Old-style controllers are for losers? [update 2]

by Blake Snow { May 8th 2006 at 12:00AM }

In addition to the hands-on preview, the author of the TIME Wii article had this to say regarding conventional input devices: "When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser."

That's a pretty bold statement regarding a tradition that we have all come to know and appreciate (the current "old-style" controller). As most, I'm very excited to experience Wii's input device. But I still wouldn't depredate what got us here.

Maybe I'm just a loser, or at least I look like one.

[Update 1: spelling]
[Update 2: fixed typo.]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Taedirk @ May 8th 2006 12:03AM

And when you play with a Wii controller, you:
a) Are playing with your Wii
b) Look like you're fishing
c) Look like you've got some weird phallic device.

Pot, kettle, black.

Ritz @ May 8th 2006 12:06AM

#1, when is any of that not cool?

Michael @ May 8th 2006 12:06AM

Um, this post doesn't even really matter. TIMES can think whatever they want about the old style controller, but the fact of the matter is that people will always have different opinions. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is, COME ON E3! I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE REVOLUTION! (I'm still in denial, so it's Revolution in my book still)

bubka @ May 8th 2006 12:09AM

it's on like Donkey Kong!

Mehdi Cheddadi @ May 8th 2006 12:09AM

PUT YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR, PUT YOUR HANDS UP, IN THE AIR~!

WiiWii, Wii WiiWii Wii, Wii WiiWii Wii~!

Jiiiiihad! @ May 8th 2006 12:11AM

Jeesh guys, there are all SORTS of gramatical errors over this post and the zelda post... "Old Stlye" controllers? Sorry to be the one who's constantly pointing this stuff out to you. = p

vidGuy @ May 8th 2006 12:11AM

The article is written by a non-gamer or modest-gamer type. The article is in TIME magazine. The author and the audience is going to, in general, regard video games as a niche-culture, one that should be looked down on. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's still the general consensus.

The Wii, however, is attractive to some non-gamers. Nintendo hopes it will bring in many non-gamers.

Therefore, it makes sense for the author and audience to think of past controllers that way.

And, Taedirk, two penis jokes? And what's wrong with fishing? I think a lot of people are confused as to how much motion the Wii controller is going to require. YOU WILL NOT have to swing it around like a crazy person.

Oh, and who cares how he looks playing a game? People that play DDR or Guitar Hero (small plastic, Playschool-type guitar) look ridiculous, but they are some of the funnest games out there. Millions play DDR, and Guitar Hero is one of my current favorites.

BklynKid @ May 8th 2006 12:11AM

Not to knock the controller, but wouldn't one look much more like a loser swinging the thing at shit that ain't there while playing Zelda?

Fuck off Nintendo...

jonat3 @ May 8th 2006 12:16AM

That quote was comparing how it looks to play with the wiimote and a regualr controller. When someone is watching a person play with the wiimote, it actually LOOKS fun. With a regular controller, they only see a vacant look in the gamer's eyes, while he's twiddling the controller (=loser look).

That's what the quote says.

Angus @ May 8th 2006 12:19AM

The F-Bomb, now is that really necessary?
Meh.. silly TIME people.. silly silly TIME people.

Angus @ May 8th 2006 12:20AM

#1, when you're going to diss something, please try to y'know, at least be clever or something.

#3, it'll always be the Revolution to me too.

Austin @ May 8th 2006 12:22AM

Come on guys... they used that 'loser' line for comparison to the Wii remote, learn2read. No one's insulting anyone.

MosquitoControl @ May 8th 2006 12:27AM

I'm more and more excited for this every day. And if they promise more pokemon in the pokeballs of SSBW... I'll wet myself uncontrollably.

But I have to say I fully expect Wii users to look much, much lamer.

Ian @ May 8th 2006 12:29AM

So you look cooler waving around a little stick? I guess all nintendo's old consoles must be for losers and I guess I'm a loser myself. You know all this revolutionary bullshit is starting to piss me off, the virtual boy was also revolutionary but it sucked. I love the 360 controller and if I look like a "loser" nintendo can kiss my fat ass.

minus_273 @ May 8th 2006 12:33AM

from usenet:

SECTION: TECHNOLOGY; Pg. 36 Vol. 167 No. 20

LENGTH: 2246 words

HEADLINE: A Game For All Ages;
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new gadget, which it hopes
will turn girls and even granddads into video gamers

BYLINE: Lev Grossman/Kyoto

BODY:

It is cherry-blossom time in Kyoto, Japan, and I am dancing the hula
for Shigeru Miyamoto. It's not easy to get into the hula spirit in a
hushed conference room in a restricted area of the gleaming white
global headquarters of Nintendo, with several high-ranking,
business-suited Japanese executives watching my every (undulating)
move. But I'm doing my best. I'm trying out an electronic device that
the Nintendo brass devoutly believes, or at least fervently hopes, is
the future of entertainment. Outside, drifting pink petals remind us of
the impermanence of all things.

