Nintendo Wii U controller thoughts

[Donkbaca]

Let me introduce you to 2011:

Agreed.  And I don't think that people are getting that it isn't the ability to play the game on a dinky screen that's the feature, it's the seamless transition from big screen, to small screen, to a portable game you can play anywhere in the house that's the feature, NOT the fact that you are playing the game on a screen on the controller

.  

Been tried before, see the Sega Nomad among others.  People don't portable game.  See the failed implementation of the Remote play on the PSP.

If I'm in the middle of a boss battle and I need to take a wicked dump, it might be nice to be able to bring the contoller with me instead of waiting 15-20 min until I'm done.  

You are willing to buy a whole new system instead of pressing pause?

Also if a show somebody wants to watch is coming on and I'm  5 minutes from the save point, they can go ahead and watch their show, and I can watch it with them while finishing up.  

Nobody watches live TV, its all streaming or DVR stuff.  5 minutes won't matter.

Those kinds of situations are the feature.

None of those features are worth buying a whole new system for.  LIke I said, this would have been GREAT in 1990 when most households had one nice TV in the living room and maybe a crappy beater TV somewhere else in the house.  Sharing TV's just isn't a problem, new tv's are so cheap, and people don't even watch all that much tv anymore.

Is that a feature that is going to sell me the console? NO.  Does it seem like a really cool one?  Hell yes!

That is what nintendo is hoping will sell the console.  The president of Nintendo himself is saying that the controller is what is going to sell the system.

I also agree about the lame, non-comparable examples people are giving.  Stuff like the sega nomad is a portable version of the home console, that is NOT the same thing. And screens like those on the dreamcast, well those were so low res and tiny that it was laughable that any developer would be able to do anything really useful with it.  So yeah this is the first controller to have this feature, and we'll have to wait to see what's done with it.  I still have my doubts, but I'm not going as far as calling it a dumb idea.

You are right, if anything the nomad was a superior iteration of it.  It allowed you to have your own 1player screen, seamlessly transition your console from tv use to handheld, but it let you play ANYWHERE whereas the wiiu controller only lets you play in an area around the console.  If the Nomad failed, and it was a superior execution of this so called "play from your couch without the TV" why do you think people will buy it this time around?  Its been tried numerous times in the past, the consumer has never cared. I'll call it worse then dumb, I'll call it a proven failure of an idea.  Why didn't people flock to connect their GBA to their gamecube?  Why didn't the Nomad catch fire?  Why did the Turbo Express fail?  Why has the remote play on the PSP gone nowhere?  Sure the wiiu remote is not exactly the same, but is surely similar enough in idea and execution that someon has to explain to me why they think the consumer will care about this now when they never cared about it in the past.

And in regards to the comments about sony being able to do the same thing... well, sony COULD do the same thing, and they probably will claim to do it at some point, but it won't be as good.  Why?  Because Sony won't take the risk involved.  

Nintendo, love em or hate em, has balls.

I COMPLETELY disagree.  Nintendo has the smallest balls of ANY of the console makers.  Look at their history post NES.  Every single console that has come out post NES has been a market lagger, they wait until some other company establishes an appetite for the next gen before they release their next gen system.  They refuse to sell early hardware at a loss in exchange for larger market share down the road like MS and Sony do, now that takes balls.  Look at their last 2 hardware offerings, the wii was just a repackaged gamecube, the hardware is almost exactly the same, the only thing different is that it has its novel motion controls, a built in hard drive and wifi.  What risk is there in that?  Look at the 3ds, its just a ds with a fancy screen.  What risk is involved in that? They haven't built a system from the ground up since the gamecube and that was released a decade ago.  Its not like the PS3 hitching their wagon to blu-ray, or the X-box hitching their wagon on the x box live experience, each of which took on a lot of risk considering the infrastructure they need to build to support those things, not to mention selling the early consoles at a loss.  Those moves took balls.  How much balls do you need using off the shelf parts to cobble together a console?  Sure the controller is a novelty, but its a controller, not nearly the risk of pinning your hopes on something that takes way more resources like say xbox live.  Hell the original playstation was a leap in going to CDs.  Nintendo has ALWAYS played it safe, never put anything on the line.  They won't even take risks with the games they release, insisting on catering to 9 and 10 year old gamers and family friendly games because that's their market, has always been their market and is easy for them to market to.  

