Nintendo boss claims Wii superior as PS3 and Xbox face dead end
By Dave Parrack
Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, and the man with the biggest double entendre for a name in the gaming industry, has claimed that the Wii is far superior to its console rivals Xbox 360 and PS3 because Microsoft and Sony both face strategic conundrums that will prove hard to get out of.
The Wii has had a great start to its life as the Nintendo flagship, and continues to outsell the PS3 and Xbox 360 in most territories. Although the gap is narrowing between the big three, this is because of a combination of Halo 3 mania, and price cutting, and not any general swing towards the Xbox 360 and PS3.
At a conference for investors on Tuesday, Fils-Aime decided to kick his rivals while they were down by stating:
“The challenge that our competitors have is significant. They’ve gone down the path with building expensive machines that they lose money on. They’ve gone down the path with games that are hard to develop,”
“They’ve put themselves in a box. I don’t know how they’re going to get out of it.”
He was answering a question from a member of the assembled audience when he delivered that crushing assessment of the state of his company’s rivals in the ongoing battle for console supremacy.
So is what Fils-Aime claimed accurate? Well there’s no doubt that for the first time in a console generation there has been a parting of the ways over which strategy is best. While it was always a case of more power, and better graphics before, Nintendo have this time decided to go their own way and try to create a new market in to the process.
And no-one can deny (though I actively challenge PS3 and Xbox 360 fanboys to try) that they have succeeded in their aims. While Sony and Microsoft have been having a playground style ‘mine is bigger and better than yours’ type fight, the underpowered Wii has been released and sold in huge numbers.
Sony and Microsoft do indeed seem to be in a bit of a cul-de-sac which they need to find their way out of sharpish. Sony seems to be trying to make the PS3 hardware cheaper to produce and sell, but in the process are giving customers less capabilities for their cash. Microsoft on the other hand are letting the games do the talking, but there’s only one Halo 3 and that has been and gone.
Related:
Stumble It!
Tips N4G
November 7th, 2007
[…] post by Dave Parrack and software by Elliott […]
November 7th, 2007
[…] post by Dave Parrack […]
November 7th, 2007
[…] prolink wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptReggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America, and the man with the biggest double entendre for a name in the gaming industry, has claimed that the Wii is far superior to its console rivals Xbox 360 and PS3 because Microsoft … […]
November 7th, 2007
[…] Original post here […]
November 7th, 2007
This guy has got to stop trying to convince people the Wii is for the “hardcore” gamer. The Wii has done very well but I doubt many people take the Wii seriously as the games console of choice it’s to casual. I do wish to get a Wii but only because it’s innovative and fun, i’ll stick with the ps3 as my main games console and all-round entertainment hub. I predict this will happen in the future people will get a Wii and PS3. The 360 will lose out because it keeps producing generic games (apart from Bioshock) and has concentrated too much on online play and ended up neglecting the single player side of their games, Halo3, GOW, PGR etc. all rely on online to much and have ended up neglecting the hardcore/casual gamer like myself who like a bit of story and charcters and all round good single player experience from games like God of War, MGS series, Heavenly Sword, Shadow of Collosus, Ratchet and Clank Future etc and having games like RFOM and Motorstorm (althougth i am annoyed that in MS to play multiplayer u hav to go online) having online as a nice bonus feature. The PS3 got it right by concentrating on single player over multiplayer and bringing out great games for online play like Warhawk. The PS3 covers everything whilst the 360 is for people who like to go online and play the same games over and over (what’s the point?), when playing the 360 I start to think that Roger Ebert was right that game s arn’t art, but then I stick on a ps3 game or play Wii round my mate’s and u see the effort and love put into these games because the developers made the games they want to make not the generic garbage the 360 spews out (just look at what they are doing to try and capture the Japan market, trying to guess what Japanese gamers want instead of using great ideas to make games)
Sorry bout ranting but I think 360 fanboys need to respect the Wii for what it does and the ps3 as the great all round games console and entertainmet hub that it is, this generation of gaming is going to be dominated by the ps3 and the Wii,and I guess the PC as well(it does have all the 360 games and more).
November 7th, 2007
Well either Reggie is a business genius or the success is going to his head. Let Just Hope those inverters are as Stupid and lemming like as they always are.
November 7th, 2007
[…] randy wrote an interesting post today on […]
November 7th, 2007
[…] boss claims Wii superior as PS3 and Xbox face dead end Chris Scott Barr wrote an interesting post today on Nintendo boss claims Wii superior as PS3 and Xbox face dead […]
November 7th, 2007
OH NO! they’re in a box now…trapped! the last thing we need now is for nintendo to throw them (inside the box) into a pool (so they drown) …filled with sharks (that eat people)!!!!!!