Less than three years ago, Nintendo, the venerable video game company, was looking like a fading icon.
With archrival Sony's PlayStation 2 game console leaving Nintendo's Game Cube in the dust, the company was in the midst of losing a second straight round in the video console wars. And Sony looked ready to replicate its success in the handheld arena, long Nintendo's strong suit. Though Nintendo planned to counter with a new handheld of its own, few gave its relatively dim-screened, underpowered DS much of a chance against Sony's powerful, multimedia PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Fast forward a few years, and things look a lot different. Sales of Nintendo's DS have trounced those of the PSP, thanks in part to Nintendo's focus on quirky, fun-to-play games for the machine.
The company is using a similar formula with its new Wii console - and seeing similar success thus far. The machine, which includes a unique, motion-sensing controller, has outsold Sony's new PlayStation 3 ever since they both launched last year, and Wii sales even topped Microsoft's Xbox 360 in January.
Interview follows
The Wii is now a retro console. Let’s get nostalgic about an often maligned system.
Crazy to think the WII is to the Switch 2, as the NES was to the WII back then. 20 Year difference.
My wife asks me to bust it out (heh) everyone once in a while to play bowling and tennis with the kids. There was a ton of slop on it but some good stuff as well.
Wii was great but boy howdy did it cause Microsoft to go on a dark walk with the Kinect and the disastrous XBox One launch that they arguably never recovered from.
Not nostalgic for me.. I was there.. anyone who wasnt a little kid realized it was a gamecube with shit tacked onto it, it was the "joke" system and was well below even the switch in terms of comparing it to the latest machines at the time. The machine was well loved by young people and "casual gamers" who now remember it 20 years on, or in most cases more of its sales came in the 15-20 years ago range not right at launch- but again its not nostalgic for people who were "gamers" then really, just for those who ended up with one in their house, the games , graphics, interface and online features were archaic already in 2006.
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
I honestly dont think Nintendo can win this generation. Yes its selling well now, so did the gamecube at launch.
People say nintendo have innovated when really all they've done is copied and pasted their strategy with the DS into the home console market, and I'd like to think that most gamers need something with a little more substance than brain age or cooking mama over and over again.
Mark my words, in a years time the Wii will be being outsold by both of its competitors, in software and hardware
with all due respect, innovation insinuates something new, scarlett :)
fully rebounded from the last couple of generations.