Get three services for $100/moWhy Microsoft and Sony should be scared of the Wii
At this year's E3, Microsoft and Sony will be taking the stage to discuss the future of their consoles. After that, Nintendo will gloat about its success and take the opportunity to tell the world that its Wii is second to none.
Of course, during all those press conferences, Nintendo will be the only company to even mention its competitors. Microsoft and Sony, on the other hand, will only talk about the other and make it abundantly clear to everyone that Nintendo isn't being considered a real competitor to either firm.
And just in case you don't believe me, Sony CEO Howard Stringer at a conference last week said that he doesn't even think the Wii is on the same level as his company's console.
"I've played a Nintendo Wii," Stringer said last week at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device."
Sorry, Howard, but lest you forget, the Wii is very much a competitor of yours and if you keep thinking otherwise, you won't stop the butt kicking.
The Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 are all competitors and so far, the Nintendo Wii has taken the top spot. Sure, it may be priced substantially lower than the others, its library of games is much different, and the way you play the games doesn't mimic anything we've ever seen in a video game, but that alone doesn't make it any less of a competitor.
The way I see it, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are all vying for the same customers -- gamers. And although Nintendo has been able to entice other consumers into the space that had heretofore never had any reason to play games, we simply can't denigrate its performance and downgrade its ability to be a major success in this generation.
By its very nature, competition assumes companies are working against each other for the same dollars. And although Microsoft and Sony don't want to believe it, Nintendo is taking money out their pockets every day while they try to tell the rest of us that it's not really happening.
I'm awfully sick and tired of listening to Sony and Microsoft denigrate Nintendo and try to make it seem like it's not even in the gaming industry. On numerous occasions I've been told by both companies' PR teams that Nintendo isn't a competitor and that mantra has been repeated over and over by their CEOs and other top-level executives.
Here's a newsflash: when I go to Gamestop, Target, Wal-Mart, GameCrazy, and any other video game retailer, the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 is sitting right next to the Wii. And when people run down to their local Gamestop to buy a video game, they buy those Wii titles instead of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games.
Just because the Wii does gaming differently, it doesn't mean that it's not a video game console. According to Stringer, the Wii is just "an expensive niche gaming device," but I think that comment alone shows exactly why Sony can't get out of its own way in the business. If the Wii was just another niche device, it wouldn't be selling nearly as well as it does and whether Stringer and his cronies want to believe it or not, it wouldn't be beating the hell out of his console.
In reality, Microsoft and Sony are saying this to make themselves feel better. And while it may help them get through the tough times for a while, the reality of the situation dictates that they stop burying their heads in the sand and accept the fact that Nintendo is a major competitor.
If they don't, there's not a chance in the world that either company can supplant the Wii as the leader in this generation.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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It's not a DVD player or a BlueRay DVD player, so that puts it in a different category. It's not a media center style device.
The Wii is a fairly novel, non-gamer niche toy. For children/groups/old people, 80% of it's games are for E audiences with very little acknowledgment of the normal gamer market.
The broadway processor it uses is the same cheap POS that the gamecube used just over clocked. In my opinion it's over priced and nintendo seems to be purposefully limiting the supply to make the demand higher. Because the parts to make the Wii are so ridiculously available that there should be no reason for a shortage.
In closing, it's not even in the same ball park as the other 2 console media center devices. It may be beating them on sales, but it's not a true competitor in the market where the other 2 aim.
There's all this talk about the "true" gamer market. But check this out: the gamer market is a fluid concept. Nintendo is recreating the gamer market.
When Sony & Microsoft come up with exteremly popular kid's characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, & Pikachu, then maybe my kids will want something to tdo with them. Until then, who cares about Microsoft or Sony?
The problem is, that this market is very cost sensitive AND needs to be fun. After all it is only a game! Sony attempted to tell the market what they were going to get and you have to like it because we are Sony. Then out came the David of the gaming industry.
So what is really going on here?
I believe that game console managers at Sony and Microsoft sold the next level or two of management on the XBOX and PS3 as what ALL consumers really wanted. Guess what? It wasn't...
Now these gaming managers have to deploy various smoke and mirror tactics to keep their jobs. After all Sony and Microsoft executives expect their people to be on top of the market's wants and needs. If the product is a REAL bomb then a CEO comes out and defends the thing. He has to defend it otherwise, he is seen as making bad hiring descisions.
