New Wii Channel Secretly Launched!

[Howard_Casto]

Ok so I was about to turn in and I see this eerie pulsating glow coming from the living room.  Not knowing what I was, I logically assumed the Aliens had come to abduct me.  So I ran back into my bedroom and got my baseball bat, you know, to make sure they didn't try any of the probing business, only to discover that it was my wii and it had an email alert. (Whew!  No probing for me!)

Anyway, nintendo decided to launch it's newest channel in the stealth of night.  It's called the "Everybody Votes Channel".  Basically you register your mii's to vote and you can vote on online polls by dragging your mii to the proper selection.  You can even predict which choice you think will be most popular. 

Right now the questions are kinda lame, but my guess is eventually game related polls will be posted and this is basically going to be a glorified suggestion box. 

So not the most super fun channel ever, but hey, it's free.  Oh a system update comes with it.  Apparently it's so you can save reigon settings to your wii (country and state). 

Btw I went to post this at some of the wii sites but it was already there!  Dang they must be fast as it couldn't have been up for more than 30 minutes. 

[shmokes]

For a minute there I thought maybe Nintendo had accidentally only sent it my way, as Google doesn't even turn anything up on it.  It's actually a lot cooler than it sounds because of the way they made voting kind of interactive by involving the Miis.  And by a lot cooler I mean a little bit cooler, of course.

[MustardTent]

For a minute there I thought maybe Nintendo had accidentally only sent it my way, as Google doesn't even turn anything up on it.  It's actually a lot cooler than it sounds because of the way they made voting kind of interactive by involving the Miis.  And by a lot cooler I mean a little bit cooler, of course.

Yeah, like Howard said, voting with the Miis is kinda cool -- but we'll see if this is a channel people actually tune in to regularly.  I'm pretty sure I'll forget about it in a week or so.

 

[somunny]

How is this supposed to be entertaining again?  I admit that I have only read descriptions of the channel but, based on those descriptions, I have absolutely ZERO desire to even give this channel a try.

[bleemus]

Like a great deal of things on the Wii, it won't have that much staying power in keeping my interest.

I'm waiting for some stuff that will keep me enthralled for awhile, and not just be a quick fix.  A game for gamers, not just the normal people ("normies").

[Howard_Casto]

How is this supposed to be entertaining again?  I admit that I have only read descriptions of the channel but, based on those descriptions, I have absolutely ZERO desire to even give this channel a try.

Well let me ask you this?  Have you ever participated in an online poll before?  Why?  Was it the most fun youv'e ever had?  No.. you did it because you wanted to have your voice heard and you were curious as to what everyone else thinks. 

You know, like THIS VERY DISCUSSION. 

It's not intended to be fun, it's intended to be a quick little diversion in your down time from playing wii games.  This is what all wii channels are supposed to be.  Comparing the fun level of a wii channel to an actual game is like comparing the fun level of your internet browser to half-life 2.  They are apples and oranges man. 

[somunny]

How is this supposed to be entertaining again?  I admit that I have only read descriptions of the channel but, based on those descriptions, I have absolutely ZERO desire to even give this channel a try.

Well let me ask you this?  Have you ever participated in an online poll before?  Why?  Was it the most fun youv'e ever had?  No.. you did it because you wanted to have your voice heard and you were curious as to what everyone else thinks. 

You know, like THIS VERY DISCUSSION. 

It's not intended to be fun, it's intended to be a quick little diversion in your down time from playing wii games.  This is what all wii channels are supposed to be.  Comparing the fun level of a wii channel to an actual game is like comparing the fun level of your internet browser to half-life 2.  They are apples and oranges man. 

That's your apples and oranges comparison, not mine.  I didn't put any Wii channels up against a full game.  I simply asked how this is entertaining.  The answer seems to be "It's not and it's not supposed to be."  Okay, then what the hell is this doing on an entertainment console in the first place?

The Wii seems to be driven by these "quick little diversions".  It's all a bunch of worthless fluff in my opinion and because of that, the Wii is gathering dust in my house right now.  There's way too much entertainment to be had on the 360 and I prefer actually playing games to checking the weather and participating in online polls.

