2008: Nintendo Waves Goodbye to Gamers

“Oh, and there’s no point in third party developers making games for gamers on the Wii, because they just don’t sell.”

Lego Star Wars Wii sold as many units as the PS3/360 games combined, the Resident Evil 4 Wii port is coming up on 1.75 million units sold (only two 3rd party PS3 games have managed that..the much hyped Call of Duty 4 and Assassins Creed), Pro Evo on the Wii outsold every 3rd party game for the PS3/360 last week in the UK.

Hardcore games will sell…they just need to be the right games….and actually have some effort and marketing put into them. We all know that a quality Wii exclusive Star wars lightsaber game would sell very well.

As far as Zack and Wiki and No More Heroes not selling..great games but both were new franchises, with unknown characters with little marketing in niche genres/styles.

Transpose Megaman or Resident Evil characters into the Zack & Wiki game engine and they would sell, transpose Star wars characters into the No more Heroes engine..and it would sell.

Heatseeker was pretty rubbish..but the Wii version still sold double the PSP game despite a smaller userbase.

I just got the joke of the header image. It’s like Catchphrase, but Matt is a much better version of Roy Walker.

However much you can do in GTA4, its still kind of yawnage for me. My friend keeps telling me why it’s so amazing, but I’m not even remotely interested in it. In fact the only reason I’m looking forward to it’s release is so he will maybe stop rabbitting on about it for a couple of days. I really can’t see anything that wasn’t just what was expected.
Yeah the level of detail is pretty impressive, but unless you’re going to be playing it for 3 days straight, or you’re actually a gangster, I doubt anyone is really bothered about a little repetition.
Oh well. It’s attracted the masses with enough violence and sex references to make any 14 year old happy. Now just wait for Jack Thompson to blame Tom Hank’s death in Road to Perdition on GTA4.

“Oh, and there’s no point in third party developers making games for gamers on the Wii, because they just don’t sell.”

“Lego Star Wars Wii sold as many units as the PS3/360 games combined, the Resident Evil 4 Wii port is coming up on 1.75 million units sold (only two 3rd party PS3 games have managed that..the much hyped Call of Duty 4 and Assassins Creed), Pro Evo on the Wii outsold every 3rd party game for the PS3/360 last week in the UK”.

that´s so true, and dont forget resident evil umbrella chronicles, bully schollarships edition, wii guitar hero that did sell far more games than the ps3 / x360 counterparts, etc.

I disagree with the above mentioned title, Nintendo waves helllo to gamers , based on the titles that are coming down the line like kid icarus, pikmin 3, disaster day of crisis, final fantasy cristal chronicles, star wars force unleashed, just to name a few, i think there´s a hughe % of people that are going to play both titles, GTA IV and wii fit as well, if you take in consideration there´s a bast number of gamers that owns a 360/ wii or ps3/wii.

Zack and wikki, pro evo 2008, metroid prime 3, No more Heroes, Harry potter on wii, excite truck, wii sports, wii play, ssx, resident evil umbrella crhonicles, house of the dead, just to name a few, and dont forget thanks to the wiimote, the adventures games and arcade shotters are been resurrected

“But new IPs flourish on the other consoles, whilst failing on the Wii.
”

lost winds………………………………………………………..

zack and wikki , pro evo 2008, harry potter, only scratched the surface, come on¡¡

Harry Potter was balls, and Zack and Wiki wouldn’t have been hurt much if it was played with a joypad.

I agree, Nintendo is done with core gamers. They keep saying they aren’t but they are lying. There hasn’t been one good core gamer release since no more heroes and brawl. It doesn’t matter, PS3 is the better system anyway.

“Sure there are decent games coming out for the Wii, and sure they’re selling well to an extent. But new IPs flourish on the other consoles, whilst failing on the Wii.”

New IPs Flourish on other system thats a biased lie. If that were true then Beyond Good and Evil, Okami and Psychonauts would and should have sold like crazy. Whats more pitiful NMH and Z&W failing on a 18-20million user base or Okami failing on a 120 million user base?

“Manuel, very few of those games actually use the Wiimote that well… Considering the huge potential of movement to game mapping, only one or two games have even scratched the surface.”

