The very steep decline of the Wii

[Erik_Twice]

I think the Wii is going to get another smash hit this christmas. They are already on top and if they want they can drop the price,

[ZeroAX]

I have been considering one, and there is a pretty hefty amount of good games. I might not play it as much as my 360, but there are still good games. Off the top of my head
Zelda Twilight princess
mario galaxy
mario cart
SSBB
metroid prime three
no more heroes
red steel
boom blox
house of the dead overkill
house of the dead 2 and 3
mad world

and there will be good games STILL coming out for it, like SILENT HILL!!!! There are enough games on the wii to warrant a play.

add tenchu 4 and excite truck to that list please

[tcpballa93]

I have been considering one, and there is a pretty hefty amount of good games. I might not play it as much as my 360, but there are still good games. Off the top of my head
Zelda Twilight princess
mario galaxy
mario cart
SSBB
metroid prime three
no more heroes
red steel
boom blox
house of the dead overkill
house of the dead 2 and 3
mad world

and there will be good games STILL coming out for it, like SILENT HILL!!!! There are enough games on the wii to warrant a play.

add tenchu 4 and excite truck to that list please

Yeah, I remembered excite truck right when I finished. : P

[RCBH928]

The reason that the Wii is in 'decline' right now has already been stated. It's saturated. My mum has one, my granddad has one. I have two (I've owned 5). Nearly every single person I know has one. I know some households that have two and sometimes three! The Wii will be almost as prevalent as DVD players. I think Nintendo did a great thing.

Next thing we'll see is TV's with built in Wii's that use the Wiimote to change channels.

I'm not saying the system is the greatest system ever. However it has had quite a lot of good games, I own nearly 30 games that I've thoroughly enjoyed playing for the system (not counting the numerous DLC I have, thanks bit-gamer), That's nearly as many as I own for my 360 and three times as many games as I own for my PS3. Plus it always gets used when friends are around.

I'd hardly consider Nintendo spitting on anyone, especially not hardcore gamers. It's because of Nintendo that gaming has become a much more acceptable pass time. If it means my nan can talk about Wii fit or Wii Tennis then I can only say that that's a good thing.

I think we all need to remember that Nintendo isn't a consumer electronics company. They are a toy company, always have been. A very successful and innovative one as well.

Well done Nintendo.

I would love to see the Wii succeed as you say but I do not think its happening. Its too weak. Its NOT HD, its has LOW MEMORY, and it needs extension for 1-1 motion. It is not future proof. Imagine the Wii had a 30GB hard drive, 1-1 motion, it was HD and can blu-ray then everything you say can be true.

The problem as I see it is that too many people bought the Wii while it is not future proof, it was made for 2006-2007 years. 50 million Wii owners out there, and the system is weak. How long can Nintendo push it? At this amount of sales Nintendo should continue to support this console for the next 5 years AT LEAST. If they quit on them, it will be like Sega with the Saturn I guess. Also by then I am sure ps4/new xbox is on the way and to them the Wii will look like the NES next to ps3.

BTW, what games do you play with your friends on the Wii? I tried to get my friends to play the Wii but they almost hate it . They rather play sports Like Pro Evolution Soccer or FPS like COD4.

[ejamer]

I would love to see the Wii succeed as you say but I do not think its happening. Its too weak. Its NOT HD, its has LOW MEMORY, and it needs extension for 1-1 motion. It is not future proof. Imagine the Wii had a 30GB hard drive, 1-1 motion, it was HD and can blu-ray then everything you say can be true.

These are ridiculous arguments. Wii has enough power and memory to play many fun games right now. The vast majority of people do not care about HD graphics, or future-proof systems, or Blu-ray, or 1-1 motion controls. They care about having fun right now - something that Wii is more than able to provide for people of all ages and experience levels.

Note that I'm not saying everyone should love the Wii. Obviously everyone will have different personal preferences, and that's fine... but the childish and petty attempts of some people to dismiss and discredit the Wii entirely have grown tiresome long ago.

BTW, what games do you play with your friends on the Wii? I tried to get my friends to play the Wii but they almost hate it . They rather play sports Like Pro Evolution Soccer or FPS like COD4.

PES is better on Wii than any other system, unless you care more about graphics than gameplay.

Soccer (like many sports games) has been a stale genre for years, with minor gameplay improvements hidden behind graphical improvements. While the games are still fun on PS3/360, Wii is the first system that actually has shown massive improvement in the genre through the use of pointer controls. Playing PES on Wii requires a learning curve, because you have to manage the game in different ways... but it's much more involved and interesting than "same old story" that still being rehashed with prettier gaphics on other consoles. The same thing goes for tennis and golf games.

If you and your friends are graphics whores who care less about gameplay than living in the uncanny valley, then feel free to overlook what the Wii has to offer. Otherwise give it a shot!



Edit: Games that have frequently been played with friends include Wii Sports, Tetris Party, Bomberman, Swords & Soldiers, Tiger Woods, Madden, Mario Kart, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Rock Band, Mario Party 8, and Dance Dance Revolution. We also sometimes play retro games from the virtual console depending on who is around... Bubble Bobble comes to mind as an example.

This list of games might not appeal to you, but seems pretty standard for the mixed groups (guys and girls from 20-30) that I hang around with.

