General gaming news

[Norelco]

Old people love Wii:

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter.

"I'm 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no," chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s new Wii video game console at the Virginia retirement community she calls home.

"It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," said Ebert, who picked up the console's motion-sensing Wiimote and challenged the machine to a match.

"I played tennis, if you can call it that, as a high school student. I had such fun doing it," she said.

Ebert swung the Wiimote just like a tennis racquet and said playing the game reminded her of the feeling she had all those years ago.

While she took the early on-court lead, the Wii beat her in the end. Still, it hurt less than her real-world losses: "I didn't mind losing to a video game. It couldn't rub it in."

Japan's Nintendo has been on a mission to expand the $30 billion global video game market far beyond the children and young males who make up its core consumers.

And the company, a former underdog best known for fun, high-quality games based on off-beat characters like plumbers -- think Mario Bros. -- has sent shock waves through game industry with the unexpected and runaway success of the Wii.

That $250 console has been stealing the show from Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, higher-powered consoles that are much more expensive than the Wii.

While those rivals focused on cutting-edge graphics and high-tech bells and whistles, Nintendo focused on making game play easier, more intuitive and more appealing to a mass market.

That bet paid off.

The Wii outsold the new Microsoft and Sony consoles in January and February and is generating its own buzz with everyone from nuns to cancer patients to toddlers.

There are Wii parties and Wii bowling contests. Players, who often look quite silly and occasionally injure themselves in fits of overzealous play, upload video of their Wii antics to a variety of technology Web sites like GameTrailers.com and Google's YouTube.

"I thought it was tremendous," said Ted Campbell, 77.

Last week he played the Wii for the first time at Springfield, Virginia's Greenspring Retirement Community, where Ebert is also a resident.

The community hasn't yet decided where to keep the Wii, although Ebert has volunteered her one-bedroom apartment, with its big-screen TV.

Flora Dierbach, 72, chairs the entertainment committee at a sister facility owned by Erickson Retirement Communities in Chicago and helped arrange a Wii bowling tournament -- the latest Wii craze.

"It's a very social thing and it's good exercise ... and you don't have to throw a 16-pound bowling ball to get results," said Dierbach, who added the competition had people who hardly knew each other cheering and hugging in the span of a few hours.

"We just had a ball with it. You think it's your grandkids' game and it's not," she said, noting that Erickson paid for the Wiis in its facilities.

Greenspring resident and long-time bowler Sim Taylor said his grandchildren are also great fans of video games.

"I never could understand it," said Taylor, who at 81 has surprised himself by adding video games to his list of hobbies.

That isn't the case with Millicent, his wife of 55 years.

"She sticks with bridge," Taylor said.

[Kenai]

^ That's the revolutionary aspect of the Wii, not the Wiimote or anything else.

I don't see the non-gamer Wii craze like this lasting more than a year or two, but it will definitely help til those Nintendo franchises start coming, the publicity is great for it, and the third-party games get in on the popularity. It really is kind of amazing how many people approve and go crazy over it, this story isn't even that unique anymore. My grandma and 14-year old cousin played a Wii-tennis match together, and then Warioware, while the rest of my relatives watched (20 something there. Gathered the whole house together for some pics to take. It was awesome. If this console helps to curb idiots like Jack Thompson and get more people in general to understand the general aspect of video games, it will be phenomenal (but I won't get too hopeful in that aspect).

[Xavier]

I personally see the non-gamer craze getting bigger, not smaller, as the general hype around it just continues to explode. As long as they continue to make fun, casual, sports/party games, the sky is the limit on non-gamers, since the controller just makes things so natural. And as long as they continue to make the Zelda/Metroid/Mario etc games, the hardcore players should have enough to go on.

I personally really liked what Peter Moore (I think it was him) said at the last E3, "For the price of one PS3 and accessories, you could instead buy a 360 and a Wii." W/O huge exclusives on the PS3, you pretty much have this new generation covered between those two systems.

[Deejay]

Sorry if this was already posted:

The new xbox was already announced. HDMI output (HDMI CABLES INCLUDED), 120 gb hard drive, and all black. Retailing in america for $479.99 and is supposedly going to be limited in stock. It's called the Elite, lol. Rumored to be in stores Late April.

http://img304.imageshack.us/img304/9...60black2nx.jpg

You can read about it in the new Game Informer magazine.
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.en...e-informer.jpg

[Stilgar]

Sorry if this was already posted:

lol, it was just posted by yourself in another thread...

[Deejay]

Sorry if this was already posted:

lol, it was just posted by yourself in another thread...

WATCH OUT EVERYONE, WE HAVE A DETECTIVE ON OUR HANDS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhypNg-CTMY

[Po]

That is very interesting. I just hope that the 120 gb hard drive is available on its own for sale when this is released. This has been rumored for a long time, originally called the Zephyr, and now called the Elite.

Should be interesting. The black SKU is what is limited time only, the specs on this will continue to always be available, but the black is limited time.

[zoobernut]

^ That's the revolutionary aspect of the Wii, not the Wiimote or anything else.

I don't see the non-gamer Wii craze like this lasting more than a year or two, but it will definitely help til those Nintendo franchises start coming, the publicity is great for it, and the third-party games get in on the popularity. It really is kind of amazing how many people approve and go crazy over it, this story isn't even that unique anymore. My grandma and 14-year old cousin played a Wii-tennis match together, and then Warioware, while the rest of my relatives watched (20 something there. Gathered the whole house together for some pics to take. It was awesome. If this console helps to curb idiots like Jack Thompson and get more people in general to understand the general aspect of video games, it will be phenomenal (but I won't get too hopeful in that aspect).

