So,
Nintendo’s new gaming system, will be big.
there’s been a lot of buzz about it over the past year or so, and it’s picked even more in the last few weeks for two reasons – the release of it’s launch name “wii” [pronounced "we" and previously code named Revolution]; and the E3 conference is on this week – and it’s going to be huge.
Nintendo released a teaser of their new controller system some 8 or so months ago. The controller showed people on their couches in their living rooms. The people then got up, and holding a little remote control style device, started swinging it like a sword, throwing it like a fishing rod, using it like a tennis racket, pointing it like a gun etc. The device was the new controller for the Wii, which will quickly become the benchmark for a new wave of innovative gaming.
And that’s just what this controller is. Innovative. Whilst Sony and Microsoft, makers of the Playstation and Xbox, shove more RAM, better graphics cards, hard drives into their machines, Nintendo have gone against the curve and tried to redefine it. Don’t get me wrong: upping the specs and adding great multiplayer support is wonderful, and it’s sure to sell lots of units.
But at the end of the day, they are the same games we’ve been playing since the original playstation came out in 1996, with the same controllers. That’s a decade where all that’s advanced has been the graphics quality. And support for online playing. Compared to the decade before it, which was spearheaded by Nintendo’s release of the NES, well, you can see the advancements between the NES and the PS1 pretty clearly.
So, ten years on, Nintendo want to spearhead it again. And by all accounts, they have the spear already.
The new controller will obviously be the marketing point for the Wii. Assuming they have a good launch title to advertise with, they’ll take the market by storm, for the following reasons:
- <b>Parents will buy it for their kids</b>: This will happen for two reasons, one because the game titles that are released on Nintendo are usually more comical and happy than the shoot-everything-then- blow-up-everything-else titles released on other platforms. The second reason is that whole child obesity epidemic. If they can see that through a video game, their kids will be jumping and bouncing around the room having sword fights with each other, it’ll be an instant hit. - <b>Non-Gamers might try it</b>: Face it, no one really wants to be seen staring at a screen holding and tapping a plastic box. You look like a fool. Every ad that perpetuates a teenage being lazy [be it for laundry powder or some instant sauce] they are usually sitting in front of a tv playing a vide game. If the game gets you interacting with it on a more physical level, who wouldn’t, at the very least, want to try it out. - <b>There’s no target market</b>: The games are for everyone. More often than not, there are two demographics game makers go after: the hardcore gamers aged from around 15-25, and the younger kids aged 8-12 or thereabouts. Everyone else is just a bonus. Nintendo seem to have done away with the target market idea in their philosophy of the Wii, and are going for an “it’s for everyone” mantra, with an added side note about getting people that don’t play games to start. And I think it will work.
I’m pretty sure this is what gaming in the future will be. I’d bet money on the fact that Sony and Microsoft’s next consoles, which will come out around 2010, will utilise similar, if not even better forms of innovative, interactive [perhaps immersive is a better word] gaming systems.
I predict that the Wii will enjoy iPod style success when it’s launched. It’s going to redefine gaming the way the iPod/iTunes redefined music.
cheers
