The Wii's First Flop?

[benson111]

Nintendo's big hitter music game falls flat. (http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/the-wii-s-first-flop-/1274292)

By Mike Krumboltz


The Nintendo Wii is still red-hot. Two years after its release, shoppers continue to have a hard time finding it in stores. One might be tempted to say the console can do no wrong, except that's not exactly true. Wii Music, the much-hyped game from renowned designer Shigeru Miyamoto, is considered by some to be, well, a bit of a flop.
The Wall Street Journal reports that several months after it hit shelves, Wii Music is "far behind" its two music-game rivals, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Sales figures for Wii Music have been dwarfed by Guitar Hero and Rock Band, as well as many older titles for the Wii. We took a look to see if the same lack of popularity can be found in Search.

Wii Music
In a word, yes. Searches on "guitar hero" are about five times as prevalent as those on "wii music." Lookups for "rock band" and its sequel are also significantly more popular.
The disparity is interesting because Wii Music is quite similar to its more popular rivals. One could even argue Miyamoto's baby had the potential to appeal to a wider base of gamers. All the games involve players simulating the act of playing the guitar, drums, etc. Wii Music is different in that it allows gamers to play more instruments and is easier to learn.
So why the poor showing? Reviews on Wii Music have been "meh" at best, and the track list isn't exactly full of rockin' tunes ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," anyone?). Additionally, Rock Band and Guitar Hero allow gamers to download more tunes online. With Wii Music, you're stuck with what comes on the disc.
Still, according to the WSJ article, Miyamoto isn't worried. He says he never expected Wii Music to be an instant hit. Now the question is: Will it ever become one?

[gosox333]

I never once even considered this as a competitor with RB and GH.

[benson111]

I never once even considered this as a competitor with RB and GH.

I agree, but you would think that it would have done better with the non-hardcore gamers.

[miche.cs]

It's well known to be terrible. If anyone read a review of it they'd probably stay clear. Plus the adverts for it in this country manage to convey how TERRIBLE it is and I think that's what's stopping sales. To be fair the Wii has done rather well for a system with only four good games. Mine is rarely turned on. It's a shame.

[Fausttt]

this is hardly their first flop. They have over 342 games released in north america. This does not include WiiWare titles. Trust me when i say 90% of those are complete garbage. Even if you look at first party titles, Nintendo released "Pokemon Battle Revolution" which blew chunks.

[The_Wurm]

By looking at the title I thought we were going to be discussing Red Steel.

[DarkEternal37]

this is hardly their first flop. They have over 342 games released in north america. This does not include WiiWare titles. Trust me when i say 90% of those are complete garbage. Even if you look at first party titles, Nintendo released "Pokemon Battle Revolution" which blew chunks.

Bingo. Having been working at Gamestop during much of the Wii's life span, I can say that I've seen MANY a game pass through. About 5 to 10 of them are any good. The Wii is such a terrible purchase imo if you're a gamer that cares about playing good stuff. If you're looking to mess around with friends or you're younger than 12, it's fantastic. Seriously, the only games I ever play anymore are Mario Party 8 and Dokapon Kingdom (it's like a Mario Party RPG). The only games I even own for mine other than that are Super Mario Galaxy (awesome game), Zelda Twilight Princess (played like 4 hours and got incredibly bored), and...well if there's others I can't even remember them.

[LZ_69]

I knew this game would be a flop in the first few minutes of being introduced at E3.

[killer_roach]

One of the bigger issues with Wii Music is there's no "game" there. There's a bunch of scattershot activities of varying degrees of difficulty with little coherence and, to be honest, some of them really almost take a music major to really get into.

...that being said, the same sort of a philosophy didn't seem to hurt Wii Fit (although I'd credit that more with people's obsessive paranoia about their own physical condition than anything).

[kiggidykev]

I'm kind of glad that this game didn't do as well as they had hoped.

My friend Dave got to play the music conducting demo at E3 when the Wii was first announced, and he raved about it endlessly as the coolest thing he ever played. But when asked, "would you pay 60 bucks for it?", he answered, "oh HELL no".

And now it's been what, over a year? The game comes out and hasn't made all that much progress since that tech demo at E3. And it's still 60 dollars. No thanks.

