RF Generation Message Board

A general question for Wii owners...

I've been reading here and there that usually within 6 months after the purchase of the console, many Wii owners are not playing it anymore due to waning interest. Many have reverted back to playing other consoles.

As a non-Wii owner, how true is this? Do you Wii owners still play the console more than others, 6 months after your original purchase, or have you had your fill of it and have chosen to go back to playing other consoles?

Wii: Zelda TP - Long wait - SMG - Long wait

I'm not interested in SSBB.  Most of the games on Wii are crappy, shallow games not worth the price of admission.  There are a few good games like Zack and Wiki and I guess Excitetruck but not enough to really keep me interested right now.

When I first purchased the system I played it quite a bit.  Now my wife and son mainly play it.  A few good compilation sets are due this fall for the Wii.  That might make me play it more.  Mainly I'm talking about Neo World Order, and King Of Fighters Orochi Saga.  I due enjoy playing my 360 whenever I get a chance too.  I like the idea of not having to swing my arm all over the place when I want to sit down and play a game.

Fark covered this topic yesterday:

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3559211

Seems a lot of people have given up on it.  I know I haven't played it in about two months.  And haven't really played it for a lot longer.  It really is a party console, and it seems like I'm doing things other than playing video games with friends.  I thought this might change with SSBB, but no one has expressed interest in playing it yet. 

I constantly play it.  Every day.

mark me in the play it often category, its been about a year and 4 months and i have played this shit out of mine. it really depends on the type of gamer you are and if you are willing to step outside of the first party titles a bit.

I thought i'd add that i've beaten 12 of the 30 games i own for it now and played through metroid prime 3 corruption twice. I'd say i've gotten a good fill of play out of it so far.

I play it when I feel like playing it.  These days it's GH III and that's it.  I've hardly touched any of my other systems in spite of having picked up some killer saturn and ps1 games.

I don't care if in 6 months i get bored of it... I WANT ONE NOW!!! :laugh: :laugh:

Soon enough, soon enough.

I constantly play every day. i switch between GH3, SSBB, and SMG, but im still playing it every day. And when friends are over, Mario Party and Wii Sports are go.

I don't know if it's I am losing interest in gaming, or it's the Wii, but I just don't play it as much as I thought I would.

Brawl owns my life whenever I'm not schooling or working, and once I get everything in that game I have to go back to Galaxy and finish that. So yeah, in other words I haven;t lost interest in my Wii.

The Wii is gaii, always has been always will be.

Nintendo is fail, they make their money but have nothing to give to the advancement of the next gen, which I know many don't care about...BUT I WANT TOTAL IMMERSION NAO

I can't wait for our new temporary toy to go live on Monday.

I've hardly played my Wii since about a month after I bought it.  for some games the motion controls work really well.  But most not so much, and after spending fifty dollars on a game I don't fell spending an additional twenty dollars to buy an attachment so I can play without the motion controls. 

I bought Okami today, we'll see how that goes.

The brief instants where I do play the Wii I am absolutely enthralled, and then that's it.

It didn't even last that long for me. After about a month I was bored with it. I bought SMG in Nov and started playing it a couple weeks ago. I bought SSBM and I put in some time with that but it's not really my cup of tea. Let's hope that Mario Kart Wii will finally get me interested in the system, or I might be selling it off

Again, I need to stress this (don't just but the first party titles). No More Heroes and Zack & Wiki are 2 must haves and they get over looked quite often but they are probably the best original offerings for the console yet.

Picked up Mario Kart for the Wii today.  Hopefully that will renew my interest in the system.  I've always liked racing games, and played the hell out of Mario Kart 64, so it has a very good shot at doing it.

I also picked up Mario Kart. My five year old son loves it, but I wasn't impressed. I don't like the steering wheel at all, so it's a good thing I can use the classic controller.

Smash Bros. Brawl stole me away from Halo 3 for nearly two weeks, but once again I've slid back into the ritual of that prey'n'spray FPS game.