Exactly they have only scratched the surface because it is so new and differnt. I agree some games its just sheer stupid but games like Wario Ware, Zack and Wiki and MP3 show you some of the possibilities. im not holding out saying these great games will deffintly come, but considering how rapidly the user base is growin its only a matter of time until some companies actually try to be unique and really try. The Conduit looks like it quite possibly could be a 3rd party game from a compay that actually tries.

“So in the gaming world everyone and their dog is going to be playing GTA, that much is clear”

Not really, you think that “serious gamers” are limited to male 18-34, FPS and GTA-like games only?
Tch, tch, tch…just another “Nintend0-is-teh-d00med” rant.
Please stay at blogging, because you’d suck at journalism.

“Harry Potter was balls, and Zack and Wiki wouldn’t have been hurt much if it was played with a joypad”.

if zack and wiki can be played with a joypad, why is the reason then the adventures games were dead in the home console department?, because they do not match with joypad becuase it did hurt the gameplay,with the wii controller this type of games will have a new chance, and thats why they are not suited in the 360 or the ps3, and that my friends, is a warm wave wellcome to players
.
As far as Harry potter, the wii version had better gameplay that the ps3 / 360 counterparts, thanks to the wiimote, and for this game work pretty fine, better than the other consoles, of course with home for improvement, but it was in the right direction.

And saying that those games only scratched the surface on wii, is true at some extent, the part i dont agree is those games are more interactive in the gameplay department that on any other home consoles, take for instance the first games that came for the ps3 that make use of the sixassis ,lair for instance, that was horrible game on the gameplay, they do not know how to use the sixassis, and for that they were only scratching the surface, but compare this, to the first games on thi wii and they are light years ahead, so they were more mature in the interface gameplay,of course, that doesn´t mean they are totally mature, they upcoming games for wii will be unique and will explote the wiimote capabilities to the fullest

I think by now placing biased blogs is asking for an argument. *sigh*

On the hardcode internet gamer front Nintendo arent as well spread as the xbox 360 or Ps3.

But for pure fun factor, the wii doesnt need super mature games with online facilities to spend time playing with randomers. Seriously.

And as for GTA IV. Meh. Same old + detail, surely

No More Heroes sold so well that Marvelous threw a party for Suda because it was one of his best selling games ever (if not the best selling title).

This is why I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why people continue to pretend and cite the successful No More Heroes as a game that ‘didn’t sell.’ Where is the disconnect? Do people hate Suda and Grasshopper that much that they won’t allow him his victories? Or maybe it’s the Wii hate? I guess the most humorous thing about it all is that the Wii has more 3rd party million sellers than the PS3. If 3rd party games don’t sell on the Wii, I can only imagine the big budget bombs constantly being dropped into the PS3 library

And what’s with orally servicing GTA4 so much? It’s just another GTA game, appealing to the same 15 year olds that think that the industry is about running over hookers. It’s going to come, people are going to buy it, and then the Earth will rotate for another day and the industry will move on to the next big game. Just like they did with every other GTA. Then the “serious gamers” will find something else to whine about on the internet.

DarkZero, SONY has a message, they said your check is in the mail >_>

DESTROOOOOOOOOOOOOOY DUMBASS MATT! He sounds like a whiney little bitch. “OOOOH GTA GTA GTA GTA GTA GTA….OH YEESSSS GTAAAAA!!!!” *squirt* *squirt* “Me so horny for GTA!” GTA is like a highschool jock who screws dumbass bitches like Matt. And like highschool jocks and dumbass bitches, they’re a dime a dozen. GTA is a typical dime-a-dozen game.

“The fact that GTA and Wii Fit are involved is purely because the juxtaposition of these releases seems a clear anecdote for something I already knew- the market is splitting”.

I’m totally playing devil’s advocate here; My job mainly involves helping companies sell more casual games.