You may not have heard of Shigeru Miyamoto, but I guarantee you, you
know his work. Miyamoto is probably the most successful video-game
designer of all time. Maybe you've heard of a little guy named Mario?
Italian plumber, likes jumping? A big angry ape by the name of ...
Donkey Kong? The Legend of Zelda? All Miyamoto. To gamers, Miyamoto is
like all four Beatles rolled into one jolly, twinkly-eyed, weak-chinned
Japanese man. At age 53, he still makes video games, but he also serves
as general manager of Nintendo's entertainment analysis and development
division. It is an honor to hula for him.

But Nintendo is no longer the global leader in games that it was during
Miyamoto's salad days. Not that it has fallen on hard times exactly,
but in the vastly profitable home-entertainment-console market,
Nintendo's GameCube sits an ignominious third, behind both Sony's
PlayStation 2 and even upstart Microsoft, which entered the market for
the first time with the Xbox only five years ago. Miyamoto and Nintendo
president Satoru Iwata are going to try to change that. But they're
going to do it in the weirdest, riskiest way you could think of.

All three machinesPlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube--are showing their
age, and a new generation of game hardware is aborning. Microsoft
launched its next-gen Xbox 360 in November of last year; Nintendo and
Sony will launch their new machines this fall. Those changeovers, which
happen every four or five years, are moments of opportunity in the
gaming industry, when the guard changes and the underdog has its day.
Nintendo--a company that is, for better or for worse, addicted to risk
taking--will attempt to steal a march on its competitors with a bizarre
wireless device that senses a player's movements and uses them to
control video games. Even more bizarre is the fact that it might work.

Video games are an unusual medium in that they carry a heavy stigma
among nongamers. Not everybody likes ballet, but most nonballet fans
don't accuse ballet of leading to violent crime and mental
backwardness. Video games aren't so lucky. There's a sharp divide
between gamers and nongamers, and the result is a market that, while
large and devoted--last year video-game software and hardware brought
in $27 billion--is also deeply stagnant. Its borders are sharply
defined, and they're not expanding.

And even within that core market, the industry is deeply troubled.
Fewer innovative games are being published, and gamers are getting
bored. Games have become so expensive to create that companies won't
risk money on fresh ideas, and the result is a plague of sequels and
movie spin-offs. "Take Tetris, for example," says Iwata, 46, a
well-dressed man who radiates good-humored intelligence. "If someone
were to take Tetris to a video-game publisher today, what would happen?
The publisher would say, 'These graphics look kind of cheap. And this
is a fun little mechanic, but you need more game modes in there. Maybe
you can throw in some CG movies to make it a little bit flashier? And
maybe we can tie it in with some kind of movie license?'" Voil=E0: a
good game ruined.

What to do? Here's Microsoft's plan for the Xbox 360: faster chips and
better online service. And here's Sony's plan for the Playstation 3:
faster chips and better online service. But Iwata thinks that with a
sufficiently innovative approach, Nintendo can reinvent gaming and in
the process turn nongamers into gamers.

"The one topic we've considered and debated at Nintendo for a very long
time is, Why do people who don't play video games not play them?" Iwata
has been asking himself, and his employees, that question for the past
five years. And what Iwata has noticed is something that most gamers
have long ago forgotten: to nongamers, video games are really hard.
Like hard as in homework. The standard video-game controller is a kind
of Siamese-twin affair, two joysticks fused together and studded with
buttons, two triggers and a four-way toggle switch called a d-pad. In a
game like Halo, players have to manipulate both joysticks
simultaneously while working both triggers and pounding half a dozen
buttons at the same time. The learning curve is steep.

That presents a problem of what engineers call interface design: How do
you make it easier for players to tell the machine what they want it to
do? "During the past five years, we were always telling them we have to
do something new, something very different," Miyamoto says (like Iwata,
he speaks through an interpreter). "And the game interface has to be
the key. Without changing the interface we could not attract
nongamers."

