Analyst: Wii games hit bargain bins sooner

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich finds games for Nintendo's system more likely to get deeply discounted in first three months of release than titles for Xbox 360, PS3.

Earlier this week, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime criticized third-party publishers for not putting their best content on the Wii. A report released yesterday from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich might shed some light on one reason third parties aren't wholeheartedly embracing the system.

According to Divnich, Wii games are subject to "early price protection"--deep discounts at stores for which the publisher actually pays--at a rate double that of Xbox 360 games and 66 percent higher than PlayStation 3 titles. Divnich considers early price protection to be when a game's average selling price drops by more than 20 percent within the first three months of launch.

When a game ships to stores but doesn't sell, retailers eager to get rid of the stock will work with the publisher to find a lower price point to sell the game at. After the new price is determined, the publisher then credits the retailer for part of the cost of each remaining copy with the new lower price. Publishers generally engage in price protection because retailers would be excessively conservative in ordering games without it, lest they be saddled with warehouses full of a poorly performing game.

Roughly 7.5 percent of Xbox 360 games and 9.1 percent of PS3 games go into price protection in their first three months, according to Divnich. Meanwhile, 15.1 percent of Wii games have publisher-supported price drops in the first three months.

"This disparity on the Wii reinforces concerns that the market has had with third-party publishers developing successful titles on the Wii," Divnich noted in his report, adding, "Because of the highly competitive and unpredictable mainstream and casual markets, EEDAR believes retailers and publishers are overly aggressive on expectations for Wii games."

Divnich points to a number of factors that could be playing into that accelerated rate of early price protection. For instance, while publishers typically make sure not to release their top-tier hardcore-focused games against competition outside the holiday season, they seem to have no problem releasing the casual games that make up much of the Wii catalog against other casual games aiming for the same audience. Furthermore, with profit margins anecdotally said to be significantly higher on casual titles, publishers wind up taking smaller losses when similar-sized price cuts are made.

380 Comments

  • tiamat555

    Posted Nov 28, 2008 7:52 pm PT

    GabrielN like all people on forums you always try to make a person look stupid because by mentioning that they misspelled a word. Good timing though. I agree it is useless arguing. I used to think that people with the original Xbox were deluded but I realize that WII users are a hundred times as deluded. They are always shocked to hear that they won't be getting games like Resident Evil 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Street Fighter. You buy a cheap system and expect it to magically make good looking games? I have realized a long time ago that this is doubt speaking. Even Nintendo is starting to doubt themselves by blaming the developers. You start to wonder if you made the right choice after getting crappy versions of cross platform games and hundreds of mini-games based games in between ( I mean a game about breaking world records like unicycle riding?) and realizing that so many games are out of you reach. You realize that maybe a waving a WII-mote around is a crappy sacrifice for a decent game. I am not here to stop you from buying a WII. I really don't care. Businesses like Nintendo thrive on ignorant people who buy every cheap game they spit out because it has Naruto or Hanna Montana on the cover or has you doing things with the Wii-mote like hula-hoop or run which you could do without a WII. I know I am satisfied with my PS3 because not only can I play my old games on it but I have seen their line up for next year and I am glad I brought it. I really apologize if i made you think that I give a damn about what system you buy or play. I really don't. Just here to give my opinion whether you agree or not.

  • fluteous-prime

    Posted Nov 28, 2008 11:13 am PT

    From what I've seen, one of the reasons that there are so many wii games in bargain bins is that the system actually has more games for it. This is not to say that there aren't quite a few games for the other two systems, but there is more variety for wii and many of them just don't sell because they are shallow. There are many good games for wii, but at the same time there are many that are worthless.

  • rarson

    Posted Nov 28, 2008 10:59 am PT

    The Wii has already given me enough titles to justify my purchase of the machine. If they stopped releasing software for it today, I'd still be happy with it. The good games for it stand on their own merit, and just because the PS2 has good games does not negate the fact that the Wii has some, too.

    Personally, I don't buy shovelware, so I couldn't give a crap whether they release it on the Wii or not.

