Wii's winning formula

2007-05-27 16:03

San Francisco - Computer game makers and industry analysts agree that Wii is trouncing rival video game consoles due to a captivating blend of ease, fun, family, friends and affordability.

April US sales of Wii consoles with simple motion-sensing controllers were more than double those of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and quadruple those of Sony's languishing PlayStation 3.

Demand for Wii consoles has outpaced supply since they debuted in November of 2006. Nintendo has reportedly sold more than 2.5 million Wii consoles in North America.

French video game giant Ubisoft began working with Nintendo a year before Wii launched and premiered sword-fighting game Red Steel at the console's release.

Ubisoft embraces the Wii platform that lets game makers get players to jump, swing, thrash and dart, according to Xavier Poix, director of the firm's Paris and Montpellier studios.

"We were convinced the first time we touched the Wii that it really was a revolution because it was a way to think of games differently," Poix told AFP.

'Range of creative possibilities'

"When you look at someone playing an Xbox 360 game you see his face is really hard and both hands are stuck on the controller. When you see someone playing Wii, you always see a smile and movement. Sometimes crazy movement, but it is OK."

US video game titan Electronic Arts and the game division of entertainment icon Disney have studios devoted to making Wii games.

The release of the Disney film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was accompanied by a Wii game of the same name that lets players use controllers to pretend to be sword-fighting buccaneers.

The head of the LucasArts, the game division for "Star Wars" series creator George Lucas, told AFP a Wii game that lets players wield virtual light sabers is on the horizon.

"The Wii opens up a range of creative possibilities for new and innovative game design," said Disney Interactive Studios vice president Craig Relyea.

"Our Pirates of the Caribbean game for the Wii lets you slash and thrust with the Wii remote just as someone would do using a sword for combat. We wouldn't have been able to offer those controls on any other platform."

'Something for everyone'

Japan-based Nintendo is cashing in on a gamble that there is a broad audience beyond the "hard-core gamers" keen on realistic warrior games rife with mayhem and bloodshed.

"Nintendo let Sony and Microsoft fight it out for the hard-core gamer market and went after all the people who either stopped playing or were intimidated by too many buttons on controllers," said video game researcher Mia Consalvo, an associate professor at Ohio University.

"It is not just a game system it is something for everyone. Nintendo is crafty."

Xbox and PlayStation consoles require players to master button and toggle combinations to command onscreen characters.

"With Wii it is just intuitive," Poix said. "To move a weapon you simply move your arm."

Wii is, in a way, a family board game for the computer generation because it turns play into a community event instead of just a person versus a machine, according to Poix.

'Nosebleed territory'

"Part of the industry was misguided," Poix said. "The question was how to get people other than geeks into the market. Wii really helped us to realize we are not developing games for one type of person anymore but for everybody."

Nintendo heeded a "historical rule of video games" that consoles are hot sellers in the $200 price range and sales cool quickly as prices rise to "nosebleed territory" above $400, said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.

Wii is priced at $249, while the PlayStation 3 models are priced at $499 or $599 and Xbox 360 models at $299 or $399.

"Nintendo knew their audience well - folks whose parents buy them stuff - and hit right on the price point," Enderle told AFP.

Wii's price makes it enticing not only to parents buying for children, but to people that already have a PlayStation or Xbox.

"It's pretty, it's fun, it's cheap and kids like it" Enderle said.

'Wife-o-meter'

"Plus it's kind of fun to play with the wife when the kids are out of the room. Wii hit it on all cylinders and is chewing up the market."

Nintendo's vision for Wii is to appeal to everyone ages five to 95, the company's legendary game creator Shigeru Miyamoto said at a recent game developers' gathering in San Francisco.

Miyamoto joked that he gauged Wii's potential by using a "wife-o-meter," the reaction of his wife at home.

Miyamoto's creations Donkey Kong and Legend of Zelda scarcely nudged the needle on the wife-o-meter, Miyamoto quipped.

"On Valentine's Day I got home late from work and found my wife playing Wii," Miyamoto said laughing.

"Now, my wife is bragging to me that she can beat me at this game, any time. What's worse is she is right. If we can convert my wife, we can convert anyone."

- AFP