Aeropause Forums » Aeropodcast

1. 

   TheTony
   Member

   Aero-points:88

    

   In response to the response Fourhman left to my response to some stuff said about Wii Music in this particular Aeropodcast:

   Why worry about whether the game is easy enough for everyone to pick up and play - all that matters is SELLING GAMES!

   People will keep buying Wii Music, and that's what's important. A lot of other companies lose NO sleep over selling unplayable/overly difficult crap to the average mook - look at the lousy licensed movie games, or even the LEGO series, for example. They're sold to average, everday humans...but are flawed or too tough or both, and people will buy them, anyway. Wii Music has the longevity thing going for it, I think. It'll keep steadily racking up sales, all tortoise-like.

   The thing that bugs me is holding games accountable for things that they possibly shouldn't be held accountable for. Like, should ALL music games now be rated on a scale of "not as good as Rock band" to "as good as/better than Rock Band?" Maybe. I don't know. It just seems a bit unfair, on some level - some games are just different. Apples v. oranges, and all that. I do see the logic problem with my "don't judge a game by what it isn't" argument, though - on some level, reviewers might have to. If a great example of a genre already exists, then, in theory, subsequent entries into that genre will be compared to the reigning king.

   I agree on the whole "lives" and "continues" thing. Those are stupid and should go away. Just let people play the game - especially if the only thing that happens when you get a game over is, well, having to restart from the title screen. Pointless in any game, really - it's a holdover from an ancient time, when killing you was necessary to extend the game/add challenge.

   Galaxy is flawed, sure. Valid criticism, you sandbox lover. Give me 3D "Super Mario Bros. 3 in Space" any day!

   My point on the reviewing thing is that there's something that bugs me about (a lot of people who haven't really played it/already wanted to hate it going in) saying Wii Music isn't very good because it doesn't have the song selection of a Rock Band. Sure, they could've included a ton of Nintendo tunes - hey, they should still do it via some DLC WiiWare thing. They WON'T, but it's not about getting your money's worth out of gimmicky games for Nintendo. How often do you use your Donkey Konga drums? Or Balance Board? It'll continue to sell, I'm sure. And by the time anyone would even THINK about the idea of a "Wii Music 2: Beach Resort," Nintendo's got the Next Big Gimmick on the way.

   And, yes, Fourhman and I are very familiar with each other's grills.

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   
2. 

   Joe Fourhman
   Moderator

   Aero-points:34

    

   Wii Music has, worldwide to date, sold about 1.5 million. In comparison, Wii Fit has sold 12.5 million (1.5 million in week 1), and Wii Play is at 18.5 million (half a million in week 1). Wii Music sold only 200,000 in week 1. (These are all worldwide numbers; Wii Music got a substantial jump in sales in the US for Christmas shopping, but is already down to low 5-digit weekly sales in Japan.) So if you want to bring sales up, Wii Music is not performing along the Wii ___ track record. Will it have a long tail? Probably. But it's going to take quite some time to match the long tail of Wii Fit... and that one's sales have been constrained by availability above all else.

   I think Wii Music's low sales because people are getting a vibe that it's not very good. Or at least, kinda weird. And that can't be just "our" fault (meaning gamers and reviewers and enthusiast media) because nobody outside of our insular community listens to us. This is average families and casual gamers who are not dropping $50 on Wii Music... but they are desperate to spend the $80-90 on Wii Fit.

   About the Rock Band song list comparison, I wouldn't expect Wii Music to have a hardcore song list or big promises of DLC... but really, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Regardless of how cool it may actually be to cobble together a reggae version of it, it's not the kind of thing that builds street cred. After watching those remix videos on Nintendo Channel for Wii Music, you either have to be a serious Nintendo fan (or fascinated by the technology, as I am) or a preschooler to get excited about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

   I'm sure part of the problem is that Nintendo's marketing does not do enough to establish the difference between Wii Music and the Rock Band formula. Everyone, casual families included, is super familiar with how Rock Band/Guitar Hero works by now... and now that we have at least three other no-instrument music games for Wii, there is mass confusion.

