Nintendo calls console cycle obsolete.

CB Droege 6 Nov, 2007 at 10:34am ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 10:43am GHoosdum In other news, I am also incapable of increasing my specs by an order of magnitude every four years, so I won't. As a way of making it sound like it's not my fault, I will blame my competitors for a lack of understanding of the market since they seem capable of doing what I cannot technologically support.
2. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 11:16am Linc

   GHoosdum wrote:

   In other news, I am also incapable of increasing my specs by an order of magnitude every four years, so I won't.

   Saying stuff like this, they sounded like whiners before the Wii. Now they sound like a company with a plan.
3. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 11:38am GHoosdum Call me a cynic, but to me they sound more like a company without a plan. They released a few lame systems, then they catch a break with the Wii, now they'll milk it for all it's worth. Saying that they won't update until they can create a new gaming paradigm and the limits of the current gen technology have been reached is a double-edged sword: on the one hand it makes them sound like they've got a plan for the life cycle of the current tech, but on the other hand it makes them sound like they're probably going to be really searching hard to find something to keep them ahead of the others in creating new gaming paradigms. My guess is that they haven't found it yet.
4. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:19pm tmh88 Nintendo's last good system(hardware preformance wise) was n64. Gamecube was alright but ps2 and xbox were both more powerful. The 360 and ps3 absolutely blow the wii away. Its basically like an improved original xbox.
5. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:21pm primesuspect That argument has been beaten into the ground over and over again: Nintendo said, and the market appears to agree, that hardware "power" is relative and not the primary market driver. Yes, we all know that the xbox and ps3 are "sweet" and the Wii is not sweet, that's stating the obvious. But it doesn't matter.
6. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:29pm GHoosdum The N64 was an antiquated machine compared to its contemporaries. The games didn't matter. The horsepower didn't matter. What did matter is that it was a cartridge system when everyone wanted disc-based systems. On top of that, you had to buy an expensive RAM upgrade to get the best games to work well on the system.
   
   Nintendo has in fact gotten its act together with the Wii - they're not only providing what the customers want in form factor, usability, and media, but they've gone a step further and provided something that the customers had no idea they wanted in the first place, but love regardless.
7. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:37pm NiGHTS My thinking is that the technology's at a point now where in order to upgrade with the times and sell at a (sometimes huge) loss just isn't worth the trouble. Nintendo clearly wasn't keen on the idea of doing this when they released the Wii, and it payed off.
   
   As a developer, making a game for a system who's technology is really not a great leap makes production easier and cheaper. Nintendo obviously cashed in on that idea, and the developers did as well.
   
   I kept reading in industry reports that the primary concern for developing for the 360 and PS3 was the skyrocketing development costs for games that the customer, after having dropped 400-700 on the system, expected (and rightly so).
8. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:48pm Snarkasm As a serious question, is anybody still actually playing their Wii? I've got a ton of friends that bought them and now they're just sitting collecting dust. WiiSports was fun for a week, and then they haven't found anything else worth playing, apparently.
   
   Did everybody just buy it because it was the cheap one and now are just letting it sit?
   
   (Seriously asking, not trying to start a flamewar!)
9. 
   6 Nov 2007 ~ 12:50pm GHoosdum I haven't been playing mine lately, but I completely blame TF2 for that.
10. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:05pm Linc

    GHoosdum wrote:

    The N64 was an antiquated machine compared to its contemporaries. The games didn't matter.

    The N64 was the first and last game console I bought, I have only 5 games** for it, it came with me to college, and it still sees use every time I go home for the weekend (when friends come over).
    
    What was its competitor? The PS1? Meh. Most of my friends still have an N64 at their house; I can't remember the last time I saw a PS1. Heck, a friend just offered to buy my N64, etc for $100 on the spot a couple weeks ago. (//edit: And I wouldn't sell it! How many people like a PS1 enough to be on either side of that scenario?)
    
    Let's go back a gen: SNES. It's main competitor was the Sega Genesis, right? My friends had both; we played the SNES a lot more. The only reason we booted the Sega Genesis was for Sonic. I went out of my way to buy a used SNES and a half dozen games for it about 3 years ago. Why? It's still fun as hell to play. What's the last Genesis game you got out (and were you playing it on the Virtual Console)?
    
    The sales and tech spec numbers speak for themselves (Nintendo did not come out on top for either), but I disagree they've brought inferior products to market when it comes to quality of experience, excepting the GameCube which was clearly destroyed by the PS2 in just about every way.
    
    My view: one failure, two solid and enduring products, and two smash hits in 5 consoles is a winning record.
    
