Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Nintendo realizes and knows what they are doing. It's a brilliant strategy being in the same market as the other two consoles without directly competing with them. They can't lose regardless of who has the greatest market share. They are banking on being the second console of choice which naturally means them having twice as many units sold as the other two consoles and with the popularity of the DS it's almost guaranteed they will do with from those numbers alone that have grown so great in such a short time. I wish I had stock in Nintendo, it is constantly always on the rise.

Now honestly my personal opinion this is the first generation I have considered not buying all three consoles. There is the price for one, and the fact that I'm starting to lose interest in video games, as sad as that may sound. Generally the interest is dwindling in consoles, but games as a whole as well. There is still the novelty of Halo that may attract me to the 360, and the empty hole in me that FPS’s left that I’ve been trying to fill with a new FPS game for a long time. Then there is the Wii, that brings back nostalgic feelings I had when I first played my NES. Nintendo I think is doing great things for tired gamers or gamers who are simply losing interest. I hope they do well this round, the deserve it.

Anticrawl

Reply

Question: Are the i's in the name "Wii" supposed to always be lower case a la iPod and iMac?

Reply

iPod and iMac are a little different than Wii. The i in iPod/iMac means intelligent, it’s just their thing, defines the series of products and their style. Actually some people say internet but I specifically remember an executive stating what the i meant.

Wii is simply grammatically correct, it isn't an abbreviation, and it’s a word that symbolizes something. If Wii was an acronym then yeah it would be spelt WII, besides that two capital I’s after a W looks far to bold and aggressive in a negative sense. I don’t particularly care for the name Wii but it is written as it is to complement the over all laid back feel and look of the Wii, the philosophy of keeping it simple and making games fun again.

Also yeah after writing this I realize you said are and not why.

Yes they are haha,
Anticrawl

Reply

This poll bodes well for Nintendo, but it is more of a testment to the success of their pre-launch moves than a prediction of things to come.

Right now, the Wii has gained a lot of attention, and most people are voting based on their current anticipation for the system. After all, why else would the follow-up to this generation's sales loser win such a poll?

But the Wii must deliver. I strongly feel that it must launch at $199. I'd pay more, but a lot of these 'Wii is my second console' consumers wouldn't. It must have a strong launch window lineup (which I feel it has). These games must utilize the system, and show that the Wii is not just a repackaged GameCube like so many ignorant people are saying. The Virtual Console needs to be extremely affordable. I'm talking $1 to $5 for all retro games, $5-$10 for new indie games.

In my mind, a packaged game would really set Nintendo apart. And Wii Sports would be the perfect intro to Wii gaming.

If Nintendo can deliever in 90% of the places they've promised or hinted at, there is no doubt in my mind that they will lead in hardware sales. But there's very little room for error. Pricing the Wii at $249 (without a great package deal) would be the greatest mistake Nintendo could make this generation.

Reply

Though I agree with the comments posted so far, I think it's important to realize that the main reason Nintendo is distinguishing themselves from the competition is that they can no longer compete on a technical plane. The resources of Sony and Microsoft far exceed those of Nintendo: the days of Nintendo having the most powerful or advanced console ended with the N64.

Now, keeping in mind that I'm a huge Nintendo fan - and I already have my Wii preordered - there is a big problem with Nintendo's choice of distancing themselves. And that lies with the developers. As we've seen from the articles like the one about Kojima, some developers may shy away from the Wii because they may not be able to create the quality of content that they want. Sure the Wii will see TONS of great games, and surely some amazing new ideas for gameplay, but if the developers are already starting to shy away to some degree, that is somewhat unsettling. We all know the biggest problem for Nintendo has been third-party support since the 64 days, and this worries me quite a bit.

Still, we know that we can at least rely on the first-party developers of Nintendo's brilliant team to bring us some amazing games in the next 5 years. And I sincerely hope that Kojima's/Nomura's opinions don't sway those of other high-profile developers. We could very well see the resurgence of Nintendo in this generation.

Reply

Franky Digital: I think I get what you're saying, but...

