Wii will look "dated" in next few years, says SEGA exec

Lollipops. "fad". As Wii sales figures accelerate and PS3 sales level out. Is the DS a "fad" too? A lot of the SDF claimed Pokemon was a "fad".

Thing is I'm playing Smash Bros Melee, Metroid Prime 2 and Rogue Leader 1 again. These don't look dated? And 2/3 of them are from 2002

Luckily, you're on my ignore list...but *yawn* anyway.

There's just no market research that can accurately predict these things because this is something pretty new. My aunt hasn't played games since the NES and she's getting a Wii after seeing mine. Another friend of mine's parents have been playing Mario Party on the 64 every week since it came out and are finally moving on system wise.

The Wii is dated a bit for hard core gamers. I constantly go back and forth on mine. I love the games now, but am quickly running out of stuff to do...would be the same on PS3 though for me....but a lot of folks out there aren't the hard core gamers. Folks that will love Rabids, Brain Age, once a tetris comes out with folks contorting their bodies...etc.

Also if they can keep doing more releases like the upcomming Res 4 (30 bucks on release) they'll do even that much better.

Most gamers don't play the best games out there...like me as a kid on the NES, Super NES/Sega, PS, 64...I bought crap and sometimes stumbled on the good games. Lots of young gamers who buy movie franchise games (spiderman 3 in the top 10 this month for PS2!!!)...they don't realise these things people talk about...they buy a couple games and play them for whatever they have.

Plus they're not trying to go 10 years with their product. They'll build off the profit they've made this gen and go further in a few years...whereas PS3 is stuck with the same stuff and infastructure so they better hope their online stuff works well.

Paul

Well, he has a valid point. The Wii will look very dated; if developers release ports of FPS, RTS games etc. But they're not the Wii's strength.

If developers concentrate on simpler games which better exploit the Wii's unique features, it has a (very, very large) niche all to itself.

Can someone show me the statistical data where these "non-dated" games are selling better than "dated" Wii games? It sure sounds like the public officially don't give a rats arse

Since Xmas the Wii has outsold the PS3 and 360 combined. If that doesn't scream the public don't care then I don't know what does

Ps. What's Kool aid? I keep hearing that from Americans. Is it a drink over there or just some term or what?

raggedjimmi said:

Lollipops. "fad". As Wii sales figures accelerate and PS3 sales level out. Is the DS a "fad" too? A lot of the SDF claimed Pokemon was a "fad".

Thing is I'm playing Smash Bros Melee, Metroid Prime 2 and Rogue Leader 1 again. These don't look dated? And 2/3 of them are from 2002

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Maybe I'm dense but... what is that image for?

It's a rubbish joke I stole from Neogaf it's the Nile.

I'm not going to say that the Wii is a fad and will drastically fall off after a year or so, but that's a viable possibility. After we got our first test Wii in the office (and everyone played Wii sports constantly leaving the poor PS3 alone in the corner) I wondered if the Wii could maintain it's popularity after the novelty of the controls wore off. I still think that's a valid concern.

But I think right now developers are still figuring out how best to utilize the controls (just like w/the DS when it firs launched). If the controls stay more in the realm of "gimmicky" (seriously, how many mini-game compilation games do we really need... even FIFA '08 is getting a Wii specific mini-game mode) then the Wii is going to stagnate. But if the controls can "mature" and offer the same level of control you get w/a gamepad plus meaningful integration of the motion sensors the Wii is going to do very well.

Even though it's a simple UI, one of the best examples of the Wii controls is the Trauma Center port, IMO. You can't play that game on any other console besides a DS (and it's not a freakin' mini-game collection). Those types of unique games are what the Wii needs to thrive just like they made the DS thrive. Of course there are always going to be ports of super popular titles, but the ports are probably always going to have the weakest integration of the Wii controls and should be seen as desert, not the main dish.


Lethal

raggedjimmi said:

It's a rubbish joke I stole from Neogaf it's the Nile.

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Oh... guess it's an inside joke or something...

Really. Don't drink the Kool Aid

Kool Aid is concentrated sugar/fruit flavored drink mix invented in the USA. It took a rather macabre turn in the 70's when a religious cult of US ex-pats in Guyana all drank Kool Aid committing mass suicide. Story here.

The Wii already 'looks' dated with its graphics compared to the others, but it's not like there still can't be good games for it. The Wii is doing just fine, and the 5wii-1ps3 sales in Japan, will mean that lots of Japanese gamers will be getting 'dated' looking games.

Saying something is a fad is totally subjective.

"I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool"

A developer complaining about the lack of creativity? 'Tis a bit rich, no?

I don't think that will slow the Wii down...however I will be picking up atleast one of the other 2 system. I like nice graphics, in HD. However I also LOVE Super Smash Brothers, Metriod and Mario Galaxy, BWii, RE:UC, etc

SilentPanda said:

Oh... guess it's an inside joke or something...

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The Nile -> TheNile -> Denial! Get it? Oldest joke in the book, also corniest.

I think the Wii will do Fine. You have this new demographic of "non gamers" who will be looking for quirky games here and there. Then you have the Nintedo fanatics who will undoubtely buy up everything Nintendo puts out. Wii has already proven that a game like Zelda can be a great experience. I expect nothing less from the upcoming Metroid release. As soon as developers hit that one AAA game, others will follow suit. I see big potential with the Wiimote and first person shooters.

Some of you guys sure are quick to Doom&Gloom the PS3 because of current sales....
Seems like you don't think sales trends will change for any console ever.

If Nintendo fails to deliver third party games, sales will start to decline.
And yes, I think this is up to Nintendo. They can open the flood gates and let everyone make anything, but that also equals failure. Nintendo needs to do everything in their power to embrace 3rd party, but also give them direction, help them innovate game play, among other things. If all we get is garbage from third party, just to make a quick buck, then I agree with Sega's stance. Come one Ninty!