    And also, if you think the PS2's graphics were better than any system of the last generation, including the Dreamcast, you need to have your eyes checked or your head examined. It was easily the poorest of the four in the graphics department.

  • neogeo_1999

    Posted Nov 28, 2008 9:02 am PT

    Nintendo really shouldn't be talking. I haven't seen a AAA title from them in a while, and after releasing Wii Music and Animal Crossing, I don't see it changing anytime soon. I like nintendo but nothing in the future is getting me excited.

  • GabrielN

    Posted Nov 27, 2008 11:49 pm PT

    Your attempts to attack a strawman made in my likeness are embarrassingly clumsy. I did not say the games I listed were the pinnacle (do note the correct spelling) of technology -- only that they utterly lack the particular flaws you claimed exist in the best Wii games.

    I wish I could show your ill-conceived rants to your mother; I'm sure she would berate you for your shameless display of ignorance. I'm certainly not going to dignify your infantilism by arguing with you, so I will bow out of this "discussion". Feel free to snap back if it makes you happy, but be aware that I don't give a dead rat's rotting arse about whatever you might say, nor does anyone with basic reasoning capacity -- except in the general sense that we regret such foolishness exists. I only hope your age matches your juvenile mentality, so that you might yet grow out of it.

  • tiamat555

    Posted Nov 27, 2008 2:09 pm PT

    Oh yeah GabrielN Super Mario Galaxy, Metriod Prime 3 and Twighlight Princess are at the pinicole of technology. There is nothing else in the gaming world that looks even close to that. I am so happy you metioned these games in particular. These games are exactly what every WII fanboy runs to and hides behind whenever someone says anything bad about their system. We have Super Mario Galaxy, and um Zelda Twighlight Princess and ....uhm Metriod 3 and uhhhhhhhhhhhh.... De Blob and all those multi-platform games that look like crap on the WII and durrr...... Barbie Horse adventure and Hannah Montana and the Conduit that almost kinda looks like an average shooter. Give me a break. Nintendo as usual makes these things and doesn't know what to do with them. Most of their games would work just as well or even better without the WII-mote or even the sytilist for the DS. Everyone praises them for innovation in hardware while they crank out crappy games that don't really take advantage of the WII-mote as much as they disjoint you wrist. And I can still name more PS2 games that do everything then the games you just mentioned better. P.S. give me all the negatives you want, I know the truth hurts

  • the_Hippest_Cat

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 4:33 pm PT

    Wii games aren't selling because of all the adults and people who haven't played games since the early 90s, most of them don't care about having any games other than WiiSports and a Mario game. It's not that a lot of games are terrible, it's just the people with the console aren't necessarily interested in "games" so much as they are a little intuitive exercise simulation on a slow day. If you can bowl, punch, and swing why do you need to shake, bounce and flick? That's what's screwing the market numbers up: the console sales are high, the potential game sales are low.

  • GabrielN

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 11:32 pm PT

    Proof? Go back and read reviews for cross-platform games from a few years ago. They'd always say the PS2 version's graphics were noticeably worse than the X-Box and Gamecube versions. I hope I don't have to prove that the Wii is better than the Gamecube, too? Even its detractors call it "two Gamecubes stuck together", which obviously acknowledges some improvement.

    "When you push the WII to its limits you still get choppy frame rates, bad animation, imprecise controls and games that only are interesting for 4 days tops."

    This sort of statement is just willfully ignorant. Games like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 (a damn good shooter, by the way, but I don't want to get mired in a point-by-point dissection of your rant) and Twilight Princess have neither bad frame rates, animation nor controls; how long they hold your interest is your business, but a lot of people, myself among them, find them more compelling than you did (if you have, in fact, ever played them).

    I wasn't trying to start an argument or make anyone like the Wii, and I certainly wasn't suggesting that it's above reproach. I just pointed out a misconception about various consoles' relative power. If you're too biased to accept that, that's your problem.