(Kojima's DS game)

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/10/kojimas-ds-game-touts-vampirism-and-meteorology/

Couple this with Solid Snake appearing in Smash Bro.s, his saying he was most impressed with the Wii at this year's E3, and his praise for the wiimote when it was first unveiled at TGS, I'd say it's a good bet he'll make a Wii game (especially if it does incredibly well) if he hasn't already. I just wouldn't expect it to be quite like his MGS projects which are much more "cinema" based, rather it would be a game largely centered around the controller and unique gameplay.

Reply

How does that site know how many consoles are sold? Are they like tracking every retailer on how many Xbox 360s are sold?

Anyway, it's nice to see Nintendo looked upon so high. This might bring them out of that N64 disaster (let's not speak of the cube).

Reply

@Marc

It's hard to tell on what the website is basing it's sales figures. I'd venture to say they are estimating a console/minute ratio based on how many 360s sold in an alotted time. They then likely update the counter any time accurate data is available.

That's what the website SHOULD do, anyway.

Reply

"It must have a strong launch window lineup (which I feel it has)."

vidGuy if you're talking about games, don't worry. The Wii HAS games. These are the launch titles.


Ant Bully, The
Avatar: The Last Air Bender
Blitz: The League ‘06
Call Of Duty 3
Cars
Chicken Little
Disaster: Day of Crisis
Disney: Meet The Robinsons
Dragonquest: Swords
Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi 2
Elebits
Excitetruck
Fire Emblem
Happy Feet
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The
Madden ‘07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Metal Slug Anthology
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Need For Speed: Carbon
One Piece
Open Season
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Red Steel
SD Gundam
Spongebob: Creature From the Krusty Krab
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Tamagotchi
Tony Hawk: Downhill Jam
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Wii Sports

So go ahead, pick your games.

Reply

Just so you all know, those games were listed as official reserves by a Gamecrazy employee.

Here's GoNintendo's article on it.
http://gonintendo.com/?p=3529

Reply

Anticrawl: If the majority of people are getting a Wii, doesn't that make it the "first console" and not the "second console?"

Franky Digital: You're wrong. Nintendo aren't beefing up the specs because they can't. They aren't beefing the specs because they don't need to. Nintendo have always had immaculate engineering and powerful products at low prices. For all the power the Xbox was supposed to have, it was only marginally better than the Gamecube which is about 3 times as cheap . That's not because Nintendo are putting together a cheap toy... hell no. That's their brilliant engineering. To get something so powerful and efficient and economical. Any idiot can take military level machinery and try and hawk it to the public.

And even now their competitors are copying them. Gamecube has an IBM CPU and an ATI GPU. Now the 360 has turned coat and is sporting the same stuff Nintendo have. And Sony is getting on the IBM bandwagon too.

And I wouldn't insult the technology behind the Wiimote either. If you think you can put together something as complex as it then go ahead. And no I'm not talking about the Kirby Tilt n' Tumble thing that college student made that seems to be in Sonu's PS3 controller.

Reply

@ molecule:

I am aware the Kojima supports both
Nintendo's handhelds and their upcoming system, but that isn't to say that he wasn't slightly apprehensive about the sheer lack of power. I, for one, don't find graphical power in any way indicative of an experience, but many developers do feel this way. I wonder if this is an omen of things to come, is all.

@Gave Mann:

What you seem to be glazing over is that Nintendo hasn't really beefed up the system, and for no good reason besides the need to seperate themselves from the bigger and more powerful competition, who have more resources, more contacts and more money. I love Nintendo, but I'd be a fool to believe otherwise. Do you think the Wiimote wouldn't work and the games wouldn't be as innovative if the hardware was as advanced as the other two consoles under Nintendo's engineering? Of course it would. The thing is, Nintendo CANNOT compete in the technical realm, and they've chosen to take a different route. Surely that must be obvious.

As for Nintendo leading the way with ATI and IBM... do you know anything about the computer market? When these consoles were in hardware planning stages, the companies used their respective industry ties to make the best choices of hardware suppliers for both cost and power. That's just the way the business rolls.

Finally, the Wiimote technology is nice, yes. And I can't wait to play with it. But do you really believe a MORE POWERFUL SYSTEM would not have been able to crunch the positioning numbers? Your argument is somewhat flawed.

Reply

What we need to know is how much of the 360 and PS3 hardware will be used to push HD?

If the competitors are using 30 - 40% of their hardware to push HighDef, and Nintendo isn't doing HighDef, what's the point of more hardware?

