Wii is 'most expensive board game on Earth'
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Nov 7th 2008 at 7:07PM }
So says Sega A&R man Darren Williams in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, who also described the console as "the kind of thing that families will play at Christmas, and probably won't play again throughout the remainder of the year."Before we all fetch the pitchforks and start constructing crude Darren Williams effigies, perhaps it would do some good to calmly consider whether the man has a point. In this blogger's personal experience, a small number of families do only use the Wii sporadically, and Williams clearly isn't referring to Wii Fanboy staff or readers.
Whether these occasional players are such a bad thing is another debate entirely. One popular theory seems to be that newer gamers are less likely to invest in new Wii software, but we saw yesterday that the Wii's tie ratio is thoroughly healthy. What sayeth you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ucial @ Nov 7th 2008 7:17PM
Im afraid I agree. I think the Wii is a fantastic console which is being butchered by hundreds of crap games. Since a console is only as good as its games, the Wii is failing fast for me, hopefully the next few months of games may change my opinion...but as it stands now, great console crap software.
VaultICEE @ Nov 7th 2008 7:26PM
Took the words right out of my mouth.
The only game I was excited to buy after I bought the Wii was Super Smash Bros. After that, I just don't feel the love from third-parties. I know Nintendo assures us new Zeldas and Marios are on the way, but for now, it's just sitting there being out-spotted by my 360 at the moment.
I will wait however to see the reviews for Animal Crossing. That's been my favorite Nintendo franchise in recent years, but if it really is just a DS rehash... I think I'll pass.
esposch @ Nov 7th 2008 7:34PM
Those next few months are gonna rock. Animales de la Muerte, Mushroom Men, The Conduit, No More Heroes 2 and Ghostbusters are just a couple i can think of off the top of my head.
The gaming drought is about to end.
Russ Carroll @ Nov 8th 2008 1:23PM
Totally disagree...and furthermore what kind of logic is behind "I don't play the console, therefore it isn't good."
How about "I don't play the console, therefore I have no idea what I'm talking about."
The counter-culture of "guess I should dust off the Wii," is disappointingly senseless.
That said, I'm sorry you guys aren't enjoying the Wii more. I have to say quite frankly from all the consoles I've owned from the 2600 right through to today, it is my favorite...I just can't relate.
I want to spout into a list of games that I'm really enjoying, but it seems like a wasted effort, if you aren't playing the games yourself, you will never know what you are missing. I will say there have been some good titles like Boom Blox that are totally unique and a blast to play and some great titles like World of Goo this year. If you aren't playing them you are simply missing out.
The Wii definitely isn't for everyone, but dismissing it without playing it...extensively...is senseless.
TVGenius @ Nov 10th 2008 12:01PM
I agree. I got mine at the midnight release, but now it's been disconnected since July. All my wife and I have been playing is Rock Band and Burnout Paradise. We loved both Raymans, Twilight Princess, Marios Galaxy and Kart, and of course Wii Sports. But after the last time I disconnected it to take it to my family's house for a get-together, it's been in the Wii meseenger bag I got at Target the night before the Wii went on sale. I keep thinking, "man, I need to hook it up", but then end up grabbing the PS3 remote and before I know it I'm freeburnin' on Burnout. I don't know why.
Mr Khan @ Nov 7th 2008 8:07PM
Why should it bother me? I'm happily engaged with what i have right now, and i've got a whole year of awesome games to look forward to
leonus11 @ Nov 7th 2008 8:53PM
thanks to VC games i've been playing my Wii alot lately. this November and December's line up of Wii games is looking SUPERB and 2009 is looking to be the sweetest of them all. so yes it is the console families will play at Christmas AND throughout the year as well. IMO he's just like reviewers from sites such as IGN, Eurogamer and Gamespot. they praise Casual Wii games but bash "core" games on the Wii.
TheOverlord#2 @ Nov 7th 2008 9:05PM
Um...IGN & those others don't like casual games. Look at IGN's Wii Music score compared to others.
Mazrael @ Nov 7th 2008 9:00PM
Got mine at launch.
Wii Sports was good & accessible.