[Zidane]

I can only hope that this kick in the ass will be big enough that it'll shake some sense into Nintendo. The Gamecube didn't do that great, but it at least had a lot of awesome games. The Wii started off great with Smash Bros. Brawl this year, but it hasn't really been working out since then. No More Heroes didn't get the recognition it deserved because of the platform it was on. (To be honest, I had more fun with No More Heroes than I did with GTA IV.) De Blob is fun, but people aren't buying it. And the only Wii Ware game that I bought in the last 3 months was World of Goo. (Awesome game by the way.) The Wario game was also really fun, but just too short. (Hella funny though.)

5 games, 1 year. And other companies aren't helping out either, namely Ubi Soft. They lay all the crap on the DS and Wii and get the profits from those games to make actual good games on other consoles. But who needs Prince of Persia when I can play Imagine Babiez?

Hopefully Mad World will change the outlook for next year.

[DarkEternal37]

At least they got the DS right. There's a bunch of awesome games for it (of course there's going to be some crap too, but there's some on every system.) The only thing about the DS, is 90% of it's really super awesome games are just SNES or NES remakes (Chrono Trigger et al).

[Zidane]

At least they got the DS right. There's a bunch of awesome games for it (of course there's going to be some crap too, but there's some on every system.) The only thing about the DS, is 90% of it's really super awesome games are just SNES or NES remakes (Chrono Trigger et al).

Chrono Trigger is really just a screw job. It's not even a remake. Just a port with an extra dungeon.

[killer_roach]

At least they got the DS right. There's a bunch of awesome games for it (of course there's going to be some crap too, but there's some on every system.) The only thing about the DS, is 90% of it's really super awesome games are just SNES or NES remakes (Chrono Trigger et al).

Lots of stuff just gets thrown onto the DS, just like the Wii... some gems, a lot of crap. It's the double-edged sword you get when a system is that cheap to develop for. On the plus side, just about anybody can code for it. On the bad side... just about anybody can code for it :)

[Fausttt]

At least they got the DS right. There's a bunch of awesome games for it (of course there's going to be some crap too, but there's some on every system.) The only thing about the DS, is 90% of it's really super awesome games are just SNES or NES remakes (Chrono Trigger et al).

no they are doing about the exact same on the DS. with over 700 titles on DS i can only name about 20 that are really good. Do we REALLY need 20 different virtual dog games? (not to mention cats, hamsters, horses, even dolphins and tigers have a game)

the difference is that kids will play portable crap, the parent's don't have to suffer through it. On the wii, it would take up valuable screen time they could be using to play other good games, or watch a good show/movie. So parents are less likely to buy the crappy wii games.

[war_lord]

no they are doing about the exact same on the DS. with over 700 titles on DS i can only name about 20 that are really good. Do we REALLY need 20 different virtual dog games? (not to mention cats, hamsters, horses, even dolphins and tigers have a game)

the difference is that kids will play portable crap, the parent's don't have to suffer through it. On the wii, it would take up valuable screen time they could be using to play other good games, or watch a good show/movie. So parents are less likely to buy the crappy wii games.

Coming soon to the DS: Babiez (no seriously, it is).

Other than the occasional match on Smash Bros or a few tracks on Mario Kart... I have to say my Wii has collected a lot of dust since I got my PS3. Even before the PS3, I was mostly playing old (S)NES games from the Virtual Console store (I'm still waiting on the old NES game BaseWars though!)

Back to the OP... My fiancee conned me into buying WiiMusic. It's a little fun in its own gimmicky way, but since it doesn't have any real gameplay to it, it gets boring rather quickly. We bought it at a Circuit City that's closing, so it was cheap at least... but unfortunately that means we can't return it either. Oh well, there's always GameStop.

[DarkEternal37]

What I meant by "getting the DS right" is that they actually have managed to use the touch screen in inventive/unique/creative ways. The Wii motion controls are just tacked on as something people feel they need to be put into every game. It very rarely works well or as intended. The Wii is a system that had so much promise and the monetary backing to be anything Nintendo wanted it to be. Apparently what they wanted it to be was a really expensive paper weight.

The DS touch screen isn't tacked on in most games. Of course it is in some, it's not perfect. However, there are plenty of games that don't utilize it at all because they know that they don't need to. If it's not natural, then why do it at all?

