Nintendo bossman Reggie Fils-Aime (who is earning a reputation for frankness) is the latest industry figure to question the Wii's third-party output, suggesting that third-parties don't yet understand the platform. He reckons people who purchase Wiis are interested in games that sell strongly on other systems, but that the quality is missing. "I will be able to say our licensees 'get it' when their very best content is on our platform," he told Forbes. "And with very few exceptions today, that's not the case."
It's that time again, readers -- time to roll our sleeves up and get elbow-deep in some graphs. Woo! These examples are from the graph experts at Gamasutra, and smash a myth that has hung around the Wii too long for our liking: that the console has a rubbish tie ratio (the number of games sold per console). Indeed, the PS3 is marginally behind Nintendo's platform in this respect. Not bad for a console that, unlike the PS3, comes with a free game to get started! A second graph at Gamasutra confirms that the Wii's tie ratio has very slightly improved during 2008.
One Wii myth this data does reinforce is that Nintendo totally dominates the Wii software scene; again, it's a familiarcomplaint, but there's obviously some credibility to it.
At least one analyst thinks it is, and he's notshortofsupport. Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz's comments were prompted by the latest NPD figures, in which the Xbox 360, PS3, and PlayStation 2 versions of Madden NFL 09 hogged the top three positions, with the Wii version relegated to ninth place, behind Wii Play, Wii Fit, and Mario Kart Wii. "We continue to believe that the Wii is a relatively inhospitable platform for third-party publishers," said Creutz.
Is he stating the obvious, or does the success of certain third-party titles suggest otherwise? In the past, we've found many fans pin the blame for low third-party sales on third-party developers, suggesting that better quality products would compete with Nintendo's own wares. Can the same be said, however, when even critically acclaimed titles such as No More Heroes and Zack & Wiki sell poorly?
Posted Aug 28th 2008 8:55AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
This isn't something we hear often: according to a Screen Digest report, the Wii has more exclusive original IP than the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The report says the Wii has more than twice the number of games based on original IP than the PS3 and one third more than the Xbox 360. "Wii's unique interface and market-leading hardware sales rates have convinced publishers to deepen support levels for the platform," Screen Digest said. "Cheap development costs have also enabled a number of smaller publishers."
And before you rush to the comments form, we'll say it for you. Yes, a lot of that original IP is terrible and/or "shovelware." So what? Some of it may be junk, but some of it is No More Heroes or Monster Lab or Madworld or Little King's Story. Of course, all this new content could end up being a problem for the Wii market: Screen Digest suggests that the Wii could end up being "the most competitive and congested" of the consoles. Oh no, too many games!
Nintendo kept the Wii MotionPlus a secret from everybody for as long as possible, a move that resulted in grumbling from certain third-party developers.
That hasn't diminshed enthusiasm for the tiny add-on, however. During an interview with Gamasutra, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat couldn't praise the MotionPlus enough (even though he admitted having some doubts at first), enthusing about how the peripheral would make gaming feel "seamless," and arguing that it could only lead to a more immersive experience. "It's one thing to have your brain interpolating what you're doing," gushed Mallat, "[but ] it's another thing to not need that interpolation work."
Elsewhere in the interview, Mallat expressed his view that Shaun White Snowboarding was a "must-try" and described developing Dogzas "psychologically very exciting." Hmm.
Sure, there's tons of shovelware on the Wii, but there are some genuine third-party gems, as well. Zack & Wiki, Boom Blox and No More Heroes are just a few of the quality, non first-party titles available on the console. More or less, have you been satisfied with what third-parties have done on the Wii? Do you think they're turning things around when it comes to releasing quality product on the console? Do you think third party titles will never be able to live up to the quality standards of Nintendo's own first party titles?
Despite NoA's VP, Denise Kaigler, showing us all a graph with some lines on it, group manager of corporate PR at Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, David Dennis, wants us all to know that the information presented in Kaigler's little chart is wrong. To help set the record straight (and also point out how awesome is company is, we guess), Dennis offered up the following tidbits of info:
Total third party sales for the Xbox 360 since launch is currently 67,929,999 units, followed by the Wii at 33,394,311 units and the PlayStation 3 at 19,976,325 units.
Third party sales for the Xbox 360 since the launch of the Wii and PS3 is 54,065,728 units, still almost double the Wii's 33,394,311 units.
If you take the total number of units sold and divide that by the number of titles released since November 2006, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are selling more units per title on average than the Wii. This puts the Xbox 360 at 217,252 units per title, the PS3 at 156,065 units and the Wii at 132,517 units.
We have a feeling that any company can spin sales figures the right way, in their favor, but no matter how you slice it, the Wii is still on top overall. So take that, competition!
