Japanese Wii enjoys painless birth; stores across Japan sell out

I'm surprised you nintendo kids can spell as well. Well I know you know how to spell KONG, cause that was in DKC but beyond that and select/start color me impressed.

Zelda is buggy? Zelda would have been a better GC game?

What Zelda are you playing?

Anyway. Wii is a success, and it's going to continue to sell out in the foreseeable future, even with its excellent supply. Nintendo will have a good Christmas.

IMO

Shagi, me and > are all the same person. The likelihood of 3 individuals being as blind and as ignorant as those 3 are is astronautical

@45 You're a 25 year-old lifelong gamer who enjoys the current conventional control scheme. That's great, but it's exactly what Nintendo's not targeting. They're targeting basically everyone but you--people who either have never gamed, or fell out of gaming because the control scheme got too complicated. The 360 provides a good gaming experience by improving on the same stuff we've been playing for years. It's very good at what it does, but the point of the Wii is to do something different. It's not "younger" gamer vs "older" gamer, but "status quo" vs "different." I don't doubt most of the "hardcore" with a Wii will end up with a second console for more traditional gaming, but the whole point is to aim for the people who wouldn't normally end up with a 360 or PS3.

I can't take people saying the Wii games are shallow like it's the end of the world. I've logged just as much time with Wii sports as I have with Zelda, as I have with CoD, Red Steel, NFS Carbon, and Rayman. If you get bored of a game you goto the next.

And it's not as simple as inserting a new game, you're effectively launching a brand new experience when compared with the game you just played. If you're playing NFS and get bored of steering, toss in CoD or Red Steel and shoot some shit up. Want some mindless minigames? Rayman has your back. Epic, magic adventure? Zedla's there. Fun for everyone and just plain good times? Wii sports has a ton of different experiences for you to play around with.

It's like having an arcade in your living room, with all the different controllers you could need, rolled into one. I love it. time for a bowl, and then some bowl-ing ;)
peace

#53 thank you for putting in 3 paragraphs what would have taken me 10.

And shagi if you still have a Wii but don't like it please do everyone a favour and sell it on ebay, i'm sure there will be someone out there that will gladly take it off your hands. Hopefully it will stop you bitching and whining about the Wii and you can go back to playing which ever console you prefer. Nintendo has delivered with Wii, get over it (4 more days and it will be mine!!!!!!!!!!)

#37

“The Wii has potential and from the early software on display I d say that it has more or equal potential to deliver on “epic” experiences that say, those other two platforms provide. The level of immersion is beyond what the other two consoles can provide”

You have got to be joking????

I am not going to knock the Wii…I have one or my kids have one now and we also have a 360 that I mostly use.

Both are connected to wide screen TV’s, the Wii to a 50inch Sony rear projection LCD and the 360 to a Samsung 56inch DLP set in my basement. Both have a sound system attached to them….so basically both have a platform that does not limit them.

The Wii is cool, that sports games are cool and the truck game is fun as well. I am not much into Zelda but my kids like it. That said 360 with GOW or Rainbow Six Vegas makes the Wii look like a joke on a large wide screen TV with a good sound system. Those game not only have kick @ss graphics that the Wii will never know….they are both super good games. Throw in Burn Out Revenge and that Wii truck game feels like a DS game. Immersion and epic experiences are on the 360 and NOT on the Wii. Unless you have seriously played on the 360 with a good size HD TV…you would not know this.

The Wii is fun and has way more games that are appropriate for my kids. The 360 is High Definition Kick @ss fun.

@ Comment #55

I love the way you fail to put up any reason why gameplay in Rainbow Six "makes the Wii look like a joke". Your only reasoning is that you can blow the crap out of things on your basement bound 56
inch television. There is not one sight of you speaking of why the immersion of the Wii pales to the Xbox 360's, which is highly odd for a comeback to someone commenting on how bad the Wii's immersion is.

