Is this from the Caasmania or whatever his name is guy?

I'm sure MP3 will be great (I'm looking forward to it) but unless I'm thinking of the wrong dude he is a HUGE Nintendo fanboy and makes no effort to hide it. I'm talking System Warscaliber of fanboy.

The backlash over what Nintendo did at E3 2007 is, and will continue to be - huge.subrosian

You know the industry isat an odd transition point when at E3 Nintendo's (the company we all grew up loving)big-game announcement is.... exercise.

It's a shame, it really is.

*snip*subrosian

Agreed, I wrote this a few days ago (before E3 and "Wii Fit").... getting at precisely what you're getting at with your opening post:

It's a matter of developers catering to a given system's demographic, and that is precisely what we've been seeing in practice for the past 8 months on the Wii. For example, if a huge portion of potential Wii game purchasers are "non gamers" (people that didn't tend to enjoy video games prior to the advent of the Wii,) and they are, coupled with the fact that actually developing the type of game non-gamers are most likely to purchase (pick up for 5 minutes, put down. Rinse, lather, repeat) costs a small fraction of what developing a more traditional "old school" type of game costs then said developers are going to use the Wii as a direct pipeline to pump those sorts of games into the hands of the Wii's massive "non gaming" audience. They're going to reserve their larger-budget, traditional games for the 360 and the PS3 where the audience on that side of the fence is, by and large, far more likely to buy the more "hardcore" fare in massive numbers. That's what has been happening and there is absolutely no reason to believe it won't continue to happen. When you combine this trend with the fact that developers can no longer develop a game for one system and spread it across all three you can pretty easily visualize how the Wii's gaming landscape will develop in the upcoming years. A more traditional game developed for the PS3 and/or the 360 can not trickle down to the Wii, its hardware is prohibitively underpowered and its control scheme far too incompatible with those of its competitors.

Nintendo has managed what no other video game company has managed up to this point in the industry's history, they've targeted and locked onto non gamers (your mother, your sister, your aunt, your grandparents, etc.) with enormous success. Now, to maintain this newfound fanbase they're going to have to continue to supply them with games that cater to their tastes; Wii Sports, Wii Play,Monkeyball, WarioWare, etc... simple distractions that can be picked up and put down in 5 minute bursts. Those aren't the types of games most traditional gamers dig, I know I don't. The Wii is harvesting, and will continue to harvest, that sort of library. It has to, Wii developers need to follow the system's already-established audience to have the greatest chance of being financially successful on the platform.

All of these companies are after one thing: Money. Cash is king and gamers are money..... but at least Microsoft and Sony are going after my money rather than the lunch money from the nine year girl next door. I just hope Microsoft and Sony don't try to follow Nintendo down the yellow brick road they've paved in hope of breaking of a slice of Nintendo's pie.

Pie > Pie Charts > Cake

Seriously, where did you get a picture of me?

Number_1_Gamer.... BATHROOM!

All the fanboy groups are equally ridiculous (and dumb)... but I think with the release and reaction to the Wii the "term" Sheep fits more comfortably than any of them.

I remember during the last generation the Nintendo fanboys did not care about quantity in the least, only the shining quality of a handful of stellar games. They'd say "So what?" to the PS2's huge catalog of good games and follow it up with "Show me a single game as great as Prime, these games are the hardest of the hardcore". Now that they've got the sales and [are about to have] subsequent quantity without the quality it's no longer about having the few stand-out hardcore, stellar titles... it's only about the public's perception of "fun," getting spots on the local news, "getting in shape," and playing with Grandpa. Casual games are "in" now I guess. Last generation they would post screen after screen of Prime and Resident Evil 4 touting the incredible visuals (and at the time they had them in spades,) despite the fact that the [arguably poorly designed] GameCube controller was often very clunky to use. Now graphics no longer matter, at all.... it's all about gameplay (and what is gameplay you ask? It's all about the well-designed controller, of course.) Last generation it was "Sales? Who the Hell cares about sales, I don't work for Nintendo," yet now it's "HEY! Hey you, look at these sales numbers." As soon as the Wii sold out the Nintendo fanbase was more than happy to do the same.

"Sheep" is a very fitting term for that group.... because through rain or shine, thick or thin, they dutifully follow their corporate sheppards.

This is what you "hardcore gamers" are gonna look like in your late 30s:

Number_1_Gamer

I'm 25, so if I'm going to look like that in 13 years I better start packing in the cake and soda... because I've got a long way to go.

You'd rather sit alone in your basement getting fatter by the day while downing Coke and Slim Jims than you know, play games with friends. Of course, that assumes you have friends to play games with, which most "hardcore gamers" probably don't. lolNumber_1_Gamer

Yahaha, the last thing my buddies want to do when they swing by is play Wii Sports (they don't want to play videogames at all generally.... but something like Wii Sports or Monkeyball? Not a chance in Hell.)

What does it say to developers when:

The best selling non-bundled game is Wii Play (5.4) outselling zelda

Wii sports (7.8 ) is best selling game in Japan (not bundled there)

Other top selling games includes WarioWare, Mario Party 8 and Rayman Raving Rabbids

Red Steel (5.5) sells over 1 million worldwide

???

It says we want party games.

It says we can't tell the difference between crap games and good games.

What developers and games do you think this demographic will attract?

me2002

Exactly.

There was a similar thread a few days back about the Wii's fantastic sales numbers... I'll just copy and paste what I wrote rather than retyping something similar to a post I've already written.

It's a matter of developers catering to a given system's demographic, and that is precisely what we've been seeing in practice for the past 8 months on the Wii. For example, if a huge portion of potential Wii game purchasers are "non gamers" (people that didn't tend to enjoy video games prior to the advent of the Wii,) and they are, coupled with the fact that actually developing the type of game non-gamers are most likely to purchase (pick up for 5 minutes, put down. Rinse, lather, repeat) costs a small fraction of what developing a more traditional "old school" type of game costs then said developers are going to use the Wii as a direct pipeline to pump those sorts of games into the hands of the Wii's massive "non gaming" audience. They're going to reserve their larger-budget, traditional games for the 360 and the PS3 where the audience on that side of the fence is, by and large, far more likely to buy the more "hardcore" fare in massive numbers. That's what has been happening and there is absolutely no reason to believe it won't continue to happen. When you combine this trend with the fact that developers can no longer develop a game for one system and spread it across all three you can pretty easily visualize how the Wii's gaming landscape will develop in the upcoming years. A more traditional game developed for the PS3 and/or the 360 can not trickle down to the Wii, its hardware is prohibitively underpowered and its control scheme far too incompatible with those of its competitors.

Nintendo has managed what no other video game company has managed up to this point in the industry's history, they've targeted and locked onto non gamers (your mother, your sister, your aunt, your grandparents, etc.) with enormous success. Now, to maintain this newfound fanbase they're going to have to continue to supply them with games that cater to their tastes; Wii Sports, Wii Play,Monkeyball, WarioWare, etc... simple distractions that can be picked up and put down in 5 minute bursts. Those aren't the types of games most traditional gamers dig, I know I don't. The Wii is harvesting, and will continue to harvest, that sort of library. It has to, Wii developers need to follow the system's already-established audience to have the greatest chance of being financially successful on the platform.