Compare that to the move.  Sure there are some games that use it, some that use it quite well, but it's a small percentage of their game library simply because it's an accessory controller and not the main one.  It does make a difference.  The only two accessory controllers in the history of games that had a wide acceptance base was the genesis 6 button and the psx dual shock.  The reason?  The original controllers were broken and couldn't play the games of the time so developers and users were FORCED to use different ones.

The move has been out for less than a year, compare the games out for the move to the games that came out for the wii the first year.  The move is better.  Compare it to the kinect, the fastest selling home appliance EVER.  MS is printing money with that thing.

Now while I'm positive that we will see a select few games on the ps3 offer streaming capabilites to the vita, it will be specific to each game, awkard to use and overall not be as seamless as the wii u's version.  And if it isn't available for every single title then what is the point?

Right, but it won't be available for every wiiu title either.  Nintendo has said themselves that they envision the controller being used as a secondary screen to the tv, so that, for example, if you were playing a baseball game, you would see the ball get hit on the tv and then you would move your controller around to try and catch the ball on the controller screen.  Or that the controller will be used for co-op titles where one player, say, drives a space ship on the tv and the second player uses the controller screen to whirl around and fire lasers at enemies.  This application precludes it from being used on every title, and leads us to conclude that either:
1) the games that transition to the screen will not give you any benefit from having a screen while you are playing on the tv. If you turn off the TV and switch to the controller, the controller would either have to show what was on the tv, or it would be a game with completely different game play.
2) games that utilize the controller screen for gameplay will not be playable from the couch.

so really, why should I buy this again?

[versapak]

I see...

You are just bitching to ---smurfette---.

[ChadTower]

If I ever go to Howard_Casto's house I am not touching anything.  You never know what that dude might have been in the middle of when he had to crap.

[Donkbaca]

Haha I have been a little crabby

It does legitimately piss me off that controllers have gotten so expensive though.
The prospect of a 100 controller sucks. The thing is that you probably will mnever have to buy one since the console will probably come with one and the machine only supports one.

[Mikezilla]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. The flaming Dinosaur pick was hilarious. 

Chad's Jurassic Park quote was great too.

Im with Donk on this. It just seems pointless, and aimed at kids. Again. I disagree though, about the live TV thing. Quite a few people watch live TV, and more shockingly, I was reading about how many people still have dial up for an internet connection. That shocks and appals me! 

[Howard_Casto]

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. The flaming Dinosaur pick was hilarious. 

Chad's Jurassic Park quote was great too.

Im with Donk on this. It just seems pointless, and aimed at kids. Again. I disagree though, about the live TV thing. Quite a few people watch live TV, and more shockingly, I was reading about how many people still have dial up for an internet connection. That shocks and appals me! 

I don't use dvr, nor will I EVER use dvr.  I use VOD and internet enabled tv channels but that's a different story. 

Why don't I use DVR? 

Sheerly out of principal.  I used to be able to record whatever I wanted on a vcr for free.  Now a dvr uses a harddrive instead of tape, but it is essentially a vcr.  So how come even if I buy the frikkin dvr I have to PAY A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION to record my shows?  Nah I don't think so.  I would rather take the time to pull torrents of the show off of the net. 

About donka's ridiculous points:

1.  The sega nomad did NOT try this before.  You have to save your game, turn off your genesis, remove the cart, install it in the nomad, turn on the nomad, let the game boot up, and continue your save to transfer. 

On the Wii U you hit a button and you are instantly off the tv and on the controller.  HUGE DIFFERENCE.

2.  No,  I'm not.  Try reading my last three posts.  I said that while the feature isn't one I would by a console for, it is a nice feature to have and I think it's awesome.

3.  See the above post.  Btw, most people prefer live tv to dvr according to most polls.  The dvr has taken the place of the vcr in that people use it when they can't watch live tv.  Also the saturation of HD dvrs is quite low and/or proprietary to your cable satellie provider.  DVR is a pain in the ass most of the time.

