For the Wiin

[kickaha]

Just ran across this nifty chart showing sales of the Wii, XBox 360, and PS3.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php

Note total Wii sales passing total 360 sales in the previous week or so.

Now here's one aligning launch dates, with two things to note: slope of PS3 sales is almost identical to slope of 360 sales. ie, neither is really selling better, the 360 just had a one year lead. Secondly, slope of Wii is, um, a bit steeper.

http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=X360®3=All&align=1

Even if the data is off by a few % pts here and there, it's kind of stunning.

Comments

[badger.livejournal.com]

Unrelated to the impressive business totals, this link to a nice video of a Wii used as a controller for Kyma, a high-end audio effects application came across one of my lists today.

http://ssc-media.com/Movies/WiimoteOsculatorKyma-small.mov

I have neither Kyma nor Wii, but I can get a Wii, and I know one person locally with a full Kyma rig....

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Cool. I played with Darwiin Remote a couple weeks ago, which lets you use the Wii Remote as an input device for MacOS X... zomg. It lets you access every blasted bit of data from the bloody thing, including the accelerometers independently... and then assign those triggers to any action, keystroke, UI event trigger... you name it.

<3

[arthane.livejournal.com]

That was just about the coolest use of the wiimote I've ever seen.

[badger.livejournal.com]

You're just enabling me Wiiwards, aren't you?

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

That doesn't mean it's a good console, it's just cheap. :p

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

*whistles tunelessly*

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Cheap doesn't always sell the most. Fun has a better chance than cheap. The Wii snagged people's attention for that reason.

There will always be a segment of the population that wants RAW POWAH in their consoles, along with photorealism, and you're in it. It's why you do what you do, and why you're good at it.

That segment of the population used to *be* the gaming market, but now it's becoming a smaller portion of it. I'm not even sure it's a majority any more, to be honest. (Well, as soon as Wii sales pass 360 + PS3, I guess by definition...) I mean, look at games like Guitar Hero and Rock Star, or even DDR. Seriously not hardcore gamer genres, but really successful. This is the new gaming market - non-'gamers'. (Don't worry, you guys are at the top of your game, and the game industry - you're not going anywhere... ;) )

Hell, as someone who grew up in arcades during the heyday, I'm just glad to see the gaming industry trying anything new other than pixel pushing in the same old genres. Wacky FTW.

[tealynx.livejournal.com]

In support of your argument, I read somewhere (NYT? WSJ?) in the last week that they expect gamers to increase in the US by as much as 50% in the next 5 years. Almost all of that increase will come from those that haven't been gamers finding there's something in it for them. Research in to the Wii implies that a huge amount of it's growth is in the new customers, people that weren't gaming before, that are attacked by the ease and fun of the system.

It stands to reason that if the gaming industry is going to keep growing it needs to bring in new blood, people that have lived with gaming their whole lives but never been that interested. Which means lots of options, serving not only the high end gamer, but also the casual and very occasional ones. And making it like the old arcade experience.

I have to admit, the Wii gets a lot more playtime around here than any of the other consouls. By a wide margin.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Yup. The best platform is still the PC, will always be the PC. It seems to me that the Xbox and PS lines are trying to emulate the PC platform. (Hell, the Xbox *is* a PC, just with a tightly constrained hardware and driver profile. But you know that.) I have yet to see a gaming experience for the Xbox or PS that can't be had on the PC just as well, without spending an extra $4-600 on a box that I won't use for anything else. (I actually don't know if GH is available for the PC yet, but as I'm tone-deaf, it's not a game that particularly appeals anyway.)

Not sayin' there isn't fun and plenty of it to be had with the Xbox and PS, just that when your house is as full of electronics as mine, even I look to simplify and reduce the clutter at some point. I just wouldn't use them enough to make it worth paying for or storing them.

The Gamecube, on the other hand, I do use, for the party games and Lego Star Wars--I know I could get LSW for the PC, but 2 LSW games + the Gamecube console was about the same price as four LSW games for the PC (I play multiplayer), plus I get access to the Mario Party titles. Also I feel more comfortable with Nintendo's game lineup given the presence of the 5-year-old. Not that I'd be buying Mortal Kombat (to choose a name at random) anyway, but it's kinda nice to think that if one of his little friends brings it over, it won't fit in the slot. :)

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

The thing is what makes a console experience fun is the games, not the console. I think the Wii is successful partially because the simple games for it (which non-gamers will gravitate to) are 1: simple and 2: designed to play at a party. The Wii is really just an electronic board game, people will play it with groups of other people while folks on the more hardcore consoles wiil play with others online, rather than everyone in the same room. So it annoys me when people say things like 'the Wii is a great system!' because it's really not, it's a Gamecube with a new interface. And you can make bad games for it just as easily as any other console.