Considering most of the people who think i’m unfairly biased are the same who supported Alasdair’s ridiculous pro-Nintendo rant it seems clear to me who the real blinded fanboys are”

Matt i don´t said your article is biased, that´s your opinion and i respect it , but i disagree when you say the market is splitiing, i think the market is broadening and if you see that the hardcores gamers+ the casual gamers would gonna become hardcore gamers in the near future, you see the real winner is not the consoles per se, is the videogame industry as a whole and that is goog for us the videogamers.

that´s why i do not understand why the ps3 / xbox360 owners are so angry with nintendo to try something unique, diferent and fun. they call it a toy , for god sakes , if they bet to a different horse, they have to stick with it ,and make the best case scenario for them , not give a thrash treatment to nintendo, thats unfair, and you known whats the worst part, they do not try to see the good things of nintendo ,and try to demand those things to those two big fat companys, that only care to win no matter our likes, desires or wishes , only theirs likes, and they keep doing the same things again and again, why do you think phil harrison left sony?, he did see this and didnt like it he will try to make his vision on another company, his vision is almost equal to nintendo.

and last thing dou you really seem fare that in order to make a game you need + 50.000.000 dollars budget, this kills the small developers, and you known whats worst, you are not going to see any new fresh ideas with those small companys, why?, because the big ones are integrated in that vision, try to make shinny games, without gamble on other game departments, that are needed to be improved, and the small ones can have the luxary to have a 50.000.000 budget to do a great ps3, but guess what they can make a great wii game with an small budget, think what will happen to this industry if only two big fat muscle company rules the stage?.. thats a sad situation for the industry and for us

“It’s not a biased article you muppets, and it’s not bigging up GTA IV either- it’s simply stating some facts:

GTA’s launch is going to be one of the biggest events gaming has seen in years.”

Why is it big? Because a lot of people are going to buy it? GTA is one of the most casual franchises out there, there has to be more to this ‘big event.’ What is it doing to the industry? What impact will it have on other developers and the direction of games on that console? Not much. It’s another GTA which will have stellar sales and a bunch of sensationalist articles based around it, but as something actually impacting the industry, it’s just another sequel.

“Nintendo are taking gaming in an entirely different direction to everyone else, one which isn’t going to be to the taste of many gamers.”

No, they’re really not. Zelda, Mario, Metroid and Smash Bros tend to disagree. If Nintendo were going in a different direction, they would have abandoned these franchises of old or even worse, they would have flopped. Instead, SSBB is the fastest selling Nintendo game in America, proving just how many people are clamoring for Nintendo’s franchises. Nintendo’s not going to turn their back on something that’s still making them more money than anyone else in the industry.

The problem is the existence of Wii Fit. People see it and they are deathly afraid of it. It’s not destroying the industry and it’s not single-handedly changing Nintendo’s direction. No one game is doing that, get over it. People see Nintendo reaching new audiences and they throw a tantrum. Rather than acknowledging the truth - that Nintendo is catering to everyone, they see it as much easier to simply pretend that Wii Fit is the single game in the Wii library and that nothing else came before it or will come after it. This is why the argument that Nintendo is “changing directions” and leaving gamers behind is simply retarded. It contradicts reality.

Do you know what came out before Wii Fit? Mario Kart, a franchise over 15 years old. Do you know what’scomin out after it? Disaster: Day of Crisis, a third person shooter from newly acquired Monolith Soft (who specialize in RPGs). What exactly is changing by releasing Wii Fit? Are ‘hardkore!11′ so selfish that the fact that it exists ruins everything for them?

The simple fact is that the Wii is the DS in console form. A platform that has capture new and old audiences and lets them coexist in peace. For some reason a lot of people don’t want this to happen with the Wii, or simply can’t accept it.

YOU NOT WRITE RIGHT CUZ YOU DUMBASS.

Well yes actually… it is biased.

You’re taking these “facts” about the Wii and skewing them to make it look like Nintendo is ignoring “core” gamers.

You dont work at Nintendo do you? So you dont know what they’re doing in the future. We’re 2 years into a console generation… so NO ONE in the industry knows what’s going to happen a few years down the road.

Assuming that Nintendo is ignoring core gamers because they’ve spent the first two years of this console generation building a new base is shortsighted and foolish. All things considered Nintendo is a COMPANY. They’re trying to make MONEY. They wouldn’t ignore a demographic that makes them MONEY.

And if you really knew anything about the industry you’d know that Nintendo has traditionally kept their cards close. There are “core” titles coming out… quote me on that.

Hey Matt!!! As you can see from your reader responses, you’re getting your ass pounded and handed to you on a silver platter. How you like THEM apples…BITCH!

“Zack and Wiki wouldn’t have been hurt much if it was played with a joypad.”