4.  Sharing TVs isn't a problem, sharing the tv the console is hooked up to is.  Again read my original post, this is a VERY COMMON setup for most homes btw.

5.  Dear god the stuff you wrote about nintendo is just so wrong on so many levels I wonder if you are even a real gamer.  Nintendo is and always has been  the industry standard in terms of innovation.  The invented if not perfected nearly every controller and hardware advancement since the nes.    There's just no point in arguing with you on that because you live in a fantasy world if you can't see that.  Nintendo lagging behind for releases?  That's silly, they are so rock solid that they just release a console whenever they damn well please.  Unlike the other companies, they don't have to compete. 


Sorry man, but if you are mad at the controller take it out on the controller, not the company, not on me.  And don't grasp at straws trying to prove that the one feature for the controller that might actually be useful isn't, when indeed it is.... just not for you personally.

[Vigo]

But if this is the extent of their revolutionary thinking, it is pretty dissapointing. Kid's stuff gimmick.

1) Nintendo has always specialized in being the family system. Why are they taking that and making it into 1 person getting a "good" controller, and the rest stuck with a wiimote. The thing is aiming towards a 1 player experience.

2) I still don't see why the controller can't double as a handheld system. They can be a package deal, and then the controller isn't so useless. The controller is pretty much a 1 screen DS, so making the controller out of the DS platform is not a stretch in the least. The real reason they don't do it is because they want a bigger cut of profit by also selling their handhelds as well. What a cool marketing angle the Wii U would be if the controller was a handheld. "Get both a console and a handheld gaming system in one. Wii U, Where the game goes with U."

3) Funky controllers only push away 3rd party developers. Nobody is going to want to play Call of Duty with a lunchbox sized controller in their hands. The Wii controller with nunchuck at least actually made some sense as an all around gaming controller, and had a degree in versatility in mind. This thing is more massive than an original xbox controller, it is more along the lines of a "leapfrog: my first video game console".

[Donkbaca]

My riduclous answers to HC's ridculous notion that I am being ridiculous:

1.  The sega nomad did NOT try this before.  You have to save your game, turn off your genesis, remove the cart, install it in the nomad, turn on the nomad, let the game boot up, and continue your save to transfer.  

On the Wii U you hit a button and you are instantly off the tv and on the controller.  HUGE DIFFERENCE.

The nomad WAS a genesis that you could plug straight in to the TV, a second player controller plugged into it, first player had his own screen and second player played on the TV.  IF you were in the middle of a game, you just unplugged the AV cable.  Not much of a difference.

I said that while the feature isn't one I would by a console for, it is a nice feature to have and I think it's awesome.

Thank you.  You are proving my point, its not a feature people would pay for.  YET its one of the features that Nintendo is banking on to get people to buy their console.

3.  See the above post.  Btw, most people prefer live tv to dvr according to most polls.  The dvr has taken the place of the vcr in that people use it when they can't watch live tv.  Also the saturation of HD dvrs is quite low and/or proprietary to your cable satellie provider.  DVR is a pain in the ass most of the time.

Ughh... I HATE phatnom statistics.  What polls?  Are they polling people that play console games? Because really, that would be the relevant population group in terms of this discussion.  Sure I would say the majority of people prefer to watch TV live, but I bet that the DVR usage increases as the age group is younger, and its this younger generation that is most likely to buy a console.  So let me get this straight, you are arguing that since you personally don't like DVR's and since some unnamed source claims that the majority of people don't like DVR's that therefore nobody likes to use a DVR?  Well how's about this I know TEN people that use DVR's and prefer to watch them over live TV.  That shows you that TEN TIMES as many people prefer DVR watching over live TV.  These people are also in the 18-35 console buying demographic. Also polls will show I am right.  Where these polls are, who did them and whether or not they are scientific doesn't matter, just know that there are polls that show I am right and move on.

4.  Sharing TVs isn't a problem, sharing the tv the console is hooked up to is.  Again read my original post, this is a VERY COMMON setup for most homes btw.

