The video game market finds itself in a rather interesting place. Its consoles are still selling exceptionally well, some of the best games released in a long time hit store shelves in 2010, and yet, consumers, pundits, and analysts are wondering when Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will be announcing new consoles.
A few days ago a fellow SlashGear columnist Don Reisinger elaborated on how his Kinect was collecting dust. If I put myself in Don’s shoes I can relate to his article and his questioning of whether or not the Kinect can meet the needs of hard core gamers and a hard core gaming experience. I, however, in coming at it from a different angle, have a completely different experience with my Kinect.
We have seen all sorts of hacks for the Kinect since the motion tracking gesture controller launched for the Xbox 360. The thing is really cool and has turned out to be quite the hackable little device for people to take and use for all sorts of things. So far, most of those hacks haven’t been anything that I am interested in.
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Allow me to just state the obvious right now: Nintendo fans are going to read this headline and the following column and immediately take me to task for supposedly inciting some kind of war between them and those who can’t stand their favorite game company.
I can assure you that such a result isn’t my intention. As I’ve expressed on these pages before, I’m a huge Nintendo fan. I was someone who defended Nintendo back when the company was waging war against Sega. And every single first-party title that I could get my hands on, I played with absolute enjoyment.
But something is changing.
Taking consoles intended for your living room and making them portable is a growing niche, and while some may not like the aesthetics of ShockSlayer's "ZNWii "DIY Wii laptop, you can't really argue with the functionality. He stripped the Wii of its DVD drive and instead used game "backup" software to load all the titles you might want to play onto an internal drive.
Video demo after the cut
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Nintendo should slash the Wii sticker price to $99 and watch sales of the console "explode", according to EA CEO John Riccitiello. Talking to Industry Gamers, the studio head pointed to "tapered" sales of the Nintendo console over the past two years, in part blaming the company's unstinting focus on its own games franchises to the detriment of third-party developers.
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Whenever I talk about game consoles here on SlashGear, much of the discussion reverts to arguments over which console – the Nintendo Wii, Sony’s PlayStation 3, or the Xbox 360 – is best. And in many cases, gamers pick their favorites and defend it to the bitter end.
ITV Player and Channel 4's 4oD streaming catch-up services are set to arrive on PS3 consoles in the UK this week, though Xbox and Wii services still look unlikely in the short-term. According to the Guardian, both networks expect the launch to gain them more audience among the gamer demographic, though unlike the BBC's iPlayer - which has been available on the PS3 for some time now, as well as on Xbox and Wii - both ITV and Channel 4's services will be ad-supported.
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Just about a half a month ago, we reported the fact that Nintendo was asking developers of the game Conduit 2 to not utilize Wii Speak in their game. Looks like it was because now, just a couple weeks later, they've announced they're going to completely phase out the Wii Speak peripheral - perhaps to replace it with something neater?
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While Black Friday is over and done with, and we're knee-deep in the savings that come with Cyber Monday, it looks like Nintendo made a killing off the Black Friday week. They sold plenty of consoles, which include members of the DS family, as well as the Wii home console. They sold enough, in fact, that the company feels like a formal press release is the right thing to do. Some may call this bragging, but then again, when you've sold as many consoles as Nintendo did, there might be a little room to do that.
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Angry Birds may be a staple for most smartphones, but developers Rovio are now looking to traditional consoles for the next stage of the game's expansion. Studio CEO Peter Vesterbacka has confirmed that Angry Birds for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii are all in development, though there's no timescale for its release. Meanwhile, Angry Birds 2 is also in the works.
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Now, before I start talking about why my Wii has been collecting dust, let me just make this clear: I have been a fan of Nintendo products since the 1980s. And each new Nintendo console typically finds its way into my home on launch day. I also enjoy The Legend of Zelda and the Mario franchise.
But that doesn’t mean that I won’t criticize the Wii.
