technorchid

PlayStation 2 333.2K
PlayStation 3 1.36M
PSP 654.7K
Xbox 360 1.31M
Wii 3.81M
Nintendo DS 3.31M

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Nov-09 2.82M
WII FIT PLUS* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Oct-09 2.41M
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS* WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Jul-09 1.79M
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2* 360 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Nov-09 1.63M
CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2* PS3 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD Nov-09 1.12M
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Feb-07 1.01M
MARIO KART W/ WHEEL WII NINTENDO OF AMERICA Apr-08 936.1K
ASSASSIN’S CREED II 360 UBISOFT Nov-09 783.1K
LEFT 4 DEAD 2 360 ELECTRONIC ARTS Nov-09728.5K
MARIO & LUIGI: BOWSER’S INSIDE STORY NDS NINTENDO OF AMERICA Sep-09 656.7K

(*includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

The title is something I said in a thread long buried in a forum that I visit quite a lot. Yeah, I’ve been catching up on the internets this whole time. Now I am not saying that the Wii will sell what it did in ‘08. That was an amazingly special year for Nintendo and gaming right along with it. But I am getting wicked de ja vu.

I do remember wondering what would happen when Halo 3 came out didn’t move systems (it didn’t and fell off the charts), I remember wondering what would happen when GTA came and didn’t move systems (it didn’t and fell off the charts), Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 already isn’t moving systems and will fall off the charts, probably for this month of January. What the hell is going to happen to the hardcore forum dwellers when Mario brings the Wii close to ‘08 levels. What if it actually matches or, dare I even say it, exceeds the levels that the Wii has already enjoyed?

I think back to ‘08 and the games that really pushed the Wii over the edge. Mario Kart, Wii Fit, and Wii Sports. Now two years later, we have a huge new Mario game, a new Wii Fit, and a new Wii Sports lighting up the charts. These titles took 1, 2, and 3 in the charts for the biggest month of the year in spite of 2 of them being out for a few months already. Can Nintendo ride these titles like they did before in ‘08? Can they exceed the greatest selling year in the history of gaming on the power of a 20 year late Mario title? Will the internets implode if it does happen?

They keep telling me that Natal is coming and Wii is doomed. They say the Wand is going to destroy the Wiimote… wtf do any of those matter when the software that people are buying motion controlled games for is being developed by Nintendo? Does Sony have an answer for Wii Sports? I don’t mean the new one, I mean the first one. Can they even top that game? Will Microsoft beat Wii Fit? CAN Microsoft beat Wii Fit? Do they have depth of talent to actually tap into the previously untappable expanded market that has eluded them for so long? If they don’t have software to beat Nintendo’s offerings we already know who is going to be the only ones buying Natal and the Wand. It will be the same people who bought Halo 3 in droves and then disappeared. The same people who bought GTA and disappeared. The same people who make whatever flavor of the month 360 title #1 and then disappear. It is the biggest niche in the gaming world, so big it thinks it is the mainstream. The same people who don’t understand how the only gaming console on the market is outselling two PC’s masquerading as gaming systems.

What is so hard to understand about the Wii? It is a gaming console. It specializes in arcade, pick up and play type of gaming that people crave and probably have craved for a very long time. The HD systems (ever notice how people tend to compare the both of them together to the Wii) focus on games that are trying to be movies and this turns the actual mainstream, the actual audience that everyone tries to tap, off. “Hardcore” gamers love cinematics because they have hollywood envy. They want the glamour and the prestige of hollywood because honestly, who doesn’t? Actors get all sorts of girls and all the good drugs. But people who play games don’t want to watch them. They want to play them. This is why the Wii is successful. Why the best Wii games are probably the fastest to get into. People just want to play games. It’s no fun to watch people play Monopoly, there is no Jenga The Movie. We play games. It is no surprise that Wii Play is back in the charts. It’s very title is a battle cry. We Play. We don’t watch, or engage in quick time events to move the cutscenes along. Why is NSMB Wii selling so well? Because it lets everyone play, together, on one screen. We Play. The Wii isn’t trying to sell you movies. It isn’t even trying to run them. The Wii is for playing games and right now it has the best games you can buy.

It may be a bold statement to say that Nintendo has the best games, but wallets don’t lie even when reviewers do. The numbers don’t lie. The vast majority of people are playing Wii and DS. They are buying more of them than anything else. They don’t want FPS movie-games. They want games. That is the secret of the Wii. We play games, that is why we don’t buy movie-games to watch for 20 hours (if we even get that anymore).

Until anyone can make a motion controlled title that does something better than Wii Fit, Wii Play, or Wii Sports, Nintendo has nothing to worry about with Natal and the Wand. Better tech has never equalled better sales in the gaming world. Better games always win out in the end.