"They bottom line if you can't see from that chart on the front page is that demand is simply enormous making the Wii the fastest selling console in history. When you're already the fastest selling console you don't need to create artifical shortages. Heck, you have a real one...."

I don't queston that there is demand for the Wii. What I question is what is creating it, and it can't be strength of game library because when you look at almost any leading gaming publication, you see that Nintendo's games don't generally rate that high in comparison to what is on the other current gen consoles. It can't say that it has the highest rated game of this generation as the N64 did. That honor goes to GTA IV on the PS3 and 360 (PS3 version rated higher). It can't say that it has a wealth of strong titles because once again the PS3 and 360 blow it out of the water when it comes to that. So what is driving this great demand for the Wii? Apparenly it is the fact that it has been hyped enough in the right circles to generate enthusiasm among those that don't know much about games. The Wii is kind of like a Hannah Montana album compared to a Tom Waits album. An inferior product but longtime Nintendo fans don't care and those other users that Nintendo has been able to attract  with what I think is called the Blue Ocean strategy lack the ability to see it for what it is, and this could be bad for gaming in general.

"From stockpiling for the holidays. You know, the thing multiple people have responded to you about when you asked where the extra Wiis are."

Okay so they stockpiled for the holidays, but this could very well lead to the type of demand that I've said the Wii has. See when they stockpiled for the holidays, they were already in the process of creating over-hyped demand for the product at the holidays by increasing demand by removing the system from the market. Again leading to those non-gamers that didn't know what they were buying with the Wii having increased and erroneus perceptions of the system.

In short, The Wii's success comes down more to market manipulation than to any aspect of the system itself.

"As long as you take average review scores as gospel for how good games are, you'll never understand why one console sets sales records and the other two do not. Think about this: The Wii offers new experiences by actually moving to play the games, while the 360 and PS3 offer graphical upgrades of 6th generation gameplay. Which of these two things is more likely to make customers say "I want to try this out!"?"

It should be the graphical updates. I don't play games, a passive leisure activity like reading a book or watching a movie because I want to exercise or act like I'm playing a musical instrument. If I wanted to exercise, then I would go outside and go for a walk and if I wanted to play a musical instrument, then I would actually try to learn how to play one. Yet, I am interested in reading the next great book or viewing the next great film that comes along instead.

"Sony only shipped 100k PS3s for the Japanese launch and 200k PS3s for the American launch. Why didn't it create more demand for the PS3? Also, Sony is actually the company which is removing systems from the market by discontinuing PS3 models, most noteworthy the PS3s with backwards compability. If one of the companies would be guilty of artificially increasing demand for their product, it would be Sony."

No because you've always been able to go into a store and see what the PS3 is capable of, yet this has very rarely been true with the Wii building the false impression in many minds that don't check out technical stats, etc, that he Wii is just as powerful and better than the other consoles at a lower price which is simply not true.

Winner Of the thread by Miles and Miles. Why did this thread carry on after this comment?

@Paul_Warren and Mummelmann(to sum extent, because i can see the little bitterness in your writing)

This gen must be killin you inside, the Hd consoles are not doing that great when compared to the Wii. The great news i have for both of you is that this is the tip of the Iceberg, so what about just letting all this anger, and resentment go and enjoy your consoles and the discuss those! Why r u in a thread that for the most part many people will not listen to you (probably because for the most part it sound like nonsense).

You will probably not listen to this advise i am giving you, and i will probably still see your bitter rants(which is causing me to laugh so hard tears r coming out of my eyes and i just farted a little :) ). Its only going to get more painful from here on out, i was there during the time the nintendo fanboys were crying out when sony started dominating, and i tell you it was so sad it was pathetic, thats the future i see for you and quite a few hardcore gamers.

Heed my warning son. Let it go, and enjoy what you feel is superior gaming or whatever.

Is it really such an alien concept to you that something you don't like could be popular?

Ever heard of occam's razor? Which is the simpler explination - that other people have different tastes than you, or that Nintendo has done some incredible mindfuck on 32 million people and growing?

(on a side note, your often refrenced examples of Cabbage Patch Dolls and Tickle Me Elmo shows that you have no understanding of either situation; both had huge media build up - everyone was declaring both to be must have items - and massive advertising campaigns aimed at kids; Nintendo was panned in the media at launch, and in some publications to this day, and the Wii's marketing campaign has been very low key)

You do have a nice point there. He does take a different stance than the normal media. I would say that is a positive for him.

