Nintendo Wii Fanboy

With the Xbox 360 dropping in price later this week, many are looking at one of the console's particular SKUs because, well, it's going to be cheaper than the Wii. For almost 2 years, the Wii has been the cheapest option on the market, so how could this lower price affect the Wii's standing as top sales dog? Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian says Microsoft may see stronger sales, but doesn't "anticipate either Nintendo or Sony to match the Xbox 360 price cut."

The Wii is in good standing and really doesn't need to cut its price, so we're not expecting Nintendo to do so, either. But, if Microsoft manages to start taking away some of Nintendo's sales, we wouldn't be surprised to hear about a price cut early next year or, if sales drop that much, this holiday. We're not expecting sales to shift that dramatically, though.

That Howard Stringer is a rascal, isn't he? The Sony CEO recently spoke to German publication Die Welt about the various pies Sony currently has its fingers in, and clearly wanted to shatter a few myths regarding videogames and the current console race.

First of all, the Wii isn't more fun than the PS3, no -- it's just different. PlayStation 3 titles are "designed for those who play a lot." And anyway, it could have been oh-so-different for Sony, as Stringer reckons his company was first to discover the new gamers who have flocked to the Wii. "For a while, we held the same target group with the SingStar karaoke game," opined our man in the know. "But perhaps we neglected to pursue that avenue."

Stringer then confesses that Nintendo may have hit upon a superior business model by selling more consoles and making more money on hardware, before weakly claiming, "the Wii is not succeeding at our expense -- it is not hurting us." For a console that's not hurting Sony, Howard sure likes to talk about the Wii a lot. But it's definitely not hurting them.

[Via Edge Online]

Sorry folks, looks like the new game Batman: Arkham Asylum isn't going to be on Wii. It's purely a PS3 and Xbox 360 affair, as well as for the PC. Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams (we felt you needed the closure of knowing, rather than never mentioning the game again), but the title isn't planned for Wii as of right now. That doesn't mean we can't hold out hope that the game will one day be ported to Nintendo's console. Just don't hold your breath on that one.

[Via press release]

If one was to make an estimation as to the end of the console race today, it would appear Nintendo has things on lock. But, the future isn't always certain, so some folks don't mind coming up with their own guesses as to where we're headed in the years to come. The latest person to toss their 2 pennies into the fountain is former SCEE president Chris Deering. He thinks that come 2011, the Wii and the PS3 will be in a dead tie.

How can this be, with the monthly NPD numbers and weekly Japanese sales figures showing Nintendo selling truckloads of its hardware? Well, for Sony, Deering predicts that combined sales of its PS3, PS2 and PSP devices will be around 240 million units, which he also predicts for Nintendo, but they'll have done it with only the DS and Wii. For the Xbox 360, Deering predicts it will have a base of 40 million units.

240 million units, though? That's just lunacy, in our eyes. But, hey, if anyone can reach that figure, it's Nintendo. As for Sony doing it, well, there are a lot of PS2 consoles out there ...

We guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Sony's Scott Steinberg is not impressed by Nintendo's current success. In fact, he thinks his own company shouldn't adopt a similar strategy and try to obtain some share of the mass market. When asked about the Wii, and it's controller, in a recent interview, he commented that the "notion of that controller is a non-trivial point that you've brought up, that control and that familiarity is like comfort food - from my perspective, we lead, we don't follow."

Steinberg further went on to say that "as a brand, Nintendo's got their thing, and we're not trying to get the senior citizen group to get into gaming, we're looking to convert the PS2 owners and the tens of millions of installed base that were playing DVDs and playing games on their PS2, to now play Blu-ray movies and Blu-ray games with their PS3." Wait, was that a Sony representative saying they don't want more money? We thought the whole point of being a company was to earn money, so we're not sure why Sony would turn down a certain segment of the market, one Nintendo has proven are receptive to gaming and financially lucrative.

For all of you keeping track of how many months the Wii has crushed the PS3, maybe it's time you got yourself a new notebook. That thing must be full. But, in all seriousness, Japan saw the Wii selling quite a bit more when compared to the PS3 last month.

How much more? Well, the Wii sold 171,851 units in the four weeks leading up to July 27th (so, really, it could've sold a lot more last month), while the PS3 only sold 54,823 units. And, as one might expect, both totally crushed the Xbox 360, which only sold 14,439 units.

We expect that the NPD data in the next few months will reflect something similar, as all of us in North America are still waiting on Wario Land: Shake It! and Mario Super Sluggers. Both of those, as well as Fatal Frame IV, have already released over there, but they pretty much don't count here as Wario and Fatal Frame released only yesterday. Sluggers released way back in June.