The thing to remember is the biggest part of the video game industry right now money wise is casual games, web based games and cell phone games bring in more money per year than any consols or computer games. And the majority of people who are buying these cheap easy to play casual games are what most people would consider "non-gamers". I don't think this portion of the gaming industry will go away, and it will not be hard for nintendo to maintain the interest of people who play popcap games or other casual games.

[Kenai]

True, but the market of that area is so unpredictable. Computers and cell phones are far more common and used on a daily basis for other things, both are basically considered a staple for the people who own them. Cell phones are easy to replace and stay by your side, computers are multi-functional and do tons of different things by themselves at once.

But I could easily see them taking big advantage of the situation depending on how they market themselves. Encouraging people to use it as a way to give children some excersise or increase hand-eye coordination, for example, would be quite a cash cow if it picks up, same for community activity in nursing homes and family get-togethers. I know the news media would eat stuff like that up. If the Wii does release a steady line of casual games that continue to have mainstream appeal, they could keep going with it, but I just don't know how many different ones they can make that will keep a firm interest. On the other hand, it could even go a step further by introducing an unsuspecting audience to the "whole" video game experience, there are quite a few gems out and coming out for the VC, and quite a few of Nintendo's franchises are easy to pick up and play. I guess a lot of it depends on how well they keep using the Wiimote to offer the casual crowd an alternative to the standard button fare, or maybe to ease them into it.

[CaptainN]

I think the Wii biggest concern is standardization, right now every Wii game controller scheme is new and fresh. But what happened when it becomes standardize? What happened when all shooters have a standard template or when all football games have a standard template. The Wii greatest edge is lost due to all games of the same genre playing the same. Developers need to find a way to keep this from happening because once it does its game over. Wii also needs more good 3rd party games but i think its biggest concern is the standardization that we know the gaming industry likes to follow. I personally don't know if developers can keep it fresh due to the fact its a remote and not a controller but who knows.

Another thing Friend codes are title specific on Wii

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158027

[Mr.City]

I think the Wii biggest concern is standardization, right now every Wii game controller scheme is new and fresh. But what happened when it becomes standardize? What happened when all shooters have a standard template or when all football games have a standard template. The Wii greatest edge is lost due to all games of the same genre playing the same. Developers need to find a way to keep this from happening because once it does its game over. Wii also needs more good 3rd party games but i think its biggest concern is the standardization that we know the gaming industry likes to follow. I personally don't know if developers can keep it fresh due to the fact its a remote and not a controller but who knows.

Another thing Friend codes are title specific on Wii

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158027

Really? I see it as gimmicy and shallow. Nintendo has had shitty third party support ever since the Gamecube, but this time around that Wii remote will be this console's undoing. With companies sending their third and fourth string developers to work on Wii games, the majority of third party game are going to be half-assed ports with waggle attached.

[Kenai]

If the Wiimote were forced, I would agree with you more. But they have basically three different controller options every time they make a game: the Wiimote, the Wiimote + Classic controller, or the Wiimote + Nunchuk. That's a hella lot of free development. The Wiimote will definitey not undo the console though, no matter what some people make think of it, it is the main reason so many different types of people are jumping on it now. It offers several varietys of controller schemes that allow for plenty of games that won't be able to be replicated on other systems, while if necessary a port can easily require or make use of the Classic controller at a dev's choosing (SSBB is a classic controller game, for example). Devs WANT to make games for a system that's doing well, and from what I hear, it has been getting a ton of dev support since before it was even released, and of course it is selling fine.

As for the "standardization" of the Wii controller, I don't see it as any different than standardized button play of various games for other systems. Warioware, for example, has tons of different actions alone that it used for a wide variety of situations, while a full blown adventure game like Zelda used only a handful of them, with intense focus on those few. It's motion, just think about how many different motions could be in various games based on just what Warioware was capable of, and that Warioware hasn't even come close to bring it to the full potiental. It also doesn't change the fact that you won't be able to find gameplay like it on another system, or that people are having fun.

[izembo]

have you played the wii? 90% of the games require wiimote motion.

[Norelco]

have you played the wii? 90% of the games require wiimote motion.

I can't wait until people without arms start suing Nintendo for discrimination against them. At least with the old games they could play with their toes.

[izembo]

lmao i hope not, although with how crazy lawsuits are getting i could totally see it happening =(

[Deejay]

have you played the wii? 90% of the games require wiimote motion.

I can't wait until people without arms start suing Nintendo for discrimination against them. At least with the old games they could play with their toes.

Thats about as valid as blind people suing Nintendo.

[Xavier]

have you played the wii? 90% of the games require wiimote motion.

I can't wait until people without arms start suing Nintendo for discrimination against them. At least with the old games they could play with their toes.

Use your mouth and tongue.

[Tekki]

Crazy that you mention this. I had a guy who was unable to use his arms ask about the Wii and its capabilites. He was interested to see if they had any software that could be played via voice for the Wii.

[Kenai]

have you played the wii? 90% of the games require wiimote motion.

Um...I have one. No VC game needs it, so that's a sizeable chunk of games right there. And I'm saying that if a dev WANTS to s/he can use the Classic. It's not like it isn't there, SSBB in particular is a huge game that's not gonna use it. They have the options there, no one is forcing a dev to use Wiimotion.

[izembo]

no shit the vc games dont need it. i own one too, and they specifically say that they wont work on vc games. vc games are not wii games.