It's hard for me to fathom the Wii being viable for more than 3 years

[Diosoth]

Nintendo has now realized that limiting us to a 512 MB onboard flash storage is obsolete when their competitors offer GB of space. Money saving? An 8 GB Micro SD card is $15 on Newegg. Flash capacity is cheap. 512 MB is crap leftover thumb drives seen at grocery stores.

They've also started allowing the option of standard controls in their games for those who don't want to be forced to use the remote. WHICH THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE FROM THE START! Just because they had this new control method doesn't mean they have to force it on us. Obviously standard button controllers are still popular or the 360 and PS3 would be totally dead by now.

[FxMercenary]

Ok people, its time for a reality check on the Wii. It is innovative, and it can be fun in certain settings ( i.e. parties and with friends ) but in reality, The Wii is not really in First Place, and remember that. Down the line, 1,2 or 5 years from now, the Wii will be remembered as the highest selling console, with the lowest sold amount of games.

I own one, and so do 10 of my 12 close friends. But when it comes to the games that they own, its Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Mario Galaxy and Zelda. That is it, nothing more.

Alot of my Family members own Nintendo Wiis also, they are women in their late 40s, that bought the Wii for Wii Fit and Wii Sports, so they can do Yoga, and so they can try to Gimmick their husbands to do SOMETHING!

The Wii is/was the Gimmick of the time, the Furby, The Beanie Baby, The Pogs and the Baseball Cards.

Or is it? Maybe it will remain in flight, like the ipod!

Personally I like it, its fun for me to download Metal Slug and Galaga 90 and tear it up for 20 minutes with some friends from time to time, but I know that it wont be remembered as a game seller, but a console seller.

[kupomogli]

Well, the Wii having unique control types is the reason why it doesn't have better graphics, but it's old technology as it's nothing more than the GC+Powerglove x 1.5 at a price of 249.99. The system's ingenuity is wearing off quickly as the motion sensing makes every game feel that the gameplay is exactly the same. It's kindof hard thinking of new ways you can wave the Wiimote for it to react differently and most every game is more of a shake the controller at certain points, swing the controller, or point and click.

I haven't played one game other than Wii Sports that has used the motion sensing control very well, although I haven't played many games that utlized motion sensing control that were Wii only. The ones that were multiconsole while may have played good(Scarface the World is Yours) were much more enjoyable playing with an actual controller(or others like Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 which sucked playing using the Wiimote.)

So the Wii was a unique idea, but it's not as unique into really holding its own very long. The only good thing the Wii has truly done is get people who don't play video games to actually play them. Waving the remote around isn't as different as pushing a button, it's just the way most people view video games as to not see them any fun without ever trying them(hence why the Wii's gimmick concept got so many new people, casual gamers, into gaming.)

[GrandAmChandler]

The Wii is not really in First Place, and remember that. Down the line, 1,2 or 5 years from now, the Wii will be remembered as the highest selling console, with the lowest sold amount of games.

......but I know that it wont be remembered as a game seller, but a console seller.

Are you serious? Of course it is in "First Place" in terms of sales, the numbers don't lie. As far as it not being a game seller: I have two words. Wii Fit.

It may not be first place in hardcore gamer hearts like ours, but you have to come to terms with reality when you see the sales numbers. Nintendo Wiis and DSs PRINT MONEY. They will continue to outsell every console and every portable until the next big jump comes along. Worldwide Hardware Sales Charts:

http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=18 (http://www.vgchartz.com)
http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=19 (http://www.vgchartz.com)
http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=20 (http://www.vgchartz.com)

Almost 20 MILLION difference compared to 360. You will never see either console touch the Wii this generation. Ever. It would take a miracle.

Some more stats as of April of 2009 for worldwide software (http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php) These are the top selling games of this generation to date (Note I didn't include Wii Sports or Wii Play for obvious reasons):

Wii Fit - 18.74 million units (Take note that Wii Fit has almost sold as well as the Playstation 3 CONSOLE.)
Mario Kart - 15.72 million units
Halo 3 - 9.57 million units
Smash Brawl - 8.54 million units
Super Mario Galaxy - 8.08 million units
COD4 (360)- 7.31 million units
Mario & Sonic Olympics 7.07 million units
GTA IV (360)- 7.01 million units
Mario Party 8 6.54 million units
Gears of War 5.88 million units
GTA IV (PS3)- 5.59 million units

Does it sell software? Yes, without a doubt. Does it sell shitty third party software? Yes, that's why people make games for the Wii. It's easy to develop for, so it gets a lot of crap titles. But the 50 titles out there that are excellent, it's worth owning. I love my 360 to death, and it has more games that I like than on the Wii, but don't try to ignore the truth!

It's only seen as a failure in the hardcore gamers eyes, but stockholders, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo see it as a money printing miracle.

