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OriGin on 27 March 2007
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hanafuda said: Viper said:Reggie merely reiterated what many 3rd parties had already been announcing. Why though? Do they need reassuring?
I think they do need reassuring. I don't think Nintendo believes they are on top, they can't believe they are on top, they are fighting a battle coming in as the underdog from a third place in the last generation. Why would they not announce positive things like strong 3rd party support on the Wii? Wasn't this not touted as the reasons that the N64 and GameCube didn't do better? I think this comes in a long line of steps by Nintendo to admit that they had made mistakes in the past and are doing everything they can to rectify it. If you have a moment it would REALLY serve you well to have a read of this article - http://www.gonintendo.com/files/IDC-Nintendo-Blue-Ocean.pdf It's from the start of 2006, and it's funny that a lot of the predictions made in that report have come true during this year. From what I can tell the market is following Nintendo and it's Blue Ocean quite well. HOW can more 3rd party support be a bad thing? I still think there are more good games for the type of games that I like coming to PS3 and 360 at this point from 3rd parties of course but the support I can see for Wii definitely suits its target market!
hanafuda said: Yet that is almost a complete list of 3rd party games in Japan. I only missed off the top two as they had OK sales. Everything else? Far from it. Are you saying that practically all 3rd party games so far are incredibly poor? Don't forget that Sonic has just bombed too, and that has generally favourable reviews.
I'm not arguing against you that the sales are incredibly poor. I think all of those games have sold poorly. A lot of the games ARE incredibly poor quality or shoddy ports from other systems OR they just don't suit the Japanese market. I personally HATE Sonic, and I don't believe the games style suits Japanese gamers AT ALL.
hanafuda said:Indeed, but here we are talking about practically every 3rd party Wii game released.
Yep I agree, it is practically every 3rd party Wii game released, it's not GOOD but I don't think it will stay that way when bigger titles are released for Wii. It is Nintendo's double edged sword. They make the good games that people buy their console for and everyone forgets the other games. I just don't think touting the sales figures of the current crop of titles from Japan will turn off developers at all.
hanafuda said:Everyone and their dog seems to quote it, yet I don't think I have seen one single explanation as to why. Just give me an explanation that makes sense.
*Rolls eyes* If you still don't agree with me after this I'm not going to respond to you again on these forums, because this is un-refutable evidence and brings brilliant arguments (this deserves its own thread). I'm not a Nintendo fan either, I'm just stating it how it is and providing you with the explanation that you need. ACTUAL hardware Devkit Costs Nintendo Wii Devkit costs only $1,732 from my sources. PS3 Devkit costs between $30,000 and $50,000 depending on the source and the developer, I don't think they all get the same price. That as your starter is a massive difference JUST to get started, and each major developer doesn't have just ONE devkit per game... they have hundreds. Information - Quotes from developers re: cost of development. You don't need to click the links i've just provided my sources so it's not like i'm talking shit. 1. Ubisoft - http://www.n-sider.com/newsview.php?type=story&storyid=2337 Ubisoft's Red Steel game for Wii will incur a development cost of approximately $12.75 million, according to a report by JeuxFrance.com. Wii is considered to be the cheapest next-generation console to develop for. In May, THQ president Brian Farrell estimated Wii development costs are in the range of a quarter to half of that required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 development. What does this mean for developers? A game such as Red Steel could cost them between $24 - $48 million on PS3 or 360. Ubisoft NA Head - Laurent Detoc - http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14497 The lower cost of development and unique motion sensing controls seem to offset the fact that the console is incapable of gorgeous hi-def graphics 2. THQ CEO Brian Farrall - http://www.cnet.com.au/games/wii/0,239036428,240062644,00.htm "One of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That's something that's quite encouraging. As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be." "[The Wii] wasn't a whole new programming environment," Farrell said. "So we had a lot of tools and tech that work in that environment. So those costs--and again, I hate these broad generalizations--but they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half." 3. Majesco - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19669 Publisher Majesco has praised the lower development costs of Nintendo's Wii console, and intends to refocus its business to take advantage of the system's potential. 4. Midway CEO David Zucker - http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/6299/ "When you talk about the PS3 and the Xbox 360, ramp-up costs are significant. You don't have the same ramp-up costs on the Wii because you have the tools already," 5. Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi - http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/127 Developing software for the PS3 from scratch will require an initial investment of at least 2 billion yen [US $17.6 million] [not including development costs]. There are not many software companies that can easily afford that kind of money.” Hardware is more difficult, therefore more expensive, through time consuming development and graphics development The most expensive part of developing a game is the graphics, the rest of the game can run fairly well, but the graphics are what takes all the time and effort. Simply the construction of the Hardware Architecture between the PS3 / X360 and the Wii is a major effect of development times. Lets say the same scene needs to be developed for a PS3 game and a Wii game. The PS3 game will require much more programming time for the different lighting, texture and in game effects. Definitely this makes the PS3 games look better but the development time of the same scene is extended greatly. I'm not going into any more details because you're an ANUS for making me do that as it was... I can go more into the technical hardware 'this pipe has this much room' type arguments but i've spent an hour on this post already. If you don't believe it now then you'll never be convinced and you can just live a lie.
hanafuda said:Precisely. When you are on top, you don't need to make any bold claims. Why would they need to even mention this if things were so rosy? The Wii itself may be selling better than the rivals, but the software is a different story entirely.
Good point, and I agree above. I don't think things are 'so' rosy, Nintendo is just being humble about the whole situation, but I don't think it is a 'nervous' announcement I just think they are righting their wrongs and making sure that everyone knows about it. But you can't say the software is a different story entirely.. 3rd party software is a different story entirely IN JAPAN but attach rates are better for the Wii as a whole.