Happy 2nd birthday, Wii!

by David Hinkle { Nov 19th 2008 at 9:00AM }

That's right, boys and girls. Today is the 2nd birthday (we're going by North American release) for our beloved console, the Nintendo Wii. It's been a crazy ride so far, and next year is looking to be even better. We've had highs and lows, but, overall, we're still loving Nintendo's latest console.

What about you all? Did you see the Wii moving in this direction? Are you excited for the future? Bestow your birthday wishes in the comments below and let us know what you think!

Tags: anniversary, anniversary-week, happy-birthday, release, releases

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Daryl @ Nov 19th 2008 9:13AM

I'm excited. Nintendo had great games early on, has expanded their base but never abandoned the core, and third parties are going to help out while Nintendo gets ready to follow up with another wave of high quality games.

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 3:33PM

Well Daryl, it seems you're so fanboyed up to the max you can't even read properly. I've owned every Nintendo console since the NES. And the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance were all hugely successful, so to say I only liked Nintendo when they "weren't selling" is total bull-shit. Do you think the Wii was Nintendo's first ever successful console? And Mario is favorite franchise. Look at my profile picture, dimwit.

I also never once mentioned in my post the words "hardcore", "xbox" or "selling out", so I don't know why you're dragging them up. You're so lost in your own deluded fanboy world, you can't accept the fact the others might have a more honest and balanced opinion on things. Not every post is going to be a nauseating Nintendo blow-job like all of yours.

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 3:39PM

I even said "it's nice to see Nintendo back on top of the sales charts" which completely negates most of your accusations of my post, gggrrr, learn to read for God's sake!

Daryl @ Nov 19th 2008 5:04PM

Well Hamster, it appears you lack the cognitive capabilities to put this in the proper place, and also failed to articulate the amount of consoles you owned in your previous post.

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 5:25PM

Ok, fair enough, I didn't articulate the number of consoles I owned, but I thought that calling myself a "diehard Nintendo fan" would suggest that I'm a longtime Nintendo gamer.

In any case, even though we clearly have wildly different views on Nintendo's current approach, we're both Nintendo fans so we shouldn't fight, so I'd like to offer a branch of peace and sincerely apologise for being over the top in the defense of my post. I am disillusioned with the Wii at the moment, but I should not take it out on Wii fans, I'm sorry.

samfish @ Nov 19th 2008 9:16AM

Nintendo has, until the last 6 months or so, done a great job supporting the Wii by themselves, with the occasional assist from Sega and Capcom...which is no small feat by any means.

That said, I do hope that 2009 is finally the year we start seeing some system seller-level games from these lousy third parties.

Daniel @ Nov 19th 2008 2:59PM

My dream game for third parties to make is a slew of simple Mii-based games that do basic but well-crafted online multiplayer games of each genre: racing, FPS (with capture the flag, base control, and stealth subgames), RTS, roguelike, worms-style, flight-combat, etc. all rated E.

It seems like a basic set of games that should exist already, but I haven't seen it. Instead I see niche games that are better suited to other console audiences.

Apothekari @ Nov 19th 2008 4:25PM

Amen, Samfish.
I am really, really close to selling my Wii.
I have owned every console Nintendo has ever made including the Virtual Boy and have NEVER sold one.
But I just don't see any sign that the "bad PS2 port,online-lite,gimmicky bullshit mini-game compilations" train wreck that is occurring right now, is going to end any time soon.
And I just can't see that if being number 1 in console sales for 2 years running hasn't spurred Nintendo or 3rd parties to action I don't know what the fuck will!

il_duce620 @ Nov 19th 2008 9:23AM

Happy birthday, Little White Box!

I'm satisfied. Yes, there aren't as many games I want to play right now, but I guarantee that I'll be hitting up Mario Kart Wii with the cousins over Thanksgiving weekend, and Mega Man 9 is still giving me trouble(s)...

Yes, new games are in a lull, but there are plenty of good ones out there, and 2009 looks to be great with The Conduit, Madworld, Sin & Punishment 2, etc!

Eternityx @ Nov 19th 2008 9:37AM

I remember standing out in a line for an hours....just to preorder a wii....Then that magical 19th when I actually got a wii...yea....the system has had its up's and down's but I'd have to say its done well.

APHughes @ Nov 19th 2008 9:43AM

2 years and one d ago I was waiting in line for 12 hours and then I got my Wii. I still play it more often than my other systems and I hope they continue with quality games for the next 3 years

bsab @ Nov 19th 2008 2:23PM

I only waited in line for an hour...but it was -15C.

