Nintendo Wii Winning Because PS3, Xbox 360 Use ‘Old Paradigm’?
Published by Josh Foster May 29th, 2007 in Gaming, Nintendo, Wii.
Much attention has been paid to Wii’s early dominance over Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as the DS’ consistently outselling Sony’s PSP. After all, everybody likes a good comeback story, and nobody is relishing the tale more than Nintendo.
“Only twice has one company simultaneously had the No. 1 new hardware console, the No. 1 portable console, the No. 1-selling game and been the No. 1 overall software publisher,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “The first time was Nintendo in the ’80s. The second time is Nintendo now.”
And why has the company been so successful this time around?
“Both of our competitors have focused on an old paradigm,” he said. “They focused on more technological horsepower as the path to success. They fell into a trap of just listening to their core user base rather than focusing on attracting new customers.”
And when asked whether PS3 and Xbox 360 dropped the ball by both obsessing on high-def graphics and attempting to be all-purpose digital media hubs, Fils-Aime cut straight to the chase.
“I definitely think they have,” he said. “Look, it seems like every household has that one techie who can figure out how to connect the DVD player to the TV and the PC to all the other devices in the home and so on. But everyone else in the home just wants to turn the thing on and have it work. And I think the consumer electronics industry needs to recognize that. That’s what Apple got so right with the iPod. There were plenty of MP3 players out there, but Apple came along with a product you could just pick up and play. And that’s what we think we got right with the Wii.”
Fils-Aime is either a genius or filled with hubris — or most likely a combo of the two.
Wii is a gimmick. By middle of next year, it will go the way of the Gamecube.
Well the middle of the year is the end of June. I would not have thought just to clear the backlog of people wanting to purchase the WII would take until xmas at the earliest.
Gimmick or not, it all about $$$, and Nintendo is raking it in, just like they did with GC.
Wii is winning because people likes cheap things, and don’t care about quality… the majority of 3rd party games stinks… i hope wii dies in a year or leas… for the good of video game industry.
Pong was a gimmick.
if nintendo and gaming companies keep releasing good new games for the wii it will stay on top.
Leroy, your sir are an idiot. Wii is the revolution and even the folks at Sony know that. They are attempting to capture some of the joy of the motion capture controls with their VR Motion controller. Nintendo is and will continue to win this console war, hands down.
Well the wii is fun and inexpesive
games will come out for all system
what i can’t understand is why a game that came out on launch for the xbox360 still cost $50 by this time a launch game for ps2 would hit greatest hits and cost like $20
Sony messed up and they know it, the Wii is the future of gaming and for those who have negative things to say about the Wii have never played it yet, or are too lazy to use it, you would rather sit in your mothers basement by yourself and save the world, with the Wii its all about social gaming which makes it great!
I disagree Nando. They’re bringing in a lot of non-gamers, but these non-gamers aren’t buying software in droves. They buy far less than actual gamers.
They’re entirely happy with Wii Sports.
People will get tired of a series of mini-games being realeased when they can get something more substantial.
I’m not saying motion sensing is a fad. I think that will only improve. But I think the way Nintendo is going about it (no online play, limited 3rd party support, shoddy motion sensing), they will not continue this dominance, or at the very least, the dominance won’t carry over into the software department.
>Wii is winning because people likes cheap things, >and don’t care about quality… the majority of 3rd >party games stinks… i hope wii dies in a year or >leas… for the good of video game industry.
That’s such an ingorant response. First, you have to sit on the fact that everyone is going to have an opinion on everything. Everyone isn’t going to like Wii/PS3/X360.
People like cheap things and don’t care about quality? I think that needs rephrasing. People like inexpensive things! Wii is by far a cheap product and if people don’t care about quality, why would anyone by any console?
3rd party support for software is lacking for Wii; agreed. But we’ve barely hit year 1 of this generation. It’s a brand new concept that video game publishers are adjusting to.
That last comment you made about hoping the Wii would die for the good of the video game industry barely deserves a rebuttle because of how ingornant it is. Wii has changed the way people play video games. It has set a new bar of interactivity, brought in a new range of gamers and has been able to do all of that WHILE still being the least expensive console!
For me personally, it has made gaming FUN again.
I cannot believe there is even a debate about this.
LOOK at actual the MONEY in NUMBERS.
Wii is kicking a** and will continue to.
Sony and Xbox missed the boat by a long shot and with their 2 current consoles, will NEVER recover.
Wii is cheap and fun, and rocking the competion.
Deal with it.
sounds like there are alot of “stupid” people still left in the world! {”I definitely think they have,” he said. “Look, it seems like every household has that one techie who can figure out how to connect the DVD player to the TV and the PC to all the other devices in the home and so on. But everyone else in the home just wants to turn the thing on and have it work}
idiot people! go back to high school, even 3rd graders are using laptops!!!
The thing about Wii that I think makes it so successful, especially with the 25 crowd is its social aspect. Sure it may not have online support but for everyone out there who still have REAL-LIFE friends playing online is more of a pain in the @ss anyway. With Wii, anyone, even people unfamiliar with video games can often figure out the controls and play easily.
If you ever have friends over at your house for dinner, a couple beers, whatever Wii will almost instantly be a big hit. I agree with Phil, Wii has made video games FUN again.
Good at killing that underarm flab?
Wii - 1
Playstation3 - 0