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Imokru — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:35:12 -0400

August 29, 2006 at 10:35 pm

Imokru commented on Why the Wii Won't Sell

Imokru — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:35:12 -0400

August 29, 2006 at 10:35 pm

"Any interesting read, however, wildly misguided. Here are just a few problems: 1. "Nintendo DS Does Not Equal Wii" This is irrelevant. In logical argumentation the absence of positive proof does not equal a negative proof, which is what you seem to be asserting in this section. Because the DS won't make the Wii successful, does not mean it will cause it to fail. You may as well remove this point as it proves nothing either way. 2. "Women don't want the Wii" Oooops. My non-gaming wife is woman and she very interested. As if proof to the contrary is not enough, You gave many reasons why you think women might not play the Wii alot, but you didn't give any compelling reason that they may not be interested enough to buy one to check it out which is all Nintendo is hoping for. Once they pick it up, they may find it compelling. It was challenging to get my wife to play Mario Kart double dash but once she did, she can't get enough. You also said: "And in that same hour would women really want to play...whatever new games Nintendo comes out with, over watching Hugh Grant's smile disarm his romantic lead? " You insult women and you don't even know it. This is a supposed rhetorical question (assuming women are slaves to handsome actors on TV), however since this is a horrid generalization and we have no idea what type of software Nintendo may produce, it is unanswerable, rendering your rhetorical point moot. 3. "Partying with the Wii" Hands down the Wii will be THE place to be for party games and get togethers. The Wii is likely to cost about the same as 3 extra PS3/360 controllers, an eyetoy and a game, so why WOULDN"T you get the Wii if you have ANY interest in Multiplayer mayhem? 4. "Graphics DO Matter" You say: "In the world of 720p and 1080i, 5.1 surround sound, the sights, sounds and emotions they evoke matter." Ooops! This "world of 720P and 5.1 surround" you speak of is currently less than 12 percent of the gaming population. (A bit higher for HDTV and 5.1 separately but industry estimates of people who have both HDTV and 5. 1 surround is currently well under 15 percent. And.... THAT MATTERS. Why on earth do you expect people to buy consoles that can't be fully utilized without an expensive TV upgrade? My guess is that the PS3 and 360 will look much like the Wii on a standard television which is what most people will be playing on for years to come. A fact also conveniently left out of your "comprehensive" comparisons. Therefore, another of your points is totally wasted. Sorry but you are making it rather easy. 5. "Nintendo Land" You say: "While games developed for the Wii will probably cost less than half that of developing for the next-generation consoles, the potential market is much less than half as well." The first major and glaring logic flaw is that it would seem you have already experienced the next generation console war and you know what the market share of each console is. Unfortunately you don't know what the market share will be, so this is yet another moot point. You are making a bad habit of this I'm afraid. Also, you are considering the potential market to be as simple as the number of consoles sold when nothing could be further from the truth. Also you are fabricating your numbers. No on has said that Wii will only be half the price to develop. They have said it will be MANY TIMES cheaper. Your logic is just flying out the window now. Its very plausible that the developers won't need to make nearly as many sales to get just as much profit. Nevermind the fact your article assumes that every developer will be able to suprass the barriers of entry on the more expensive consoles. Did you ever think there may actually be a developer who could not afford to make a game for the PS3 even though they may want to? Hello Wii, nice to meet you. You will do nicely. The expense of the PS3 and 360 development is rapidly shrinking the potential development pool. This is not good. Unless you are the Wii. 6. "There's no need for a Revolution" Oh really? There is one group you have conveniently forgotten in your little diatribe....... The developers. Thats right, the people who make the games. Customers are not the only ones complaing about rehashes and sequelitus. The devs are sick of making the same game over and over again. I'm not talking about vibrant franchises where each new game is a new experience. I'm talking about games like first person shooters and mod based racing sims and sports games that have annual updates that add 1 or 2 new features. Everyone I know agrees that this is giving the industry a bad name. Think about this. If the 360 is so great and next gen, then why does everyone rave about Madden 07 on the original xbox and call the 360 version luke warm? It has nothing to do with the hardware obviously, which just goes to show its all about the games. Which is another point you conveniently ignore. 7. "Wii360? You say: "People don't have enough time to support more than one console" Oooops! Polling suggests just the opposite, that most current gamers DO own more than one console. Sorry there buddy, facts dispute your theory. You then say: "The Gamecube showed that pricing yourself low enough to be non-mutually exclusive isn't a successful strategy." The problem with this statement is that even though the gamecube was priced very cheaply, it was still a conventional console. The concept with the Wii is not only that it is cheap but it is different enough to warrant purchase of a second console. The cube was not different enough from the PS2 or the xbox to warrant 2 consoles. This is not true of the Wii. I'm very surprised you missed that. 8. "The Nintendo Point" I love the way you quickly brush the Wii's wireless online out of the box, free online, and VC under the rug in one sentence. You shouldn't be so hasty though. Particularly in regards to the VC. You say: "The people that want to play all the old N64, SNES and NES classics are the same ones that are already going to buy the Wii" Wrong. These are not the people the VC is meant for AT ALL. This may be the WORST error in your poorly put together logic trainwreck. The VC is absolutely NOT meant for the current crop of Nintendophiles (though they will probably love it). The VC is meant to entice FORMER gamers (NOT PS2 gamers as you incorrectly suggest); people who used to play games but who have been lost due to age/responsibility/kids/ etc. The funny thing is, this is where you are right about one thing, however it proves the opposite of what you think it does. People ARE very busy. Thats part of the reason so many have fallen away from gaming. Games have become expensive epic productions that parents, and working folks don't have time for. In all your talk about busy people not having time for the Wii, just the opposite is true. They may ONLY have time for the Wii. Nintendo is pushing hard to bring back the pick-up-and-play style of gaming that has been lost in the currentl drive towards longer and complex gameplay. This is just the ticket for attracting lost gamers. You never mention this once and I find it to be a grave ommission. Now, those are just the rebuttals to your points. I could write an article just as long as yours, well maybe not as windy, but the point remains there is a very strong case for the success of the Wii. No one knows how the thing will turn out. I for one meet most of your criteria for being busy and what not. According to your "logic" I should NOT buy a Wii, but for some reason I don't match any of your conclusions. My guess is alot of people don't. So, in summation, your article was a bit too long, filled with logical falacies, fact flaws, and inaccurate suppositions. Other than that, not bad. Keep trying and you may actually come up with something not so easily disregarded by even a semi educated gamer."

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