  • tiamat555

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 8:36 pm PT

    GabrielN that is a nice speech but where is the proof? While Nintendo is still fighting to put an RPG or a decent shooter on its system, Sony PS2 already has many titles that play better than anything on the WII. Nintendo is still struggling to put more then 10 zombies at a time on screen in Dead is Rising. I once saw a game in Japan on the PS2 that had over one hundred enemies at once on the screen. The WII version of a multi -platform game usually gets lower scores then the PS2 version You can talk all you like. The PS2 has already proved itself ten times over. When you push the PS2 to its limit you get God of War 1 and 2,Odin Sphere and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. When you push the WII to its limits you still get choppy frame rates, bad animation, imprecise controls and games that only are interesting for 4 days tops. Even Okami's drawing controls where less imprecise on the WII. Where I live I have almost never seen God of War 2 in the bargain bin but you see things like Raving Rabbits and WII sports all the time. All Nintendo has proven so far that people will always fall for a gimmick but the the unfortunate thing about a gimmick is that when you get tried of it and see it for what it is, it falls hard. Talk to me again when the WII gets a good title that doesn't star characters that are milked to death or mini-games

  • GabrielN

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 7:11 pm PT

    Tiamat555, your assertion that the Wii is weaker than the PS2 is flagrantly false. While it certainly does not measure up to the PS3 or 360 in power, it is more powerful than the Gamecube, which was already well ahead of the PS2. The latter proved that a console could succeed without being a graphical powerhouse, but it seems some people are forgetting that lesson and instead deluding themselves into thinking it actually was one.

  • tiamat555

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 1:26 pm PT

    kenakuma is right they are treating the WII like the original X-box just a place to dump games and to make a quick money by going multi-platform while keeping the good stuff and their best efforts for the stronger of the pack. Let's face it. No matter what anyone says the WII is still the weaker system. It is even weaker then the PS2. They choose the cheaper path and they have to take the good along with the bad. They can't expect the developers to work with their kind of hardware and get the same results as everyone else.

  • tiamat555

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 1:19 pm PT

    Khasym I think like most people including Nintendo people seem to think that casual means short, easy and crappy. Nintendo makes games that hold your interest for about 3-4 days, they are short and not much of a challenge and they practically hold your hand throughout the whole game. Nintendo has always made casual games before and they did well. When they made Wario Shake it everyone said it was a beautiful game that had classic platforming goodness,why didn't they make it longer then? Let me enjoy it for longer. When they make mini- game based games why don't they why don't they put a hundred games instead of just 10 or 15 or 25? Why is it when they made No More Heroes they didn't try to tighten up the graphics and the frame rate so it could run smoother? It seems to me Nintendo is so busy trying to live up to the hype that they surrounded their system with that they forget to make better games rather then better looking games. Sure Mario Sluggers is a better looking game but it plays worse then the original. Sure Okami looks good on the WII but it is the exact same game just like Resident Evil 4 is. They are hard at work trying to make the Conduit and make it look like a good shooter. But who cares if it looks good if the rest of the game is lackluster? They just seem to want to stick games like the Conduit and Mad World just to say that they are there to prove to everyone that they can be hardcore too and not to show that their games are as good as Sony's or Microsoft's It makes you wonder if it is not that Nintendo has potential to do better, it just that they can't

  • Khasym

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 11:21 am PT

    I have to think that another reason, probably the biggest reason, for Wii games getting dumpster binned, is that they are casual games, played by casual players. They don't have a dedication to the game. They don't have a desire to retry it once it's mastered. And there's no real exploration in the game, to try things differently. Once you've achieved a certain level of skill with a casual game, that's as far as you're going to take it. Once something new comes in to take it's place, it's effectively trash to a casual gamer, so they take it to the store for a trade-in.

  • kenakuma

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 11:11 am PT

    @JoeUUGGHH

    NO, just NO. We are already seeing great new franchises being built this gen and they are being built on the 360 and Ps3, Dead Space for one, BioShock is another, these are the true games of tommorrow and they are here today!!!

    Wii developers are not using the low produstion cost to push them forward like you suggested, they are using it to make a quick buck on a crappy game that will hit the bargin bin faster than any other system and thats a statistical FACT,^^^^ see article!!!!

