How Will the Wii Hold Up?

Most video game companies know that what they make must be made of the highest quality so that they stay around longer. Nintendo knew this when making the Wii, and they planned it out accordingly before relase so it could be as good as possible. With it's many features and channels, the Wii, as well as the legacy it has left, will go one for quite along time. The criticism of the Wii, be it the awkward play controls, being geared towards a younger audience, and lesser graphics, while perhaps true will not wear down the quality at all. An article written in 2007 said that price of consoles was a big factor, explaining that "The other important factor is Wii's price: it is $249, compared to PlayStation 3 at $599 and Xbox 360 from $299 to $479." (Harutyunyan) This says that the Wii's price will make it more worth buying for people looking to enjoy themselves, while still saving a good amount of money. As stated previously, Most video game companies know that what they make must be made of the highest quality so that they stay around longer. Nintendo knew this when making the Wii, and they planned it out accordingly before release so it could be as good as possible. With it's many features and channels, the Wii, as well as the legacy it has left, will go one for quite along time. The criticism of the Wii, be it the awkward play controls, being geared towards a younger audience, and lesser graphics, while perhaps true will not wear down the quality at all. Another article written of the Wii said that the motion control the Wii brought to the table is influential, talking about "The effect that Wii, and to a larger extent, standing up to play games may have on future generations." (Williams) The Wii is a very important console, and with all it's abilities,  it wil last a very long time.

WORD COUNT: 320

WORKS CITED:

Harutyunyan, Ruzan. "How Long Will "Wii" Live?."Huliq.com. Huliq, 2007. Web. 30 Apr 2012. <http://www.huliq.com/22827/how-long-will-wii-live>.

Williams, Dan. "The long-term impact of Motion Control." www.infendo.com. Infendo, 2009. Web. 30 Apr 2012. <http://www.infendo.com/the-long-term-impact-of-motion-control/>.

How long the Wii will last

When Nintendo created the Wii, they made it so that anyone who played it would be able to play it for a long time and still be into it much later. The Wii was made with a lot of replay value in mind, so that gamers could get a great, long lasting experience out of it. One of the biggest series is the Wii series, where players use their Mii avatars to do a number of things, including sports and music. The amount of Miis that a player can create are endless, as are the things that players can do with them. As a result of these many opportunities to enjoy themselves, the Wii excels in that regard. As previously mentioned, in addition to the games, and opportunities gamers have with them, are the many channels that the Wii supports. The Virtual Console, which allows players to use points earned by credit cards to play games released on Nintendo consoles from days past. This does a great deal for those with a sweet tooth for nostalgia that may be enticed. The other channels offer many different things, such as news reports, and possibilities to judge and even copy the many Mii's made by other gamers. One review explains that the Wii has over 48 channels for users to play with and customize. (Wiitendo). Nintendo also puts a great deal of effort into the games to make them as entertaining and fun as they possibly can. From the four player fighting frenzy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl to the hectic four player excitement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Nintendo has done everything they can to put as much into their games as possible. From the very first day, Nintendo wanted to ensure that gamers got the most out of the Wii that they could. They said before 2010 that players should not expect a "Light" or "Sparse year for gaming, but rather to expect a heavy, long lasted gaming experience. (Buchanan). With all these features, it is almost a guarantee that the will will still be played many years down the line, thanks to all of it's replay value

Word Count: 357

Works Cited:

"Wii Review." Wiitendo.com. Wiitendo, 2006. Web. 27 Apr 2012. <www.Wiitendo.com>.

Buchanan, Levi. "Nintendo Wii 2012 Preview." ign.com. Nintendo, 2010. Web. 27 Apr 2012. <http://wii.ign.com/articles/106/1064863p1.html>.

What others say.

Naturally, like many other game consoles, the Wii has it's dissenters, particularly fans of the other consoles who don't view the Wii in such a high regard. The gaming website 1up.com Includes an article about the top ten complaints about the Wii, such as problems with the online function or battery life of the Wiimotes (Sharkey). One of the most common complaints about the Wii is that it does not have the graphics that it's competitors boast, and is therefore inferior. One article argues that graphics are not everything in the game, so those who complain about it have very little reason to do so. (Johnson). There are dissenters who look down upon the Wii for not having the same games. The consoles have different games, but said games are always tailored to a different audience, so it may not be the same for one console that it is for another. As stated previously, the Wii was created with a younger audience in mind, as Nintendo has always kept young fans in the front of their minds when making video games and consoles. The PS 3 and X-Box 360 are often home to games made for a more mature audience, particularly of the war genre. All the consoles were made for different audiences, so complaining about the difference between game consoles should be broader, and easier to agree and disagree on. As previously said, the Wii was made for a younger audience, so it should come as no surprise that it is not as extreme. The Nintendo franchises are long and plentiful, including the Mario, Kirby, and Pokemon series, and not all of them were made for everyone in mind, rather than a specific audience. This can be seen as a reason the Wii is seen as inferior, because it wasn't made for a specific group of people, and therefore is hard to find a certain audience. The Wii is seen as inferior to the other for a lot of reasons, and there are a lot of naysayers, but these are some reasons that their claims are not as valid as they may think.