I agree on the front of the 40001139581350 Nintendogs games that are totally useless. Yes, Nintendo is good at taking a bad idea and running it into the ground. Same goes for all those silly cooking games. If I'm going to cook, I'm cooking something I can really eat. Not a fake turkey. But how many old games have they ported to the Wii? None that I can think of. At least they're putting some good Mario games and some great classic RPGs on the DS.


Oh well, there's always GameStop.

You're going to get like 8 bucks for it tops. And of course, I'd take those 8 bucks.

[Meatwad555]

First flop? Closer to 100th flop.

[RobbySuave]

I have a Wii and an Xbox 360 and have about the same number of games for each. Mario Kart, Trauma Center, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, WarioWare, Rayman Raving Rabids, Zelda, and so many other games are really fun. And none of those games could be played the same way on another system as they are on Wii. Wii is a great system. But people feel that all games need to be playable online and have flawless graphics and basic thumb controls and blood and achievements and this and that to be fun.

So anyway, I don't get all the Wii-bashing at all. If it wasn't for Rock Band for Xbox 360, I'd probably play Wii more often than Xbox.

[Lord_Mhoram]

Lots of Wii flops, but how many, until Wii Music were first party Nintendo games - that is usually where the Wii shines.

I saw the E3 Demo and shook my head.

It reminded me of those belt air guitar "Guitar hero" Things. You wave in front of a speaker in the right rhythm and it plays the notes for you. All you decided is the duration of said note.

[Zidane]

Lots of Wii flops, but how many, until Wii Music were first party Nintendo games - that is usually where the Wii shines.



Exactly. Nintendo's stuff has been great up to Wii Music. It's all the shovelware that gets thrown on the system. Lazy developers don't help either. I mean did you see the crap job that HMX did with Rock Band on the Wii? Just a lazy port of the PS2 version.

[DarkEternal37]

Lazy developers don't help either. I mean did you see the crap job that HMX did with Rock Band on the Wii? Just a lazy port of the PS2 version.

If you want worthwhile games, make a system that's worth developing for. Nintendo's already outright shunned most of the hardcore gaming community. I would wager that most developers started out as hardcore gamers so devs know what they want. They'll go with their product where their vision can be fully realized and at this moment that's either best fit on a 360, PS3 or a PC.

When's the last time you got this excited about a Nintendo product?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exkUrelDy9A

[Captain Zepp 07]

Pokemon came out, like this kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_phU1coQCU

[Zidane]

If you want worthwhile games, make a system that's worth developing for. Nintendo's already outright shunned most of the hardcore gaming community. I would wager that most developers started out as hardcore gamers so devs know what they want. They'll go with their product where their vision can be fully realized and at this moment that's either best fit on a 360, PS3 or a PC.

When's the last time you got this excited about a Nintendo product?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exkUrelDy9A

You're saying Rock Band, a casual style game, does not fit on the Wii? I want you to let that soak in for a moment... Rock Band, a game that can be enjoyed by everyone, cannot be made correctly for the Wii. Just to prove how lazy HMX was, Guitar Hero III is actually more fun than Rock Band on the Wii. All HMX did was op to not make a good game on a console that is selling like hot cakes. A stupid decision.

As for the last time I was that excited for a Nintendo product, Smash Bros. Brawl. The last 360 game that made me that happy was Rock Band 2. Last PS3 game, MGS4.

[DarkEternal37]

Nowhere did I say Rock Band didn't fit on the Wii. However, you're calling the version of Rock Band that was made for the Wii "made incorrectly". Again, I come back to "worthwhile console = worthwhile games". Even the good games will be reduced in quality making them no longer worthwhile.

And in the different strokes category; I am not in anyway enthralled by Super Trash Bros.

[citric_bullets]

When's the last time you got this excited about a Nintendo product?:

I'd like to thank you for getting me to watch Nintendo 64 kid again. Cracks me up thoroughly and consistently.

Anyway, the Wii is something that genuinely makes me sad. There was so much potential. I was a huge Nintendo fan during the last console cycle. Despite the Gamecube being outsold by... everything, there were still enough worthwhile games to hold my interest. Even some awesome third party stuff.