[scooterb23]

How dare you bring facts to a fanboy fight?

[Cobra Commander]

Mario and Sonic Olympics sold more than GTA IV and Gears?
That's depressing.

[FxMercenary]

Are you serious? Of course it is in "First Place" in terms of sales, the numbers don't lie. As far as it not being a game seller: I have two words. Wii Fit.

It may not be first place in hardcore gamer hearts like ours, but you have to come to terms with reality when you see the sales numbers. Nintendo Wiis and DSs PRINT MONEY. They will continue to outsell every console and every portable until the next big jump comes along. Worldwide Hardware Sales Charts:

http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=18 (http://www.vgchartz.com)
http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=19 (http://www.vgchartz.com)
http://www.vgchartz.com/sigs/output.php?sigid=20 (http://www.vgchartz.com)

Almost 20 MILLION difference compared to 360. You will never see either console touch the Wii this generation. Ever. It would take a miracle.

Some more stats as of April of 2009 for worldwide software (http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php) These are the top selling games of this generation to date (Note I didn't include Wii Sports or Wii Play for obvious reasons):

Wii Fit - 18.74 million units (Take note that Wii Fit has almost sold as well as the Playstation 3 CONSOLE.)
Mario Kart - 15.72 million units
Halo 3 - 9.57 million units
Smash Brawl - 8.54 million units
Super Mario Galaxy - 8.08 million units
COD4 (360)- 7.31 million units
Mario & Sonic Olympics 7.07 million units
GTA IV (360)- 7.01 million units
Mario Party 8 6.54 million units
Gears of War 5.88 million units
GTA IV (PS3)- 5.59 million units

Does it sell software? Yes, without a doubt. Does it sell shitty third party software? Yes, that's why people make games for the Wii.

ok... Again, Wii is not selling games. Those are all Nintendo Titles. Wii is making Nintendo money, nintendo is making nintendo money. Where is the 3rd party support/success?

BTW im not a Fanboy, I do own a Wii, and just bought Wario Shake it today...

[GrandAmChandler]

The Wii does sell 3rd party games, just not in mass quantities like say a GTA IV. There wouldn't be so many Crappy Wii games if people weren't buying them. More and more good 3rd party games are coming out, you just have to try them!! The Wii was never meant to be a hardcore gamer's system. Nintendo made this quite clear with last year's lineup. However, it does move software, and developers can get games out the door quickly, due to it being inexpensive and easy to develop for. Like I said, developers wouldn't bother if people weren't buying games!

[PapaStu]

ok... Again, Wii is not selling games. Those are all Nintendo Titles. Wii is making Nintendo money, nintendo is making nintendo money. Where is the 3rd party support/success?

BTW im not a Fanboy, I do own a Wii, and just bought Wario Shake it today...

Uh, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics is a Sega title. Thats not a party piece. Yes it has Nintendo characters in it, but they didn't touch the programming.

[FxMercenary]

Uh, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics is a Sega title. Thats not a party piece. Yes it has Nintendo characters in it, but they didn't touch the programming.

Let me get some reccomendations actually, I cant find a thread in search.

So far I have:

Wii Sports
Wii Fit
Wii Play
Mario Galaxy
Zelda Twilight Princess
Wario Shake It
Paper Mario
Metroid Prime 3
Resident Evil 4

Interested in getting Houce of the dead 2&3

[Bojay1997]

The Wii does sell 3rd party games, just not in mass quantities like say a GTA IV. There wouldn't be so many Crappy Wii games if people weren't buying them. More and more good 3rd party games are coming out, you just have to try them!! The Wii was never meant to be a hardcore gamer's system. Nintendo made this quite clear with last year's lineup. However, it does move software, and developers can get games out the door quickly, due to it being inexpensive and easy to develop for. Like I said, developers wouldn't bother if people weren't buying games!

The numbers absolutely don't support your argument. There are so many crappy games because Nintendo refuses to put in place any sort of quality control system and the Wii is very easy and cheap to develop for. A lot of those shovelware games you see at Best Buy and other mass retailers are pressed in quantities of 25,000 or so and end up selling maybe 15,000 total units. The publisher and developer end up making $75K or so which is enough to justify continuing the business model, especially if you can do it over 10-15 titles a year.

Nobody is arguing that the third parties like Sega aren't making an effort to do innovative things with the Wii, but given the sales of HOTD Overkill and Mad World which will barely cover development and publishing costs, I seriously doubt they are going to continue innovating. They are going to stick to Sonic titles and maybe some mini-game collections and that will be the end of it.

I think Nintendo honestly doesn't know what they want. Like most companies, they want it all. Unfortunately, you can't satisfy both serious gamers and the mass market unless you are willing to take some risks and sadly Nintendo has shown little interest in doing that with the Wii.