I have had my Wii since release day and after that initial novelty phase i hardly ever play it
i think it comes down to being lazy, I like the Wii and i have some good games but you have to move!!
what i mean is when you want to just sit there you have to wiggle the pad, its not just a matter of sitting there and getting into it..(at least i think thats what i mean), like if call of duty 4 involved tons of wiggling the pad to play i don't think i would have played it as much

I've also had mine since launch and its been hooked up to our living room tv the entire time (thats not where we generally game, but its a good thing). I got bored pretty quick with some titles such as Rayman, Excite Truck, Mario Galaxy and Brawl but i've still put a lot of hours into other titles like Metroid Prime 3, Fire Emblem (best game on the system in my opinion), Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Wii Sports (still gets played every once and a while), Guitar Hero III and tons of Gamecube favorites.

I have yet to play Zack & Wiki or No More Heroes (both are high on my priority list) because of my gaming budget but will likely get to them later this year. So to answer your question, the 6 month novelty still hasnt worn off after a year and 6 months.

Okami has my undivided attention right now.

I also got it on  release, unfortunately it didnt last long, i got the ps3 soon after, and that  took over, the only reason i dont sell the wii,  is because  i collect consoles lol. so i keep it, as a part of history. :-\

Of the three current gen consoles, I do play the Wii the least. I just have the fewest games for it right now. Swinging and shaking a controller just isn't my style, I prefer a normal controller in my hands.

That said, I have enjoyed all the Wii games I own that I have played so far.

I should have mentioned also that I purchased 2 PS3s at launch aswell. I sold the first one to pay for the second one (I know, I know, but I'm really cheap) and bought Resistance and Tony Hawk's Project 8 and an HDMI cable with some of the extra cash.

After finishing both of those games I sold my other PS3 pretty shortly after. I cant stand online gaming so Resistance had no replay value for me after I beat it on Super-human mode. I've checked new releases for the system every couple months and have yet to regret my decision of selling it. My friends all give me a hard time but I just enjoy a lot more games released for the Wii.

I recieved a Wii back in August, and really it doesn't get as much play time as I thought that it would.  My PS2 still gets the majority of my gaming time.  I have some decent games for it (LOZ: Twilight Princess, Zak & Wiki, Red Steel, and a handful of others), but I just can't seem to devote any long term time into the games.  There are a handful of A-list titles that I want to pick up, but never seem to get around to actually buying them.  As a matter of fact, since my game room is in the upstairs bedroom, and there isn't a computer nearby, I use the Wii more for looking up FAQS when I'm stuck on a PS2 game than actually playing any games on it. 

Bought my Wii at launch and played it non-stop up untill christmas 07' (thats when I got MY PS3) iv'e maybe toutched the Wii two times between christmas 07' and today. There are just not that many games that I "must have" for the Wii and The PS3 consumes what little Game Time I have during my week.  So I guess for me I Got about 1 full year before I got tired of it

I've had the Wii since day 1 and I'd say I still play it often enough. It's in my regular rotation of systems I play. It's tough to spend that much time on any one system when you've got about 20 to chose from. I still always have a good time with it though.

it has mine too.

I've been playing opoona. i'm nearing the end but i do want to do some more of the side stuff.

Now that I've  had my Wii longer than 6 months, I can finally answer this topic. And the simple answer is, that I only turn on my Wii to check the latest VC and WiiWare releases so I can add them to the database. I probably haven't played a game on it for 4 months.
But it's really not because I don't want to, it's just a lack of time and I don't want to spend $20+ for a  game. Once more of the games start selling for $5-10, I'll probably start playing it again.

You people really need to just throw them away.

But what if another good game comes out for it? In say, 2 years or so. What then?

Ah haaaaaaaaa, ha, hahaha

I see your point.

I still play the wii, granted i still dont have a ps3 or 360 but i doubt i'd play them as much still.

by the way sam & max is pretty good

I still play mine often. Mostly "party" games with my brothers and friends when we're kicking back some drinks. There's something hilarious about drunk people swinging Wiimotes around like fucktards.

