It's hard for the Wii community to be anything but cocky at this point. With well over 5 million units sold, dwindling PS3 sales, and a growing number of third party support the road seems paved for nothing but great success.
I have been witness to the sheer awe and girth that is the Wii sales monster. Even now almost 4 months after launch my local Zellers was completely sold out of Wii units and almost all peripherals. Yet their stock of PS3's, accessories and games were all in great abundance.
Nintendo has done big things here, but even now I want MORE. Overall I am greatly satisfied with my Wii. But I don't think it's even close to time for Nintendo to kick up it's shoes and relax. In order to win this war Nintendo needs to begin to listen to it's customers a little bit.
I think that both Sony and Nintendo had similar strategies. We are going to give the consumer what we think they want. The great thing about Nintendo however, is that nine times out of ten they are right. Still, I believe that not even half of this consoles potential has been shown to us and the fans are demanding we start seeing more.
My short but steadfast list of demands are as follows.
ONLINE SUPPORT!!
Nintendo needs to get their ass in gear. The promise of online connectivity was given to us back at E3. Thus far all we can do online is anything but gaming. They are being almost contradictory, claiming that their focus is to the games first, and the fluff second. Yet all we've gotten thus far are fluff channels (weather, news, everybody votes). The effort should've been placed FIRST on the games, and then the other channels should've been rolled out after.
User developed applications
Nintendo should test the waters and open the floodgates a little by loosening their development requirements to allow smaller developers to release games and applications for their console. If developers are given a head start just think of the quality of applications we'll have in a years time. I know the Wii could easily become an AppleTV were the software written for it. Let's make it happen.
Beef up your visuals
Nintendo needs to make an example of what this hardware is capable of. Right now we've seen some great games, with some slightly above GameCube visuals. The system is capable of so much more, but if you're not going to take advantage of it, then why should developers do the same. It's true that the system doesn't contain the same level of graphics,shaders, and effects libraries as the larger systems, but sharing is caring and you need to start making friends with the third parties.
Virtual Console Incentives
The Virtual Console is fantastic. Games are being released all the time and the selection is getting better and better. I think it's time to drop the hammer on the competition and lower the pricing, but on top of that greater incentives need to be given to the loyal players. Buy two get one free? Cheaper packages? Earn points for internet and gaming activity? Even introducing points for registering your products in North America would be a huge step forward. You've got a great product, let's make all those people who are on the fence jump to where the grass is greener.
And the last one on my list is just for me.
A real workout game
I personally love the idea of a video game helping me workout. I have an image in my head of Yoshi doing situps and it makes me smile. There is absolutely no reason why a game can't be made to help you perform exercises, cardio, stretching and monitor/track your progress over time. I know I would buy it in a heartbeat, and I'm pretty sure others would as well.
That's my little rant for this evening, hope you all check out the latest episode of the podcast, and feel free to drop us a line.
Cheers,
- Arvin
