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Wiis are for kiddies according to Microsoft

When it comes to taking jabs at the console competition, Sony is usually in the spotlight. Shortly after the announcement of Microsoft’s new $479.99 USD Xbox 360 Elite, Sony responded by stating: “The PlayStation 3 is the only elite gaming system on the market. Microsoft is trying to catch up to us at this point.”

Sony execs have also traded words with Nintendo over its hugely popular $249 Wii. The Wii has been burning up the North American sales charts outpacing both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. But back in early February, Sony's Dave Karraker labeled the Wii an “impulse buy.”

Now it appears that it’s Microsoft’s turn to kick a little mud now that it has confirmed what everyone has been talking about for weeks.  Instead of going after its perceived chief rival, the PS3, John Rodman, group product manager for Microsoft’s Xbox platform and Xbox Live, took the opportunity to take a shot at the Nintendo Wii.

“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” said Rodman. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”

Microsoft still sticks by the notion that the Xbox 360 is for serious gamers and points to the fact that six out of ten Xbox 360 gamers are tapping into the Xbox Live online service.

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What happened to
By michal1980 on 3/28/2007 11:52:09 AM , Rating: 3
the Wii60 combo M$ was pushing Before.




RE: What happened to
By scavio on 3/28/2007 11:57:50 AM , Rating: 3
I don't know.. but I have a 360 and can't complete my combo because I don't have the time to dedicate and find a Wii in the stores.

Microsoft is coming dangerously close to losing their edge on Sony.... they need to continue being the "good guys" and let Sony look like the dark side. First, overpricing the new 360 and now dogging on Nintendo... not good.


RE: What happened to
By leidegre on 3/28/2007 12:19:22 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, a bit of goodwill might actually help them stay ahead without the Elite edition, which certainly is overpriced...

MS should spend thier time on making Gears of War 2, and 3, instead. Well maybe not a sequal to Gears of War, but it was a major exclusive Xbox 360 title, and it most certainly made sales on both consoles and games go up!


RE: What happened to
By othercents on 3/28/2007 12:59:13 PM , Rating: 2
Adding the Elite actually gives customers something to think about especially those people who are on the fence about getting a 360. Personally I have been waiting for HDMI cable to show up on the 360 along with games that I would play. Right now I'm tempted to get a Elite edition with a gaming wheel and some driving games.

However the draw back of the Elite is that they didn't include a HDDVD drive in the system (I don't want an external drive) and they were not able to complete the die shrink on the processor. I might hold out longer especially since I'm satisfied with my PC for gaming.

Other


RE: What happened to
By artemicion on 3/28/2007 5:09:38 PM , Rating: 4
Any marketing-savy person will tell you that adding the Elite XBox 360 to Microsoft's line-up isn't tell sell more Elites, it's to sell more Pros (the middle 360 offering). It's just in the natural consumer psyche to purchase the "middle" offering. The lowest offering is generally too "cheap", while the highest offering is generally viewed as a luxury, making the middle buy the most appealing in any three-pronged offering.
Same reason why every competetive fast food restaurant generally offers three "sizes" of meals - to sell more of the middle size.


RE: What happened to
By marvdmartian on 3/28/07, Rating: -1
RE: What happened to
By FITCamaro on 3/28/2007 1:13:37 PM , Rating: 2
They didn't say it was poor quality. They're saying the games are generally targeted towards younger people. Which is largely true. However, the fact is that many people in their 20s and older are buying a Wii.

Also, the 360 is not double the price of the Wii. It's a minimum of $50 more. With the Elite, a maximum of $230. But to play games, you only need the Core system. I'm not saying either is better than the other. Just to play games on one vs. the other, there's a $50 price difference. If you want to spend the extra money for more, which is worth it in my opinion, you can.


RE: What happened to
By Spivonious on 3/28/2007 2:33:03 PM , Rating: 1
Yeah, but to play games on the 360 you need to shell out $60 for a game. That makes minimum $110 difference.

Wii Sports is still the game I play most.


RE: What happened to
By RMSistight on 3/28/2007 2:48:49 PM , Rating: 2
Amen. I always have a blast with that game. And plus, having a Wii helps you get the ladies back to your place. Heheh....because they like playing it too.


RE: What happened to
By animedude on 3/28/2007 3:29:33 PM , Rating: 2
"And plus, having a Wii helps you get the ladies back to your place."

Very true!


RE: What happened to
By thegrimreaper3 on 4/2/07, Rating: 0
RE: What happened to
By OxBow on 3/29/2007 1:56:48 PM , Rating: 2
With the $250 Wii you get everything you need to play, including a game. With the $300 360core you get a barely useable console. The 360 core is so hamstrung it's a travesty. By the time you purchase all parts to make the 360 core usefull, or a 360 premium plus rechargeable battery, etc. you are way over twice the price of a Wii.

Microsoft is painting itself into a corner here. Claiming to be the game system for mature gamers, they are fencing themselves in to a small corner of a growing market, rather than looking at strategies to claim newly opened market share. Nintendo said from the outset that they are marketing at a far bigger segment of the population than "gamers." Sony is trying a similar, albeit less ambitious goal of converging videophiles and gamers. It seems to me that Microsoft is getting defensive of their strategy of focusing only on hardcore gamers.

