Well, I stumbled upon some pretty nasty numbers in this thread. Namely the following poll result, to which people answered a question along the lines of, "Which home console did you enjoy the most this past generation?":

 

Wii	82	20.00%
PS3	190	46.34%
360	116	28.29%

 

Given that the results of all recent threads asking the VGChartz community about their favorite console maker points at Nintendo having the most support, I find this result alarming. Sure, these polls are very easy to tamper with, but the fact that the Microsoft discussion forums on this site are pretty much dead while a thread that shouldn't attract too much hate or fanboyism (i.e. poll manipulation) gives a result such as the above should indicate that something is wrong at the Nintendo camp. The recent software drought is obviously a significant miss on Nintendo's part, but I really don't see that causing people to overlook a full generation of games. Let alone put the Wii on levels below the Xbox 360 on a site with such a small 360 userbase.

 

So, has Nintendo failed their fans with the Wii, and if so, how?

I don't think Nintendo has failed me personally. I'm much happier with the Wii than I was with the GameCube. I enjoyed the 1st party efforts more, and the lack of 3rd party didn't bother me as much because I had a gaming PC to fall back on.

Business-wise, however, I think Nintendo definitely dropped the ball. They couldn't maintain the support that their console needed while working on launching its successor. This led to many fans becoming bored due to the lack of new titles and relying on competitor's systems for their gaming needs. Now, maybe this was a necessary move because Nintendo is too small to spread their resources like Microsoft or Sony, but I still see that as a failure on their part. With the massive amounts of profits they made over the years, they should have taken the opportunity to grow, so they wouldn't run into the same problems they've been running into since the N64 days.

Maybe with this upcoming restructuring this year things will change, I guess we'll see in 5 years or so.

Putting aside all the criticism about the hardware, the Wii has never been about graphics and online, and that's completely fine to me. The real failure was the total lack of support by Nintendo after 2010.

Admittedly, I had a few letdowns with this console myself. Though I mostly blame myself for them. For instance, I never really liked motion controls on classic Nintendo IP's. Wii Sports was a blast, but on game like the Legend of Zelda and Metroid I really only found it a distraction: It didn't offer challenging gameplay - just more time to spend on things that easily could have been done with quick time events or things that was possible using a second analogue stick.

I have heard though that motion controls makes aiming more accurate , which should be a reason for me to enjoy Metroid Prime 3 more than I actually did. But it just wasn't for me, and I would have picked dual analogue controls before motion controls any day.

To conclude what I think about the Wii, I see it as a second Gamecube with worse controllers, better menus and functions (especially the awesome Virtual Console), less enjoyable Super Smash Bros. game (though Brawl was/is still amazingly funny, Melee was hard to top) and with no F-Zero. For those reasons, I played the Gamecube far more this generation than I played the Wii.


So, while the Wii wasn't a failure for me (Twilight Princess, though initially a Gamecube game, was breathtaking for instance.), it was still a letdown. To me the motion controls didn't improve gameplay while they made Nintendo skip adding higher performance to their console, which easily could have resulted not only in prettier visuals, but more content.

I left Nintendo with the Wii. Loved Gamecube. Didnt want motion controls being the mandatory method for all my games.

Also I wanted better online, M rated games, deeper storylines, and 3rd party support. The motion control thing was the kicker for me though.

I like your second post. It was not a failure, but I was let down a lot. Really enjoyed the Wii and the games it had to offer when they were well done. Even a few third party titles were really good. You can always tell the good third party games by looking at they're sales. If it sold below 500,000 copies it was a good game. Cursed Mountain, Madworld, Deadly Creatures, etc. Past that and things got iffy, or they were so horrible they did not even push 100,000

I'm really surprised by those poll results. The Xbox numbers are huge!

I was never disappointed in the Wii. Many of the best games every made -- like Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy -- found a home on Wii. And if it wasn't for the Virtual Console I may never have played games like Rondo of Blood. Plus I could never put a price on all the fun local multiplayer experiences I had with family and friends, whether it was beating New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my kid sister or breaking a sweat sword fighting in Wii Sports Resort while friends cheered me on.

Most of all, I'm proud of the Wii for bringing so many new people into the video game arena. I know it's fashionable to mock all the "soccer moms" and geriatrics who play Wii, but if we really want this medium that we love so much to grow, we need to make it more accessible, more respectable, and more open to anyone who wants to give it a try. Wii did that.

You're not reading the poll right, it was "which console won YOUR heart," and the PS3 is a very logical answer for that question. It started with not many note worthy games, but quietly built up a very solid portfolio of exclusives and solid multiplats, and is really the only console that seems to even be trying anymore.

In contrast to that, the Wii has had 5-10 games even worth mentioning in over 2 years. The system has been AMAZING for retro gamers, with a new Punch Out, a new a Boy and His Blob, 2 Kirby games and the return of 2D Mario to home consoles. That was all a long time ago, though,Nintendo hasn't cared about the system since 2010 (how hard was it to get Nintendo of America to localize Xenoblade?) so most Nintendo fans have relocated to greener pastures until the Wii U picks up some steam.

I blame the casual girlies for what happened to the Wii.

Spazzy_D said: You're not reading the poll right, it was "which console won YOUR heart," and the PS3 is a very logical answer for that question. It started with not many note worthy games, but quietly built up a very solid portfolio of exclusives and solid multiplats, and is really the only console that seems to even be trying anymore. In contrast to that, the Wii has had 5-10 games even worth mentioning in over 2 years. The system has been AMAZING for retro gamers, with a new Punch Out, a new a Boy and His Blob, 2 Kirby games and the return of 2D Mario to home consoles. That was all a long time ago, though,Nintendo hasn't cared about the system since 2010 (how hard was it to get Nintendo of America to localize Xenoblade?) so most Nintendo fans have relocated to greener pastures until the Wii U picks up some steam.

Uh... How exactly is "which console won YOUR heart" any different from "Which home console did you enjoy the most this past generation?" Surely, the console that won people's hearts was the one that they enjoyed he most?

 

And in any case, I did say it was "along the lines of" that question. So that part was already adressed.