...and I can't wait for ToS2. The no real world map thing sucks. The bonuses for loading a Symphonia save are sweeet! Haven't pre-ordered though. There's a 90% chance they'll be announcing an anniversary edition a week or two before launch.

I found this article interesting.

From gamasutra:

October 28, 2008

Opinion: Two Years In - How The Wii Has Failed

Opinion: Two Years In - How The Wii Has Failed [Following his ebullient first installment praising Nintendo's Wii, designer Brice Morrison looks at the flip side - discussing just how the console "has failed to deliver on the magic it promised."]

Released in November, 2006, the Nintendo Wii is revolutionary to say the least. With its innovative user interface, it has completely taken the world by storm by reinventing what video games are and who they are made for.

With nearly 30 million sold worldwide and over 160 million lifetime sales predicted (more than twice that of the Xbox 360 or PS3), Nintendo has clearly hit the ball out of the park.

Critics are raving, the crowds are cheering, it seems as though the once sagging console industry has been rejuvenated and ready to run at a blistering pace for years to come.

To this day, two years after launch, you still have a hard time finding a Wii in stores. But what consumers are lining up to buy isn’t the Wii, what they are buying is the idea and the dream of the Wii.

Consumers, many of whom have never played games before, have been picking up a Wii, enjoying it for a few weeks, and then watching it collect dust by their TV. They can’t explain why, but for some reason they just don’t play it anymore.

This is because the Wii has failed to deliver on the magic it promised.

A License to Dream

When I first heard about the Wii, I was completely ecstatic. Though the idea of movement-based controls are now obvious, at the time it was completely and utterly original. Such an idea had never even crossed the average gamer’s mind.

All we saw for the future was a jump from button-mashing to VR Headsets, with nothing in between. This first step off of the classic game controller was nothing short of mind blowing.

Everyone who watched in awe at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006 also watched their minds begin spinning with ideas. This is a godsend, we thought. We can do everything!

We can make fitness games that work your body, shooting games with actual movement, puzzle games with tactile interface, and much more. Truly, the Wii seemed like a license to dream anything.

But the ceiling was bound to appear.

Waggle: The Empty Promise

The principle failure of the Wii and its Wii remote is in its promise of immersion through movement. When many people imagine what playing the Wii would be like after seeing the commercials and experiences of other players, they imagine an incredibly immersive experience.

The movement based controls of the Wii hearken to a completely visceral play session, becoming one with the virtual world in front of them. We all drooled at the opportunity to dive behind couches in our living room to escape gunfire, being able to replicate a real tennis match without leaving the house, or having a sword fight that was even more real and tactile than the ones we had as children with wooden sticks.

It has been a disappointment, therefore, to see our promised virtual experience reduced to shaking the controller.

The problem is that waggling the Wii remote does not, in itself, add to a gameplay experience. If I want to open a virtual door and am asked to turn the Wii remote instead of pressing a button, that doesn’t make the experience more immersive.

While it may be novel once or twice, the simple movement itself does not enrich the game. In fact, it can become tedious and frustrating. Developers are just as guilty as players in this regard.

Creating one game after another that is essentially a recycled last-generation title, but with new Wii remote action, does not make it any different than the title was before.

The sad truth is that substituting Wii remote movement for a button press is nothing more than an empty promise. Upgrading to a new technology only to have the freshly minted fun evaporate after one run through is not technology well spent.

Looking Behind the Curtain

I remember teaching my cousin how to play Wii Tennis, and when he went to serve the ball, he lifted his left hand, the one not holding the Wii remote, to toss. At that moment, he didn’t understand how the Wii worked.

All he knew was that it was some sort of magical machine that mimicked your real life movements. It was a joyous occasion and a incredible exploratory experience.

But the innocence did not last long. Upon further experimentation, he learned how the controller worked, discovering that a quick snap of the wrist gave the same forehand as a loopy swing of his whole upper body. As the initial amazement wore off, Wii Tennis became simply another video game.