EA's John Riccitiello doesn't mind dishing out the straight talk. In an interview with Mercury News, the EA CEO freely admits that his company failed in projecting the top dog of this current generation of consoles, instead focusing development on Xbox 360 and PS3 titles early on.

"One thing that's different is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform," he said. Riccitiello admitted that EA made a bad call, but says the company is now "catching up" and thinks they'll be "fine." He went on further to add that they've "got some incredibly innovative Wii titles" and "incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue's sort of behind us."

With EA being such a big supporter of the previous Xbox and PlayStation consoles, do they think they can gain similar market share on the Wii? Even with Nintendo's tradition of dominating their own console with first-party titles? "Yes," says Riccitiello. "Tomorrow? No. Can I make a big step in that direction this year? Yes. Can I continue to make steps in that pattern? Yes. Does Nintendo want us to do it? Yes. Does the platform set itself up for that to be possible? Yes. So, it requires focus."

With the All-Play brand, we'd say EA is moving in the right direction for capturing that segment. What else they have up their sleeve, we'll just have to wait and see.

How does one reply to such a comment? Point out that Stringer is obviously incorrect, or just ignore it and hope it goes away? Unfortunately, big Howie S. won't be going anywhere as head honcho of Sony, appearing last week at the Allen & Co Media Conference.

Stringer simply said "I've played a Nintendo Wii," -- betcha he bought one for his grandkids or something -- and he followed that up by stating "I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device." Cue inevitable spiel about Blu-ray, and you've got another carbon-copy Sony statement in a nutshell. It's difficult to take anything he says seriously, especially since we've heard it all before.

We could explain that the definition of a niche wouldn't have anything to do with the biggest and most popular console on the planet, or point out that the PS3 is still way more expensive (and will be for yonks), but that would make too much sense.

[Via Gameindustry.biz]

Hollywood, eat your heart out. It looks like gaming is lined up to be a big money enterprise come next year (as if it isn't already), according to analyst firm DFC Intelligence. David Cole, one of the firm's analysts, thinks that the driving force behind this sharp rise is none other than the Wii.

"The Wii does not appear to be a fad and it has the chance to be one of the best selling systems of all-time," said Cole. Another analyst, Jeremy Miller, is quick to point out that Nintendo is also a very successful publisher, stating "The Wii not only has unique features and a broad demographic appeal, but Nintendo is dominant as a software publisher." Despite Nintendo's winning formula that is the Wii, the firm sees the PS3 selling more than the Wii in 2012. We know of at least one entity that agrees.

[Via Joystiq]

Stylistically, it's been compared to Half-Life and Perfect Dark. What games have inspired design choices in The Conduit?

Rob: One of our goals from the very start was to make a fast-paced accessible FPS. To that end we looked at and stole shamelessly from mega-hits like Halo and Half-Life, recent titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Metroid Prime Corruption, as well as classics like Goldeneye for the N64. We wanted to pick the best features from these titles, the things that made them fun and memorable and have features like those in The Conduit.

Matt: We've done art direction for so many different titles, and we've learned a lot about establishing a strong and cohesive visual style. The Conduit's art direction has come mainly from taking real world styles and locations and combining them with our own alien technology concepts and aesthetic design preferences. I suppose that it looks similar to those other games, but in the end it's The Conduit's own unique premise that has largely driven the artistic vision. When combined with the features that are specific to our engine tech, The Conduit will look stunning by the time it reaches the player's hands.

Will there be a calibration option, so we can "aim down the sights?"

Rob: One of the things we learned in our development process was that customization of controls is essential to an enjoyable gameplay experience. To that end, we allow players to customize sensitivity, dead zone sizes, as well as control layouts. But, if you mean, can you actually use the iron-sights of your guns, that answer is "not exactly". The reason being that several of our weapons are alien in nature and don't even have iron-sights... but you will have sort of an alien vision mode with some of the weapons.

Matt: There'll be on-the-fly, in-game look sensitivity adjustments, as well as a fully map-able control scheme, down to the button, in the game's front end UI. Players will be able to map the game's controls completely to their own liking. There'll even be a couple of alternate control methods for those that don't care as much for the Wii pointer style of directional turning. There'll be lots of options for maximum playability.



There hasn't been much word on who the publisher for The Conduit is. Rumor has it, Nintendo is actually going to publish the game. Can you comment on that? Can you announce one at this time?

