Warning: Wall of Text Approaching - Or Why the Wii is Not Crashing

Recently a large number of articles have come out critisizing Nintendo. Most of these were the result of the less than steller sales of both Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld (the same two games highlighted by Adibobea9 just a few weeks ago). MadWorld sold about 66,000 last month and Chinatown Wars sold about 88,000 last month. This knee jerk reaction to the low sales is very misplaced.

To illustrate this I want to dissect one article that was published by Yahoo! UK and look at the strength of their arguments. The article can be found here; but I will quote their article in context as well (and put some facts that they cite into their proper context).

The articles main premise is that the Wii is starting to fall out of favor in Japan and therefore the system is destined to crash ("Most worrying for Nintendo is how sudden the interest has waned. The wave of videogame popularity usually rocks Japan first, then the US and finally across Europe and the rest of the world"). To support how much interest has wained in Japan they point out how the Wii barely outsold the xBox360 in Japan last week ("Last week Wii barely outsold the beleaguered Xbox 360 with 13,349 units versus 10,134 respectively.") What they fail to mention however is that the PS3 barely outsold the Wii last week as well (16,701 - 13,349). They also fail to mention that the Wii has sold roughly 8 million units in Japan while the PS3 has only managed to move a little over 3 million.

They also talk how the PS3 and PSP have begun to gain momentum in Japan. As evidence of this the article cites the fact that even new PS2 games top WiiFit on the sales chart ("PlayStation 3 and PSP are now pulling ahead and gaining momentum in Japan, which is still by far the most discerning market in the world for videogames. Even the latest PlayStation 2 games are outperforming Wii Fit in the Japanese Top 10"). While this is true (Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2 sold an estimated 11,000 and Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 sold an estimated 10,000 while WiiFit only sold an estimated 9,000) it also fails to consider that WiiFit has been out in Japan for 72 weeks. The PS3 game with the current longest reign in the top 20 is Biohazard 5 which has been on the chartz for 6 weeks but only managed to move around 7,000 units. It also fails to recognize that Nintendo has sold more units of WiiFit than Sony has sold PS3s. Yet clearly it is Nintendo that is failing.

The article doesn't stop at attacking Nintendo's performance in Japan. They also cite the Wii's inability in Europe to have any game in the top 10 besides WiiFit ("By now, and judging by the ongoing failure of anything other than Wii Fit to dominate the UK Top 10, it's fair to accuse Nintendo Wii of being a two trick pony. Folks are picking up Wii to play Wii Sports and Wii Fit and that's about it"). However, last week in the Europe/Others region there were four Wii games in the top 5 (Wii Sports, WiiFit, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Play).

The article also cites problems in America as well. Wii sales in March 2009 were down 17% compared with March 2008. There are two important points to put this decline in context. First, the Wii still easily outsold both the xBox360 and the PS3 last month (610,000 > 330,000 > 218,000). Clearly no crash here. Also last years March Wii sales were higher than normal because of the boost received from the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on March 9th. Considering this, the Wii may even be selling better nominally than it was last year (especially considering the state of the economy).

Putting the cited statistics into their proper light I think it is absurd to think that the Wii is crashing. Are they less dominate than they once were? Yes. Is that innevitable after dominating all of the competition for nearly three years? Yes. Nintendo can still continue to build upon their success with even more innovative games in the coming years.

New Disc Golf Info

Some footage and demonstration of the disc golf mode in Tiger Woods 10. It looks like it responds realistically with the Wii Motion Plus add on.


Tiger Woods TGA 10 Disc Golf Video from Revogamersnet on Vimeo.

The most recent cover of the game also has a Pay & Play logo that hopefully indicates some downloadable courses in the future to take advantage of the SD storage solution. The box art also states that Wii Motion plus is included. It will be interesting to see what this bundle will be priced at and if the game comes unbundled as well. It looks like this game is becoming a must buy.


Edit: It looks like the bundle version will retail for $59.99 while the game only will cost $49.99. No Grand Slam Tennis bundle for the U.S. however. Bundle is the way to go since Wii Motion Plus retails for $19.99.

Help of Advertising

It is incredible what advertising can do for a new IP. This has been illustrated recently in the sudden increase in sales of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I have been very high on this game since buying it the week it came out (over a year ago now). However, the sales of the game in the U.S. have been lackluster (sales in Europe have been amazing however). About a month ago Nintendo released two commercials featuring Lisa Kudrow being somewhat rude to another lady as they play Professor Layton.