When the public imagined what was possible with the Wii, we imagined complete, full-on physical experiences akin to backyard football. Perhaps, we thought, you may even get a little bruised up in a game on the Wii, playing with competitive friends.

Many of the early press responses to the Wii held this view, with parents saying that they enjoy it because it gets them and their kids off the couch. But to say that you think the Wii gets you off the couch is to reveal a naive understanding of its fundamental gameplay.

Sure, it may get kids off the couch, but when they’ll be doing off the couch is flicking their wrists, not playing basketball.

The limitations of the Wii remote’s accelerometer (even with Wii Motion Plus) reveal it to be far short of the dream machine that players were pining over. The necessary later release of Wii Fit shows that Nintendo developers have come to terms with the limitations of the Wii remote by itself.

Wii Fit may be fantastic for those who want exercise, but it’s too specialized of a peripheral to do much for those who want to explore the virtual worlds present in other games, but in a more immersive way. We wanted the Wii remote to satisfy our needs outside of exercise, too.

What We Bought Vs. What We Have

The Nintendo Wii is an elegant symphony of hardware, software, marketing, and imagination. At first glance, it appears that it can do everything you could think of, an experience full of promise.

Everyone loves the idea of the Wii. The idea of a totally immersive experience. The idea of games that are more like kickball and less like Tetris. The idea of entering a brand new world. But after some time, we learn that we have purchased nothing more than a shakable A-button.

Without doubt, future console releases and peripherals will attempt to satisfy us further. The Wii has made a great leap forward, but those who think we have already arrived are mistaken.

[Brice Morrison is a game designer who has been developing quirky titles since he was in middle school. Before taking a job at Electronic Arts, he developed several successful independent games such as Jelly Wars, an action adventure franchise, and QuickQuests, a casual MMORPG.

While at the University of Virginia, Brice founded Student Game Developers, an organization which continues to produce games every semester and open the doors to the games industry for students. His blog at BriceMorrison.com discusses games in a broader context and how they can be more than simply entertainment.]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20677

My wii died after 4 months. Sad part is it never really got used in those 4 months.

People not living in my house have used my Wii more than I have used it over the course of the last year.

It's sad.

That article speaks the truth, in my opinion. I wish you'd actually be forced to do the whole movement instead of flicking your wrist an inch or so.

i still play mine quite often.

Great article!

The Wii may sell the most consoles this generation, but sadly it's looking to be the console most likely for history to declare as simply another fad.

Hopefully it's innovations will be of use to the gaming industry as a whole, though. But it'd surely suck if all 3 consoles this generation controlled in the same way.  :o I just had a scary thought...what if the next gen of consoles a few years from now ALL had the same control scheme as the Wii-mote!  :speechless:

It's like the Virtual Boy except this time around the massive hype made people go and buy the thing.

Well, the Wii isn't nearly as bad as the Virtual Boy, but you get the point.


A scary thought indeed. I hope atleast one console will remain "normal" for us real gamers to play with seeing how the casual gaming market is getting more important by the day.

While I love the Idea of the Wii and it can be fun with a group of people. My Wii gets about as much use as my Fitness Club Pass.

P.S.  I weigh about 240 lbs.  :)

trade your fitness club pass in for wii fit, problem solved ;D ;D

If Nintendo was smart, they'd create a game around that girl made famous on YouTube for doing Wii fit hula hoop in her t-shirt & panties. That's software that would sell!

Never heard of that before so I went and watched it just now. Not that spectacular I must say.

With all the Wii-speak going on, I figured I'd resurrect this thread.

For you Wii owners, has the situation changed for you? Is it now your preferred console or is it still sitting on the shelf for long stretches?

I sold mine after not using it for 9 months. My cousin bought it for his girlfriend and she used it a couple time. He is going to sell it I think.

My wife and I use our Wii everyday. We both do 30 minutes of Wii Fit. Thats all we really use it for though.

Play it pretty much every weekend. I would play it more, but I dedicate most of my time to game creation rather than game playing these days.

My family & I play it everyday/night. We play around 25-30 hours give or take a week. We love it!!