it doesn't say that 3rd party games sell bad relative to Nintendo games, or that each individual game doesn't sell in large volumes.  It says wii games don't sell if they are published by 3rd parties.  That is wrong. Wii gamers are buying more 3rd party software than 1st party software, wii gamers are buying more 3rd party software than 360 or PS3 owners are buying. 

I don't see why people make a big deal about third parties on Wii anyway. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I bought the Wii fro the same reason I bought the N64 and GameCube: Nintendo's games!

Granted, I was a bit down and out on Nintendo because of the drought this past year, but NSMBW rocks, and this coming year we're getting both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Zelda Wii! Zelda Wii!1!!1!!!

*goes back to ignoring third parties*

Errr... after reading the article all I got was "Nintendo hardware and software is amazing and sells fantastic! But 3rd-parties suck!"

That the best Mario, Wii and other Nintendo franchises games sell the best is perfectly understandable, acceptable and not surprising at all, but I can also understand that 3rd parties are a little bit pissed when average Mario titles sell better than good 3rd party games, that's not logic, that's fetishism!

Alby_da_Wolf said: That the best Mario, Wii and other Nintendo franchises games sell the best is perfectly understandable, acceptable and not surprising at all, but I can also understand that 3rd parties are a little bit pissed when average Mario titles sell better than good 3rd party games, that's not logic, that's fetishism!

Well when the best selling third party franchises are almost non-existant on the system (GTA), and about the only top selling franchise is gimped in marketing (where the hell are the Modern warfare ads?), the third parties are largely at fault for this.

LordTheNightKnight said: Alby_da_Wolf said: That the best Mario, Wii and other Nintendo franchises games sell the best is perfectly understandable, acceptable and not surprising at all, but I can also understand that 3rd parties are a little bit pissed when average Mario titles sell better than good 3rd party games, that's not logic, that's fetishism! Well when the best selling third party franchises are almost non-existant on the system (GTA), and about the only top selling franchise is gimped in marketing (where the hell are the Modern warfare ads?), the third parties are largely at fault for this.

Maybe, in some cases, but looking at http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=mario&console=Wii&publisher=&genre=&minSales=0&results=50&sort=Total I don't remember having seen the 10th (and so far last) Mario tiltle advertised better than a lot of good 3rd party titles all selling less than it http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?page=2&results=50&name=&console=Wii&minSales=0&publisher=&genre=&sort=Total

Edit: that Mario game is currently 62nd ranking of all Wii games, I don't know in future, so the 2nd link may become outdated, yet if you browse the list after it you can find a lot of good 3rd party games that sold less.

LordTheNightKnight said: Alby_da_Wolf said: That the best Mario, Wii and other Nintendo franchises games sell the best is perfectly understandable, acceptable and not surprising at all, but I can also understand that 3rd parties are a little bit pissed when average Mario titles sell better than good 3rd party games, that's not logic, that's fetishism! Well when the best selling third party franchises are almost non-existant on the system (GTA), and about the only top selling franchise is gimped in marketing (where the hell are the Modern warfare ads?), the third parties are largely at fault for this.

Let's face it, in terms of the Wii, most 3rd parties are frustratingly misinformed and ignorant. They haven't changed in 3 years, and won't now, so it is better to let them fail. They don't have a hard time doing it by themselves anyway. They have been the most proficient is setting their games up for absolute failure. I was looking for NPD numbers and found these from the gaf. I don't know if that site is banned here or something, but this pretty much sums up how all the SENSIBLE gamers should view the situation:

"The Wii has not been treated properly by any means: I completely agree that huge opportunities have been missed. But this incessant attempt to show how stupid, stupid, stupid! these third parties are is simply unproductive. Virtually everyone (who is reasonable) seems to agree that huge chances for profits have been missed this generation.

We understand. Third parties messed up, that's clear. But what's also clear is that they're moving on, regardless of how many opportunities they have missed -- or how many opportunities still exist. Regardless of all that, third parties are making it quite clear that it's over.

So stop beating your head against a wall trying to convince everyone, because most of us generally agree. Basically, all that's left is to haggle over small details: how much of the missed opportunities are the fault of third parties? How much more could Nintendo have done? Is it 80% the fault of third parties? 70%?

We'll never really answer these types of broad, sweeping questions with that sort of specificity. And again, the basic layout of the market isn't changing. So just move on, and start asking new questions. What, if anything, can Nintendo do to lure third parties back next generation? Should Nintendo begin to expand out in to more "core" genres, or should they continue focusing most of their new IPs on the expanded audience? Can third parties make a profit with an even more HD focused approach?

Look to the future, guys, because the present is pretty much set. Regardless of how stupid you may think it is, complaining about stupidity isn't going to change anything.

In fact, I'd say it's safe to say that the only large company that DOESN'T consider it a fad is Nintendo, and as such their success is commensurate with their treatment of the console.

Because of this, I have and will contribute 100% of the blame to third parties. It is not Nintendo's responsibility to ensure third parties achieve success on the Wii. Third parties obviously don't want to, and have either given up on the console or resigned to moderate successes here and there. Could Nintendo do more to aid them? Of course, but what's in it for them? Nintendo is monstrously successful whether third parties live or die.

That's why I feel it is important to illustrate that the problem lies with third parties. Wii 2 in HD isn't going to fix things if third party devs continue to think they can shit out games. In my opinion, the answer to all the questions you posed in your post as it relates to them is the same; third parties must take the Wii's successor seriously. Period. If they don't, clearly nothing Nintendo can do will sway them.

As for Nintendo themselves, They are very clearly going to continue to manifest themselves in the way they have been doing. I'm sure this generation has taught them that the core's voice is louder than they anticipated, and they will react as such. However, I very much doubt that it will amount to much more than we've seen with the Wii. After all, Nintendo is only one company."

While they profit, let 3rd parties fend for scraps in a shrinking, expensive, and dying market.

^^that "dying market" is getting over 15 AAA games per year and outselling the wii in hardware sales and gets most of gaming media attention

"^^that "dying market" is getting over 15 AAA games per year and outselling the wii in hardware sales and gets most of gaming media attention"

Those 15 are outnumbered by those that aren't AAA but don't sell as much. The line about hardware is BS because when the Wii isn't counted for that unity is gone. Media attention from those sources means squat in the end.

Currently Wii has 70 1million+ sellers, PS3 has 48 and XB360 88.

Nintendo has an overwhelming presence amongst Wii top sellers, MS has a strong presence, with the absolute best seller too, amongst XB360 ones, but it leaves a lot of room to 3rd parties, Sony has a strong presence, but it leaves even more room to 3rd parties. I don't know whether it's intentional, but this is the situation, and the overall market is growing.
So sloppiest or worst managed developers will kick the bucket, because the competition is stronger than ever, but crabby people hoping for most 3rd parties to die will be disappointed.