Wii sales slipping?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-02-20 05:19pm

You know, considering this is such amazing news to us all, it makes me wonder why magazines from CVG to EDGE to PSM keep running such articles every generation. Could it be, perhaps, that these console developers are so short sighted as to not see that furiously pedaling how awesome their console's hardware is, only for the consumer to find zero titles worthy of displaying such technical wizardry, is a truly retarded launch campaign?

I do wonder, because given this is not a new piece of news to anyone here, it surely isn't known by the people that create such machines. Maybe they should actually wait until there's something worth playing, before launching a console. Not much point in buying something that has no reason for existing yet, and that's certainly the reason behind my not getting a Wii and putting the money into my DS, which I also waited for (if only down to the inevitable Mk. II model being the better Nintendo machine, method of handheld consoles).

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2007-02-20 07:48pm

Wow, I never knew C&VG was a joke publication. Their basis for this absurd argument is that Wii sales in Japan have been falling week on week, despite the fact that Chrismas, last year's absolute high was a scant couple of months ago? Are they unaware that Wiis are still sold out everywhere in Japan? That Wii Sports and Wii Play have never left the weekly software top 10 since their launch? That of this current generation in Japan, the Wii outsells the PS3 3.5-4x every week (the PS3 itself outselling the 360 by approximately the same 300-400%)? What a pile of absurdities.

Heck, don't take my word for it, here's Next-gen in Japan, see for yourself:

Sales chart

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-02-20 08:19pm

Faram wrote:A quick tip, stay away from Rampage on Wii.

Stay away from it on ANY system.

Elessar · Post by **Elessar** » 2007-02-20 10:12pm

Really, the fact that the majority of Wii games are crap isn't anything new. It's the case for nearly all systems; finding gems takes effort. But in addition to that, ports simply don't cut it. The remote is a unique controller scheme that can't be bumbled about. Hustling in a completely different interface to a developed game will end up with simplistic adapted controls.

I don't even know why there is so much praise for Zelda. It's obvious that the (core) game never really takes advantage of the Wii. The swinging of the sword has no relation to the path of your remote -- shaking the remote will cause Link to swing, shake again and Link will continue his combo... there is no point in actually treating the controller like his sword. All Nintendo did was map detected-jitters to the 'attack' action. It's lazy and a let-down for their flagship product.

Games like Wii Sports, Trauma Center, Monkey Ball, Super Swing Golf and WarioWare show the strength of the Wii. Expecting a port to compete with the above will lead to disappointment. When the developer first starts envisioning the game, they should already be taking into account the Wii's user interface. It's no different from game developers changing from a mouse to a console controller.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-02-20 10:36pm

Yeah, I'm hoping the DS-effect kicks in. Uninspired ports don't interest me: I'm an adult, and if I wanted games like that I'd just buy a 360. I like the interesting things the system can do, and pretty much the only console games I've played for a year have been gimmick PS2 games.

Oh, and fucking Tenkaichi 2. I hate DBZ, but flying superpowered combat with nuk-u-lar weapons is neat.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-02-20 11:22pm

Elessar wrote: I don't even know why there is so much praise for Zelda. It's obvious that the (core) game never really takes advantage of the Wii. The swinging of the sword has no relation to the path of your remote -- shaking the remote will cause Link to swing, shake again and Link will continue his combo... there is no point in actually treating the controller like his sword. All Nintendo did was map detected-jitters to the 'attack' action. It's lazy and a let-down for their flagship product.

First of all, the controls are awesome. Secondly, the Zelda game is an example of a traditional game done on the Wii, and it does that well.

Oh, and fucking Tenkaichi 2. I hate DBZ, but flying superpowered combat with nuk-u-lar weapons is neat.

DBZ is an example of a game with excellent Wii controls. I can't imagine playing it on another system.

mizuno · Post by **mizuno** » 2007-02-21 01:06am

I am always confused when people talk about the wii will take off when the "DS effect" kicks in.. The majority of my favorite DS games don't use the touch screen and stylus. And that is the genius of that handheld imo, both its traditional and innovative input methods work great! On the wii.. not every game needs the motion controls, game devs should have the option to make games that use the good old gamepads when it makes sense!

