Ready at Dawn: "The Wii Novelty is wearing off"

[mike_intellivision]

Rpruett said:

mike_intellivision said:

oniyide said:

@metallicube  while I agree that if you dont like whatever you should get rid of it, by why take it so personally??? its just games, some people think Wii sucks thats there opinion, you might think PS3 sucks and has "no games" but im not gonna fly off the handle, or "RROD" I havent seen alot xbox fans fly off the handle for that. You can bring up software sales all you want that doesnt account for everyone's taste and what they play and if you take into account there are more top selling HD games than their are Wii ones I think they might even themselves out.

I imagine the difference is because the people who say it about the Wii are usually in the industry and basically expressing "sour grapes" because they cannot figure out how to "crack the code" and "break the bank" on the Wii.

So instead of making a general statement like, "We prefer to go in a different direction because it is a better fit with our strengths and talents," these developers have to add in a dig at the console because they don't understand its popularity or how to program for it.

 

Mike from Morgantown

I don't think it is this at all.  Nintendo has a problem with third party software.  Period.   The Wii, The Gamecube, The n64.  This isn't a new trend.  This isn't all on the publishers.  There is a good amount of burden to blame on Nintendo.  Nintendo consoles end up being limited to the 'Nintendo only' games usually (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, DK,etc). Whether they don't provide enough help to third parties, or help in someway.  Or they don't provide them with the best tools / support.   Nintendo needs to bare some of that burden.

People's gripes may be very much validated.  Wii might have a good portion of it's ownership who think it's the best thing in the world and Mom / Dad / Grandma / Grandpa / Brothers / Sisters / etc all play.  Their play time or the combined play time may very well amount to a lot of made up play time.    The Wii might also have a good portion of it's owners who think it's the absolute biggest waste of a console on the planet and essentially haven't touched it since 2007. 

The touchy-ness of this issue with members of the Nintendo fanbase absolutely astounds me though.  So what if people say their Wii collects dust?  People said the PS3 has no gamez for a long time.  People made fun of RROD forever. 

On cue the usual defenders flare up and get up in arms and start listing numbers and charts and a whole host of other things trying to disprove this. Even going as far as to claim it's a "myth".  The sentiment (That is heard so often) obviously isn't a myth.  There obviously is a semi-large sect out there that is genuinely disappointed with their Wii for a myriad of reasons.  

No one knows the precise play-time numbers.  No one knows the exact details.   None of this exists in an isolated environment.   If the 360/PS3 were $300 would this generation play out differently or the same?  Who knows?  The one certainty we know out of this is  that some developers and gamers alike feel like the Wii's time to shine has passed.  They may be right?  They may be wrong.   It doesn't matter as the experience is very much a person to person type of experience. 

Personally,  I feel the Wii is very comparable to the Gamecube (Maybe a bit worse) in a lot of ways.  That's just how I feel.  I recently  sold it because I don't enjoy it and haven't in many years. That won't be the case for everybody, however.

I think my point here was not fully understood. My contention was the reason for the outrage was not that an individual was stating their Wii was collecting dust (each console has its own fans and detractors). But rather it seems that these types of comments get made all too often about the Wii by developers, the ones who should be making games for the system, figuring out how to make it work better.

As for Nintendo and third-parties ... it has traditionally had bad relations in that area. But it tried very hard to get people "on board" with the Wii and the DS. There were stories in the press about Nintendo working with/meeting with third-parties before the Wii. Of course, sometimes traditions and rule-adherence can make the company its own worst enemy. But this is NOT the Nintendo that stuck to carts with the N64 or stuck it to the third-parties in the NES/SNES generations.

 

Mike from Morgantown