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Forums - Gaming - Dear Mr. Game Developer, Here's How to Tap Into the Wii - An Open Letter

phenom08 on 06 January 2009
Legend11 said:
phenom08 said:
Legend11 said:
phenom08 said:
Legend11 said:
SmokedHostage said:
Legend11 said:
Grampy,

On a console where Carnival Games, Game Party, Deca Sports, Smarty Pants, and others trounce most third-party hardcore games on the system why in your opinion should they take more risk, spend more money, and go against what is selling for third-parties on it? On a system where Wii Sports and Wii Play completely dominate sales and are very likely the reason why many people buy the console why do you feel developers should instead make games that the majority never bought the console for?

Please prove this because this seems to be the words of a troll.

 

 

Prove it?  I thought it was common sense and universally accepted that Wii Sports is a major reason for the Wii's success and can be attributed to selling many Wiis.  That it's the biggest system seller of all time.  Do you feel otherwise?  Please tell me what game you feel attracted more people to the console than Wii Sports.

As for accusing me of trolling, please feel free to point out which words are trolling.  If I provide posts of other members attributing the Wii's success to Wii Sports are you going to claim they're trolling too?

the controller sells the system and wii sports helps you test the controller, the system doesn't sell because the game looks appealing, the controller helps the game look appealing, and yes u do seem like a troll i looked at ur profile u have a bunch of 360 games why do u care about the wii if ur not a troll

 

 

If you don't own a system and post in a thread about it you're a troll?  Seriously look up the word before throwing it around.  It really seems like this is a case of shooting the messenger.

if you don't own a system and bash it and think u know what ur talking about then yes u r a troll and we r using computer terms a "troll" is a supernatural being in scandinavian mythology, thats like saying "lol" is in the dictionary i guess u should look it up

 

Well show me how my post was bashing the system.  I stand by my statements.  Is saying that Wii Sports is a system seller considered bashing to you?  Is posting the sales of games on the Wii considered bashing?  Seriously take off the fanboy glasses because you're seeing something that isn't there.

 

stating incorrect facts is bashing in my opionion u came to a thread that was talking about how to make a successful game for the wii and pretty much said he was incorrect and should continue to make games like wii sports and wii play because they sell and r the most appealing to wii gamers which is incorrect they sell because of the hardware bundled with them the controller, show me another game like wiisports or wiiplay that sells 8 million and then maybe i wont consider u a troll but like im trying to say how would u know if u don't own a wii

 



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Grampy on 06 January 2009
Squilliam said:
@Grampy, thanks: I was thinking about Nintendo games the other day, that excitement vs fun paradox. I realised they never really excited me hugely like HD games but they were consistantly fun. I had that thought when I was playing a N64 Paper Mario RPG funnily enough (Nintendo was never big in my country until one year after the Wii, so I've never seen a Nintendo home console system before in my life before I got my Wii!)

Oddly I don't have your excuse and I am amazed I left it out. Fun, along with my preference for motion control is why I play on the Wii. I was playing COD online on the PC and it was a great challenge and exciting. It was my wife who one day asked me why I played it so much, because she said I was all grim and determined and cursing and sometimes getting really frustrated. Said it didn't look like I was having that much fun.

The nickel dropped, she was right, I wasn't really having "FUN" although I guess I was enjoying it on some level. I started just getting out of gaming when I saw a video ad for the Wii. Managed to snag one and 20 minutes later I was having FUN, I mean rolling on the floor, laughing my ass off fun. That was that. If I'm a little down I hop into Mario Karts and race around a few times and within minutes I feel great.

I realized that I liked the Wii because it was a s...load of fun and even my non-gaming friends could join in. It has saved more than one party.

I broke down finally and got CoD WaW. It's not the same experience as the uber realistic PC graphics and certainly not as visually striking. But it is very immersive and visceral which makes it more real than mere pretty pictures. Besides charging around  the living room, knocking over chairs, ducking behind the sofa, trusty Zapper or Perfect Shot in hand is actually a hell of a lot more fun.



phenom08 on 06 January 2009
Grampy said:
Legend11 said:
phenom08 said:
Legend11 said:
SmokedHostage said:
Legend11 said:
Grampy,

On a console where Carnival Games, Game Party, Deca Sports, Smarty Pants, and others trounce most third-party hardcore games on the system why in your opinion should they take more risk, spend more money, and go against what is selling for third-parties on it? On a system where Wii Sports and Wii Play completely dominate sales and are very likely the reason why many people buy the console why do you feel developers should instead make games that the majority never bought the console for?

Please prove this because this seems to be the words of a troll.

 

 

Prove it?  I thought it was common sense and universally accepted that Wii Sports is a major reason for the Wii's success and can be attributed to selling many Wiis.  That it's the biggest system seller of all time.  Do you feel otherwise?  Please tell me what game you feel attracted more people to the console than Wii Sports.

As for accusing me of trolling, please feel free to point out which words are trolling.  If I provide posts of other members attributing the Wii's success to Wii Sports are you going to claim they're trolling too?

the controller sells the system and wii sports helps you test the controller, the system doesn't sell because the game looks appealing, the controller helps the game look appealing, and yes u do seem like a troll i looked at ur profile u have a bunch of 360 games why do u care about the wii if ur not a troll

 

 

If you don't own a system and post in a thread about it you're a troll?  Seriously look up the word before throwing it around.  It really seems like this is a case of shooting the messenger.

Chill Everyone. Let's not kill another good thread bickering like children. I accept your question as legitimate and I will respond. Every system has megahits that seem to appeal to it's core.  Certainly few things will sell on the hardcore more than GTA 4 for example. I assume we would then as legitimately claim that people bought these consoles particularly for that type of game.

