Topic: "Wii is not in a healthy state" - Satoru Iwata on Wii's momentum

Hmm...I wonder if Iwata used the Wii Vitality Sensor to take the Wii's pulse?

Nice one, Feenie

Just sounds to me like they are getting closer to unvieling a new system, or mentioning it at least.

I'm sort of surprised it took this long for a vitality sensor joke. That was the first think I thought of when I saw the title.

Also, it looks like sales are really only having real trouble in Japan. Maybe Ninty can show NA and EU some more love now, since we buy more wiis? please?

Buffalo, I don't think that the lack of 3rd party support is a matter of disdain for the audience (or at least not solely).but also due to the weak hardware. These companies want to make bigger and better games that push the limits of what's possible, not a game that is just a step above a last generation game. Most PS3 games just are not possible on the Wii, and that's not the third party's fault. Not to mention the poor online service for the Wii, and most of the big games on other platforms are online now.

Token Girl, I'd like to think that's how Nintendo will react to this, but it seems more likely they'll show Japan more love in an attempt to nurse it back to a "healthy" state. No need to fix what isn't broken abroad. It'll be interesting to see New Super Mario Brothers go up against Final Fantasy XIII this winter in Japan.

I really don't know, but might marketing the Virtual Console add a bit to the sales and attracting new customers? Personally I would have gotten a wii way sooner than a few months ago if I had known about the VC, since I've only known the wii as the "gaming console where you swing your controls around". But people interested in the VC are probably not counted by the millions...

I think showing old games playing on the Wii in a commercial would be advertising suicide. I very much appreciate the system for the VC, too, but we are a minority outside of forums such as these. Just think of how bad it would look for a company to be advertising old games instead of new ones. It would look like they're throwing in the towel. All advertising should be focused entirely on what the Wii can do that is new.

The Wii's sales ARE VERY MUCH in a healthy state. The MOMENTUM might not be in a business sense. That might be because its done so surprisingly well in past months and years. The act becomes increasingly hard to follow. In a business sense he wants to improve sales targets month on month or/and year on year. Its still doing a lot better than xbox and ps3 overall.

We need more colours. That'll send sales into the stratosphere again.
More games? Pah! ...games are for losers.

The NES was the weaker of the 8 bit generation and didn't stopped companies to make great games. The same for the Genesis/SNES, the Playstation and the Playstation 2.

If companies disdain a console or an audience just because the machine cannot hold their artstic vision then they should retire from gaming because that just shows that they don't know anything about gaming or pleasing customers. That just proves that 3d parties are every day more disconnected from customers.

The hardware and the online are good enough for make great games. The costs are low, the hardware is flexible and that allows them to take risks and find new and/or forgotten genres..... If companies have a huge ego that blinds their creativity then again is not Nintendo's fault and they should retire.

Eh, I'd say wait until the holidays and then see how good sales are.

I'm not saying third-parties should be thinking this way, just that they are. Whether they ought to ignore the Wii because it is the weaker hardware or not is a different discussion (though I think there is some merit to that line of thought -- just as some games are only possible on Wii, some are only possible on PS3). However, like you said, the NES did not have third-party support for awhile, and the Wii is in a similar state, which is probably a huge reason why Nintendo believes the Wii is not in a "healthy state" right now in Japan.

However, I don't follow the argument that third-parties are disconnected from their audience. Their games do sell, just not on Wii (for the most part). Supporting the PS3 is really starting to pay off in Japan. I don't see what it has to do with ego if the platform allows them to make the games they want to make and that gamers want to play. Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

But some of the best ('hardcore', if you must) third party games this year have done poorly in terms of sales, e.g.: madworld, house of dead overkill, little king's story. Even Monster Hunter Tri has failed to sell as well in Japan as the earlier PSP versions. So it's little wonder 3rd parties aren't throwing their all at the Wii, I think.

Maybe they'll make the Wii XL. It'll come with a controller the size of your forearm for people with fat hands.

I thought MH3 sold absurdly well, too, Strofan, though I didn't pay much attention personally. That it sold less than the PSP version is unsurprising, as handhelds are the favored form of gaming in Japan. MH3 is the main reason I said "for the most part" when referring to poor third-party sales on Wii.

Hence why I was careful to say, "failed to sell as well as...".

I enjoy games, what can I say other than both systems have great games coming out, its just Nintendo has less than Sony, however I did forget to mention one thing. Arguably Nintendo has more major and possibly better quality platform exclusive reasons. Next year is going to be a hard year on both Nintendo and Sony, their going to have to really step up everything so that they can keep up for each other. As for Microsoft they have Halo: Reach, Crackdown 2, Alan Wake, and Mass Eff....Scratch that, its on PC. Microsoft is the one who has to worry! They barely have any exclusives coming out and their price drop wasn't very helpful! Sony's only down by about 6 Million units and they already have a great head start. The only thing Microsoft has going for it is Natal at THE END of the year. So Microsoft should be the one that worry's, not Nintendo I should say. Plus its about to be 5 years since the 360 came out, so Microsoft wheres your next console?

Yep, not random at all!

I back up my threads with sources, not aspirations or fake stuff.

they already said this console generation is going to be longer so no new xbox or wii 2

The wii is going to have a great year in 2010 software wise. they just need to advertise wiiware and the VC more.

What it all boils down to is the fact that Nintendo is nervous about its profits dropping 50% this fiscal half. I think they're expecting far too much if they thought it would continue that trend.

the ps3 got off to a real slow start and now that it is affordable and more good games are available for it, they kinda have almost a second launch with people who wrote it off before taking another look at it. Hell, I've been thinking about getting a ps3 myself. bluray and netflix would be nice along with games I've wanted like wipeout hd, fallout 3, and demon's souls. I loved ps2 and was disappointed in initial ps3 launch and how overpriced it was but its looking pretty good these days. However, xbox 360 still doesn't interest me at all and there is nothing coming out that looks especially exciting to me for that system.

the wii got off to a great start and has always been affordable so even with the price drop not many more people will buy wii since almost everyone that wanted one has got one. Still, sales of games for wii could be better especially third party titles. They have done or put into motion some things that may help like free internet channel and upcoming wiiware demos.

some things they need to do:

They need to put every effort to get rid of friend codes as they just add extra hassle to online games. They need to make more games themselves with online play. Not many of nintendo's first party games have online play and ones that do either aren't all that popular or are laggy. Need to set a good example to third parties that online play can be done well on the wii. They also need to push motion plus MUCH more then they have. Wii still has the advantage in being only current system with real motion control and now its pretty much 1:1 yet all they've put out is wii sports resort with 2 other games using it now and one coming out. If they push motion plus more it could get the wii more positive attention and reinvigorate the wii.

I like the wii but I think that some more effort could have been put into certain areas on nintendo's part. Still, I don't think nintendo is gonna completely drop off the map or something as it still is doing well, just not as well as previously.