And I was just as pumped for the Revolution as well. It touted incredible new features and online play and a new Smash Bros game early on. All of which, of course, gradually turned to crap. The Wii's unique controls feel completely unnatural in most games, and unplayable in almost all of the rest. Nintendo decided to go with friend codes on the DS and stick with them on the Wii, thus making playing with my friends too much of a hassle to deal with. Smash Bros was a false E3 promise which took a year and a half to come out. Oh, and then they named it the Wii.

I basically went from 100% psyched for the new Nintendo console, to 0% from the period of 6 months before it came out to 6 months after it came out. I'm just glad I was unable to find one when I was actually looking for one.

Ultimately, I'm not surprised that Wii Music is a stinker. It seems to follow this pattern of "games that aren't quite games". I mean, it strikes me as a game in which you pretend to play a rhythm game. It's all a little too ridiculous anymore.

[Zidane]

Nowhere did I say Rock Band didn't fit on the Wii. However, you're calling the version of Rock Band that was made for the Wii "made incorrectly". Again, I come back to "worthwhile console = worthwhile games". Even the good games will be reduced in quality making them no longer worthwhile.

And in the different strokes category; I am not in anyway enthralled by Super Trash Bros.

But it is not about whether the the console was worth it or not. Backlash for Wii started after Rock Band. HMX were merely lazy in designing the game. When Guitar Hero III is better made than Rock Band then you know there is a problem.

And I wasn't telling you what Nintendo game you should have been happy with, only with the game that I was filled with joy with.

[visualdeity]

It's well known to be terrible. If anyone read a review of it they'd probably stay clear. Plus the adverts for it in this country manage to convey how TERRIBLE it is and I think that's what's stopping sales. To be fair the Wii has done rather well for a system with only four good games. Mine is rarely turned on. It's a shame.

Terrible is no obstacle to success. Wii Fit is the most idiotic "game" ever conceived, but it sells like hotcakes for some ungodly reason.

Also, four? Prime 3, Zelda, Brawl, Kart, Super Paper Mario. That's five, six if you count Mario Galaxy, which isn't my thing. And there are some cross-platform titles thrown in for good measure (GH3, for example, is about the same on any system), as well as the Virtual Console if you want to count that. The Wii has as many solid titles as any other system, imnsho.

[Flawless]

I sold my Nintendo Wii because I like to play good games.

It had a great run of games, but it has run out of steam and I'm confident I've played almost every good game that'll ever come out for the Wii. I know for a fact I won't miss a single game from now until the end of the generation that will make me feel like I've robbed myself as a gamer.

... the worst part about gaming in general is how the only genres that seem to thrive are shooters and sports gamer, neither of which I like to play at all.

Oh well, the DS continues to give me great RPGs and Rock Band will hold me over until each new spotted game comes along on the PS3 that shines like a diamond.

[The saddest part in my book is that I don't even feel like I've missed a single game from the 360, ... way too many shooters and not even diversity in gaming.]

I hope it changes eventually, because I'd hate to be done gaming because other people only buy shooters.

[HeyRiles]

I sold my Nintendo Wii because I like to play good games.

It had a great run of games, but it has run out of steam and I'm confident I've played almost every good game that'll ever come out for the Wii. I know for a fact I won't miss a single game from now until the end of the generation that will make me feel like I've robbed myself as a gamer.

The only game I can think of right now that has any appeal to me is the oft-rumored Kirby Wii game. But other than that, nothing exciting has come out recently, save for maybe Animal Crossing, but that's really it.

I'll have to check on the Wiki page to see what else is coming out new though; I haven't checked it in a while. Also, there are a number of WiiWare games that have proven to be pretty interesting.

[mjlambert1]

Wii...great for those who have nothing better to do but play mini-game collections.

[DarkEternal37]

I'd like to thank you for getting me to watch Nintendo 64 kid again. Cracks me up thoroughly and consistently.



Any reason to bust out the N64 kid is a GREAT reason if you ask me. That kid is awesome.


Terrible is no obstacle to success. Wii Fit is the most idiotic "game" ever conceived, but it sells like hotcakes for some ungodly reason.