Wii Sports works so well because your actions match what is happening onscreen, Twilight Princess.. not so much. I also don't see the advantages for motion controls in that game. On games such as Smash Bothers I'm not convinced waggle is going to add anything.. And turning the wiimote sideways and trying to use it as a gamepad probably isn't going to cut it..

atg · Post by **atg** » 2007-02-21 01:18am

mizuno wrote:I am always confused when people talk about the wii will take off when the "DS effect" kicks in.. The majority of my favorite DS games don't use the touch screen and stylus. And that is the genius of that handheld imo, both its traditional and innovative input methods work great! On the wii.. not every game needs the motion controls, game devs should have the option to make games that use the good old gamepads when it makes sense!

Wii Sports works so well because your actions match what is happening onscreen, Twilight Princess.. not so much. I also don't see the advantages for motion controls in that game. On games such as Smash Bothers I'm not convinced waggle is going to add anything.. And turning the wiimote sideways and trying to use it as a gamepad probably isn't going to cut it..

Hence the Classic Controller, which IIRC, Smash Brothers is going to use.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2007-02-21 01:41am

atg wrote:
mizuno wrote:I am always confused when people talk about the wii will take off when the "DS effect" kicks in.. The majority of my favorite DS games don't use the touch screen and stylus. And that is the genius of that handheld imo, both its traditional and innovative input methods work great! On the wii.. not every game needs the motion controls, game devs should have the option to make games that use the good old gamepads when it makes sense!

Wii Sports works so well because your actions match what is happening onscreen, Twilight Princess.. not so much. I also don't see the advantages for motion controls in that game. On games such as Smash Bothers I'm not convinced waggle is going to add anything.. And turning the wiimote sideways and trying to use it as a gamepad probably isn't going to cut it..
Hence the Classic Controller, which IIRC, Smash Brothers is going to use.

Nah, you just plug your old gamecube controllers or Wavebird controllers in. The thing accepts the Wiimote and GC controllers.

I liked the Wiimote in Twilight Princess. Made fishing easier, made combat more fun, and made some of the fine detail selecting SO much faster. I could do a hell of a lot more damage with my bow, firing at nice little specific areas on the run, than I could have with a joystick. Also helped with the grapple stuff too. I think it was a bunch of fun! They were pretty simple controls too.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2007-02-21 01:46am

DPDarkPrimus wrote: First of all, the controls are awesome.

Not really. I bought the cube version then tried it on Wii and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-02-21 01:49am

Sharp-kun wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote: First of all, the controls are awesome.
Not really. I bought the cube version then tried it on Wii and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

I could sit in a much more relaxed position than is possible using the GC controller, with my arms resting on each side of me. It felt so much nicer than sitting up, leaning forward with my arms in the standard controller position.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2007-02-21 02:17am

I think the problem with the initial batch of ports was that they were trying to show off the controller. They added stylus controls to most everything on the DS launch iirc(I know Super Mario DS had them for some reason). Now that everyone knows what the controller will do, hopefully they'll get some sense into their head and learn to seperate Wiimote games and classic/ports like they have with the DS(for example, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin doesn't use the stylus at all, but I wouldn't want to give up the stylus for games like Advanced Wars DS, Trauma Center, or the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics game)

Sephirius · Post by **Sephirius** » 2007-02-21 02:32am

protip: buy a ps3. blu-ray will take over anyway.

atg · Post by **atg** » 2007-02-21 02:36am

Covenant wrote:
atg wrote:
mizuno wrote:I am always confused when people talk about the wii will take off when the "DS effect" kicks in.. The majority of my favorite DS games don't use the touch screen and stylus. And that is the genius of that handheld imo, both its traditional and innovative input methods work great! On the wii.. not every game needs the motion controls, game devs should have the option to make games that use the good old gamepads when it makes sense!

