PS3 and XBOX 360 alienating new gamers, Wii wins hearts and minds
If only I had a dime for every time someone told me something was too complicated for them, I’d have a dime. It seems that there is a new generation of gamers coming out on the market, the “casual” gamer that gravitates towards less complicated consoles like the Wii.
Perhaps it’s not because they don’t like the XBOX 360 or PS3 but because those consoles are perceived as being “complicated” and “enthusiast” consoles that automatically win over the “hardcore” gamers. I wouldn’t say I’m a “hardcore” gamer per se but I’m certainly something more than “casual.”
Some see it as complicated because the XBOX 360 and PS3 require to be plugged into an HDTV (where you need to know the specs) and surround sound system to get the most out of the systems but it’s really not that hard, in my opinion, it’s just a “perceived” difficulty.
According to Tech UK, people just want something they can pick up and play with minimal difficulty, like the Wii or DS, which have won the hearts and minds of the so-called “casual” gamer. But there is certainly a trade off there, being lack of immersive game play and graphics; don’t get me started on the DS.
If Sony and Microsoft could find a way to make their respective systems, “less complicated” then maybe, just maybe, it would be possible to get new comers to the XBOX 360 or PS3 side, away from Nintendo and the rather simplistic Wii, it just depends on what kind of experience you are after. In that respect, the Wii just does not appeal to me.
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26 Responses to “PS3 and XBOX 360 alienating new gamers, Wii wins hearts and minds”
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June 13th, 2007
same here i own 2 out of the 3 next gen consoles, they are the ps3 and the xbox 360. The Wii just doesn’t interest me and never will because the graphics are just appaling come on Nintendo it is the 21st century whats up with your stick men.
June 13th, 2007
It’s all a matter of personal preferrence. Sure, I love pretty graphics and surround sound in my games but that is what I use my PC for. I own both the Xbox360 and the Wii. I have no interest in owning a PS3, mainly because of the price and lack of good games. The 360 has Gears of War and the Wii has Zelda. What more can you ask for?
June 13th, 2007
You dont need an HDTV to enjoy the experience. And you certainly dont need surround sound.
XBOX 360 and PS3 give you the option to use it. Wii doesnt, and it looks like ass on a Standard Def. T.V.
June 13th, 2007
You dont need an HDTV to enjoy the experience. And you certainly dont need surround sound.
XBOX 360 and PS3 give you the option to use it. Wii doesnt, and it looks like ass on a HD T.V.
June 13th, 2007
I have the 360 and wii. A 60 inch screen and surround. If I want graphics, I fire up the old 360 and turn down the lights. If I want to get up and bounce around the family room, the Wii is the way to go. Graphics havent even been an issue for the gams ive played so far. The Wii is wickid. Life is good.
June 13th, 2007
this whole thing is so blown out of proportion. The Wii is attracting gamers that would have never bought a 360, a ps3, a nintendo DS, or an upgraded graphics card for PC to game on the PC. This market is untapped and therefore a mute point because theres still a huge market for true next gen consoles and games.
Think of why the wii is doing well: 1 reason is its appeal to the ‘casual gamers;’ another is its appeal to older hardcore gamers that see all the old games offered and say wowo a trip down memory lane; another reason is the price tag; and the last reason is because its an easy system to buy if your not a fan boy and don’t need to rush out and buy a 360 or ps3 for bragging rights. The latter reason will be a boon for MS or sony because within the next year to 2 years these people will decide on either a 360 or a ps3. Also, there are a ton of people that own a 360 and a wii and are waiting to get a ps3 but haven’t yet due to lack of games – once there are more games there will be more ps3’s sold (this is a catch 22 because there won’t be a rush of new games until more consoles are sold).
Anyway you hack it though this whole ps3 vs the wii vs the 360 thing is blown out of proportion. Each system is good and has its strong sides and weak sides. Wii is easy, but lacks the power to provide graphics. 360 is a strong system, but MS lies all to often – publishers are supposed to be in charge of prices for new and or extra content, but MS told Gears of War creators no no no, we have to charge and thats kind of bull. ps3 looks good on paper and has the capability to be a rocking system; but the combination of being late on the next gen scene, the price, the lack of games and negative press have put sony in a hard place (negative press is probably influencing game dev’s to halt or scale back ps3 projects).