[Dylan]

I would love to see the Wii succeed as you say but I do not think its happening.

What? With the Wii Nintendo has captured 60% of the market. I would definitely consider that succeeding.

The problem as I see it is that too many people bought the Wii while it is not future proof, it was made for 2006-2007 years.

What are you talking about? Nothing technological is future proof. Now that 55 million units have been sold, Nintendo's already done the hard part, now all they have to do is produce more software for their massively successful console and watch the money pour in.

50 million Wii owners out there, and the system is weak. How long can Nintendo push it? At this amount of sales Nintendo should continue to support this console for the next 5 years AT LEAST. If they quit on them, it will be like Sega with the Saturn I guess. Also by then I am sure ps4/new xbox is on the way and to them the Wii will look like the NES next to ps3.

The PS2 still continues to outsell the PS3. A console's popularity doesn't diminish once the new generation comes out.

[ejamer]

Regarding motion controls:

I actually I did think I will be fighting with a sword in a hack and slash game. I thought the Wii can be a screw driver to loosen car radios and steel them, I can punch in a street fight, whatever, the possibilities are limitless.

There are already hack and slash games (Dragon Quest Swords) and there are more accurate ones coming out. The problem is, gameplay gets stale quickly if that's all you are doing.

Punchout!! is a great fighting game, but got generally panned by reviewers for motion controls -- people are too lazy and too slow to physically react when playing video games, so everyone agreed that it's easier to just use "standard" button controls.

Steal car radios using the Wii remote as a screwdriver? Are you serious? If a game tried a gimmick like that, even for a minigame, reviewers would whine and complain mercilessly -- much like the already do for so many Wii games... That said, you should try Zack & Wiki and WarioWare because both do an excellent job of making people use the remote in different ways.

Motion controls are a useful tool in a small set of scenarios, and I love it when a game uses them well. But outside of sports games that are already very well represented on Wii there isn't much demand for motion-based games from either gamers or developers other than a small number of limited ideas.

I never thought it would be like, shake the wiimote if you want to jump, move the wiimote on the menu screen to chose an option.

This we agree on - developers have forced the inclusion of waggle far to often. In rare cases, I think it works. Reloading in RE4, for example, isn't a bad use of waggle and feels pretty good after a while. But 90% of the time that a shake is used to simply replace a button press it means a designer is being lazy.

I stand by my statment that standard pointer controls and onboard speakers are both more important innovations in the Wii controller, because those improvements better fit in with the expectations that games and developers have about what games should be. Motion sensing is cool but harder to implement well and much less useful overall.

[ejamer]

The problem as I see it is that too many people bought the Wii while it is not future proof, it was made for 2006-2007 years.

What are you talking about? Nothing technological is future proof.

The "future proof" concept is marketing BS from Sony. Anyone who believes that any consumer electronics product is future proof has bought into a bad lie.

Is the PS3 future proof? No. The console has some (well documented) issues with read speeds and architecture issues. It will still be a great system for many years to come... but you could say that about any current gen console as long as developers are interested in creating fun and unique games for it.

[RCBH928]

I really meant to say I wanted to see the Wii live long not succeed because it already did.

A lot of you are talking that future proof is a lie. The way i see it is that when the price of ps3 turns to $200 and it plays blue-ray, will have motion control, huge hard drive, and online I don't see how many people won't jump shift. That is future proof. Unless Nintendo want the whole 50+ million people to rebuy the Wii just for those updates.

lets be honest, Wii's technology is really 2001 technology and you expect that system to stay well and alive all the way into 2012? That is like asking Snes to compete against ps2. The only advantage it has is motion control and I think other manufacturers are catching up.

ps2 example is false. The ps2 is selling more than ps3 that is because ps3 is super expensive and its game library is weaker compared to 360(remember the launch year?) . PS2 is selling well because its super cheap now, and it has the best game library with best games ever made in huge numbers, not to mention all the ps1 games that it can play. Lets not forget, as far as I understand, ps3 can't play ps2 games well.
Compare that to the Wii's game library. Talk about 3rd party support.

Saying PES is better on Wii is a huge statement. I will have to look into it, if it really plays better I do not see them touching ps3 again. I do not think they notice difference in graphics between ps2-3, thats how much it doesn't matter to them.

[Dylan]

lets be honest, Wii's technology is really 2001 technology and you expect that system to stay well and alive all the way into 2012? That is like asking Snes to compete against ps2. The only advantage it has is motion control and I think other manufacturers are catching up.

See following

ps2 example is false. The ps2 is selling more than ps3 that is because ps3 is super expensive and its game library is weaker compared to 360(remember the launch year?) . PS2 is selling well because its super cheap now, and it has the best game library with best games ever made in huge numbers, not to mention all the ps1 games that it can play. Lets not forget, as far as I understand, ps3 can't play ps2 games well.
Compare that to the Wii's game library. Talk about 3rd party support.

...So yeah, the PS2 outsells the PS3 was my point. Having a technological advantage alone won't sell a console. The 360 and PS3 have been much more technologically advanced than the Wii all along (heck, the 360 came out first and it's more advanced), and yet the Wii outsold them both. The fact of the matter is that having a beefy system isn't important to about 60% of the market, and Nintendo saw that.