Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 08 July 2008 21:48
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
According to the Gamasutra
story which is but a mere preview for an extended interview that is still yet to be published, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg did the dumping on Nintendo’s Wii little wiinner of a games console.
Gamasutra’s interview touched on Microsoft’s attempts to emulate the Wii’s casual gaming success by bringing more casual gaming titles to its’ HD console first mover, the 360, and whether such titles could appeal to both casual and hard core gamers.
Greenberg’s response was: “Yeah, absolutely. I think that there's a difference in the type of customer that is buying the Wii. When you think about it, there's a difference between trying to be the number one console with nine year old gamers, and being the console that offers the most experiences from 13 to 33.”
Of course Greenberg is happy to trash the Wii as a console for 9 year olds, but the truth is that it is a games console for 3 year olds to 93 year olds, and beyond. It spans, for the first time, the entire gamut of possible gamers, something Greenberg admits the Xbox 360 is not designed to do.
This is clear when Greenberg says in his answer that the Xbox 360 is for 13 to 33 year olds. Of course there are younger and older people playing the Xbox 360, but it hasn’t quite captured the “family imagination” that the Wii has, and there are plenty more families out there than 13 to 33 year olds, let me tell you!
Greenberg then decides he’d better pay the Wii some kind of compliment after all, saying to Gamasutra that: “I think for us, we don't really see the Wii as a direct competitor, we actually very much complement the Wii experience. It's obviously clear that we're going head-to-head with the PS3 in this generation. I think what Xbox will be able to do as well as the Wii is grow the market.”
Well, based on the global sales figures, it’s the Wii that is truly growing the market here. The Xbox 360 has done well, very well in fact, selling loads of consoles, games and accessories. But the Wii is the undoubted success story of the new millennium and it’s only natural for Microsoft to try and attach some of the Wii’s cred to the Xbox 360.
After all, if people want fun games that can be played by all ages, then by golly, give it to them! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the rumours that Microsoft is working hard to create its own “motion controller” just won’t go away. After all, is this one of the "
fantastic surprises" Microsoft has in store for its E3 announcements?
Greenberg then tells Gamasutra that Wii owners will want to “graduate” to the Xbox 360 experience. Well, they may well do – console owners often own more than one console these days – but the danger is that they may equally wish to “graduate” to the PS3, too.
So what’s all this about the Wii merely being a “novelty”? Please read on to page 3.