The Wii has certainly started off with a bang and no doubt the AAA Zelda launch title helped it considerably.  But here we are, three months later, with no substantial content.  Sure, we've got mini-games, regurgitated VC titles and worthless Wii channels coming out our asses but I'd wager there's really only one or two (non-mini) games worth buying on the store shelves right now.

The honeymoon's over for me.  Where are my ---smurfing--- games?

[shmokes]

To be fair Xbox 360 had a VERY long drought after launch.  It took a long time before you got Oblivion and Dead Rising, and even then, that's only two games.  And Sony is in an even worse position with PS3 gamewise than Nintendo with the Wii.  Admittedly, it's frustrating, but hopefully after the Wii has been out for more than a year (as the 360 has) we will no longer be complaining that there are no games out for it (as we were with the 360 at this point in its lifecycle).

By the way, I'm telling you, it is more fun than it sounds.  It doesn't make up for the lack of games, but it's something that I'll do periodically for as long as I own the console, I think.

[somunny]

To be fair Xbox 360 had a VERY long drought after launch. 

This is a true statement.  I didn't mean to compare the two as I'm well aware of the 360's head start and didn't even buy one until June of 2006.  It's just the current time consumer.  

[Howard_Casto]

The wii has had a steady supply of games since launch.  The main problem is that games like excite truck and zelda were so good that the rest of the titles that came out later look bad by comparison. 

It's been a full year and the 360 has maybe 5 games I would want to play, and zero "killer apps."   The wii has been out a whole 3 and a half months and it already has it's killer app (zelda) and a handful of games that I enjoy playing. 


So basically, yeah it's a dry spell right now, but you don't have anything to complain about. 

Also you are forgetting a key thing.  The wii isn't simply a game console, it is an experience.  Thus all the channels that have absolutely nothing to do with gaming.  This is a very good thing.  Even if you don't like the channels, when people like the associated press and the weather channel are showing their support for the wii, it means that third party developers (who dropped the ball and stupidly thought the ps3 would be the must-have console) will be more willing to make games for the system because the developers know that people actually have a wii sitting in their living room and because of the wide demographic they are pulling in, they have the best chance of selling the most copies on this system as there are simply more people who either own one, or want to own one.

[somunny]

The wii has had a steady supply of games since launch.  The main problem is that games like excite truck and zelda were so good that the rest of the titles that came out later look bad by comparison. 

It's been a full year and the 360 has maybe 5 games I would want to play, and zero "killer apps."   The wii has been out a whole 3 and a half months and it already has it's killer app (zelda) and a handful of games that I enjoy playing. 


So basically, yeah it's a dry spell right now, but you don't have anything to complain about. 

Also you are forgetting a key thing.  The wii isn't simply a game console, it is an experience.  Thus all the channels that have absolutely nothing to do with gaming.  This is a very good thing.  Even if you don't like the channels, when people like the associated press and the weather channel are showing their support for the wii, it means that third party developers (who dropped the ball and stupidly thought the ps3 would be the must-have console) will be more willing to make games for the system because the developers know that people actually have a wii sitting in their living room and because of the wide demographic they are pulling in, they have the best chance of selling the most copies on this system as there are simply more people who either own one, or want to own one.

If you're going to act as counterpoint, at least read what I write.  I didn't call the Wii a "game console", I called it an (at this point ironically named) "entertainment console".   Nintendo is marketing it as an experience, as we all know.  Currently this experience consists of an initial flood of mediocre games (this is how they were reviewed), a few well- received ones and a couple hailed as the second coming of Christ.  There simply is not that much greatness out there for this unit yet.  Granted, it's early in the lifespan but Nintendo needs to realize that it's still the avid gamer that drives the market.  The average Joe that bought this unit on hype is a fickle one and will soon find a new latest-and-greates toy to occupy his/her time.  The mini-game crap isn't going to keep the core gamers coming back for more.

My intention wasn't to make this an Xbox 360/Wii war.  Hell, I own them both which I think gives me a pretty informed opinion.  Regardless of whether the 360 had a slow start or not, NOW is what is important.  Wii isn't competing against the 360 with it's tepid launch line up from a year ago, it's up against a solid system with several popular and critically acclaimed titles to back it up. 