Matt: I can neither confirm nor deny this, senator. ;) All I will say is that thanks to the explosion of interest in this title, we've had a lot of publishers knocking on our door.

Control-wise, will there be options for other methods outside of the Wiimote and nunchuk? Will it support the GameCube controller? Classic controller?

Dan: There are movement and weapon functions in The Conduit that require the Wii Remote's pointer, accelerometer, depth, and cursor rotation functionality in order to perform. The Conduit isn't your standard ported-over-to-the-Wii style of game. Using the Classic or GC controller kind of defeats the purpose of what we are looking to do.

Matt: With The Conduit we want to redefine first person shooter controls. Hard core FPS gamers that have played the game have told me that they are now convinced that Wii is the best system for the genre. When you play it you'll realize very quickly that the Wii Remote is an incredible control device for this type of game. It just feels amazing to play.

Rob: I think if you are buying a Wii, you're buying it to make use of its motion sensitive controls, which are tailor made for an FPS game.

Aside from the controls, what are the game's strengths that separate it from other existing PC/console FPSes?

Rob: I would say that would be the ASE or "All Seeing Eye" device. In game, this piece of hardware allows a player to adjust the "phase state" of things. This makes invisible enemies and hazards not only visible, but able to take damage. It also makes invisible cover and platforms become solid, leading to more gameplay. We also reveal secret puzzle locks that must be solved to get to special weapons.

Dan: We've put a solid amount of effort into enemy AI for The Conduit. A pet peeve of mine is single player FPS games where the enemies just stand there getting blasted, and don't seem to be reacting to the world around them. In The Conduit, our bad guys can hear and see, understand the use of cover, have variable levels of aggression, use grenades effectively, advance and retreat, and can determine when the player is susceptible to attack (i.e. reloading, exposed and moving in their firing cone). I think focusing a higher than normal amount of the dev time on AI makes our single player experience better than most other FPS titles out there. Of course, the overall look we're able to achieve with our advanced engine tech is also something the makes The Conduit a superior FPS game IMO.

Matt: I think that going back to the Wii Remote, The Conduit has a unique control system that feels more like a VR experience than the typical spring loaded joystick controlled videogame. I also agree that the ASE device offers a unique style of gameplay that hasn't really been seen before in other games. Having the ability to discover and phase useful objects into the environment to assist with combat is a lot of fun. Beyond that, it's just rock solid action all throughout the game. There'll be fierce enemies, bad ass weapons, and white knuckle battles. It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

Does the game run at 60fps? 30fps?

Matt: If we can hit closer to 60, then that will be great! But for right now we are shooting for a steady 30fps, with zero drops in framerate. The whole team swears by the fact that a solid 30fps still feels great. Even our studio's most hard core PC FPS gamers think that The Conduit feels just right at 30fps. The quality will be there, and the game will look and run amazing by the time that it ships.

Dan: The game will run absolutely solid at 30fps. For HVS, choice is either to have less visual splendor and run at 60fps or achieve the look we want for the game and run at 30fps. 30fps is a frame rate that is plenty responsive for FPS gaming and we are valuing the increased visual detail we can offer over the slightly smoother gameplay we might otherwise get by scaling this back.

High Voltage has made an adventure game/minigame collection for the Xbox (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, also on PS2 and PC), and now they're making an FPS for the Wii. Is this ironic or strategy?

Rob: I like to think it's beautiful strategy. At the time Magna Cum Laude came out, the Adventure game market was woefully barren. So we found a title and a publisher willing to take the risk to revitalize that genre. Now we're trying to do the same thing with FPS's on the Wii. We feel that The Conduit will be like rain in the desert, which seems to be the case judging by the online response.

Matt: Diversity is key. We don't like to sell ourselves short by sticking with one genre or style of game. High Voltage knows that it's okay to try new things. We've learned a lot after 15 years working with so many different publishers, developers, and licensors. I could go on about how licensed game restrictions, publisher mandates, and drop dead unmovable release dates ultimately affect the quality of your game, but this project is very different. The Conduit is something completely new for our studio. This game will rock!

The company seems very (vocally) confident about the ability of The Conduit to revolutionize Wii gaming. Was it always in the plan to build up so much hype, or was the hype a natural product of enthusiasm? Has the hype been more than expected?