So they changed it. Nintendo threw away the controller-as-we-know-it
and replaced it with something that nobody in his right mind would
recognize as video-game hardware at all: a short, stubby, wireless wand
that resembles nothing so much as a TV remote control. Humble as it
looks on the outside, it's packed full of gadgetry: it's part laser
pointer and part motion sensor, so it knows where you're aiming it,
when and how fast you move it and how far it is from the TV screen.
There's a strong whiff of voodoo about it. If you want your character
on the screen to swing a sword, you just swing the controller. If you
want to aim your gun, you just aim the wand and pull the trigger.

Nintendo gave TIME the first look at its new controller--but before I
pick it up, Miyamoto suggests that I remove my jacket. That turns out
to be a good idea. The first game I try--Miyamoto walks me through it,
which to a gamer is the rough equivalent of getting to trade bons mots
with Jerry Seinfeld--is a Warioware title (Wario being Mario's shorter,
fatter evil twin). It consists of dozens of manic five-second mini
games in a row. They're geared to the Japanese gaming sensibility,
which has a zany, cartoonish, game-show bent. In one hot minute, I use
the controller to swat a fly, do squat-thrusts as a weight lifter, turn
a key in a lock, catch a fish, drive a car, saut=E9 some vegetables,
balance a broom on my outstretched hand, color in a circle and fence
with a foil. And yes, dance the hula. Since very few people outside
Nintendo have seen the new hardware, the room is watching me closely.

It's a remarkable experience. Instead of passively playing the games,
with the new controller you physically perform them. You act them out.
It's almost like theater: the fourth wall between game and player
dissolves. The sense of immersion--the illusion that you, personally,
are projected into the game world--is powerful. And there's an instant
party atmosphere in the room. One advantage of the new controller is
that it not only is fun, it looks fun. When you play with an old-style
controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler. But
when you're jumping around and shaking your hulamaker, everybody's
having a good time.

After Warioware, we play scenes from the upcoming Legend of Zelda
title, Twilight Princess, a moody, dark (by Nintendo's Disneyesque
standards) fantasy adventure. Now I'm Errol Flynn, sword fighting with
the controller, then aiming a bow and arrow, then using it as a fishing
rod, reeling in a stubborn virtual fish. The third game, and probably
the most fun, is also the simplest: tennis. The controller becomes a
racket, and I'm smacking forehands and stroking backhands. The sensors
are fine enough that you can scoop under the ball to lob it, or slice
it for spin. At the end, I don't so much put the controller down as
have it pried from my hands.

John Schappert, a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, is
overseeing a version of the venerable Madden football series for
Nintendo's new hardware. He sees the controller from the auteur's
perspective, as an opportunity but also a huge challenge. "Our
engineers now have to decipher what the user is doing," he says. "'Is
that a throw gesture? Is it a juke? A stiff arm?' Everyone knows how to
make a throwing motion, but we all have our own unique way of
throwing." But consider the upside: you're basically playing football
in your living room. "To snap the ball, you 'snap' the remote back
toward your body, which hikes the ball," Schappert says. "No buttons to
press, just gesture a hiking motion, and the ball's in the hands of the
QB. To pass the ball, you gesture a throwing motion. Hard, fast
gestures result in bullet passes. Slower, less forceful, gestures
result in loftier, slower lob passes. It truly plays like nothing
you've ever experienced."

Of course, hardware is only half the picture. The other half is the
games themselves. "We created a task force internally at Nintendo,"
Iwata says, "whose objective was to come up with games that would
attract people who don't play games." Last year they set out to design
a game for the elderly. Amazingly, they succeeded. Brain Age is a set
of electronic puzzles (including Sudoku) that purports to keep aging
minds nimble. It was released for one of Nintendo's portable platforms,
the Nintendo DS, last year. So far, it has sold 2 million copies, many
of them to people who had never bought a game before.

The real demographic grail for any game publisher is, of course, girls.
And although females have historically been largely impervious to the
charms of video gaming, Nintendo has made inroads even there, with
products so offbeat that they barely qualify as games at all. In
Nintendogs, the object is to raise and train a cute puppy.
Electroplankton can only be described as a game about farming tiny
singing microbes (surely every woman's dream?). In Animal Crossing, you
take up residence in a tiny cartoon town where you plant flowers and go
fishing and design shirts. You can visit other players' towns and trade
shirts with them. The reaction from traditional gamers tends to be
'Fine, but who do I shoot at?' But Animal Crossing is a hit, and
Nintendogs has sold 6 million copies. (Incidentally, Miyamoto points
out that Animal Crossing wasn't originally designed for girls. "Many
female schoolchildren are purchasing and enjoying it," he says,
cracking himself up. "Also ladies in their 20s. But the fact of the
matter is, this game was developed by middle-aged guys in their 30s and
40s. They just wanted to create something to play themselves.")