Now, I know there are a ton of fanboys out there that would love nothing more than the death of the ps3. Heed these words though. Do you really want to live in a gaming world where the only competition for the 360 is the wii? Instead of games looking better and better, instead of all sides of the gaming industry growing, you’d end up with a race to touch the hearts of soccer moms and 4 year olds. Games would turn into cartoon fests. you’d end up with a game controller with 2 buttons only because anything more would be too complex for the casual gamer, plus how many buttons do you need to play cooking mama? The ps3 will make the 360 better and the wii will make both the ps3 and the 360 better but all that goes down the toilet if the ps3 gets destroyed by all this negative press.
June 13th, 2007
right ok the wii isnt some sort of weak thing that cant do anything. it is the 3rd most powerful games console in the world. It has component cables available to it to look good on a hdtv and all its games support surround sound.
its just that your not paying for the games to be made in 1080p/720p if you dont have a tv that doesnt do that.
There are few games on 360 that have surpassed the graphical impressiveness of resi4 and LOZ Twilight Princess. Both of which are gamecube games. The Wii is of course can produce better graphics than any released so far. We need look no further than to Mario Galaxy, Super Smah Bros Brawl, Metroid Prime 3 and Resi Evil UC to notice that with some time and care the Wii can actually do good graphics up to the standard of alot of 360 games.
and yes im aware 360 has the potential to achieve better but at the high cost of HD gaming were not seeing many Gears of War quality games are we.
so if Wii can deliver solid Hardcore games with a new more interactive and natural controller and good graphics as named above why make out its just some party machine.
its cheap, cheap to develop for and it will attract alot of hardcore games with good graphics later on. just think soon we are getting Manhunt 2 and i’ll be hacking things up just as in real life, now thats hardcore. and the hardcore games will buy Wii for this kind of interaction.
All i will finish with is just wait for Metroid Prime 3/SSBB and this talk of the Wii being the lesser machine will vanish
June 13th, 2007
The wii is by far the funnest console to play. I own a PS3 and it sucks monkey wang, ive played a 360, pretty fun, but only shooter games. And i’ve played a wii ,very very fun and the graphics are actually pretty good, i hope to be getting a wii soon and trade in my hunk a junk PS3.
June 13th, 2007
I do agree that the PS3 and X360 are more complicated, but they aren’t complicated. Just put in a game and play. People tend to see bells and whistles and think that they have to know and use all of them. At the core, games are still the same as they’ve always been. Put in a game and play it.
You don’t need to use XBL (though the updates would be good). You don’t need 5.1, you don’t need an HDTV, you don’t need to use a wireless controller, you don’t need to get the DVD remote or watch movies on it, you don’t need to connect the HDD (unless updates, backward compatibility, XBL) plus its just a snap on, you don’t need to connect a whole bunch of other peripherals.
Just put in a game and play it.
Now the games on the other hand can get rather complicated.
June 13th, 2007
Well, the Wii does most certainly appeal to me. It’s a great machine and I can’t get enough of it.
The fact that it doesn’t output progressive video at 1080p doesn’t really break my heart since, actually, I have a life.
Instead, whenever I have friends or family around it steals the party and everyone is able to enjoy themselves thouroughly with the Wii. With even better games coming out later in the year I couldn’t ask for more.
June 13th, 2007
Have you ever seen a non gamer trying to come to grips with a control pad in a FPS game? I feel for em. I play games all the time but I have no intention of getting a pS3, I may get a 360 one day.
But I bought the Wii, because it offered something no one else had. One game of tennis and I knew the potential there for innovation was astounding.
Games have been striving for realism a long time, so high end spec on a console is of little interest, after all I have a pc. But You wont play any games like Wii games anywhere else.