LBP will never ever sell anything like GTA on the PS3, does that mean there is no room for it? Should it never have been written? No, of course not, it adds a great deal to the system and I'm glad it's there and hope it sells well.

Not every game can or should be a super megahit. Several of the games that some of the PS360 crowd like to ridicule the most on the Wii sre obviously target at a young female audience. They'll never sell a gazillion copies because young girls will probably never be a majority on the Wii or anywhere else. But statistics indicate they may well be between 30-40% of gamers. Shouldn't they have games.

Not everyone likes puzzle games like Boomblox, but a lot did. Enough to make it profitable.

And that's the bottom line, the more good games that add to variety and can turn a profit, the better off we all are.

 

 

i completely agree grampy i would like to get rid of the only troll on ur thread i think u should make it for strictly wii owners since they do know what they like, not a troll, he pretty much is claiming only games like wiisports and wiiplay sell on the wii when good games like brawl and mkwii and even wiifit sell extremely well he cant show me another game like wiisports and wiiplay that sell more than 8 million the tread u started completely fits the description of those games



Hephaestos on 06 January 2009

there is just 2 things....

you wrote "from squillium" in the addition (it should be an A not a U)

and your wii prediction is 5M too high for my taste :p

the rest is a good read, thanks grampy



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Gamerace on 06 January 2009

Great post Grampy!! I agree with pretty much everything. I DO agree with point #1. I think the majority of Wii owners (excluding the Nintendo fanboys) just don't play regularly enough to follow a story. I know I don't.

However, a story is fine as long as it doesn't interfer with gameplay. IE: I have Lara Croft Anniversary and I no longer remember why I'm doing the quests but that doesn't interfer with my gameplay in any way. Same with Mario Galaxy and even Fire Emblem, the story is there but is not of concern gameplay wise.

Here I'll add a point:

12: Keep the controls intuitive. Most Wii owners are irregular players. Therefore having complex controls that need to be memorized and/or mastered will kill sales. - See sales of Shaun White Vs Skate. Keep the controls simple... but deep. Brawl is a great example of this.

13: Get some women game designers working for you. Wii (and DS) have a HUGE female audience that are dying for games to play. But don't make 'girl' games - like a blockbuster action movie throws in some romance your games should have elements that appeal to women too (as well as guys). Also, think outside the traditional box. SIMS is still one of the biggest franchises in the world because it appeals to (mostly) women. While SIMS itself may not be the answer on a console a non-traditional games that appeals to a woman's sensibilites instead of a teenaged boy's (without being 'girlie') could sell millions. Animal Crossing and Nintendogs are good examples here.



 

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c0rd on 06 January 2009
Legend11 said:
Grampy,

On a console where Carnival Games, Game Party, Deca Sports, Smarty Pants, and others trounce most third-party hardcore games on the system why in your opinion should they take more risk, spend more money, and go against what is selling for third-parties on it? On a system where Wii Sports and Wii Play completely dominate sales and are very likely the reason why many people buy the console why do you feel developers should instead make games that the majority never bought the console for?
Mario Kart Wii Nintendo 13.42m
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Nintendo 8.26m
Super Mario Galaxy Nintendo 7.81m

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Nintendo
5.07m

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock RedOctane
3.86m

Super Paper Mario Nintendo
2.66m
Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega

2.04m


These are far from "mini-game" games, and they have done very well. There just aren't that many other popular games on the system like this, so the ones that have sold very high (2mil+) are few in number.



Grampy on 06 January 2009
megaman79 said:
^^ what do you say to people who think MGS4 is too much movie and not enough game though? Isn't that worse, loosing the whole point of it really

To each his own. I personally don't like mixing things that much. If I wanted to watch a movie I'd got to Pay per View. In the middle of a game they frustrate me. If I want to read a complex story I go to the library or B&N. In a game, too involved a story slows things down too much. But that's just me. I also love music and plays but dislike musicals and opera. I guess I like things one course at a time.

I'm sure others get a great experience by combining story, music, gameplay and cinema  all in one. That's why I'm glad we can get a choice of GTA and the Blob in the same year. Two different forms of "urban destruction" but one I hated, one I loved.



Grampy on 06 January 2009
Hephaestos said:
there is just 2 things....

you wrote "from squillium" in the addition (it should be an A not a U)

and your wii prediction is 5M too high for my taste :p

the rest is a good read, thanks grampy

Thanks, I'll make the correction. I'm not very good at typing.

The predictions are my first try and I may be tons off, who knows how bad the econmy is going to be but I like to remain optomistic. The extra five million is what i put in to allow for the introduction of motion plus.



Khuutra on 06 January 2009

I rather like the OP, Grampy. It captures a lot of good ideas.



SmokedHostage on 06 January 2009
Grampy said:
megaman79 said:
^^ what do you say to people who think MGS4 is too much movie and not enough game though? Isn't that worse, loosing the whole point of it really

To each his own. I personally don't like mixing things that much. If I wanted to watch a movie I'd got to Pay per View. In the middle of a game they frustrate me. If I want to read a complex story I go to the library or B&N. In a game, too involved a story slows things down too much. But that's just me. I also love music and plays but dislike musicals and opera. I guess I like things one course at a time.

I'm sure others get a great experience by combining story, music, gameplay and cinema  all in one. That's why I'm glad we can get a choice of GTA and the Blob in the same year. Two different forms of "urban destruction" but one I hated, one I loved.

Hey! It's de Blob not the Blob.  Glad you like it though. :)

 



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