The Wii's Future

[Mittopotahis]

People nowadays expect graphics. As its been said many times before, people nowadays won't play games with bad graphics. This obviously gives Microsoft and Sony the upper hand. The population seems pretty split, whether the graphics will kill the Wii. At the time of posting this, the poll is pretty much 60/40, in favour of no. There goes half of the world (assuming the poll is accurate) Nintendo can't win. The thing is, if the console has the graphics, its gonna win with both the people who care about grpahics, and the people who don't. Microsoft and Sony have a much broader audience now.

I believe the graphics to be only a small contributing factor to the Wii's future success. There are many other ideas which Nintendo base their games on: Innovation, gameplay etc, which is what they have done with the Wii, made it innovative and fun. As Ryth said, Nintendo already has a massive fanbase. In the first 4 days of the Wii hitting Aussie shores, 32,901 Wii consoles were sold. That makes it the fastest selling console in Australia ever. This has got to give Nintendo some advantage - with all those consoles out there, people are going to have to buy the games for it, if they don't want to waste their money.

That's another thing. The Xbox 360 and (especially) the PS3 cost alot of money. I believe, at the moment, the Xbox 360 still costs about AU$500 (after being out for a year already), the PS3, when released, will cost AU$800-1000. The Wii released with an RRP of AU$400. By keeping the graphics to a standard which is slightly below the rest, they have made the price much more appealing to the public. The PS3 is going to be hindered greatly by its massive cost. So that is another reason with I think the Wii will stand the test of time: Money.

Because the Wii is different and innovative, it has resulted in removing much of the multi-platform games available for the Wii, thus taking a big chunk of games away from the Wii. This is sure to hurt. And because Nintendo doesn't have many third-party titles, they pretty much only have their first-party titles to keep them going, and a few third-party titles. That isn't going to help, especially since over here, Nintendo are known for being so limited in the game-department because of the Gamecube. The Gamecube was an absolute floozy over here, so Nintendo built up a bad name for themselves, and stores barely sold any games. Luckily, Nintendo have redeemed themself with the Wii. I believe if the Gamecube was not so looked down upon in Australia, the Wii would have sold many more consoles.

Regarding the Third-party titles, Nintendo has never been big on them anyway. They have always heavily relied on titles such as Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, all of which are first-party titles, for their success. Why should the Wii be any different? You think of all the best games from Nintendo consoles, they are all first-party. That is one of the reasons why Nintendo has that massive fanbase - they keep on making great sequels to their biggest selling titles. On the other hand, I believe that the Wii's innovative ideas will entice many more third-party companies so they can do something they've always thought about, something that used to be impossible, or something different and unique for a change. Nintendo are already increasing their thrid-party companies, too. Just look at Square Enix - they are going Nintendo crazy! They have remade every game up to Final Fantasy V (or is it VI?) so far on a Nintendo console, plus are making sequels to Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles on Nintendo consoles. I believe the remakes is just Square Enix trying to create a foothold in the Nintendo franchise so they can release some bigger games later. It is entirely possible that many third-party companies may follow in Square-Enix's footsteps, and give Nintendo a try.

IF you read basically any gaming magazine, they push the Wii60, ie getting both the Wii and 360 for only 50$ more than a PS3. That way you get the graphical games and multi platform ones, and the innovation of the Wii.

I've never heard of this Wii60. Its a great idea, which I may even have to take up. If alot of people here about this, it will really give Microsoft and Nintendo the upper hand over Sony. The only people who will be buying a Playstation 3 will be the die-hard Sony fans, which I guess is kinda the case anyway, due to its price.

Personally, I think the graphics have very little to do with determining the Wii's fate, when you look at everything else. But you can make up your own mind.

Woow, that was long. Sorry If someone is ever doing an essay on the Wii console, feel free to take it xD.


EDIT: Sorry to make this even longer, but I have just found an article on the very topic of "Will the Wii's graphics hinder it?" I found it in Issue 19 of Australian Gamepro Magazine, page 8. Yes, I am typing this up -_-".

Evolve or Die

So here we are with the Wii about to launch and its decidedly unique approach to what constitutes a 'next-generation console' raises some pretty interesting questions, the most obvious of which is 'do gamers really want high-definition games?' It's a good question. Microsoft and Sony have staked their claims to next-gen superiority almost soley on graphics and all we've seen from either camp is the same old games with prettier visuals. There's no doubt that the games look fantastic in hi-def, but it's not hard to sympathise with Nintendo's claim that chasing graphical realism is an evolutionary dead end.

Good game design and good art design will trump sheer graphical horsepower every time. The Sims and Grand Theft Auto don't even come close to having cutting-edge graphics, but they've outsold every other franchise they've come into competition with. So let's be frank: no, we don't need hi-def games (want -- maybe, need -- no).

The key question is -- can Nintendo deliver something better? Will the Wii be to the X360 and PS3 what the DS has been to the PSP? Will the less powerful machine with the intuitive input mechanism and innovative games kick the others to the curb?

It's an interesting notion. Hi-def TV sets have a relatively low penetration (though it's climbing all the time, of course) and the 'hardcore' gamer audience is, if anything, shrinking. The industry really only grows when products reach out to new audiences with accessible products like SingStar, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs and The Sims.

Sounds like a good perscription for Nintendo. Sony's the next best placed, franchise-wise, until or unless Microsoft leverages its price and install-base advantage. It'll be a fascinating battle: let's preay it's not fought out solely on the basis of hi-def visuals.
Michael Butler