Wii's situation is a lot different from GC's. Yes third party support is still relatively weak, but it's gaining a lot more especially among smaller devs.
I'm looking at the Wii's lineup for this year and while I like it with games like SMG, SSBB, MP3, and Super Paper Mario I don't think the general public is going to be satisfied with those. I mean, basically all of those series were also on GC and the public turned to the console will GTA, Madden, Burnout, MGS, FF etc.
I like the lineup enough to warrant a purchase when the console is cheaper but the public don't usually buy more than once console and Wii being cheaper than PS3 or 360 doesn't necessarily mean it will sell more overall. Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic about this but the main reason the GC failed was because it did not have enough major titles on the system, and that seems to be happening with the Wii too.
I think Wii's appeal with non gamers will only pull it so far. People are just going to go to the system which has the major series again.
I want to think differently but I'm seeing absolutely no evidence of major titles coming to Wii.
What do you think? Agree/Disagree? the-very-best
A very valid concern. The only difference is that there is more 3rd party support. Yes, it is not getting many of the high budget, high profile titles like GTA4, Assasins Creed, etc. But, look at the 3rd party support one more time... (Take_A_Look_At_the_2007_Line-up_Here) Did the gamecube have an exlusive SSX? Did it have a Dance Dance this early? Did it have developers interested in it so soon? Did it have a DQ game? Did you think it possible for the Cube to have Manhunt? Or Sadness? Though very weak at this point... 3rd party support is already stronger on the Wii than on the GC (which is kinda sad).
If you also look at the 1st party (once again Take_A_Look_At_the_2007_Line-up_Here) you will notice that almost every single Nintendo franchise is present. It took 2 years for the Cube to get every major Nintendo franchise and now we have it all in 1. Mario, Metroid, Zelda (though ported....still present), Smash, Kirby, DK, WarioWare, Battalion wars, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Paper Mario, and even more....
You may say that this is a bad thing... that after this year, the Wii isn't going to have anything interesting on it. But what do you think 2007 sales of the Wii will be like with all of these million sellers in 1 year? SSX alone sells over 1 million copies... and it being exclusive to Wii? Games like WiiPlay and WiiSports are selling the console like crazy! What did the GC have to drive sales? The regulars. The Wii is guaranteed to sell more than the GC.
With that being said, developers will almost be forced to make new and interesting content for the Wii. We have seen small glimpses of this happening with titles like Red Steel at launch, Elebits, Dewy's Adventure, No More Heroes, Sadness, and DQ Swords. Though none of these are insane games that will revolutionize the industry, its just the start. Once the Wii takes off.... nothing will stop it. It will be the next DS and no one can deny it at this point... heck, they are not even readily available at stores right now and its been 1/4th of a year since launch!
Support will come, and Nintendo is holding off till then with one heck of a 1st party line up!
To answer the basic question, it's yes an no. I don't think it will be like the GCN in terms of sales- it will most likely sell more. If you think sales determine the worth of a console, the Wii stands a reasonably good shot (though as others have said, I think the race will be MUCH tighter this time around). But, I'm more of a quality games kind of person, so that leads me to... ...it being just like the Gamecube when it comes to games. 3rd party support is already weaker than the other console, and I think it will get weaker in the future. Now, before you go bust out a big list of games, remember that the GCN had good 3rd party support in the beginning (and I, being over at the IGN forums, distinctly remember all the GCN fans declaring it the return of Nintendo to the top of gaming). What happened last time was that the games eventually came out...and didn't sell. Right now, I see NO REASON for that to change. Nintendo's holding back some of its guns to get 3rd party games to sell (sort of an illusion), but they won't do it for long because it will hurt their bottom line. Furthermore, Nintendo's targeting the "non-gamer" (which is an oxymoron). These people would be inclined to buy one or two games a YEAR. So even if Nintendo manages to sell a lot of consoles to them, it doesn't mean they're going to sell a lot of games. I think many 3rd parties are going to find that, even if its a smaller userbase, their games will sell better on the PS3/360. Furthermore, I'm especially wary of these non-gamers buying minigame collections....so even if 3rd party support continues, I think many will turn out to be minigames. Look at the newest Sonic game- instead of adding more meat to the main game, they went and created a minigame collection. Super Monkey Ball? Add a minigame collection (well they had it before, but it much smaller numbers...the jump from 6 to 50 proves what the aim was). I personally hate minigames and if developers are finding that's what sells best, then that's what they're going to focus on for the Wii.