It baffles me too. I have no idea how it is so popular. Nintendo has this amazing knack for saturating the market with these silly, almost idiotic ideas and people lap it up like it's the greatest thing ever.

The one thing that convinces me that gamers are still smart is that the only people who ever come in and ask if we have the Wii (at Gamestop) are adults over the age of 30-35. It's clearly a gift for their children. All the self-respecting hardcore gamers in the stereotypical 16 to 25 bracket buy 360 and PS3 games. They're not fooled by Nintendo's shenanigans.

[Cpt. Overkill]

I knew this game would be a flop in the first few minutes of being introduced at E3.

My dad, who is only good at playing stuff on the Wii, even said it looked stupid.

[killer_roach]

A All the self-respecting hardcore gamers in the stereotypical 16 to 25 bracket buy 360 and PS3 games. They're not fooled by Nintendo's shenanigans.

You'd be surprised, actually... know a couple of friends who got Wiis mainly to play the new Tales of Symphonia game, and then to play some GameCube stuff they missed out on (like Eternal Darkness).

You also seem to forget quite a few options... like PCs or handhelds. Anymore most of what I buy is either for the PC, PSP, or PS3.

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

Any reason to bust out the N64 kid is a GREAT reason if you ask me. That kid is awesome.



It baffles me too. I have no idea how it is so popular. Nintendo has this amazing knack for saturating the market with these silly, almost idiotic ideas and people lap it up like it's the greatest thing ever.

The one thing that convinces me that gamers are still smart is that the only people who ever come in and ask if we have the Wii (at Gamestop) are adults over the age of 30-35. It's clearly a gift for their children. All the self-respecting hardcore gamers in the stereotypical 16 to 25 bracket buy 360 and PS3 games. They're not fooled by Nintendo's shenanigans.


The reason it's selling so big right now is because the Wii has become a fad/status symbol for soccer moms and socialites.

It'll wear off one day soon and Nintendo is going to find themselves in a freefall.

[Zidane]

The reason it's selling so big right now is because the Wii has become a fad/status symbol for soccer moms and socialites.

It'll wear off one day soon and Nintendo is going to find themselves in a freefall.

But if people keep buying it, who is to say that it will go away? Sure the gimmicky games are bothersome, but Wii Fit has sold the most games this year. It's not like that game was hard to produce either so Nintendo is still making a ton of money from it.

An easy way for Nintendo to stay true to both the casual and core crowd would be for them to have two seperate development teams. One catering to the casual crowd and one catering to their core crowd. 2008 has been a bad year for the critically, but financially they're doing great.

I'm sure 2009 will be different for them when it comes to games, but I don't see any other publishes outside of Grasshopper, Atlus, and Sega's Mad World. (Although I don't see them doing anything else great after that.) Wii will still get crap from Ubi Soft, whom makes a ton of money of Babiez, Tigerz, Poniez, Mokiez, and whatever else in the world the can replace with Dogs and Cats.

On another note, 2009 would be a great year for Sony to come in and take away everyone. People are supposedly getting tired of Nintendo and Microsoft themselves even said that next year won't be that great. (Not enough space marine games, I suppose.)

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

But if people keep buying it, who is to say that it will go away? Sure the gimmicky games are bothersome, but Wii Fit has sold the most games this year. It's not like that game was hard to produce either so Nintendo is still making a ton of money from it.

An easy way for Nintendo to stay true to both the casual and core crowd would be for them to have two seperate development teams. One catering to the casual crowd and one catering to their core crowd. 2008 has been a bad year for the critically, but financially they're doing great.

I'm sure 2009 will be different for them when it comes to games, but I don't see any other publishes outside of Grasshopper, Atlus, and Sega's Mad World. (Although I don't see them doing anything else great after that.) Wii will still get crap from Ubi Soft, whom makes a ton of money of Babiez, Tigerz, Poniez, Mokiez, and whatever else in the world the can replace with Dogs and Cats.

On another note, 2009 would be a great year for Sony to come in and take away everyone. People are supposedly getting tired of Nintendo and Microsoft themselves even said that next year won't be that great. (Not enough space marine games, I suppose.)

Yeah with the recession hitting hard now and the game industry finally feeling the crunch, the first ones that are going to stop buying games are the casual gamers(in order to save money for other things).

