Retrospectives and Introspectives: A Look Back at the Nintendo Wii

[Frostwraith]

You'd be surprised actually. Things that facilitate escape are very popular for those who are struggling in life.

The western hemisphere doesn't really understand the line between luxury and necessity, I really don't see financial crisis getting in the way of the sales at all.

a valid point there.

on you second point, I don't think you can generalize that way, or are you referring to the majority of people? but, anyway, you're (sort of) right about the fact that the financial crisis won't affect much: it's just a matter of saving money to get what you want.

I don't know what's the situation in your country, but here, things aren't easy.

@Falconv1.0, why so serious? is it just me or you get butthurt by almost every comment made in these boards?

 

[Teran]

Yes for future reference whenever I make a sweeping observation it doesn't mean every single one of those people.

Seriously I know generalisations are bad but people should definitely infer the point better.

Although to be fair you didn't flat out just say that, but I know many who would jump in and do so for the sake of empty antagonism.

In other news, all fat people are fat.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

This website is Falcon's tool for venting his frustrations from RL, don't take it personally Frost. His hypercritical nitpickiness of people's individual isolated posts is a result of his predetermined cynical veil he views them through. The only people who he abstains from doing this to are generally females, and then Teran.

I really only played the Wii this generation, and there were a lot of dark days, and at one point I ended up trading in most of the games I had because they either sucked or were absolutely valueless to me after completion (which took little time to obtain). I don't expect games to just be forever youthful and a bottomless well of fun, but what I do want are games that aren't going to be the kind that will quickly end up on my shelf and be dead to me. When I think on how much time and effort was probably dedicated into making each one, and how to the consumer it ends up being just that kind of experience I described, is a bit unfortunate. In fact, even my best remaining Wii games are in a sense dead, but I refrained from turning them in from a simple respect of the brief experiences provided, despite knowing that the probability of me ever touching them again is incredibly low.

 

[Falconv1.0]

I get along well with Jam and Firus and Solid and some others, the thing is most of those guys don't post here much. And posts that imply I get along with people on ub aren't fun to make.

But hey whatever makes you feel like a better person, Holder.

Edit-Wait what the **** you think I'm not hard on girls? Because I'm kinda nice to like...two of them? LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

 

[Claire Diviner]

I always assumed Falcon was overall an angry person all the time. lol

 

[Dre89]

I always assumed Falcon was overall an angry person all the time. lol

You can tell that he's one of those people that thinks being an *** on the net is cool, because he's always talking about how his gimmick is that he's grumpy.

Being rude on the net is like being rude to a prisoner at a visiting session, it doesn't mean **** because you're hiding behind a screen. The reality is if he behaved like this around non-gaming/Uni communities he'd get his head punched in.

He's got no charisma about it either. That's why people like Teran, despite he fact he can be quite cynical, but Falcon comes across as just another insecure keyboard warrior.

I used to show my non-gamer friends his posts for laughs, but honestly he's not worth your time or energy. That's why he's on my ignore list now.

But on another note, I never really thought about whether the focus on the casual market would pay off long-term. I just assumed that what's profitable now would always have a market.

I'm just really annoyed at Nintendo for how uncreative they are and how they waste the potential they have with all their franchises.

 

[Teran]

Fad based/casual fans are fair weather fans, and not reliable consumers.

Alienating your dedicated consumers in favour of making big money in the short term may seem appealing, but when gaming stops being the cool thing, and your dedicated fan base has been pushed away, what do you do?

I will say that the Nintendo fans and just game fans in general (thanks to the internet) have had a large part to play in the far more cynical approach to gaming, as well as the inevitable consequence of big business expansion emphasising shortcuts to profit rather than being a stickler about what you develop, but at the same time, marketing to people who don't truly love your product with the knowledge that they never will is a risky business imo.

