Yahoo: Wii has a major flow, plus the water is wet

[mike_intellivision]

There are reviews and then there is popular opinion.

Since the Yahoo article used an analogy between the movies and video games, let me continue those thoughts.

Who can name what movie won the Oscar for Best Picture last year? What movies were nominated? The year before?

What were the most popular movies last year? The year before?

What is the intersection between those two sets? Fairly small, isn't it? And which movies did you see?

Artistic success does not necessarily translate to commercial success. With respect to the Wii, it means that the 5-10 points that some reviewers seem to automatically deduct from the games because they are not in HD (see the IGN reviews of Wii Puzzle Quest) or because they use a different control scheme than what they consider to be "standard" or because they are hypercritical of Wii games (see the usually level-headed Chris Koller of Wired's review of MKWii) often makes high review scores nearly impossible to achieve.

Most consumers are smart. They know that a $20 new game at release is basically the same as a direct-to-DVD movie. But they figure it is worth a giggle if they elect to spend money on it. That piece of shovelware is less expensive than a trip to the movies for a family of four -- and that is even if they don't go to the concession stand -- and probably provides more lasting entertainment than the 85-minute movie. Put in that context, some of those games don't look nearly as bad.

Another sign is that Carnival Games: Mini Golf appears to be tracking below the original. Both were not well-received by critics. But while you could not find CG in stores for months at a time (andit still sells for full retail 18 months after release -- unheard of for almost any game that's not first-party Nintendo). CG:MG has seen its sales fall off after the Christmas rush. So it is quite ironic who is complaining about bad games on Wii -- the head of 2K games (which started 2K Play after the success of CG).

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=America&game1=Carnival+Games+-+Wii&reg2=America&game2=Carnival+Games%3A+Mini+Golf+-+Wii&reg3=Japan&game3=&weeks=50

Mike from Morgantown