Gamers today

I was reading news on some video gaming sites today, and these sites typically have places for their readers to leave comments.

So I was going through the comments and one thing that strikes me is how offended some people are at the success of Nintendo, as if it was an affront to all that is holy for people to buy more copies of Wii Fit than Metal Gear Solid 4.

I am completely confused by this line of reasoning, and probably more confused as to why some people are so bitter. I could almost understand it 6 years ago when it was 3 video game systems competing for basically the same audience. Nintendo wisely decided that they weren’t going to out-muscle Sony and Microsoft and re-tooled their product line to where they thought the money was… and succeeded, probably far above their highest expectations. But that hasn’t killed Sony or Microsoft, they are still tending to that market. The Wii itself isn’t useless for a hardcore gamer but there’s a large list of titles for Wii that many “gamers” would never play.

The reason for the success of Nintendo is obvious (to me) in retrospect: They appeal directly to those with the money. Parents and older adults have more money than teenagers and young adults. So when Nintendo found a way to deliver a product that was enjoyable but the older age group they were practically guaranteed success, the only question is whether they completely get rid of their younger audience or not. I think as long as you drop pre-conceptions and allow yourself to play a game because it is fun and not just because it’s flashy that you’ll find stuff to like on the Wii no matter what your age.

In my case, ever since I was old enough to buy my own hardware and software I had at least whatever Nintendo was offering (I later picked up a PS2 as well). When I didn’t have money to buy games I noticed that Nintendo’s software (for the NES, SNES, and N64) was almost uniformly fun. Even though the characters for the major franchises (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) would be re-used from game to game, the game itself was generally much different, which avoided the feeling of playing a rehash.

So when Wii came out I picked it up, along with Zelda: Twilight Princess. And then… not much. But that was OK, I still had quite the GameCube backlog to finish. But then I noticed something weird. Although I had always encouraged my wife to play video games, there weren’t many she liked (although she could probably utterly destroy 2/3rds of you in Super Mario Bros.). But when I returned home on the patrol after we bought the Wii she had a couple of games for it… and didn’t want me to take the Wii underway when I left again. :)

Now she plays the Wii more than I do. And perhaps more to the point, I don’t have the time now to play games like I could before even if I wanted. The GameCube backlog is still valid, and now I can throw on all the Wii games I have. In fact, the last period of time I had for playing video games was probably when I was in high school with my parents buying video games for Christmas. But now those same parents are able to buy games for themselves that they actually enjoy with the Wii, and they are not ungodly expensive either.

So even though I only have a few “gamer’s game” titles on Wii it’s already more than enough. I’ve got Guitar Hero III, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Rock Band (sort of; more on that later), Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Twilight Princess, and Mario Kart Wii. I don’t even have time to play through all of these like I want to. So even though there’s probably some XBox 360 or PS3 games I’d enjoy there’s no reason for me to spend money on these systems, as I don’t have time to play the games I own.

But instead of people criticizing Wii by saying that people pick it up just to play Wii Sports for two hours and forget about it, which the sales numbers prove wrong (not to mention Nintendo Channel results), I wish people would congratulate Nintendo for opening up a new gaming market. These kids are insulted that they’re grandparents are able to play Wii Bowling, I’m happy that more people find it fun to play at all.