Microsoft has America at it's fingertips with Nintendo trying to figure out how to wedge in their somehow.
Not true, Nintendo has constantly outsold the 360 and PS3 in month to month sales everywhere.
Honestly, if any company wanted to 'win' they could just shove in some motion sensing controllers with some casual motion sensing based games and do it better than Nintendo is doing it right now.
No. If they could have they would have done it. Fact is it actually takes a lot to put together a game with good motion sensing, 3rd party companies are just starting to realize that and even Nintendo hasnt perfected it. There's a lot of room to grow here. Also, there's more to wii's success than motion sensing.
@Crimson
I see nothing of remote value from the Wii right and MS is sitting good. In short, to make ANY claims about any company having won already is baseless and stupid.
If you see nothing of value then you should keep looking. There is a solid gaming system with a very reasonable price. Also, the wii has had the largest rise in sales in video gaming history. It may not be correct to say Nintendo has won yet, but it's close enough.
As for motion sensor: It's a fad. Motion sensing in home console games will never be like we see in movies. Games are for relaxing, not standing up and looking like a humongous tool. I turn off the SixAxis when I can, and I'm grateful I actually can. People love it and people hate it. I just think it should be used as a feature and not as a staple. This was a HUGE factor in my waiting to get a Wii.
Unfortunately you're eventually going to have to come to terms with the harsh reality that motion sensing isnt a fad. You might also want to inform yourself on how it works, motion sensing doesnt always require flailing (in fact it never has to, people only flail if theyd like to) and can often times make the process of gaming much easier and relaxing. See: zack and wiki, monkey ball, mercury meltdown revolution, and brain age. The thing about motion sensing, it's much more intuitive if you simply go with natural motions which arguably makes things more fun, but you can easily learn to play the same games with simple wrist motion, which often times can be simpler than associating buttons with onscreen actions and still be more immersive. The biggest problems come with making sure the motion sensing is not flawed.
The biggest issues I have with the Wii is what is it going to do in 4 years? Technology is increasing at a hyper fast rate. How will a console with no Hard Drive, no HD capabilities, and rapidly limited disc space keep up when the generation hits it's peak and we start getting amazing cross platform games. Will the Wii get no more ports or be left with horrible watered down ports that use the motion sensor to distract the gamer?
By the time it comes to the point where the wii can't keep up with the technical powers of the other systems, it will be ready to come out with a new system. You're right, 360 and PS3 are heavily invested in this generation, my guess is they will be stuck in the seventh generation much longer than consoles have been expected to last in previous generations. This is because they need to do this to make a profit, right now theyre losing money and it will take years and years for them to make it back up. Nintendo however is already making profit, and can be ready to make the jump to the next generation whenever the designs and whatever new technology they may add becomes available, while 360 and PS3 are stuck here until they can make a reasonable profit.
Also, nintendo isnt lacking a harddrive, it optionally chose for flash memory, far superior and definitely the future of consoles.
That's pretty much the definition of a fad. Will it be long term sales ala the PS2 or will it be a quick burst for now, one games become the focus and they, hopefully steer away from their mini-game focus as of late. Time will tell.
As I said, the wii has had the quickest sales of any new console in gaming history. That's not a fad, that's a milestone. Also, the 360's games sucked it's first year, just like the PS3's and wii's sort of do now. Shoot, the combination of all 360 games in 2006 almost lost the GOTY title to a launch title gamecube port for the wii (twilight princess). If not for Gears of War, which came out just in time at the end of the year, this would have been a major embarassment for the 360. Better games come out for systems later.
I also meant everything about the Wii was so gimmicky. The motion sensing is neat for a while, but I thought it made Madden so lame and so much harder than it should have been.
Once again, this is a
new concept. It is going to improve.
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@ Crom:
I dissagree, there are plenty of casual gamers that prefer classic gaming style.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Sony and Microsoft will ultimately prevail in this. Casual gamers are still interested in true console gaming, while the Wii has attracted people that aren't gamers whatsoever with all the hype surrounding it.
Casual gamers were never interested in console gaming, hence the title casual gamer.
Otherwise that pretty much defeats the purpose of calling them casual gamers.
Also, it seems the number of hardcore gamers is vastly growing, just look at MLG as one example, tons of competitive players. Theres an entire gaming tv channel, and tons of gaming websites/forums are booming. the hardcore mass is only growing.
Sorry, but by now it's already reached it's limit as far as drawing in hardcore gamers can go. The only way to change this is by attracting casual gamers first and hoping they convert. MS and Sony don't have the strategy to do this.
I worked in a lan center for about a year, and the most popular systems were easily the 360 and the PS3, even for people that had no idea what they were doing or how to play games. The system most people were excited about was the Wii, and they were usualy really eager to try it. But alas, 95% of the time they would mess with the motion control for 10 minutes then move on to another console stating it was too hard or annoying. The only game anyone played longer than 10 minutes was Wii Sports.
Anecdotals...this really doesnt represent the gaming community at large.
Microsoft has created the best online gaming system by a long shot.
Yes, for hardcore gamers. But Nintendo has the casual online system won by a long shot. On top of that, virtual console has surpased that of the Xbox arcade in game quality and quantity (if critical reviews are to be believed)
Twilight Princess motion controls were stupid, they diden't add in any depth or immersion to the game. Shaking your remote back and forth to do your 3 hit combo is no different than tapping A, except it's more likely to not detect it properly. Certain technique's in that game were simply annoying to do (e.g. shield bash) with the wii mote.
Really? You don't think swinging a remote is a tad bit more similar to swinging a sword than tapping a button? I doubt few people would agree with you about it's lack of immersion. Going back to buttons for OoT just didn't feel the same. Also, you mde an interesting note about the quality of the motion sensing.
but it's becoming more and more apparant that Wii Sports is pretty much as good as it gets in terms of motion control
Here you're just absolutely wrong. Motion sensing in gaming can be improved, it's only recently become mainstream and has a ton of potential. You should have seen this with how much improved the motion sensing for MP3 over several launch title games were, if not then you're simply being ignorant. And the controls for MP3 was far above those of a conventional controller, and came second only to the traditional mouse and keyboard (something which MoHH2 intends to surpass). Pushing a button, however, has reached its limit.
But it's not any more powerful in any way. It makes less heat and is cheaper. Don't expect to get more performance out of these new 360's.
Hopefully you are right, though. 