I mean it's not to say it will end up imploding, Apple has pretty clearly shown that they can continually churn out complete crap and just keep on growing, but I still think that's more of an exception than the general trend. Nintendo isn't like Sony or MS, those two can deal with financial failure of consoles because they are multimedia giants. Oh no PS3 isn't doing so hot, it's okay people are buying a bunch of Bravias. Oh no Xbox isn't getting off the ground, lol didn't even cost a billion to develop no big deal.

Nintendo doesn't really have a safety net, and so while gambling is good, gambling should be in the form of trying to secure new lifelong fans, not pushing them away in favour of fickle ones.

But I mean, I'm just some dude behind a laptop and Iwata and co are experienced CEOs so I'm sure they have taken all of this into consideration and are taking the best course of action.

Or not.

Time will tell.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

When you build something, or when something has been a part of your life or associated with you, it becomes a part of your identity and you thus establish value to it. Your theory could be right Dre., but I doubt he feels or really tries to be accepted (appear cool). After all, no one aspires to be cool to admire their own coolness, they want others to witness it.


Is not the gaming market becoming common, and as a result becoming more "hardcore"? Nintendo may have to adapt if so. They have the potential to do it, creative potential, considering they have multiple worlds established from their long history.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Oh no, the guy with posts about homosexuals being on the same level as child predators thinks I'm a keyboard warrior, I'm gonna cry!

Really, you guys call me a coward and then make it even more personal with the insults by completely derailing the thread with nothing more than LOL FALCON IS MAD. I am not impressed.

IRL I'm slightly less aggressive but trust me I'm still fairly divisive, some people think I'm hilarious the rest think I'm an ***. I like it that way!

@Teran: The Wii did pretty ****in good with just casual fans and the Wii U looks to be doing just about as well, with a much better launch than the 360's. Honestly if they get just enough first party titles out there that look good, gamers will still mark the **** out and buy a wii u anyway. I got a Wii for Brawl and Prime 3!

I have 5 games for my Wii! Not hyperbole, I can see my entire collection of stuff to my right, I count 5. I'm not sure if that's my fault or Nintendo's. I blame Obama.

 

[Teran]

I literally bought Wii for Brawl haha.

Seriously though they may be doing well but **** you really think this whole casual **** will last forever? Seriously though why would you pay $300 for something you pay almost no heed to? Oh gonna wave my nuts at the screen for an hour and never play this MarioU thing again.

Really like, wtf? Could spend that money on all the other things they love like booze, drugs, ugly clothes, abortions etc.

 

[Falconv1.0]

I don't think it will last "forever" but they have an established base they can work with for a long time and force microsoft and sony to actually work for that money since their next gen consoles will for sure cost more than the wii u and not appeal to casuals as much in general .

I dunno I gotta kinda admit I'm still dumb enough to excited for DA NEXT GEN GRAPHIX but I'm sure they'll disappoint me.

 

[deepseadiva]

Casual gaming is going to last forever.

It's cheap now. That's what breaks the market wide open.

 

[Pink Reaper]

Yo teran, Microsoft can probably stand to have the Xbox fail and still survive but sony as an entire company is on the road to failure. They're losing huge amounts of money year over year, their credit is literally junk and every failure they have puts them closer to total bankruptcy.

 

[Claire Diviner]

The Wii was a crap system, and most of its games (almost all third party) were crap too. However, it was a financial success, so even though the hardcore hated the Wii, there appeared to be more casuals and those who are a mix between casuals and hardcore than there were purely hardcore gamers. It wouldn't surprise me if this trend continued, what with phone app games selling millions; but those cost about $1 each, as opposed to console games, which cost $60 each, so who knows, right?

 

[Frostwraith]

Yo teran, Microsoft can probably stand to have the Xbox fail and still survive but sony as an entire company is on the road to failure. They're losing huge amounts of money year over year, their credit is literally junk and every failure they have puts them closer to total bankruptcy.

not the first time I see someone arguing that Sony's getting closer to bankruptcy...

