EA - Wii Caught Us By Surprise 185
A Next Generation story details comments by EA's CEO John Riccitiello about the surprise hit that is the Wii. The exec as much as admitted that they 'bet on the wrong horse' by focusing on the PS3 and 360 during the console transistion, and now are turning the mighty corporate ship as fast as they can to stay with Nintendo's success. "Nevertheless, Riccetello said that EA had the second-largest market share on Wii as of March with 19 percent, thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Only Nintendo had a larger share. The firm shipped six new Wii titles in fiscal 2007. EA also shipped eight titles on Nintendo DS. The emergence of online, wireless and geographical differences in the console realm also made things complicated in fiscal '07."
Bad joke (Score:4, Funny)
Thankyou, thankyou, I'll be here all week.
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Oblig. Reply (Score:2, Funny)
Good Thing? (Score:5, Insightful)
(...oh, and...first?)
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Well, not so much "makes them" as "ruins the oldest RTS franchise in gaming by releasing crap products and dropping any level of support--including patches--while the game is stolen broken and wrought with bugs and exploits."
The Sports Game Issue (Score:2)
See, I am a BIG time sports fan. Watch them, play them, officiate some of them... I KNOW my sports. And for awhile - especially in the PS2 era - every EA Sports game was an improvement over the prior year's to the point where it made the game worth it. The changes seem subtile to the naked eye, but even simple AI changes affect the way the game is played, making each subseq
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I dunno how RIGHT he is, but that's what he meant.
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I can't rem
Surely it did (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Surely it did (Score:4, Insightful)
Wii -- completely new control system, so something of a new way to game
Yeah, sounds like EA is a bit of a mismatch, eh?
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Re:Surely it did (Score:4, Funny)
Yes! [wikipedia.org] =)
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Wasn't quite as fond of Mutant League Hockey, though.
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But what about everything else EA does?
Looking on their website, they list 14 "new releases" going back to 2/21/07. Every one of them is a sequel, except "Boom Boom Rocket".
Even outside the sports genre, EA is not well known for having many brand new games. They publish a lot of "xyz 2" and "abc the follow on adventures".
Hence, it's not surprising that the Wii caught them off guard. They don't have any finger on anything new in the gaming market.
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On the other hand, EA has most of the biggest sports franchises and if you can figure out a good way to map the controls for Baseball and Football (american) to the Wii controller than your just not thinking hard enough.
Sports games are a great fit for the Wii and if EA had thrown their weight behind the Wii from the beginning I think you would have seen an even bigger sensation there... of course since Nintendo cant produce them fast enough as it is, perhaps it just doesn't matter.
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Re:Surely it did (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, the thing about new and disruptive technologies, is nobody really sees them coming.
For years, they've been on the march of "better graphics, more of the same kind of game play" that they haven't been able to look outside of that scope and foresee the effects of the Wii.
All of a sudden someone comes along, says "graphics aren't the whole point, and, hey, look at this new controller". The rules change. A lot of people who weren't into games (or losing interest, or whatever) stand up and decide that is exactly what they've been looking for, and where do I get one. It's only once it's become wildly popular and something you can't ignore, that you have to re-evaluate what you thought.
In fairness, I don't think anyone saw the Wii coming or could have planned on the fact that simpler game play, with less intense graphics, that actually involved moving around would have captivated so many people. You're probably right to an extent, but from their position, EA would have looked at the Wii and said "Well, I don't see that being a big deal". Now they're finding out they were horribly wrong.
Me, I still can't get over how much fun the Wii Sports which came with my Wii is -- I mean, bowling of all things? Who knew? These are exactly the kind of games I've wanted -- only I didn't know it, I just knew I couldn't play/stand most games anymore.
Cheers
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That's because I started to realize that Nintendo knows what people want better than the people themselves.
Everyone bitched about the Wind Waker. Wind Waker comes out to stellar reviews and praise.
Everyone called the DS a gimmick. Now it is dominating the field.
When I saw the Wii, I wasn't going to doubt Nintendo's direction.
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You saw it coming before launch? Or you saw it for what it was once it was there to be seen? The latter isn't so tough, because half of the media was covering it like crazy and saying the exact same thing.
... now that sounds fun". I certainly agree that Nintendo is doing an amazing job
When it launched, I (and a whole bunch of other people) went "hmmm
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I thought that the motion sensitive controller was a true innovation in the video game market and that Nintendo had the skills to do it justice. Based on their past successes with other such things.
I've basically learned that when everyone is mocking Nintendo for something to keep an eye on it because it will be huge.
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Wow. I'm impressed -- definitely way more tuned into the game market than most people.
If you could see this coming, I hope to hell you bought some shares. I'm sure you'd have turned a tidy profit
Cheers
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(129855) Why Apple Won, and Why Nintendo Will [slashdot.org]
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Nearly everybody on Slashdot thinks Nintendo is the greatest gaming company ever and can do no wrong. Haven't you ever seen the moderation around here? Haven't you noticed the off-topic Nintendo posts that show up in nearly every gaming topic modded to +5?