The Wiimote is such an integrant part of Zack and Wiki, playing it with anything else would make it difficult and tedious.

“I agree, Nintendo is done with core gamers. They keep saying they aren’t but they are lying. There hasn’t been one good core gamer release since no more heroes and brawl.”

Two months seems a short period of time to judge the entire future of hardcore gaming releases on the Wii. Nintendo itself releases “hardcore” games, but ultimately, it comes down to the third party developers to carry the torch. I suggest you open your eyes.

Meh, I never cared for GTA. It seemed to be an open-world game with no objectives but to kill people, and that never appealed to me. It feels overhyped and overrated, and that’s because it is.

I know 2 videos that can shut this topic:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lhzyOzItDnc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ByPcQBveWOA

I know 2 videos that can shut this topic:

youtube.com/watch?v=lhzyOzItDnc
youtube.com/watch?v=ByPcQBveWOA

Oh noes everybody Nintendo is destroying mah gaming! You can’t do that! GTA will be my saviour! My knight in shiny and bloody armor!!! lOLLOLZLOLLZZ!!!

Seriously though, what’s with all the internet bloggers who think they are semi-important now and think it’s hip to rant about the Wii? The more you bitch, how better the Wii will perform. And I laugh about it to be really honest. It’s bubble isn’t about to burst.

You keep on blabbling about GTA IV, but that’s the most casual series their is. You wanna have “core” games? Play Ikaruga, No More Heroes and others. That’s truly core. Not GTA. Despite being a fun game.

GTA IV doesn’t interests me at all, really I’ll just play Brawl.

Hey Matt! Don’t give up. It’s ppl like you that cause a stir and start “loud” exchanges of opinions throughout the gaming industry. If you think 3rd-party developers don’t want to take the plunge to Wii, then check out High Voltage Software developing a 1st person shooter. They’re pretty much calling out other developers to put up or shut up and show some balls to develop games for the Wii. And about Nintendo making it difficult for 3rd parties, thats a complete load of bull.

“i’d agree it’s overhyped Penguin. And i’d agree that it’s up to third party developers to carry the torch- but being a third party developer on the Wii is a difficult game to play… Nintendo are ruthless bastards when it comes to getting some actual shelf-space when it matters most”.

Matt sorry but you are wrong, if nintendo is a ruthless bastard, why in the heck those third partys are fully committed with the DS, you known the first thing they said was the DS will be a failure compare to the PSP, that was a toy and foremost a gimmick, but guess what when they did see the sales and the hughe diferent margin, and they started to support nintendo, know you see more games in the DS than on the PSP, and by a hughe margin. Dou you really think this its not going to happen again with the wii?, i think it will happen again with the wii also, and then only then nintendo will be the prettiest girl in the town that everione wants to date.

Saying nintendo is a toy, its like saying 360 is a oven, and the ps3 is only a scale down computer, if the old people think the wii is a toy its because they do not known what is a console in the first place, for them is as fun as a toy, thats why they call it, and they preceive it that way, and for me thats the great thing , because you known the only important thing for a videogame is the FUN FACTOR, and thats my friend what the 360 anD ps3 are lacking in the fun …see the NPD sales charts… and that´s what is turning mad the 360 / ps3 brand adopters.

“i’d agree it’s overhyped Penguin. And i’d agree that it’s up to third party developers to carry the torch- but being a third party developer on the Wii is a difficult game to play…”

Indeed. The Wii’s current market is pretty viscious. With the large amount of casual and non-gamers, game ignorance is abound. And with developers like Data Design releasing low budget and quality games and still managing to make profit, it has shown that garbage sells. More and more companies are taking this easy route, which makes it difficult for hardcore games to get a lot of sales. It’s up to brave developers to take that risk and actually put decent amount of time and effort into their games.

“Nintendo are ruthless bastards when it comes to getting some actual shelf-space when it matters most.”

I wouldn’t know much about that, but if it is true, it is another reason why I hope WiiWare will be a huge success. The jump into the Wii market is a large risk for small third party developers, but WiiWare will allow them to share their innovative game ideas with relatively low cost and investment.

“Sorry Manuel, but in terms of the overall picture the Wii is a toy.

All video games could be considered toys, if regarded from the right view. They are devices which to bring entertainment. Most people say the Wii is a toy to impress the idea of a more “kiddie” console, but in reality it is achieving the same results as other systems through the same constant, games.

