Although Nintendo’s not winning the console war in the US, by the numbers they are in the lead world wide with an estimated 11.45 million units sold.
11.45 million… I’ll tell you what Nintendo’s not doing: Losing in any way.
Well apparently it’s not a success either. When asked about the Wii’s success in a recent interview series, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said, "Not yet. It’s a good start, It’s been a good start but it’s only the beginning. We want to have the customers continue playing."
Iwata is aware of the fact that the Wii may only have a gimmick appeal. Flailing your arms around and waving a Wii-mote is no doubt fun at times. But what happens when that initial high wears off and the Wii-mote loses its Wii-ness… er, newness.
In some ways the innovative controls may hinder game play. From my experience, playing a game like Madden on the Wii was nothing more than a chore. I’d move my controller in the heat of battle, and boom my guy would try and hit stick air.
And although the flick of the wrist throwing is a cool concept, it’s really not that great. If they could somehow actually get your throw power in there, that would be amazing. Guy’s like my roommate would be dropping 80 yard bombs, while 12 year old groms would be chucking 5 yard flutter balls.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt the Wii is innovative and possesses some awesome potential. But even Iwata agrees, "We need to see if our new approaches will grab the customer’s hearts, if they will keep on playing our games. The answer’s not out yet, but I believe we’re getting there."
Hopefully Wii do Iwata. Hopefully Wii do.
