In terms of Wii games not selling well, GHIII at best buy is sold out online, and had been one of the top sellers on Amazon.

Wii Sports doesn't really count as a "sale" to me and Strikers, according to the site, is just shy. Just because there are big titles that have sold doesn't mean overall the sales might be weak in comparison.

Yeah, but did you read the rest of the post there?

That pretty much supports the idea that Wii owners aren't buying as many games as 360 owners, even in the first year, and even despite the supposed quality of Wii games versus 360.

Bought my Wii a week after launch and have only played it a few times since. The XBox 360/PC get a lot more attention. I have a few gripes:

Bad Third Party Software Selection
Games are expensive for the finished product
Wii-mote doesn't work very well on my projector


The first is pretty self explanitory and undeniable.
The second has more to do with percieved value. 49.99 for a collection of mini-games is a little much for my taste and Nintendo first party titles never drop in price.
I can't put the little light bar in a place that works well with the projector, plus since the bar is wired the Wii needs to be near the screen which makes zero sense to me. My A/V rack is way across the room.

I still am glad I picked one up and am excited for Mario and Animal Crossing, but the 360 (launch console which hasn't broken) has had a great software year.

Although price is certainly a factor, I don't beleive the price difference between the Wii and the 360 is the main reason the 360 is being outsold. Where your analogy might hold true more than the price, is in the features in the cobalt that appeal to the mass market consumer (ie. gas mileage and interior space).

1) The price difference isn't that significant. $250 for the Wii vs. $280 (formerly $300) for the 360 arcade (formerly the core pack). I know it's often referred to as the tard pack here, but for a casual consumer just looking at the prices, the difference isn't that substantial. Certainly the price difference isn't comparable to the difference between a cobalt and a corvette.

2) The main reason for the success of the Wii is controls. Whether some gamers want to chalk it up as a fad, gimmick, or whatever, the buzz surrounding the Wii and pushing sales is all about the controls. Traditional control schemes are really just to complicated for a casual gamer, there are too many buttons.

Anecdotaly, trying to get somebody to try the Wii, the first reaction is usually, "I'm not good at video games", or "video games are to complicated." Once they realize how intuitive and simple (in a good way) the Wii controls are, they completely change their minds in my experience. It isn't the price that is the barrier to entry to video games for most people, it's the complicated controls

Yeah, I wasn't buying that "tepid game sales" line either. Some people just can't accept the fact that the Wii and game sales are through the roof. No amount of facts or hard numbers are going to change some people's mind's.

The argument can still be made about third party games, but outside of a select few (RE4, Rayman, Zack & Wiki), they are all crap. That's up to the developers. Put out something decent, instead of shovel-ware, and they may actually see sales like Nintendo gets.

Pick up a wireless IR Bar. $20 at most stores. Can't help with positioning issues, as I do not know your set-up. But positioning should NOT be a problem with some good old-fashioned ingenuity.

It remains to be seen, plenty of outstanding 3rd party DS games are hardly setting the sales charts on fire. Anyway, like I said previously, I don't think anyone is arguing the success of Nintendo 1st party games, at least on the podcasts and websites I consume. Anyway, the Zack & Wiki game will be a good test as a new IP. Capcom's games seem to have really gone through the roof both critically and saleswise in the last 3 years.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with the first year. Granted, I am not a hard-core gamer anymore (that ship sailed a decade ago [or more] :( ). But for me to buy more than 6 games in a year (actually less as I got the Wii for Christmas) says a lot (I think I am up to 8 for the Wii).

I will be getting Mario, likely get GHIII, and I am dying for Mario Kart Wii. So in the first year (plus a few months for Mario Kart) I will be exceeding my entire total of Gamecube games.

Actually, despite it not being exclusive, GHIII will be a better test. That game and style is a perfect fit for the Wii. Not only that, it is going to sell extremely well on all the other platforms. It will be quite telling if the Wii sales don't stay in line with the other platforms.

Excellent point.

That's what I wasa thinking as well. GH3's $100 price tag will show if the Wii fan base if committed. I don't see grandma buying GH3 for when she gets sick of Bowling. I actually wanted to try out the Wii, but online play MADE me go 360.

I'd say the same thing about convincing Wii fans the opposite :shrug:

I don't have any reason to hate on the Wii, just pointing out the facts and what I make of them. I don't see how pointing out 3rd party games don't sell well because they suck refutes the notion that the overall attach rate of games sold per console is low, especially versus the 360. Can't exclude them just because of low quality.

Guitar Hero will probably sell great, especially given the Wii's place as popular for party games. To me though, that doesn't really disprove or prove anything. I'm sure the analysis can go different ways depending on how you look at it.