“An item is defined by it’s use-”

The Wii is being utilized for the same purpose as other consoles. A different control scheme doesn’t warrant a different category label.

“And more than 50% of Wii users may buy more games but will likely only use it to play Wii Sports every now and then.”

I would like to know where you pulled that statistic from. I doubt most people would not buy more games, regardless of gaming class, because one game, despite innovative control, seems too little to warrant a $250 purchase. My own experiences are probably irrelavent to the large scope of the casual gamers, but all of my younger cousins who bought the Wii (which is just about all of them) bought numerous other titles, even though they were mostly casual games.

“Seriously though, what’s with all the internet bloggers who think they are semi-important now and think it’s hip to rant about the Wii?”

Heaven forbid someone wants to talk about what they want. If you disapprove, then leave.

No, it’s not flaming. But it’s because these kind of articles are so old and have a realy “been here. done that” feeling. My other comment was a bit childish yes, but you have to see it from another point of view. You’re one of the many the last few days who had a “blog” about the Wii. It feels like a copy paste story to be really honest. Everytime it’s the same thing. Wii sells, but the games don’t. Third parties are not happy. Only Nintendo sells. Third parties flourish on 360/PS3 etc.

It really gets tiresome. Every day it’s the same argument. And it’s always the same. Zack & Wiki doesn’t sell. Another new IP does on a HD console? Why? Well, maybe because they didn’t market Zack & Wiki? No, really? Plus, when where puzzle adventure a huge market? … … you don’t say?

And always No More Heroes. It really is funny that everybody is pointing to NMH as a bomb, while Suda 51 had a party because it was his best selling game EVER. Yeah, he was a sad man because NMH didn’t sell. *sarcasm*

You really want to know what the problem is? Developers are a bunch of wussies. They all have an argument why they shouldn’t put software on the Wii (Red Steel is a launch game, Resident Evil were ports, Guitar Hero is casual, Sonic sells on a Nintendo system yada yada) but they are just to scared. Why? I don’t know. Because of the Nintendo software? Because of the N64 and Cube? The bad memories of Nintendo back in the days (SNES period)? I don’t care. All I know is they should take a chance. If their core effort should fail, they have their proof. Anything else right now is a poor excuse.

“Ahhh God I like you penguin… You can come again anytime.”

Thanks. It’s refreshing to post and dicsuss on a site other than Nintendo Nsider2, where opinions are fairly uniform.

“It’s a rough statistic, as the actual stats cost a fortune and i’ll lose my job throwing them out on a blog.”

Forgive me, I did not realize disclosing it would damage your job or that you were even in the business.

“People do buy a few wii games, but week in week out I have this conversation with every casual gamer we work”

I cannot say I have encountered that situation, but I can imagine most older non-gamers being completely satisfied with the shallow but fun experience of Wii sports, and not feeling the need to expand their collection beyond it. I believe it has to do with their general disconnection with the gaming media and lack of motivation to buy more games.

GTAIV is not hardcore game, is an casual game.

n00b

Shit! You’d better re-write the article, Matt. shy’s got your card marked.

http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_Waves_Goodbye_to_Gamers

Oh my word. What has happened here? I turn my back for ONE SECOND…

“GTAIV is not hardcore game, is an casual game.”

I applaud your caveman-like grammar.

This applies to everyone. What then defines a game’s “class”? Is it the targeted audience? Difficulty? Style? Accessability? Depth? Blood, gore, violence, ect? Most people assume “hardcore” and “casual” have universal definitions, and each one is their own.

I have heard several people state GTA is a casual gaming series. It seems the reason for that label is the open-world accessability and ease of play. That’s OKAY. Just try and specify why it should be described as that, because it might lead to bantering back and forth whether it is casual or not, when the supposed constant happens to be a variable and no one realizes it.

I wasn’t refering to your article. More so the few instances that someone said GTA was casual. A person should elaborate on their position when it opposes what is generally accepted and is summed up in a term like “casual” that could have several meanings. Simply put, I’m just saying those people should have backed-up their opinion more, that’s all.

Whoa, I certainly didn’t get any feeling that Matt said the wii was in decline in the original article. In fact, I completely agree that these next few weeks will be some of the most important in the industry.

