Ok, time for a real reply.
First off, do not compare the Wii and the Gamecube ever again. If anyone does that, they instantly lose all credibility, like it was a
ing pie-slice on Wheel of Fortune, where "Bankrupt" suddenly applies to your ability to
be intelligent. You just got robbed, son. Betta hope the chiclets next to you don't buy too many vowels and totally figure out the answer is "Don Juan DeMarco."
If you want honest reasons for this, then look up the sales. Go on, look them up. The Wii - in
one year - is over 10 million. Gamecube settled around 22 million over 5 years
or so, since I don't keep exact figures in my head, and I tend to discard old antiquated figures when they hardly bear any meaning any longer to anything current (the figure comes from consolecharts.com or something, but it doesn't really matter). But as such, the Wii is already destroying the pace set by the Gamecube. So sales alone negate the comparison.
But don't worry.
I got more, non-narcotic sissy pansies. Games appearing from Rockstar and Tecmo, who were absent with both previous systems (unless you want to count
Armorines, which I don't). More support from Capcom in the form of Monster Hunter 3. Squeenix not only making Wii games, but Wiiware games.
I imagine if you look up the attachment rates of the Gamecube versus the Wii (I couldn't find these), the Wii is probably more than holding its own. I know I personally have bought many, many more games in the first year for the Wii than I did for the Gamecube, though I am not projecting that across everyone else. It's just something to think about.
So stop comparing the two systems. Just
stop. They are not the same. As I've been saying everytime the "where are the good third party games" bitchfest appears, you need to understand the average game takes 2 years to develop. Since Nintendo threw everyone for a loop with this system, and since everyone is now scrambling to get on board, it's going to be 1-2 years even from
now before more projects appear. Monster Hunter 3 - once again - is a very, very strong indicator of this
most likely happening. I won't say it definitely will happen, because I'm never certain of anything. But I know that title is huge in Japan. Squeenix actually
apologized for moving that ish. I've almost never heard of that happening.
Second, I've seen people say things like "Well I just wanted to buy a Wii and be done with it, but I guess Nintendo can't fulfill everything I need, so I had to get a ___." This is a bullshit statement because
at no time when there's been 3 strong competitors in this industry has any true/hardcore/enthusiast/whatever-bullshit-adjective-here gamer been satisfied with one system. I'm going to guess that a lot of people who owned Xboxes and Gamecubes had a PS2 also.
When it was just Sega and Nintendo, it was easier to pick a "side," so to speak. But once Sony showed up, it was pretty much a "Sony + ___" situation. So acting like Nintendo has "failed" you is kind of a silly notion,
especially if you pride yourself like some sort of connouiseur, because you can't pass yourself off as an elegant bastard and then decide to limit yourself.
I'm aware there are one-console-owners out there, but most of them were Sony the last two generations around. I'll even be fair and say the next highest was probably Microsoft, and lastly Nintendo. But there's always,
always going to be at least one game on a system you don't own that you want to play.
Finally, we need to stop comparing gamerankings. Seriously. It's well documented that there is little to no correlation between a review score and sales. Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, etc etc. We all know that. The parallel is true - finding that one system has more games in a higher spectrum than another system...really doesn't mean a lot. I can't play a
review score. I can play a game. And if I'm not interested in the games on a system, then I don't have a reason to get it or its games.
I don't see people buying games for systems they don't own
just because it has a glowing ratio either. Otherwise, I'd be sitting down with a copy of Ratchet and Clank right now, with
no PS3 to play it on.
Note that this is NOT the same as saying "games on ____ suck." Wrong. It is saying if a person isn't interested in them, then the score bears no meaning. That's when subjective nature rules over objective, and this is why a score ratio ultimately holds little water. Otherwise, Zack and Wiki would be one of the top selling games right now.
Now, to comments:
[quote name='pittpizza'] I would love for the Wii to NOT be like the gamecube in that respect--meaning it's best used for nintendo exclusives--but its starting to look like (due to whats hot and what is not) it will be best used like the GC. [/QUOTE]
I don't really have a problem with this statement, but seriously, where have all you people been in the last...oh....11 years? Since the N64, it's been overwhelmingly apparent that you buy a Nintendo system
largely for Nintendo's games.
This didn't suddenly change with the Wii, people. And the only way it will is if you are willing to wait 1-2 years to see what happens with the third parties.
Hell, I think the only system where third party titles were really strong was the SNES. I can't in good faith count the NES, although I will readily admit that it's a very close race there, with the likes if Contra, Final Fantasy, River City Ransom, etc.
So if you bought the Wii and are expecting a lot of high quality third party not-Nintendo-franchise titles, you've really kind of
ed up. But I'll be fair and say that Nintendo needs to be blamed for this too. But then I'll be even
more fair and blame the third parties for failing to create games that can compare to Nintendo's own offerings, especially when they've ignored Nintendo for the past two generations. But then I'll be even doubleplusmorefair and blame Nintendo for not releasing development/coding techniques to get the most out of the system graphically.
In other words, it's a sordid mess of
bullshit. But the simplest thing to remember is that if you don't want to play Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Smash Bros/etc, then this isn't the system for you, and that is
fine so long as you don't pull out this bullshit "I've been tricked" nonsense.
[quote name='MarioColbert']soccer moms are buying and supporting
with their husband's hard earned dollars. [/QUOTE]
hehe!
