Stan Beer
Wednesday, 27 September 2006 11:06
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 4
Well so far, the big selling point being touted by the Wii is its ease
of use and its motion sensitive one handed remote controller. Oh yes,
and you can connect to the internet to get the latest weather reports
and download some old generation games at discounted prices. Despite
the fact that Wii takes standard DVD discs, as well as the smaller Game
Cube size, it is not a DVD player.
So will the one-handed Wii controller wand win Sony and Microsoft
consoles away? A straw poll of my son and his game playing teenaged
friends revealed that they don't give a damn about ease of use. For
them, two-handed thumb console artistry is second nature. They also
don't give a damn about old generation games - they want the new stuff
and the fancier and higher resolution graphics the better.
Nintendo has also tried to portray the Wii as a family console. Give
mum and dad and the two kids a controller each and they'll all play
games together. It's a nice thought but kids and serious gamers play
games while most ordinary parents don't.
Put that all together and the most likely source of Wii sales will be
from existing Nintendo fans, who will snap them up as quickly as they
can get them in the first year, and parents buying them for their kids
because they're easy to use. Sales will probably peak in the first
year, then slow as the Nintendo installed base gets their upgrade. It
is unlikely that Nintendo will increase its marketshare because of Wii
in the long run.