While it's great that you predicted the success, going by the predictions of the most hard-core fans of the technology isn't really the best way to do business. By that logic, every software company should invest in Amiga
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I'm not so good at predicting events before they happen tho
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Would you like a cookie? Everyone seems to think that picking the right console means they win. Seriously, what's with people's efforts to vindicate their choices after the fact? Shouldn't what matters now be whether you're satisfied with the kinds of experiences you get via the console?
I think the thing to learn here is that you shouldn't care about wha
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and the controller? well that's the latest in technology. MSFT and Sony completely missed the boat on INTERACTIVE games. Though i am still waiting for VR to come back. While the game play was slow on some of those it was cool. With the better hardware today it should be a lot more realistic.
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Not for everyone, sure. It's no skin off my nose if some people place more emphasis on graphics and built-in media players and whatever else it is they see in the PS3 (or 360, for that matter).
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The Wii will continue to have dominant market share, as it's particularly attractive to both older and younger game players.
Meanwhile, people who only play first person shooters will continue to believe that the Wii is merely "gimmicky", and that their console is better because it has more pixels.
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which is a shame because you could make a REALLY cool FPS with the wii and that new gun accessory.
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Re:Red Steel (Score:2)
Red Steel is mediocre. The graphics are so 5 years ago, the story is silly, the control can be somewhat flaky at times. The enemies' AI is terrible and they shout the most odd things sometimes. But there is some fun to be had. It's a good "first attempt" game and reminds me of Codename: Eagle [wikipedia.org].
The limited multiplayer has the potential for quite a bit of fun too. Honestly, a friend and I p
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The fact is, the VB had no overall "design ph
Virtual Boy was too ambitious. (Score:2)
At least Nintendo got a first crack at programming for a "real computer" and in 3D... took a do-over.
Once we can get head-tracking and goggles with OLED overlays working sufficiently well for augmented reality -- much less disorienting and doesn't req
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EA developed their understanding of the video game market and planned accordingly. They saw the rise of graphic dominance and hardcore gaming dominance. They may have tried to figure out how to pull in people who don't play video games but completely abandoned that approach. Given they frustration at pulling in non-gamers, I'm not surprised that they were caught off guard.
However, I think it was a failure on their part not to realize what was nee
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You're probably right when it comes to the game developers; however, as others have pointed out, there are a fair number of us did predict it would. You can check the dates on these, but here are a number of my own posts related to the subject:
1 [slashdot.org]
2 [slashdot.org]
3 [slashdot.org]
4 [slashdot.org]
5 [slashdot.org]
6 [slashdot.org]
7 [slashdot.org]
8 [slashdot.org]
I'm sure they go back well
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#129855 [slashdot.org]
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You mean nobody caught the clue train when it stopped by almost 2 years ago? [ign.com] Ever since they revealed the controller and the highly popular videos of people using it (not even any game footage!), I don't think anyone has had a doubt...
Re:Surely it did (Score:5, Informative)
22057 picked Sony to win by the end of this year
13559 picked Microsoft
9183 picked Nintendo
There were obviously a few of us who thought Nintendo was going to win. A fairly significant amount given the inertia Sony already had in the market at that point and the general attitude toward MS here. That's better than 20% of people picking Nintendo, not exactly an insignificant amount.
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Re:Surely it did (Score:5, Insightful)
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Uh, huh?
Isn't the problem more along the lines of EA was focusing on their core userbase, and then Nintendo introduced a lot of new gamers who weren't part of their core userbase before? I think you have this exactly backwards... the Wii isn't successful because hard-core gamers are buying it (although they are), it's successful because it's selling to people who don't typically buy game c
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Understandable (Score:5, Insightful)
EA had the luxury of changing teams while Sony had to figure out how to stick with theirs, and so far the haven't been able to do so.
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Considering the hype surrounding the PS3 and 360, it wasn't really stupid to back them or anything at the start. But the price annoucement changed everything, and they should have noticed that immediately. /quote>
Yup. The PS3 was met with genuine anticipation up until the price point was announced. The arrogance with which that was handled made people step back and say "wait a sec, is this a pending trainwreck?" That E3 show cemented that feeling. "Riiiiiiiidge Racer!"
The Wii was met with skepticism, mostly due to the silly name. But I think there's a key difference in the way the console launches were handled. Sony told you that you were wrong and needed to change your perspective, $600 is NOT too much to pay for a console. Nintendo, on the other hand, didn't set out to tell hardcore gamers they were wrong about needing the latest graphics and that they'd love the wiimote, they were more about approaching a target market that their research showed would be receptive to the product. They didn't say "Yo, non-gamers, you are now our bitches."
It just goes to show, give people what they want, they'll respond positively. Opening up a new market is the tough part since you first have to persuade people to give it a try. Shitty products have to take the marketing beyond "give it a try," to "You are going to like it because I need to make bonus, you cocksucker."