And it doesn't matter how you classify this console.  The primary function is games.  You're fooling yourself if you think the masses are going to be regularly surfing the internet and checking the weather on the Wii.  Their computers are far better suited for these tasks.  Like I said (and you agreed) this peripheral content is nothing more than diversionary fluff.  The console is only as good as the games it supports.  They better get crackin'.

[Howard_Casto]

Using your own words against you.....

and a couple hailed as the second coming of Christ. 

Ok how many of these types of games are currently on the 360?  Answer a big fat 0.
How many on the Ps3?  Again 0.

So it's pretty lame to complain about lack of games on the wii while comparing it with the games on the 360 when there aren't any stellar games on the 360 either.  There is a  small handful of really good ones, but there are a handful of really good ones on the wii too, it just didn't take a full year for them to arrive, which proves what I'm saying in that compared to the others, the wii is doing really well in terms of getting us good games fast.

So like I said, you have nothing to complain about. 

Come gripe some more when/if the 360 has all kinds of killer apps and the wii doesn't.  Right now though, it has the best games for any system so you have nothing to complain about. 


p.s.  I don't know where you have been reading your reviews  (I get em from EGM Gamepro, Ign, ect), but most if not all wii games average around 7 or more out of 10 which is above average.  Wii Play, Far Cry and Need for Speed are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that got really bad scores from anyone. 


This isn't a 360 vs wii war either as I happen to like both systems.  I don't own a 360 yet though because it's been over a year and they still haven't released a game I can't live without. 

Btw... I surf some select sites and check the wii weather channel regularly.  Sure it's easier on the pc, if you are AT the pc.  But if I'm in the living room and I want to check a certain news site or figure out what I should wear tomorrow I can turn on the wii, check, turn it back off all without getting up.  You aren't going to be doing any power surfing with the thing, but it's mighty handy if you'd give it a chance. 

[somunny]

Come gripe some more when/if the 360 has all kinds of killer apps and the wii doesn't.  Right now though, it has the best games for any system so you have nothing to complain about. 

I like it when you state your opinion as if it's fact.  Face it, you're just cheesed that I didn't include my griping in your Official Wii Gripe Thread. 

[Howard_Casto]

Well it is fact.  I mean granted in this p.c.  world we like in everybodies opinion is supposed to be the most important, but in what I like to call the real world, sales figures count. 

Zelda is factually a killer app.  It's almost a 1 to 1 ratio for the number of wiis out there vs the number of copies of zelda sold for it.  I don't know what else you would call a game that nearly every wii owner purchased other than a killer app.

There isn't such a game for the xbox 360. 

I don't comment unless I know exactly what I'm talking about. 


Game over.  Thanks for Playing!  (copyright 1984 planetjay)

[rockhopper]

I don't comment unless I know exactly what I'm talking about. 

Hahahahahahaha 

[somunny]

   You're ---smurfing--- exhausting!

[shmokes]

If Zelda wasn't the ONLY, absolute ONLY excellent game for the Wii, I doubt it would sell in quite such high numbers.  Additionally, Zelda is one of the most popular franchises in history.  Zelda will sell like mad on day one on name alone, regardless of quality.  When a Gears of War (which has probably sold more copies than Zelda, but probably has a lower attach-rate or whatever it's called) comes out it has to compete against a bunch of other great games that are all vying for the consumers videogame dollar.

When Wii gamers go to the store, there's almost no games worth buying.  They want to buy a game.  Of course they're going to buy Zelda.  I'm not saying it's not a great game, but attach-rate alone doesn't tell the whole story.  The Wii has one phenomenal game - Zelda.  It is no more phenomenal than Oblivion for the Xbox, though.  I haven't played Gears of War, so I can't really comment there.  But when it comes to libraries, christ, there's barely anything worth picking up on Wii.  Zelda, Trauma Center . . .  What else?  Monkey Ball and Rayman are rentals.  Madden looks like it might be fun, but it doesn't interest me enough to give it a whirl.  WarioWare is lots of fun, but incredibly short.  Rent it and you'll play every ounce of content it offers in the first night.  That's it.  Five games that you can even consider. 