Since the airing of these commercials on cable TV sales for Professor Layton have been increasing each week. Last week the game sold almost an estimated 52,000 copies. This is the largest weekly sales to date for the game (incredible since it has been on the market for 61 weeks). Commercials such as these really help bring new games into the conscience of the more casual audience.

Disc Golf

This info comes from the Tiger Woods 10 website:

All-New Disc Golf - Trade your clubs for discs in a fun, new game mode based on the family-fun sport of Disc Golf. Play from custom tee locations on all 27 courses in the game!

If the disc golf aspect uses the Wii Motion Plus to its full extent this would be a great addition to the series. A well done disc golf game would interest me more than a regular golf game. Hopefully they don't just tack this on at the end. I will be keeping my eye out for any new info or hands on impressions of this.

My Hardcore Gaming on Wii…

The Wii has been on the market now for about 2.5 years and like Nintendo consoles of the past, has been labeled as Kiddy. However this generation the battle has been more between Casual and Hardcore gaming. Nintendo has succeeded beyond expectations and I have enjoyed way too many games than I originally thought coming off the less than stellar performance of the Gamecube.

With all the games I have bought there has still been a lack of good Mature rated games. Most have been either cheap ports or lousy developed titles, minus the great No More Heroes. However last year I bought Call of Duty: World At War and the excitement continued to roll in when 2009 came around. MadWorld recently hit earlier this month and later the DS finally saw its first and long anticipated Grand Theft Auto. Lately I have been putting too many hours in to Chinatown Wars and it even overshadows many Nintendo 1st party games.

2009 will even get better when The Conduit hits in June, and Dead Space: Extraction later this fall. Having only time and money for one console and one handheld I am happy that 3rd parties are finally understanding the Nintendo systems and filling the void of games that the PS3 and 360 enjoy.

Guitar Hero Commercials

I am not buying Guitar Hero: Metallica anytime soon. But I love the commercials for the game. Not quite as good as this one but still very entertaining.

Storage Solution

Today at the GDC Nintendo announced and launched a storage solution for the Wii. The Wii's internal memory which stores save data, Wii channels, and downloadable games is only 512 MB. Needless to say, if you download many games, especially N64 games or larger WiiWare games this feels up quickly. For the last few months if I wanted to buy a new game I had to delete a number of games to make room. This was a large inconvenience.

The new storage solution allows games to be saved to an SD card (up to 32 GB in size) and played from the SD card with limited delay. Hopefully with this storage solution Nintendo will begin to release more N64 games (Majora's Mask and Excitebike 64 please) and increase the allowable size of WiiWare games. Check out the video below to see this system in action.



It is not the best possible solution,but I am more than happy with what Nintendo came up with. I am excited to see what are the other consequences of this update.

Confessions of a Pokemon Addict

Yesterday the latest iteration of the Pokemon series, Pokemon Platinum, was released. Even though I own Pokemon Pearl (Platinum is basically the same game as Pearl with a few minor (yet exciting) additions) I had to pick it up today. Ever since I bought Pokemon Pearl in April of 2007 I have become addicted to Pokemon. I have played Pokemon Pearl for over 220 hours and have put as many hours if not more playing the other Pokemon games I have (Platinum is my 9th Pokemon game).

Even though I love playing Pokemon games I am somewhat ashamed to admit it. I think it is safe to say that many people think that Pokemon games are for young children. Even my 11 year old nephew thinks he is too old for Pokemon games. Admittedly, on their face Pokemon are rather cute and childish looking. The games, unlike some other RPGs, are very simple to pick up and play.

Yet behind this simple and cute exterior lies a game that is very complex and difficult to master. My countless hours that I have spent playing the Pokemon games has gotten me very close to my initial goal of achieving the motto of Pokemon: Gotta Catch 'Em All. It has only been recently, as I neared what I initially envisioned would be the end of playing Pokemon, that I began to scratch the surface of a much deeper experience. I have begun to collect rare event Pokemon from other countries and raising Pokemon that can battle competitively. Understanding competitive battling requires and understanding of extremely complicated game mechanics that are largely hidden from view unless you seek them out. It also takes an extreme amount of patience and hard work to obtain a Pokemon with good stats and then to raise it the precise way to capitalize on those stats.

I think it is precisely this dichotomy of being easy to pick up and play while also be incredibly complicated if one chooses that makes Pokemon such a great game. Anyone from the casual player to the extremely competitive player can enjoy the same game. Pokemon is the quintessential Nintendo game for this very reason.