Metayoshi @ Nov 19th 2008 9:52AM

Wow... It really is the second birthday of the Wii. I pulled off an all nighter this morning too... Except I'm not waiting in line for a Wii, and I'm supposed to be programming right now...

In any case, happy b-day Wii! I have enjoyed the past 2 years of my life, and I hope the Wii has at least 2 more years of enjoyment!

saylorsgang @ Nov 19th 2008 10:04AM

I love my Wii, I play everyday. I had expected more core Nintendo releases like a Kid Icarus or a Star Fox, I expected more VC releases, but I am equally impressed with the Wii Ware and what has been released.

TheDave @ Nov 19th 2008 10:05AM

My Wii is 2 years old today as well :)
I'm glad to see that for Nintendo, the Wii is still doing well.

They still have some key problems to address (quickly!), like a storage solution, better 3rd party support, better online system, etc.

I might start playing my Wii more when they get a 2nd Zelda out the door.

Either that, or an online Wii Sports game would rock!

Dravez @ Nov 19th 2008 10:25AM

2 years...and so few good games. Dont wanna wait 4 moths for good games. im tired of my little white box. This is my first Nintendo console, and it will be the last.

Happy birthday and happy lame 3rd p. games!!!!! i cant wait to see the new bunch of minigames that the developers will have for us the next year!!!

PhoenixGeek @ Nov 19th 2008 10:30AM

The Wii is just a fad, it'll never last more than 1... err, make that 2... and a half years. Soon people will see that it's just a gimmick and move on the the REAL current gen consoles.

In Truth I'm fairly happy with the camping out I did a year ago today. I don't own quite as many games as I'd hoped but the games I do own keep me entertained. Add a Gamfly subscription to get me through the slow times and I'm all set.

I can't wait for Mad World, and the Conduit, plus whatever else will be releasing in the next year that we don't know about yet.

Go1denchi1d @ Nov 19th 2008 10:31AM

Happy birthday you money sinkhole!!!! 2 years and still enjoying it! Better not quit on me now :-D . Anyways, I hope to see some great third party games! The year has been pretty decent. Not amazing or anything but I definitely played more this year then I did the first year. Probably because now there are more Wifi games.

TracerBullet @ Nov 19th 2008 10:32AM

My Wii is barelly 2 months old: I choosed it, even having cheaper present-generation options avaliable. So far, I have to say I'm very pleased with my decision: Mario Kart and Wii Sports are very fun, and Zack and Wiki goes beyond what I expected.
Looking foward great things in 2009.

ROb @ Nov 19th 2008 10:36AM

I'm excited about the future of the Wii! The Wii is Gaming Grown Up; i've been with Nintendo since the Nintendo Fun Club and it's great that Nintendo is growing with us.

Now gaming is about having fun (with actual Games again!) instead of just the blowing-stuff-up-cinematics and pretty colors to appeal to teenagers.

I think it's sweet that Nintendo's responsible for gaming being about games again; it's sucked me back in years after I first played Super Mario Bros.

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 12:27PM

"The Wii is Gaming Grown Up"

Seriously?! Have you seen the Wii software sales charts recently? Most of that shovelware would be considered too dumbed-down and immature for foetuses.

Mr Khan @ Nov 19th 2008 12:31PM

The industry matures, ironically, through this process, though. Appealing to the 18-34 set wasn't going to work forever, not for an industry that's supposed to be growing.

This needed to happen.

ROb @ Nov 19th 2008 1:10PM

I'm completely serious.

Shovelware happens; just look at the PC! I remember when CD-ROMS came out, I'd get discs with 1000+ games - all of them sucked. I don't really see the relevance.

I remember coming home from hopping store-to-store to piece together a full set of controllers with the console, inviting all of my friends over, to play Wii Sports

All of my friends standing around, hopping up and down, laughing - around a console! I remember looking around and thinking "Wow. Gaming's finally caught up with us."

I love you, Wii!

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 1:27PM

"All of my friends standing around, hopping up and down, laughing"

Sounds like a Nintendo advertiser's dream! Are you sure you're not in danger of mistaking fun with silliness though. Is the ability to make people laugh the sign of a good game? I had this epiphany when I was forced to endure the feeble, tiresome waggle-fest Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games last Christmas. People were laughing sure, but not because they thought it was a good or fun game, but because they thought it was so silly and stupid. I suddenly realised that this was the key to the Wii's whole approach and as a Wii owner and Nintendo fanboy I've felt kind of dirty and ashamed ever since.