Don't get me wrong, I was just bagging on the 360 launch library and subsequent drought a couple posts ago.  I love the Wii and am excited about its potential, but comparing the Wii library* favorably against the current 360 library** is just plain ridiculous.  You're just talking out your ass.  Xbox 360 has more than ten times as many games as Wii with an 8 out of 10 score or above.  To put it another way, 41% of Wii games have a score of 7.0 or higher, while 58% of 360 games have a score of 7.0 or higher.  And I'm not just getting this from a single site that tends to favor 360.  I'm getting this info from MetaCritic, who are the Rotten Tomatoes of gaming.

What you are saying is simply factually inaccurate.  "Most, if not all wii games average around 7 or more out of 10 . . ."  [emphasis mine] Obviously you didn't actually look at any data before saying this, but it amazes me that it would even occur to you that such a ridiculous notion might even be true.


* Wii games that received an average score of 7.0 or above out of all the major gaming publications (four of these games received a score of 8.0 or above, and one received a 9.0 or above):

Zelda
WarioWare
Madden 07
Trauma Center
Rayman
Wii Sports
Monkey Ball
Elebits
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Dragon Ball Z
Metal Slug Anthology
Super Swing Golf
Chicken Little
Excite Truck


** Xbox 360 games that received an average score of 8.0 or above out of all the major game publications (including 7.0 and above, as I did with the Wii, would have added more than 40 games to the following list, four of these games received a 9.0 or above):

Gears of War
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Ghost Recon
Call of Duty 2
Rainbow Six Vegas
Blue Dragon
Burnout Revenge
Project Gotham Racing 3
Fight Night Round 3
GeometryWars
Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine
Splinter Cell
Dead or Alive 4
Dead Rising
F.E.A.R.
Viva Pinata
NBA 2K7
Crackdown
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Test Drive Unlimited
Hexic HD
Call of Duty 3
Hitman: blood Money
Football Manager 2007
Tony Hawk's Project 8
Football Manager 2006
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Saints Row
Colelge Hoops 2K7
Lego Star Wars II
Uno
Table Tennis
Cloning Clyde
Tiger Woods 07
NBA 2K6
Perfect Dark Zero
WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 07
Madden NFL 07
King Kong
Tomb Raider: Legend
Moto GP 06
Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank
Winning Eleven Soccer 07

[AtomSmasher]

I don't comment unless I know exactly what I'm talking about. 

ROFL        

[ChadTower]

  Zelda will sell like mad on day one on name alone, regardless of quality. 

Once.  You can only do that once with any given brand.  If they put out crap, people get burned with that brand faith, and many of them don't return the next time.

[shmokes]

Sure . . . I'll go along with that.

[versapak]

Well it is fact.  I mean granted in this p.c.  world we like in everybodies opinion is supposed to be the most important, but in what I like to call the real world, sales figures count. 

Zelda is factually a killer app.  It's almost a 1 to 1 ratio for the number of wiis out there vs the number of copies of zelda sold for it.  I don't know what else you would call a game that nearly every wii owner purchased other than a killer app.

There isn't such a game for the xbox 360. 

I don't comment unless I know exactly what I'm talking about. 


Game over.  Thanks for Playing!  (copyright 1984 planetjay)

There isn't anymore, but when the Xbox launched, there was Call of Duty 2, and it had a pretty high attatch rate. I don't remember the exact percentage, but either way it doesn't matter. We are talking launch titles, when there really isn't much else out there to choose from. Zelda will NOT maintain that kind of ratio, and if it were to have launched a year later, it wouldn't have ever seen that kind of attach rate.

I do agree that it is a killer app though.

[Zeosstud]

If you think Gears of War is NOT a killer app, your just silly.

Zeosstud

[Howard_Casto]

If you think Gears of War is NOT a killer app, your just silly.

Zeosstud

Oh it is... too bad it only took a year and a month for them to finally get ONE.  That was kind of my point man, thanks for bringing it up.    But while it could be considered a killer app, It's not as much of a killer app as zelda, if that makes sense. 

