“Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s new Wii video game console, considered the underdog in the console wars because it lacks the high-definition graphics and multimedia features of its rivals, is stealing the show at this week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show. The wait to try out the Wii at E3 pushed past four hours on Thursday afternoon, while the wait for hands-on time with Sony Corp.’s (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) PlayStation 3 was barely 30 minutes. Both consoles will hit the market later this year, though the Wii is expected to cost much less than rival consoles,” Kemp Powers reports for Reuters. “The Wii (pronounced ‘we’) uses a motion-sensor enabled controller that looks like a TV remote and allows users to direct action on the screen by wielding it like a sword or swinging it like a baseball bat, tennis racket or golf club. ‘It’s basically a whole different thing from anything I’ve seen before,’ said Josef Faulkner, who had been waiting in line for three hours to get his hands on Wii. He still had an hour to go. ‘This is definitely the biggest thing here.'”
“‘You have to play (Wii) in order to understand what it is,’ said Don James, Nintendo’s executive vice president of operations. James said the company knew that lots of people would be drawn to Wii, but he was surprised by the sheer numbers,” Powers reports. “The enduring image of the show might end up being the enormous line, which snakes completely around Nintendo’s floor space.”
Full article here.
Nintendo gave TIME the first look at Wii here.
MacDailyNews Take: Is this Apple-related? Strictly, no. But, we tend to root for the underdog here, especially when they produce what looks like a winner. Watch out Sony and Microsoft, some people just want their games to be fun with controls that don’t require an ambidextrous murder-bent sadistic octopus with a Ph.D. to operate.
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This will be interesting. Sony may be shooting themselves in the foot with the price they’re looking to get.
I think I heard Wii is going to sell for $250?
Will the majority wait a year for the price to drop on Sony?
I hate to see Xbox become the market leader.
Who wants to bet sony drops the price when it releases by $100 in November.
The comment about Nintendo being the underdogs because of perception is right on.
The reason Wii will succeed is that the people who perceive Nintendo as “kiddie” “uncool” etc. are not Nintendo’s demographic with this console. Nintendo is going for everyone else. The snot-nosed teenagers can go buy their XBOx 360 or PS3. Wii is for the rest of us.
I know Nintendo’s strategy is working. We have a Gamecube that I picked up dirt cheap on eBay. I love the system and have a blast playing Metroid, Zelda, etc. My wife has never had an interest in games. But then I picked up Animal Crossing – she hasn’t put it down since. She plays it DAILY. That’s Wii in a nutshell. It will appeal to people like my wife, and people like me, who grew up with video games (2600, NES, SNES) but think gaming became too confusing and too violent, etc.
Nintendo is filling a void, and there’s no doubt in my mind, Wii is going to be very successful.
As an Apple fan, I see a lot of parallels between Nintendo and Apple. Both are VERY innovative, and have had some tough times (Virtual Boy, GameCube, etc.) In this case, Wii’s simplicity and innovation will give Nintendo a rebirth of sorts – like Apple did with iPod.
Cool stuff really.
uhhh… A Japanese company will never allow an american company to buy them?
Wiiiiii need to tell that to Mazda / Ford.
I’ve never had a games consol, but have often been on the brink of buying one.
I’m going to get this one if the price is any where near what they say it’s going to be.
Nintendo first.
Sony is a consideration.
Microsoft, however good or bad they are, are out of the question.
Yes, I’m extremely predjudiced.
Some will go with Xbox 360, some will wait for PS 3.
Me, I’ll take a Wii.
Is this Apple-related? Strictly, no.
—
Except that everything Nin has done in the last 5 years has been deliberately made to look like it came from Cupertino.
And Nin is DEFINITELY the most vertical of the three companies
This is AMAZING Apple news!…. Not.
Here’s a Keynote file with the Wii logo, just raring to be glorified or ridiculed in full resolution vector glory!
http://web.mac.com/makentosh/iWeb/tipsfromtheiceberg/Blog/C5BF0D25-D796-457C-89BC-C9AC0B09C73A.html
There is a parallel between NINTENDO and APPLE. APPLE has always been the leader in personal computer technology, but people tend to look at price before quality. APPLE has always been copied from MICROSOFT, and NINTENDO has always been copied from other video game producers. NINTENDO invented our way of playing video games, and APPLE invented our virtual life.
I thought it was pretty ironic (and sad) to see that the PS3 bluntly copied the motion sensor of the Wii without even saying thank you! Like MICROSOFT horrible new OS is a pale imitation of OS X, SONY will be a pale imitation of the Wii interaction in game play.
Even if this news did not have anything to do with APPLE, I believe that it has a parallel, and that it is good to give props to companies that are innovative and refreshing, just like APPLE.