ROb @ Nov 19th 2008 1:40PM

"I had this epiphany when I was forced to endure the feeble, tiresome waggle-fest Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games last Christmas"

Never played it, but the promise of Wii Sports was the realization that motion-controls weren't simply a fancy way to push a button - there's more that can be done with them, nuances in how you hold the remote that had on-screen effect - That is what impressed everyone.

Not only the motion control revolution, but the types of games that are played - REAL games! Where you get some people together or by your self, and just play games. "Let's play a game" not "watch me run around in this living city or boringly fight from one cinema scene to the next" - gamer's games, for people that like GAMES. That is why i'm glad to have Nintendo around; to remind us of the fun we forgot about years ago.

SoshiKitai @ Nov 19th 2008 3:37PM

@Hamster

Having a silly time is also very fun.

...Twister isn't very fun until someone can't move their arm/falls over. Watching a silly comedy act is also very fun for people. Doing silly things in public is also very fun.

Why can't silly be fun?
No need to feel ashamed...

It's funny that people would feel ashamed for doing childish things and would refuse to do it ever again - yet, people are willing to risk life and limb to go out and streak.

It's ridiculous that we have to do only "grown-up things" just to have fun...
So we can't hop on a Moon Bounce, but we can drink 'til we barf?
So we can't slide on a Slip n' Slide, but we can risk a race just before traffic starts?
So we can't make a very immature joke, but we can make jokes that offend people?

I'm not sure I get it.

DaisukeKiriyama @ Nov 19th 2008 11:02AM

It's been two years already?

Jeez, time's passing by so fast.

SoshiKitai @ Nov 19th 2008 11:17AM

Happy Birthday, Wii! I'll always remember the line I waited in just to get you! You really brought gamers together (while the haters decided to tear themselves further away) and brought the idea of actual FUN-FUN-FUN back into the family household without being such a ****** about it!

I know how ridiculous it is that people keep bashing on you (even TWO YEARS LATER), and how many "fans" decided to hate you too (not very good fans in the first place), but ignore them and just keep going! :)
Another Christmas is coming up, so let's see you fly off those shelves again!

May you continue to grow in knowledge and spirit!
-Me

Armando @ Nov 19th 2008 11:56AM

I'm a gamer, my wife is not, but the Wii has helped us bridge that gap and enjoy games together. None of the other consoles would have provided this, so mission accomplished!

WilmerSama @ Nov 19th 2008 12:13PM

Happy Birthday Wii!!!!XD, wow I can't believe that two years have already pass :D, in my opinion you're going excellent, I have enjoyed this 2 years very much and I hope the next year come to be four times better than this one.

Roto13 @ Nov 19th 2008 12:14PM

I bought one in January of aught 7, was poor for a while, moved in May, and I wasn't able to play it again until that following December.

So even though I've owned a Wii for almost 2 years, I've really only gotten one year of play out of it besides the time I spent with Twilight Princess. :P

But I'm satisfied with it. Like I said over on Joystiq, there's not one single console that would be enough for me this generation, but my Wii is an essential part of my gaming setup.

Mr Khan @ Nov 19th 2008 12:30PM

It's only now, this span of months, that have been really bad out of the Wii's life so far. And it's not even that bad if you really look at it. A bunch of stuff to play, just no must-haves, and certainly nothing to stand up to what the competition is piling on.

The time right now will probably just be a dim memory a year from now

Thanatos @ Nov 19th 2008 12:34PM

At this time 2 years ago i was passed on the floor of my apartment in the living room next to my newly hooked up Wii. I was passed out cause i camped out in front of walmart for 29 hours to get it at the midnight launch and stayed up playing till 2am. The campout was fun i had brought a mattress from my bed and my friend came with me. The other 19 people there were pretty awesome and very friendly we got accustomed to calling everyone by their number i was 17. I sadly i didnt have my DS then but i did have my friends PSP and i brought a TV and my Gamecube along with my Zelda collector disks to keep me occupied passing master quest 2 at roughly 10pm. All in all it was something that i will remember. I loved Wii sports right off the bat and loved what i saw of Twilight Princess but i never thought that the Wii would take off like it did for the casual market. And for that two years it has been good to me gave me some great games, No More Heroes, Okami, Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, playes my 20+ library of GC games and not to mention all of the classics i have from the virtual console. In short I LOVE Wii.

Sonic_13 @ Nov 19th 2008 12:57PM

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY Wii!

Wow, two years already? They grow up so fast!

