The everlasting debate about which video game company is respectively in first place has always been a touchy issue. Many people who are just so fan-struck and loyal to their designated favorite consoles draw everything but blood from one another during such heated debates. I myself have always been a Nintendo fan at heart; however, for this blog I will be as neutral as possible without letting my Big-N fanboy status blur the hard facts.

Console War History

It all began back in the glory days – the 1990’s when Sega started to cut into Nintendo’s little monopoly on the video game industry with the Sega Genesis. Sega, along with their new and likeable mascot Sonic, began starting infinite debates across America to decide which system was better – the SNES or the Genesis. In the blue corner we had Sonic supporting newcomer Sega and in the red corner we had Mario representing the veteran Nintendo. These early debates about console wars were the basis – the start of the future wars. After Sega and Nintendo had been going at it for a few rounds Nintendo looked to be the definable victor until Sony, another newcomer, came along with the one-two surprise punch and dropped Nintendo with the Playstation. Sega dropped out of the fight after several failed attempts at future consoles (despite the Dreamcast’s 15 seconds of fame) and solely became a video game publisher. Nintendo tried to recover from its knockout from the Playstation by developing the N64 which in hindsight spurred many home console gaming innovations (ex. joystick controllers and total 3-Dimensional character movement in games like Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) yet failed to counter the relentless beating from Sony who would continue to control the fight with the introduction of the Playstation 2, despite Microsoft’s attempt to enter the fight with the XBOX and once again make it a triple threat match. Nintendo’s Gamecube failed before it was even released and by September of 2005 Sony respectively had grasp of first place in the console war, followed by Microsoft in second and a trailing Nintendo far behind in a distant third.

After the utter failure of the Gamecube and the continual loss of money that Microsoft endured with each XBOX sold both companies went back to the drawing board in an attempt to throw a different kind of smoke at Sony who continued to sit comfortably in first place…perhaps too comfortable. Microsoft fired back the earliest with the introduction of the XBOX 360, releasing the console a solid year before Nintendo’s and Sony’s future systems. Yet, despite the early release of the 360, Microsoft was plagued by unhappy gamers complaining that their 360 consoles were breaking left and right from overheating, disc scratching, hard drive failures and the mix. While Microsoft continued to address such problems Nintendo was hard at work on their own problem. How were they going to pull out of dead last in the console race and avoid becoming the next Sega – simple right? Do what the other companies weren’t. Obviously Nintendo’s attempt to battle the XBOX and PS2 in sheer system power was a failure as the poor sales of the Gamecube show. So rather than focusing on sheer graphic prowess, system strength and the possibility of facing another possible console failure, Nintendo decided to deliver gamers with complete innovation, hence the Wii was born. As Nintendo focused on how to incorporate unique control and game play into their next system, Sony continued work on their own follow-up console.

On November 17, 2006 Sony released its Playstation 3 to America sporting High Definition gaming and a very attractive feature found in its Blu-ray player, yet all of this came with a very steep price and an onslaught of rather mediocre games that seemed to scare many potential gamers away. Two days later Nintendo released the cheaper Wii to an audience ready to try the new seemingly non-understandable console. People swarmed retail stores to get their hands on the unique system and try it out for themselves – seeing is believing. The Wii sold so well right off of its launch that retailers across the country couldn’t keep their shelves supplied with the system.

So now that each company’s newest console has been on the market for over a year, (the 360 for over two years) how do the leader boards stack up?

Well, if the fact that even after a year on store shelves people are still struggling to find a Wii at their local retailers doesn’t tell you anything then I don’t know what will. Current research from the NPD Group shows that Nintendo’s Wii as of October 2007 had sold over 9 million units worldwide whereas XBOX 360 had sold 8.9 million units and the PS3 at 3.7 million units. This presents itself as a close race between the Wii and the 360, yet one cannot forget that the 360 has been on the market for an entire year longer than both the Wii and the PS3. However, despite these numbers the big question lies in whether or not the Wii will continue to maintain its top spot as time and technology advances. Does the Wii only make its appeal to the casual gamer? Will the motion control become too gimmicky? How will the Wii compete when more people start buying LCD and plasma televisions and begin wanting better graphics out of their High Definition TV’s? These are all questions that continue to haunt the Wii’s current success.

One of the Wii’s big selling points was that it could appeal to not only serious gamers, but that it was meant to appeal to everyone – including the casual gamer. For the first time grandparents, parents and children could all experience video games together. Games like Wii Sports and other interactive motion based games allowed people who had never been good at video games or people who had never played a video game the opportunity and experience to play. However, casual gamers’ needs weren’t the only things being met. Games like Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy and the upcoming Smash Bros. Brawl are all games targeted towards the serious gamer. Nintendo has yet to break their promise to fellow Wii owners by providing a substantial amount of casual and serious games, not to mention the abundance of downloadable past games and content on the Wii’s shop channel.

Another question people are starting to ask is whether or not the Wii’s motion control scheme will begin to grow repetitive and gimmicky. The truth is yes and no. It all rides on the developer’s shoulders. The companies developing the games have a direct link to using the motion control wisely. Too much control can be clunky and awkward, yet not enough really defeats the purpose of the Wii’s major selling point. So it really depends on how much time and dedication developers are willing to spend when making a Wii game. The motion control in a first person shooter (or action shooter) like Metroid Prime 3 is phenomenal. There are a ton of motion controls in that game yet they never feel forced or gimmicky.

Shooting down enemies on screen has never been so precise on a home console before. There are also games like Mario Strikers Charged where there is little motion control, yet because it is utilized so well it makes up for the lack of motion in the game – it is never forced or overwhelming. A simple flick of the Wii Remote allows you to tackle opposing players and in Megastrikes a human player gets to block a slew of oncoming soccer balls by pointing the remote at the television screen mocking a pair of make-shift goalie hands. However, if game developers continue to throw poor motion control into games like Red Steel, then Nintendo has a future problem on their hands. It’s all up to the developer’s dedication, time, money and overall love for the game world, which is the ultimate deciding factor as to whether or not the Wii’s motion control will eventually get stale.

We are currently living in a society where High Definition is steadily growing to become the next big broadcast and video format, and the Wii, somewhere down its lifeline, might begin to suffer from the lack of Nintendo’s decision to utilize this format. Already The 360 and the PS3 have jumped on the High Definition bandwagon in their respected formats. The 360 supports HD DVD’s in its Hi-Def functionality and the PS3 delivers Blu-ray play; however, the time is still too young to officially declare the winner between the Blu-ray and HD DVD format race. Therefore, Nintendo might have actually done the clever thing by deciding to hold off on High Definition play until a clear winner has been decided. Many 360 and PS3 fans could become outraged in the near future if their respected choice of gaming system’s Hi-Def format ends up becoming the next Beta or VHS.

Nintendo states that their system is about bringing all people of all backgrounds together, and thus far with the Wii it appears that their theme is working as the console continues to reach for that 10 million plus sold mark. Only the future will tell what the Wii has in store next, but right now Nintendo is doing pretty well for themselves, and I don’t think they have any intent to once again lose their top status in the video game industry; however, nothing is certain in the console battles because everyone knows how quickly the tides of war can change. As always, thanks for reading.

Dillon (D-dub)

Tags: Game Cube, Games, PS2, PS3, Video Game Consoles, Wii

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 9:46 am and is filed under Dillon, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.