Word Count: 353

Works Cited:

Johnson, Eric. "Wii Graphics Complaints." Nintendo Chronicles. Blogspot, 2007. Web. 25 Apr 2012. <http://nintendochronicles.blogspot.com/2007/02/wii-graphics-complaints.html>.

Sharkey, Scott. "Top Ten Nintendo Wii Complaints."1up.com. 1up, 2006. Web. 25 Apr 2012. <http://www.1up.com/features/top-10-wii-complaints>.

What makes the Wii different?

            When the Wii was first released, people had never seen a video game console with the same amount of features that were available to the player. The main selling point of the Wii was its motion controls, which allowed players to use the Wiimote while playing the game as a way of interactivity with the console. The learning curve for the Wii is very simple, as most players were familiar with how the many Nintendo series worked. For example, while playing Super Mario Brothers, all the player has to do is use the control pad to move left and right and press buttons to jump, fire at their enemies, or other such things. By comparison, the Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 both require far more advanced controls, including rotating the control stick in a 360 degree angle, or advanced button pressing commands that require picture perfect speed. As a result, the Wii has a better, easier to understand learning curve in comparison to its Sony and Microsoft counterparts. Another plus that the Wii has over its competitors is its replay value. The Wii is made of much more than just the games released for it, as evidenced by its other features. The Wii has special “Channels” that players can use to do several other things other consoles don’t have. The Wii allows for players to create Mii’s, which are avatars that the player can create. There is also a special channel called the Check Mii Out Channel, where people can post their Mii’s and rate the Mii’s of other people, as well as enter contests to test their Mii’s against Mii’s from around the world. Other channels include the weather channel, which allow players to see the weather around the world, and the photo channel, allowing players to play around with personal photos. These kinds of things show how much replay value over their competitors, which consist of mostly the games themselves and few extra features. Nintendo has been around for a long time, and many people are familiar with the games that are on the Wii. In addition to games like Super Mario and Legend of Zelda, many popular games not made by Nintendo, including Call of Duty and Street Fighter, which add to the already extensive list of games. Due to the many types of games on the console, there are many types of gamers who can be entertained by the Wii, be it action, shooters, or sports games. The launch game of the Wii was Wii sports, which allows players to play sports, including tennis and golf, with their personal Mii’s. Even casual gamers can find themselves entertained by the game, as one reviewer of Wii sports said, stating “Because sometimes the more casual games are more fun to play.” (Criteeker, Epinions.com). This goes a long way in saying that anybody can be entertained by the Wii due to the sheer amount of content it supports. Lots of replay value can do a console a great deal of good, and the Wii is a great showing of how this is possible.

Web Source:

Criteeker, . "As if the Wii Wasn't Addicting Enough."Epinions. Epinions, 2008. Web. 19 Apr 2012. <http://www.epinions.com/content_438079819396?sb=1>.

What IS the Wii?

What IS the Wii?

The Wii is a console by the video game console Nintendo, released in North America on November 16, 2006. The console was made with the revolutionary controller, the Wiimote, which is a device shaped similar to a television remote that is used with a motion sensor bar to control the characters. Before the Wii was released, a number of people were interested in what exactly the Wii would be able to do. A lot of thought went into the creation of the Wii, particularly the interface they wanted the console to have, in order to make it as entertaining as possible. Nintendo themselves said that "We started with the idea that we wanted to come up with a unique game interface. The consensus was that power isn't everything for a console" (Hall). With Sony releasing the Playstation 3, and Microsoft releasing the X-Box 360, Nintendo naturally had a lot of competition in the seventh generation of video game consoles. As per usual, Nintendo's many franchises, including Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon, were supported via the console, complete with brand new ways to play that gamers never previously expected to see. Of course, not everyone is focused on what Nintendo had to deliver, so there are some naysayers who say that the Wii is inferior to the other two consoles, but everyone has differing opinions and are allowed to speak out on them. The Wii also includes an online Wi-Fi service, which allows people to use the internet on some of the games for the Wii, which a couple Nintendo consoles had previously supported, but not on such a grand scale. The Wii also allows for people to use the internet on it, should they feel compelled to do so. Another feature of the Wii is the Virtual Console, which is a service that allows players to use credit cards to buy the points necessary to buy video games released on previous Nintendo systems, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo 64. There are a lot of positives and negatives to the Wii, and there is a great deal of evidence that goes into the thought that the Wii is the best of the 3 seventh generation consoles.

Website Source:

Hall, Kenji. "The big ideas behind Nintendo's Wii."Business Week. Nintendo, 2007. Web. 18 Apr 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061116_750580.htm>.

Page 1

Yo!

This is my new blog, mostly about the Nintendo Wii and the upcoming Wii U. Feel free to share your thoughts.