The Wii’s already tapped the market it intended to - women, children and the casual gamer which does open up the market to go two different ways. GTA represents the continuing strength of gaming as not only the hobby it’s always been but also as a strong culture and artisticly serious media. Wii Fit on the other hand is the gateway into gaming for many. I’ve personally dealt with more people asking about Wii Fit - who obviously know nothing of games as a whole - than with those who ask at a console launch. Most are surprised that you actually have to spend another 179.99 to play it! The potential market growth is huge, especially as the year goes on with further marketing, word of mouth spreading and New Year (resolutions) approaching.

In fact, in some bizarre sense, I can see Wii Fit as being a more important game for the industry as a whole. All those people that buy into the Wii for the sake of it and then go onto to try things like Super Mario Kart, No More Heroes or even Bully and realise there’s also 360s and PS3s out there that offer different experiences. Considering there are no more consoles on their way over the next few years publishers will really have to rely on software to push growth in the industry and Wii Fit has the potential to bust that wide open, much more than GTA I believe.

http://malstrom.50webs.com/

There. Everyone should read that. The guy who writes the articles on that site is studying Nintendo’s business strategy very closely and has been able to accurately predict the Wii’s impact since even before launch. One of the most important things he mentions is that the Wii is NOT a casual machine. That’s merely what other companies see. They see minigames and waggle and assume that is the reason for the Wii’s success. Not true. Nintendo is following a strategy that has worked for disruptive companies in the past. It requires targeting downstream market, i.e. the minigames and “casual” games, and then slowly creeping upstream and eventually grabbing market share from the businesses that assumed they were in the clear. I can guarantee that Nintendo will be pushing more than “casual” games come E3. They have to if they want to tap into the upstream market.

Oh not this shit again… what is it with the Wii hate!?

i just think something funny, about the “wii haters phenomenom” (my english isn´t good, sorry bout that). And that´s the fact that always one post a bad word on a wii, is an “abandoned hardcore” gamer. But the point is, a hardcore gamer has a wii, and post about he/she hate it. A casual gamer has a wii, and love it, but´s a casual gamer after all, i dont think they have time to go see in forums and posts news and opinions about wii games.

Plus, to all those abandoned hardcore gamers, i ask you: do you got a family? a mom, a dad, and all of that? The wii is pretty cheap, so buy one. Go, play a sunday with your familiy wii bowling, and go in the night, make a bunker and play GT4/Halo 3/whatever you want, hardcore gamer. And you´ll understand whats Nintendo doing. Keep that pace, and someday your mother will be with you playing GTA 5

I’m amazed so many misinterpreted Matts article! But I’ll let that slide…. onto the more important details!

I still don’t understand this fascination with hardcore/softcore/casual gamers. Surely, we’re all just gamers? We all enjoy playing a video game of some description, whether it be Brain Training on the DS, Wii Sports on the Wii, Motorstorm on the PS3, Halo3 on X360, God of War on PSP etc. etc. etc.

I own all of the consoles, I’ve got Wii Fit on pre-order and I have GTA 4 on pre-order. I’m really looking forward to playing both, but I’m more curious about Wii Fit - because it’s something totally different! Something I’ve not experienced before! I know GTA will be fun because the previous iterations were fun, but the Wii Fit is something altogether different. I’m figuring it’ll be like Singstar on the PS3… I’d always wondered what it was like, and so finally relented and bought it. Needless to say, my Wife and I had a blast!! It was great fun!

I also remember the first time I introduced my parents to the Wii. They’d heard the hype and seen the adverts, and were curious. The most gaming my parents had ever done was watching their 3 kids play and moaning about the arguing and noise. But when Wii Tennis was on the screen, I couldn’t get my console back!

I know they’d never have any intention of playing a game on the other consoles, unless it was fun for them. I think that’s the whole point. I never understood it until I played on the Wii. It seems to me that Nintendo’s games are a different kind of fun. I can’t see this being a bad thing! If it stops the “All video games are evil!” attitude then it can only be a good thing! If it gets people of different ages / walks of life talking about a common theme then good! I hope the adverts do attract more non-gamers to dip their toe into our world for once… who knows? It might spur them on to try other games on different formats?