It has always been Nintendo's habit, maybe even its compulsion, to bet
its big franchises from time to time. That's one reason it has been
able to transform itself so completely over the years; it began life in
the late 19th century as a playing-card manufacturer. It's also the
main reason the company keeps really large reserves of cash handy, in
case things go awry. Look at the disastrous Virtual Boy, a 3-D game
system that was released in 1995 and retired, unmourned and largely
unsold, in 1996. Look at the name they come up with for their new
console. For years it was known by the predictable but perfectly
serviceable code name Revolution. It has now been rechristened the
Nintendo Wii, an unreadable, unintelligible (that daunting double-i!)
syllable. (For the record, it's pronounced "we," and the i's are
supposed to represent the new controller ... never mind.)

But the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important
notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don't listen to
your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they
blog a lot--but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers
would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] was unimaginable for
them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say
that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the
customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them.
Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to
listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their
requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their
minds."

And here's the second notion: Cutting-edge design has become more
important than cutting-edge technology. There is a persistent belief
among engineers that consumers want more power and more features. That
is incorrect. Look at Apple's iPod, a device that didn't and doesn't do
much more than the competition. It won because it's easier, and sexier,
to use. In many ways, Nintendo is the Apple of the gaming world, and
it's betting its future on the same wisdom. The race is not to him who
hulas fastest, it's to him who looks hottest doing it.

BOX STORY:

Nintendo's New Crew Sometime before Christmas, there will be a whole
slate of next-generation games for the Wii. Here's a sneak peek. Total
U=2ES. Video Game Market In billions $10.4 billion Excludes PC Games

BOX STORY:

Consoles Sold in the U.S. Through March 2006 Sony PlayStation 2 -- 33.3
million Microsoft Xbox -- 14 million Nintendo GameCube -- 11 million
Microsoft Xbox 360 -- 1.2 million Source: The NPD Group PlayStation 2
launched in '00; Xbox and GameCube, '01; Xbox 360, '05

NOTES: See also additional image(s) in Table of Contents of same issue.

GRAPHIC: TWO PHOTOS: Ramona Rosales for TIME; PHOTO MAGIC WAND: It
looks like a remote, but Nintendo's new game controller senses a
player's hand movement; PHOTO: FRED PROUSER--REUTERS THE LEADER:
Satoru Iwata started as a game designer and rose to become Nintendo's
fiercely independent president; FOUR PHOTOS ZELDA In the new
installment, Twilight Princess, Link fights with sword, bow and
boomerang. Aiming is a snap: just point at the enemy and fire away
RAYMAN With the full (and rather odd) name of Rayman Raving Rabbids, it
will feature a skewed sense of humor and lots of bloodthirsty bunnies
RED STEEL Nintendo isn't known for violent game play. But in this
yakuza-themed shooter, players will live (and die) by both gun and
sword TENNIS The graphics aren't much, but the game play is hilarious.
The controller becomes your racket ; PHOTO: FRED PROUSER--REUTERS THE
LEGEND: Gaming's answer to Steven Spielberg, Shigeru Miyamoto scored
with his first creation, the arcade classic Donkey Kong; PHOTO NEW
DOG, NEW TRICKS In Nintendogs, for the portable Nintendo DS, players
train a virtual (but very cute) puppy. It's part of Nintendo's attempt
to lure female gamers

LOAD-DATE: May 7, 2006

Angus @ May 8th 2006 12:33AM

What's with all the Nintendo hatin?
Nintendo wasn' dissin noone... it was TIME.. blame TIME..
Or y'know just forgive and forget..

Where's the love?

jonat3 @ May 8th 2006 12:44AM

He wasn't saying you were a loser, he's saying you LOOK like a loser when playing the regular remote. He was comparing how it LOOKS. The point was that the wiimote looks more fun to play, because of the activity (this in contrast with the regular controller).

Nambit @ May 8th 2006 12:47AM

People are too concerned about looking like a loser and personal image/ego to really enjoy themselves these days.

Seriously, you play... you have fun... end of story. See that New Mario Game? Is there any issues with your personal ego or image? Do you really care about the name of the game when you play it? No... you play it, have fun... and move on.