I would argue, no, its not a problem.  Most people that have kids have the console hooked up in the kids room or a family room or non-main room.  Furthermore if this IS a problem, per my earlier post, this doesn't solve that problem, because you still aren't gaming on the big TV with the good sound, you are gaming on a dinky 6 inch screen with more than likely horrible sound.

Nintendo is and always has been  the industry standard in terms of innovation.

Really? How?  were they the first 8 bit system? No.  Were they the first 16 bit system? No.  Were they the first digital media (CD/DVD/Blu Ray)  no. THey consistently lag the market.  Were they the first to offer online play, no.  What exactly did they innovate in?  Motion controls and the analog joystick.  They don't even innovate with each console offering.  There was NOTHING innovative about the Gamecube, other than the GBA plugging into it (kind of like the wiiu controller) and that was a colossal flop.  Besides your original point was about RISK TAKING, not innovation, and they are the most risk averse of all the gaming companies.  Coming out with a new controller isn't some huge risk taking endeavor.  THey refuse to publish M rated games for goodness sake.  So in your mind RISK taking is equated with innovative controller design? Ha!  that is ridiculous,  if the wii controller flopped hard there was the good old game cube controller that you could plug right in.    You can always change a controller, its a damned peripheral.    

The invented if not perfected nearly every controller and hardware advancement since the nes.

This is just flat out incorrect.  Every controller they have had since the SNES one has been outright panned.  The N64 controller is a poorly engineered mess that ALWAYS wore out.  THe Gamecube controller is a mess of mismatched assymetrical buttons, the wii controller is damn near impossible to use for anything other than wii sports.  The nunchuck idea is stupid and akward.  They invented motion controls.  That's it.  Analog controls were around before, but they re-introduced them to console play.  The analog stick on the N64 is ATTROCIOUS.  It wasn't until the dual shcok came out that analog controls were anything close to perfected.  The dual shock is superior to the N64 controller in EVERY way.  Motion controls were far from perfected, that's why the kinect is blowing nintendo out of the water.  Don't believe me?  Look at the NPD sales figures.

Unlike the other companies, they don't have to compete.

Really?  That is why their market share has decreased steadily since the SNES days.  This is just not true.

I am not attacking you.  I just think that this whole thing is dumb and here are my points:
1) If Nintendo has ANY advantage over the other systems, its that it provides the best local multiplayer experience.  This console, the focus is on the single player.  The system only supports one of the new controllers at a time, and the whole, "sit by myself and play on the couch" idea is totally counter to what is giving nintendo their current edge.  

Nintendo fan boys will always buy nintendo, but let me tell you this, the nintendo fanboys are a dying breed.  If Nintendo really wants to compete they would release more content.  If you are PS3 owner, or an XBOX 360 owner, you have franchises: Gears of War, God of War; Uncharted; Halo, that come out every couple of years.  Nintendo releases one Zelda per console generation.  Nintendo content is hands down great and unique, and Nintendo does its own games well, but the third party games for it have always been garbage.  Its about content, not silly little control gimmicks, and as long as Nintendo lags in quality content, it will remain a third rate system.

[danny_galaga]

 Nintendo content is hands down great and unique, and Nintendo does its own games well, but the third party games for it have always been garbage.  Its about content, not silly little control gimmicks, and as long as Nintendo lags in quality content, it will remain a third rate system.

You never played any Rare games obviously...

[Vigo]

You know, when I was a kid playing NES and the old man needed the TV, I had to shut the thing off and go play outside.   

If this is a feature built for kids, then it probably isn't a feature most parents *want* for their kids. Not unless they want their kid to be that squirly, pale antisocial weirdo who can't stop collecting pokemon for even 5 minutes of the day.

[Donkbaca]

Rare was bought by MS and has not made a game for Nintendo home console since 2000. So yeah, I guess third parties made great games 11 Yeats ago

[shmokes]

There are still many great third party games on Nintendo systems.  The fact that the best games on Nintendo systems have always been made by Nintendo is the simple product of Nintendo having historically the best development studios on the planet.  If Nintendo developed games for Sega, Sony or Microsoft systems, the result would be that many of the best games on those systems were developed by a third party (Nintendo) rather than by first or second parties.