Thank you MacDailyNews for not forgetting the underdogs: the Real people.
Actually…. Nintendo are only the underdog in TV-linked consoles.
Like Apple with the iPod and portable music, when it comes to portable gaming, Nintendo with GameBoys and DSes are the market leader.
Rumor has it, that overall, Nintendo are actually the market leader in gaming.
I’m more excited about the Wii than anything Apple has done for a few years. I’ve never owned a console nor played much games on computers, but I’m definitely getting a Wii when they come out.
Finally, the parallels between Nintendo and Apple, as others have highlighted, definitely make it ok for MDN to have run this piece.
MMW: Beyond. Says it all, eh?
p@ul:
You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were going to get all sentimental about all the other underdogs like Napster, RealNetworks, French pragmatists, and Dell stockholders.
I haven’t played many games since I turned 16, got a car, got a computer, and got a life (that was around the time the N64 came out), but I’m sure I’ll get a Wii. The only time I like video games nowadays is when I go over to someone’s house, there’s a bunch of people there, and they pop in Mario Kart or Mario Party on the Gamecube. The Wii looks intriguing because it’s a whole console devoted to making short attention span, low-commitment “party games” way more fun. I really don’t get off on ultra-realistic murder and sadism simulators, so I haven’t been at all interested in the XBoxes or Playstations.
although i followed gaming through the ps2 and xbox era, that’s around when i started getting bored with games – they were either too complicated, too focused on violence or just the same thing in a different package. nintendo is really taking a chance with the wii, but i, for one, will be getting one the first chance i get. =)
Nintendo is the Apple Computer of the video gaming world. I will be buying a Nintendo DS Lite when they are released and a Nintendo Wii as well.
MR-2
he he he!!!
C’est ce bon, bon, bon!
Here’s some footage if you’re interested:
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-e3-wii-footage-1-172626.php
It’s all about gaming. Best of luck to Wii and death to the bloated competition. As for Ford buying Mazda, that was about a beancounter-heavy company that can’t make cars buying a beancounter-deficient company that can. And so far, Mazda seems to have managed to stay a step away from Ford’s unintended borg-like brand absorption [and dilution] exercises.
Nintendo + Apple the strongest right now… especially since nin has been adopting the apple white hardware… I have been following nintendo as of late JUST as much as apple, and i read about them HOURS a day… not to mention im 10 minutes from the US HQ…
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Why on earth would apple fans cheer on the wii or Nintendo?
Nintendo has done nothing but rip off Apple in the last year. From the re-design of the Nintendo DS handheld (totally an Apple rip-off) to the naming/design of the wii and it’s logo, Nintendo is knocking Apple off right and left like a Hong-Kong mp3 player manufacturer.
Also, Microsoft’s Peter Moore has been quoted several times actually encouraging people to buy an Xbox 360 and wii over Sony’s PS3. If Peter Moore’s “endorsement” doesn’t turn Apple fans off, I don’t know what would.
I’m definitely getting the Nintendo Wii when it comes out
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This is majorly off-topic.
MDN — not NDN, right?
The Wii intrigues me…haven’t had a console system since SNES (though I’ve gone through the complete life cycle of the Gameboy/DS — looking forward to the DS Lite, hope it’s not a tiny piece of crud like the GameBoy Micro), will definitely take a close look at the Wii (might be time to upgrade the TV to one with front input jacks). The problem with most of the modern game consoles is that the controls are too complex for my older hands — that and most of the games are the same shoot-em-before-they-shoot-you crap (except for the sports games which I’d like to try out). I’d like to see more strategy games, more puzzle games — maybe a combination of the two. And I’d like to see more games where you use your whole body — I know several folks who actually play their kids’ Dance Dance Revolution games as part of their aerobic exercise routine!
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the PS3 is guna own….
the specs for it are way good
blue ray.
digital HD set top box.
7.1 surround sound.
its a home entertainment system…
i cant wait..!
and also..wat kinda name is Wii….surely they coulda come up with something better.
Nintendo is not the Apple of the videogame’s market : their products are much cheaper than competitor’s ones whereas Apple’s products are (generally) more expensive. This is a huge difference. Beside this, I agree, they have the same interest for innovating.
Nintendo’s Wii will integrate an Opera browser. I feel sorry about that : I would have preferred an Apple-Nintendo collaboration. It appears to me clearly that Apple will miss this train…
Mike Buonarroti,
thanks! The article was a very good read.
I’ve never bought a console although I’ve flirted with the idea of a PS.
But I’m sold on this. With the Wii you take a truely active role in the game. That’s more fun and much healthier.
I’m getting one.