It's in the game

Recently EA announced their intentions to place a larger emphasis on developing games for the Wii from the ground up. To fulfill that promise EA has announced two games that will use Nintendo's Wii Motion Plus: Tiger Woods 10 and the new Grand Slam Tennis. With the details released this week about these games it seems that EA is taking this promise very seriously. Both of these games have jumped to the top of my wish list.

EA promises an all new realism that can be obtained only through Wii Motion Plus. They have obtained one-to-one motion control. Whatever you do in your living room, the on screen character will also do. Although the controls in Tiger Woods 09 were very good overall there were two main problems: first, the controller reading draws and fades was inconsistent; second, putting was unrealistic, you would choose a putter distance, for example a five foot putter, then you would have to swing full power for it to go five feet. Both of these issues have been remedied with the use of Wii Motion Plus (you can even push or pull putts now if you twist your wrists during the putts). Also added to the game this year is an actual crowd at tournaments; no longer will there be applause and jeers from an invisible audience. Also the weather conditions in the game will reflect the actual weather conditions at that location thanks to a link to the Wii Weather Channel.

EA has built also created a new franchise, Grand Slam Tennis, from the ground up for the Wii. It already has a lot of great things going for it besides Wii Motion Plus. It is the first tennis game to have Wimbledon in it. It also has many of the legendary players from days past such as Pete Sampras and John McEnroe. I also love the visual style of the game. Having more of a caricature style works much better with the Wii.

The early hands on with the game and Wii Motion Plus have been outstanding. Where the ball goes depends not only on the timing of the swing, but on the speed and position of the wiimote as well as the length of the backswing and follow through that you take.

I have expressed some concern before about Wii Motion Plus making games too realistic to the point that they are no longer fun to play. However, it seems that EA is walking this fine line. It seems like the games are still accesible. Hopefully these games will also provide a deep control experience that takes practice to fully master.

8-bit Hip-Hop

I really enjoyed this combination of two things I love. Check out the link below for some hip-hop tracks that have been remixed in the style of 8-bit games.

Hip-Hop 8-bit Remix

SSBB: One Year Later

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was probably Nintendo's biggest game release last year. The hype for the game was by far the biggest. From May 2007 until the games release on March 9, 2008 there were daily updates on the official website: Smash Bros. DOJO. The actual size of the game also makes it one of the largest ever released by Nintendo. There are 544 trophies, 700 stickers, 35 playable characters (including Sonic and Snake), 27 assist trophies, and 30 different Pokemon in Poke Balls. The game also includes probably the best soundtrack ever for a game. The number of game modes was also large; most notably, for the first time including a single player story mode: the Subspace Emissary. Brawl also added Wi-Fi play for the first time in the series.

All of this adds up to a tremendous game; the best iteration in the hugely successful franchise. However, one year later, looking back at the merits of the game, I think the game failed to be a great game. Despite being the largest game on the Wii, it doesn't have the replay value of other games. I play other games far more, and Brawl hasn't been turned on at my house for a long time.

The biggest problem for Brawl is the underwhelming online play. The quality of the online play was decent. I didn't have big problems with lag like others did. However, despite having robust options in the main game, the online aspect is limited to battles, home-run contests, and multi-man brawls. However, there is no stat tracking involved at all. If you beat up on your friends for hours the only record of it is in your memory. There are no online rankings, no stats, no replays. Mario Kart Wii, released one and a half months after Brawl features a much better online system with rankings, ghosts, and lag free play.

What Brawl really needs is an online ranking system. Tell me where I rank in the world, region, and against my friends. Tell me how many times I have beat my friend. Include rankings for the classic mode, home-run contest, Subspace Emissary. I spend hours racing around Luigi's Circuit in Mario Kart to try and beat my friends. Likewise rankings would make me replay the home-run derby and the classic mode over and over for bragging rights. Include online tournaments with different challenge objectives like Mario Kart and Tetris Party.

Brawl came half way to achieving this replayability with an awesome achievement system (one that I will likely never complete); but it would have been even better if I could compare my achievements with my friends. Unfortunately Wii Speak was also not implemented into the game. The lack of trash talking with friends also ruins the fun (Skype has served as a decent substitute though). Overall, Brawl is lacking a few characteristics that would have pushed the game over the top to be the game to play on the Wii.

Excitebots

Nintendo just announced a new game, Excitebots, that will be released in May. Excitebots is essentially a sequel to Excite Truck. It will provide racing like Excite Truck, but the trucks have been replaced with vehicles that look like insects and animals.
The official description reveals some wierd interesting gameplay mechanics:
"Get your friends together and grab your Wii Wheel (TM) accessories for action-packed raucous racing. ExciteBots: Trick Racing takes the big-air thrills and simple controls of Excite Truck (TM) and ramps up the fun with a non-stop barrage of funky challenges and mini-games performed at blinding speed. You won’t believe your eyes when you find yourself shooting goals, throwing pies and even playing poker in the middle of racing robotic animals and insects around off-road tracks."

