Fredrik Liliegrin is the former CEO and co-founder of DICE and is now running a gaming company called Antic Entertainment. As such we should take his opinion on things very seriously and get really angry when he says things. Here's the thing to get angry about (or agree with him on, I suppose):
...the Wii, to me, I would describe it as a Virus, that doesn't stick. Everyone comes home, it's a toy, people have got to realize the Wii is a toy, not an entertainment focused product. People come home, someone, they play Wii for a bit, feel it's really cool, blah blah blah, they go out and buy one. Ask people how often they play the Wii, that are not the core game consumer that buys one because they have an Xbox 360 and a Wii or a PlayStation 3 and a Wii. The people that only own the Wii, ask that consumer how often they use their machine. They just don't use it, it was cool, but they're not gamers, so they put it away. Other than the Wii Fit phenomenon that helped a lot of people get a nice cutie voice telling that they're fat and need to go work out, they need to find other alternatives. Nintendo is smart in that way in that they realize this is not a video game machine, this is not a games game machine.
Aside from the fact that his virus metaphor kind of falls apart about half way through and whoever typed the quote up could have sharpened it up a bit, do you think he has a point? I know my Wii has been turned on almost constantly recently, but I'm the hardcore gamer he's talking about. Is everyone else just shelving the thing? If the answer is yes, it's sad to see so many people missing out on great games.
Free internet high five to whomever insights the first fanboy argument.
Former DICE CEO: 'The Wii Is A Virus' [Gaming Union]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
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Contest:
10:00 PM on 02.27.2010
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THE POINT OF A TOY IS TO BRING ENTERTAINMENT!
JESUS.
And no Daxelman, there is indeed a difference betweek a toy and a DVD player, or PC, or videogame player.
"People come home, someone, they play 360 for a bit, feel it's really cool, blah blah blah, they go out and buy one."
"People come home, someone, they play PS3 for a bit, feel it's really cool, blah blah blah, they go out and buy one."
Hmm.
People glower with disdain on the Wii because they want to. They can ignore this years releases if they want to. They can ignore that Nintendo and the people that develop for Nintendo products have a second market to pay attention to - one considerably more profitable than any of the ocnsole market.
Whatever is convienient for the fanboys.
I don't get angry at my PSP because I haven't played games on it in weeks. That's because its a self-contained device with other purposes. A console, on the other hand, requires constant, special attention of the one thing it does and the other pieces of hardware it has to connect to.
People want to measure their epeen by what they've invested in their gaming setups. This is something I couldn't give less than a shit about. I don't buy consoles to justify other purchases, I buy consoles to play games on them. I buy an HDTV for other reasons aside from gaming, gaming is just a bonus.
That's cool...
Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is pretty great, BTW. You know, so long as we're talking about things people have been saying for a long time...
Far too many gamers take themselves and games too seriously...
More at 11.
I DO take them seriously. But yeah, that does not stop them from being toys.
If Nintendo realize this is not a video game machine, why do they keep making video games for it?
All these questions; There's a conspiracy I tell ya.
He's right about the Wii having a viral like growth among people who have never considered playing videogames before. I KNOW people who bought a Wii because they played the sports game at a party, and I doubt most of them will buy another videogame title. They bought it because they wanted to play virtual tennis, or maybe Just Dance, or something along those lines.
However, though that might be true, it still ignores the millions who are somewhere between, the people who bought a Wii pretty much for Mario and Zelda, and a few other major Nintendo releases. I think this is the real core of the Wii demographic. The problem with what he said is that it proposes two polar opposites and ignores everyone else.
Yes I know but I'm a DICE fanboy :P
Why buy a wii if you already own one?
I love my PS3, my 360 and my Wii. I love them as toys, and no less than any other form of entertainment because of it. Saying they're toys doesn't make them any less relevant or important.
I mean, balls are toys. Does that mean that Kobe Bryant is ashamed to admit he plays with toys? NO! The dude made 23 million dollars last year playing with a ball. I'm sure he thinks it's very cool.
Mr. Liliegrin needs to relax himself and accept that he makes toys for a living and stop trying to dictate a hierarchy of entertainment where he sits atop some golden throne. There's no shame in our pastime, at least not from where I'm standing.
Edits!
He's saying that most people, they go out, buy the Wii and play with it for a week or so but then once the new/wow factor wears off it just sits there for extended periods of time. Now that they own the Wii it is always there but sometimes they will spontaneously decide to get it out/turn it back on again for a day or two.
