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Nintendo Wii: Redefining an Industryby Derrick Schommer
Nintendos latest home console system was released in North America on November 19th 2006. Nintendos goal seems to focus on casual games which entertain a broad demographic of gamers and non-gamers. Nintendos product is the cheapest new generation home console system on the market, retailing for USD $249.99, and challenges to change the way people think about gaming.
A Kids Console?
Historically, Nintendo has produced 'kid safe' console designs where most games were innocent and cute. Nintendo has changed their target audience to a broader audience with different styles of gaming. You can purchase a first-person shooter, such as, Call of Duty 3 or you can purchase child centric games, such as Barnyard, Cars or Cooking Mama. There are also many middle-of-the road games that all ages can enjoy, such as Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Elebits and Wii Play.
This 'kids console' has morphed into the 'casual gaming console.' This is a device where a gamer can invest fifteen minutes to fifteen hours of playtime. A father of two can find time to play Tennis in Wii Sports or get in a game of nine-ball in Wii Play. A teenager can snowboard down a hill in SSX Blur and a younger child may yearn for Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Nintendo Wii is well suited for kids but it goes beyond children. Grandparents are picking up the product after watching their children and grandchildren play. It might be for a golf game or a racing game, but it shows the attractive nature of the Wii. Just as many houses are equipped with a version of Monopoly and Scrabble the Wii becomes something to bring out when friends are over.
The Control Scheme
All features seem to fall second to the most overpowering aspect of the console: The controller. Nintendo, and their customers, have invested a huge risk in the Nintendo Wii controller, known as the 'wiimote' by fans. This device will make or break the system and its future in the market.
Some skeptics say the Wii remote is just another 'novelty device' doomed to fail and become replaced with a standard controller. Although the Wii controller can be tilted sideways to play in 'classic' mode this isnt the intended interface for the majority of games. The fate of the Wii controller will fall into the hands of the software developers.
The Wii controller is unique and requires special attention to detail and design to be implemented in a game correctly, especially a game ported from another system without such a control design. The game is only as fun as its design and implementation. A game which utilizes the controller in a poor fashion will push customers away. Too many games utilizing the controller badly can look bad on the system overall.
The system offers gamers an experience unlike a standard console, primarily because of its unique control scheme. The gamer is controlling the game in true 3D by moving the Wii controller and its secondary Wii nunchuck in 3d-space. The learning curve should be high, the complexity great, but oddly enough, a well designed game makes learning the control scheme easy.
The Demand
Like a viral youtube video the Nintendo Wii is contagious between relatives, close friends and acquaintances. One gamer has a Nintendo Wii and a few friends come over to visit and play - before they know it their asking where to buy one themselves. Their reason for purchasing is all the same: it is fun.
Console demand will give rise to game demand. The true success in the console will be in giving the customers what they want: fun games with great use of the controller functionality. In many cases, this may limit the games that can be ported from other consoles to this unique platform. Graphics can be reduced to fit the console design but an entirely unique control scheme can cut developers interest in releasing a title for this platform.
Third Party Support
Many people look at the last few Nintendo consoles as market failures. The Nintendo 64 failed to capture a large audience and most adults couldnt find a use for their Nintendo GameCube after purchasing Mario Kart, Zelda, Super Smash Brothers and Mario Sunshine. All hit titles were in-house 'first party' development efforts.
Nintendo must be able to draw a large quantity of third party development support to their system. Publishers like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Take-Two, THQ, Konami, and Square Enix are a few hot publishers that produce many first-class games each year. These publishers, along with others, will be needed to furnish the console with power-packed titles to keep the system valuable in the years to come.
Keep It Fun
If Nintendo can continually keep gamers having fun with the console it will be a solid success story. Games need to take complete advantage of the controller and not develop it as an after-thought. Ported games will take longer to produce to satisfy the controller design or the game will be more frustrating than fun.
Nintendo should use their successful game titles as proving grounds for full bodied release titles. Wii Sports was a great tech-demo but each game within the bundle could be fleshed out into a stand along product. Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling are two great examples of a franchise that could draw in casual gamers.
Keep It Fresh
Nintendo has relied greatly on their franchises: Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Donkey Kong. They cannot rely on these franchises to keep the system alive in an expanding market. These titles can be used to drive initial sales with a new release each year, but new innovative titles and creative new franchises must be developed to continue the sales trends.
Consumers have three strong consoles to consider purchasing with Microsoft Xbox 360 holding the lead for the titles. Sony will no doubt triple their game line by Christmas of 2007; Nintendo will have to fight to keep an edge. They may put themselves in their on niche industry of 'interactive entertainment' but, unlike the portable Nintendo DS, they have strong competition for the home entertainment dollar.
Jennifer and Derrick Schommer are gaming enthusiasts that write many gaming articles. They decided to take their passion to the next level and started an online gaming e-commerce site at
Keep up with their blog at http://www.techdiversions.com/blog
Console Only Wii News
Wii Virtual Console News and Releases for 1/5/2009 (Blogcritics.org)
Two new entries for the Wii Shop Channel help kick of 2009, including ... sand castle building? Welcome to 2009, fellow gamers! Hopefully, this year will be as good a year to us as last year was, especially on the Wii Shop Channel. Sure, some weeks were slow, but WiiWare got off to a solid start and the Virtual Console kept churning out good retro games. In the end, we got a bunch of great ...
Read more...Wii Sports Best Selling Video Game Ever? (PC World via Yahoo! News)
The console game Wii aficionados literally can't live without is now unofficially the top selling video game ever. That game would be Wii Sports, a hodgepodge of Mii-infested no-frills sports games that comes with every single Wii, desired or no.
Read more...Sony calls out Xbox and Wii as flea market peddlers (CNET)
Japanese consumer electronics giant is finally fighting back against critics of the PlayStation 3 game console. Too bad its argument is weak.
Read more...First Official Rock Band 2 Wii Storage Details (1up.com)
Burned for the second time by the lack of downloadable content in their faux band game of choice, owners of the Wii version of Rock Band 2 might be curious to see what developer Harmonix has in store for them at CES this year. Ars Technica poked around the annual electronics trade show and discovered a few of the company's plans, including the officially licensed storage device for ...
Read more...NEWS: Hackers Discuss Wii Security Technology, Undocumented Chip (Nintendo World Report)
Even Wii developers didn't know of the processor's existence. The presentation also touched on DVD playback, the possibility of subscription-based services, and the motivation behind hacking.
Read more...The Most-Awaited Games Of 2009: Wii (Gamasutra)
With nearly a full year of of game releases ahead, Gamasutra is picking out noteworthy titles due in 2009 for each home and handheld platform, this time for Nintendo's Wii. Despite claiming the largest worldwide installed base out of all three seventh-generation consoles, Nintendo still struggles to overcome the widely held belief that its Wii catalog suffers a surplus of unexceptional casual ...
Read more...UK Charts: Wii Play Is 2009's First Chart Topper (Gamasutra)
The first UK sales chart of 2009 has seen Nintendo's Wii Play take the top spot for the first time since February 2008. The hardware bundle's chart position is usually a reliable indicator of stock availability for the Wii console. With no major shortages reported over the Christmas period, it seems the console has remained relatively easily available for the whole of 2008 in the UK. The ...
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