How many of us were wrong about the Wii?

[Alex]

Just read a short little article on 1up
http://www.1up.com/features/cover-story-look-back-wii
Where they point out that technically, the Wii just won this generation of consoles, if you go just by sales.
By best games i don't think anyone can argue that it won, and personaly, my wii is in my kids room and just used because it's the only other thing i have for netflix, and so i can occasionaly play an old game on the VC, but it did sell more than ps3 and 360, all of nintendos games sold very well, so for nintendo, this thing was a huge success and a giant turn around from the dissapointment that the gamecube must have been.

Did anyone here predict it though? I remember saying that it's lower price was it's biggest selling point, but i can't recall ever thinking that it's control concept was going to be cribbed by Sony or Microsoft and become things they heavily pushed for their own gadgets. I know i didn't in fact, i just considered the wii mote gimmicky. And the balance board (which sold incredibly well...which i still consider gimmicky, though i own one myself), or the friggen wii motion plus deal, which they barely took advantage of...but it still sold really well.
I remember not being able to get a friggen wii for an entire year.

[DebkoX]

I wasn't too fond of ours.

[GothamLord]

I got the system when it was first released. I somehow managed to sneak in under the radar and get a system when everyone else was scrambling to find one with little success. At first it was amusing enough, however it lost its charm quickly for me. Being a 30-year old male gamer with no kids, the games the system marketed for with its primary audience didnt appeal to me. Nor am I they type of person to have a game night over at the house to play Mario Party or Hasbro Game Night. I had girlfriends that would be interested enough to sit down and play around with Paper Mario or something for a bit but that was about it. Myself playing games like Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, Dead Dead Redemption or Uncharted didnt really have need for more of the Wii's younger geared titles. Most of the older themed games were also on the Xbox or the PS so I generally went to them by default. The poor thing ended sitting in a box for nearly a year untouched before I finally traded it in.

[jesse_custer]

I was positive about the Wii when it first came out. Although my viewpoint is slightly more negative at this point, I still think the Wii has some really fun games. I've put a lot of hours into Wii Bowling and Golf, and you can't get much better than Muramasa: The Demon Blade or Sin and Punishment: Star Successor when it comes to nonstop action.

[DebkoX]

I disliked it, the games were aimed at little kids.

[Castel]

Great stuff to spend some fun hours with the kids and the wife and/or with some friends. Hell i even played with my parents a couple of times.

Didn't think this stuff was going to be so successful though back then. And Nintendo is making even more money with their portable machines, who really are perfect for the Japanese market. (where people tend to spend a lot of time in public transportation)

Kudos. They powned Sony and Microsoft with a console pulling PS2 level graphics. Big kudos.

[Venom]

Sales wise Wii was a success and that's it as far as I'm concerned It's only successful games were it's own brands like Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros etc. I don't think it's fair to class the Wii as a proper console as a lot of family and friends and myself included believe that the Wii is more of a party machine than a true console. It was more aimed at casual gamers to gather around and have fun like a group gathering around a karaoke set. The novelty soon wears off as a lot of its party titles are all repetitive.

Nintendo was constantly criticised for sidelining the hardcore gamers and doing too many family friendly games over hardcore games. There were a few good 3rd party exclusives but most of them ended up in HD conversions on the PS3 like The Resident Evil Chronicles games, No More Heroes, House of The Dead Overkill etc. To me that made the Wii a little more redundant. Their sales have dramatically dwindled over the years. I think it's too early to say the Wii won this generation as PS3 and 360 sales have already nearly caught up to Wii's sales.

[sHayden]

I played Wii Bowling and No More Heroes. Outside of that it was never used. Highest sales and selling well with your own properties only makes you a winner in the most literal sense. I credit them for being smart though. Super Mario Bros. games don't really have to change much at all..they sell. They sold a knick-knack console and it did very well.
How many people though either use their wii just for Netflix or don't even use it at all? That should be the measure of success. Number of units sold against number of units collecting dust.

[spider-prime]

I played tons of games on the Wii.

I homebrewed my console so I could import games, Fatal Frame 4 on it was excellent, I wish Nintendo bought it out over here. Oh well.

The Last Story is probably one of my favorite RPGs, sort of plays like a 3rd person Ys game. Little King's Story is another great game a lot of people didn't buy sad to say :(

There are a lot of great games on it. So, I wasn't disappointed with the console, but I do own wayyyyyyyyy more games on my PS3 compared to the wii and I own NONE on the xbox, I didn't buy it :) No need for it, unless you have to play Halo games. All of the best games on it are on the PC/Steam and my computer is more than ready to handle those games.

[Venom]

No need for it, unless you have to play Halo games.

Yeah my 360 is just gathering dust. Unless it's Halo or Gears of War they don't have any great exclusives other than these two franchises. All the other great games they sell you can get on PS3 aswell. That's why Microsoft just keep turning out Halo and Gears of War sequels/prequels and paying loads of money to be the first to get exclusive DLC content before PS3 or PC. I know I probably sound like a fanboy, but I'm an old fashioned gamer. I buy a console where I like the exclusive titles best.

[Castel]

Nintendo was constantly criticised for sidelining the hardcore gamers and doing too many family friendly games over hardcore games

Pretty silly critic honestly, casual gamers is where the money is. As Nintendo proved a lot of times.

[goosey13]

Hard to say I'm disappointed with it as I bought it cheap off my sister maybe 2 years ago. I know there's lots of old favorites waiting for me on the virtual console. Plus there's a dozen or so solid games that I never got to and Wii sports was fun for a few hours that first Christmas day.

So, if you shelled out full price or more for it then I feel for you. If you get it on the cheap and can't find 150 bucks or so worth of fun then your'e doing it wrong.

[Venom]

Pretty silly critic honestly, casual gamers is where the money is. As Nintendo proved a lot of times.

Casual gamers do bring in more money at times, but because they're casual gamers they might not be intreseted in buying a sequel or a prequel to a game they've bought. That's where the hardcore market make a lot of money for the industry.

I don't think Nintendo has proved lots of times like you claim that casual gamers are dominat because if that was the case why are there so many hardcore games launching on Wii U like Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Mass Effect 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge, which is most certainly not a casual gamer friendly game and the controversial signing of Bayonetta 2? Because a lot of gamers were crying out for these type of titles back on the Wii generation. Casual gamers would play these, but they're more aimed at a hardcore market.

[jesse_custer]

A lot of gaming should be for kids, and there's nothing wrong with playing games intended for kids, either. "Hardcore gaming" has pretty much lost the meaning it once had. The "hard" in "hardcore" meant that the games were actually hard! So I was a more hardcore gamer when I was playing Super C and Ninja Gaiden at five than the young adults playing the Halo series, which is dumbed down gaming if I've ever seen it.

Halo, Assassin's Creed, and a lot of other "hardcore" games are no more sophisticated or mature than Wii Golf, and they're not difficult to play at all, just like Wii Golf.

[Castel]

why are there so many hardcore games launching on Wii U like Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Mass Effect 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge

Those games have been released on almost all consoles and on PC, don't say a lot about Nintendo marketing plans for being honest.

And are those really seen as "hardcore" games ?