This is essentially just like a number of the Herpes viruses which will infect you and may cause a disease that runs its course and then seems to disappear, leading you to eventually forget about it but in actual fact it stays with you for life in a dormant state, reactivating when it gets the chance to or at seemingly random times.
Also, HELL YEAH! GAME OVERTHINKER
toys are entertainment focused...
" Ask people how often they play the Wii, that are not the core game consumer"
now ask how often "they play either of the other two consoles, you know, the ones who arent core gamers. Probably not that much either.
"Nintendo is smart in that way in that they realize this is not a video game machine, this is not a games game machine."
Games game machine? I dont even know what that is. did it mean a game's game machine? Nad also to the first half that is why they are bringing out metroid mario and zelda.
He should have made a more compelling arguement.
I'd say I play it enough. I also just recently bought Ultimate Shooting Collection - despite it's piss-poor packaging/marketing, the games inside are very much "Hardcore". I mean, for God sakes, it's Radirgy and Karous finally in America, and for just $15. I've also been on the look-out for Data East Collection.
The selection of decent games on the Wii is just atrociously small, but there are still some gems out there. You just have to be willing to dig through the dirt to find the diamonds.
By the way, for those that don't understand - when people say a game is a 'toy', they mean it has no rules, no goal... it's just a time-killer with no winner or ultimate purpose. For example, 'games' like Wii Fit, Wii Music, MySims, etc. are toys. You can play them infinitely and never have a winner. Games, by definition, have to have goals, rules, challenge, and interaction.
"Toys" tend to be of lower value to any gamer who has been into gaming for at least two console cycles. However, that's not to say that they are always of inferior quality or worthless. Sim City and Theme Park are toys, but they're still great games.
And people don't do that with the Xbox 360 and PS3? Just because you own a video game system doesn't mean you have to play it at least 1 hour everyday.
His logic isn't any better than that of those frat boys you find on XBL.
"The Wii is teh suxxorz because I can't micspam and play MW2 on it."
Like I said in my post above, when someone says a game is a toy, they mean that the game lacks the very basic elements to be considered a game - such as goals, winners/losers, competition, strategies, conclusions, etc.
If you look at many of the defining games of the Wii, such as Wii Music, Wii Fit and others, they lack many of the elements necessary to be considered games, and are thus toys.
Either he's saying that, or he's just using 'toy' as an insult.
Other than that, I agree. He's not talking about gamers like me who spend time around Destructoid and buy things like TvC and NMH2. He's talking about casual consumers - the kind that probably buy iPhones when they have absolutely no use for them.
Seriously, if I never give the Wii credit for anything, ever again, it will be for keeping lightgun shooters alive in some form.
But he's making this statement now? After like 10 huge Wii-exclusive games were given release dates and whatnot? Bad timing. Or epic fial. Either way, I don't agree.
Unless you bring up mini-game collections. That's the real disease here.
The Wii in my house is rarely ever used. Hell, I can play my games on my PC in higher resolution without daft waggle too.
You can't be bothered to go send in your few hundred dollar valued Xbox, which by the way, is free? If your 360 red ringed, it's free to ship and repair.
What kind of lazy piece of crap are you that you cannot get something repaired FOR FREE. At max you'd have to drop it off at a mail store, wooo, so hard.
The Wii is a piece of shit and it's a blight on our current gaming. I hope it phases out and it doesn't happen again, but it will. The Wii is too friendly to kids(AND PARENTS) and therefore it sells like hotcakes. After they find out there is a very low number of good games or they get bored with Wii Sports/Fit, they're done with it.
I hate that Microsoft is trying to fight it with Natal. Motion controls blow.
Every video game system is good IF it meets and satisfies your own gaming needs. Naturally, the avid gamer is going to have more demands and spend time playing more games than the expanded audience gamer.
Personally, as an avid gamer, my Wii fits my gaming lifestyle and meets my gaming needs for the most part. However, I do wish that the platform offered more mature games and genres like FPS and RPG. On the bright side, I've been very satisfied with Nintendo's first and second-party offerings. There's also been several worthwhile third-party games.
I've purchased and played the hell out of No More Heroes 2 and have sunk in a good amount of time into Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. As far as the rest of Q1 2010 goes, I've pre-ordered Monster Hunter Tri bundle and also plan on buying Red Steel 2, Team Trauma, Sin & Punishment 2, Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M and maybe FlingSmash.