Njoy's "G-Board" Balance Board will become the first third-party Balance Board released to market on September 12th, yet not many of you were bowled over by it.
A prohibitive price probably didn't help in that respect (Njoy's Board is just £5 less than Nintendo's own Balance Board, which comes with Wii Fit), but where do you stand (har) in general on third-party controllers and peripherals, be they Zappers, Balance Boards, or Wiimotes? Several gamers we speak to tell us how they'll only buy first-party, the logic being that the original manufacturers of any console will always make the best and most suitable controllers for it. Is that an idea you subscribe to?
The first third-party Balance Board has appeared over at Amazon's UK site, complete with a price of £64.99 and a release date of September 12th. Handily, it features markings to tell you where your feet need to go (in case you forgot), and a tiny LCD display, which presumably informs you just how hideously overweight you are, and thus how ashamed you should feel when in public. It's being made by a company called Njoy, and is known as the "G-Board Balance Board."
Pleased as we are to see increased options in the Balance Board arena, we foresee two problems with this. One: as Nintendo's official Balance Board is already a superbly constructed piece of kit, it's going to take a Herculean effort for the G-Board to beat it on build quality; foot markers and a miniscule LCD panel might not be enough. Two: £64.99?! As we recall, the official model is only £5 more, and comes with a damn good game.
Of course, EA CEO John Riccitiello's job is to make every decision his company makes sound both well-considered and awesome, even when he's backhandedly saying that some things didn't work out. In an interview with VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi, he managed to both dismiss their past games and sound optimistic, thanks to the enhanced spin tracking found in the Wii MotionPlus device.
"The Wii MotionPlus is going to be good. If I had to pick one thing we suffered from, it was imprecise control on the Wii. That meant certain genres were never going to perform as well on the Wii." The MotionPlus, according to Riccitiello, is "an opportunity for third parties to be more successful."
The new peripheral, along with Nintendo's now-famously "weak" E3 lineup, means that this is a good year for companies like EA to put out Wii software. "Frankly, if you look at Nintendo, it's obvious there is a chance for third-party success. They didn't show a lot of content from Nintendo's first-party group. They got a lot of that out last year. So third-party games will likely do better."
We mucky commoners have known about the Wii MotionPlus add-on for just over a week now, but don't go thinking it's any different for third-party developers. At E3, Game Informer approached several third-parties about the peripheral, and were repeatedly told that the accessory was news to them -- as they understood it, Nintendo simply hadn't told anybody about the MotionPlus, prior to it being revealed last Monday.
In other words, we can safely not expect a flood of third-party releases supporting the peripheral. On top of that, the developers doubt they'll be able to implement Wii MotionPlus into upcoming projects, such was the secrecy that surrounded the project. Not clever, Nintendo.
According to Wiiz, these third-party Wiimotes are being developed by Hama. In a quick check of the internets, we could find no listing for these Wiimotes, so we're assuming they're still early in development. And, you know what that means: no price, as of yet. Still, you have to admit, they look better than the Riimote. At least, we think so.
Hit up the gallery below for some images of Hama's Wiimote from different angles.
Not a new complaint, this one. Previously, both analysts and developers have suggested that Nintendo's first-party software is too strong to compete with, and now THQ has joined in on the despairing.
At a Q4 earnings call with investors, President and CEO Brian Farrell has admitted that THQ's kids' games had underperformed, and that Nintendo's own output was the reason why. Says Farrell: "With [...] new competition from Nintendo's first-party titles -- as well as new music games -- our traditionally strong kids' business did not meet expectations."
Over the past year or so, we've heard a lot about the problems of third-party developers struggling with the Wii, or struggling to compete with Nintendo's own releases. It's an old issue for Nintendo gamers, but one that hardly seems to affect the DS. Do you think Nintendo's first party releases are shutting out other games on the Wii? Is it a problem of audience, development, something else, or a combination of elements? Or is it something we'll get past as we get deeper into the Wii's lifespan?
We've no idea whether or not Snakebyte's third-party Wii remote is a tribute to Nintendo's lunchbox, but we ask you: is there any other earthly reason to use that fruity shade? We'd also like to know the story behind that peculiar, rounded d-pad, or the tacky, clashing battery cover.
Most of all, however, we're keen to hear why Snakebyte has chosen to charge €39.99 for one of these, when the official model from Nintendo costs more or less the same? We're not going to criticize the ergonomic qualities of this Wiimote before we've held it in our own hands, but lower pricing is typically the greatest attraction of third-party peripherals. Perhaps Snakebyte is gambling on shortages of the official Wiimote continuing?
If your own Wiimote lacks sufficient amounts of purple, these will be appearing from February 8th.