  • JoeUUGGHH

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 8:56 am PT

    quite simply, there are a lot of crap games out there for the Wii that does lead to price drops and discounts very quickly. However, said analyst Jesse Divnich left out that the development costs of Wii games are a fraction of the cost it takes to make a 360 or PS3 game. Its a double edged sword that only benefits the customers on the games they do want to buy. A lot of these developers are newer companies, the companies of our tomorrow. Its this low budget cost they need to push them onward to making our future hits.

  • keyboarder20

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 3:34 am PT

    I am not surprised. The Wii is a very overrated console and the Wiimote often give games a very bad control system and phyisics. Also , the novelty of moving your arms about a lot to play a game is old news and is proving not to be as much fun as people thought it would be. Then there is a clear lack of A-titles for more serious gamers. I admit, casual games can be fun but they have a very short-life span. They get boring and repetitive very quickly. Finally the graphics are last gen. Like i said i am not at all surprised by the lack of commecial success of so many Wii games.

  • rarson

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 7:36 pm PT

    "Nintendo is better off making new handheld consoles then game consoles and seems to put for more effort into them."

    Holy crap, your ignorance is easily dismissed by the fact that Nintendo is the only console manufacturer to have made money off of hardware throughout EVERY SINGLE GENERATION. From a business perspective, Nintendo is actually better at making consoles than Sony and Microsoft.

    "Both the Wii and PS3 are running out of gas. And interesting enough they bothed launched in 2006."

    Oh, they are? I think that is wishful thinking. Are you trying to use the "early start" argument? Everyone loves to argue that the PS2 dominated the previous generation because it "had an early start" while they conveniently forget that it launched a year after Dreamcast.

    "This is honestly why I see Wii and PS3 both dying in this crash with Xbox 360 and PS2 living on and Sega re-entering the hardware market."

    Crash? I remember the video game market in 1985. It was an entirely different thing. It wasn't until the Playstation that gaming came anywhere near mainstream. If you think that the current market is headed for a crash, you're ridiculous, and yes I realize that there is a lot of crappy games out there. There's still a ton of great games too, and a whole lot more people buying them.

    Sega will never re-enter the hardware market. Not while the market is driven by consumers who want the flashiest, most hyped hardware (a lesson pounded into Sega with both the Saturn and Dreamcast, two systems that were technologically superior to their closest competition and yet out-hyped to the point that the public thought otherwise) at a lower-than-cost price. Sega is probably overjoyed that their titles now get multi-platform exposure without them having to spend a dime on hardware R&D or take constant losses at the retail registers.

  • LynQ08

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 5:53 pm PT

    lets see

    1,Chicken Shoot 2.Target Terror 3.Purr Pals 4.Cabela's Big Game Hunter 5.Calvin Tucker's Redneck Jamboree If Nintendo really concentrated on bringing out better games like Animal Crossing: City Folk, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy, that would be way better. But its like the Wii became the dumping ground for publisher cruddy games

  • Fareru

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 5:10 pm PT

    It's been said a million times. Nintendo is focusing way too much on the experience of the casual gamer and neglecting the hardcore fan base. I own every Nintendo console except for the Wii... Why? Because there are no smash hits, pardon the pun, except for Smash Bros which compels me to buy the console. I undersand that they want to incerease their fan base by appealing to more types of gamers but to ignore the ones who will invest more (I buy new games that I want the day they come out, no questions asked, not like soccer moms who wait for their kid's birthday to get them a game) into their console. Truthfully, it is the hardcore gamers that will decide where Nintendo will be able to go next, because casual gamers just don't invest as much money into their consoles. I've probably invested over a thousand dollars into my PS3, excluding games. No casual gamer would do this.

    Bring in first party support and crank out the games people want. They want Star Fox, they want a return to Mario 64, they want Earthbound on their virtual console, so stop ignoring them!

  • Valen_Ca

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:43 pm PT

    Maybe if the Wii games weren't all the same stupid mini-game collections then this wouldn't be that big of an issue.

  • LindBergh2007 posted Nov 24, 2008 4:31 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    LindBergh2007

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:31 pm PT (hide)

    Nintendo's strong point is handhelds. They always reinvent when it comes to them. Nintendo is better off making new handheld consoles then game consoles and seems to put for more effort into them. DS 2 is Nintendo's new trump card, now. Rumor has it they're are entirely focused on getting it out on time and making it a even more cutting edge handheld then ever.

