Perhaps we have Nintendo all wrong?

Remember back to April 2006, remember to that time when Nintendo had just announced it’s next console, and what everyone thought was going to be called “Revolution”.  It was a rousing time, everyone was excited, all of the Nintendo fans were ecstatic that a new “Zelda” game was going to be the Wii’s first big release.  Oh those exciting times.

Now fast forward back to present day…are you still as excited about the Wii today as you were back then?  It’s understandable the level of frustration that gamers have towards Nintendo and the Wii especially.  Those gamers feel as if Nintendo has sold out just to make a buck, they feel as if Nintendo has “pimped” its console out to third party developers just to make a profit.  I, for one, can’t argue against them as they do have a point.  But perhaps we have Nintendo all wrong?  Let’s look at Nintendo’s highest grossing console to date, the name “Wii”, it looks and sounds like “we”, the two letter “i”’s in the word “Wii” symbolize two or more people…so why did we expect the Wii to be a “Gamers” console?

The Wii is strictly a family console with a few good games mixed in here and there…as if to throw a bone to the harder cored gamers out there that actually thought Nintendo had wisened up.  Those of us who owned a Nintendo Gamecube know that Nintendo failed very hard on that one.  It was basically a joke of a console.  It failed against every comparison it held with Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Playstation 2…the discs were even half the size.  So when the Wii was announced, Nintendo followers had hope…they saw a light at the end of the tunnel.  Then the light faded, the room suddenly went black and we were left feeling our way through the darkness as a family.  I guess “family” gaming is the newest craze these days, where even Grandma and Grandpa can hope on the Wii Balance Board and ride a snowboard down a mountain, or your 5 year old little brother can do Yoga on the Wii Fit.  But to me, that is not gaming, and I know many people agree with me on this issue.

In the end, it’s not about whether Nintendo has failed…because by all statistical purposes they have succeeded more than anyone would have imagined…but you take a survey of gamers who play games an average of 3-4 hours a day and they will tell you that their Wii sits and collects dust.  Oh Nintendo, how you swindled me out of my money.

-Hombre