Filed under: Features, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Peripherals
Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:
With the Wii’s apparent runaway success this generation, there’s no doubt that both Sony and Microsoft are trying to figure out just what they can do - either in this generation or the next - to tap into the formula that’s worked so well for Nintendo. Sony, in a seemingly obvious attempt to blunt the impact of Nintendo’s newly styled controller, added motion sensitivity to their controllers before the PS3 launched. More recently, there have even been rumors that Microsoft may be prepping their own version of the Wii Remote to launch later this year for the 360. Is this really the answer Microsoft is looking for to combat the Wii?
There are a lot of problems with this, although the common “doomed console peripheral” theory actually may be the least of them. The success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band has proven that, at least when bundled with an attractive game, console owners are just fine with buying new controller peripherals for their systems.
No, the biggest problem for Microsoft here is simply a matter of audience. Microsoft has been working hard on wooing the “casual” audience, and has only rarely succeeded. Even a “hardcore” game like Halo 3 probably wouldn’t sell 7.5 million copies without some “casual” players. But a quick look at the top-selling software for each system makes it extremely obvious how different the audiences already are for the two systems.
Continue reading Counting Rupees: Will the real Wii60 please stand up
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