Only last week, the man-made-meat-man that is Reggie Fils-Aime was quite complimentary of his rivals, praising Halo 3 and LittleBigPlanet. As if to suggest that this kind of good nature won't do, Reggie has brought Nintendo back to the smug train, claiming that Sony and Microsoft are now in a strategic trap with no clear way out.
"The challenge that our competitors have is significant. They've gone down the path with building expensive machines that they lose money on," lectured Ol' Hamburger Hands. "They've gone down the path with games that are hard to develop. They've put themselves in a box. I don't know how they're going to get out of it."
Nintendo's smugness bothers me a lot, considering the GameCube was a failure (despite its greatness) and the Wii was a lucky fluke, not an act of marketing genius. Furthermore, considering the lack of innovation seen in Wii games thus far and the fact that motion sensing is not very new technology at all, one could argue that it's the PS3 and 360, not the Wii, that has at least evolved games. Anyone who says the Wii is innovative doesn't know technology.
Microsoft had its own claims to make, citing software sales that beat out both the Wii and PS3. It also spoke of quality, not quantity, pointing toward a greater number of 90+ review scores than other platforms. The true test of power is yet to come though -- will Super Mario Galaxy destroy Halo 3? That, right now, is the thing that interests me more than any corporate self-fellatio.
[Thanks to Aerox]
Contest:
5:26 AM on 11.07.2007
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Yes reggie, please take a look back at the gamecube.
I think it's clear that MS and Sony are playing the long game, and in the long game, luck always runs out. Always.
As for the wii not being innovative, bullshit. Sure, all the technology existed before the wii, but putting all together was a very good idea. Both the 360 and the PS3 are pretty much the same as last gen, but moreso. Other than greater horsepower, they don't really have anything the wii can't match. You might like live or PSN more than wii equivalents, but the wii can match most all of the more important features.
Fluke = an accident or chance happening.
When you spend years in development and marketing, it's not a fluke. Remember the press conferences from before Nintendo even revealed the Wii? They told us it would be a new innovative way to play games that would open console gaming to an entirely new market. That is amazing foresight, not a fluke.
Was the PS2 a "fluke?" I'm sure Sony didn't expect the mass amount of sales that the PS2 has claimed. So somehow, because Sony didn't expect that many sales, all the R&D and advertising now doesn't count? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Also, while IR and motion sensing technology isn't "new", name one other home console that uses IR and motion detection to play games, with a minimum of buttons...
and tell me how I could play Zack and Wiki without a Wiimote...
That being said, the game selection does suck right now, I can only hope more developers start to "think outside the analog stick."
Let 'em whip it out and go "whadump!" with it, for all its failings Nintendo earned it.
And Mario Galaxy is going to be a fuck tonne of awesome compared to the repeat that is Halo 3.
The top 3 selling games are Wii Sports, bundled with the console so unsuprising, Wii Play, with an average ratio of half of Wii owners owning a copy although I know some who bought 2 or 3 copies for the extra remote, and Mario Party 8 with a quarter of what Wii Sports has sold. After that is Super Paper Mario with a units sold figure that roughly translates as a SIXTH of Wii sports total.
This shows that while the hardware is selling like hot cakes, nobody is really bothering with the console beyond Wii Sports. Its the same situation the PSP is in where people buy it for the homebrew, and although the figures are quite different, people use the software charts for the PSP to say its a failure, yet ignore the same chart positions for the Wii.
Nintendo were once loved for their games, now their loved for their hardware... never thought I'd see that happen.
Before the Wii was released, I thought it was going to change the world of gaming and that graphics could be crap as long as it was "fun" and "innovative".
Luckily, by now I've come back down to Earth.
What sucks about Nintendo America in general is that they take credit for things they had nothing to do with. They basically do nothing but market Japanese products to Americans. And they don't even do that particularly well in my opinion.
For serious, what does Reggie actually... do? He gives speeches (poorly), and that's about it, right?
That being said, I do have to disagree with good Mr Jim on the points that the Wii is a fluke and that the GC was a failure. Nintendo Japan had a strategy to appeal to the masses, and it worked. On so many levels, like the price, the downloadable content, the controls, the Wii was designed to appeal to exactly the population is selling with. That population would being "all human beings". At this point everyone I know is a t least interested in the Wii, except for the most staunch techno-phobes and hard core graphics whores. Once the Wii price drops to $99, I'm guessing it will pretty much take over the earth.
