I think it’s safe to say that Nintendo’s Wii has dominated the Playstation 3 since they both were released a month ago in the U.S. Nintendo promised four times as many consoles as Sony initially did, and when Sony’s production output went down soon after launch things only looked rosier for the Wii. And yet, the numbers alone don’t pave the way for the Wii’s success. It seems that there is a certain magic to the Wii that’s breaking down barriers with traditional non-gamers, and I believe that is the greatest success for Nintendo in this console generation.
I can’t help but smile when I hear tales of Wii’s being dominated by grandparents, aunts, and uncles at family gatherings. Ease of use is key to new technology, and Nintendo, in making what can technically be called “psuedo virtual reality” as easy as picking up a television remote, should be commended for handling this as gracefully as they did.
I’m sure there are other aspects of the Wii that contribute to its approachability: Changing the consoles name from “Revolution” to “Wii” is obviously the biggest one. Nintendo pulled an Apple by creating a brand that was more than reminiscent of the iPod–but in this case Nintendo also co-opted a commonly used word that’s also identifiable across several languages. While it honestly sounded silly at first, the name has really grown on me and has allowed Nintendo to push the console as something more than just a mystery box for hardcore gamers.
So now I guess the question is where can Nintendo go from here? Will the Wii’s successor continue along the path of semi-virtual reality? In terms of backwards compatiblity, I suppose it would have to–but should we expect any major improvements? Sadly I think the potential for true virtual reality is limited by the living room space. Nintendo is already dealing with cases of people throwing their Wii controllers, I would hate to think what would happen if they took this any further. Will the next Nintendo console just be a Wii with HD graphics?
Honestly, given all of the good will they’re gaining right now I think that would be enough. But Nintendo, being the industry innovators they are, will obviously try and throw something new into the mix. Any ideas?
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