Red Steel was great, my favourite game on the Wii by far. Wii Play was good for 3 or 4 games.
Zelda was ok, once completed, turned off..
Trauma Centre 2nd opinon was just plain annoying.
Resident Evil 4, after much hype I got this on release, I only found it dissapointly boring.
Mario Brawl & Kart although good, weren;t what they could of been.
apart from Wii Sports, Play & Zelda, nothing lasted more than a week..
All my Wii does now, is gather dust, actually tempted to give it away, as I only bother with the 360
TheOverlord#2 @ Nov 7th 2008 9:09PM
Well, for every casual player who buys one game, there is a core gamer who has bought 10.
He is right though. A lot of the casuals usually get a Wii just to be apart of it and then don't enjoy videogames at all after WiiSports or think they would only like WiiSports.
Daryl @ Nov 7th 2008 9:17PM
The argument that the wii only sells as a novelty is way exaggerated. The majority of wii gamers are hardcore gamers.
Bowser the Baptist @ Nov 8th 2008 6:25AM
The word hardcore is just as empty as your comment.
Daryl @ Nov 8th 2008 2:36PM
I agree with it is immature to divide gamers into casual and hardcore.
But if we did it, the definition of hardcore should not be who plays the most online shooters, but who really takes gaming seriously. And most wii gamers take it seriously.
The wii owns both the serious market and the casual market. The ps3/360 own zero markets.
Hamster @ Nov 10th 2008 8:34AM
I really don't think there's much evidence to suggest that "the Wii owns the serious market".
Triptych @ Nov 7th 2008 9:53PM
While I believe the Wii definitely has a healthy base of committed gamers, I do have to also side with Sega's guy and say there are also people who buy the Wii because they think it's the new big thing or that there are a plethora of good "Wii Sports"-like games available. There are certainly more of these people than there are for the 360 or PS3, and they do hang it up after a while.
It's not something I think you can necessarily blame Nintendo for, though. I believe it was an unintended side effect. Nintendo thought they could get these casuals into games like Zelda and Mario, but it just hasn't worked that way.
Hamster @ Nov 10th 2008 8:40AM
"because they think it's the new big thing or that there are a plethora of good Wii Sports-like games available."
All true except for the word "good".
And I don't think Nintendo has struggled to get casual/non-gamers into Mario. Sales of New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart Wii, etc. would certainly suggest otherwise.
manyquestions @ Nov 7th 2008 10:13PM
The same Sega that's publishing The Conduit said this?
Buntaro @ Nov 8th 2008 8:01AM
This surprised me as well.
I don't quite know what to think of this.
First, he started that "board game" statement with "I think on one hand..." which doesn't make it come over as an insult.
Then he mentions that people might "graduate upwards". Not the optimum choice of words as "graduate" has a positive ring to it, as if it's a good idea to move on from (the poor) Wii to the superior other consoles.
Why, of all the companies, is a SEGA guy telling this? They had some great success on the system. (M&S @ Olympic Games, lightgun games, Secret Rings) and have two much anticipated Wii games in the pipeline.
This reminds me a bit of Reggie taunting Monolith Software via his Disaster: DoC comments
Daryl @ Nov 7th 2008 10:20PM
I am willing to declare that if you subtract out the casual gamers, the wii would still be outselling the 360 and by assumption the ps3.
Not by as much. But it would still be doing it.
Ninbrendo @ Nov 7th 2008 11:00PM
The Wii is a board game? Mr. Williams owes Which Witch an apology.
Daryl @ Nov 7th 2008 11:09PM
Obviously he doesn't speak for Sega because Sega is releasing so many hardcore titles in 2009 for Wii. And Sega has had more success on the wii, with hardcore titles, than it has on the 360 or ps3. Other members of the Sega staff have acknowledged what I just said, read the articles about Sega publishing the Conduit.
Hardy @ Nov 8th 2008 12:27AM
Nintendo went for a different market, and that's what they got.
There is little to no hardcore games because, well, they won't sell well. The Wii just doesn't have the market for them. Which is sad.
I really applaud those who try, like No more Heros, Fragile and soon that spider/scorpion one because... They're good games, but sell like crap because all the hardcore players get the games on their Xbox and PS3 because, be serious, the hardcore gamers have more then 1 system.