Why are people such assholes in the gaming scene these days? You're not only making it more pathetic and political and totally are ruining the spirit of gaming. Whatever happened to that spirit of gaming? Remember how you felt when you saw those old Sega, Nintendo, NEC ads? Remember when games were great for the sake of being great and there was no "Mature", "Losers", "Fanboys", etc?

You're wrecking the whole fun and spirit of what videogames are and mean. Those of us, like myself, who remember staring at magazines (Sears, Consumer's Distributing, etc) checking out the Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision... and dreaming of playing games on it... remember that feeling?

Why The F are you guys taking that joy away from the youths of today? We're right at the front door of the E3 and folks should be excited about the games.

The Wii controller is exciting. Those of you who are too hard assed to even acknowledge that are so blind in hatered for Nintendo, it makes me sick. We all benefit from the new directions it may lead...

MegaMatt @ May 8th 2006 1:09AM

I was just wondering why the most common argument I hear from people as to why they hate Wii and think it will suck is because according to them the PS3 has 24 Terragiganitzels or RamDecoding X37 and that since the Wii only has 12 Nanotenactanites then it is inferior and it will therfore suck. It seems that A LOT of people seem to care more about how much power a system has then what games it has and how fun those games are to play on it. Fairly sickening.

theLoneYoshi @ May 8th 2006 1:10AM

Well, obviously since I'm a gamer, I would never think that these current-gen non-Wii-type controllers would make people look like losers.

"Fuck off Nintendo..." - BklynKid

And you obviously didn't read the entire post because it was a Time journalist who said that, not Nintendo (I don't think Nintendo would ever say that the controllers that they've helped evolve over the past 20 or so years are for losers).

You should have put "Fuck off Time...", but what can I say, you gotta love ignorance.

EVeltman @ May 8th 2006 1:17AM

From user 15

"the name Wii not wii-thstanding, Nintendo has grasped two important
notions that have eluded its competitors. The first is, Don't listen to
your customers. The hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they
blog a lot--but if Nintendo kept listening to them, hard-core gamers
would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] was unimaginable for
them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say
that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the
customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them.
Sony and Microsoft make daily-necessity kinds of things. They have to
listen to the needs of the customers and try to comply with their
requests. That kind of approach has been deeply ingrained in their
minds." "

Gee i really hope all you hardcore nintendo fans read that quote ,it show you how much nintendo thinks about you these days.

Anyway this is a great read for any fanboy of any console

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/fanboy.html

jonat3 @ May 8th 2006 1:32AM

I think what they meant is that they do not SOLELY listen to the hardcore gamer. Let's face it. If they did, we wouldn't get anything like the wii. It would be a clone of the xbox360 or the PS3. And i think most gamers wouldn't want that, even if they do tend to complain alot.

jonat3 @ May 8th 2006 1:35AM

Mxyzptlk @ May 8th 2006 2:22AM

Man, if playing with a regular controller makes me look like a loser, I hope this guy never sees me playing Samba De Amigo, DDR, or Guitar Hero. :)

Exo @ May 8th 2006 2:27AM

Time magazine said this, not Nintendo. People need to read before theexplode over things like this,

Though I do have to kind of agree with the comment, if you look at games from an outsiders point of view. How do you really think it looks with your hand in your lap, and your fingers flying around like crazy? The only reason why idiots are shouting about how you will look retarded with the Wiimote is because they have never seen something like it before, and anything unfamiliar instantly gets made fun of because its not normal.

Changing what is perceived as normal is a revolution.

V1L3 @ May 8th 2006 2:34AM

"[Wii] was unimaginable for
them," Iwata says. "And because it was unimaginable, they could not say
that they wanted it. If you are simply listening to requests from the
customer, you can satisfy their needs, but you can never surprise them."

What a load of wank. Seriously.

While the name was certainly out of left field and has been met with derision from... well, everybody - the console and controller were hardly "unimaginable."

I can still remember January of last year telling my brother that a motion sensing wand would be a cool idea for a controller, and I know damn well I'm not the only one who proposed a motion sensing controller.

I'm loving the idea of the console, but whenever opens its mouth lately, all I seem to hear is them putting the rest of us down.

Iwata needs to get off his high horse. I've heard about a hundred more good ideas for DS games from fans than I've seen good DS games.

jonat3 @ May 8th 2006 2:45AM

You have to admit that the ones that had enough imagination to WANT something like this, were in the vast minority. Most of the stuff gamers complain about are about graphics, hardware, etc. None of them would actually expect their company to take such a risky move as Nintendo did. There wasn't exactly any pressure for something new. The ones that did want something new were far and few in between.

idioteraser @ May 8th 2006 2:53AM

Sigh V1L3. Go bother to look at where the hard core gamers hang out. They all bemeon the wii controller.