I have also seen people on the Internet claiming that Sony is going the same path as Sega went with the failure of the Dreamcast.

 

[Claire Diviner]

As long as the PS4 does not come to $1000 at launch, I can see Sony staying in the game.

 

[Frostwraith]

As long as the PS4 does not come to $1000 at launch, I can see Sony staying in the game.

a compelling argument you got there... they have to make prices minimally accessible, or they'll lose potential buyers...

the PSVita is being completely outsold by the 3DS, it is impressive. if Sony doesn't correct this mistake, they'll lose a lot.

 

[Falconv1.0]

It's less impressive on Nintendo's part more pathetic on Sony's. I think they've lost the ability to market just about ****ing anything at this point. The PS Vita was pretty much screwed out the gate.

 

[Lythium]

Mostly the Vita is failing miserably because there's nothing to play on it.

But why would you make games for the Vita when Sony's studios don't even bother?

 

[Big-Cat]

Fad based/casual fans are fair weather fans, and not reliable consumers.

Alienating your dedicated consumers in favour of making big money in the short term may seem appealing, but when gaming stops being the cool thing, and your dedicated fan base has been pushed away, what do you do?

Thing is, that's what was the goal of the Wii. A lot of games were "casualized" in order to introduce people who don't play games to the more "core" titles. The big problem was that Nintendo put way too much faith into this and it caused a real big alienation. The Wii in general was very much a fad and didn't have anything truly ground breaking, but I blame this on both consumers and developers. They seem to have figured it out with the Wii U by aiming for a more balanced approach. At the same time, they've been gradually devising methods to accomplish this such as the Super Guide and the Miiverse which we can all agree is a glorified message board.

I just want less hand holding in my games and I want them rewarding.

 

[Frostwraith]

Mostly the Vita is failing miserably because there's nothing to play on it.

But why would you make games for the Vita when Sony's studios don't even bother?

makes you think, no? it's blatantly obvious that if a console doesn't have a good line-up of games at the start, it'll quickly flop. and to be honest, based on what I've seen in terms of sales, Vita is close to a flop.

 

[Teran]

Yo teran, Microsoft can probably stand to have the Xbox fail and still survive but sony as an entire company is on the road to failure. They're losing huge amounts of money year over year, their credit is literally junk and every failure they have puts them closer to total bankruptcy.

Really?

Well how about that, thought Sony were still okay in other areas, but I guess they're getting ****ed in the *** by Samsung or something.

 

[Pink Reaper]

As long as the PS4 does not come to $1000 at launch, I can see Sony staying in the game.

See, you like many are equating Sony to just the playstation brand. Overall Sony is failing, not just in the console market. What I'm saying is that Sony doesn't have a lot to fall back on should the playstation brand fail. It's not "if the ps4 is a success they'll be fine" its "if the ps4 isn't a success Sony will likely be out of the race for good and even closer to overall failure"

Edit: @Teran

Yeah sony's credit was just downgraded to "Junk" status not too long ago, and if you've been keeping up with their stocks they've been on the downturn for a long time now. There's also been massive layoffs and restructuring recently. Sony as a whole is in trouble.

 

[Falconv1.0]

I just want less hand holding in my games and I want them rewarding.

This, so much this.

Of course the few games being released that don't hold us by the **** now are **** on for being too hard. People actually still think Demon's Souls was some super punishing monster of a game that only masochists could beat. How the **** did these people play like half the **** on the snes?

Also lol Skyward Sword's everything. HEY LINK JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT YOU JUST GOT A BOW WHY DON'T YOU USE IT ON THAT OBVIOUS TARGET THAT JUST GOT PRESENTED HI LINK I'M FI HI.

HELLO.

HI.

LINK.

 

[Lythium]

makes you think, no? it's blatantly obvious that if a console doesn't have a good line-up of games at the start, it'll quickly flop. and to be honest, based on what I've seen in terms of sales, Vita is close to a flop.

