most people who grew up playing Nintendo did just that, GREW UP playing Nintendo. Now these old men of my generation are saying Nintnedo needs to be more "hardcore" to cater to them, including things in the games that they never included before and have no intention of including now. Most classic NES games would be considered "casual" by the "hardcore" gamers for featuring no "story" to speak of, and simple objectives and control schemes.

Nintendo, in this way, IS sticking with "the people who got them there" by refusing to compete with MS and Sony in a battle for "who can have the most graphically intensive murder simulator on the shelf"

[oldjadedgamer]

Nice try. Find me a laptop with a Blu-ray drive for less than $399 new and I'll call you The Jesus.

But he's talking about gaming and everyone knows that Blu-ray isn't needed for gaming.

[MacD]

I tend to think that, while the Wii has sold extremely succesfully for Nintendo (which, remember, is in the business of selling hardware [and the only one to do so at a profit] and only tolerates software as a means of selling more hardware), Nintendo are now feeling the fact that the Wii was pushed into 'growing the market' and 'casual gamer-friendly'.

Whilst this strategy has been immensely profitable for them, they're at their 'casual gamer' limit. They have grown the market...and have left real gamers, the ones who buy multiples of the same console (one for them, one for their significant other, mom and dad, brother, friends, whatever) out in the cold. The real gamers are the ones who grow the market laterally, who through peer pressure, tipping point numbers, name it what you want, create an atmosphere amongst gamers that 'this is the console to have this generation'. But due to the lack of gamer's games, mature titles (Mad World IS NOT A MATURE TITLE; it's kiddy fodder for tweens who want blood....that's a different thing entirely from mature themed games; you know: games for grownups...something Mad World is not. Hell, it might be fun, but it ain't mature like Planescape: Torment or Deus Ex or even Fallout 3 are mature titles).

Anyway, sorry for that self-derail, but the point is that whilst the Wii has SOME good games, has a bunch of games which appeal to the casual and the 'growing the market segment', it has a distinct lack of games for people who actually use (read: would like to use) the console as a thing which they play their games on (as opposed to exercise on or play drunk at a party). And I'm not even going to go into the whole boring rehash of once successfull titles. Sure, franchises might be fun to play, but I got bored with Wing commander and started on Lara Croft, which bored me and I went on to play FreeSpace, then Starcraft and Beyond Good and Evil (or whatever, you know what I mean:: I as a gamer want innovation and will get bored in a universe I've seen and played in 'till tears of boredom slid down my cheecks [Note: Wheel of Time people who went on past book 5 don't have this problem...but then, you guys aren't normal :P]; I crave 'new cool shit(TM)', not 'same shit different day').

Furthermore, Nintendo has fucked up by being extremely hostile towards the dev community; Wiiware? A joke. The royalties they keep? Criminal. Not paying devs for sold work? W. T. F.

So, yeah, shovelware is what gets made, and what gets sold. But shovelware doesn't sell consoles, is what Nintendo is now figuring out.

[drakkarim]

Nice try. Find me a laptop with a Blu-ray drive for less than $399 new and I'll call you The Jesus.

i think 10 years ago you could have said the same about a laptop with a dvd drive for under a $1000... and what happened there.

[DarkDaY]

I think you're choosing to look at in inaccurately.

Most people who grew up playing Nintendo did just that, GREW UP playing Nintendo. Now these old men of my generation are saying Nintnedo needs to be more "hardcore" to cater to them, including things in the games that they never included before and have no intention of including now. Most classic NES games would be considered "casual" by the "hardcore" gamers for featuring no "story" to speak of, and simple objectives and control schemes.

Nintendo, in this way, IS sticking with "the people who got them there" by refusing to compete with MS and Sony in a battle for "who can have the most graphically intensive murder simulator on the shelf"

People can and will look at something they care about in anyway they can to justify the purchase, change, whatever.
I prefer to look at the wii in the way that when I bought it excited, held on to it for a year and barely played due to lack of games that it was not a machine I want or need, and not even close to the Nintendo that I grew up with.

Your talking extremes, I just want some games, good ones.
But your bias shows through with your "murder simulators" comment, both machines have great games beyond that and you know it.

I don't care about the machines as long as there are great experiences on them, and Nintendo is running on empty, at least to little to justify the cost of another system when that money can go to other things that keep me entertained.

50 million wii owners, 49 million are first time console buyers and have a pack in game and buy peripherals out the wazzu for their "wii parties".

Exaggeration I know. But close enough.

[JazGalaxy]

People can and will look at something they care about in anyway they can to justify the purchase, change, whatever.
I prefer to look at the wii in the way that when I bought it excited, held on to it for a year and barely played due to lack of games that it was not a machine I want or need, and not even close to the Nintendo that I grew up with.

Your talking extremes, I just want some games, good ones.
But your bias shows through with your "murder simulators" comment, both machines have great games beyond that and you know it.

I don't care about the machines as long as there are great experiences on them, and Nintendo is running on empty, at least to little to justify the cost of another system when that money can go to other things that keep me entertained.

50 million wii owners, 49 million are first time console buyers and have a pack in game and buy peripherals out the wazzu for their "wii parties".

Exaggeration I know. But close enough.

No, my bias isn't showing through, but perhaps my disillusion with gaming in general. See, I own an Xbox 360 Elite and a Nintendo Wii and the wii is in my closet, not even hooked up to the television. I have the same problem as most, if not all wii owners. But, I think the difference between me and other gamers is that I'm willing to call a spade a spade which I look at the industry and see nothing but first person shooters and RPGs. That's pretty much all there is these days and most of them are focused on wholesale murder. I mean, games like MadWorld are getting good scores just BECAUSE they feature wholesale murder.

[Anenome]

No, my bias isn't showing through, but perhaps my disillusion with gaming in general. See, I own an Xbox 360 Elite and a Nintendo Wii and the wii is in my closet, not even hooked up to the television. I have the same problem as most, if not all wii owners. But, I think the difference between me and other gamers is that I'm willing to call a spade a spade which I look at the industry and see nothing but first person shooters and RPGs. That's pretty much all there is these days and most of them are focused on wholesale murder. I mean, games like MadWorld are getting good scores just BECAUSE they feature wholesale murder.

- It's not -beacause- it's murder. It's because situations where murder and killing happens touch a primal instinct in the human being, especially the human male whom is geared towards protection and survival.

It's the most blunt emotion that there is: the survival instinct. All games must touch an emotional chord in order to connect with the player, on top of being a fun game in and of itself. We could make arguments for the emotion tapped by various successful games. Mario platformers are about survival and saving a girl, but also exploration, collection, and the emotion called 'fun' that all games must ultimately produce.

[Syl]

Everyone who thinks madworld is getting good scores because its based purely around blood and language are wrong.

The game is actually a social satire combo-based brawler. It just happens to use gore and vulgarity to help prove the point even stronger.

This is actually exactly the same thing that House of the Dead: Overkill did, except HotD used an entirely different style and obviously wasn't a brawler.

Although I have to agree that the ending of HotD:Overkill was by far the better punchline.

[JazGalaxy]

Everyone who thinks madworld is getting good scores because its based purely around blood and language are wrong.

The game is actually a social satire combo-based brawler. It just happens to use gore and vulgarity to help prove the point even stronger.

This is actually exactly the same thing that House of the Dead: Overkill did, except HotD used an entirely different style and obviously wasn't a brawler.

Although I have to agree that the ending of HotD:Overkill was by far the better punchline.

From reading reviews, I don't really think I am wrong. Many fall just short of saying "it's a mediocre game, and on any other console it would be a 6 or a 7, but because it's on the wii we give it a 9."