Sorry but the hardcore section is the one that always want things in games that turn off 99% of game players.

Bother to read the whole context and what else Iwata has said about the Nintendo strategy. When you add it all together it makes sense.

Sorry but most hard core gamers hated the idea of the DS and proclaimed the PSP as crushing the DS.

Sorry but the hard core which is the loudest base of any game is often the most wrong.

He is putting down the old ways of thinking that lead to Nintendo's current position as number 2 or 3 depending upon which month it is.

Controllers got too complicated for beginners and nongamers got turned off by them. Hand a modern controller to 99% of people you meet on the street and they would get frustrated tyring to play a game with it. Hand them a wiimote and give them a breif display on how to use it with a Warioware game and they would get the hang of it fast.

If Nintendo listented to the hardcore the DS would never have existed nor the Wii.

Tao68 @ May 8th 2006 2:54AM

Losers vs Wiiners? Too easy...

But for both gamers and non-gamers, the Wiimote will look fun and engaging, and that's what many Nintendo fans predicted for months...

So, don't be surprised when it's finally here! It's normal, that was Nintendo's goal right from the start, to impress most people with their innovations... and when you'll read more and more E3 reports, and not only that Time article, you'll know they will succeed...

And that's good news for all the REAL gamers: we're goin' to have so much fun with our Wii... isn't that THE most important point?

And if really, you like to play old school, opportunities will still be there, don't be afraid: PS2, PS3, X360, even Gamecube, you have the choice, don't you?

You'd prefer all the consoles to do exactly the same? What's the point? Why not have two very different and complementary machines?

Some people are such idiots, sometimes... why do you hate Nintendo like that? What have they done to you to desearve it? I don't get it...

Paul Gale @ May 8th 2006 3:11AM

I'm really excited to try out the Nintendo Wii in just two more days; I'm sure it's a total blas to play.
Paul Gale
1up.com

doup @ May 8th 2006 3:11AM

Good one Nambit. :)

BPM? @ May 8th 2006 3:21AM

EVeltman:

That was an interesting read, but it assumes too much. How does he know Nintendo didn't invest a lot of money into Wii's development? Just because it doesn't have the strongest chips around doesn't mean they didn't invest a lot of money into it.
Wii doesn't need the same horsepower 360 and PS3 do, because it won't have HD support.

From that site:
"Rumors say Madden '07 for the Revolution will
only feature six players per side"
Where the frell would someone get such a ridiculous idea!? If GameCube, no... PS2 (as it is weaker than GCN and Xbox) can handle a full-scale NFL game, then I'm sure Wii can, too.

Fact is, if GCN/Xbox power was good enough for SDTV, then Wii is even better.

And, a LOT of developers have shown support for Wii now. Perhaps not when that article was made (or at least, not publically known).

And the launch won't be great? 20 games sounds pretty good to me. Sure, they won't all be gems. But a third of them will be from Nintendo (Smash Bros. 3 is a given... That alone will be worth buying at launch). And third party titles like Red Steel look promising.
Plus, Wii has the entire back catalog of Nintendo. You can buy a Wii, and then some of the best of GameCube from the same store, or retro downloads via VC.

And comparing the Wiimote to a light gun is extremely off. A light gun was a very simplistic device. With the Zapper, for example, when you pulled the trigger, the screen would flash. Objects that were targets turned white, and everything else was black. If the Zapper saw white, it counted as a hit. If the Zapper saw black, it was a miss.
The Wiimote is a lot more than that.

But I do agree that there should be more love, and less hate, in the gaming community, based solely on one's console of choice.

Vladimir @ May 8th 2006 3:22AM

two things:
--Thanks for posting that article. now I don't have to go out and buy it!
--For people who complained about the spelling/grammer, you better get used to it this week. There's going to be people posting here and every other gaming news outlet on the internet about E3, and often they're going to be either 1. pressed for time/space 2. sleep-deprived in their hotel rooms or 3. so euphoric to be at E3 that they can't think straight, must less spell.

idioteraser @ May 8th 2006 3:46AM

Hmm Nintendo has spoken on what it took to develop the controller. It was at the GDC for instance. They had to push it from the gamecube to the Wii since the gamecube couldn't handle the latency issues.

They brought in Retro Studios to help develop it.

