Wii: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Wii Would Like to Play."''|'''[[Tagline]]''', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP-THj03Zk4 English commercials] for the Nintendo Wii}}
By the end of the [[
Nintendo focused on an innovative, motion-based control scheme involving the Wii Remote, or the [[Fan Nickname]] "Wiimote", a controller shaped like a fusion between a NES controller and a television remote control that could sense the movement of the person holding it. This lowered the difficulty curve immensely. Usually a beginning gamer would have to not only to learn how to control his character, but also learn how to control his ''controller''. "'[[Halo (series)|Hold RB for More Dakka]]'? What's [[More Dakka]]? What's RB? Do I have to hug him? And [[How Do I Shot Web?|how do I]] make him [[Memetic Mutation|doesn't afraid of anything]]?" ...Okay, maybe we're exaggerating it a little bit. But maybe we're not. Compare this to the ease of using of a remote control and you can see why the Wii Remote was such a clever step.
The Wii also focused on a low price point, (approximately $199 in Japan with no game, and roughly $249.99 elsewhere with ''[[Wii Sports]]'', itself a casual friendly introduction to console gaming.), countering the escalating price tags on its competitors. They did this by cutting out many features that the other consoles took for granted, like DVD playback, that weren't that important to the gaming experience. Nintendo then marketed the console as "for the whole family", and to further this, made it look as sleek as an iPod.
And it '''worked.''' The Wii's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|crushing marketing victory]], Day 1 profitability and ludicrously high sales numbers make it the most successful
Plus it did it all without needing specs that raised the cost of the system (which they could not have afforded). The innards of the Wii are based off the [[Game Cube]]<ref>Gearbox Software's president, Randy Pitchford, even [https://web.archive.org/web/20150127173947/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/13/interview-gearbox-president-sounds-off-on-wii-ps3-360/ referred to the Wii as a "supercharged GameCube"] in an ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'' interview</ref>. While its total polygon count is much higher, the Wii's hardware is still based off 2001 technology, so while it's cheap, it doesn't have the advanced features more powerful consoles have.<ref>The Wii has no hard drive for the sake of cost and reliability. Hard drives in consoles are used to stream large amounts of data as well as store it, and games like ''[[Doom]] 3'' and ''[[Half
Nintendo's online offerings are a far cry from the other system, including the [[Scrappy Mechanic|infamous friend codes]] (although those are being emphasized less and less). Nintendo has focused on local multiplayer, which the other two consoles seem intent on abandoning. The Wii does have [[Wii Ware|an online store]] like its competitors, and a separate Virtual Console store that essentially serves as legal [[Emulation]]. Unfortunately, a true mass storage solution (like, say, an external hard drive) didn't appear until the end of March 2009, and only a limited number of demo versions of the games are available.
Third-party developers initially either ignored the system entirely or tossed in some quick-and-dirty ports of [[PlayStation 2]] games (generally with shoed-in controls) like ''[[Ninjabread Man]]'', with more serious efforts coming only after the system's continued popularity established it as a friendly environment. The Wii has also received a reputation as a platform with lots of shovelware, due to its low development costs, although this is a trend that has always dogged the market leader of each generation. Making matters worse is that most Wii games aimed at a "hardcore" audience are rare, thus not enough to grab an audience that a steady stream would, plus a lot of the niche games are declared to not be niche, and thus when they don't sell well, it's blamed on the Wii audience, even though such game don't sell that well on any system. The result
However, despite cries of "inferior" graphics and processing power, the Wii
Nintendo
Games for the Wii mostly fall into one of four categories:
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* '''Nintendo's first party titles'''. In addition to games for "classic" franchises like ''[[Super Mario Bros.|Super Mario Bros]]'', ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', ''[[Metroid]]'', ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' and ''[[Kirby]]'', Nintendo sells a line of games directed towards casual gamers - people who have never played video games before, or only do so in social settings. Examples include ''[[Wii Sports]]'', ''[[Wii Fit]]'', ''Wii Music'', ''[[Wii Sports Resort]]'', and ''[[Wii Party]]''. All of these games are designed around the Wii's motion controls and are responsible for Nintendo's new-found success. A handful fall into both categories, such as ''[[Mario Kart]] Wii''.
* '''Casual games by other companies.''' Nintendo's casual games have delivered them gobs and gobs of money, and naturally other companies want in. This is mostly [[Ubisoft]] territory, but almost every game publisher has released at least one. Many of them include "We" in the title since they legally cannot use "Wii", like ''We Cheer'', ''We Ski'' and ''We Dare''.
* '''Ports, Ports and more Ports''': The Wii, hardware-wise is very similar to the [[Game Cube]] (In fact,
* '''Niche and budget games''': It costs around 1/4th as much to make a Wii game that it does to make a game on other consoles. This means that games that would normally be considered too risky or unprofitable to get made can be developed, and the makers of games like ''[[Monster Hunter]] Tri'', ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' and ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories|Silent Hill Shattered Memories]]'' have acknowledged that. In fact, there are game genres that are nearly extinct on other consoles (such as 3D platformers) that survive on the Wii for this reason.
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