I agree with Matt.. the games industry isn’t in jeopardy…. it’s diversifying. It’s evolving to encompass different areas never imagined, where hopefully an OAP could discuss the latest game releases with a teenager, or, god forbid, parents actually spend time with their kids playing games and building bonds with each other. More importantly, hopefully people will be too busy having fun to start arguing which console is the best!? We all know that they’re all only as good as the games available….

Bin your gaystation and dirtboxs and pee on your wii, there is no such thing as a hardcore games tittle for any of the consoles. they are all casual (casual meaning u pick it up as and when and play) most consoles games give you no more than 20 odd hours of play unless you wanna do the same again and again, as for the online side do me a favor how many player are there on at once 24? if your lucky ? hardcore games are only on the PC so what ever the console bring out they re short lived compared to the PC

And as for GTA its not the biggest game of the year, nor is wii fit , funny it will be a exspansion and not a full game that will outsell and be played by more than most of all the consoles put together it dosent have the worlds best graphics it the world but as we have seen it is the future of gaming and it is WOW, a lot of people we start slagging it off on here but you have to look at how long people have played it plus the new people joining every day and the shear numbers that play it and the revune it has taken, most of you console players may get if you like the game about 40 hours of play out of it, people get years out of play wow so there it is the future is MMO and that just aint gonna happen on a console

I think that wiifit is ‘more’ casual in the sense that it is uncomplicated & easy to pick up and play for 10 minutes, hence a wide audience outside ‘gamers’. GTA4 is hardcore in the sense that it is complex, requires prior gaming knowledge and skill to play, and also requires a lot of time to be invested into it. I think these are the two diverging strands that Matt is getting at. It seems pretty obvious to me that Nintendo is aiming for the casual market as defined above. Games these days on the 360 and ps3 have gotten more serious, lengthy and complex and this caters to a different market to Nintendos. Of course there will still be a handful of harcore games on wii. Is this for better or worse? I don’t think so and neither does the author.
Good article by the way Matt, it’s a shame people are defensive or have misunderstood it.

“I know Manuel… It’s not a bad thing, it’s just true. I’m not saying that the Wii is any less fun than any other console…

Christ, Nintendo Fanboys can be so defensive!”
Matt, i own all the consoles right now, even the handleds ones, and not a nintendo fanboy, i love videogames and i grew up with nintendo and thats a diferent story, but i like my 360 also more than the ps3 (wich sometimes i feel that is a dead console in terms of originality and good marketing, heck even sony doesnt know what they want to do with the console, who they are aiming for?), but i really do hate when people said so trashy things about nintendo, like the wii is a toy, the wii do not have any good games, and things like that , the waving thing, etc. ,without given it at least a try with an open mind, sometimes sounds like the other companys are little angels x360 / ps3, and nintendo is the devils army, even when everybody knows that at least sony, has been paying a lot of money in order to advertise (not directly of course), that the wii is for children and it is a toy, that for me is not a fair game, when a see a fair game for all the mayor consoles makers, that only dedicates themselfs to do great consoles, and give good products to us , then i will not defend nintendo, i will defend all companys.

and one las thing i agree with the monkey rimmer above comment.

“There hasn’t been one good core gamer release since no more heroes and brawl.”

Thats a silly thing to say, come on. I’m not gonna argue over the idea that GTA4 is more aimed at the core market than Wii Fit, that’d be silly. But what a ridiculous comment. Thats like buying GTA4 then two mintues later saying ‘How rubbish, there hasn’t been a GTA released since GTA4!’

Brawl isn’t out here yet, No More Heroes is barely a month old. If you expect new releases every 2 seconds then I honestly don’t know how you’d expect it to be done. Making games properly takes time.

“Considering most of the people who think i’m unfairly biased are the same who supported Alasdair’s ridiculous pro-Nintendo rant it seems clear to me who the real blinded fanboys are…”

Oooh bitch I actually see where you’re coming from here, and think you’re at least partially correct. Nintendo’s approach has certainately leaned a lot more to the casual market but the good thing is that games that a lot of ‘core’ gamers would write off because they’re too childish (such as Super Mario Galaxy) aare still great quality games. Yes, as a Wii owner, I will have to put up with 75% of Wii games being casual games, but it’s a similar story on the DS and I don’t think any gamer, casual or hardcore, could argue that it’s got the best games for all.
Basically I think that anyone who says the Wii is totally casual and won’t ever ever have anything for hardcore gamers is the kind of douchebag that just enjoys blowing peoples heads off and swearing a lot at others. Whereas the Wii will never be classed as hardcore because of it’s total lack of ‘ZOMG n00bz0r i jst leik pwned him’, it’s still a gaming machine, and one with the most high quality exclusive games on the market. Let’s face it, Nintendo know how to make games.