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On Simpson's Movie Opening Day... (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, even Nintendo didn't plan for the Wii's level of sell-through
Madden? (Score:5, Interesting)
How odd. I would have thought that Madden was the EA leading title. While the graphics aren't as nice as the 360 and PS3 versions, players often report how cool it is to play the game with actual football movements rather than overly complex controller commands. I know a lot of non-sports gamers actually picked up the game just for the innovative controls. (I have to admit that I was also tempted. But I'm too much of a miserly scrooge to spend the money.
Then again, one of the things I really wanted when I got a Wii was a true Mario Golf type of game. Perhaps the serious golfers all played the Wii Sports version and fell in love with the idea? A relative of mine told his wife on no uncertain terms that they were getting a Wii, after he played a few holes on the Wii Sports Golf course. So I suppose it's possible that the Golfers like the idea even more than the football fans. (That's a shocking thought.)
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Re:Madden over Tiger Woods? (Score:2)
Agreed, and there are a number of things that help that. One of which being they dynamic of older players playing the Wii. Golf (like Bowling) only requires the Wiimote, is turn based (reflex speed isn't an issue) and from a basic rule stand point it's easier to explain the fundamentals of [how to play] golf over football so the sport is immediately more approachable.
I own both Madden and TW 07, and I LOVE how
Re:Mario golf type game (Score:2)
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It may take a significant amount of time to get really goo
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There's no doubt that Nintendo has a hold on the casual gaming market. But go check ANY weboard with gamers serious enough to spend significant parts of their lives discussing games, and you'll find that the Wii is the chosen system.
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Yup. The games in Wii sports are uncanny; at least to me.
Bowling, I can do in real life (sorta). The Wii version feels exactly like that. It's fun. I spend a fair amount of time playing this.
Golf, playing it feels like if I focus on my swing the same way I do in real life, I shoot better. It feels like practice.
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ouch! (Score:2)
"The exec" is fucking retarded. (Score:2)
No, he bet on the wrong horse by trying to use a business model for razors to run a games company. Gamers have voted with their money now that they have a choice - they choose not to have identical shitty games shoved at them every 12.0 months.
Hopefully EA will be gone for good when the next gen comes around.
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caught mii by surprise, too. (Score:2)
Everyone was blindsided (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead they're all running around in a panic and screaming: "Titles for the Wii are coming, don't worry!". The problem is that this is a re-deployment of resources brought upon by the unexpected market share of a system, instead of that system's uniques features. Or in other words, it was a bean counter along the corporate hierarchy who said "Holy cow, this is thing is selling like hot cakes, we need games out NOW" instead of some developer taking a look at the cool new control system and saying "You know, I could really do something amazing with this" and proceeding to annoy bean counters to realize his idea.
The end result is that this first flood of titles is crap, taking very little advantage of the Wii's control system. Things will get worse before they get better, as was the case with the DS's early life cycle.
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NHL Hockey on the Wii? :( (Score:2, Insightful)
Can someone tell where my NHL 2008 on the Wii is? The controlling scheme would be so simple - Use the analog stick on the nunchuck to move, like every other NHL game. Configure the game so it knows whether you are left or right handed. Hold the wiimote and nunchuck in parallel, as if you were holding a hockey stick. Move the hockey stick around to stick handle. To help the Wii system understand what you're trying to do with the puck, hold down B to shoot and Z to pass. A quick flick of the wrists for
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No Goalies - At The Start Screen: Hold A and B on Both Controllers and then Start on the first controller
Non-Stop Puck and No goalies! - On he title screen hold down the A and B buttons on controllers 1 and 2, then press start on controller 1, now you'll have a puck that never stops moving, and no goalies at the nets.
Source: Gamespot [gamespot.com]
Caught the fanboys, too (Score:2)
I can't blame EA for this. Less bizzare concepts than this have tanked in the past.
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Still fails to get it (Score:2, Insightful)
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The lines at E3 '06 should have been a clue to even analysts that their previous thoughts on the PS3 might be shaky. The problem is, everyone in the industry was gauging the success of the new consoles on past history and no one gave even passing acknowledgement to the ex
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This guy [gametunnel.com] pegged it. (See the section titled "Generation 6") Amazingly enough, he did it by following the trends of the past. The exact thing that the press didn't do. The press foolishly followed the "Playstation will a
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The trends clearly showed that the PS3 and XBox 360 were too technologically advanced to be the winners of this generation. That left Nintendo and a possible newcomer. Since no newcomer arrived, Nintendo got to take the crown.
It's an interesting thought experiment to think what might have happened if, say, Sega introduced a new console with a competitive price but more traditional controls. Would the Wii still be selling li
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Most people buy systems to play games. It's hard to predict how your imaginary console would fare, without the imaginary games to go with it. My prediction is that such a system would generate little interest from the 3rd party developers, and t
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In all reality, Sega killed the Dreamcast, not Sony. Sega was in dire financial straights around the time that the Dreamcast was released. Despite being a very popular system and a strong competitor in the market, it failed because Sega turned the lights off. Sega was forced to restructure, so the low-margins of a conso
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"Why Apple Won and Why Nintendo Will" [slashdot.org]
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Yeah, they really got caught with their pants down on this one.