WTF? Super Mario dethroned!

[elvis]

Of course, they are the kind of people who buy Nickelback albums, so I guess their taste speaks for itself.

That right there raised your stock in my eyes immeasurably.

Seconded. Feeling more and more like home every day.

[superlarz]

Hearing co-workers talk about how great Wii Sports is makes me want to vomit. Wii sports being the #1 selling game of all time, bundled or not, is really sad... The only think that I hope comes out of this, is Nintendo uses some of the money it is printing and invests in some actually cool and fun (not Wii gimick) things for next gen. I doubt this will happen, but I doubt they will be able to get all of these casuals to buy another Wii-ish console in 3-5 years too

[Mozgus]

To be fair, SMB was bundled with the NES for a long time as well. Imagine if Gran Turismo 3 was bundled with the PS2 from the game's release onward? It would have sold like 60 million.

[Curlypaul]

man, dont you people have anything else to do but bitch and moan about the wii and its casual audience?

I dont like them going on about Carnival Games either but I dont blame nintendo for making money out of them. The GC was aimed squarely at nintendos traditional target market, who demostrated that the new kids in town produced consoles that they were more interested in. How long do you think nintendo could go on making consoles that nobody buys just so that all the people that bought sony/microsoft machines could bang on about the glory days?

These new video game consomers may well pick shitiest games to play, which is frustrating when there are plenty of very well done casual games out there, but in time they will either refine their taste and learn to be more descriminating - or go back to watching the TV.

My sister is a prime example of one of these people and continually buys games she knows nothing about but dont forget most of us grew up playing games and we only got new games at christmas and birthdays. We not only had to choose carefully but we had plenty of time to absorb all info that we could before we made a choice. My sister is at a time in her life when she can walk into Game and walk out with 5 games with little consequence and when she gets home and plays them she has little idea of what makes a well designed game, only what she enjoys playing.

Nintendo aimed themselves at a different set of people this time around. Get over it, there are still more hardcore games being released than any one of us could ever hope to complete.

WiiSports wasnt that bad, it does what it was meant to do but I do agree that it should be disqualified as the biggest selling game as nobody that owns it does so by choice.

[Ack]

Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue combined have shipped over 20 million units worldwide. Super Mario Brothers 3 has shipped 18 million. The Sims has shipped 16 million.

And for the record, Wii Play has shipped 16.15 million, beating out The Sims.

Last I heard, original Super Mario Bros. had shipped over 40 million, so...yeah.

[superlarz]

The GC was aimed squarely at nintendos traditional target market,

GC was a little purple box. Who was nintendo's target audience? I got one when they came out with the black ones, but being someone who had nes, snes, and n64, I would have thought I was nintendo's target audience. Clearly I was not.

I also respect Nintendo making a big cash grab this time around, just wish they would at least filter some of the games coming out. If Wii Sports had any depth at all it could be a cool game. I understand making it simple so people can just pick up and play it, but how hard would it be to make an option where you could control your Mii in tennis? Bowling is the only thing on there that is worthwhile.

[Scooter]

Part of it too is that the buying audience is so large now compared to 10-15 years ago. It's kind of like comparing current career home run record holders today with Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth. They reached their amazing records while playing many fewer games a year and without performance enhancing drugs. If you measure home runs vs. at bats you'll see just how impressive the players of old were compared to the current crop.

Nintendo sought out a relatively untapped audience and still gets part of the existing audience of gamers so of course the opportunity to sell big is there. Just like the baseball analogy above, I'm more impressed by the non-pack in games that sold big more than any others. But then, look at the Sims, a huge big seller without ever being a pack in. Was IT ever marketed to the hardcore gamer? Sure didn't seem like it to me.

As much as you may hate to admit it, we the hardcore gamers are often not the target audience thus the increasing dumbing down of games in general.

[Curlypaul]

GC was a little purple box. Who was nintendo's target audience? I got one when they came out with the black ones, but being someone who had nes, snes, and n64, I would have thought I was nintendo's target audience. Clearly I was not.

Fair enough the purple case was a mistake and the controller, despite being pretty good still managed to look like a toy but in general the games were aimed at the hardcore masses which is what I was trying to get at.

[glynnahab]

That right there raised your stock in my eyes immeasurably.

Seconded. Feeling more and more like home every day.

Today at work, a 30 pound steel hammer union fell on and nearly crushed my foot. It hurts like a mofo right now, and I was beginning to think that this was going to be the worst birthday ever.

Thanks for cheering me up, fellas.

[aaron]

I also respect Nintendo making a big cash grab this time around, just wish they would at least filter some of the games coming out.

fucking. agreed. nintendo has very little quality control. see: chicken shoot wii.