Wii Sports works so well because your actions match what is happening onscreen, Twilight Princess.. not so much. I also don't see the advantages for motion controls in that game. On games such as Smash Bothers I'm not convinced waggle is going to add anything.. And turning the wiimote sideways and trying to use it as a gamepad probably isn't going to cut it..
Hence the Classic Controller, which IIRC, Smash Brothers is going to use.
Nah, you just plug your old gamecube controllers or Wavebird controllers in. The thing accepts the Wiimote and GC controllers.

I liked the Wiimote in Twilight Princess. Made fishing easier, made combat more fun, and made some of the fine detail selecting SO much faster. I could do a hell of a lot more damage with my bow, firing at nice little specific areas on the run, than I could have with a joystick. Also helped with the grapple stuff too. I think it was a bunch of fun! They were pretty simple controls too.

I know about the GC controller support, having both a Gamecube and a Wii myself, but for those that never had a Gamecube (or cant find a GC controller) or who want it wireless, then the classic controller is the go.

Elessar · Post by **Elessar** » 2007-02-21 02:46am

Stark wrote:Oh, and fucking Tenkaichi 2. I hate DBZ, but flying superpowered combat with nuk-u-lar weapons is neat.

That game has so much potential for multiplayer! It's too bad that I can't bring myself to even attempt to master the 3d movement system... there's just something wrong about putting effort into a DBZ game. It's definitely just a rental.

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Elessar wrote: I don't even know why there is so much praise for Zelda. It's obvious that the (core) game never really takes advantage of the Wii. The swinging of the sword has no relation to the path of your remote -- shaking the remote will cause Link to swing, shake again and Link will continue his combo... there is no point in actually treating the controller like his sword. All Nintendo did was map detected-jitters to the 'attack' action. It's lazy and a let-down for their flagship product.
First of all, the controls are awesome. Secondly, the Zelda game is an example of a traditional game done on the Wii, and it does that well.

The controls are awesome? That wasn't my point. The point was that it was a lazy remapping of button actions to sensors. Enough jitter on the remote? That's the same as the 'A' button! The only core change was point and shoot (which was made irrelevant in most combat situations due to Z-targeting, so really all it did was help the use of clawshots).

Face it, Zelda is nothing more than a Gamecube game with some buttons remapped. But for some reason, people still hail Zelda as 'a traditional game done right'. Bah. Had it not had the strength of the Zelda franchise behind it, Twilight Princess would have been yet another lazy last-generation port. At least Dragonball Z actually used the interface for more than button remapping, with hilarious (and frantic) special moves that required the player to thrust their arms like morons as if they were Goku (throwing a fireball, spirit bomb etc).

All Link does is his three-swing combo, whether I'm pressing A three times, or all my swings of the remote are the same stroke, perfect mimcry, or little tiny wrist movements indicative of a 'toolbox'.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-02-21 03:49am

Sharp-kun wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote: First of all, the controls are awesome.
Not really. I bought the cube version then tried it on Wii and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

You only get the beauty of the Wii controls with extended use. Buy the Wii version and try it on Cube to see what you're missing.

Bow and arrow accuracy is vastly improved, and standard combat just feels nicer in the way you hold the controller.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2007-02-21 08:54am

Sephirius wrote:protip: buy a ps3. blu-ray will take over anyway.

Just like beta-max.

Beta-max Forever!

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-02-21 11:21am

Actually, from what I've been reading over at The Digital Bits for the last few weeks, Blu-ray is starting to seem like it'll be the definite winner of the Format War. For one thing, it's currently outselling HD-DVD by about a 2-1 ratio.

That doesn't make Sephirius any less of an idiot, of course...

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2007-02-21 11:41am

That's likely due to it receiving a brief boost from the PS3's launch. If PS3 owners keep buying the discs, then yeah, it'll probably be game over for HD-DVD. If not, then it could still be anyone's game (though whether either side will achieve a victory that's worth bragging about is a different matter entirely...)