My problem with this specific text that he wrote is that I don't think Wii Music is 'genious'. What some people might not understand is that I am not saying it is crap just because I don't agree with the word 'genious'. Not everything is always so black and white. I think it is a great thing it's coming out because it is very innovative to do it. Nintendo is opening up for new crowds. They are experimenting with the new market and trying different things for gaming. For all of this, I really like what they're doing. But I still don't see genious in it. I'm actually on a wait and see until I can say more.

Anyways... nice point. :)

The wait and see approach is usually the best one to take. And you're right that whether the game will be brilliant or not remains to be seen. But you yourself agree that it's innovative, new, and experimental. Few enough games ever try any of those, let alone all three, and that alone deserves applause.

And part of why I posted the article is that it has a different perspective from the one most forum-folk approach Wii Music with, but that perspective is one I hadn't personally considered before (and one which people like Grampy have validated: Great post by the way).

I can't say whether or not "genius" is the proper term for the game just yet, seeing as how I haven't played it. But if it DOES carry through on its promises, it'll have come much, much closer to realizing that term than almost any other game has.

@dharh: Game is play. Game is only to explain your play.
You kick a ball with your friend, you play. You kick a ball with your friend to score a goal, you play a game. The difference? Only the different objectives.
There are different ways to look at game/play, if you're doing it alone, you play. If you do it with someone, you play a game. Then again, if it's interactive, it's playing with someone.
When you date someone, or are about to be get laid, you play. The whole human behaviour revolves around playing. And playing is one of the most important things in learning process. Calling play a game, is just a way to try to excuse your play.

You can't fail in terms of "beating" the song. But your play sound like shit or you can play with the song as you're "supposed to". Your playing can sound like "you", or it can sound like the song you're playing.
Basically, taking a cello and going to play it symphony orchestra is propably the best analogy, the rest of the orchestra will play the song as they're supposed to play, but your playing wasn't necessarily on par with others. What Wii Music offers, is virtually unlimited ways of playing the game, even if played a dozen times the same song, it necessarily didn't sound the same two times. That's what's so great about Wii Music; it gives you almost the same freedom as the real instruments.

@Phendrana: But the "cops and robbers" fail as a play, since it has rules. If it didn't, it wouldn't be "cops and robbers", since there would be no "cops" or "robbers".

@Paul Warren: I think i already pointed you out, that the review scores are useless way to measure games quality, since the reviewers don't resemble the market and the market is what eventually rates the games quality. And this is proven by sales numbers.

@rubido: It is genious, the only question that remains is whether Wii Music is able to "pull it off".

I've read all the posts here and the problem with the industry wasnt Ninty themselves, believe it or not even without the Wii the core gamers and our generation will die anyway. Our generation grew up playing with consoles, like the NES, SEGA Genesis and Playstations. The real change came around when Koreans came into gaming business and develop games accesible to common people A.K.A. "online games" and simply because theyre online games doesnt mean theyre just MMORPG either. There are many genres with online games such as FPS and rhythm games like O2 Jam and Combat Arms and Warrock. And its free to play, so what you really need was a PC with broadband online connection and you're all set. And the development cost of these games arent really expensive so theyre profiting from this...


SONY and MS wants to addressed this issue OR ELSE we will be on second video game crash but this time, a console video game market crash thats why they make their consoles same as the PCs. The problem was WHY? Why even need it? Why would you want a console that also play games the same as in PC if what you really need was just a PC? Anyway, you dont even need to play Crysis just to play most of the games on the PC so no need for expensive hardware upgrades, what you really need was a decent PC and a good online connection and you can play most of the PC games online or offline.


Then came the Wii, where you can play differently unlike in other consoles YEAH, its a gimmick even 3rd parties notices it but it sells anyway. And it still continues to sell but why most of Ninty is catering to are the casuals? Because in reality, they want the consoles to be like a Karaoke, TV, radio or any household products and appliances than anything else. Or even Ipod for that matter, Ninty knew they cant compete with PCs in their own game so Ninty do the different approach. Its all for now since the posts are too long if I continue