Before you decide to express your lust and love for the platform of high-definition gaming please write a proper rebuttal that actually pertains to that which you are rebutting.

An epic game does not come from that which you see on your screen, but rather from what it inspires in your mind

Isn't it amazing how one little box with a wafer of silicone inside can create such excitement !
www.adgerlinux.com

anyone else sick of these silly console pissing contests? Grow up. Fanboys are all losers.

"Both locations were sold out within an hour of opening."

I was in line for the Universal City walk midnight launch, and I was well within the first hundred people. They started selling at 12:01, and my receipt says 1:3o AM on it.

If that statement above is true, I applaud the registers of those stores, especially the one that sold 2800 within an hour.

@55

Not that I want to dignify your post but I would like ask you a question.

By your definition games like but not limited to, Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy, God of War, Okami, Halo, Metroid Prime etc are not epic unless I play them on a SUPERZ OMG frweakingz HD 100" set on 360. That’s what you’re saying right? So like ummm when I eventually play Killzone for the PS3 that’s going to be a lot more better epic that GOW because it'll be running in super 1080p and not in lame 360 720p right? I mean that’s what you’re saying.

Gamers, I forgot that there is a direct correlation between epic games and the size of the screen I play them on. Also, all of you out there in internet land, go out and buy an 360 but make sure that you buy an HD TV because if you don’t you wont be able to enjoy Rainbow Six in all its epic 720p glory.

#56 & #61

My reply was to a post about the Wii being more immersive than the 360 or PS3.

I mentioned large, wide screen HDTV’s because the 360 and the PS3 can take advantage of them…..and the Wii can’t go above 480p. Hence my comment when comparing good games…….as in fun, entertaining games that are also in 720p with high higher graphical detail than the Wii can produce.

Why is Rainbow Six Vegas and GOW good…well that is subjective but I would say the fact that the reviews for both of those games across many review sites and magazines would support my point of view.

Those games as long as they did not drastically change the content or game play would be just as good on Wii. However they would be less immersive do to the lower graphical detail and resolution.

To answer you question about Killzone on the PS3 at 1080p…..sure it might be more immersive but I would have to sit down and play it…I have no idea what the game is???? The higher the resolution, the higher the graphical detail, the bigger the screen you play it on…and the better the sound as in 5.1 surround the more immersive a game will be. That of course says nothing about game play. Immersion is about making you feel like that you are part of the game…the more realistic looking it is the more immersive it is. Therefore the Wii can not be more immersive than a 360 or PS3 when they are used to their fullest potential…..sorry that is not opinion its fact.

That takes nothing away from the Wii be fun, expensive and great console like I said in my post…but of course you fangirls are so blinded by me pointing out technical facts that you missed that and come back with your lame ASS attempts at slamming me….and this is why I usually don’t post in these comment sections.

"Immersion is about making you feel like that you are part of the game…the more realistic looking it is the more immersive it is. Therefore the Wii can not be more immersive than a 360 or PS3 when they are used to their fullest potential…..sorry that is not opinion its fact."

That is the stupidest thing I've read on joystiq in at least two weeks. THAT is an achievement. Bravo!

"Immersion is about making you feel like that you are part of the game…the more realistic looking it is the more immersive it is. Therefore the Wii can not be more immersive than a 360 or PS3 when they are used to their fullest potential…..sorry that is not opinion its fact."

Then I want you to go outside and take a picture. Then stare at the picture for hours. You should be having the time if your life. I mean, by your definite, that's as immersive as it gets, right? OMG LOL ITS SO REAL!

Immersion is more about graphical quality and 5.1 surround sound than most people know. Granted, graphics draw you in to the experience but once the pretty pictures novelty comes to pass, you’re left with nothing more than the game play. Anyone who has played Red Steel would know what I’m talking about. It is by far one of the worst games I’ve played on any console but I'll be damned if I wasn’t drawn in to the experience because essentially I was pointing the gun, I was capping the bad guy. I felt like I was the one doing these things and that my friend at least for me, make up for more than any realistic looking enemy crabs.