Btw zelda, mario and pokemon have always gotten a near 1/1 ratio when they are released on any system, so no, it won't die down or at least not significantly. 


Getting back on topic, I have completely changed my mind about this channel now that the first results have came back.  It's actually rather fun?  Nintendo did a great job presenting the results which is what really makes the channel shine.  It's not just a precentage bar, you can look at state by state results or on international questions country by country.  Just for example, I looked at the cat vs dog results last night.  Of course dogs won as cats suck in comparison.  But the interesting part was looking at the individual country results.  I won't put specifics here as I don't want to offend anyone, but some places had a much higher percentage of cat lovers than everyone else.  I got a chuckle out of it because one of the places isn't exactly known for it's manly men.  Also the beach vs mountains results were interesting.  Apparently Montana and I beleive colorado if I remember correctly are the only two states in the union that want to retire to the mountains.  I found that ironic considering most people want to move away to go on vacation.

No you aren't going to be spending hours on end in it, you'll be spending minutes on end, once a week.  But hey guys it's actually pretty good, don't let the simplicity of it fool you.  Think of it like Family Feud, but without the creepy drunk host and fabulous prizes. 

[shmokes]

Yeah, I agree.  I think it was actually Montana and Wyoming would prefer the mountain home and New Mexico and one other were statistically tied.  But, yeah.  Austria and a few others prefered cats over dogs, which surprised me.  I prefer cats to dogs, but I predicted correctly (not a particularly impressive feat), that I am in the minority in that opinion.

[versapak]

Btw zelda, mario and pokemon have always gotten a near 1/1 ratio when they are released on any system, so no, it won't die down or at least not significantly. 

Ummmmm... Not.


Yes, they have been big sellers, but that doesn't hardly mean anywhere near 1:1.



As for the channel. I have yet to d/l it yet. I tried the other day and couldn't connect to the marketplace.

[shardian]

Hmm...a Wii channel dedicated to Polls. TexasMame has found his killer app!

[lcddream]

for the record it's called a "tie-in ratio"

[TheResidentEvil]

I must confess that after playing with the Wii for the last couple months, i do not see how anyone can go back to a regular controller.

[shmokes]

By the way, NPD numbers for January are out.  Nintendo sold over 435,000 Wiis, but only 190,000 copies of Twilight Princess.  It's a killer app, to be sure, but that doesn't sound like 1:1 to me.

[versapak]

By the way, NPD numbers for January are out.  Nintendo sold over 435,000 Wiis, but only 190,000 copies of Twilight Princess.  It's a killer app, to be sure, but that doesn't sound like 1:1 to me.

That's impossible, because Howard doesn't comment unless he knows exactly what he's talking about.

[ChadTower]

By the way, NPD numbers for January are out.  Nintendo sold over 435,000 Wiis, but only 190,000 copies of Twilight Princess.  It's a killer app, to be sure, but that doesn't sound like 1:1 to me.

Nothing retains 1:1 indefinitely.  Just being anywhere near it, ever, is huge.

[Howard_Casto]

There's currently a shortage of Tp in certain areas.  GameStop/EB is sending letters to anyone who bought it that they'll buy it back for 35 bucks.  Don't know if that effects the numbers or not though.

[ChadTower]

There's currently a shortage of Tp in certain areas. 

Is that why you keep scratching your ass?

[versapak]

By the way, NPD numbers for January are out.  Nintendo sold over 435,000 Wiis, but only 190,000 copies of Twilight Princess.  It's a killer app, to be sure, but that doesn't sound like 1:1 to me.

Nothing retains 1:1 indefinitely.  Just being anywhere near it, ever, is huge.

Not at launch it isn't. Especially when it is pretty much the only AAA game to be sold (not counting Wii Sports, as it was a pack in).




[EDIT]

Note, I love Zelda:TP, and I'm certainly not knocking the game or its sales as bad at all. Just that the brief time that it had a close to 1:1 tie-in really wasn't all THAT impressive.

[Howard_Casto]

There's currently a shortage of Tp in certain areas. 

Is that why you keep scratching your ass?

Apparently there's a shortage of good jokes in certain areas too.