Network now...NEWS
MS Wary of “Gimmicky” Peripherals Like Wii Balance Board
"What Nintendo have done with the Wii is truly fantastic – there is no question about it. But I think sometimes there is a thin line between gimmick and great gameplay," Microsoft’s David Gosen told Develop.
"We’ve seen some research that says 60 percent of people who bought a Wii Fit play it once and don’t play it again,” he said, referring to the Wii Balance Board as "digital bathroom scales".
“So we have to get the balance right, because what we are doing is bringing new consumers into the market for the first time in their lives sometimes – and we have to treat them with respect.
"And at the end of the day that comes back down to creativity," he added. "We have to ensure that the peripheral strategy that anyone employs makes sense and delivers a truly game changing experience. Because if it’s just ‘okay’ it will end up in the cupboard under the stairs."
Personally I think that 40% uptake is a superb result for Nintendo (even if this is an underestimate). Regardless of the potential "health" benefits, I would be interested to see how many of the 40% had played any computer games before. I understand that it may well be gimmicky for those who well versed in gaming but this might just be what people who never played games before were waiting for. Even if only half of that 40% is people who are completely new to gaming then they have increased their client base by a potential 20%. For a business as large as Nintendo that is a very large number and it seems that Microsoft still have a lot of catching up to do in this respect.
Yeah, Microsoft "respects" their customers so much they charge $100 for a Wi-Fi dongle.
FAILURE.
While I agree that Wii Fit won't appeal to everyone that's bought it, I think 60% is probably quite high. If it really was that uninteresting, so much so that more then half of people that bought it got bored with it rather quickly, I think word of mouth would have dampened sales and we wouldn't see it like it is now, not even on the shelf in a lot of areas around the world. If was truely THAT bad, I think word of mouth would have doomed it by now.
I'm going to have to side with Deerock here. My Girlfriend and I both still play it almost everyday so you can put us in the 40% as well. And, like Deerock, i'm not going to judge this, or any other peripheral, based on the one piece of software it's bundled with. I'll wait to see how the balance board works with other software in the future as well before I pass final judgement on it. To do otherwise is jumping the gun.
"I think Lips will be a complete failure, but I do think there is at least some truth to that 60% number."
First off, I'm a big Wii fan and I can't wait to see where its innovations take the industry. Now, I'm not going to tell you its amazing and I never turn it off, but I'll state that if 40% of those that bought this piece of exercise kit are still playing it (that's really all it is AT THE MOMENT), then that's still better than most other pieces of exercise equipment that are bought and then shoved into a closet. Its the potential of the Wii Fit Board that has most of us waiting in anticipation, and not its current application, honestly.
Oh man lets go ahead and insult our intelligence... whats more irresponsible than a sub-par peripheral that cost over $200 to play HD-DVD only to be bargain priced at $50 after it became irrelevant?.
And no is not a pro blu-ray/PS3 argument just an example of bad and expensive peripheral that hurt the consumer.
As far as the Wii goes, the wife wants WiiFit and im resisting because i can see it being gimmicky (who uses the wheel, and the gun anyways?)
COOP i disagree, that is no dirty little secret, i dont think the borad is driving Wii sales, its the other way around, so if the board is crap then it stands on its own as crap.
Peripherals succeed through 3rd party support and we know where that stands with the wii.
What im really saying is that i think the board is innovative but "WiiFit" as a game may not be compelling enough... lets see if Skate It does something about that.
I think Lips will be a complete failure, but I do think there is at least some truth to that 60% number. I think people are starting to realize the Wii's dirty secret, that for some reason people feel compelled to buy stupid crap like Wii Fit, but it almost never actually gets played.
Cue 5 fanboys telling me how amazing it is and how its so great they never even turn it off...
Oh yeah, because microphones for Lips that are motion sensitive and flash lights in time with the music aren't gimmicky at all?
Well to be fair MS aren't making them... thats a 3rd party dev.