[QUOTE="Vampyronight"]To answer the basic question, it's yes an no. I don't think it will be like the GCN in terms of sales- it will most likely sell more. If you think sales determine the worth of a console, the Wii stands a reasonably good shot (though as others have said, I think the race will be MUCH tighter this time around). But, I'm more of a quality games kind of person, so that leads me to... ...it being just like the Gamecube when it comes to games. 3rd party support is already weaker than the other console, and I think it will get weaker in the future. Now, before you go bust out a big list of games, remember that the GCN had good 3rd party support in the beginning (and I, being over at the IGN forums, distinctly remember all the GCN fans declaring it the return of Nintendo to the top of gaming). What happened last time was that the games eventually came out...and didn't sell. Right now, I see NO REASON for that to change. Nintendo's holding back some of its guns to get 3rd party games to sell (sort of an illusion), but they won't do it for long because it will hurt their bottom line. Furthermore, Nintendo's targeting the "non-gamer" (which is an oxymoron). These people would be inclined to buy one or two games a YEAR. So even if Nintendo manages to sell a lot of consoles to them, it doesn't mean they're going to sell a lot of games. I think many 3rd parties are going to find that, even if its a smaller userbase, their games will sell better on the PS3/360. Furthermore, I'm especially wary of these non-gamers buying minigame collections....so even if 3rd party support continues, I think many will turn out to be minigames. Look at the newest Sonic game- instead of adding more meat to the main game, they went and created a minigame collection. Super Monkey Ball? Add a minigame collection (well they had it before, but it much smaller numbers...the jump from 6 to 50 proves what the aim was). I personally hate minigames and if developers are finding that's what sells best, then that's what they're going to focus on for the Wii.
While it won't get those games or get spin-offs of them (atleast GTA, FF, MGS) it will get its own unique games. So far the Wii has been a hit with non-gamers with titles like Wii sports and Wario Ware.
[QUOTE="Vampyronight"] Furthermore, Nintendo's targeting the "non-gamer" (which is an oxymoron). These people would be inclined to buy one or two games a YEAR. you know this was the common sense thought but it's being proved wrong. the DS was also targeting non gamers but guess what? the attachrate is huge. it's totally dwarfs the attach rate of psp (the supposed hardcore handheld). when we look at wii attach rates compared to ps3 attach rates we're seeing the same thing. (not counting the 360 since it's been out for much longer thus more time passed for owners to buy games)
Wii can end up like the gamecube if third parties dont stop screwing around and put out good games instead of trying to make a quick buck .KingOfJersey
It's mainly that they were taken by surprise. We'll see better games soon when they have more time to develop for them.
[QUOTE="lVK1"]What about Project HAMMER and Disaster Day of Crisis? or Godfather, Manhunt 2, and No More Heroes? (i dont plan on buying the last three)the-very-best
I don't think those games will be bad (in fact, No More Heroes looks very interesting) but do you think the public will choose those games or will they go to the console with GTA/MGS/FF/GT or GTA/Halo etc? I dont think that FF and MGS are real casual grabbers. MGS can be to complicated for some casuals and FF can seem boring to others. While i do believe GTA GT and Halo are all going to be great system sellers, i dont think they will be as big of a casual drawer in as SMG, SSBB, Mario Party 8 (i think its 8), and MP3. Not to mention the fact that many older gamers will be drawn in by the VC.
I think then whenever Nintendo get a good Pokemon RPG (like the ones on gameboy, not the previous console ones) on a Console, their sales will rise big time. Pokemon has such potential to be great even on a console (millions of die hard fans, who'll get every game of it), off course people will bash it again being childish, but I think shooting aliens is childish too, even though I really like it (Halo, Lost planet ^^). ow yeah I also think that MANY people are waiting to play the next mario party with motion sensing controllers.
[QUOTE="poopinloop32"]I knew it was ganna turn out like the cube when it didnt get key third party support like GTA 4Bread_or_Decide
I think people forget just how popular GTA really is. That game is going to sell alot of 360's and PS3's.
But just how much more is it going to sell divided into two different platforms? In the case of the 360, probably not as much as the PS3 since the user base is larger and not everyone who gets GTA buys a system with it. The sales will have more impact for the PS3 though since the sales are not up to par and not everyone has a PS3 yet. Of course, the price is still a huge problem for PS3.
So the game will sell, but I wonder about how many systems it can sell. A million more for both? Remember, the game is a multiplat and based on that we won't see the same sales as the PS2 enjoyed due to exclusivity.
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