I notice a lot of bashing of the Wii. Lots of laughter when it was first heard of. then E3 turned a few (million) heads and now its the hottest property around…. And some people dont like that!
June 13th, 2007
Anyone else think this Jonathan guy is just bitter because he is still waiting for a Wii after failing to pre-order?!
Everyone can slate the Wii but who is to say whether the ‘next generation’ is better graphics or an innovative motion sensor controller?! I’m glad Nintendo has done something different and love playing Wii Sports with my mates or going ‘hardcore’ on Zelda. Also with the back catalogue of classic games available and games such as Manhunt 2, Mario and Metroid on the horizon I shall be sat with a big grin on my face despite all the Wii bashing!
June 13th, 2007
This is very simple. Wii is for casuals, people that don’t care about quality, or deep games. It’s something like people who reads tabloid magazines.
In the other side is the XBOX 360/ PS3 gamers that love the deep and high quality games, like people who enjoy a great book novel.
That’s the most accurate analogy i’ve found, to describe this fenomenom
June 13th, 2007
@ starfoxacefox: I don’t understand a word you just said, but it didn’t seem too relative to a console that you’re supposed to play games on. GAMES…i.e. things you play as a diversion.
@ otakugamergt: I don’t even want to dignify your asinine post with a response, except to ask you where that analogy could possibly be seen as the most accurate…well, except in the Stereotyper Of The Month Club that you are obviously the president of. Please, for the love of all that was once green and good on this polluted mudball we live on, taste your words before you spit them out.
The way it seems to me is that the hardcore nerds are getting pissy about the fact that so many casuals are moving onto their territory…and shirking their systems of choice. Crybabies. You guys get so desensitized so fast that you’ll never be satisfied, which is why they keep adding crap under the hoods of your favorite consoles. Remember when XBox was amazing? PS1 was amazing? They told you that you needed bigger “better” MORE MORE MORE and you bought it, you’re still buying it. And now, we’ve got so many people who are–god forbid–overwhelmingly content with a system that *gasp* isn’t actually capable of curing cancer or doing…whatever the hell starfoxacefox is doing with his.
Deal with it. Everyone else is. The sheer ludicrousness of the current console “war” turned yours truly from a hardcore-every-waking-moment video game into someone who just can’t be bothered anymore, someone who remembered he loves playing the guitar, meeting girls, reading those good “book” novels (not sure what other kinds there are, but hey what do I know: I’m a casual). I am no longer temped by Lost Marine On Alien Planet With Big Guns vs. Aliens or Need For Penis Envy Formula 3,000. The Wii is hella fun, and as they often remind me on Wii Sports when I play “isn’t it time for a break?”
It’s not the systems that are driving me nuts. It’s everyone’s reactions to them. I submit to you again: deal with it.
June 13th, 2007
tricksy_raistlin:
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the controller this morning…
June 13th, 2007
Don’t worry… i know truth hurts.. lol
June 13th, 2007
In case none of you noticed, I hate Nintendo. In fact, I hate anything that many people like.
June 13th, 2007
weird arguments all around lets just try to make each other feel bad
June 13th, 2007
@dan
What are you talking about? How can a 480p system produce the same level of graphics a 1080p system can? That debunks your “the wii’s graphics are just as good as most 360’s games” argument. Red Steel or Zelda doesn’t compare to Gears or Resistance. Heck, the wii barely has more power than the first xbox.
The only way I can possibly see your point is if one is viewing said systems on a 480i TV.
I have all three systems and the Wii’s graphics definitely DON’T match the 360 or PS3 on my 1080p LCD or any other HD TV.
And for your surround sound argument. Nope. Where’s the optical or HDMI out? ProLogic II capable,which means it’s not even standard or required, via RCA left right cables doesn’t cut it. So please do your research before posting misleading information.
June 13th, 2007
Being an old gamer from Japan, this is the 5th console war that I’ve experienced. It’s nostargic in a way that people are still flaming each other over the superiority of supported console.
