Ah, Nintendo Wii... I have so many memories with you. From the early days of Revolution rumors and Project H.A.M.M.E.R promises, to camping out all night in 30 degree weather just to have you on day one. All the way up until now, on the verge of your funeral and the forthcoming birth of your successor. Yes, you and I have had an interesting relationship these 5 years, and soon it'll all be coming to an end. There's been love, there's been hate, there's even been a few broken tv's, but for some reason, when I look back on our scandalous affair I feel as though we never truly got to know each other.
The Wii Was Shrouded In More Rumors Than Any Console of the Generation
Due to Nintendo's love of shrouding things in mystery, not much was known about the system for a very long time. And even to this day there is supposedly "one last big secret" to the Wii that Nintendo never got around to telling us. We all know what happens when not much is known about something. Yep, people speculate.
Right from the start of the Wii's life, even back when everyone was still calling it the Nintendo Revolution, Nintendo had been pushing their Blue Ocean Strategy. The goal wasn't to be number one, but to be the only one. Being number one would simply be an indirect result of that. Unlike the giant brick of a console their competitors' were putting out, the Wii was going to be small and sleek with it coming in at about the size of 3 DVD cases. This led some people to believe that the Wii would be underpowered compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (And they were right). That, coupled with Nintendo going out of their way to let people know that they were not competing with Microsoft's nor Sony's systems in any way, shape, or form, lead some people to speculate that the system might launch for a $99 price point.
Does that sound a little ridiculous to you? Of course it does, but when your little fanboy heart is swarming with countless crazy rumors, some that would even put the technology in the Death Star to shame, the small child in you begins to think that anything might truly be possible when it comes to the big N. And that's because it is.
Nintendo could have chosen to launch the Wii for $99, but they didn't. Why? Simple - it would have been ridiculous coming out of the gate with your best card. It's always good to start with a high price with anticipation at it's highest, and slowly work your way down. Because that creates incentive to buy; that creates the illusion of added value. Don't expect the Wii to hit $99 dollars until after Project Cafe launches.
The price tag wasn't the only rumor surrounding the Wii's legacy of mystery, nor was it the biggest. Nope, there were a plethora of others including: Tilt sensors, scroll wheels, push-pull joysticks, a magnetic touch panel, tactile feedback, 3D holographic projection, and yes, even a virtual reality head mounted display...
Interestingly enough, a few rumors for the Wii have risen from the grave in the form of Project Cafe rumors. A couple of these being a touchscreen on the controller, and the controller resembling the gamecube controller. That's Project Cafe talk though, and that's for another day.
Wii Are One; Wii Are Many
Between November 19th and December 8th 2006 the Nintendo Wii launched worldwide. It sold. Everywhere. I remember being first in line out of 20 people to buy a Wii on launch day at a store that only had 5 systems come in at launch. 15 people went home disappointed. I remember for months hearing about how the system was almost perpetually sold out everywhere you looked. If you were lucky enough to get one at launch, you played one of three things. Either the included Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, or Red Steel. If you were playing the latter, odds are you weren't for very long.
Regardless of what you did with it, the Wii sold almost 14million systems worldwide during it's first year. Nintendo had accomplished their mission. No longer competing for the "hardcore" market like Sony and Microsoft were clamoring for, Nintendo had managed the capture the attention of everyone else. With the help of the more appealing remote like controller and health conscious peripherals such as the Wii Balance Board, this "everyone else" found a reason to own one. Even my own Mom got one...to watch Netflix movies on. Those who had never played a video game before were the ones picking up the Wii. Thus, the idea of the casual gamer was born.
It's this so called casual gamer that drove the Wii to be the success that it was. I think this might be why I've felt such a disconnect from the Wii over the years. Don't get me wrong, despite what many will tell you, Nintendo did not abandon the hardcore gamer. The Wii had some of the greatest hardcore games to ever grace a Nintendo console. Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Metroid Prime 3, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sin & Punishment 2: Star Successor, and debatably so, Metroid: Other M. Not to mention, the Wii's swan song, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is just around the corner. But, despite having the hardcore games, at the end of the day the Wii isn't a hardcore console. It's not a system for gamers, like all other previous Nintendo systems were. Instead it truly is a system for everyone. I think that has a little bit to do with why so many so called "hardcore" gamers never really found themselves deeply rooted in the Wii.
I mean, to be a gamer used to be a rare breed. I remember staying up all night just to find one missile expansion in Super Metroid, and everyone thinking I was crazy because of it, and that made me love it even more. Because they just didn't get it. Back when video games were shunned and reserved for a select few who found solace in identifying that this medium was theirs, and theirs alone. They ingrained that resonance, that feeling of "Aye, a gamer is thee and thy controller is thy Excalibur" into their psyche, and because of that they knew who they were. With the Wii breaking down boundaries like it did, that type of gamer may have found that connection absent in their time spent with Wii, as the Wii left many having to redefine what they thought it meant to be a gamer altogether.
Fast forward to today, just a couple week before E3 2011, and there's a new rumor going around right now that says Nintendo is looking to their new Project Cafe to change the stigma that made some gamers turn away from Wii. That they're "doing it right this time". Well, while it would certainly do them some good if they could recapture some of the hardcore market back while still expanding the casual market, they certainly did not "do it wrong" with the Wii. Nintendo did exactly what Nintendo wanted to do, and you can be sure that they'll do the same when it comes to Project Cafe.
2 comments:
"The Wii had some of the greatest hardcore games to ever grace a Nintendo console" Nice troll post, Other M was too far.
@ Anonymous:
It's all just opinions. Even sans Other M I think the Wii had some of the best hardcore games since the SNES era.
When adding Other M to that list I placed the word "debatably" before it very specifically, as I know some people enjoyed it. While others, like myself, feel it was a let down. I'm still waiting for the day Nintendo just takes the Super Metroid formula and applies it to modern day tech.
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