From what I've seen of the Vita, there's maybe two games worth playing: Gravity Rush and Sine Mora, which is pretty sad considering it's been out, for what? A year now? Seems like Sony has basically thrown it under the bus, which is a shame since there are tons of PSN games that could be potentially good Vita ports.

The best thing that happened for the Vita is that they finally figured out how to hack it. Sad, but true.

 

[Frostwraith]

See, you like many are equating Sony to just the playstation brand. Overall Sony is failing, not just in the console market. What I'm saying is that Sony doesn't have a lot to fall back on should the playstation brand fail. It's not "if the ps4 is a success they'll be fine" its "if the ps4 isn't a success Sony will likely be out of the race for good and even closer to overall failure"

so, you're basically telling that the PlayStation brand may be the only thing saving the entire company, right?

if PS4 gets the same start as Vita, Sony may be really screwed.

 

[Pink Reaper]

The Vita could still be a success but they'd definitely have to take Nintendo's route and slash the price and release some legitimately worthwhile software for it. The big problem with the Vita is that 90% of the games worth playing on it are watered down versions of home consoles. Sony doesnt treat it's handheld like it's own system, but rather as a mini-ps3, which is cool in theory, but a hard sell to people who already have the system to play those games

@frostwraith

Im not saying the playstation brand is the only thing saving Sony, im saying it's one of the only real profitable areas that sony currently has. If Sony loses that they'll have an even harder time turning themselves around.

 

[Claire Diviner]

See, you like many are equating Sony to just the playstation brand. Overall Sony is failing, not just in the console market. What I'm saying is that Sony doesn't have a lot to fall back on should the playstation brand fail. It's not "if the ps4 is a success they'll be fine" its "if the ps4 isn't a success Sony will likely be out of the race for good and even closer to overall failure"

I didn't think Sony was in that much trouble. I figured they could fall back on their TVs or something. Then again, I don't know what else Sony produces, and there's no way the Walkman (if those are still being produced) will be beating the iPod anytime soon, I would think. Then again, I haven't seen any sales statistics for Sony, so I know next to nothing.

 

[Big-Cat]

This, so much this.

Of course the few games being released that don't hold us by the **** now are **** on for being too hard. People actually still think Demon's Souls was some super punishing monster of a game that only masochists could beat. How the **** did these people play like half the **** on the snes?

Also lol Skyward Sword's everything. HEY LINK JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT YOU JUST GOT A BOW WHY DON'T YOU USE IT ON THAT OBVIOUS TARGET THAT JUST GOT PRESENTED HI LINK I'M FI HI.

HELLO.

HI.

LINK.

Like Navi, there should've been a way to disable her. And honestly, for someone that's supposed to help you, she doesn't help you outside of the super obvious stuff.

And don't get me started on the three dragons part of that game. I want to choke that water ***** for making me play Banjo-Kazooie in a Zelda game.

 

[Frostwraith]

The Vita could still be a success but they'd definitely have to take Nintendo's route and slash the price and release some legitimately worthwhile software for it. The big problem with the Vita is that 90% of the games worth playing on it are watered down versions of home consoles. Sony doesnt treat it's handheld like it's own system, but rather as a mini-ps3, which is cool in theory, but a hard sell to people who already have the system to play those games

@frostwraith

Im not saying the playstation brand is the only thing saving Sony, im saying it's one of the only real profitable areas that sony currently has. If Sony loses that they'll have an even harder time turning themselves around.

must have misinterpreted your phrasing... -_-'

I didn't think Sony was in that much trouble. I figured they could fall back on their TVs or something. Then again, I don't know what else Sony produces, and there's no way the Walkman (if those are still being produced) will be beating the iPod anytime soon, I would think. Then again, I haven't seen any sales statistics for Sony, so I know next to nothing.

hypothetically speaking, if Sony abandons the video game market, they'll have a hard time for quite some time. they'd have to compensate with something else...

while the idea for TVs and other audiovisual equipment isn't bad, they also face sheer competition in that area from other big brands out there (like Samsung, Pioneer or Philips).

