| June 07 |
Dave Mirra BMX
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| June 07 | PuzzleBall |
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June 07 |
Shrek the Third |
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DS to Wii - the next step | |
Written by Phil Thompson |
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| Satoru Iwata |
When Nintendo first revealed their revolutionary controller at TGS
back in 2005, I was amazed. What Iwata-San showcased, was a controller
which will truly revolutionise the way we play and look at games. The months of speculation could not have been further from the
mark - one tiny controller will herald the beginning of a new era in gaming.
The Wii remote itself is the key to the success, or the failure, or the console. Let us begin with the aesthetics of the Wii Remote. Firstly,
it's long and angular. Nintendo expressed the idea of
getting people who have never played a game into gaming, and clearly
thought that the unique style of the Wii Remote would attract such
gamers. Everyone knows how to 'wield' a remote control, and the Wii mote is no different. This is all part of a 'New Ways To Play' appeal
Nintendo have launched, which opens up a whole new path in the gaming
world.
This is a path which may not suit everybody, but let us just remember that Nintendo DS took
this path a year ago - the DS is now enjoying worldwide sales figures
topping 15 million. The newly released DS Lite sold out in most
Japanese stores in under a day. The machine caused riots in the
Japanese streets. Not large riots, but riots nonetheless. It is the Nintendo DS that built
the demand in the
industry which provided evidence enough for Nintendo to say 'Right. Stick that in Wii.'
What Nintendo appear not to have taken into account however, is the
fact that the Handheld market and the Home Console market are two very
different markets; one dominated by casuals, the other by hardcores.
These are, as it stands, generalisations, but they are accurate
nonetheless.
The industry has seen Sony attempt to bridge the gap between these two
markets with the Playstation Portable, and in some respects, it has
been successful. In different respects, it has proved unsuccessful.
Especially when compared to Nintendo DS.
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