Comments on: The Wii bubble has burst

By: daniel thomas macinnes

daniel thomas macinnes — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:57:03 +0000

Don’t you get tired of always being wrong?

By: Jacques Strappe

Jacques Strappe — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:27:24 +0000

November and December sales proved this article very wrong, and Untamo up there very right–with the exception of saying NSMBW doesn’t appeal to the hardcore…dude, Mario STARTED the hardcore! When he was still called Jumpman. ;p

At any rate Untamo had more correct analysis in fifty or so words than Bruce has had on this subject for several years. I think Bruce should hand Untamo this website, if he wants it.

By: reactosguy

reactosguy — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:47:09 +0000

“There is no end to the desire of those who just want more. Give them one, they ask for two. Give them two and the next time they will ask for five instead of three, their desire growing exponentially.” -Genyo Takeda

“If [Nintendo] had followed existing roadmaps we would have aimed to make [the Wii] faster and flashier. We’d have tried to improve the speed at which it displays stunning graphics. But we could not help but ask, ‘How big an impact would that really have on our customers?’ In development, we came to realize the sheer inefficiency of this path when we compared the hardships and costs of development against the new experiences customers might have.” -Genyo Takeda

I owned a Wii for 2 years and it has never failed me. I love playing games on it.

Both quotes by Takeda-san are true. Think of the first quote as for wanting more chocolate bars. It’s not good. The other quote says you just need the right amount (portion sizes and the Daedalus and Icarus myth strengthen this fact).

“The consensus was that power isn’t everything for a console. Too many powerful consoles can’t coexist. It’s like having only ferocious dinosaurs. They might fight and hasten their own extinction.” -Shigeru Miyamoto

I don’t want excellent graphics, I want excellent experiences. AKA, you don’t need the best performing console, you need the console that gives the best experience.

You are spreading FUD and trying to force people off the Wii. Wii can use anything we want. It’s not your decision, it’s the Wii owners’ decision. The Wii console’s success surprised many people and some developers apologized for their low quantity, low quality GameCube games. Before you make a claim, do a lot of research to determine if the Wii will fail, because it’s currently selling big.

Wii: 56.14 million units shipped (as of Sept 30 2009)
Xbox 360: 39 million units sold (as of Jan 6 2010)
PS3: 27 million units sold (as of Sept 30 2009)

Currently there is a 17.14 million unit gap between the Wii and Xbox 360 according to current stats. Oh, and I play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is a proper fighting game made for the Wii, very often. I don’t play Wii Sports that much.

By: oneiric

oneiric — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:47:13 +0000

Prediction: XBox 360 will eventually sell more units than current, non-HD Wii.

Question: Ignoring how the time required to sell those units and any other sales (if Nintendo were to release an HD version of Wii, for example) are important considerations that are being completely ignored, why would this even matter?

For the companies backing the consoles, profits matter more than unit sales. For the people playing games, having something they enjoy playing is more important than unit sales. In either case, this claim seems like a platform for fanboys to argue over rather than something that should matter to gamers.

Nintendo has generated enough profit from Wii that if they were to essentially abandon it now and release a newer console, it would be hard to fault them. Microsoft has gained tremendous support for their brand this generation and should be a force in future generations. Congrats to both of them! Sony might’ve fallen from the dominance they saw with PS2, but are now gaining ground with PS3 and looking stronger all the time… so even the “loser” for this generation looks like a great option. The big winner: gamers of all sort (casual or core) who have more good options available than ever before.

By: Gutter

Gutter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:02:52 +0000

Way to act like if that prediction was insightful. It wasn’t. My 3 y/o daughter know that, eventually, consoles start selling less, especially 4 years old consoles and especially in an economic downturn.

PS : I’m not an Official Nintendo Fanboy. On the other hand, I am a fanboy of rationality, and rationality tells me that this “prediction”, and gloating about it, sucks.

By: Tuckski

Tuckski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:34:26 +0000

I do love it when fanboys get the knickers in a twist.
‘How dare you criticise the device that I worship!’ they say.
Who cares which console sells the most? What difference does it make? I certainly don’t care. What annoys me is that so few games make use of what the Wii can do. And no I’m not paid by Sony, MS or Nintendo and have all three consoles.

By: Untamo

Untamo — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:42:25 +0000

Also many people here are dismissing New Super Mario Bros Wii. New Super Mario Bros DS has sold almost 20 million copies worldwide so NSMBWii is likely to sell huge amounts of copies this holiday. It is a big system seller so Wii could have huge holiday this year. It may not appeal hardcore gamers but it is still system seller.

By: Untamo

Untamo — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:36:03 +0000

Well, even with 40% drop it is still selling almost twice as much as 360. Wii sold 3.5 million in last quarter while 360 sold 2.1 million. So how could 360 outsell Wii when 360 sales are still miserable compared to Wii.

By: only777

only777 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:45:05 +0000

I agree with what you have already said previously about the Wii’s bubble being ready to burst. I totally agree with the fad idea you put towards the Wii, although there is one thing I think you are a bit off with.

That is the PS3, I think you have underestimated it and I also belive it will outsell the 360 by the end of next year. But I also belive that xmas 2009 will show a huge shift in favour of the PS3. We shall see.

By: David Macphail

David Macphail — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:01:49 +0000

Hoboy – last time i checked this generation was still going, i’d have thought even you would have been able to figure that one out.

PS3 is last right now but it outsold the Xbox 360 and the Wii for the entire month of September and has been on a constant hot streak since then. The gap between the PS3 and the 360 gets slimmer every week, so saying the PS3 has already lost makes you sound like a blind fanboy.