Everyone has said that it looks like Nintendo took a suprising first place finish, leaving Sony and Microsoft to fight over who claims second. I wonder if Microsoft is starting to see some of their marketing decisions coming around to haunt them with the real possibility of ending up third.

The jury is still out for who will "win" the console war. Personally, I think each side will declare victory over their target market and go home, given how different the three units are. To see Microsoft baiting Nintendo, when just last year they were saying Wii+360, is a pretty funny.


RE: What happened to
By mlambert890 on 4/3/2007 5:56:53 PM , Rating: 2
What an utterly ridiculous exaggeration. What is with this Wii worship rampant on the net? Did no one notice the amazingly overpriced peripherals? Why does Nintendo get NO criticism.

The 360 core is "so hamstrung its a travesty"? Maybe to you, hell bent on slamming the 360, it appears that way. Meanwhile, I know PLENTY of people who are more than fine on the core. Not everyone needs a wireless controller and not everyone wants to store content on the 360. GoW runs just fine on a core system and so will Halo 3. In fact, there really arent any games that wont work on the core.

Meanwhile, a Wii remote/nunchuck combo (which I really consider ONE full featured Wii controller) set me back $60. Thats a lot for a second controller. I also bought that silly legacy controller for older games ($30) since the basic Wii remote really isnt usable for anything "pre Wii". I wonder how many other $50-$60 controller gimics will end up "required" for the Wii.

On the games side, Im seeing $50 Wii games vs $60 PS3 or XB360 games. Most of my Wii games I view as a mindless distraction (all except Zelda really), whereas Resistance and GoW I put a LOT of time into completing and then even more time into online play and unlocking achievements. My time on the Wii tends to come downs to "friends are over, lets mess with the Wii for a bit"

These are all nice systems and the Wii is interesting, but I dont understand why it has become the latest internet religion with over the type crusaders going to war at the slightest critique of it.


RE: What happened to
By Ticholo on 3/28/2007 12:48:28 PM , Rating: 2
I guess MS wasn't expecting the Wii to sell this well so fast.
They're probably starting to feel the pressure of their most direct competitor, at least in pricing.
I feel that where Sony lost some of its initial momentum, Nintendo just hasn't lost it yet.
And since the more customers they have, the more publishers will look at the Wii as a viable platform for investment, they might not lose momentum for quite a while.


RE: What happened to
By bkm32 on 3/28/2007 4:25:24 PM , Rating: 2
This is poor vision on MS' part. Remember, Nintendo expanded the gaming market (after a huge recession), and Sony expanded it even further. How did they do this? BY REACHING NEW CONSUMERS!! Nintendo is again expanding the market by reaching a new type (s) of consumer: elderly, parents, and females (adolescent and up) and . Keep in mind that females out-number males in this country (US) and the world), and roughly 10-30 percent of all gamers are female.

To win this new console war, MS and Sony need to beat Nintendo at reaching these new consumer types.


RE: What happened to
By Gatt on 3/28/07, Rating: 0
RE: What happened to
By regnez on 3/28/2007 7:32:00 PM , Rating: 2
"Gimmick" was a word frequently used to describe the DS before/shortly after it came out, right before its (still) continuing success across the globe. In fact, in Japan the DS is still selling out everywhere.

I am not really partial to any system or company, and I hope all five (DS and PSP included) of them are incredibly successful for competitions sake, but right now the Wii is outselling both the PS3 and the 360.

It is too early to determine a winner of the console wars, and it is also too early to determine whether or not the Wii has staying power.

Also, it is only a rumor that Nintendo is intentionally withholding supply, and the reason behind the rumor was because they had already met this years financial goals, not to boost profits.

Lastly, I disagree about the Wii being geared towards children. I own a PS1, PS2, 360, DS, PSP, and a Wii. Whenever I have non-gaming company over, the only console that ever gets powered on is the Wii, and this is among 20+ year old people.


RE: What happened to
By Den on 4/2/2007 12:32:35 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Grandma isn't lining up to buy a Wii, nor is she going to. Wii's selling to people who like video games, it's not pulling in your 40something lifelong non-gamer, and it's never going to.


My Mom (60) and grandmother (82) both own a Wii and love it. My grandmother plays it with her bridge buddies and 1 of them has already bought one and another 2 are trying to. I agree that the Wii may not be fun for hard core gamers, but guess what, you are outnumbered :)


RE: What happened to
By mlambert890 on 4/3/2007 6:00:06 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah ok. Well my grandma (95) has an XBox 360, a PS3 and a water cooled PC. There you go. Another unsubstantiated, unprovable, annectodal internet BS comment to add to the "debate".

Ill believe the "grandma and mom are buying Wiis FOR THEMSELVES TO USE!!!" hype when I see REAL unbiased stats from a non-Nintendo financed source thanks.

Maybe you arent lying about your mom and grandmother, but how can anyone know that? Sorry, but this is hardly "evidence" that Nintendo has tapped some new gold mine of business by finally reaching people who lived their entire lives not having ANY need (and actually actively disliking) video games and technology in general.


RE: What happened to