    Both the Wii and PS3 are running out of gas. And interesting enough they bothed launched in 2006. It's clearly obvious that the value in these consoles is wearing thin and that the 360 is hanging on while PS2 is still managing to survive. It's about the games people and the Wii has lost that arugement with crappy last-gen ports and novelty games. PS3 meanwhile has lost with too much hype, very little software support, and the fall of Blu-Ray in which everyone assumed would be the next best thing(HD DVD will be back, I truely believe that.) While PS3 is still a good purchase and has a good(abiet small) library, it now lacks in the software department while Wii is sold to people that don't know or care about games.

    This is honestly why I see Wii and PS3 both dying in this crash with Xbox 360 and PS2 living on and Sega re-entering the hardware market. The better library now rest on these two machines and once SEGA gets back into the console market they're going to have to come up with a way to sell games for cheaper and cut development costs of 3rd party titles to help rescue the collapsing software market.

  • maxgil2

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:30 pm PT

    fanboy ? nooo, like LindBergh2007 comment isn't an XBOX360 fanboy comment

  • kenakuma

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:23 pm PT

    @Superzone

    "The PS3 has everything the 360 does and then some."

    Thats sooooooooooooooo untrue, I can't believe someone would even type that

    Two quick examples of very recent games that are REALLY HOT right now on 360 are Gears of War 2 and Banjo, now does Ps3 have those??? NO!!!!

    Both systems have their own great unique games, quite being a fanboy!!!

  • skwrlX

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:14 pm PT

    right on, Superzone!

  • Superzone

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:13 pm PT

    LindBergh2007: You are very, very wrong. For starters, Blu-Ray is staying and HD DVD is long dead. Secondly, neither the PS3 or the Wii is about to go out. The PS3's software library keeps getting better and better (MGS4, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2). What makes the 360 so much better? I find it to be a highly overrated console. The PS3 has everything the 360 does and then some. And the Wii will live on because it's selling like f****** crazy (although yes, it is losing luster and the novelty is wearing off because Nintendo isn't trying anymore).

  • skwrlX

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:09 pm PT

    are you freaking INSANE,LindBergh2007!?!?!?!?!?!? you think that HD-DVD is gonna make a comeback and that the PS3 doesn't have any good games!?! I can list off at least 10 good games, which should last you a year or two if your not a complete nerd, oh but wait you are and you aren't satisfied if there aren't at least 50 AAA games right a launch time. and sega will never get back into making consoles after Nintendo and Sony kicked its ass. Ever (maybe a handheld though).

  • Superzone

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 4:03 pm PT

    Well if Nintendo would quit being lazy and producing crap on their system, this wouldn't be happening. I wish instead of Wii Music and Wii Play they would give us Pikmin 3 and a new F-Zero or Star Fox already. But no, there are more freakin' casual gamers who own Wii's so us hardcore gamers are left in the dust most of the time.

  • Merl57

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 3:11 pm PT

    Oh that makes more sense now more profit less loss for casual games that's why they have overflowed the wii market

  • AngelCage-2

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 2:50 pm PT

    @ sscloud123
    Same thing used to happen with the ps2, and look who won last gens console war.
    -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

    i imagine that you are talking about the avalanche of crappy games rigth???

    Well, but you are a little wrong. yes PS2 have a LOT of crappy games (not that bad like E.T., but very bad games anyway) and is a sure thing that the PS2 library have so many shovelware.

    BUT Ps2 have the best games ever released too, and have tons of them, ps2 was a system full of incredible games, for every kind of player from hardcore, to family friendly to kiddie there was a lot of AAA titles for every kind of person... so many great games that the shovelware simply passed down with marginal sales.

    Now, in the wii, the shovelware is so abundant and the good games are just a few that wii players are almost forced to buy crap. In ps2 the avalanche of incredible games just make the crap pass under the radar (even some great games suffer cause that, like Okami, too many good games to have them all)


    and to LindBergh2007
    Oh come on, again the lousy argument : "PS3 have no games!!!!!!" man, you really have lived under a stone the last year. That argument is cheap, old, fake, funny and wrong by now.

