In Which the Vs. Mode Withdrawal Society, aka Slate Gaming Club 2008, Draws to a Close

re: In Which the Vs. Mode Withdrawal Society, aka Slate Gaming Club 2008, Draws to a Close

Evilbaby — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:38:33 GMT

@N'Gai doesn't it seem like all the devolopers were waiting on someone to prove that the audience for the games your talking about exists on Wii. I think there is a stigma around the Wii where people feel that there is no audience for any kind of non-nintendo related properties. Either its a Nintendo IP or else its a one shot collection of mini-games.

I think that the audience was there, but with two years having gone by with no one willing to develop a game that interests us on the Wii most of the gamers like us have sold off/traded in our Wiis. I know I have.

Honestly though, even if a Wii sku lead on a title I was interested in, the graphical upgrade presented by the 360/PS3 version would probably sink its hooks into me. The converse to that would be a game that uses the unique abilities of the Wii in the gameplay, though then you are talking about a game that isn't likely to port to the other consoles.

Personally I'm most intrigued about the idea put forth by Randy Stude(PCGA). I think that the future of consoles lies in reintegration back into the PC, and creating standards of design, even competing ones, is to good for all parties involved not to be implemented in the next generation. I'm all for buying the PS4 bundled computer instead of having multiple boxes around my living room. It seems like Microsoft and Sony will need a sweeping change like this in order to compete with Nintendo in the future.

re: In Which the Vs. Mode Withdrawal Society, aka Slate Gaming Club 2008, Draws to a Close

SpaceShot — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:47:10 GMT

The biggest problems I have with the Wii are:

For online play (any kind of interaction with my friends), I'd choose the 360. Now that I can chat with a party while I can play any game on the 360, that makes it even more likely I'd choose the 360 for any title.

The Wii controller either isn't sensitive enough, or developers do not know how to make it work correctly. To many motions are misinterpreted, and it can be awfully jumpy. I wouldn't want to play a game that demanded precision on it.

To be fair to the Wii, the unique experiences that Nintendo alone is offering (Wii Sports, Wii Fit) are compelling. Wii Sports Bowling is still the best game I have played on the console (which either speaks to the poor opportunity for the console or my continued drive to enjoy games with my friends on the 360, considering my limited available gaming dollar).

The story I see in the NPD numbers is the Wii moves consoles, and little software. Wii Play does not count. It is not a software sale. It is an extra controller sale. Anyone can tell that everyone who buys Wii Play does so purely because they get a few games with the controller. And the games are awful. I honestly wish I hadn't bought Wii Play, but I was suckered in as well. This is why NPD should classify it as a hardware sale.

If Viva Pinata came with a 360 Controller, it'd be the top selling 360 game.

re: In Which the Vs. Mode Withdrawal Society, aka Slate Gaming Club 2008, Draws to a Close

winger68 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:16:42 GMT

I don't think the writer has really been looking at the data. Publishers are already developing spinoff versions of their "gamer" games and the results still are less than encouraging. Games like Madden, Call of Duty aren't watered down ports and they sell a fraction of their PS3/X360 numbers on Wii. Facts are funny things. Traditional video games just don't sell on Wii (Nintendo games nonwithstanding). Anyone see the results for Okami for Wii? Abysmal.

There appear to be three kinds of Wii owners. 1) Kids 2) People who were never interested in video games before and now are trying Wii because the games are easy to pick up and don't require a lot of thought and 3) gamers who are using this as a supplementary system to get their Nintendo fix. If Fallout 3 had been started on Wii, groups 1 & 2 still wouldn't have touched this game with a 10' pole. That leaves Group 3 as the only target audience --- a group that probably already have it on their X360/PS3s. So where is the incremental audience that is missing out on this experience?

In fact, it could be argued that Fallout 3 wouldn't have sold nearly as much as it has if it had been developed for Wii first. This is because the depth/immersion/production values that made it so amazing would have been lost in the last generation processing power of the Wii. The author needs to realize that part of the reason that games like Dead Space, Fable II, Call of Duty: World at War are so amazing is that they were specifically developed for next gen systems. To simply assume that these games would have retained their appeal even if they had started on Wii is to make a gross (incorrect) assumption about the level of technology involved in bringing these games to life.

re: In Which the Vs. Mode Withdrawal Society, aka Slate Gaming Club 2008, Draws to a Close

Evilbaby — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:29:41 GMT

but winger68, don't you think that no one has really tried to make a game for us on the platform? No one has made a fallout 3 for Wii. No one has really even attempted to make an interesting adult oriented game that leads on the Wii or at least uses the strengths of the Wii to its advantage.

I believe the writer(read N'Gai) is thinking that the Wii represents this kind of perferct storm of development. 1. Huge install base. 2. Cheap to develop for. 3. Innovative new interface options. No one seems to be making use of this system for anything interesting. I'm curious why? Is it the stigma of the "baby" machine that seems to exist in the online gaming community? Is it that they don't want to develop for a non-graphic intesive platform? I think the biggest reason is still the idea that the there isn't an audience for the fallout 3 crowd on the Wii. I think that with the Wii as cheap as it is, if you make a great game for the Wii the audience will find their way over, or back to nintendo. There's no reason that I can think of that the Wii should no be dominating ever aspect of gaming culture. Its just to huge not to.