I don’t think I really understand the Wii, I don’t think anybody actually understands the Wii, most publishers and developers don’t and I’m not convinced Nintendo are entirely sure exactly what it is they’re responsible for. The traditional notions of games, gaming and gamers don’t apply anymore. Regardless developers and publishers continue to treat the Wii as if it is in any way similar to any other platform.
In his recent Edge coloum N’Gai Croal commented that:
…developers and publishers should lead on Wii, PS2 and mid-to-low-end-PCs, then up-port those games to their HD counterparts.
My initial reaction to this was a smile and a scoff, before turning the page; I was sure N’Gai was misguided, but couldn’t explain why. Of course being the person I am I couldn’t leave it there, I had to understand why I’d had that reaction.
I’ve realised that my problem with that statement is that on a fundamental level N’Gai is treating the Wii as if it really is just like any other home console, something he tacitly accuses developers and publishers themselves of doing. His thinking is valid but he’s wrong because he doesn’t go far enough.
The Wii is unlikely any other platform, whatever the rules were before they simply don’t fit anymore. Making the Wii and PlayStation 2 the lead platforms is as naive and misguided as making the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 the lead platforms. The Wii is unique and should be treated as such.
At a time when developers are closing and people are losing their jobs what is potentially the most successful home console of all time seems to be experiencing a derth of quality software. Some of the most creative and skilled people in the industry are unemployed at a time when the Wii needs their talents. This doesn’t make sense.
Publishers need to stop thinking of the Wii as just another platform, or a lesser competitor to the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and start treating it as the unique entity it is. Stop releasing ports of other titles, often made by less experienced teams, on a much reduced budget. Follow the example Nintendo set with the Wii itself: change the paradigm.
The old ways don’t work anymore. The full potential of the Wii has yet to be found let alone exploited, it’s time a publisher took the risk and repurposed their development and marketing budgets to focus on the Wii. They can keep the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 teams, that market is well understood and well catered for, the Wii isn’t. The Wii is a problem and it’s time for a creative solution.
Find the best and the brightest, those to whom the word “impossible” has little meaning, the blue-sky thinkers, the intellectuals, the engineers, the storytellers, the indie geniuses, the graduates with something to prove (Hi there), give them the time and the money they need to really push the boundaries of what’s possible on the Wii. Those developers who think they can’t make good games on the Wii, this isn’t the place for them. Move them onto projects on the other platforms, they are unable to overcome the inertia of traditional but that’s understandable, few people are.
Make smaller boutique games, sell them together, collections of half a dozen intelligent creative innovative titles sold for the price of a full game. Flood the market with this new breed of titles supported with the marketing budgets needed to get noticed. The audience for Wii software is so extensive that even if these games only appeal to one percent of them they will still be incredibly successful; provided that audience know the games are there.
The Wii is something new, the gameplay possibilities of which have barely been touched. There’s so much potential in that unassuming white box and it will never been unleashed as long as the Wii is being treated like any other console. Don’t just think outside the box, burn the box, scatter it’s ashes to the wind and start afresh. Only then will we be able to see what the Wii is really capable of.
Tags: Game Design, Games, Marketing, Wii
January 30, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Though I disagree in that I believe Nintendo knows exactly what they’re doing with the Wii (just look at their first party sales) I don’t believe that the entire problem is that developers do not know how to develop for the Wii. I was edit the phrase to suggest that developers do not know how to develop for the hardcore on the Wii.
If you look at Carnival Games and the various other products that are selling well on the system the issue lies with the new audience or rather evolve the new audience. We don’t know whether to continue to evolve the casual games market or evolve and integrate the new audience into the hardcore market.
But N’Gai is misguided to believe that people should port development from lower hardware to newer hardware. We can easily forget that videogames have a technological element to the medium and consumers, programmers, engineers, and designers like interacting with new technologies. It’s difficult to sell any third-party for the Wii become massively successful the entire business model and market has changed this generation. Worst of all, the hardcore community have gone to begrudgingly disdain the Wii blindly. Without their support it is unlikely to see vastly new developments occur in the dossier of the Wii game library.
January 30, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Absolutely.
Think of the install base if you can come up with something that appeals or is different and gets buzz from that.
But you need to set aside the input parameters you are used to and think about what the wiimote’s affordances are. I’ve seen some quietly innovative stuff (Helix is a neat workout game, for instance)
January 30, 2009 at 7:43 pm
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January 30, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Well, if you look at their holy trinity of cash explosions: Wii Sports, Wii Mario Kart, and Wii Fit are the top selling games for the system. One is a function game, or something that provides a benefit besides purely being a game. The other two are remarkably accessible multi-player games.
