Success of Wii?

Rob Watson - Philadelphia Inquirer

Success of Wii? Not titles, but what others don't offer

There are some hard-core gamers out there, and believe me I have heard from a lot of them, who are having a hard time deciphering the success of the Wii. "It is selling millions with almost nothing in their library. I actually want to play," said a gamer with a very clever name, Wii-don't-play-this-stuff.

Now, in his defense and to many other gamers out there, Matt Mathews of online-gaming portal Next-Gen.biz did take a look at gamerankings.com (which measures reviews on a percentile basis) for the reviews of games played on Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii. The average scores for each were as follows: Xbox 360 was around 70 percent, the PS3 a tad over 73 percent, and the Wii is . . . at 64 percent. For an average of the highest-rated games across those platforms, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are pretty similar at 89 percent, the Wii however is still behind at around 85 percent.

The thing is, however, most Wii owners couldn't care less. Do we think parents care about Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, or Crysis, (all highly praised, technical marvels, last year) while playing Wii Sports with their kids? Do we think consumers, lining up everywhere (still) to get a Wii, think about how many Wii titles will blow them away? No and No.

Nintendo has continued to do something Sony and MS lost sight of in this M.A.D. race to technical supremacy.

They have concentrated on the great emotional moments of playing something. It is known that 360/PS3 fans tie their button-mashing giddiness to titles. Wii fans tie their giddiness to swinging around a controller -- in other words, how one plays. It is the difference between playing air-hockey or foosball and playing videogames of hockey or soccer. It is physical, a three-dimensional effect on an outcome of a contest. It's an arena in which a bunch of buttons and thumbsticks simply can't compete.

Notice, I didn't even mention the price of the Wii, still at least a bean ($100) cheaper than its next-gen brethren. That is because, sooner rather than later, either the PS3 or the 360 (most likely the 360) will be at a similar price point, and it still won't change the minds of consumers -- because for Nintendo, it will be how you play that comes first. You don't need a massive library of highly rated games for that line of thinking. Just a few, which they already have.

Trivial? Not to some Many hoped it wouldn't happen, some actively pleaded for it not to happen, and others were just resigned to its happening. That is how to best describe gamers' feelings regarding Electronic Arts' continuation of an exclusive deal with the NFL and the players' union to be the only videogame company able to use NFL properties (player names, team logos, stadiums, etc).

This week, Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, announced that the deal has been extended until 2013. That virtually guarantees that the Madden football series will be the best-selling football title without the company's having to lift a finger.

Business is business, I know, but I just don't understand how the NFL sees this as a good thing. The more variety these NFL products have, the greater the gamer experiences. Some may fail to excite consumers, but the cream would rise to the top. Now, I fear, we will get cream that will be past its expiration date almost every year.

Let's face it, this sport is as much a part of Americana as crackers, and we are all eating Ritz right now in some bizarre parallel universe. Personally, I like Townhouse.

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