From win/lose perspective, spec is quite irrevant because it was never won by a console with the best processing power.
In Japan though, the war is already over and it’s won by DS. XBOX360 is losing out big time as usual. I presume it will be quite different in North America because the market is big enough for the consoles to co-exist to some extent.
By the way, I think you only get “deep and high quality games” once in a blue moon regardless of the console… :p
June 14th, 2007
I never said the Wii looked as good as the XBOX 360 or PS3, in fact, if anything, I said it looks worse. There’s also someone roaming around pretending to be me. It’s tempting to turn off comments at this point until we have an authentication system.
June 14th, 2007
Wii is about how easy it is to use. Everything about the wii is about accessiblity, and the feeling of trying something new and different, different being the keyword.
It depends on what you mean by a casual gamer. if you mean a casual gamer is someone thats played on a console before but never got into it, then yes the PS3 and Xbox 360 may not be as complicated as they think to them after, all they have played on a console before with the gamepad.
But what they are talking about when they say casual gamers, are the ones that have never played on consoles before, that has maybe but possibly not even played a few games in the arcade which span from shooting games or tried out the dance games for fun. Also the people like my mom, thats only ever played solitaire on the pc, and maybe one of those coin drop machines in a arcade before.
The problem here is, you are attempting to set a standard for what you think a casual gamer is based on your personal experience of gaming = wants to play gta or tekken but can’t cause they think the controller has gotten to complicated for them. Yes there are probably quite a few gamers that feel like that, but the so called casual gamer that people refer to are not a majority them.
The ps3 and xbox 360 will never attract the casual gamers in the way the wii does, unless they emulate the wii’s strategy, i.e. Introduce a new control scheme, that is as easy as saying just pick up and play for almost all the games that are released and making you feel like you are trying something different if you are an existing gamer. The PS3 and xbox 360 strategy can be summed up quite easily, try to become a PC, but using a extremely limited/tedious interface in comparison to a mouse and keyboard.
As for graphics, the argument is old and irritating. Graphics has never made a game more fun. Graphics has only ever made a game more pretty.
If you wanted great graphics, just play on your pc then. The consoles have always been traditionaly graphicaly worse than computers. Shouldn’t that imply that nobody should like consoles since graphically they’ve always been lagging, then you should never have liked or found fun any console before the Xbox 360 and PS3. After all the pc graphics were always far superior to any console in the previous generations.
This issue that superior graphics = better gaming device, is not a valid argument. Its only valid if you admit then that ALL consoles before the Xbox 360 and PS3 were inferior,crap, lastgen before they were even released, because PC games had better graphics consistently before then.
You’re just angry at nintendo because they decided to stop competing directly horsepower wise and graphically wise, and showed a uncomfortable truth to ‘hardcore’ gamers, which is out of most of the potential gamers in the world, the small minority of ‘hardcore’ ones are the only ones that value graphics more over gameplay. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Graphics and clock cycles will always improve from upgrade to upgrade. Its just a question of how much.
PS3 will not fail neither will Xbox 360, because the truth is they have an existing although decidedly shrinking market which is still quite large for those specific kind of consoles. Its just that Wii’s potential market is much much bigger, if they successfully carry out their strategy.
June 14th, 2007
Actually, I have yet to see a game on a PC that can rival Gears of War, that is until some of the newer DirectX 10 titles come out. Gears of War looks awesome.
The XBOX 360 out did PCs there for a year or so while PC technology was catching up. It’s still not quite there yet (the hardware may be but the games aren’t). There is no beating a keyboard and mouse for control either.
June 19th, 2007
The Wii people really need to realize that their system sucks. The only thing the Wii has going for it is the interactivity the remote gives the user. Unfortunately, the Wii-Wiis assume the other two systems won’t create their own versions. For example, PS3 has plans to bring back an updated version of the power glove. Just imagine having the ablity to actually pick up a weapon with you hands and use it to smoke some dudes.
What else does the Wii have? NOTHING. I will give it another six months until it comes crashing down. The looming PS3 price cut will mark the end of the WII.