To me, i'm not blanketly saying that no one wants to buy Wii games. The quality and well known games will sell. It's a matter of who's buying in relation to the large amount of consoles sold. Yeah Super Paper Mario has sold over a million copies.... but when Wii Play sells 6 million, it's telling.

I dunno, there's the expensive price of course. Also, I just generally get the feeling that the average GH fan is more of a 360/PS3 kind of guy/gal, and those that own neither system for whatever reason probably don't own a Wii either so will most likely will get the PS2 version. Those that own both a Wii and a 360/PS3 will probably be swayed by the downloadable content and/or online features on the other 2. I know at least one or two on this forum have stated they will go Wii, but they seem to me to be outside of the norm. So if Michael Corvin is right about GH3 Wii doing as well or better than 360/PS3/PS2 then it will change my impression of the Wiis 3rd party potential somewhat.

Anyway, as much as us dvdtalk types dislike the idea, Madden sales numbers are still another important indicator for 3rd party success on a console. When 360 Madden outsold PS2 Madden in the first month you can bet the MS execs were pretty happy.

Well we all know that the tolerance for shitty games is much higher on the 360 due to achievement points. Makes for an interesting comparison. Wii fans won't buy garbage, but 360 fans will for nerd points. :lol: Thus blows the attach rate comparison, IMO.

But (as I'm sure has been said before), six million people aren't buying Wii Play, most of them are buying a second controller with a cheap game attached. How many people would have spent $50 on Wii Play alone? My guess is very few.

That would be your opinion. I honestly don't think that to be true where that many shitty games are being bought just for achievement points. Of course, Red Steel was one of those million seller games, so who's buying what now? ;)

As for Wii Play... I'm sure most people buying it are certainly getting it because of the Wiimote. All that tells me is the biggest selling game on the Wii isn't because of the game itself. That doesn't really help the game sales argument, since it would presume that total sales figures are being "padded." :)

I actually didn't need another wiimote, so I refused to pay $50 for WiiPlay. You hear alot of people saying (about Wii games) "I'll wait until it's under $30". I don't mind paying for a game, as long as I think it's worth it. The last Wii game I bought, Carnival, wasn't worth the price. As it was brought up before, they just seem like GC & DS games with a different controller, or a crapload of minigames.

My wife told me on Friday that she wanted a Wii ( I have a 360 and a PS3 and play them alot), so i went out on a mission to find a Wii.. Got lucky at my last stop, a TRU of all places had a few left, so I got one, got Mario Party 8, Wii Play, and the Marble Mania game... Honestly, we are loving both real games, havent touched Wii Play other than to open the box to get the extra Wiimote. I will play it soon enough Ia m sure. I do think the console is gimmicky, but its fun none the less and at $250, to keep my wife happy with gaming and for her and I to play together something finally, its worth it. If a game comes out on all 3 consoles, I am gonna get it for 360, but I do love some of the first party games from Nintendo...

Yup. I use the Nyko wireless sensor bar with our projector. Works great and it is a bit more stable at 12-14feet than the Nintendo bar.

I've got a 2-shelf bookcase with my center channel on the top shelf. The sensor bar goes on top of the bookcase. You should be able to put the sensor bar right on top of your center channel somehow.

One thing I have learned from internet forums. The Wii is simply not the console of choice for most solo-gaming people. It really shines in local multiplayer environments.

It allows you to play games with normal and casual gaming folks and family. Most of the people that I can play Wiisports with I could crush at Tekken or Gears of War. ;)

I just got Carnival Games from gamefly this weekend. My family loves it so I already decided to keep it. $25 :up: Is it worth full price? Not a chance in hell. It's a decent game though.

Under $30 for non Nintendo titles is a good rule though unless they have clearly been unanimously praised like RE4 or Zack & Wiki, which are budget titles to begin with.

yep. I've seen many reports that the Nyko Sensor bar is better than the one that comes with the Wii in terms of distance and other factors.


That may be a huge part of why I really like the Wii, but don't <i>LOVE</i> / worship ;) the Wii like others here at this point. I don't have any local friends or relatives that play video games. I would love to have have local friends who I could play with in person but that's simply not the way things are for me. This is also why I get sooo damn jealous of you guys with SO's who also game. I mean hell, you get to bang 'em <i>and</i> play video games with them? That's awesome and you should hang on to her. :D Anyway, it seems like if you have even a few friends and family who come over and are willing to at least try the Wii, you're far more likely to have a very positive experience and with it.

This is also why XBOX LIVE, screaming 12 year olds, Way to serious Hardcore Gamer Douchebags, and general stupid asses and all, is so important to me. :lol:

I'll bet rental of shitty games for Point Pillaging is probably more of a factor than purchases.

So True!

Obviously people did want to spend the extra $10 on Wii Play. Or else they would have just bought the $40 controller and saved ten bucks.