But you can bet your investment dollar that Sony and Microsoft are developing the next generation of the Wii type controller strategy for their products while I am writing and while they are criticizing. And watch, when they come out with their "new" systems they will tell you why it isn't like Wii and why it is better!
I read the comment that the best way to by a blu ray player is through the PS3. What the is that!!! I want a gaming system, not a top end video player. Does this suggest that Sony, now that they have the monopoly on video format, will insist their licensees have to include PS3 style gaming system on their blu-ray players?
So at this point I see the positions like this
Winner: Wii - for creative thinking. Or the little engine that could.
Runner-Up: Microsoft - At least Bill Gates didn't have to get involved.
Loser: Sony - The CEO had to come and defend an expensive blu-ray player/gaming system that played like every other gaming system since Pong. Just with a real good picture.
Don, good article. But I'm going to go right ahead and call your BS. The wii is not right next to the 360 or PS3 because its still sold out. I think the thing that seperates how successful these companies have been in the gaming industry is that Nintendo has seen profits from their hardware unit for some time now while the PS3 and 360 are still/are just out of the red.
1. Graphics/Processing power does not make a video game more/less fun to play.
2. If you group Xbox and Playstation as a ?media center device? that puts them in more of a niche market that I guess Wii is not part of.. But we are talking about gamers not movie buffs
Don, Do you write or just scribble? Double check. MS just cut their price by $60. Where do you think the motivation for that came from?
I am sure MS is worried about Wii, its just wishful thinking on Sony. I am also surprised they have decided to not cut prices on the Don'tPlay Station (except that it would only add to more losses).
All said, this game's still a see-saw. There is no clear winner. There is a clear loser - Sony. They were at the top of the game once. In all likelihood, they will never be there again!
The Wii is just a gimmick.
Ever since I saw the specs for the Wii I knew that I was not the least bit interested. I was like "Ooooh, motion controllers, they've only had those for about a decade now." anyone that has ever played virtual baseball or time crisis knows what I mean.
Reasons the Wii sucks
1. motion controllers are default "why would I want to move my character with my thumb when I'd have to swing my whole arm instead!" The technology isn't relatively new anyway. Also, the secondary controllers are gamecube controllers? N64's controller's retarded son?
2. the graphics just straight suck for this day and age, it's like the Gamecube took a couple vitamins. The PS2 runs smoother graphics in a LOT of games.
3. no dvd or cd player features, even a ps1 could play CDs.
4. 90% of there games are retarded kiddy games, i think they have around three M rated games. Their games in general are simplistic and feel kiddy, even the so called mature ones.
5. It pretty much relies on Mario and his friends to get sales from real gamers.
So they've pretty much made a kiddy console for people who don't even play over one hour a day (if at that).
The Wii is a gimmick, get over it, grow up and go get yourself a real console with real games not "Mario and Sonic at the Olympics - Tibetan Oppresion".
Once again ps and xbox pwn the wii, to nooby death.
Two important factors that don't appear to be considered here are console life spans and game sales. Game sales are where console developers make their profits. And looking at the technologies, the PS3 and 360 will be around longer than the Wii. I think as console prices continue to drop and more people buy HD TVs, the momentum will shift toward the PS3 & 360.
The Wii isn't dominating the market. It has created a new one. The reality may be that once Sony and Microsoft figure that out, they will be the one's eating into Nintendo's market.
It doesn't need to be a competitor in the "media center device" market because no such mainstream market exists. Except of course in the fantasy world of Sony corporate hubris and denial.
And meanwhile Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank...
I have more fun playing 8-bit nintendo games then I do playing the same old thing with a pretty face lift on a High end gaming console. The reason is this:
When the main focus of your system is to push the boundaries of your graphics, that is what you will get, games that look great. I like games that look good just as much as any one, but if it isn't fun or innovative, it gets old real quick.
When your gaming system has reached a graphical plateau, the only choice that developers have to gain an edge is to make a game that is fun and original.
I have been waiting for something like the Wii since the PS1. It makes even the simplest idea of a game extremely fun.
When I want great graphics, I play games on my PC. When I want a game that is original and fun, I play the Wii (or DS or NES or Genesis).
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by badabash
July 14, 2008 2:03 PM PDT
- Nintendo has done a great job of marketing and selling its Wii. As a Wii owner, I enjoyed the innovation of its playability. I wouldn't say the Wii sucks, but there was always something missing.
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