[Donkbaca]

Yup, so many great third party games that I can't even name 5 worth getting

[shmokes]

I can't even think of 5 movies worth seeing.  In history.  I guess that means there are fewer than 5. 

Or, try Metacritic.

[ChadTower]

You know, when I was a kid playing NES and the old man needed the TV, I had to shut the thing off and go play outside.   

If this is a feature built for kids, then it probably isn't a feature most parents *want* for their kids. Not unless they want their kid to be that squirly, pale antisocial weirdo who can't stop collecting pokemon for even 5 minutes of the day.

...and there are more of these kids in every successive generation.  It's not a coincedence.

[Hoopz]

You know, when I was a kid playing NES and the old man needed the TV, I had to shut the thing off and go play outside.   

If this is a feature built for kids, then it probably isn't a feature most parents *want* for their kids. Not unless they want their kid to be that squirly, pale antisocial weirdo who can't stop collecting pokemon for even 5 minutes of the day.

...and there are more of these kids in every successive generation.  It's not a coincedence.

I still don't understand WTF Pokemon is....

[danny_galaga]

Rare was bought by MS and has not made a game for Nintendo home console since 2000. So yeah, I guess third parties made great games 11 Yeats ago

So when you say ' the third party games for it have always been garbage.'  the always you use is different to the one I use, which means the opposite of never? Got it 

[Donkbaca]

Well Nintendo did own 49% of Rare so they weren't a true third party, but hey if it makes you feel better, I revised my statement that the third party games have been garbage for the last decade plus, spanning 2 consoles...

[Mikezilla]

You know, when I was a kid playing NES and the old man needed the TV, I had to shut the thing off and go play outside.   

If this is a feature built for kids, then it probably isn't a feature most parents *want* for their kids. Not unless they want their kid to be that squirly, pale antisocial weirdo who can't stop collecting pokemon for even 5 minutes of the day.

...and there are more of these kids in every successive generation.  It's not a coincedence.

I hate those kids.  I watched a Marvel vs Capcom 3 tournament before it came out, and the kid that won was fat slob that didnt know how to interact with people. I seriously wanted to punch him. Not because he was fat, or hygenically challenged, but because he was a little ---tallywhacker---.

---smurfing--- pokemon are still around?! Jesus. The funny thing is that Nintendo owns Pokemon. 

[Mikezilla]

You know, when I was a kid playing NES and the old man needed the TV, I had to shut the thing off and go play outside.   

If this is a feature built for kids, then it probably isn't a feature most parents *want* for their kids. Not unless they want their kid to be that squirly, pale antisocial weirdo who can't stop collecting pokemon for even 5 minutes of the day.

...and there are more of these kids in every successive generation.  It's not a coincedence.

I still don't understand WTF Pokemon is....

Some say its a card game, others say its a perfectly devised marketing ploy aimed at kids to constantly generate money for nintendo. Its sick. I thought it died years ago. Apparantly its still around. I have a seething personal hatred for it, I used to work at Toys R Us when I was 16 (29 now) and I was the poor soul that had to run the Pokemon tournaments. I had to break up fights between little nerdlings all the time... I still dont exactly know what it is. Oh, and the TV show ties into it perfectly. The theme song states: "Gotta catch em all!!!" = ---smurfing--- BUY EVERYTHING. YOU CANT LIVE WITHOUT THEM.

[Vigo]

I used to work at Toys R Us when I was 16 (29 now) and I was the poor soul that had to run the Pokemon tournaments. I had to break up fights between little nerdlings all the time.

  I think that might just be one of the layers of hell in Dante's Inferno.

[Mikezilla]

I used to work at Toys R Us when I was 16 (29 now) and I was the poor soul that had to run the Pokemon tournaments. I had to break up fights between little nerdlings all the time.

  I think that might just be one of the layers of hell in Dante's Inferno.

Yeah, its the 8th one. Nobody talks about it though because its terror knows no bounds.

