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Nintendo’s Wii launched in Europe one month ago.
Heralded as Nintendo’s innovative new saviour for the videogames
industry, through broadening it’s appeal, Wii has been performing
 quite a dance to garner public interest, and, currently, appears to
be doing quite well at it.
Wii’s constant barrage of Press Releases, advertising, public
appearances and national media coverage appear to have intrigued
many whose previous association with videogames has been purely that
of “toys”. Currently, the closet estimates (based on reputable
marketing firms output purely, as no accurate figures are available
from publishers at the time of publication) place the PlayStation3
in third position, having just nudged-past it’s first million sales.
SONY’s original statement claiming that four million units would be
made available worldwide by the end of 2006 is clearly a distant,
oft forgot memory now. The Xbox360 is an unambiguous and dominant
leader, about to surpass ten million sales globally, only slightly
behind Microsoft’s assurance the target would be hit by the end of
2006. Nintendo, however, have managed to rattle some cages. Also
falling short of their promised four million units (although, if
rumours prior to launch were to be believed, Nintendo should
actually have far in excess of this quantity currently
manufactured), Nintendo currently stand in front of a pie-chart,
demonstrating three-and-a-half million sales in the unit’s first two
months, having launched three weeks earlier in the US than Europe.
If these figures are to be believed, Nintendo currently hold around
a twenty-four percent market share in the now Current-Generation
home console race.
It is, however, very easy to pull these figures apart
when adding in factors such as delays, supply shortages, forced
extravagant retailer bundles and online auction profiteering. What’s
not so easy to ignore is the extreme attraction the Wii has on the
often mooted “Non-Gamer”. Rather than simply attracting the
“casual”, Wii has done one better than Nintendo’s promise, and also
attracted their older relatives. Nintendo had stated on many
occasions that Wii is a console for everyone, and shown us many
delightful videos of people from all ethnicity, age and gender
playing Wii together, but never have they suggested that it would be
these people buying Wii for themselves. At a pure retail
level, a distinction has rapidly arisen in the way customers
considered of an older generation are dealt with. Prior to Wii
(although, it too become more common with the NintendoDS, but
nowhere near as promptly), although retailers would still do best
not to assume until obvious, most consumers over the age of fifty
were considered to be buying for someone else. However,
all-of-a-sudden, to avoid unwanted insult, retailers are
assuming that customers are now buying for themselves, until
otherwise obvious. Nintendo made a promise, and Wii has delivered in
spades – accessibility.
However, not all in the Wii camp has been coming-up
roses. By Nintendo’s own admission, the Forecast and News Channels
have been delayed from launch. The Forecast Channel is now available
and the News Channel is due to be made available on January 27th,
2007. The Internet Channel – also delayed from launch – is now
available, and must be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel. The
Internet Channel (a simple Internet Browser designed by Opera for
use with the Wii Remote) is free to download, in Beta, prior to the
launch of the final build. From July 2007, the Internet Channel will
cost 500 Wii Points. Presumably, Nintendo and Opera are utilising
this period to study user’s habits, and adjust the browser
accordingly; hence early adopters getting the final build for free
as a thank you for their accepted participation. The Wii Shop
Channel itself however, proved to be a stellar success. Regardless
of the design of the system’s
 clear inferiority to the immediacy of
the Xbox360’s Marketplace, the offer of software at launch simply
could not be knocked, with fantastic titles such as Bomberman ’93,
F-Zero, Bonk’s Adventure, Sonic The Hedgehog,
The Legend Of Zelda and, of course, Super Mario64. The
line-up only continues to grow, with classics appearing weekly,
including SimCity, R-Type, Super CastleVania IV,
Toejam & Earl and Gunstar Heroes.
The Wii Launch Line-Up, in previews and in terms of
quantifiable names, seemed impressive prior to launch. However, when
the titles actually arrived, and in the muddled fashion that they
did, many disappointed. Due to Nintendo’s strict manufacturing
controls, under which all discs intended for use on both
GameCube and Wii are manufactured, and simply the time required to
produce the desired quantities of the big titles, many lesser titles
didn’t arrive with retailers until weeks after launch, if indeed at
all. Certain titles were restricted to quantities only of benefit to
independent stores, and others were divided solely amongst major
chains.
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess was obviously in high
demand, and with
Wii Sports being bundled with the system, a
1:1 ratio was obviously assured.
Wii Play (coming with an
additional Wii Remote, with an RRP of £5 higher than a solus Wii
Remote) was also in high demand, and as the third First-Party title
in the Launch Line-Up rounded-up the selection with a fair deal of
praise. With the likes of FarCry: Vengeance and
Marvel:
Ultimate Alliance – the latter of which has, at least, received
some pleasant reviews – arriving late, it was left to the
underwhelming releases of titles such as
GT Pro Series,
Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, Happy Feet,
Gottlieb Pinball
Classics and the considerably underachieving
Red Steel
to
make-up-the-numbers. The promise of more software to come is, of
course, the reason most people buy a videogames console, and the
future does look brighter for Wii on this front. Stunning
 First-Party titles such as
WarioWare: Smooth Moves,
ExciteTruck and Mario Party 8 see a launch in the
first-quarter, whilst the rest of the year will be rounded-out with
the likes of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption,
Super Mario
Galaxy, Project H.A.M.M.E.R. and Disaster: Day Of
Crisis. Couple this with Third-Party efforts in the form of
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Metal SLUG Anthology, Sonic
And The Secret Rings and
DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
all arriving in early 2007, and you can see that while things maybe
thinly spread early-on, it’s only going to get better!
2007 will be a year of tell for Nintendo; whether they
can sustain the immense popularity of the NintendoDS whilst
convincing everyone – possibly even themselves – that they still
have a place in the home console race remains to be seen, but
fighting on two fronts has never been one of the company’s
shortcomings. What really matters, is exactly who Nintendo aim Wii
at this year. Consideration of Nintendo turning a blind-eye to their
own hardcore fanbase has been rampant in discussion groups online,
yet mothers on the street are screaming at each other over the
possibility of getting hold of one. Will Nintendo be able to please
everyone, again? |
