Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Analyst: Wii is 'inhospitable' for third partieshttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/analyst-wii-is-inhospitable-for-third-parties/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/analyst-wii-is-inhospitable-for-third-parties/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/13/analyst-wii-is-inhospitable-for-third-parties/#commentsFiled under: ,


Just when you thought the embers were finally beginning to cool regarding the oft-contested state of third-party game sales on the Wii, leave it to some analyst to breathe generously on the dying fire and get it going again once more. Cowen Group's Doug Creutz is just such an analyst, as he calls Nintendo's console a "relatively inhospitable platform for third-party publishers."

Offering an example, Creutz points out that notwithstanding Madden 09's recent NPD dominance, the Wii version of EA's annual gridiron push sold significantly less compared to those on the PS3 and Xbox 360. How significant? Despite a larger console install base, the Wii version sold 87 percent fewer copies than those sold for the Xbox 360, and 79 percent less than those for the PS3 according to the analyst -- his life is obviously split between advising investors where to put their cash and stirring fanboys into a tizzy.

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]]>analystmadden-09third-partythirdpartywiiJason Dobson2008-09-13T15:30:00+00:00Sony's Phil Harrison: Wii's audience plays hard to gethttp://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/sonys-phil-harrison-wiis-audience-plays-hard-to-get/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/sonys-phil-harrison-wiis-audience-plays-hard-to-get/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/22/sonys-phil-harrison-wiis-audience-plays-hard-to-get/#commentsFiled under:


At yesterday's "Lunch with the Luminaries" panel at GDC, five of the planet's most prestigious gaming industry figures had the opportunity to sit down for light snacks, civil discourse, and, of course, to flame their competitor's consoles. At least, that's what Sony exec Phil Harrison had in mind, as he warned EA Blueprint's Neil Young that the Wii is unfriendly territory for third-party developers -- due to Nintendo's overwhelmingly successful games on their own home console, everyone else can only hope to market their games to "only 40% of the installed base."

Young didn't deny this claim, but retorted that the development of their most recent game for the Wii, Smarty Pants, was "very easy to build very quickly" and "fundamentally much more fun" to create -- apparently, more fun than it was to actually play. Have third-party developers resigned themselves to living in Nintendo's shadow, prompting them to fire out "easy to build," mediocre titles? We don't think they quite understand -- if only 40 percent of Wii owners are buying your games, it's because the other 60 percent know better.

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]]>eaeablueprintharrisonneilyoungnintendonintendowiiphilharrisonthirdpartywiiGriffin McElroy2008-02-22T23:30:00+00:00Nintendo trickles out Q1 games listhttp://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/23/nintendo-trickles-out-q1-games-list/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/23/nintendo-trickles-out-q1-games-list/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/23/nintendo-trickles-out-q1-games-list/#commentsFiled under: , ,

After bursting onto the scene with 34 titles in the Wii's first two months, Nintendo today announced they would "continue the flow of fun" with ... 12 new Wii games through March. Wait, what?

We understand that things tend to slow down a little in the months after Christmas, but even accounting for that the Wii's first quarter line up is kind of lacking. A few potential standouts like SSX Blur and Sonic and the Secret Rings are left to flounder among the usual mess of licensed crap (TMNT, Bionicle Heroes, Meet the Robinsons) and warmed-over third party games reworked for the Wii controller (Tiger Woods 07, The Godfather, and Blazing Angels, which was originally listed as a launch window title). What's more, Nintendo's Wii Play (a game which hit Europe and Japan in early December) is both the only first party game on the Wii's Q1 list and the only game we're likely to see for the system in all of February.

It might be a little early to declare Reggie's "no game drought" promise a failure, but this faint trickle of early games is, frankly, not that inspiring. Keep reading for a complete breakdown of the Wii's amazing "flow" for the next few months.

Feb. 14 Wii Play with Wii Remote Nintendo
March 27 Disney's Meet the Robinsons Buena Vista
March Bust-A-Move Bash Majesco
March Prince of Persia Rival Swords Ubisoft
March TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Ubisoft
March Bionicle Heroes Eidos
March Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Ubisoft
Q1 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 EA
Q1 SSX Blur EA
Q1 The Godfather Blackhand Edition EA
Q1 Medal of Honor Vanguard EA
Q1 Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega

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]]>droughtEAflowgamesthird partyThirdPartytrickleUbiSoftwiiKyle Orland2007-01-23T16:45:00+00:00Logitech fills lightweight PS3 pad with airhttp://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/05/logitech-fills-empty-ps3-pad-with-air/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/05/logitech-fills-empty-ps3-pad-with-air/http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/05/logitech-fills-empty-ps3-pad-with-air/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Oh boy, where to start? Maybe it was just that their previous gamepads were selling wireless to a wired world, or perhaps the good folks at Logitech just felt weird about building a gamepad that felt so light; either way, they've decided to give their new ChillStream controller a little something extra to distinguish it from the me-toos in the third-party controller rat race.

Yup, they added fans into the controller, to keep your sweaty mitts cool. If this strikes you as an especially gimmicky move for one of the more reputable peripheral manufacturers, you're not alone dear reader. Maybe the extra weight and a potentially lower third-party cost will be enough to drive frugal gamers into the arms of the ChillStream ... or is that ChillStream into the arms of frugal gamers? The controller doesn't have rumble, it presumably has motion sensitivity, it doesn't appear to be wireless -- oh yeah, it has fans -- and it carries a suggested retail sticker price of $39.99. How much is that "affordable" first-party controller going to be?

[Via CrunchGear]

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]]>LogitechThird PartyThirdPartyChristopher Grant2006-10-05T16:45:00+00:00