HD uses a lot of resources say 50% more as well as three times the money to make a title HD complient when the difference cannot be spotted by the vast majority of people.

dsub @ May 8th 2006 4:03AM

I still say I will not pass judgement until I have tried it myself. It looks to be fun, but only in certain types of games. There are alot of games that I could picture this controller making more of a headache than fun. Who knows though.

Honestly, the days of "people not knowing how to use a video game controller" and limited. Basically everyone born after 1975 grew up playing video games. Were talking about an age demographic of 30 and under. Call me crazy, but no matter what nintendo does, I really DON'T see this catching on to the 40 and over crowd. They may try it out, but only after it's been purchased as a present for their child.

Honestly, I don't think nintendo will broaden the market place much at all. I think they will see more of an increase in sales from the same old gamer market that just wants something new than they will from non-gamers. No matter what you do it's still called a video game, and that alone is enough to turn off the majority of non-gamers.

Spike @ May 8th 2006 4:14AM

I am really excited for the Wii, but i am not yet done with conventional controls. I like having a controller in my hands and push buttons like crazy but...lets face reality. The nongamers think that having a blank stare while clutching an analogue is retarded. A normal controller(as opposed to keyboard and mouse), will ALWAYS look like a toy. But a remote doesnt.

And then is the matter of other people seeing you playing games. Siblings, girlfriends, friends.
The player may get "in" the game, but what about the others watching. They get bored fast.
I know from personal experiences that the best games to see others playing, are the action games. Like Resident evil and God of War. But even then, sometime they ll get bored and stop watching.
But with the Wiimote it is tremendous fun to see others play a game. Just imagine it! Now, even single games like Zelda, can easily become party games where everyone gets its chance at swinging a sword. And of course the others enjoy criticizing or giving advice to the "heroic" swordsman.
Oh man, cant wait!!!!!!!!!

superguido @ May 8th 2006 4:40AM

Well, I think the full quote is actually funnier:

"When you play with an old-style controller, you look like a loser, a blank-eyed joystick fondler."

Blank-eyed joystick fondler is a great insult, one I expect to be used often in the next few months.

But anyways, I think his point (though it might have been a bit harsh in how he phrased it) is that playing with the Wii-mote not only is fun, it *looks* fun and thus encourages others to play along. Sitting still and pushing buttons while staring at a screen, while it may actually be fun in certain situations, doesn't necessarily look like fun.

If the console succeeds to any extent it will be THE party game console for this reason. It invites others to play along.

Chris @ May 8th 2006 4:46AM

Nintendo have pulled an Apple on us, meaning everything they do is great and everyone else is a loser.

The whole "it's going to be more people into gaming" thing is getting real old real fast. If i'm playing madden what's quicker to learn;

"press X to pass" or "you need to move the remote thing like you making a pass but make sure you don't move it too fast and you need to line it up with that player who is moving all over the place but if you don't do it right your going to give it to the other side"

MegaWatts @ May 8th 2006 5:42AM

F-Off Nintendo...

jay @ May 8th 2006 6:13AM

I think people here are missing out on the obvious point this article makes.
A non-gamer is not feeling scared of gaming, he's not confused anymore. Not lost or afraid of the the stigma of playing a game and what that means to most people (=nerds).

Nintendo just won.

That's IF this is a non-gamer. If he is a gamer then it's even better. It means that even a long time player can get immersed into a game.

This article is amazing, not just for the Wii abilities but for the implications.

Next generation really does belong to Nintendo. I eagerly wait the comparison shots of the Wii and PS3 play queues :D not that they mean anything serious like.

Xboxistence @ May 8th 2006 6:23AM

@ 39:

Are you just stupid or what? What has Nintendo to do with anything of this news? It's a fucking TIME magazine article and the person who wrote that article is responsible for that comment.

MegaWatts @ May 8th 2006 7:11AM

Xboxistence just proved my point. I win.

shaka @ May 8th 2006 7:39AM

the revomote or ipad , it's still just a gimmick in my book,and calling loser the people who play with a pad is a mayor insult to the gaming comunity,yeah maybe it's going to be kool for a while but from my take the magic isnt going to last long,like the nds games.

so yeah this is pretty bad,if i dont want to play with my pad ,theres the eyetoy ,the ddr thing,the guitar hero ect.

shaka.

Xboxistence @ May 8th 2006 8:22AM

Seriously MegaWatts, WTH are you talking about? I think people like you are not allowed to make public comments at all.