[quote name='rainking187']No, you are in a rut. You may not be in a rut sales wise, but as far as quality of games goes it's a very deep rut. And I was a Nintendo fanboy. I've been playing Nintendo consoles since the NES, and I even stuck by the Gamecube. But I just find it very hard to support Nintendo currently. I'm just simply not happy about the direction Nintendo's headed in. There's simply an astonishing amount of crap being released for the Wii. And all three consoles have crap on them, but when the crap is surpassing the good stuff in terms of sales there's a very big problem. [/QUOTE]
1) Quality of games is subjective.
2) Quality of Nintendo's games is reaching critical levels. Mario Galaxy is beyond awesome. So that shoots a hole in your theory.
3) "Direction Nintendo is headed in." Funny statement. You mean...to the top in terms of sales? No, probably some hypothetical about how they are going to abandon the hardcore gamers. You'll have to come back to me when they happens,
if that happens, because right now I'm not convinced. I'm sorry a few Brain Age titles selling in the millions scares you that much.
4) "Crap released on the Wii." It's a delicate balancing act of crap vs substance. But I imagine if Nintendo had higher standards in terms of third parties, gamers would call them snobby and elitist. So Nintendo can't win this fight, so they choose to just let everyone come. I'm not saying that's the best strategy, and I do think there's shovelware galore, but beyond all of that, it doesn't detract from the heavy hitters.
[quote name='Kendal']Me too. I am going to ignore my Wii since everyone loves it. I am going to play PS3 and Atari Jaguar, no one likes those. We are some rebels.[/QUOTE]
This made me laugh. "We are some rebels." Hehe! :] And I'm not saying this in any kind of sarcastic way. I found it genuinely funny.
[quote name='Tsukento']
Compare the amount of games Nintendo released for the Super NES to the N64 or GameCube. Since the N64, they've taken a seat back and let 3rd party developers make the most of their consoles while throwing in a couple of their own games here and there. It's especially evident with GameCube. Wii is slowly becoming that. While it's still early, I'm hoping they at least make a turnaround like they did with the DS in its first year.[/QUOTE]
HUH? They've released FAR more first party games in the first year ALONE of the Wii than they did in the GC's first year, and WAY MORE than the N64.
The other part about third parties is nonsense. It
maybe applied to the NES and SNES.
Maybe. About the only system that could be applied to today from Nintendo is the DS, and I'm not even sure that counts.
The last two sentences are just silly.
[quote name='evilmax17']This complaint is not exclusive to Nintendo or the Wii. Every console that's led the market has suffered from this exact thing.
Go back and look at the PS2 library. There are a few gems in the 1000+ game lineup, but most of it is filler. The Wii doesn't have any more shovelware than any other leading console in history.[/QUOTE]
Ding. 20 points to Evilmaxriffyndor.
[quote name='jollydwarf']*paranoia*[/quote]
As for your concerns, I won't discount them, because I can't. It's that simple. However, I'm not dumb enough to think Nintendo is some sort of harbinger bent of heralding the coming of
The Second Crash, as was foretold in the great Instruction Booklet Tomes of the Ancient Atari Ones.
You - and the "hardcore" (
ugh) gamer crowd - all place this blame solely on Nintendo, and then you turn around and lament the fact that your hobby is no longer this best-kept secret, like some sort of druidic anthem passed down through the ages, as if it were a damn secret.
But you do this while dismissing the sheer amount of crap that was found on the NES and SNES, two systems you'd largely have to acknowledge as having some of the best games ever made. This is to say NOTHING of the PS2, which I believe most people say is their favorite system. Hell, let's throw in the PS1. Additionally, you portend that the Wii is the only one of the current systems with a lot of crap on it.
I suggest you look at it a different way. You need to understand two basic things. The first is that the overwhelming majority of developers are making games for your crowd. This includes Nintendo, Sony, Bungie, a host of EA's subsidiaries, etc etc. You've even got two systems
devoted to the power users. And there are enough sales to guarantee that such games will always be made. So stop with this Four Horsemen of N scenario - it's really flawed.
The second is that
despite all those people devoted entirely to your camp, it is fast shrinking when compared to the growth of the "casual" group. You can piss and moan and cry and blame Nintendo for this all you want, but the thing you need to understand is that the crowd is growing, and with it, developers will turn some attention their way. At no point, at no time, in any industry, where there are a lot of developers creating content for some amount of people X, will
some amount less than X be more profitable.
Right now, you guys are sorely in the "some amount less than X" category, and you are being displaced and overrun with growing numbers. At some point, X is going to be less a percentage of
you. And since there's nothing you can do about that - aside from being whiny smartassed - I
suggest you get a better outlook.
See, the funny thing is....Wii Sports and Wii Play and going to make a ton of money for Nintendo, and since their MO is
not to make Wii Sports 2, they can use that money to make bigger games. It's going to balance out, because those same companies will help fund bigger projects aimed at your side. I can't prove this. I really can't. But I somehow doubt Wii Sports is going to - by
itself - radically change everything Nintendo has done for the 21 years they existed
before Wii sports. (Yes, I KNOW they've been around 100+ years, but I really only count them back to the NES days for these discussions.)
The point, then, is that I suggest you stop with all this blaming-Nintendo-only jazz. Sony is advertising that Quiz Show shit on the PS2 right now, but I don't see you acting like that's going to keep God of War 3 from coming out.
It's funny. With your first post, I felt kinda bad, because you've reiterated this thread's topic about a
hojillion times over the past year.
Oh well.
#). And the upcoming Okami port. Porting over a game that flopped terribly sales-wise on a previous console...wouldn't make much sense to do that on a console without a large install base.
