kame-sennin said:
This is a level of elitism that seems to hurt your analysis. I would agree that it's not a list of games, but one or two specific titles that probably causes consumers to buy a Wii, it is ridiculous to say that they have no standards as to what they buy. There are many successful games on the Wii, and many bombs. Most gafers have been successfully predicting bombs and hits since the system launched on a fairly consistent basis. The expanded audience may not be a sophisticated or dedicated, but it is clear that there is a somewhat consistent standard for what they buy. It might help you to think of the Wii as a brand of microwave oven, and its software as frozen dinners. Mom's may not due extensive research when picking out their meals, but a combination of marketing, packaging, and gut instinct is what determines their buying habits.
I never stated they have "no standards", but to think they actually care about reviews or any objective perceptions of quality is ridiculous. Most people thought Boom Blox would be a hit, and it wasn't, and i've yet to hear a good reason why. I fail to see any consistent standard to what they buy, Metroid Prime 3 did quite poorly considering it was a Nintendo core game, and Boom Blox crashed and burned despite being an accessible (and great) game. Zack and Wiki also did mediocre sales despite its broad appeal and quality.
Consistent is the 360 fanbase. Shooters do well, great shooters do great and JRPG's don't make charts. Its completely obvious what 360 fans are going to buy, the same is not true for the Wii.
Then this theory still stands. Plenty of people who saw the Nintendo stampede at E3 06 predicted the success of the console. Just because a majority of Gaf didn't see it coming doesn't break the rule.
I had a feeling the console was going to do surprisingly well, I'm not sure that means anything. I believe it did well because of the design of its hardware, SD focus and the Wii Sports as a tech demo for the Wii Mote. Please note I didn't mention software library.
No they weren't. Core games were trending down in Japan at the end of the generation, and physically/socially interactive games like Guitar Hero were trending up. Software tastes were changing, the fact that people followed software did not.
Guitar Hero is a new genre (edit: poor wording, its part of a new genre), and "core games" are selling just as well as Guitar Hero. Halo 3 is
one of the best selling games of all time, then theres CoD4, Mario Galaxy, Gears of War, and plenty more. Software changes haven't changed at all, more people are being brought into the market and are buying more broad appeal software. The core games are selling better than ever.
This is an interesting statement because you tip-toe around any actual explanation for why people buy hardware in the first place, leading them to then buy software "within that framework". Why would anyone by a console without software? It's just a plastic case. Why would anyone buy it?
I've never claimed people don't buy software, but their decision to buy a particular console is not the software on the system. All 3 consoles have games, the decision to buy one over the other (and subsequently buy that software) is based on many other factors that do not include specific games.
I imagine there were people who bought Wii because of the hype and the concept. Are people still buying the Wii because they are excited by motion controls? Are grandmothers buying the Wii because they are excited by motion control? That's a lot of units to push out on hype.
The word "hype" is yours, not mine. I'm not downplaying the success of the Wii for a second, so don't pin that on me. Yes, the motion controls and pleasing aesthetic of the console are still whats moving the console, in my opinion anyway. Hype would be the consoles place in the media, which is very favourable.