 

[Pink Reaper]

To put it into perspective, 10-11 years ago, sony's stock was at nearly $120 a share when the playstation brand was at it's strongest and things like the iPod still hadnt taken off and samsung wasnt such a huge name in Televisions. It eventually leveled out around $55-$60 a share in 2003 and stayed in that general level until 2006 at which point it started to drop down to where it is now at around $10 a share. The initial huge drop from $120 to $60 i believe was from an introduction of a significant amount of shares into the market but after that it was mostly just other companies making sony obsolete.

Let's be honest here, everyone knows sony makes smartphones, but how many people really think of them when we talk about smartphone manufacturers? Apple comes to mind, Samsung comes to mind, HTC comes to mind, Sony does not come to mind. Same with TVs. If you bring up TVs, samsung is really the name to know. Sony doesnt make the best TVs, but they're definitely a good brand, but they're also considerably more expensive than samsung, who DOES make the best TVs. And the music market that Sony used to own is gone. Walkmans and Stereo systems have been completely replaced iPods and Smartphones. Many gamers forget that there's a lot more to Sony than just the PS brand

Edit: On a more related to the thread note, i honestly dont care how hard a game is/isnt, i only care if it's fun. I enjoyed the hell out of Kirby's Epic Yarn, and that game was balls easy(Except meta knight, that ****er is broken in everything) :shrug:

I bought dark souls the other day to see if it was really as hard as people say it was. It wasnt so much "Hard" as it was "Not fun." I feel like ever since Ninja Gaiden came out, if your game is really really hard people will somehow equate it to being good. Ninja Gaiden was just an overall extremely well made game that happened to be extremely hard. Dark Souls is a **** game that happens to be kind of hard.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Like Navi, there should've been a way to disable her. And honestly, for someone that's supposed to help you, she doesn't help you outside of the super obvious stuff.

And don't get me started on the three dragons part of that game. I want to choke that water ***** for making me play Banjo-Kazooie in a Zelda game.

Hey like, I know you like, already saved me but like, you need like, another trial, m'kay?

Oh boy a trial! That sounds like something that should challenge me by having me use the skills I've used throughout my quest to-

GO ****ING POINT A CURSOR AT THE SCREEN AND COLLECT FINISH YOU ***** AHAHAHAHAHA.

**** Skyward Sword.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Yeah, I didn't even know Sony made smartphones, so what does that say about Sony?

Spoiler

Or maybe, what does that say about me, I guess?

 

[Big-Cat]

At least Ghirahim was fabulous and the final boss was Akuma.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

Really, you guys call me a coward and then make it even more personal with the insults by completely derailing the thread with nothing more than LOL FALCON IS MAD. I am not impressed.

I do not think you are a coward, nor do I recall calling you names (I am sorry if I did). Though when discussing you here I tried to make sure to at least speak about my sentiments towards Nintendo so as to not be absolutely off topic, except when I first inquired as to what was happening.

At least Ghirahim was fabulous and the final boss was Akuma.

...I'm one of the few who really liked both of them. x_x

[COLLAPSE="Final Form <3"]

[/COLLAPSE]

 

[Luco]

And don't get me started on the three dragons part of that game. I want to choke that water ***** for making me play Banjo-Kazooie in a Zelda game.

And that's only THE BEGINNING. HA!

If I were to make a game i'd have easter eggs that would make you play little mini-games.

Maybe.

Maybe not. Maybe on a video-game royale... Ooh that would be fun. Some common VG char playing Tetris next to a canyon which you can only cross by putting tetris blocks so that you deliberately don't make lines, otherwise the line dissolves and that's another line you'll need to get back.

Oh and when you make this bridge, any blocks can't be more than a square up or down from the previous one at most or the character falls/walks in to a wall. >.>