When Ninty go HighDef with Wii2 they'll have a crapload of tech. Nintendo can compete in the tech realm; they'd just have to charge a hell of a lot more than 'under $250', because (I agree) they can't afford to take huge losses on their consoles like Sony and MS. But, Ninty is a straight gaming company; their competitors are not.

Nintendo's move here is smart. If they can pump out comparable visuals at standard definition (which most consumers are fine with) for $200 to $400 cheaper, they'll capture a huge market. And since visuals aren't all that matters, they have a decent market to begin with.

By the time Wii2 comes out, HighDef will be standard, and it'll make sense to target it. But, by that time, the hardware won't be so expensive. I would never expect a Nintendo console to launch for more than $299 (in the forseeable future, anyway).

For now, PS3 is aiming at the hardcore. The Wii, in contrast, is aiming at the majority. The Wii would benefit from more hardware (and HighDef output), but it's far from neccesary and not in line with the Wii philosophy.

Reply

Franky Digital, Nintendo has more resources then you think. They partnered with many companies so if they wanted to beef up there system then they coould have. The reason why they didn't is because they want to make the console more affordable then the competition. Just because Nintendo is smarter then the competition and not making it out of mainstream price doesn't mean it couldn't have made a powerful machine.

Reply

Just one comment to vidGuy:

"If they can pump out comparable visuals at standard definition (which most consumers are fine with) for $200 to $400 cheaper, they'll capture a huge market."

The visuals will not be comparable once PS3 and 360 are in full control of the developers. Yes, visuals do not make a game fun, nor are they the most important, but they ARE important to a certain degree, and can definately facilitate making a game more immersive and more engaing.

But yes, the main reason that the Wii is a smaller step up than the other two big ones is for the reason that it is not HD ready. I agree that this is a good move, as the current penetration of HD-TVs is quite small. At the end of this generation, however, that very well may be a lot different. And when that time arrives, the current positive opinion that we all hold might very well change. There's something to be said about foresight. Sony had the foresight to switch to the CD medium once upon a time, and look what that did. It was more expensive and more advanced, yet offered nothing terribly different from the past. And I think we all know what happened there.

Reply

Only sales can show who is real winner. And they won't begin soon, so let's wait for it. We have no other way

Reply

"the main reason Nintendo is distinguishing themselves from the competition is that they can no longer compete on a technical plane."

That is a ridiculous statement. All three companies are using the same suppliers (aka IBM/ATI/NVIDIA) with the same underlying technology. Nintendo made a conscious decision to go for lower priced/lower performing parts because they feel it is unnecessary and detrimental to go higher at this point in time. It has nothing to do with ABILITY to compete technically or not.

Reply

People are talking about how the Wii is under powered because nintendo has not money, yet nintendo is the only hardware company that is in the black. Sont and MS both run on a loss and try to make money on licences. Nintendo knows what they are doing, making a product they can mass produce at a good price point and not sell at a loss. Thus giving them the resources to continue making systems and software.

Reply

"All three companies are using the same suppliers (aka IBM/ATI/NVIDIA) with the same underlying technology."

Same name/brand != same underlying technology. Time to do some reasearch.

Reply

Considering the fact that nintendo is an isanely rich company i dont think its wise to say that they can no longer competet e in the technical department.

Reply

generaldane thank you well said. We act like Nintendo is penny pinchers they have been in this market for about two decades. The ds is selling like hotcakes I just had to buy one for my wife she loves it so much. The games for the ds are going off the shelf. Why is the ds outselling the psp? The psp has better graphics right. It does everything you could want but your chores. The ds is outselling because the vision has caught on to people. The vision of playing in a whole new way. Games are for playing not seeing. If you want to see something get a damn movie. Graphics do add to the fun but it's always come down to the feel because it's about playing not seeing. My 40 year old brother wants a wii not for the new games but for the old school stuff like star fox on the super nintendo. Games used to be about having fun that's what ds and wii bring back and thank god because I'd hate for games to turn into hollywood bullshit.

Reply

generaldane, it's not that Nintendo is "insanely" rich, but they do have big cash reserves, they can take a loss if they need to and compete on a technical plane. They could make a much more powerful system, but they'd have to charge a lot more money for it, like Sony. The thing is, Sony has learned nothing in this generation and they should know that most of the same people who bought the affordable PS2 are not going to shell out the cash for a $600 PS3. Sony has dominated the past couple of generations, and if they do again with the PS3, it will be because of the Playstation name. If not, then I believe the PS3 will crash and burn.