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-02-21 11:51am

I don't know, but for anyone's interest, here are links to articles dating back to the Ninth of January:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa132.html#nvs
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocent ... ommonsense
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocent ... tml#uniend

The biggest thing seems to be overall industry support for both formats compared to HD-DVD exclusivity.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2007-02-21 05:53pm

NPD checks in.

PSXextreme wrote:Yes, they are finally here. January’s complete NPD hardware sales numbers. Yesterday we were able to scout and report the sales of the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3. To recap, the Nintendo Wii took home 436k, the X360 with 294k, and the PS3 with 244k. Now today NPD Fungroup has finally released numbers for all consoles. With these numbers, we now know that the second best selling console in January was the PlayStation 2, racking in 299k units. The Nintendo DS moved 239k units, and the PSP sold a respectable 211k.

Sales of obsolete hardware such as the GBA, Xbox and GameCube were made available, as well. The GameBoy Advance continues to sell well in North America, as NPD reports 179k units sold. Nintendo's GameCube is depleting its last remaining stock with 34k sold. And NPD reports 800 sold for the discontinued Xbox.

Incidentally, while the PlayStation 3 is selling marginally less than the X360, at the moment - it is actually Sony who is receiving the largest gross revenue, overall. Reports surfaced that the average price per PS3 sold is close to $580. That's a little over $141M in revenue for Sony. The average price per X360 sold is $390, which brings Microsoft's January revenue to nearly $115M. And because the Wii only has one price point of $250, Nintendo's revenue is $109M.

Wii 436k
Playstation 2 299k
Xbox 360 294k
Playstation 3 244k
Nintendo DS 239k
PSP 211k
GBA 179k
Gamecube 34k
Xbox 800

Note: It is important to know that the NPD does not calculate 100% of sales, but closer to 75%. Sales in/from Canada, Mexico, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Sam's Club, a variety of retail stores and privately owned electronics/game stores do not get accounted for. These numbers are not concrete and are only used to illustrate a rough estimate of sales performance.

Clearly, the Wii is really hurting for customers. And whatever happened to the PSP's big comeback, spurred by an incredible holiday line-up of games? It's still doing worse than the DS.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2007-02-21 05:57pm

I like how they mention the high gross revenue for the PS3, that makes me laugh.

Forget the fact that for every unit they sell, they are selling at a loss.

Consider also that that is not true for the XBrick 360 and the Wii.

Now look at the figures again

Wii = makes money
PS2 = still making money
X-Brick 360 = makes money
PS3 = Black hole of losing money

Love it.

Contine the downward spiral Sony, down to the depths with you!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-02-21 06:19pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Actually, from what I've been reading over at The Digital Bits for the last few weeks, Blu-ray is starting to seem like it'll be the definite winner of the Format War. For one thing, it's currently outselling HD-DVD by about a 2-1 ratio.

That doesn't make Sephirius any less of an idiot, of course...

But HD-DVD has outsold Blu-ray by such a wide margin for so long that it still has far more total sales.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-02-21 06:23pm

KrauserKrauser wrote: X-Brick 360 = makes money
PS3 = Black hole of losing money

Love it.

Contine the downward spiral Sony, down to the depths with you!

The Xbox 360 only makes money on the Premium package. The Core package (and the Xbox division as a whole) is still a lossmaker. (Last year Microsoft's home entertainment division lost about a billion dollars.)

Sony are in a similar situation, albeit with their electronics division keeping them in profit, whereas Microsoft live on the profits of Windows and Office.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-02-21 06:24pm

Praxis wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Actually, from what I've been reading over at The Digital Bits for the last few weeks, Blu-ray is starting to seem like it'll be the definite winner of the Format War. For one thing, it's currently outselling HD-DVD by about a 2-1 ratio.

That doesn't make Sephirius any less of an idiot, of course...
But HD-DVD has outsold Blu-ray by such a wide margin for so long that it still has far more total sales.

Yeah, it's more or less a given that HD-DVD has sold more overall because it was released much sooner (that margin IIRC, is also about 2-1), but it can't be ignored as not being significant that Blu-ray is selling twice as much right now.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

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