Nintendo Wii Fanboy

One of the benefits of being a major company is that you get to find out things first -- like how much stuff you sold. When the NPD Group informed Nintendo of the most recent figures, the Big N sent a love text to our Joystiq overlords, bragging about their current sales standings in the U.S.

But we already know that the Wii sells a lot, so what's the big deal this time? According to Nintendo, NPD figures confirm that the Wii has surpassed its competitors as the North American console leader. As of today, the Wii has sold almost 10.9 million units, which was enough to give it the edge over the Xbox 360.

Of course, there's much more to being the king of consoles than selling a lot of hardware, as you need the software to match. However you feel about the Wii's game library, though, this is quite an accomplishment for the little white console that could.

We're already fascinated by the potential of the Wii MotionPlus, but there is one potential sticking point: the price. Gizmodo went to the trouble of calculating how much the Wii would cost with enough Wii Remotes, Nunchuks, and MotionPlus add-ons (the site estimated -- conservatively in our view -- that the device would cost $15) for four players, and promptly saw the Wii's "cheapest console" tag evaporate.

According to Gizmodo's math, a fully equipped four-player Wii set-up would cost $490 -- just $60 less than the PS3 with four controllers and $20 more than the Xbox 360 with four pads; the fact that the Wii is seen as a social gaming console hardly makes thing much better. Maybe a price drop for the Wiimote is in order before the MotionPlus hits stores?

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]

There was a momentary panic in the Wii Fanboy dungeon a few weeks ago, after news filtered through that PlayStation 3 sales had zipped past the Wii in Japan.

Was this it, we wondered, reading the figures over and over again to check that we weren't seeing things. Was this Sony finally rising to strike down the Nintendo hegemony in Japan? Well, no. Not at all, actually. Turns out some old dude had wandered on to Sony's console and sent PS3 sales spiralling. Things are now back to normal, and the data-gatherers at Enterbrain confirmed as much by revealing that the Wii outsold Sony's platform by almost 100,000 units during June -- 235,990 to 139,494 was the final score.

[Via Next-Gen]

Apparently, Korea isn't the only place on the globe where the Wii is selling poorly. Yet even in Korea, the Wii isn't the bottom-feeder of this generation -- not so in New Zealand. Nintendo's great white hope is the country's last-place current-gen console, selling only 16,000 units compared to the PS3's 34,000 and the 360's 45,000.

Perhaps the Kiwis wouldn't be so adverse to the Wii if Nintendo actually showed some love to the neglected country. In the current climate, though, New Zealanders are distributor-less. Phoenix Distribution is picking up the slack for Activision's games in the region, but according to the company's founder, "Nintendo is a lemon." To top it all off, Nintendo doesn't even bother advertising the console to its beloved casual crowd, making the Wii a system for the Nintendo hardcore only. Obviously, the distribution problem needs to be fixed, but will it be?

If any of you Kiwis want to shed some light on the situation, feel free to do so in the comments.

[Via NeoGAF]

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!

Consumer research bods Nielsen recently set out to answer mind-poppingly important questions such as: just how long did an average play session on the Wii last for somebody in North America between the ages of 10 and 26? The results suggest that we should all be paying a little more attention to our poor, neglected Wiis.

While Nintendo's platform enjoys a decent share of gamers' overall gaming time, the rest of Nielsen's statistics paint a damning picture. The Wii lags behind the Xbox 360 and PS3 in both the "average number of sessions a day" and "average usage days per month" (disgraceful commitment there from the over-26 demographic) sections.

The average Wii session also doesn't last as long as those on its two rivals, though no wonder with all of those required installations and ridiculously protracted cut-scenes, amirite? What's that? We're just being sore losers? Fine. Whatever.

It's hardly news that the Wii uses up less power than Sony and Microsoft's graphically intensive, monolithic consoles, but Aussie consumer website Choice has now delivered the most detailed results yet on how much juice each machine consumes -- even taking into account factors such as whether or not WiiConnect24 is active, or whether the console in question is idle.

And there's no doubt about it -- despite what Greenpeace might say, the Wii is an efficient little bugger when it comes to energy consumption. Ninty's console uses under one-tenth of the power required to play games on a PS3, and an eighth of the energy needed to run games on an Xbox 360. Regrettably, the survey neglects to mention that the Wii is three times as fun as both. YES, WE TOTALLY WENT THERE.

[Via Go Nintendo]

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.

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]

Based on data pulled from GameRankings, folks over at GameFunk have prepared the nice little chart above. Apparently, Wii games don't get that great of marks from reviewers. Compared to the marks of games on other consoles, it makes the Wii's library look even worse!

Here's the numbers:

• Xbox 360: 374 games: 26% good, 24% bad
• PS3: 122 games: 33% good, 17% bad
• Wii: 189 games: 11% good, 37% bad

But, before you punch your computer monitor in a fit of rage, know this: the Wii does have a lot of shovelware. It's just the price of success, as publishers and developers see the console as a means to make money. And that's what they're in it for.

Also, keep in mind that the PS3 and Xbox 360 don't have Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or No More Heroes. So they pretty much lose.

[Via Joystiq]

Check out the awesome in-game video of the stage in action after the break, along with some other screens. You can also download the stage here at the UT3 forums.

According to a job posting over at Gamasutra, 2K Marin (the new Irrational Games) is looking for those experienced in the ways of Wii and PS3 design. Now, we've all seen these job postings never pan out into what we hoped they would before (confirmation that the game in question will release on the platforms in question), but sometimes these things pan out.

Rumor had it that the first Bioshock game was going to be ported over to the Wii, but the likelihood of that happening now is between none and, well ... none. But, could 2K Marin be developing the game with the Wii in mind from the get-go? It is a possibility. We hear 2K likes money. And putting your game on Wii gives you more of a chance to get precious money.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Via GamePro]