And I’ve totally lost what I was saying; basically yeah you’re right that GTA4 is for mainly for the more mature market (75% pre-teen kids btw. Only 25% are mature people who are allowed to play the game and will appreciate it) and Wii Fit isn’t. But that doesn’t mean the Wii doesn’t have its fair share of excellent titles that hardcore gamers can appreciate. I’d say the DS probably has the same ratio of hardcore to casual games, and it blew the PSP away by having such a variety of quality games. Wii is (and will continue) doing the same.

“http://malstrom.50webs.com/ There. Everyone should read that”

Thanks. megastryke, that was a great article, i laugh out loud with some older posts, specially the one that said the wii will only sell 18 millions units into 2012, and the one that indicates the wii is going come in a distant third, that one is priceless, ja ja …. im still laughing

the other ones are great though, i recomend everyone that had commented in this blog to give it a try, it really add something to this article, specially the part that saids the casual gamers that had bought wii sports, wii play, etc will crave for hardcore games, upscaling their taste , and thats the reason why supersmash bros brawl, supermario galaxy, and mario kart, are selling so great, speacilly brawl, with almost 5 million units selled in a short time.

Ive said this comment in a previous post and I will say it again. ” could you imagen a world where wii was the only next gen console……. pretty scary” Wii just isn’t a system for hardcore gamers … its more for childen, people unfamiliar with games, and family get togethors just liek gamecube was. Plus I especially dont see anything next gen about it… sum it all up its gamecube version 1.5….. basicly gamecube with a motion sensing controller.

Ive said this comment in a previous post and I will say it again. ” could you imagen a world where wii was the only next gen console……. pretty scary” Wii just isn’t a system for hardcore gamers … its more for childen, people unfamiliar with games, and family get togethors just liek gamecube was. Plus I especially Ive said this comment in a previous post and I will say it again. ” could you imagen a world where wii was the only next gen console……. pretty scary” Wii just isn’t a system for hardcore gamers … its more for childen, people unfamiliar with games, and family get togethors just liek gamecube was. Plus I especially dont see anything next gen about it… sum it all up its gamecube Ive said this comment in a previous post and I will say it again. ” could you imagen a world where wii was the only next gen console……. pretty scary” Wii just isn’t a system for hardcore gamers … its more for childen, people unfamiliar with games, and family get togethors just liek gamecube was. Plus I especially

“dont see anything next gen about it… sum it all up its gamecube version 1.5….. basicly gamecube with a motion sensing controller”.

that´s right, you go it and you known what´s worst, this not next gen machine, is winning by a hughe margin the next gen race , pretty ouchhh

I say it again hardcore games, no more heroes, metroid prime, smash brawl, mario galaxy, bully, scarface, resident evil 4, the godfather, call of duty 3, just to name a few.
and that it is a gamecube version 1.5::: bas

Sorry guys i dont kown what happen i did pasted and i did realize that i did it like 3 times so here it goes again properly.

“dont see anything next gen about it… sum it all up its gamecube version 1.5….. basicly gamecube with a motion sensing controller”.

that´s right, you go it and you known what´s worst, this not next gen machine, is winning by a hughe margin the next gen race , pretty ouchhh

I say it again hardcore games, no more heroes, metroid prime, smash brawl, mario galaxy, bully, scarface, resident evil 4, the godfather, call of duty 3, just to name a few.

yep, that´s true. Almost everyone (exceptions if you suffer for vertigo or something like that) can play mario galaxy, and only a hardcore gamer can get the 121 stars. but, what´s a “hardcore game” . My point of view, every game can be a hardcore game, if you love it and play a lot.

For example, i know everyone here can beat me on a “hardcore game” like Halo (i´m not good at halo, sorry) but i´m sure a can kick ass in a non hardcore game like puyo pop fever. Cause i love puyo pop, and i´m good at it….