As for the Gamecube, it was no more a failure than the X-Box1 or the PSP. They weren't the "winners" but financially they were not losers either.
At least among my circle of gamer friends, they all love the Wii. These are PC and Xbox\PS2 owners who had little interest in the Gamecube. Last time we got together, we ended up playing MP3, Excite Truck, Z&W, and Mario Strikers Charged the entire day. A few of them declared they were finally going to get a Wii, and the game that pushed them over the edge? Excite Truck, a launch title. One of them said he enjoyed it more than Burnout 4, which I think is going a bit overboard myself... but this same guy is a HUGE Burnout fan.
These statements by Reggie are the same bullshit that spews out of his analogs over at Sony and MS. It's PR white noise. Every company does it. Is Reggie being "smug" because he can actually back up his words with hardware sales?
I was very angry with sony, and completely thought they were down and out 2 years ago when the announced the ps3 being 700 bucks. i laughed. now 2 years later, they built the only stable powerful system that has good graphix, next gen storage, hd movies, and has dropped in price to match the 360 and out spec it. The games are starting to look a lot better on the ps3 than any other console. ratchet and clank, drake, and cod4, mgs4, heavenly sword have all proved it for me.
I bought a wii, i like wii sports, hated everything thing else that came out on it. Let me down big time, the graphics sucked, the games were one trick ponies, and i got tired of the gimmick of it real fast. They lack innovative software. The ps3 is the king of new ideas now, they won me back over, i was so anti sony 2 years ago. Man they proved me wrong..
Wii is a joke, a low priced con. It's a gamecube with a different controller, and the same problems as the gamecube, crap 3rd part games, and only first party mario, zelda rehashes..
Reggie's is out of touch. the 360 would be awesome IF IT DIDNT BREAK! PS3 is AWESOME, now that they make games with stable frame rates and great graphics and gameplay. If they fix the 360, i might buy one. but i will never buy a wii. no chance in hell. not again. what a let down..
Here's hoping that PR and executive quotes don't become the new fanwars fodder now that NPD numbers won't be fully divulged.
Here's hoping that PR and executive quotes don't become exclusively the new fanwars fodder now that NPD numbers won't be fully divulged.
All I have to say is "Will Mario Galaxy destroy Halo 3?"
BWAHAHAHAHaHAHA
Technology moves fast and the Nintendo Wii won't be able to keep up with the 360 and PS3 in the long run. They have success now, but will it be long lasting? I don't think so.
Take a look at Nintendo; they have only two systems out right now. Both of those system will play the latest games and the previous system's games. Microsoft has only one system out right now. When the 360 came out, they quickly started to phase out the original Xbox. Now it's damn near impossible to find any NEW Xbox hardware/accessories in stores. Finally we have Sony. Wow. When they PS3 came out, the PS2 was/is still so damn popular that they have two consoles out that were/are competing against each other. But, in Sony's case, there were still a hand full of amazing PS2 titles in the pipeline that people wanted to play. Also there is the PSP as well.
So we, as gamers, have so many choices! So much to choose from! But, we don't have the money to spend on everything. So can the current market continue to sustain the amount of hardware out there? Will we as a whole continue to purchase the less expensive consoles/handhelds or will we slowly start to save up and purchase the more expensive consoles/handhelds?
/sigh
Uh huh, right.
For me, its about how much you use it. ps3, i watch all dvds and blue rays with it, i play tons of games on it, and have had it running day after day for a long time, i download a ton of demos on it.
The 360 would do all the ps3 does cept blueray. cept it would break because i play games like crazy and have systems on for days straight hammering away on them. This is the biggest reason why i wouldn't buy a 360. I think the ps3 has better graphics and power, and in the next couple of years it will really start to pull away.
The wii collected dust after i got tired of wii sports, i bought zelda and didn't like it, i have never liked any mario game cept mario cart. that got boring too. metroid was great. but only one great game.. thats it.. The wii is gamecube 1.5. that is all it is. The games are not better, in fact in many regards they are worse. the gimmick controls get real bad in the 3rd party apps, and i hate mario party with a passion.
I have played all the systems a lot. And i honestly only like the 360 and ps3. 360 loses because of the red rings of death, and lack of features. The wii is a toy for kids and girls to play games that are really shallow and superficial at best. DANCING WITH THE STARS anyone?
GOD save the video game industry. Nintendo is ruining it, everything under the sun is getting a game for it now like the atari 2600. And we all know how that ended.