So Nintendo can easily target a huge audience with slightly less powerful and more economical hardware at a cheaper price. Gaye Mann put it nicely: The Wii is undoubtedly a brilliantly engineered system, same with the cube, and it could produce some awesome graphics if it's capabilities were used fully.

We'll probably see some nicer looking Wii graphics in the future. Kind of like with Xbox 360, I wasn't really impressed with the launch titles' graphics, but now I have seen some impressive looking 360 games coming up. Don't look at me though, I'm not one of those people who think graphics are everything. Good graphics only enhance the experience. Screw HD, when I think of good graphics, I think of polygons, shaders, and framerate. Even surround-sound offers for a more immersive experience than HD.

Reply

I have one last comment. I find the common sense among the nintendo fanboys much higher. I have checked in to ps3 fanboy and even made a few comments here and there and the common sense is about dead. I love nintendo fans. They just seem more down to earth maybe it's just me. Good comments everyone. I'm so grateful common sense still lives in some places.

Reply

Oh yeah jc. Welcome to the exciting world of Nintendo. They have to be the only company who's fanbase can actually discuss things with reason, rather than resorting to name calling and threats.

Reply

Hmm... I'd say all fanbases have their fair share of intellects and idiots.

Yes, I am a Nintendo fan (and have been since I was four years old and got my first NES), but by no means do I think the Nintendo fanbase is "better" or "smarter" than the Sony or Microsoft fanbase.

Reply

Has anybody noticed that since this has been posted the Wii's popularity has gone up, and the Xbox360's gone down (Wii 55.8% Xbox360 25.9%)? This has been coming a long time on the polls from half a year ago now - I'm not sure, the last year has gone in a blur. :D Anyway, I think that the Wii should just do this and may well live up to the market selling predictions here, with the PS3 written off for reasons that I am too tired to write about right now. Have fun debating, guys!

Reply

JC, I have to agree with you..I go to PSP Fanboy and state my fondness of the system, and I get rude responses from people like pixelator who manage to find offense in every post. The guy's quite a character, actually.

Reply

@ Dan

I don't believe the PS3 will crash and burn, but I do think it will go through the same phase as the N64 (under-delievering on hardware, lack of frequent game releases).

Me? I'm definitely looking forward to the Wii, and I hope it will be successful. I'm just not into jumping into such conclusions as "Nintendo will be #1 again."

Reply

For anyone to say that Nintendo can not compete with Sony and MS in the technology deparment is obviously not a gamer. Nintendo is dedicated to the production of making quality hardware and games. You don't need to pump millions of extra dollars into hardware if it designed smartly. What they've done is created a product that is low in cost, gives the developers flexibility without the headache of having to wait for the 2nd to 3rd generation of the systems software development cycle to see next-gen results. Nintendo is the ONLY console manufacturer that is not in debt, nor do they loose money on consoles. Their business model is much more level headed than Sony and Microsoft. Sure Nintendo could throw millions of dollars at every 3rd party to develope games for them. But what do you guys think is smarter. Buying exclusives without really knowing that the titles are going to be a success? Or, develop a console that makes developers hungry to work with and give them incentives for developing games for the console and both company makes money? Don't get me confused, they are some bull-heaed tactics that Nintendo still uses that I hate, but for the most part, they do gaming the way I love it. The hardcore gamer way.

Reply

@ Phil: "For anyone to say that Nintendo can not compete with Sony and MS in the technology deparment is obviously not a gamer."

Just out of curiousity, what does my consideration of Nintendo's capabilities, market ties and willingness to spend money on unnecessary R&D have to do with me being a gamer? On what basis do you make this claim? Please don't just spout jibberish in the middle of a rational conversation.

And technically, I think the "hardcore gamer way" would be Sony's way, since that's what their banking their entire console on. I despise the Playstation 3 and will never conceed to buying one, but if you want to talk more realistically, Nintendo's entire campaign is built around the "casual gamer way".