Rob: The hype has certainly been more than I expected and I am grateful for it. However, it is a two-edged sword. While the hype has helped give us the pick of litter for a publisher, it does mean we have a LOT to live up to. But I think we are up for the challenge. =)

Dan: There aren't many large scale multiplayer games for the Wii at this point, nor any that push the Wii graphics HW to the extent we are. So, from these standpoints – The Conduit will be revolutionary for the Wii gaming market. It is HVS's belief that although there are great FPS games on the 360 and PS3 – what they all lack is the kind of unique motion sensing based control schemes that makes The Conduit for the Wii more fun to play. Giving gamers a great looking, great playing, great controlling FPS title is something we feel is worth hyping!

Matt: The plan all along was to maximize the potential of the system, and then build a game that showcases the engine tech and the fun of the Wii Remote. Every developer talks big about their own game, but no one at High Voltage could say for sure how well our audience would react to the screenshots and gameplay video release. We've always just been focused on making a great game, and the result is that The Conduit seems to be building its own hype. And we're very appreciative of all the kind words and support we've received from the Wii community.

Is The Conduit sharing tech with Animales de la Muerte? Where did the concept for that one come from? Is it still on track? Really, anything we could learn about Animales de la Muerte would be wonderful.

Dan: Animales is using the same engine tech as The Conduit, but in a much different way since it's a 'toon shaded game.

Matt: I don't want to say too much more about the title until it's closer to completion, but I will say that it's going to be bloody fun. By the way, much respect to our friends in Mexico. However, screw PETA...no animal in this game is safe!

Anything about multiplayer? Many of the folks interested in the game are looking to have some kind of online multiplayer, preferably something on-par with Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. Are you trying to implement Wi-Fi compatibility? Local multiplayer?

Dan: We are working closely with Nintendo to be able to provide the kind of multiplayer gameplay that we know the market wants.

Matt: Nintendo has been really helping us out with technical support but we still have more questions that will need be answered before we can release any specifics about our multiplayer modes. Obviously we want to be competitive with the other online console games, but we'd rather wait until we've got something great to show off before we make any announcements about this very important feature.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!

So things haven't been so great in Korea for the Wii. Since the console's release to the region, it has moved a low number of consoles and software. Perhaps offering up new bundles and some smart marketing will help turn this around.

Over at GI.biz, they're claiming that the low sales numbers has to do with Nintendo enabling the Korean Wii to only play Korean titles. Apparently, Korean gamers want to import the big Japanese games, but they can't because of the restrictions. We could see how this is a problem.

Still, when compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3, which have sold 150,000 and 50,000 units respectively, the Wii is doing much better, selling almost as many PS3s in its first month alone.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering their first attempt to rip off the Wii hasn't been that much of a success. Then, we heard rumors of Sony trying to bite off Nintendo's style again. Now, almost two years later, we hear about this?

Apparently, a small group of PS3 owners were taken to a location in California where they got to test out a new Sony product, a sort of PS3 remote that very much mimics the functionality of the Wiimote. While there, participants apparently enjoyed minigames such as tennis, fencing and paintball. The demonstrator also showed the folks some Quake on his laptop with the device.

But, before you grab your torch and pitchfork, know that Sony hasn't finalized the product yet. There's apparently many kinks that need to be worked out, as the device is right now dependent upon a large tripod.

For those of you who noticed the PS2 buttons make their way into the video, know that this does come from the PS2 build of the game. You see, Vicarious Visions, the developers behind Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the PS2, wanted to include both Samus and Link into the game and apparently did without Nintendo's consent. There's a lot of confusion surrounding it and, supposedly, when Nintendo was shown the characters were included in the PS2 version of the game, told Activision to cut them out. The rest is just a bunch of confusing history.

You see that chart right there? That's the predicted outcome of the console war this generation, courtesy of CNET. Aside from the hate in your heart caused by those black bars cruising past those lovely blue ones around the year 2012, what else do you see? Grim future for that Xbox 360? According to CNET, it will be.

What do you all think about this projected outcome? Do you think the Wii's popularity will sustain at such a high level for the next 4 years (it does have a lot going for it)? Do you see the demand dying down a bit soon? Also, what are all those people of the future buying PS3s for? Is it a prediction of the future for some kind of alternate universe where the PS3 has games worth playing?

[Via NeoGAF]

Japan just loves that Wii, as news breaks today of the console enjoying a very successful life in the country. Over 6 million units have been sold, which breaks down to 4.68% of the Japanese population owning a Wii. With over 128 million people living in the country, it's easy to see how incredibly impressive such a figure is.

The inevitable comparisons between the Wii and the PS2 are also something to consider. The PS2 has sold 20 million units in the region, but has been on the market since 2000. The Wii is gaining ground on it and has only been on shelves for about a tenth of the PS2's lifespan. Can the Wii keep up this level of success? Only time will tell.