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 2:18 pm PT

    yup

  • NND1

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 1:58 pm PT

    I previously owned a wii so I understand why the games hit the bargain bin... Most with the exception of a very few are PURE CRAP it does not take an analyst to figure that out.... I wasted tooo much cash on crap games so I got rid of it... Anyways I own 360 too and its hard for the wii to compete with this gen of games... Also blame the big "N" for making such an Underpowered System...

  • Unkoil666

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 1:25 pm PT

    If 3rd parties don't want their games to hit the bargain bins early because they're games are selling like crap, they need to STOP MAKING CRAP GAMES! Its not a consoles fault if 3rd parties are pumping out ports and half-a**ed games to make a quick buck. Stop ragging on the console itself. Its the developers and publishers own fault for not showing some ingenuity when it comes to making a game with a new kind of control scheme. The games on the system could be fantastic if 3rd parties weren't so stupid and would at least TRY to come up with inventive ways to use the system and its features.

    Cripes, this debate is getting so old and annoying. 3rd Parties, if you want quality revenue, put out quality product!!! Plain and simple!

  • HailToTheGun posted Nov 24, 2008 12:59 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    HailToTheGun

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:59 pm PT (hide)

    Shut up.

  • nini200

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:48 pm PT

    @PandaBear86

    I agree with you partially that Dragon Blade didn't have a strong start, but once you actually get some upgrades, and make it deeper into the game, it's actually a pretty cool game and one of the only adventure games to almost correctly mimic the action of the wii-mote. Once I got the Double Claw ability, that game really opened up BIG TIME. Then with the addition of the Dragon Wings, etc, it became a much better game. It is actually not a bad game once you get somewhere in it, the enemy's get tougher, the bosses get harder and MUCH BIGGER, the weapons get MUCH better, the story gets better (Even though it's still not the best by far). If they continued to work on it, that game could be a really good IP for Nintendo. You should really give it another shot. Once you get the Double Claw ability, then you'll probably start to like it a little more.

  • Junior_AIN

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:35 pm PT

    Wii games should be released in bargain bins, even Brawl, which is just Melee with new name (and worse controls).

    With the obvious exception of the big hits. And not receiving the good multi-platform games only make it worse.

  • rarson

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:27 pm PT

    I would be perfectly fine with Nintendo blocking crappy third-party software from being published on the Wii. After all, it's their system, they should be able to control what makes it to shelves. If they have to squeeze software down to a trickle in order to increase the quality of the library, that is fine with me. Less crap games means less money wasted on titles that turn out to suck.

    It's about quality, not quantity. I don't need 200 different games to justify my purchase of any particular system. I just need a handful of good ones. Besides, I think if Nintendo really emphasized quality by preventing crap titles from being released, it really would actually encourage better software from third parties. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they would just dump their junk elsewhere.

  • LindBergh2007

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:21 pm PT

    Drizzt_79. I know that about Blu-Ray.I know that HD-DVD was phased out. But hollywood studios are losing alot of money off of thousands of unsold discs.

    But that's another argument.

  • SolidKhan00

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:20 pm PT

    LindBergh: Have you been living under a rock for the last 2 years?

  • Drizzt_79

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:16 pm PT

    Lindbergh, have you been living in a closet for the last several months? Blu-Ray is now supported by all the major movie giants. All their advertising is geared toward Blu-Ray... not once in recent months have I heard the word HD-DVD.

  • scotty74

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 12:12 pm PT

    LindBergh, You are in denial. Blu-ray has won... HD-DVD is not coming back. The PS3 is rising, and not running out of gas. If the Wii is dying, there is no way that the PS2 is coming back. Maybe, in some universe, your dream world is reality, but on this earth, the 360 and PS3 are still duking it out.

  • LindBergh2007 posted Nov 24, 2008 11:54 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    LindBergh2007

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 11:54 am PT (hide)

    HappyBB.

