Console Wars: The Clone Wars

[Kuciwalker]

Why would you play Brawl without a bunch of friends over?

[DrSpike]

He wouldn't, as he implied. But since he doesn't have friends over very often he doesn't get much use out of the game.

[Nostromo]

I'm not sure if this has been posted already. Ah, well, I'm too lazy to check it out.

Zero Punctuation reviews Super Smash Bros. Brawl:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/4845-Zero-Punctuation-Super-Smash-Bros-Brawl

[DrSpike]

I saw it when it came out - pretty funny.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Asher
The numbers look even worse for the Wii if you take into account software revenue...Wii games are consistently cheaper. Some of the top selling ones like RE4 are even half price.

I like how you are spinning a more consumer friendly pricing scheme into a negative

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Nostromo
I'm not sure if this has been posted already. Ah, well, I'm too lazy to check it out.

Zero Punctuation reviews Super Smash Bros. Brawl:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...ash-Bros-Brawl

I saw it earlier - very funny, and exactly correct on several points (the new SP mode is idiotic, as is the entire practice of unlocking), but I disagree with his conclusion.

Then again, I don't think you're supposed to take any of his reviews very seriously.

[Asher]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel


I like how you are spinning a more consumer friendly pricing scheme into a negative

Was the argument about consumer friendliness or was it about business success?

Seems to me you are now trying to spin an argument about the health of a market into one about consumer friendliness, not vice versa.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Asher


Was the argument about consumer friendliness or was it about business success?

Seems to me you are now trying to spin an argument about the health of a market into one about consumer friendliness, not vice versa.

You were the one who brought up wii's game pricing scheme, I just added the modifier that it was more consumer friendly than its competitors. Is that a tangent, probably so.


I'm sure the wii's revenue will be way way up for May.

[Asher]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel


You were the one who brought up wii's game pricing scheme, I just added the modifier that it was more consumer friendly than its competitors. Is that a tangent, probably so.

I brought up the pricing scheme to point out that while the raw #s aren't too bad, in terms of actual revenue it's quite a bit worse. That's an important distinction to make when discussing the health of the software ecosystem.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Asher

I brought up the pricing scheme to point out that while the raw #s aren't too bad, in terms of actual revenue it's quite a bit worse. That's an important distinction to make when discussing the health of the software ecosystem.

High revenue demonstrates overall market health, but doesn't necessarily reflect success for individual participants. Without knowing the cost breakdowns of the individual companies and individual games, you can't really say what the revenue actually means for the companies involved, which, at the end of the day, keeps the games flowing our way.

In short-who cares how high the revenues are if they don't result in profit?

[Asher]

But if you look at the financials of the game developers, the majority of their profit is coming from the Xbox 360, not the Wii. So it is relevant and it does result in net profit..

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
But if you look at the financials of the game developers, the majority of their profit is coming from the Xbox 360, not the Wii. So it is relevant and it does result in net profit..

It is certainly true that the Wii has been very profitable for Nintendo. For the 3rd parties, IIUC, a couple like Sega and Capcom (?) have done OK, Activision is glad Im sure they did the Wii port of GH3, though its small compared to their profits from GH3 alone on other platforms, and some developers have yet to see a success on Wii.

OTOH, one question I see now and then, which are the 3rd party games that SHOULD have been breakout hits on the Wii, but were not because of the Wii SW environment? Its not clear, is it, that that environment has really been tested yet by the 3rd party developers.

[Asher]

It's been out a couple years and no third part software has really taken off on it. But a lot has been released.

It's true that no real top-tier games are being released for it (The MGS, Halos, and GTA4s), but that's because the Wii's hardware can't handle them. So I don't buy this excuse at all.

[asleepathewheel]

The illusion that wii 3rd party software isn't moving is a product of NPD only allowing the top 10 to be released.

3rd party software actually outsold Nintendo software 60-40 for the second half of 2007.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10187&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=2

The third party sellers (in that time frame) have been led by Mario&Sonic, GH3, Carnival Games, and RE:UC.

[Asher]

Doesn't really matter much to the central argument. A lot of third party sales may be made but that just means most publishers would make a slim profit, if any at all. It's not that attractive of a market, except for shovelware makers. Lo and behold, the Wii is the king of shovelware.