I did play Mario Galaxies though, and of course it kicks ass.
Its like Guy Fawlkes blowing up half of England City instead of just England Castle.
::Hoping to explode Jim Sterling's mind with American half-wittery::
@Snaileb, fuck the Wii? Fuck you, every system is a few must owns and a bunch of stuff that will appeal to individuals. Like the FPS-load on PS3 or 360 or the minigame shit-piles on Wii, goddamn system fanboy bulshit gotta stop.
I LIKE TO PLAY NINTENDO'S OLD GAMES ON MY TV. WITH A CONTROLLER.
You can have your damn roms on your 24" flatscreen LCD on your PC, but I like playing 480p Super Mario Bros on my 60" HDTV.
It's worth the $5 to me. If you don't wanna spend it, play your goddamn ROMs. I don't care, but don't act like Nintendo's forced you to ROM's out of overpricing or some stupid bullshit. It's there for people who want them.
@Hexfix
I'm glad you use your PS3 regularly. I use mine regularly too. 'cept I turn mine off at night. It's expensive to run that thing 24/7 and the time involved in turning it on and off isn't a deal breaker.
What's with this constant unproven and fictional belief that the PS3 has this almighty trump card in the wings? Is it HOME? Little Big Planet? MGS4? Lost Planet? Please illuminate me...
Halo 3 was about the only game I've seen in the last year that could stand to be a system seller, and it was since several of my friends who were Halo 2 nuts held off on upgrading till Halo 3 came out. I haven't heard the same echo for Rachet and Clank, Killzone, or even Mario Galaxy.
So you don't like Wii 3rd party games. Big fuckin' deal. The Wii isn't for you. Don't bitch about it.
RROD, what kind of killer is the RROD, honestly? MS repairs your system for free. Replaces it in a week. Sony did the same thing with the PS2 when they had disc read errors, and the same thing when the PSX had overheating issues.
And what feature is the 360 lacking to the PS3?
Media streaming: check
Games: check
Online community: check
Addictive achievement system: check (once Sony adopts it, you'll wonder how you lived without it...)
online chat: Check
downloadable content: check
Downloadable television/music/movies: err.... Yeah... Sorry. Okay, the PS3 doesn't have EVERYTHING, but neither does the 360.
For the additional investment of $180 over the list price, you get the same additional features as the PS3. Big fuckin' deal.
So, what features are missing?
Aside from a large assortment of games on the PS3?
-----
GOD save the video game industry. Nintendo is ruining it, everything under the sun is getting a game for it now like the atari 2600. And we all know how that ended.
Okay Hex?
STFU! If you're going to drag the fall of the gaming industry in the 80's and compare it to the 2600's reasons for failure, you need to know why it failed back then. I won't get into it, but you're wrong in your assessment. Wrong like a catholic priest who eats babies.
Simply put, the gaming industry collapsed in the 80's because the companies who had the money had no idea how to make games. And there were so few developers who had to work on these games, that quality title or not, this was all they had they could work on.
So, if that worked out to today's standards, there'd only be... 4 game companies sustaining an entire industry (all consoles, phones, PC, mac, anyplace you see a game, etc.) This isn't the case. There are THOUSANDS of game developers working on titles. There are MANY people making shitty games, but the quality ones are more than enough to sustain and protect against this pretend situation you predict to occur.
You'll note that Purina doesn't have a game coming out for the Wii.
I too, can't see how Sony and to a lesser extent Microsoft can continue with their current approach, what happens next? The next consoles from those companies have to be digital media solutions, game machines and high end HD DVD players, whilst at the same time, games have to be created from the ground up to showcase these consoles which were designed to specifically showcase hardware specs, I think this is unsustainable for the home console market, and I think anyone with any experience working in the games industry has similar concerns. Essentially, Sony and Microsoft are trying to make the home console market a tech fest like the PC market.
I think Reggie is right, and is making these statements in a far from smug tone. I don't understand why has Jim put his weird propaganda spin on it? Attention whore?
Why I like my 360 and PS3:
They have more utility
Thay have classic controllers
They are more powerful systems (which I do believe is important, not only for graphics either)
They have HD graphics (not blurtastic on my TV)
The online component on the Wii is pretty lacking.
I don't have a problem with the Wii, if you enjoy it then by all means go for it. I just much prefer my other consoles. ;)
Also, gamersonlygames, don't apologize, I like 3 times the kudos.
Did you mean f*ck the Wii because you don't like it or because it makes you horny baby