[danny_galaga]

Well Nintendo did own 49% of Rare so they weren't a true third party, but hey if it makes you feel better, I revised my statement that the third party games have been garbage for the last decade plus, spanning 2 consoles...

Dunno. I think some of the stuff Capcom have done for the Wii is excellent 

[Vigo]

For Capcom, the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 is hands down the best. Great controls too, which was a problem that had always plagued the series. Heck, all the Nintendo Resident Evil re-releases were great on Nintendo.

Capcom seems to gear their games with the best system for it in mind. You won't find any Devil may Cry or new Street Fighter games on the Nintendo (except the 3DS version), yet the Phoenix Wright and Resident Evil Chronicles games are pretty much exclusive to Nintendo.

[Donkbaca]

The phoenix wright stuff is a straight port of the DS.  You can play the same phoenix wright game on your iphone.  Resident evil is not a Nintendo exclusive anymore, the last wii title wasn't even a 3d person shooter, it was a straight up light gun game and Resident Evil 5 wasn't even released on the wii.

[Vigo]

Well, Resident Evil was never a Nintendo exclusive, but the prequel and re-releases were only for the Nintendo. I'm really a fan of the resident evil lightgun shooters, it is Capcom making games groomed for the Wii, which is how most good Wii 3rd party games are. Resident Evil 5 would have looked like crap on the Wii, so it is smart that they didn't even try.

The thing is that the Wii relies on a niche. It can't compete when talking highly visual games, but has a few perks. Good lightgun games being one of them.

[Donkbaca]

Vigo speaks the truth! 

The wii is a niche product.  It will be interesting to see what niche the wiiu fills.

[ChadTower]

As of July 2011, the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales

I didn't realize a product could be both niche and the leading seller in a multibillion dollar industry.

[Vigo]

You are right, the Wii is an absolute sales phenomenon that relies heavily on niche gaming. They were brilliant enough to design a system for non-gamers, and get people to buy a video game console that never touched games in their lives. Nintendo successfully marketed to a HUGE untapped source.

We are seeing that Grandparents and parents using the Wii to have quality time with the kids, we see people buying the system as an exercise machine, we see people who haven't touched a console since the NES, and want to relive a spark of that past with a new system to play the old. People who hate new games because they are too expensive and time consuming and want a lighter gaming experience. This is also a time when the competition only offered "more of the same" gaming for a much higher price. They are getting more innovative, but their price is not.

I love the Wii, but I know it is not a "gamer's system".

[Donkbaca]

Do you actually read what you post?

The Japanese market, which tends to serve as a leading indicator for global markets, saw Wii sales drop by 47% when comparing Nintendo's fiscal year of 2008—2009, to the previous year. While analysts predicted that game console sales in general will fall in 2009, Hall argued "Nintendo's big advantages are disappearing" amid price reductions of the Xbox 360 and rumors of Sony unveiling a motion-sensing wireless controller

In April, 2011, Nintendo announced they had sold 86.01 million Wii consoles, up to that date

How can you say As of July 2011, when the latest sales information they post is as of April 2011 and none of the industry comaprison is from 2011?  Look at the sources of the article, MOST of them are from 2007!

Actually the latest in video game console sales can be found here in this article date July 11, 2011:
http://cnet.co/o1b6bq

To quote:  

The analyst said that Microsoft led the way in console sales last month, selling 355,000 Xbox 360 units in the U.S. However, that figure is down 21 percent compared to the same period last year. In Pachter's note to investors, he said that the Nintendo Wii scored the second spot in unit sales with 325,000 sold, representing a 23 percent decline compared to June 2010. Pachter believes Sony suffered a 21 percent drop in unit sales last month by selling 240,000 PlayStation 3s.
If Pachter's estimates are correct, it would keep Microsoft's sales lead streak alive. In May, Microsoft's console led the hardware market in the U.S., tallying 270,000 unit sales, according to NPD, which reports on game industry sales each month. Microsoft said at the time that its win helped it achieve the sales lead in "11 of the past 12 months in the United States."

[Rando]

You are right, the Wii is an absolute sales phenomenon that relies heavily on niche gaming. They were brilliant enough to design a system for non-gamers, and get people to buy a video game console that never touched games in their lives. Nintendo successfully marketed to a HUGE untapped source.

