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I think it's about time we called it. The Nintendo Wii, is very sick and it might not be getting any better, but don't cry little ones. I'm going to put the Nintendo Wii in the car and drive out to a farm in the country where the Wii can run around with a Saturn and an N64 and all those red ringed Xbox's and be happy. No you can't come with me, only daddies are allowed to go to this special farm so you'll have to stay here.
I don't have a hate on for the Nintendo Wii. Truth to be told I've tried to love the poor we thing, buying it nice games like Zack and Wiki and House of the Dead and all those titles that were the non-Mario reason to own one. But I don't think the Wii will even be hooked up to the TV by the end of 2010.
For one thing it doesn't even work as a back up DVD player when I've got a sore back or a knee injury and can't squat to use the actual DVD player. But there's more reasons, do I need to write a list? Okay lets dot point this thing out.
- The Wii Channel store is crap, compared to Live and the Playstation Store it's fiddly and annoying and barely worth the hassle to play games that are two generations old and, in a lot of cases, aren't that much damn different from the games getting released now. Plus it's way, way easier to get an N64 emulator on your PC, or hell even on your iPhone and play the games on the go, rather than go through the pain of the Wii Channel. But I suppose you can always check the weather... oh wait, I can do that on my phone as well, plus watch movies.
- Exercise Gaming is dead, like really dead. Tennis and bowling were heaps of fun, for a few days. Like the first two times the family had the biannual get together, but these family game moments have quickly been usurped by the far more fun and less strenuous Rock Band and Guitar Hero. When you see day time talk show hosts using a Wii peripheral its not confirmation that they've broken the mainstream, it's confirmation that it's a fad.
- There's no Wii HD coming, the word from on high is that this is never going to eventuate, and don't flap your hands and tell us they're just being coy, this is Nintendo, they don't need to be coy. They're the house on the street that puts up the sign saying they don't 'do' halloween so the kids won't knock.
- The release chart for 2010 looks like a coroner's list. When they announce the cause of death of the Wii in 2011 the games of 2010 will be it's tumours. A Super Metroid game made by Team Ninja? Two more games made by the team behind The Conduit? A half sequel to Mario Galaxy that just throws in Yoshi? Those are the headliners people. That and the new Vitality Sensor, a device that you put on your finger to measure your pulse. Nintendo promises some exciting applications for this device, unless it doubles as some kind of marital aid I can't imagine what they are. To be fair there are some decent games coming up in 2010 but they tend to be on the obscure and niche side of things, like Fragile Dreams or an Endless Ocean sequel featuring underwater ruins.
- No Zelda game, for some reason Zelda has become a DS exclusive title. Not that I'm complaining, I love Phantom Hourglass and expect to love Spirit Tracks when I get hold of it and I wish we'd never even known about Crossbow Training. But it seems like Zelda, a real cornerstone franchise for Nintendo, could move a few extra Wii units in 2010, sadly the industry buzz seems to indicate Nintendo aren't even planning on a Zelda game for a 2010 release on the Wii. Now rumours abound of a game that was shown to a tiny number of people at E3 last year by Miyamoto and co. and a composer for Nintendo hinted at a Zelda Wii game that would have Link flying around Hyrule by some mysterious means. But official information, or even well evidenced rumours, remain at zero.
- Motion control is no longer a novelty, if anything sounds the death rattle of the Wii in 2010 it's the arrival of Natal and the PS3 motion controller. One look at the tech demos from E3 and it was abundantly clear that MS and Sony had beaten Nintendo at their own game, beaten the way Joe Pesci's character was beaten at the end of Casino. Natal offers a more robust experience without using a controller and Sony's device looks far more precise and operates in more dimensions than Wii's motion sensor technology. For a good while there the Wii had the sales triumvirate of the competitive price, the motion control gimmick and the family friendly reputation. But their competitors have caught on quick and this time next year all these advantages will be null and void.
Looking at the Wii from a purely business perspective it seems like a clever but quick cash grab by Nintendo, using outdated hardware and a gimmick to lure in people and line Nintendo's coffers, while keeping the faithful Nintendo fans happy with the quality titles appearing on the hand held. The Wii doesn't seem to have any long term planning put into its design at all. But to what end? What's the long term game here if its not the Wii? Nintendo have outlasted all their old competitors for a reason, they're not a stupid company. They have a strong brand and they want to maintain that.
I get the feeling we'll be hearing about a new Nintendo system long before we hear about the next entries from Xbox and Playstation.
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Comments
I won't even CONSIDER buying single player games for the thing. Might hire the occasional one but I noticed yesterday that Video Ezy hire rates were quite expensive.
The motion plus and the extra long sensor bar for the Wii works well. Sony and MS muscling in on Nintendo's territory will cause havoc for them but the thing they've got on the other two is experience and I hope they use that. Otherwise, thank Christ I didn't pay for ours.
Thats forgetting how well Nintendo first party software sells. Its not to us, the people who care about their games, but the masses that love Mario.
No company in the world would pull out of a market they are making huge amounts of profit from, want a gaming example? Look at the ps2, the only reason that is still at retail is because Sony make money. The software releases are crap, yes the back catalog is fantastic but most people who want those games bought them. I think the PS2 is being sold as a sing star/buzz machine.
"Exercise Gaming is dead" Look at the sales of Wii fit plus and EA Sports Active.
Look for the Wii to step up like the DSi did, a faster processor and a few new features for bugger all extra. They have followed apples example of "we will sell you the same product 5 times over"
i hired cricket for it the other day thinking could be good but no it was shit
Its not meant for gamers like you and me, Nintendo dont really care who they sell it too. As long as it sells.
This holiday season the Wii sales leveled out and started to inch down compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 which is what prompted this article from me. When you look ahead to the Wii's plans in 2010 there isn't anything thats going to boost their sales, compared to all the plans the Xbox and PS3 have on the cards.
This is all guesses and discussion on my part.
But does that really matter? Sony and Nintendo are making money on each console sold now. They dont care if someone buys 100. They are making money..
There is a New Mario coming, a new Metroid and a new Zelda, what else do they need lol.