I hope you Wii-Wiis enjoy.
June 29th, 2007
game developers can have the best graphics in the world and still make shit games so why do you bring up graphics. you say your gamers yet you care bout graphics over game play. personally id rather play a game with the worst graphics yet the best game play over some shit game with good graphics
now am not saying all good graphic games are shit but its still the fact that not all good graphics games are good
now for Wii haters you dont like Wii why? because of graphics or mayb its because its cheap and is intended for people under the age of 14 and or ppl with FAMILIES not for ppl who are 15 16 17 18 19 20 etc like the PS3 and the xbox 360. or mayb its because you have rich parents who buy you anything you want and u dont like cheap things. who knows the fact is PS3 and xbox 360 are sitting on the shelves where as the Wii isnt. Thats how “bad” the Wii is u can barely find one thats in stock in a store.
now for playstation give me a break iv had PS for years and the only reasons im not buying a PS3 is lack of games and the fact they break down ALOT im on my 3rd ps2 for god sakes because they 1 over heat 2 disc tray breaks or 3 they wont load games..
iv never had a nintendo system break down on me why is that if nintendo is shit..
and honestly ppl buy what they like not what you like or what i like because its not your choice you dont like the system who cares quit ur bitchin and get a system you like
February 20th, 2008
I’ve been a Nintendo Fan since the NES, and to be honest, The Wii is one of the best game systems I’ve ever played yes I’m a hardcore gamer and I own a Xbox 360 got the RROD and had to send it back yet again for the 2nd time, and I’ve played PS3 and it’s not bad but it cost too much and has no games. The Wii is fantastic because I actually have to interact with my games that’s cool as hell. the reason people bash the wii because either they can’t find one or they want to say that wii just sucks. that last statement is far from the truth the Wii has great games for Everyone Hardcore and Casual I am a Nintendo fan but I respect XBox and PS brand it’s just Nintendo to me is the heart and soul of gaming, I get all the old school games on Virtual Console, can check out the news & weather, create mii’s, Online isn’t as bad as people make it out to be but Xbox live has the better online, and of course the wii games themselves.
my favorite wii games
1. Super Mario Galaxy-The best Mario Ever!!!!
2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption-great FPS/Action-adventure and the wii controls are awesome
3.The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- The Best Zelda since Zelda Ocarina of time and fantastic wii controls.
4. Resident Evil 4- Better on Wii than PS2 and Gamecube the Wii controls are excellent and the graphics are slightly better
5. No More Heroes- This game is not for Kids, but Hardcore gamers this is a must buy and the story, weapons, and controls are excellent.
6. Rayman Raving Rabbids- This minigame collection is very fun to play especially with 4 players.
7. Madden NFL 08- very good controls and get interaction
8.Super Paper Mario- Great Adventure/RPG with Mario and it reminds me of the old school mario platformers.
9. Mario Strikers Charged- Great Soccer game and fun game to play on Wii’s Wi-Fi connection.
10. Medal of Honor Heroes 2- Great FPS shooter and amazing online capabilities best online wii game so far.
other great games for the wii
Resident Evil:The Umbrella Chronicles
Excite Truck
Wii Sports (game that comes with Wii)
Wii Play
Bleach Shattered Blade(Underrated fighting game that’s actually pretty good and I am a fan of the Anime)
Zack & Wiki: Search for Barbaros Treasure
the list goes on depending on the gamer!!!!!
Games on the horizon
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Love this game it will sell a lot of copies and wii’s when they are available)
Wii Fit (Huge hit in Japan and will be in the US also thanks to the casuals and including myself
Mario Kart Wii
Okami (A underrated game for Ps2 that I hope will get a great rebirth on Wii)
Sure the Wii graphics aren’t up to XBox or PS standard but I play games for the gameplay you only can look at graphics for so long anyways. I think Nintendo has done it again with Wii just like DS another great handheld. Wii are the Future so you are the past and Forget Halo a very overhyped gaming franchise the same game 3 times!!!!!!!