Better Graphics No Longer Matter

“We're starting to see in the performance of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that that's not necessarily motivating the market the way it used to.” - Nintendo of America Senior Vice President of Marketing George Harrison.

I kind of agree with that statement, the more complex a game (or sequel) gets, the longer and more costly it is to develop. For example, it could take about 4 years per sequel on a high-powered console simply because each sequel has to better.

When making simple kinds of games, or games based on existing development tools and hardware - the turnaround for games is much, much quicker. This is how the Wii has had so many cheap-knock-off games on its launch, because all the dev's needed to do was knock out the new controls.

The Wii will have far more games than the PS3 and the 360 because developers are able to churn out an entire series of games in about 4 years, whereas ONE game will be on the 360 and ps3 and wont be remade until maybe the very end of the consoles life. Imagine how long MGS4 took to develop, and how long its going to be until the next one comes along, probably even longer than how long MGS3 took to make. And Halo 4? This game probably wont even be on a 360. On the other hand, the Wii could have several Zelda games, several Metroid Prime games - as the console is easier and "cheaper" to develop for.
When a console has more games, you will see a more "exciting" titles in the system's library where there is bound to be something there that you like to play. Take, for example, the PSP library to the DS library. The DS library of games is far more diverse and exciting in comparison. The PSP does have its fair share of good titles, but because the console is more complex to develop for (and has less users), said games will take longer to come out.

At the end of the last generation the PS2 won because of its varied choice of games, not because of its graphical prowess - it was the LEAST powerful. It will be interesting to see how thie generation goes, the Wii will last until 2012 no problem. It caters for all kinds of gamers, but it is unique enough to create its own market. Like the iPod is different to a Walkman, iPod created its entire own market. And I think the Wii will do nearly the same.

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Posted by Wiiviews

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