LethalWolfe said:

But I think right now developers are still figuring out how best to utilize the controls (just like w/the DS when it firs launched). If the controls stay more in the realm of "gimmicky" (seriously, how many mini-game compilation games do we really need... even FIFA '08 is getting a Wii specific mini-game mode) then the Wii is going to stagnate. But if the controls can "mature" and offer the same level of control you get w/a gamepad plus meaningful integration of the motion sensors the Wii is going to do very well.

Even though it's a simple UI, one of the best examples of the Wii controls is the Trauma Center port, IMO. You can't play that game on any other console besides a DS (and it's not a freakin' mini-game collection). Those types of unique games are what the Wii needs to thrive just like they made the DS thrive. Of course there are always going to be ports of super popular titles, but the ports are probably always going to have the weakest integration of the Wii controls and should be seen as desert, not the main dish.


Lethal

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Personally, though, I don't mind companies (like EA) adding additional modes / minigames provided they don't completely botch the main gameplay, and from screenshots I've seen (kotaku) the actual game looks pretty good for what it is. Sure you won't have sweatstains under the players' armpits during stoppage time, but it doesn't look that bad, and the shadows do look pretty nice (hopefully the character animations look good too).

As far as the second part, I think this has always been the voice of Wii owners (and part of my fear in general). Don't give us ports with tacked on controls, we're not stupid. Developers need to (and seem to) leverage the strengths of the console and use it to produce great looking games. We know that the Wii is capable of producing great looking games based on some of the later GC titles: RE4, Metroid. Twilight Princess, which I don't believe was even close to being completely optimized for the Wii, looked great and probably didn't tap close to the limits of the system.

BoyBach said:

"I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool"

A developer complaining about the lack of creativity? 'Tis a bit rich, no?

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That was the VP of marketing talking.

applekid said:

That was the VP of marketing talking.

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And your point is?

Perhaps Sega should be more worried about actually producing a game system or games rather than what other companies systems will look/perform like in the future. Seeing that the last system they produced was the Dreamcast in '99 (available in Japan in '98) Sega has no room to talk.

applekid said:

That was the VP of marketing talking.

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How can you tell if Marketing is lying? Their lips are moving...

Reuters reports that Sega believes PlayStation 3 will ultimately win this console battle. Steinberg said, "We know the PS3 pool is pretty deep. There's a lot to exploit there."

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Ya okay, so a console that has so much playable depth will die off and a console that is outsold by its predecessor per month by nearly double and hardly anyone can afford will "win" ?!?! That makes a whole lot of sense


Believe me i'm not disagreeing with the graphics bit about the Wii, I do feel they may be too old in the future, but i feel that part of it is not just hardware and also developer based because people ARE ACCEPTING games with low grade graphics! There has got to be so much power left untapped, look at RE4 for the gamecube which came out how many years ago and is STILL one of the most beautiful games in my opinion?

Exactly. Graphics on the Wii (just like the 360 and PS3) can only get better. I've yet to play a Wii game with a drop in frame rate, so there's enough power there to get Excite Truck, Zelda and co running at a constant rate.

What I don't understand though, is how anyone can say the graphics look dated. It's almost as if people here haven't played a PC game before, which I'm sure isn't the case. In 2004 I was playing Half Life 2 and Doom 3 etc, in super high resolutions. I didn't go play Mario Galaxy or Metroid and say "You know what, this looks dated". The 200 or so million people who bought video games consoles last gen didn't seem to mind the huge drop in visual quality from PC to console?

Something I've always wondered is what did the SDF play before Sony had the graphical upperhand? Did you side with the most powerful console then?

ed, where is that dapper chap with the hat?

anyways, the way I see is that after a few years nearly everything looks dated, that is why companies come out with updated products.

SamIchi said:

The Nile -> TheNile -> Denial! Get it? Oldest joke in the book, also corniest.

I think the Wii will do Fine. You have this new demographic of "non gamers" who will be looking for quirky games here and there. Then you have the Nintedo fanatics who will undoubtely buy up everything Nintendo puts out. Wii has already proven that a game like Zelda can be a great experience. I expect nothing less from the upcoming Metroid release. As soon as developers hit that one AAA game, others will follow suit. I see big potential with the Wiimote and first person shooters.

Click to expand...

I don't think you should expect the Wii to ever be a good shooter console simply because shooters are very visual experiences, the Wii is too techinically limited to make a good shooter by today's standards and its not like the control scheme is that great currently for Wii FPS. The PC IS and will always remain the best platform for FPS and Strategy games (real time or turn based).

I think Wii developers should focus more on the unique characteristics of the Wii and create new exciting games instead of releasing the same old things with tacked on Wii controls... I mean, if you release The Godfather on PS2 and then on Wii, making comparisons between the two is inevitable especially since they look the same... what Wii games need are new interesting concepts and games, something like Elebits or Warioware.

In any case, what good game does the Wii have thats not of the usual Nintendo franchises? Elebits? That is all I can think of and what are your most expected games? They are probably same ol Nintendo. This is the biggest issue I have with the Wii and Nintendo consoles, the fact Nintendo wants to have complete control over their console and if its not their way then its the highway for the 3rd party. Really, 1st party right now is the only thing worth on the Wii.

I honestly think that better processing power will actually open up more game ideas than motion control will and that the 360 and PS3 will have an edge because of that, the Wii is popular right now because its innovative and it has fun and quirky games but honestly I don't know how much that will last, I just feel the Wii will suffer the same fate as the Cube that is have quite a few AAA titles here and there but not enough to compete with the other consoles. I really think the Wii's technical limitations will come back and bite Nintendo in the ass a few years from now.