Wii: Difference between revisions
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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 current-generation console <ref> As of the end of March 2012, it has sold around ''27 million'' more units than the [[Xbox 360]] and ''32 million'' more than the [[Play Station 3]]</ref>. It worked so well that 4 years later all hypocrisy broke loose and both Sony and Microsoft [[Follow the Leader|came up with copies of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck]], namely the Kinect and Move, right after having their promoters call it a useless gimmick to lure bad gamers. |
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 current-generation console <ref> As of the end of March 2012, it has sold around ''27 million'' more units than the [[Xbox 360]] and ''32 million'' more than the [[Play Station 3]]</ref>. It worked so well that 4 years later all hypocrisy broke loose and both Sony and Microsoft [[Follow the Leader|came up with copies of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck]], namely the Kinect and Move, right after having their promoters call it a useless gimmick to lure bad gamers. |
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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 [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 Life]] 2'' could probably run on the Wii if it had one. It's also missing programmable pixel shaders, restricting it to simplistic vertex-based shaders that cannot be modified. This became obsolete with the arrival of [[Direct X]] 8 (used in the Xbox) and [[Open GL]] 2, so in terms of shaders the Wii and its competitors are speaking completely different languages.</ref>. |
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 Life]] 2'' could probably run on the Wii if it had one. It's also missing programmable pixel shaders, restricting it to simplistic vertex-based shaders that cannot be modified. This became obsolete with the arrival of [[Direct X]] 8 (used in the Xbox) and [[Open GL]] 2, so in terms of shaders the Wii and its competitors are speaking completely different languages.</ref>. |
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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. |
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. |