21st January 2010, 4:09 PM
Quote:There has to be hardware and software separately to run the gamecube games, including in these but not limited to the actual jacks for the controllers and memory cards plus the operating system to hold data separately for the gamecube things. It's a cost factor that could bring a 200 dollar Wii to a 150 dollar Wii with the same margin of profit for Nintendo. Combine that with the idea of a hard drive, downloadable Gamecube games that run strictly off an emulator, now you have a 200 dollar Wii with a hard drive with the same margin of profit that Nintendo was at. Pop on 50 bucks becuase of the new hardware upgrade, now Nintendo has increased their profit margin total by 50%.
Right, like how the DSi has no GBA port, despite the fact that the hardware itself is 100% GBA compatible. Honestly, I'd probably be a little more surprised if Nintendo's next system DOES have GC ports, even if it's still based on the same tech like the Wii.
Quote:its sort of the opposite though with the entertainment industry, dont you think? The more things suck in the real world, the more people want to escape. What was that Avatar budget again? ...what's its current rank on the highest grossing movies of all time?
THe fact that games cost quite a bit may have something to do with it, I think. A $7.50 or whatever movie and a $50 game that requires a $200 system aren't the same.
Of course people going to the theater are probably going to spend more than that, when you add in popcorn, soda, etc, but they aren't really thinking about that, like how they aren't thinking about how despite its lower price (than the PS3), the 360 has a whole bunch more optional costs...
Quote:ABF/ I think the PS3 hit its stride, it didnt make Abyss waves, but it stirred the ocean a bit. What will happen now I think is that Nintendo will hit its second wind this year, but its lul will be more than a drought, it will probably kill the system, in two years we'll be getting info or release dates for Wii2 HD etc etc but the Wii itself wont have jack. Natal is going to destroy the market like Godzilla to Tokyo and reap all the benefits of what the Wii was attempting to do. Those high hardware numbers for wii are 'one-time-players'. They got a wii with wiifit, played it for 3 months and either never touched it again or bought their son and daughter DS and 360 games. Cuz they sure as shit aren't buying Wii games. That means after the golden year of top AAA games from Nintendo and the third parties last hoorah it will be rock bottom. Watch Nintendo announce the next Zelda for 2011 and bide its time with Vitality sensor Pacman and Psychic Tetris.
People have said stuff like that for a while now, but the Wii keeps surprising them by continuing to sell huge numbers. I expect that trend to continue. Natal? Maybe it'll catch on, but who knows... it's kind of weird, being hands-free. That technology has been tried you know, by Sony with the EyeToy, and it didn't do too great... didn't sell horribly, but it definitely wasn't huge. This will probably be bigger than that, but still, I'm not expecting it to win or something.
As for the Wii, it will continue to sell. And you're wrong that people only buy a few games... games actually DO sell on the Wii. It's just that most of those sales go towards first-party releases, and the third party stuff is spread out across a huge market and a lot of those sales go to junk that never shows up on sales charts. People really don't know what's worth getting...
But anyway, the point is, of course people are buying Wii games! Six of the top 10 best selling games of 2009 in the US were Wii games. They were just all first party.
Anyway, no, I definitely don't think Wii is just going to collapse or something. Some people who want Wii to fail because of its casual-heavy focus keep saying that it will, but it hasn't so far and I see no evidence that it's about to. It could happen, but I don't think it will.
Oh, and Nintendo's trying to get Zelda Wii out (in Japan at least) this year I think, though we don't know anything for sure about that.
You are right that Nintendo does do way too much biding its time and sitting doing nothing, but when they're making vast sums of money with that strategy as they are, it's hard to blame them for it...