    Nintendo will eventually drop out of the console market. But they will never leave the handheld market.

    Nintendo's strong point is handhelds. They always reinvent when it comes to them. Nintendo is better off making new handheld consoles then game consoles and seems to put for more effort into them. DS 2 is Nintendo's new trump card, now. Rumor has it they're are entirely focused on getting it out on time and making it a even more cutting edge handheld then ever.

    Both the Wii and PS3 are running out of gas. And interesting enough they bothed launched in 2006. It's clearly obvious that the value in these consoles is wearing thin and that the 360 is hanging on while PS2 is still managing to survive. It's about the games people and the Wii has lost that arugement with crappy last-gen ports and novelty games. PS3 meanwhile has lost with too much hype, very little software support, and the fall of Blu-Ray in which everyone assumed would be the next best thing(HD DVD will be back, I truely believe that.) While PS3 is still a good purchase it now lacks in the software department while Wii is sold to people that don't know or care about games.

    This is honestly why I see Wii and PS3 both dying in this crash with Xbox 360 and PS2 living on and Sega re-entering the hardware market. The better library now rest on these two machines and once SEGA gets back into the console market they're going to have to come up with a way to sell games for cheaper and cut development costs of 3rd party titles to help rescue the collapsing software market.

  • Superdude475

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 11:46 am PT

    Most Wii games are bargain bin games. Once I got my Wii I have yet to be excited about new games coming out besides Mario games. All there is, is just an endless collection of minigames where the motion controls are anything but, innovative.

  • musicman2059

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 11:45 am PT

    Did they really need to conduct research to find this out? Anyone can find out why there are so many bargain bin games on the Wii just by looking at all the **** pumped out by third party developers.

  • HylianHeart

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 11:35 am PT

    I've got plenty of Wii games that I love, but the economy stinks like a cab driver's arm pit so it's no wonder that everyone is feeling it. Unfortunately some feel it more than others. If Nintendo would come out with more games for gamers it would help. I like most of the games they have but still...

  • kenakuma

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 11:12 am PT

    I have yet to see ONE wii game that blew me away with innovative motion controls!!!! Now some top list wii games are just giving up and letting you play with the last gen GC controller such as SSBB and MKW....

    So once you get beyond the poorly used motion controls what are you left with??? A system with half power of the others, no real HD presentation, no HDD, an online system thats a TOTAL joke, and huge casual player base that won't spend more than $15 bucks buying a game which they will probably play for maybe 30 minutes and then put the wii up on the shelf for months and months. THAT is why no sane 3rd party developer is gonna be putting any effort or money into a game for this system, unless they want negative profits!!!

  • Madmangamer364

    Posted Nov 24, 2008 10:52 am PT

    This is an incident that is clearly tied to the insanely large amount of minigame compilations and the like on the system and not enough effort being applied by third party developers to really make a standout game or two. Unlike a lot of people, I'm not going to blame this on the so-called lack of power that the Wii possess, as history doesn't suggest that it's true. The comparisons in power between the PS2 and the GCN and the turnout of those two systems have already been talked out, but to make this a bit more obvious, just take a look at how the portable system race is right now. The shortcomings in power isn't hurting DS development much, as developers have found ways to create attractive, original, and quality software for the system while taking advantage of the system's strengths. It's not like the Wii isn't capable of this, but publishers have only been interested in the cash-in potential at this point, instead of devoting real resources to create worthwhile Wii projects.

    When Mr. Reggie made the statements last week regarding third party efforts, I don't think he said so with the idea that Wii games will suddenly be able to match the production value qualities (graphics, etc.) of the PS3/Xbox 360 counterparts. It would be foolish of a well educated person to think of something like that and believe it will be taken seriously. Even so, that doesn't mean that developers can't put the same amount of time, creativity, and effort into making superb Wii games. Anyone that doesn't think this is true needs to take a good look at the system's best efforts. The sad part about it all is that gamers, developers, and the gaming world know that there should be a better overall Wii library right now, but it's just so easy to go half-way and still be successful on the system right now that most just aren't bothering going all out. Hopefully, something will come down the line that changes the way games are developed for the system in a positive manner.

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