BenHo @ Nov 8th 2008 12:47AM
I'm tired of people acting like this is a new thing. That's the way my family was when we bought our super nintendo. Everyone tries to attack the Wii for being "just a toy" when every other videogame console out there has been treated the exact same way.
TracerBullet @ Nov 8th 2008 3:24AM
I think Mr. Williams made some good points. At first, I thought it was odd for him to complain about the crowds Wii atracted, and still hope for one of the other two to gain more mass market. Then, I understood.
To this day, industry was used to sell games to a kind of player. Each console had from 25 to 50 "A" players, so to speak.
Now, comes the Wii, with at least 120 players. But they are spread:
- 9 "A" players
- 17 "B" players
- 15 "C" players
- ... you got the idea. There is "THE" PS3gamer, but there is not "THE" Wii gamer. We're pretty much unlabeable, a nightmare for marketing an product development.
But there's hope. The industry got it right with titles like Zack & Wiki (great game), and more interesting releases are coming.
Kenology18 @ Nov 8th 2008 8:10AM
Dear WiiFanboy,
You should've read the ENTIRE interview. Darren Williams' quote was taken out of context. I know a lot of people are saying: "Teh Wii collex dust!!11one", but as Chris linked in the story, if Wii's are collecting so much dust then WHY THE HELL IS SO MUCH SOFTWARE SELLING!?
Wii's collecting dust is purely anecdotal. If yours does, fine. Clearly, it's not the norm. People are playing their Wiis and we see that in the graph.
Ben_X @ Nov 9th 2008 11:23AM
I agree, the Wii is "accessible" for families so they buy it for Christmas, and never play it again afterwords, but it is an amazing console that happens to be loaded with crappy games due to it's popularity.
I love my Wii, and there is plenty of games for me and other hard core gamers. Just none coming out this holiday season.
Geogray @ Nov 9th 2008 2:50PM
Ugh...here it goes again. Look, we all know that most of the gaming press does not like the Wii and tries, at every turn, to put it down and they love to say that Nintendo is ignoring the 'hardcore' gamer. Just what the hell is a 'hardcore' gamer anyway? I know lots of people who have the Wii and they ALL play it regularly, most of them play it everyday. I'm considering buying a second one so I can play what I want and my son play what he wants.
Most of the Wii critics appear to be PS3 fans, including most of the game reviewers. I doubt there is an unbiased reviewer, 'reporter' or whatever out there.
If no one buys Wii games, then why do they consistently show up in the top ten, twenty and fifty sales lists? Why is the 'attach rate' so high? Why? Because Wii owners really do play the damn things and buy new games.
Give it a rest people.
Stalin @ Nov 9th 2008 7:51PM
my friends haven't touched their Wii's in a looooong time
chefgon_ign @ Nov 9th 2008 8:50PM
Based on that logic, I would argue that a full size billiards table is a far more expensive board game.
SuicideNinja @ Nov 10th 2008 10:47AM
I agree that for gamers who are into what the PS3/360 offers aren't going to find much on the Wii for longterm entertainment. I'm sure if it was your only console that it'd see a lot more use.
On the other hand, my mother bought a Wii and has played it all but twice in 6 months. Her friends are pretty much the same. They actually do want to play it when the family is together, but otherwise let it sit there in standby. She *kind of* wants Rock Band, but won't pay the money for it. LOL
Because of situations like that, I don't think his analogy is unacceptable. It's just not all-encompassing. But most opinions aren't.
Jacksplat @ Nov 10th 2008 11:48AM
I'd have to say the Wii is better suited for the tiny ones in my family and they are the biggest users. I do tend to buy only family-style 'board game' level fodder. But I offer this: Nintendo could help ensure it's enslavement of humanity if they simply add: external storage worth it's salt and download-able content for games.
I tend to pick 360 games over their Wii counterpart simply because the game has a longer 'new' factor with the ability to add levels/songs/cars/whatever. If Nintendo would close that gap (something that seems disgustingly easy to do), I think the level of games and gamers will move to the next tier.