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Forums - Sales Discussion - Food for Thought: 4th Gen Parallels in American Market

Final-Fan on 25 September 2007
Sullla said:

Finally, I very much dispute than online multiplayer is this generation's "have to have" feature. Maybe to the core gamer, but hardly so for the typical consumer. The Wii has bare-bones multiplayer, yet it's outsold the 360 and PS3 combined in something like 80% of the weeks this year. That claim doesn't hold up to scrutiny.


That's because the Wii is insanely popular.  It's got inferior graphics, too, which is the perpetual "must have" feature -- but it so revolutionizes games in other ways that people just don't care.  And if online-multi isn't seen as "must have", why did Metroid catch so much flak for its lack of such?  

IMO it is quite hard to find anything in console history that can be compared very closely to the Wii.  The Game Boy also had inferior hardware and graphics, but the battery life issue so dominated handhelds at the time that it was an advantage, not a disadvantage; and the controls were anything but revolutionary. 

The DS, like the Wii, has a revolutionary control system as well as 2 screens (which -- like the Wii -- many critics thought would just be gimmicks), but its technology was a huge step up from the GBA (akin to SNES to N64); its competitor merely chose to make an even bigger technological leap.  

Are there any consoles that are a better fit for the Wii than the GB or DS?   



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HappySqurriel on 25 September 2007
Final-Fan said:
Sullla said:

Finally, I very much dispute than online multiplayer is this generation's "have to have" feature. Maybe to the core gamer, but hardly so for the typical consumer. The Wii has bare-bones multiplayer, yet it's outsold the 360 and PS3 combined in something like 80% of the weeks this year. That claim doesn't hold up to scrutiny.


That's because the Wii is insanely popular.  It's got inferior graphics, too, which is the perpetual "must have" feature -- but it so revolutionizes games in other ways that people just don't care.  And if online-multi isn't seen as "must have", why did Metroid catch so much flak for its lack of such?  

IMO it is quite hard to find anything in console history that can be compared very closely to the Wii.  The Game Boy also had inferior hardware and graphics, but the battery life issue so dominated handhelds at the time that it was an advantage, not a disadvantage; and the controls were anything but revolutionary. 

The DS, like the Wii, has a revolutionary control system as well as 2 screens (which -- like the Wii -- many critics thought would just be gimmicks), but its technology was a huge step up from the GBA (akin to SNES to N64); its competitor merely chose to make an even bigger technological leap.  

Are there any consoles that are a better fit for the Wii than the GB or DS?   


Because the people who were giving it flack were the same small userbase that supports online gameplay?



fkusumot on 25 September 2007

couchmonkey said:

[Snip]

I'd also argue that that generation was unique in that Nintendo was largely seen as a toy for kids. There were definitely adults playing, but kids were the driving force. I think Sega made a clever move by marketing Genesis towards an aging Nintendo fanbase that was "outgrowing" Mario.

Today, Wii is arguably marketed towards those same kids - we're older and many of us have families and we don't necessarilly have the time for 80 hour RPGs anymore. If we're going to play video games, it may be with the whole family, and Wii is well-designed for that.


I've thought the same thing and have been seeing it but in a slightly different way.  All of my friends are in their mid to late 40's (just like me) and  use to play SMB or Duck Hunt. Now they are playing Wii Sports and are buying Wii's for their parents and their grandkids. The strategy aimed towards the entire family is working like never before because of past indoctrination and current accessability.

With the SNES I perceived (at the time) that Nintendo was going squarely after SEGA, if not at first then, by very early in the consoles life. Sonic was very cool to the teen crowd and Mario was "for the kiddies".  Business strategies aside, the hardware choice of going to four buttons did turn off a lot of people but had appeal to the same market that the Genesis was taking away from the SNES.



I Blame Wii Fit!