Pies? Poker? I'm not too sure how those elements will be incorporated in the game. If it was anyone but Nintendo was making this game I would think this game was another piece of shovelware. No one would be excited about this game. Hopefully, it will be a great game.
I am most excited about a picture on the cover art for the game. A soccer ball is displayed. Hopefully this game will again have a take on the soccer game from Excitebike 64. Especially if the soccer game was online (the Wi-Fi logo is on the box, so some aspects of the game will be online). I could sink hundreds of hours into the soccer game alone. I think an online soccer game would make some of my friends buy a Wii.
This could be a very interesting release from Nintendo.

Metorid Prime 3

Today I finally finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. When I first got the game I played it a lot and got to the final boss but couldn't beat it on my first try. So I left the game alone for a long time. I have so many games that I progress to the final boss but never finish. I think there is a part of me that doesn't want to finish games because then they are over. (I still have not beat the first Metroid Prime, though I am at the last boss).

I have enjoyed the Metroid Prime series. However, I think Corruption took the series to the next level with the incredible controls of the Wii remote. I really enjoy first-person shooters with the Wii remote - nunchuck combination. (I am really excited for the Conduit to improve on these excellent controls with expanded customizability).

For those who have yet to experience the Metroid Prime series Nintendo is re-releasing the first two Metroid Prime games games on the Wii with Wii controls. This should make the games even better than they were.

Mario Kingdom Chronicles in Baroque

Shirt.Woot has brought another video game shirt to its site. This one features Mario and Yoshi in an epic battle against Bowser, all done in a Baroque style. It is currently sold out, but you will be able to pick it up tommorow for $15.00.

Pokemon News

Today is a big week for Pokemon. I moved one step closer to completing my Pokedex. I went to Toys 'R Us yesterday and downloaded Shaymin.

That leaves me just four Pokemon short of a complete Pokedex.

Nintendo also announced that a Giratina figuring will be given to those that pre-order Pokemon Platinum. This is way better than the stylus they gave for Pearl and Diamond.
Pokemon Platinum is being released on March 22nd.

The newest movie, Giratina and the Sky Warrior, will also be making its America debut on the Cartoon Network this weekend. It can be seen Friday the 13th and Sunday the 15th at 8:00 p.m. or Wednesday the 18th and 9:00 p.m. It will then be released on DVD on March 31st.
Luckily the movie isn't scheduled to air on Valentine's day. I'm sure my wife would have loved it if we had to watch that for Valentine's day.

Video Game Soundtracks

Many games have incredibly soundtracks. The music provides so much atmosphere and character to the game. A number of these songs get stuck in my head for days. I also love when my son is in his room and he hears me start a game. He instantly knows what game it is from the music. Unfortunately, most video game soundtracks are never released in a format that can be enjoyed whenever one wishes. Recently, I have noticed a number of publishers providing free dowloads of game soundtracks. I think this is a great idea. It gets gamers excited about the games and provides gamers a way to enjoy the music whenever they want. Check out the following sites to download some excellent video game soundtracks.

World of Goo


Big Bang Mini


LIT

Boom Blox

One of the highlights on the Wii last year was Boom Blox. Boom Blox, which was the first game which partnered EA and Steven Spielberg, is in essence a reverse Jenga game. Many of the levels have you throwing balls at blocks in an attempt to knock them down in as few throws as possible. The following trailer shows the many different game play modes.

The game has a large single player mode which is comprised of both a story mode and also a challenge mode. The game also boasts a very entertaining multiplayer mode. This even kept my wife entertained for over four hours of play. The game also had a very in depth creat a level mode. Some people have made incredible levels that recreate classic Nintendo games.


I would recommend this game to anyone. It actually provides an entertaining family experience, unlike many of the other party games on the Wii. Recently the sequel, Boom Blox: Bash Party, was announced. If you haven't picked up Boom Blox yet consider it. Look for a price drop and grab it. Or at least pick up the sequel coming this Spring.
Buy this game or else the Grim Reaper will get you.

BYU Video Game Study

A study recently released by BYU links video game to marijuana use and low self-esteem. (Check out the Deseret News article here). The study polled 813 single college students from around the nation. Students that played video games daily were two times more likely to smoke weed than those that only played video games occasionally and three times more likely to smoke weed than those that played no video games. Girls that regularly played video games also had lower self-esteem.


