Case closed. It was Kotaku flamebating.

To add to the "3rd parties don't sell on Wii". Which 3rd party game has the biggest budget on Wii? How much has it sold? How much does shovelware, with similar budget with shovelware on Wii, sell on 360?

Different (slanted take) on this From Gamepro.com

http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=151628

Square Enix: Wii is a toy; Sony needs to define PS3
Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square Enix, expressed concern on Wednesday for both Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 when compared to Xbox 360.
"I think the current trend is that most people aren't buying the Wii as a game machine, but as a toy," said Wada in speaking with CNET Japan.

"The Wii is the antithesis of the Xbox 360," he adds. "Xbox 360 is strictly for hardcore gamers. The attachment rate for the Xbox 360 is much higher than for the Wii. People who buy the 360 really like games."

First of all, I have seen other reports on this not quite as "Wii is a toy" in their interpretation of Wada's comments, though the general intent of the message was not any different.

This is not the first time that someone at S-E has spoken ill of the Wii. There are definitely some mixed feeling about Nintendo and its latest console there. And it also probably points to the problem seen more in Japan than in other markets, Wii software does not sell as well as expected.

It is interesting that the CEO would praise the Xbox 360 which S-E is just now beginning to program for them. It is also interesting to see him be negative about the PS3, considering the relationship with Sony and the exclusives scheduled for that console. (It also sounds a lot like comments made by Konami regarding the PS3).

Does this -- and other comments from Japan -- show a distrust of the Wii? Do they really point to the fact that no one knows what is truly going on? Do they show the frustration of developers who suddenly realize they must program for non-Japanese audiences to maintain strong sales?

(Final note, Wada gets defensive when it is suggested that S-E is mostly just releasing sequels on existing game franchises)

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- I moved this from the thread I started not being able to find this one. I have asked for help to shut down that thread to avoid two conversations.

@Mr Inty

Personally I think that many japanese company CEOs had believed in the ideals of PS3 ( namely big budget game simil hollywood style ).  Now that Nintendo ( first with DS and later with Wii ) is demostrating that there is a new trend ( social trend ) arising and that PS3 had a quite lackluster launch and sales performance ( compare to expectation ) this CEOs are worring because they still have these huge and costly projects.

IMO the real difficulty for third party on Wii and DS is that these 2 platform require to publisher to risk for new concepts to succed.  

ok i have a question that seems to be not answered here whihc was broubht up earlier int he thread. how many high budget 3rd party games are on the wii compared to the 360? that will tell you whats goin on and why 3rd party games are not selling very well on wii.

@Scorptile

You make a valid point. One of the reasons the Will does not have many million sellers include the lack of a lot of emphasis on AAA third-party titles in the first year of the console cycle. This would be expected because most anlaysts thought the Wii was going to tank. Instead, it is still selling like hotcakes. The three million seling third-party titles are two launch games and a port.

Other reasons for the lack of third-party big sellers is that sports titles do not sell well to the Nintendo players and that Nintendo has a strong first-party lineup of franchises. (Name me a MS franchise besides Halo that consistently sells 1M copies).

What this means is that the jury is still out on third-party attachment for the Wii. My guess, from looking at the other games, if you build moderately something interesting and fun. GH III is poised to break the 1M barrier worldwide soon.

An intersting point concerning Wii attach rates. For GH III, rate is essentially the same as the PS3 -- 8.847% for Wii and 8.879 for PS3. Rate for Xbox 360 is somewhat higher 11.639%. (PS2 rate is a respectable 2.084% on a 45M base, many of which are no longer being used).

What this means is that there is Wii players DO buy good fun games. Xbox 360 owners tend to buy slightly more. But as the base grows, that difference no longer is as important.

Thus, while to some the Wii may be a toy (bought to play Wii Sports, Wii Play, MP3, etc.) and to others a therpy device -- it is still a game machine to most.

Mike from Morgantown

Yes. I think I was asking the original question as to how many 3rd Party big budget games for the Wii that has been released? in production? The current result is not encouraging. HOwever, in the future, it may change if 3rd Parties come up with either big budget or original IP titles.

Anecdotally, I have 2 friends who both have Wiis. They both got it around the same time as I got my X360. While they still have only Wii Sports, I have now bought 4 games for my XBox. All 3 of us do not have any other nex gen consoles. We all have kids.

So console sales wise: 2:1 for Wii - which is what we're seeing with the worldwide sales of the Wii. However, games wise, it is 4:2 XBox - which shows the general trend of 360 owners buying more games.'

In the near future, I don't think they will buy more games for the Wii as the Wii sports is enough for party games and such for their children and friends.

@Celine

Yep. I agree that a lot of the negative opinions regarding the Wii from developers and executives are from those who "bet heavily" on the PS3.

Mike from Morgantown