   $30 and two dozen classic Nintendo songs would have removed 80% of the gripes about Wii Music, for both gamers and the gift-buying parents.

   
   

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   
3. 

   Joe
   Moderator

   Aero-points:681

    

   But Fourhman, you are comparing two games that have big hardware demand to them. WiiPlay is a out and out no brainer if you are buying a Wii system and need a second remote. WiiFit comes with the much in demand (why, I don't understand) balance board.

   WiiMusic has no hardware to help boost sales. If it would of come with a stupid collection of nerf instrument attachments, then it probably would be reaching 10 million copies by now.

   
   
   mclazyj's Xbox 360/PC Speaks | Blatant Self Promotion

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   
4. 

   Joe Fourhman
   Moderator

   Aero-points:34

    

   That's true... Wii Fit and Wii Play are special cases. I still think that Wii Music's sales are so low that it has to be more than A) lack of peripheral and B) gaming press hate. I think you have lame marketing to blame, plus a general confusion as to what actually happens in the game.

   Not that I'm against experimental or oddball games, just that they require more attention to get people to understand and take a risk on them. Wii Music's marketing seems to be relying on the public fascination with Rock Band/Guitar Hero (which has turned into a malaise), and not actually explaining how the game works.

   Although if they did that, they'd likely just turn more people away from it, because it comes off as a boring music-nerd tool.

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   
5. 

   Mike Koss
   Moderator

   Aero-points:83

    

   Personally, I think they made another Virtual Boy. But this time it sold more because they weren't selling a system, but rather a software title for a system that already had a solid market penetration.

   Think about it, compare the number of Wii's sold to date, to the number of copies of Wii Music sold to date:

   Wii : 43.75m
   Wii Music : 1.49m

   That means that 3.4% of the all the Wii's in the world have a copy of Wii Music. At 3 percent, that's almost in the noise. Compare that to Super Mario Galaxy at 7.59m or Super Smash Bros Brawl at 7.82m, and they're 5x at much at ~17%. One could say that those could be niche games or not necessarily loved by the general gaming populace that bought a Wii. Even they have sold better in their, albeit longer, lifetime. Heck even Animal Crossing: City Folk has sold 1.25m copies, and that's definitely not a game that grandma's going to buy.

   I think its safe to say that Wii Music was a Nintendo folly. It's sold as well as it did because it had Nintendo's name on the front as well as the Wii ____ moniker.

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   
6. 

   TheTony
   Member

   Aero-points:88

    

   "Another Virtual Boy?" Yeesh, you DO write for a gaming website. ;)

   That kind of pull quote goes over big...but I think it's probably Fourhman's "bad marketing" thing that's hurting most.

   That, and the economy.

   Maybe these people have already picked up Wii Fit, and parents are loathe to drop more money on something like that because they spent so much on Fit and saw how little their kids actually USED IT.

   Wii Music's lack of super-success could be Wii Fit Backlash.

   Some people LOVE Wii Fit. A lot of others picked it up, didn't really get a LOT out of it, considering all the hype...

   ...and, maybe, Wii Music offers a way to get back at Nintendo?

   It's a niche game, sure.

   Not everyone cares about music, and, as Fourhman said, there's music game malaise going, right now.

   I just hate all the hate.

   I'm sure for the right crowd, it's amazing. Like Mario Paint was for me when I was younger...I got so much mileage out of that game, making little songs and cartoons and running them off to VHS and just loving every second of it.

   Same deal.

   Hyper-niche, but perfect if you're into it.

   It's NOT going to sell a zillion copies. It's not going to be understood or liked by every gamer. But, then again, that can be said for MOST games. Wii Sports is just brilliant simplicity. It's the one they STILL show on local newscasts when doing a Wii story.

   Wii Fit, that'll be mentioned, sometimes. The general public knows about it, possibly owns it, etc.

   Wii Sports is a no-brainer, indeed. It's a remote with a $10 game, whatever.

   Wii Music was a stretch, and it's about time they took a stretch like that to add something truly unique and special to the Wii _______ family.

   Maybe it's a black sheep, but I don't think it's deserving of hatred or Virtual Boy comparisons.

   Posted 11 months ago #

   
   

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