The core feature they all have in common is that some piece of plastic or accessory comes with it. Even Wii Play, which is just an excuse to get another controller, has sold around 9 million using this gimmick. This all goes back to the whole function or additional benefit idea, the notion that you’re getting more than just a game.
What the Wii is continually pushing is the idea of their games doing something beyond just being games. It’s a game that makes you lose weight. It’s a game that even your parents can play. It’s a game that has a plastic wheel with it. I think the device will indeed push gameplay possibilities, but it’s not going to really make funner or some kind of strange new game. It’s going to keep pushing the very definition of what people play video games for.
January 30, 2009 at 10:04 pm
The Wii is, much like the DS, it’s own tier of gaming. Up-porting, down-porting, and scaling are what many developers have been doing thus far in its lifetime. Instead of truly unique experiences such as Boom Blox, World of Goo, and Zack and Wiki (which often don’t sell well enough to justify themselves to the publisher) some of the larger developers tend to lean on the tried-and-true franchises on the Wii, just ported “differently” (think: Madden, Tiger Woods, even the upcoming Rygar).
There is, however, some light in the fact that the Wii can cater to a smaller developer fairly easily and become a hub for creative independent content.
January 31, 2009 at 8:09 am
I cannot help, but feel that this is akin to Hair Metal of the 80s. The band and record producers kept pushing for more radio friendly and mainstream pop feel to get the girls to purchase the records that after a while it became as manufactured as any other genre and ended up alienating the hardcore. The thing about the mainstream, they are fickle and they are also ignorant. They will think one movie is the best ever at one point and another newer movies later on. They will always like movies, because that is a medium, but the mainstream does not see video games as a medium, just an end all. The Wii to them is a title, not a medium. Nintendo is going to find themselves catering more and more to the mainstream until they lose interest and the bottom falls out. It was pointed out that the mainstream already despise the Wii cause there is little to nothing on it for them. The few title that are like No More Heroes or Madworld, some who did own Wiis did not know what these titles were. These are the more hardcore players I know. Not only is there a lack of titles, but the few for the hardcore that are there are not known, because they are not advertized.
But to the original point I’m making. The Wii is rideing high right now, partially because they make money on every console and they’re selling alot more. But soon, I suspect this year they are going to find less and less new titles being sold. Honestly, what more do mom and pop need beyond Wii Spots, Fit and Play. A console cannot survive on a few successes, it needs bunch every year to keep going. Even with how much MGS and GTA sold on thw PS2, I cannot imagine that console suriving if it didn’t have Jax series, Sly cooper series, God of War series, Prince of Persia series, Medal of Honor series, Grad Turismo series, etc etc.
January 31, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I wouldn’t say a new type of interface like the tactile one of the Wii really correlates with an increase in innovation and other goodyness. Also, most of the people owning a Wii are casuals, and they usually do not care for innovative titles anyway, or do not read the publications that cover them. Or maybe I’m just saying this because I want the PC to continue to be the platform for high-risk indie titles.
January 31, 2009 at 10:01 pm
The Wii is still selling in vast numbers; at this point it doesn’t need anything more to make it successful. Even if the sales figures drop off in the next year simply mathematics means it will eventually become the best selling console ever; if it hasn’t already.
The Wii selling is not my concern; my issue is what to do with it. Nintendo’s mentality seems to be one of adding new peripherals or remaking its core franchises neither approach seems likely to tap into the full potential offered by the new interface.
Consider some of the experiments people are doing with off the shelf Wii hardware, such as head tracking; which was apparently supposed to be a feature in Boom Blox but it never made it into the release version. Just image the type of games that could be made using such technology.
As I stated in my original post marketing is vital to any of these innovative endeavours. I mean why exactly was the Wii so successful to being with? “Mom and Pop” didn’t have a clue they’d be interested in such a device but effective marketing and word of mouth are incredibly powerful. Who knows what else they might like if they were given the chance.
Be different be innovative, get people to actually try it and I think everybody will be surprised at what can be successful. That’s the story of the Wii itself and it should also be the story of the software. The Wii doesn’t need more casual games, or another iteration on an old franchise it needs… No it deserves something different something that could only exist on Wii.
February 2, 2009 at 7:01 pm
[...] their article, which can be found HERE, they quoted a post from GropingTheElephant that [...]
December 1, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Nice blog, I was performing some web browsing and happened upon your blog, I was wondering if you knew your website is displaying strangely in the K-mellon browser. I will see everything however the pictures are somehow out of wallop. Probably not a massive deal since hardly no one uses it anymore but I am old school and still use it.