Microsoft invites Wii owners to "graduate" to Xbox 360
By James Walker
Microsoft’s Vice President of Global Xbox Marketing, Jeff Bell, firmly believes that Microsoft is setting itself to be the console of choice for those Nintendo Wii owners who are ready to graduate to a full gaming experience.
In an interview with 1UP, Bell all but admitted that the Nintendo Wii is far and away the leader in the console wars, and that Microsoft is hoping to set itself as being that viable second option for those Wii owners who are wanting more out of their gaming experience.
We think that we could live very, very well in the same household as the Wii, and we’re trying to make sure that when there is that choice for a second console that it is the Xbox 360
The Nintendo Wii took the gaming market by storm in 2006, catching critics and gamers alike off guard by it’s sheer level of success across all age groups. However, the Wii has been criticized by gamers (and will continue to be) as being lacking in both quality software and a clear online plan. Meanwhile the Xbox 360 has been highly touted by those same people for it’s large library of quality titles, and has sold near twenty million units despite the fact that the failure rate for the Xbox 360 is as high as a possible 30+%.
This is not Bell’s first jab at the Wii, either. Last December, Bell called the Wii’s success “unsustainable”, and pointed at the lack of quality third-party titles for the console. After all, outside of Nintendo it seems that Capcom has made the only decent Wii titles – but really, who wants to play through a fourth port of Resident Evil 4?
Related:
Stumble It!
Tips N4G
January 30th, 2008
At least microsoft is accepting its playing second fiddle to Wii. Although iconsider myself a hardcore gamer and although at the beginning there wernt many games i now have far too many games to choose from, i have no plans to get a 360. If i were to get another console it would be a ps3.
In many ways i see going back to an xbox to be a step in the wrong direction, i cant imagine not being able to shoot like in metroid 3. The xbox controller would feel a bit backwards.
Anyway even if those casual gamers had become more hardcore i think the Wii offers enough to keep them.
Mario Galaxy, SSBM, Batalion Wars 2, No More Heroes, Geometry Wars , Mario Kart, Tomb Raider Legends, Zack and Wiki, Starwars, Zelda, Excite Truck, Final Fantasy CC,Resi4, Resi UC, MoH Heroes2, PES, FIFA, Guitar Hero3, Paper Mario, Mortal Combat, Scarface, Godfather, Mario Strikers……….Need i go on
January 30th, 2008
Yes please, go on…. I think you’ve basically named 90% of the Wii’s game library in 4 lines.
January 31st, 2008
@bigfella:
Proof? As far as I know, Dan’s list is a small sample. We’re tired of people on blorge making up stuff without research, so hopefully you have proof or were being sarcastic.
January 31st, 2008
Wait a minute he’s saying a console with little variety is the way forward for Wii, i don’t think Wii owners are intrested in generic FPS’s
January 31st, 2008
Good marketing idea, but personally I think PS3 would be better for a Wii graduate than XB360. Practically any game on Wii could be ported to PS3 with Sixaxis comtrol. And native games like Bowling IMO use sixaxis quite well and are just as casual as any Wii game.
January 31st, 2008
Indeed… Xbox 360 is a million steps above the Wii, but these simple minded folks enjoy playing games with a wireless television remote.
Fear not, 360 owners… we have our own set of people, and those people enjoy online gaming, and not being antisocial and setting up your “Mii” so that it looks like Darth Vader or Peter Griffin.
I like my Xbox 360, thank you.
January 31st, 2008
To the jackasses that try to take away from what the Wii had during it’s FIRST F’ING YEAR ON THE MARKET, need I remind you that the 360 only had about 2 good titles during it’s first year. And that it 99.9% of the time the 360 depends on third party games while the Wii does not?
Consider that, the PS3 catching up FAST and the 360’s failure to sell in Japan (the game boy sells better), and me thinks the Wii has a better chance of stinking around… at the top spot.
January 31st, 2008
Besides, it should be obvious by now that there are people who like causal AND hardcore games. Seriously, I’ve played Halo and enjoyed it, and I’ve also played Wii games and enjoyed them. Why not have both consoles instead of switching up? Either way, Wii is still on it’s way to taking over the XBox 360, if it hasn’t done so already. The PS3? Let’s see how this year goes…
February 1st, 2008
By the Way, the Xbox sold 17 Mio worldwide, the wii 21 Mio.
And the Wii has truly topgames. The Xbox has shooter and a shooter and a shooter …
February 1st, 2008
I think I’ll graduate to the Wii and play some Smash Bros. Brawl instead of yet another FPS game.
February 3rd, 2008
Why do you guys get so damned upset? Does an offhanded remark by some guy in a suit make you enjoy your choice of platform less? Play what you like, man. Also, fanboys on all sides seem to pray for the competing companies to fail, (mostly sony fanboys, sorry but its true) this makes no sense, and no competition is a bad thing.