[GrandAmChandler]

The numbers absolutely don't support your argument. There are so many crappy games because Nintendo refuses to put in place any sort of quality control system and the Wii is very easy and cheap to develop for. A lot of those shovelware games you see at Best Buy and other mass retailers are pressed in quantities of 25,000 or so and end up selling maybe 15,000 total units. The publisher and developer end up making $75K or so which is enough to justify continuing the business model, especially if you can do it over 10-15 titles a year.

Nobody is arguing that the third parties like Sega aren't making an effort to do innovative things with the Wii, but given the sales of HOTD Overkill and Mad World which will barely cover development and publishing costs, I seriously doubt they are going to continue innovating. They are going to stick to Sonic titles and maybe some mini-game collections and that will be the end of it.

I think Nintendo honestly doesn't know what they want. Like most companies, they want it all. Unfortunately, you can't satisfy both serious gamers and the mass market unless you are willing to take some risks and sadly Nintendo has shown little interest in doing that with the Wii.

I am not disagreeing with your thoughts at all, in fact you are correct on all fronts! My point is, they sell the games, thats why they keep making them. If House of the dead 2 & 3 flopped, there wouldn't have been HotD:Overkill. Same thing goes with Resident Evil: Umbrella -> New R.E. to be released this year.

There is a lot of crap, I don't deny it. But it sells, and that's not Nintendo's fault. Publishers are happy with sales, customers eat it up, and we get some very unique titles on the hardcore side of things that we may not have seen if the Wii wasn't a big success.

Nintendo knows what they want, money. And with this strategy, they will continue to print it! I predict a couple of hardcore titles to be announced for this holiday season for Nintendo. Either a new Zelda, Kid Icarus, or Kirby will be released this holiday season.

I guess what I am trying to say is, what company cares what the hardcore gamers think if you put out 2-3 "hardcore" titles a year, and are making money hand over fist, what's the problem? Nothing, they know the hardcore gamers will still buy those titles (See Smash Bros. sales) and the casual market will eat up the crap. And Nintendo will laugh all the way to the bank.

[j_factor]

There are also a handful of good third party games, but there is very little that I would call "hardcore" meaning 20 or more hours of gameplay, a great story, great on-line multiplayer, etc...

When the hell did that become the meaning of "hardcore"? I've heard some varying definitions over the years, but that is by far the strangest I've ever encountered.

[FxMercenary]

Let me get some reccomendations actually, I cant find a thread in search.

So far I have:

Wii Sports
Wii Fit
Wii Play
Mario Galaxy
Zelda Twilight Princess
Wario Shake It
Paper Mario
Metroid Prime 3
Resident Evil 4

Interested in getting Houce of the dead 2&3

just picked up House of the Dead 2&3 today as well as the zapper with Link's crossbow training!

Also Got Battalion Wars II in the mail today!

[Neil Koch]

just picked up House of the Dead 2&3 today as well as the zapper with Link's crossbow training!

Get a Perfect Shot and HOTD Overkill. It's about as good as "light gun" games get IMO.

The other light gun games like Ghost Squad and RE Umbrella Chronicles are really fun too. It's one genre that the Wii really gets right. I would love it if they brought out some of the classics on the Virtual Console - the T2 arcade game would be a perfect release right now with Salvation coming out.

As for other recommended games, I can't say enough good things about No More Heroes and MadWorld. Absolutely brilliant games IMO, but they're not for everyone.

I do like my Wii, but I play my PS3 much more. There is such a shitstorm of bad shovelware on the Wii that unfortunately the decent third party games get buried.

[Ed Oscuro]

They are going to stick to Sonic titles and maybe some mini-game collections and that will be the end of it.
There's a link missing in your reasoning. Can you identify it?

[Jeopardy! theme here]

Okay, so we go from "hey it's easy to make shovelware on the Wii and they'll do that as long as it works" -> "that will be the end of it." It will? O rly? How about they just incrementally move their production values up at the time (assuming it ever comes) when the channel gets saturated and people get sick of the "shovelware" (this is assuming these games are bad; I think it's more a question of the games not being to the taste of longtime gamers and couch potatoes).

Anyway, the point is that as long as people are happy buying the stuff, and it's not harming their health, I don't mind. But I don't see that developers are suddenly going to abandon the Wii with its lowered production costs for the huge consoles just because expectations are raised a wee bit.


Well, the Wii having unique control types is the reason why it doesn't have better graphics, but it's old technology as it's nothing more than the GC+Powerglove x 1.5 at a price of 249.99.
Dang son, get ahold on yourself.

The Wii doesn't have better graphics because Nintendo execs made a conscious cost decision. Has nothing to do with the control system - the control system could exist and perform just as well (better actually) on the other consoles. Also, if you put together a GameCube and a Powerglove you still don't have motion sensing nunchaku, now do ya.