I dont agree about Lair ,its a good game just not for everybody .

As for the thread most of the games cited as subsidizing PS3/360 games havent had much success .

Many companies are getting money from the PS3 and 360 and not from the WII .In fact the Wii games that are selling strongly are almost all the Nintendo games .Wii Sports (in Japan ) ,Mario Galaxy ,Mario Party ,Wii Play ,Big Brain Academy ......we could add to those Guitar Hero III but that is selling very well too in the PS2/360/PS3 so cant say the Wii version is subsidizing the others .

Of the examples offered we have

Ubisoft: RRR, Red Steel -> Assasins Creed

Capcom: Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition -> Resident Evil 5, Lost Planet

Konami: Elebits -> Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill

EA: Boogie, EA Playground -> Burnout Paradise, Medal of Honor: Airborne

T-Two: Carnival Games -> GTA4

and now: Sega: M&S at the Olympic Games, NiGHts -> Beijing 2008, Golden Axe

Red Steel and RRR .Both sold reasonably well but the AC development was started way before the release of the Wii games .Not a good example ,specially seeing as AC has already sold more than 4 million and heading for 5 million and still has to be released for PC .

Resident Evil Wii Edition .This has sold quite good surpassing 1 million worlwide .Given it was simple port it sure has gained a lot of money even at its budget price .Still ,Lost Planet sold more than 1 million too on the 360 and still has to be released on the PS3 .RE5 will sell way more than RE4 Wii Edition too .Umbrella Chronicles isnt doing so good on the other side .

Elebits .Elebits bombed HARD .MGSIV wont bomb at all .

Boogie and EA Playground .Bombed big time .Both of them .Wii version of Tiger 08 and Madden didnt do too hot either .On the other hand the 360 versions of Madden ,Fifa 08 ,Tiger 08 have done very good and in the PS3 Madden has done half a million and Fifa 08 one million and Tiger respectable numbers .I dont see were Wii soft is subsidizing PS3/360 games here ,just the contrary the sports games on PS3/360 are subsidizing the Wii shovelware of Ea .

T-two :Ok ,Carnival Games has sold way more than expected specially in NA.But pleease ,GTAIV will destroy its numbers day one in PS3 alone .

Sonic and Mario and Nights .Well ,Nights has bombed terribly everywhere .Sonic and Mario has done great ....this would be the only example of some validity you have provided now that we know Beijing 2008 and Golden Axe arent appearing on the Wii .


As for the general mark I see the point you tried to make but failed to express with these lame comparisions .You think that once the Wii is selling more it should attract the big budget games .Issue is this business is technology driven and by putting in it such a weak hardware Nintendo has cut the Wii wings as software support is concerned .Nintendo has managed a monster success with its innovative control and low price and casual games but this same approach is getting a lot folks to the machine that with Wii Sports and one Mario game at thanksgivings are ok .Besides ,not even putting all the money in the world behind a Wii game could they produce something radically better (technically speaking )that the late Xbox 1 games .Considering all this and that companies have to invest in technology and have their staff they cant just fire half their staff ,sell their next gen developing tools and put their remaining staff to work in some Wii project headed to casual gamers .Thats why each week we see lots of games announced and most of them arent for the Wii .The hardware just isnt enough and companies have it as a cash-in machine with a less exigent public to whom dedicate some casual games or ports of old games .

This year will decide the Wii's compatability with third parties. We will see where it settles after it comes out of its superhard to find stage.

I dont think it will sell third party titles well at all. Its not the successor to the PS2, but will likely sell the same games the DS sells. Non games and Mario. Just because you call something a "gaming console" and it sells well doesnt mean that it can just replace the PS2 WW. People need to buy the console for the game experience not the console experience.

This is where the Xbox360 went right, but unfortunately for them their name brand and software lineup will ultimately stop them from finishing first.

So for the Wii it really comes down to this. Can it provide an experience past the initial hype to keep it selling. Motion sensing can only last so long, and as far as I know the Wii has no other advantage over the other consoles other than Mario Galaxy. Casuals buyers will buy it quickly, but they are also the fanbase that will abandon them the fastest as well. 08 should be interesting.

 I'm curious, what makes you think that Boogie at over 200k in NA alone and still charting, EA playground at 150k in NA, elebits at 250 in NA+Jap, Nights at 100k in NA+JAP (and just released) and specially RE:UC at over 700k when they expected no more than 620k in lifetime were bombs ?

 I think your MP3 example is really poor. Metroid was never a mainstream game. It is a hard game (most of them) and require skills that most gamers lack. It is doing great considering other Metroid sales.

I do not share your opinion that only Mario and WiiSports sell. Just look at the million sellers list. You also ignore that "teh Hardcorez" are not buying some of the HD high budget games. It is far more risky developing a game for PS3/360 than making a proper Wii game (let`s say 10 million).

 Graphics on consoles can only last so long. Actually since long time ago we already have better graphics with better games on computers.

People seem to be under the impression that Wii development is extremely cheap. Does anyone have hard numbers? I know it's significantly cheaper, but I remember reading a Nikkei article that pegged the average development to be around $11 million for the Wii, $16 million for the 360 and $20 million for the PS3. I can't link it, it was a long time ago. Obviously cheaper for the Wii, but it seemed that it wasn't cheaper to the point where 50,000 sold is breaking even.

That's right Diomedes.  Business is technology driven, and no one develops anything but PC games because of that.  Every developer is just trying to make the best technology ever, and they are all developing the next Crysis.  They don't care at all about money.  Everyone makes games for your system and your choice is the right one.  You can sleep soundly at night. 

Apparently someone hasn't looked at the DS million sellers list, because if the Wii sells games like the DS, the PS3 and 360 are, to put it lightly, FUCKED.  

Anyone ever think what the game developers want? Could it be that the programmers like to push the limit with the technology and see what they can do? They may be a little bored of producing for wii standard hardware (I know it's more powerful than last generation but not overly). I imagine lots of them find 360 and ps3 programming more interesting after having done last generation to death. Not even just the programmers. How about the artists and production teams. People like to move forward. Sure the wii is a step forward with interactivity, but only very few of the development will have much input into the control scheme.