Although this link is evident from the study, it does not demonstrate whether video games cause these behaviors or whether playing video games is merely an outward expression of people that already have these characteristics. Since this article has been published there has been a large outcry from the gaming community. So much that the writers of the study have released a statement reiterating this. “The study absolutely does not find that videogames cause this behavior. We’ve repeatedly tried to emphasize that in the study itself. It was all correlation.”


Even if they claim not to have found any causation, the pictures they posted along with the article seem to suggest that video games are bad. Look how depressing and life ruining video games are. (Though they match our blog's theme very nicely.)

Professor Layton 2?!

The game I am most anxiousely awaiting to be announced is Professor Layton and the Devil's [Demon's][Pandora's] Box, the sequel to Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Devil's Box was released in Japan on November 29, 2007 and has already sold over 860,000 copies. However, no release date has been announced for America.

Last week on IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, they speculated that this game would not be localized because of the high cost of translating the text and replacing puzzles that are specific to Japan. They stated that it would cost as much to localize the game as many games cost to make. They further cited the fact that Curious Village has only sold around 350,000 copies in America. This figure, they stated, would likely not justify the localization of the game.

However, they ignored the fact that the game has already sold over 620,000 in Europe and Australia (even though the game was released in November of 2008, nine months of the American release). Europe is sold out of the game, and this game may reach 1 million in sales in Europe alone. Thus, bringing the combined sales of America and the other regions above that of the Japanese release. This fact gives me great hope that we will see a release in America.
Recently in the Official Nintendo Magazine (a European magazine) the cover announced that it contained a preview of Devil's box.

This is pretty good evidence to me that the game is in the works. I assumed that the localization is not much different for the U.S. than it is for the U.K. versions. As such, I think this game will reach our shores before the end of 2009. This game was also on a number of year end lists as the hand-held game of the year. I think Nintendo would be foolish not to localize this game.

iPokedex

I was recently playing Pokemon Colloseum in my quest to catch Ho-Oh. As I was playing I was wishing there was a Pokedex for the iPhone. Nintendo will likely never release a Pokedex for the iPhone since the iPhone is considered by many to be a competitor with the Nintendo DS (I haven't found any iPhone aps that rival a DS game; however, I think the upcoming DSi downloadable software will face difficulties when compared to the iPhone aps). Today I did a little research and came across a website Pokedex that is designed to work specifically with the iPhone's Safari browser. Just point your browser to room34.com/pokemon/ to check it out. Although it lacks some features (I would love to see it also list the type effectiveness of each Pokemon) it can serve as a basic Pokedex on the go.

Nintendo Voice Chat

Recently Nintendo finally provided a voice chat solution for the Wii. Some DS games (Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, Pokemon Pearl, Metroid Prime Hunters etc.) had already allowed for the use of voice chat. However, it took Nintendo almost two full years to bring voice chat to the Wii. Like the Wii itself, Nintendo has taken an unconventional approach to voice chat. Instead of using a headset like the xBox or PS3 Nintendo uses a microphone that sits on top of the TV and the audio is put through the TV speakers.


This design serves two primary functions for Nintendo. First, it promotes a more inclusive game play atmosphere. Everyone in a room can participate in the conversation. Second, it also allows parents to monitor their children's conversations.



At first I was concerned that there would be significant echoing as the mic pics up the gameplay audio rather than my voice. However, the speakers filter does a very good job and there is little to no echoing. Currently only Animal Crossing: City Folk supports use of the microphone. Nintendo has also provided a Wii Speak Channel, essentially a voice chat room, where friends can talk.


Hopefully more games will begin to use this feature. The Conduit has already announced that it will be compatible with Wii Speak. I just wish Wii Speak could have been provided earlier in the Wii's life so it could have been used for games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl or Mario Kart Wii. I then wouldn't have to use Skype to rub in my wins.

Last School Vacation

I recently completed by last school Christmas vacation. During the vacation I wasn't able to do any blogging because (a) I used my iPhone instead of my computer to check websites and (b) I spent all of my time playing video games instead of reading and writing about them. The week before classes started I played the Wii for an average of over 3 1/2 hours each day. I played by DS even more since I was trying to finish Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia so I could download some exclusive Pokemon.

I am so sick of school, but I am going to miss the extended vacations where I have no worries or responsibilities. As school starts I will be spending more time on my laptop for school (and also blogging more so I can avoid doing school work).