If the whole pretty graphics make for better games motif where true, a game like Genji would have been rated through the roof...

Have you people ever read a book? They don't have good graphics, and yet manage to be immersive.

@39

You reference "hardcore" gamers in a negative way, which I think is false.

Since this is a post about the Japan Wii launch, I assumed you were talking about Nintendo hardcore gamers, which is where I disagree.

Nintendo hardcore gamers are generally not like the hardcore gamers you describe. Nintendo hardcore are all about brand loyalty. They buy every console/ handheld at launch, always buy the latest Mario/ Zelda/ Mariokart/ Smash Brothers/ Metroid/ Pokemon incarnation (even if they have heard nothing good about the new version), and tirelessly devote far too much time to tracking down the references to earlier games and consoles. That's what Nintendo hardcore are about, the familiarity. Zelda always has returning ideas (outside of the obvious Link-saves-Zelda) and music from all previous Zelda games, like Kakariko Village, milk healing you, and variations on fairy music. At the Smash Brothers trophy display screen, you can see all Nintendo's consoles and handhelds sitting on the shelves in the background. And the idea of Smash Brothers itself, having a bunch of familiar characters from all kinds of old games. Nintendo hardcore get together and talk about playing the games as kids, constantly reliving old memories while building new ones with new friends. In my experience, these hardcore gamers work, bathe, and don't necessarily live with their folks. What makes them hardcore gamers is not that they have devoted their lives to gaming, but that they have devoted their lives to Nintendo.

But I will have to agree with your assessment of hardcore gamers when it comes to Xbox gamers. I work for a company that does hardware and software testing for the original Xbox as well as the 360, and I feel that every comment you made regarding hardcore gamers is spot on in this case. There are a lot of hardcore gamers that work there, and I hate almost every single one. The problem with saying anything bad about them is that they are generally the ones who start these ridiculous hate-speech filled flame wars. These hardcore are all about being better than everyone else, in every way shape and form. It amazes me that what defines them as gamers also defines them as people. The same guy that responds to "I heard some guy beat that stage in twelve minutes, there's a video on YouTube" with "Oh, well I once beat it in eight minutes, but no one ever believes me, even though I totally did it," will also respond to "I took a little jujitsu once," with "I have a black belt in three kinds of karate, uh, jujitsu, muy thai, and, uh, I forget the last one, but I still totally have a black belt in it." These people are so narrow minded and dead set against anything not Xbox related they'll say things like "I used to work for Nintendo, but I had to stop because I couldn't deal with playing kid games all the time," after spending an entire day playing Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion, Barbie's Horse Adventures, and The Fairly Odd Parents game. Yeah, okay, maybe I have a grudge against these guys. Weekly reminders about personal hygeine don't make a dent in the stench. Frequent announcements to keeps down the noise yield impotent little men throwing their controllers and shouting that the game is cheating. The 16 person multiplayer was the worst, though. Despite repeated announcements that if they didn't shut up they would be fired, expletive, pwn, and noob comments were vociferously shouted all over the room. And again, despite repeated warnings that they would be fired for discussing testing outside of the building, these guys couldn't stop with the claims of ultimate superiority when they got outside. These assholes represent everything that is wrong with the gaming community.

Earlier it was commented that the reason the Japanese Wii launch was so incident free is because of the Japanese populace, not the Nintendo fan base. (That the US Wii launch was also incident free is true, but irrelevant here.) Maybe this is the reason the Xbox does so poorly in Japan. There aren't hordes of people in constant need of shouting out their superiority. Decent non-assholes generally don't do that. Most of the hype around the 360 seems to be related to the idea that it's the best, it's the greatest, and only losers don't like it. While that sort of sales strategy may work in the US, it does not work in Japan.