I too am proud of Wii and Nintendo for producing such a great system and great games for everyone: casual gamers and the core gamer. I think we all had high hopes for the system before launch, but I'm not sure if anyone thought it would be this successful. I look forward to what Wii has to offer in 2009 and beyond. The future looks bright for this great system.

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 1:18PM

Well, even though I'm desperately trying to tone down and fight against my increasing Wii-cynicism, this thread with all its Wii love-letters is becoming a bit of a barf-fest, so I can't resist.

Like all gamers and diehard Nintendo fans I was totally excited about the Wii/Revolution and camped out on day one to get one. But now, two years on, I think overall the Wii has been disappointing, purely based on the fact that no console before has made me question my love for Nintendo or gaming. The Wii has on numerous occasions. Of course it's nice to see Nintendo back on top of the sales charts considering where they were a few years ago, but as I blow into and shake my controllers on behalf of Nintendo's casual crusade, I often wonder "at what cost?"

The Wii may have sold incredibly well as a novelty item for casual/non-gamers, but Nintendo could have had it all with the Wii, but for some reason chose not to. After all, the entire gaming community was on their side leading up to its release, the whole gaming community was totally abuzz with the Revolution and with Nintendo. They could do no wrong in gamers’ eyes (think back to the awesome E3 '06 for example). But instead of making the “console for everyone” (both core and casual gamers) Nintendo were perfectly happy to push it as merely “grannie’s choice” and let the 360 and PS3 be the consoles for gamers whilste the Wii was just the silly tiresome party-game console flooded with casual shovelware, which should not have been the case at all. There is evidence to suggest that the Wii can make good games better, but there is unfortunately far more evidence (mainly thanks to lazy and mercenary third-parties) to suggest that it makes bad games a hell of a lot worse. One can hope that its software library balances out and spreads out in the coming years and that the great games don't get swamped by the casual shovelware.

Daryl @ Nov 19th 2008 2:52PM

Supposedly, you only liked Nintendo when it didn't sell. Then you felt like you were hardcore. It's like your little treehouse has turned into a giant city, and now you aren't the only person to know about Nintendo. I'm personally, as a person who owned every home console since the NES, glad to see Nintendo successful.

First off, what the h*ll is a hardcore gamer? I don't consider platformers, rpgs, adventure games, and other things that Nintendo dominates in to be "Casual." The people who use the terms hardcore and casual are usually xbots who think shooting a bunch of people on online gameplay in high definition, while screaming over xbox live, is somehow more hardcore than challenging platformers than Mario.

As soon as Nintendo succeeds, you accuse it of "selling out." Nintendo always had a variety of games. It just started to be more successful, both with the hardcore and the casual. Nothing changed. Nintendo just succeeded.

I wouldn't be surprised if your true loyalties lie with another brand...

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 3:31PM

Hamster @ Nov 19th 2008 4:04PM

I even said "it's nice to see Nintendo back on top of the sales charts" which completely negates most of your accusations of my post, gggrrr, learn to read for God's sake!

Daryl @ Nov 19th 2008 5:07PM

Your double posting these comments in both the top and the bottom are proof that your iq is in the double digits.

TheOverlord#2(AC FC: 1161-3212-7729 Pre-Game Night: Wednesday 7pm) @ Nov 19th 2008 2:58PM

Good so far, but Wii's 3rd year looks to be the best. :D

Also, Pre-Game Night in Animal Crossing: City Folk tonight! Leave your Friend Code & join at 7 pm! We'll have a Wii birthday party(somewhat) and do a bunch of other fun things!

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 19th 2008 5:36PM

Does anybody has a compiled list of what to expect next year? Any SRPG? FPS?

Andrew @ Nov 19th 2008 9:31PM

I love wii.

kervin @ Nov 19th 2008 10:32PM

I'm so excited for the future of the Wii especially waiting for Rock Band 2 for the Wii I mean how great its going to be with DLC on Rock Band Wii

thomas k @ Nov 20th 2008 10:27PM

well... i bought a wii on launch day, played faithfully for about 1.5 years but then..... i got a 360. i havent touched my wii in 6 months and the online and HD capabilities of the 360 are truly amazing. Im not saying the wii is bad, its a cool console, but honestly, i like the 360 better. there were not enough good games on wii. Yes, i got Brawl, SMG, MOH2, Mario Kart, but after a while the "casual" way 3rd parties look at the wii was too annoying. Yes, i know brawl and SMG and Mario Kart cant be considered "casual" games, but the pickings were pretty slim for new games. Honestly, brawl is the only reason I still have my wii :/