    (**The games, if you're curious: Smash Bros, Mario 64, Mario Kart, Mario Party 2, and Golden Eye)
11. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:06pm CB I use my Wii most when I have guests. Mario Party 8 is really cool. I'll proly play some SP again when Galaxy comes out.
12. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:07pm NiGHTS

    MJancaitis wrote:

    As a serious question, is anybody still actually playing their Wii? I've got a ton of friends that bought them and now they're just sitting collecting dust. WiiSports was fun for a week, and then they haven't found anything else worth playing, apparently.
    
    Did everybody just buy it because it was the cheap one and now are just letting it sit?
    
    (Seriously asking, not trying to start a flamewar!)

    
    
    Roommate and I play SM:Strikers, Madden, and Wii Sports still with friends/girlfriends. He's collecting all the junk in Zelda, still, and has Metroid waiting after that. From time to time he picks Paper Mario back up to get another heart. He cannot wait for SM: Galaxy to come out.
    
    He's not a computer gamer, nor does he own any other consoles. I think that makes a very large difference.
13. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:13pm Linc

    NiGHTS wrote:

    He cannot wait for SM: Galaxy to come out.

    That's the game that would compel me to buy a Wii if there wasn't already one in ICHQ.
14. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:16pm BuddyJ My Wii hasn't been played in weeks, but I haven't played any games for that matter. I'm waiting for Mario Kart
15. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:21pm Snarkasm I guess none of my friends are really into the Mario scene, perhaps that's why they let it sit. A couple of them got GH3 for it, though.
    
    I think a lot of people bought it because it was cheap, and a lot more people bought it because it was a Nintendo product. That second group likes the games, the first group liked the price. Maybe that's oversimplifying it, though.
16. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:21pm CB

    Keebler wrote:

    That's the game that would compel me to buy a Wii if there wasn't already one in ICHQ.

    
    I think that one of the reasons the Wii has been so successful is that it's inexpensive enough that just one or two great games make the whole system worthwhile. MP8 and Zelda are enough to make the Wii worth every penny in my opinion, even if those were the only two games it had, whereas to make an XBox or PS3 worthwhile there would need to be a library of great games.
17. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:43pm Your-Amish-Daddy I agree with CB, The Wii is nice and fun, and I find myself playing it more and more. And for me, to get anything to keep me from this keyboard for more than 30 minutes is a miracle. If I'm not reading, I'm writing. I'm already planning my next non-series book, and I havent' even gotten a quarter through my first one.
    
    I really hate seeing this argument "The wii lacks power compared to the other consoles." Well, it doesn't take alot of power to make fun. I can have just as much fun with a hammer and a few dozen planks of 1x6's and a box of carpenter nails as I can doing it with a nailgun. It's about how it all comes together. Sure I like Saints' Row and Gears for the 360. I love gears, it's got a great story as far as console shooters go. And Saints' Row is very attractive to me. But there's something that hurts the 360 on these points. Saints' Row has flaws that only the 360 can bring out. Ever been driving on the highway and all the cars disappear and you slam to a stop? That's because the 360 can't handle all of the load. It's too much stress for it. That is a design flaw. Sure the wii doesn't have alot of megabytes or gigahertz or cores, but it's designed to run it's games that are supposed to be fun. The only thing that'd get my wii from me, is another wii. Sure I want a PS3 for the Resident Evil games that may come out on it; and for any of the Megaman games that aren't in the X series or in that Battle network bull****. Call me lame but I did enjoy the Legends series... I think the wii would handle that game quite well. Enhanced accuracy, and a possibility for higher mobility with the wiimote since it's got accelerometers in it, dodging would be easy.
    
    That's my piece I guess..I never really liked Nintendo to begin with. When the Playstation came out, Nintendo saw the last of me. I got a PSX when they came out, and nintendo didn't see me again until the Gamecube, but I couldn't keep a Gamecube in my house because something or someone kept killing them. I just wished I could find Windwaker for GC so I can finally beat it.
18. 
    6 Nov 2007 ~ 1:47pm Medlock

    CB Droege wrote:

    I think that one of the reasons the Wii has been so successful is that it's inexpensive enough that just one or two great games make the whole system worthwhile. MP8 and Zelda are enough to make the Wii worth every penny in my opinion, even if those were the only two games it had, whereas to make an XBox or PS3 worthwhile there would need to be a library of great games.

    
    At least that library is available on the 360. I'm planning on getting one to fill in where the Wii can't because honestly, it's starting to get boring (and I even have a decent number of games for it). I'm even having trouble finding matches online in GH3 and I know I wouldn't have that problem with a 360. At the very least I cold play with my friends that have one.
    
    I still agree though. I think the Wii was well worth the money spent.