Reply

@ Frank Digital - The passion between casual and hardcore gamers are different. From the technical standpoint, a hardcore gamers last concern is system power because any true hardcore gamer would know that if you have all the system power in the world, and 90% of your games suck, then your system is worthless. Hardcore gamers care about having a multitude of good games, not about Cell processors, or 8X Anti-Aliasing, or bump maps or any of that technical jargon.

And when you said "Nintendo's entire campaign is built around the "casual gamer way"... You are so off it's unfathomable. Nintendo's campaign for every hardware launch is to push innovation. Coupled with virtual console emmulation of systems of past eras (where the casual gamer accounted about 1 of every 10 hardcore gamers) and a system that was built to push the design envelope with a new way to play games. Hardcore gamers don't want mad bullshit games flooding their consoles game selection and this has been an on-going epidemic from the birth of the PSX.

Reply

I agree with your logic, Phil, but Franky's right... Nintendo has said that they are going after the "casual" gamer market - these are people that play games often (reports say that "casual" gamers play about 10 hours a week) but aren't into the tech of it. Casual gamers often buy the console that offers the larger game library. "Hardcore" gamers are usually the ones dropping thousands to upgrade their PC rig every year. They are the ones that'll buy a standard release and a special edition of the same game.

My impression is that hardcore gamers are content to play one great game a year, and focus all their time on it. Games like WoW, Halo2, Everquest, etc. They form clans and meet up online. They have organized LAN parties at least once a month.

My impression of the casual gamer is one that plays a mulitude of games, but doesn't owe an allegiance to any particular one (or the console itself). These are not fanboys, but people who want to play fun games. They play simple games, PopCap games like Hexic or new age games like Brain Age. Based on their tastes, they evolve to start playing mainstream games like Mario or GTA.

Hardcore gamers will be content to drop $600+ on the PS3, because they want the technology it contains. I'm sure some early adopters will be buying the PS3 on ebay for around $1000 in the weeks after launch. The smaller consumer base the price of the console and games will create will cause Sony's 3rd party games to begin drying up. They'll no longer have the knockout punch of the largest game library.

Nintendo is hoping that, along with the crowd that bought the GameCube and/or Nintendo64, they attract the large group of casual gamers to their cheaper, simpler style of gaming. If they succeed in selling the style, 3rd party developers will join up, giving Nintendo the edge in 3rd party games.


What's interesting is in nearly all aspects, both Sony and Nintendo have changed their console formula.

Reply

I have to say vidGuy that out of the people I've seen here so far I respect you the most (no offense meant to those with any level of intelligence mind you...).

Early on when Nintendo first showed pictures of the Wiimote I was insanely skeptical and thought that they had indeed gone off the deep end. I've been a PC game and Nintendo fan since I was 3 playing the SNES and Lemmings on DOS, but after the Game Cube (which for me the controller was horrid...) and then seeing the Wiimote... I had put off all thoughts of getting the Wii. And then I saw reports from E3... my opinion has changed on the control system and honestly has me looking forward to trying an FPS game with that setup, not to mention the new Zelda.

This is the first console generation that I've lived through that I'm only going to get one of the consoles, and thats going to be the Wii. As great as the PS2 was (comparably and in my opinion), the PS3 just doesn't cut it with me, especially with the $600 price tag! I thought the XBOX 360 was over priced for a console at $400 until then, and even now it's too much for me to spend on it. Sure I may pick one up when it's down to $100-200, but not until then, and only if they have a better selection of games than the XBOX did.

I consider myself more towards the "Hardcore Gamer" side than the casual if only for the fact that I spend more time playing games than I do most other things, not to mention the age that I started playing. Even if I had the money to sink into all three next-gen consoles I wouldn't, no matter what parts the console may have it's useless without the games to back it up. To me the only important aspect of the graphics is that they're there. Yeah nice graphics do enhance it to a point, but I'm happy still playing NES and SNES games and do so quite often (and yes I understand that there were worse graphics such as the old Atari systems and such). I think the reason some people believe that hardcore gamers constantly upgrade their machines is because if you take a look at computer games you sometimes have to *cough* Oblivion *cough*. Aside from that from what I've seen the upgrades are for general performance issues, whether it be a favorite game, or a seperate program all together, I know some that keep older computers around just to play games that won't run on anything beyond a certain point and can't find any patch for it. I'd be tempted to do it myself if I could no longer play Fallout 2 haha.

Reply