So the only ones left are going to be the 'hardcore' and a lot of us don't have or want a Wii(I had one, just wasn't my cup of tea).

So I'm going to guess that Nintendo is going to be hit the hardest out of all of the big three when the recession is all said and done.

[Zidane]

Yeah with the recession hitting hard now and the game industry finally feeling the crunch, the first ones that are going to stop buying games are the casual gamers(in order to save money for other things).

So the only ones left are going to be the 'hardcore' and a lot of us don't have or want a Wii(I had one, just wasn't my cup of tea).

So I'm going to guess that Nintendo is going to be hit the hardest out of all of the big three when the recession is all said and done.

Of course, it could be the opposite of that. Most games on the Wii are cheaper and go down in price much more quickly. Casuals will always have cheap games to come by. In fact, the second best game that I played of 2008 (First being Rock Band 2 on the 360.) was No More Heroes on the Wii, and that game was only 30 bucks!

As for the core crowd, I'm sure they will lie, cheat, and steal to play a game. But the game publishers and developers will be in the biggest trouble. If you make a million dollar game and it's not awesome, they are screwed. I can only see sequels doing well in the future. (So Call of Duty 5, Rock Band 3, and etc. will be ok.)

[DarkEternal37]

You also seem to forget quite a few options... like PCs or handhelds. Anymore most of what I buy is either for the PC, PSP, or PS3.

Our PC game selection is horrible. Not many people come in and buy PC games unless it's a big title release like WoW or Spore. Furthermore, the PSP seems to be a dying system. They're releasing fewer and fewer games. This year we have only 10-15 on our reserve list where as other systems have upwards of 80-100.

[kiggidykev]

Yeah with the recession hitting hard now and the game industry finally feeling the crunch, the first ones that are going to stop buying games are the casual gamers(in order to save money for other things).

So the only ones left are going to be the 'hardcore' and a lot of us don't have or want a Wii(I had one, just wasn't my cup of tea).

So I'm going to guess that Nintendo is going to be hit the hardest out of all of the big three when the recession is all said and done.

You know what, that is very well-reasoned and said.

[Firepenguin99]

It really is a shame. I knew that the Wii wasn't going to be my cup of tea when I saw it, but I saw that it had potential. Now, it's just full of shovelware. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that an idea of Miyamoto's failed, but as noble points out, this is a recession and those who treat video games as a small thing (i.e. their main market) will cut back the most.

[Runesmith]

I'm still waiting for Nintendo to come up with that Pokemon MMORPG I've been clamoring for since the fourth grade. Why does Nintendo not realize that the Pokemon universe would make an excellent setting for an MMO? Sadly, I think we'll be well onto Mario Party 32: Redux by the time the formerly great gaming company sees the light.

[Samuel346]

No offence, the Wii has plenty of flops.

[kristalk330]

Dang... Now i'm dissapointed. Supposed to be getting the Wii for Christmas... Didn't know it was this bad... Oh well...

[Quinarvy]

I got into an agrument the other day with a friend.

He was talking about how he was gonna get a PS3 and I said "Sweet, you finally can play awesome games."

And he said "The Wii has the most creative games out there!"

And I was like "No. It has 4 good games, and almost 400 crap-tacular ones. Waving your arms around like a ****** is not creative, nor is rehasing the same series over and over."

He said that the PS3 is all rehashes and lacks creativity, and I said.

"Then why do you love playing Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, or any other PS3 game I own for that matter. Only game you've disliked is Fallout 3 but thats because you think games need you doing something every second. Or, while were discussing it, why do you want a PS3 then?"

[torchinthesky=rainingfire]

the wii version of zelda would have been a lot more fun if you could swing the sword the way you moved your arm coming up with very cool attacks but no nintendo had put a limit on that

as for the ds which i own i don't like how they take a game that looks like it could be good and then cheese the graphics up colossally like for endwar. and populous they made look lame because of how they had the gameplay.
the only good games i have played for it are pokemon final fantasy which could have been better and trauma center.

i especially hate how nintendo will make graphics and gameplay lamer just to step away from an M rating.


and i i also don't like how some games or any system has a motion control thing but can't come up with an intelligent purpose for it. lair for ps3 has a motion controlled movement setup and it works perfectly