EA dubs Nintendo Wii a 'legacy platform'
Wii 2 on its way?
EA has described Nintendo Wii as a "legacy platform", a console that picks up dust on the shelf along with the likes of the PS2 and the original Xbox, while HD consoles rule the show.
The Wii has seen a decline in sales over the last year, and with Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PS Move taking motion-controlled gaming into the HD realm, the Wii has been steadily losing ground. However, according to market watcher Strategy Analytics, the Wii still outsold its HD rivals in 2010.
Speaking to IndustryGamers, EA Games head Frank Gibeau said: "Legacy platforms like PS2 and the Wii have dropped off significantly… [but Nintendo] is going to come back at it."
Referring to the Wii 2, Gibeau said: "When you look at Nintendo, for a while there, it was all about the Wii being the biggest entertainment platform ever and capturing the mass market, and it faded away. Now, they’re coming back with a second act."
Wii like to move it, move it
According to investment house Sterne Agee, we could get a glimpse of the Wii 2 at this year's E3 Expo in June, with a product launch expected early next year.
Nintendo may be playing catch-up graphically with the HD consoles of today, but is it fair to lumber the Wii with the likes of Sony's PS2? What are your views? ®
COMMENTS
EA's lack of interest in the Wii says more about EA than it does about the Wii.
EA's target market is massively marketed titles. They are not interested in smaller innovative game play titles, that's nitch market to EA. What EA wants is that next big blockbuster marketing slogan. Their true focus isn't on the game, its on the marketing potential that can be associated with the game. If the game is good as well then great, but EA are primarily looking at its marketing potential not its game play.
Nintendo and Wii however are interested in innovative game play and so are their fans.
Maybe, but...
...it got Nintendo back into the living room console market and got people talking about the company and its products. They forced Sony and Microsoft to innovate, but unlike PS3 and 360, the Wii was profitable from day one. Whilst Nintendo was banking money, the other two were being forced to spend big money to catch up.
To be fair...
Technologically, apart from the user interface, the Wii was a legacy console when it was first released.
The problem for EA is that because of the limited hardware specs on the Wii, games can't rely on "Shiny Shiny!" to be sure-fire sellers; they actually need something like, oooh, I dunno, content and replayability. Whereas EA are basically games manufacturers; the John Smiths (beer) of the games world - perfectly drinkable but totally safe, mass-produced and generally uninspiring.
The success of EA games is largely down to their marketing budget I suspect - take Dragon Age 2 for instance. It's alright, a somewhat dumbed-down version of the original with even less character depth (especially the companions) and a shallower story (so far - I've not completed it yet but I'm most of the way through "Act 2" I would guess, level 16). It's still an enjoyable game but compared to Dragon Age: Origins it's a little bland and I thought DA:O was a little bland and dumbed-down compared to Neverwinter Nights 2.
if the most popular platform is "legacy"...
...doesn't that indicate that the mass market don't give a toss about "power" when it comes to consoles?
It's strange 'cos Sony bragged about power for both PS1 and PS2 and sold loads. But they didn't have the most powerful consoles for either of those generations. So, Sony succeeded when they said they had the most power, but maybe that's not what actually shifted units.
Those who can remember back 10 years or so will remember that the N64 was far more powerful than the ps1 but didn't sell nearly as well.
So, it seems that "power" can be an important part of marketing, but it's not actually that relevant to most consumers.
On a side note, power is not enough if developers code badly. I can't believe how jerky the frame rate is on the boys 360 when he plays Mass Effect. Low polygon count running silky smooth > high polygon count at 6fps,
You don't have children, I can tell.
The whole point of the Wii is the family/party gaming. My kids have a couple of the Rayman Rabbids series - you've never heard so much hooting and laughing as when they play with their friends. MarioKarts is another game which is just dull on your own, but fun to play with others. Trips round to friends' houses usually mean taking their controllers round to enable 3 or 4 players.
Oh, and the Nunchuk? How else do you do boxing, or pretending to fly (arms outstretched) or playing drums?