I love the Wii, but I know it is not a "gamer's system".

I have no feedback for the original topic, but I'm one of those "non-gamer" people that bought a Wii instead of a X-Box or PS system.  I WANT to be a gamer, but don't have the time to devote to the really pretty games on XB/PS, so although I was not historically a Nintendo person, the Wii is a much better system for me & the kids to jump into for brief periods of time.  Just got "Boom Blox Bash Party" for my birthday this weekend and look forward to playing with my soon soon.  Old 80's/90's games work for this type of gamer as well, hence my new MAME cabinet.

Having said that, I don't NEED a new system so unless there is something really cool that I can play in short spurts thats not available on the system I already have, I see no reason to buy the new Nintendo system for the controler.

[danny_galaga]

The phoenix wright stuff is a straight port of the DS.  You can play the same phoenix wright game on your iphone.  Resident evil is not a Nintendo exclusive anymore, the last wii title wasn't even a 3d person shooter, it was a straight up light gun game and Resident Evil 5 wasn't even released on the wii.

And how about Monster Hunter Tri? That is an awesome game (",)

[hypernova]

Interesting quote:

Game designer and The Sims creator Will Wright shared his thoughts on the Wii within the context of the current console generation: "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic."

(Taken from the wiki page near the bottom.)

Found total sales of consoles from vgchartz.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, spore took 4 years to develop and EA bet the farm on it, it was supposed to be this revolutionary game and it flopped. He has never made a console game.

I am just wondering how long before people forget the 3DS was even released...

[shmokes]

I don't see how hitting a different demographic makes something next-gen.  Like . . . DVD was clearly the next generation of home video formats, but I don't think it hit a different demographic than VHS.  If anything, I would think that hitting a different demographic would tend to mean that something was a totally new product rather than the next generation of an existing one.  For example, I'd call a personal media player a home video system that hits a completely different demographic than VHS, but I wouldn't use that as a basis to claim that DVD is not next-gen and PMP is.  

Don't get me wrong, the Wii isn't a totally different product--it is Ninendo's next-gen (after GC) videogame console.  But I just don't see the basis for Will Wright's comment.

[danny_galaga]

I don't see how hitting a different demographic makes something next-gen.  Like . . . DVD was clearly the next generation of home video formats, but I don't think it hit a different demographic than VHS.  If anything, I would think that hitting a different demographic would tend to mean that something was a totally new product rather than the next generation of an existing one.  For example, I'd call a personal media player a home video system that hits a completely different demographic than VHS, but I wouldn't use that as a basis to claim that DVD is not next-gen and PMP is.  

Don't get me wrong, the Wii isn't a totally different product--it is Ninendo's next-gen (after GC) videogame console.  But I just don't see the basis for Will Wright's comment.

I see what he's getting at. I think he is saying that next-gen should be a change in direction, not just 'the same, but more powerful'. That's probably never going to be the definition, but I totally see his point. Game changer. If Nintendo didn't do motion controls, would the other two have bothered? And if they did, wouldn't that company be considered the trend setter, not follower?

[Donkbaca]

I see what he's getting at. I think he is saying that next-gen should be a change in direction, not just 'the same, but more powerful'. That's probably never going to be the definition, but I totally see his point. Game changer. If Nintendo didn't do motion controls, would the other two have bothered? And if they did, wouldn't that company be considered the trend setter, not follower?

That's an interesting question.  My thought is that someone would have done it.  People have been experimenting with motion controls since the NES days with the power glove, u force, and that weird octagon thing that you stood in.  I think the Move is a direct result of the wii success, but I think the Kinect is more of a spiritual succesor to the Playstation Eye Toy.  THe Xbox dod have a video camera that you could use to play some crappy games with before the Kinect came out.  I don't know.  I think it would have happened, myabe not as soon, but I think it would have happened.

[ChadTower]

I think his point is spot on.  "A little more power than before" is not really next gen anymore.  It's just a little more power.  Moving the industry in a new direction, which is what "a little more power" used to mean, is next gen.