If all you can say about this article is "F-Off Nintendo" then maybe you should just shut your big mouth. Nothing good comes of those kind of comments, just console fanboys picking on each other.

Crux @ May 8th 2006 8:36AM

Shaka == Anti-fanboy == cretin.

Clay @ May 8th 2006 9:07AM

Nah, I look way cooler hovering above my keyboard and mouse, just 2 inches from a computer monitor in a dark room alone whispering "boom headshot".

Player1 @ May 8th 2006 10:04AM

"I love the Powerglove. It's so bad."

Ethan Thomas @ May 8th 2006 10:17AM

- Idioteraser

What's with the hatred towards the hardcore sector man? You fling out "facts" about us hardcore guys that are totally flawed. (All quotes may not be 100% word for word due to me being in my college class at the moment and due to their settings, I can't copy and paste on web pages..argh :)

"The hardcore section is the one that wants things in games that turn off 90% of gamers."

I find that very interesting, as I highly doubt the people screaming for a sequel to the old school Grand Theft Auto on PC were casual gamers. And today, GTA is a huge franchise...I guess, under your reasoning, because 90% of gamers don't play it?....Also, why would we want bad content in games when, for us hardcore guys, it's our hobby? So we WANT gaming companies to ruin our hobby is what you're saying.....???

"Sorry but most hardcore gamers hated the DS and proclaimed the PSP as crushing the DS"

When I first saw the DS, I thought, "That's innovative." and not too long ago, I purchased one. I've never owned a PSP, as anyone can see that the games are just PS2 ports, and I don't feel like watching a movie on a screen that size, etc. I believe the general consensus of the hardcore community was, "If Sony can deliver the software for the PSP, it could give the DS a serious run for it's money.", but I don't see any "hardcore" gamer declaring victory for the PSP when it is going against a proven champion handheld manufacturer (Nintendo). Sounds more like a mistake the common fanboy would make....

"Sorry but the hardcore fanbase which is often the loudest fanbase is often wrong."

I disagree with this one as well. Who would you want building your house? A company with years of experience or a guy who "Saw Bob Villa a couple times on TV and thought, 'Hey, that can't be that hard.'"? The casual gamer is one who does not invest in many games per week/month/year and who doesn't spend a ton of time playing different titles. That said, if you've ever played a title that was a sequel on any platform and liked it, you should thank the hardcore gamers for putting up enough bucks for the company to realize there would be a demand for a sequel. Companies, including Nintendo, are not going to make products that they do not believe will sell. Moving units means attracting the attention of people with the money and drive to purchase your product and convincing them to do so. If there wasn't a hardcore sector, the gaming industry would have a much lower cash influx than it currently enjoys.

"If Nintendo listened to the hardcore, the DS and Wii would never have existed."

And if the hardcore hadn't backed Nintendo all these years, Nintendo would be folded in the hardware business, ala Sega. As for the DS, well, I'm guessing you just threw that one on for additional impact, as everyone knows the DS would be around with or without the hardcore crowd. Kids and people on the go bring sales for handheld units, not people who even necessarily play consoles.

"Hand a modern controller to 99% of the people on the street and they won't be able to use it. Hand them a Wii-mote with a brief display on how to use it, they'll get it." (Quote severely shortened...see inital post for exact wording.)

Congratulations, you are 100% certified grade-A fanboy. How does it feel? You sit there and basically say, "Even though right now, and for the past 20 years, people have been playing with controllers, the Wii-mote is much easier to use and everyone will love it so much better because it is the absolute greatest and OMG I'm a Nintendo fanboy check me out." Ok let's try your theory. I'll bring my Xbox 360 controller, you bring your Wii-mote, we'll hook up the systems, and....what? What do you mean you don't have a Wii? It's not out yet? But you just declared it to have the best control EVER didn't you? Hmmmm...

I hate to pick apart a post, but just skimming over this thread, that one really ticked me off. Pure Grade-A B.S. is all that comment was to begin with.

As far as the Time article goes, they can think what they want. Exactly what does some journalist for Time know about playing video games? Funny that someone could be in such an esteemed position, yet not be above spouting off and calling people "losers." The only "vacant" thing here is the space between this journalist's ears, not the look on someone's face. That's my two cents.

clearskin @ May 8th 2006 10:19AM

I think the difference is that you wouldn't really play a normal system at a party among non-gamers. The Wii (ung...) controller looks like something that migh actually attract attention and get people interested in playing, people who might be uninterested if you were holding a normal controler that screams "video game". Of course, this attention may turn negative when you invite others to play with your Wii.