Bah. :p You're just attracted to freaks. (hi ginkgo! :D)

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

So it annoys me when people say things like 'the Wii is a great system!' because it's really not

But it is a great system. It's not a high-end graphical powerhouse, but the games are fun and are attracting new gamers in droves.

The problem in your statement is that "great" is too subjective a term; just because the Wii doesn't meet your personal requirements for a console, doesn't mean it doesn't excellently execute its intended purpose. The people who are saying the Wii is a great console are reflecting their experience with it.

Just 'cause I'm tone-deaf, doesn't mean that Beethoven's Ninth (or _Stairway to Heaven_, for that matter) isn't great music. Just means I don't give a crap. :)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Hey, I hang out with you... :D

While it is possible to make bad games for it, sure, it's possible to make games for it that simply *won't translate* to other consoles because of the interface. Tennis as a button-driven video game in general sucks. Tennis on the Wii is a *blast*.

"Less space than a Nomad, no WiFi, lame." Remember that quote? Comparing feature lists and specs is a losing proposition any more - usability is finally getting its due.

Look at it this way - I freaking loved Gears... not because of the art (come on, I was in a VR research lab for *how* long? Pixels don't impress me anymore), even though it was *gorgeously* done, but because of the *controls*. No shit. Yeah, I sucked at it compared to you (duh), but with a bit of practice, I could see myself getting really proficient at that control system. It was well thought out, well planned, and obviously the product of a lot of feedback. It was heads and shoulders above most FPS games I've played that reduce to button mashing. Button mashing is boring. A bad control layout will kill a game faster than anything for me.

But give me even a mediocre pixel count and AI system, with an interface that I can feel like I can *use*? Hell yeah. I'm there.

I think most people are in the same boat... and I think the sales figures reflect that.

You guys make a top-tier product for a particular genre, and you've pushed that genre *far*... but it's not the only genre. The PS3, and I think even more so, the 360, have been driven in a particular direction of gaming just as the PC gaming world has -> FPS and pixel count uber alles. At some point, the vast majority of people stop caring about pixel count, just like they have with CPU GHz. Ten years ago, it was one of the driving factors of the PC world. Now? Meh. Some people need every bit of raw power they can get, and always will, but *most don't*... and they're finally realizing that. I think the console industry is seeing a similar maturing now - you're hitting, or have passed, the limits of what most people figure is baseline acceptable for their gaming experience. Will there always be folks pushing that? Hell yes, and more power to them... but they're going to be increasingly 'out there' on that edge, and less mainstream as time goes on.

It's not about whether it's possible to make bad games for a console, it's whether a console offers an experience that people think is worth the cost. I mean hell, for $50k per unit, I could whip up a system that makes the military flight simulators I worked on in '95 look lame, but I don't think I'd sell many, even if the games were good.

The GameCube at $249 wouldn't sell today. The Wii does. As you point out, it's much the same hardware, so obviously the difference is the interface, and it's potential for pulling in people who have no desire to button-mash, and have no desire to play games that buttons are best suited for. The Wii Remote opens up the playing field to developers being really innovative again in *new* ways other than graphics and AI algorithms. Will some games suck? Oh hell yes. I'm just interested to see what gems come out of it.

I mean come on - DDR? How fricking lame of a concept is that?

But it's fun. :)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I like it because I can put it *down*. I get sucked into episodic games like nobody's business. (Myst? Two days of nothing but, and I was done. The only reason I didn't plow through Lego Star Wars II on a pretty continuous basis was because ginkgo and I were playing together, and she tended to nod off around 3am... I have no idea why, of course...)

But picking up the Wii for 15-20 minutes, as a break? That's nice.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Forgot about the online/in-person aspect...

Yeah, you're right that it adds a lot of in-person play, and people like that.

*People like that*... that's the important clause there. I like the fact that the Wii games are geared towards playing in person with each other.

That being said, however, I am also *VERY* much looking forward to online games with it so I can trash talk my brother in Seattle while I kick his ass at Smash Bros Brawl. :D

Two different markets/focuses, and the consoles placed their bets. Is there a market for online play? Hells yes. Absolutely. It's a blast. But there's also a market for getting the family together and playing in the same room, and many games ignore that aspect completely these days. The Wii tapped into it, and people are responding.

Could these types of in-room games be developed for the other consoles? Of *course* they could.

So why aren't they?