Sega: "Wii Will Look Dated Soon"

[Dante]

The novelty of Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii video game console could wear off by next year, a top executive at game publisher Sega said on Thursday, offering an unusual note of skepticism over the hit machine.

 

The Wii has been the top-selling console for several months as its low price and unique motion-sensing controller attract fans outside the traditional gaming audience.

 

But the system's dated graphics and lack of technological bells and whistles found on rival machines from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. may hamper its long-term viability, said Scott Steinberg, vice president of marketing for the U.S. unit of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.

 

Sega makes games for the three major game consoles -- Wii, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

 

"I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool," Steinberg said in an interview. "I'm not sure if they will top out in 2008 or 2007."

 

"The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3," Steinberg said.

 

Many game publishers have been devoting more development resources to the Wii.

 

Electronic Arts Inc., the world's biggest game publisher, said last month it would start producing more Wii titles while France's Ubisoft also said it would make more games designed specifically for the Wii rather than just copying over games created for other machines.

 

"They are expanding the market, expanding the demographic, expanding the reach. Their approach is, let's make a game machine for the masses," John Schappert, head of EA's worldwide studios, told Reuters in a recent interview.

 

"They've got a machine that's covering all spectrums and it's additive to our business," Schappert said.

 

Sega is also making games for the Wii, with "Ghost Squad" and "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" scheduled to come out later this year.

 

"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?" Steinberg said.

 

"How can they design products that aren't too derivative of what's already out there?"

 

Sega expects Sony's PlayStation 3 will be the ultimate winner in this round of the console battle.

 

The $600 Sony machine has struggled to win customers, but Sony says its graphical power and built-in high-definition Blu-ray DVD player will give it appeal for 10 years.

 

"We know the PS3 pool is pretty deep. There's a lot to exploit there," Steinberg said.

[Eddage]

Well to be honest the Wii already looks (and is) very outdated in terms of graphics and people don't care so I really can't see the fact that the gap will increase slightly as a major problem.

 

The truth is, most of the people who have adopted the Wii don't really care about graphics, if they did they would have bought a 360 or a PS3 and wouldn't have fallen in love with the likes of Wii Sports!

[darksnowman]

Well graphics wise the thing is already dated if you put it up against the Xbox 360 and PS3, but what the hey like Raw said: most people who have a Wii at the mo arent caring about the graphics.

 

Another slant on it is that the console itself is pretty sleek so wont look out of date anytime soon methinks.

 

And its a bit weird that they say that maybe in 5 years time there'll be little left to get from the controller... well surely as things stand there's little or nothing new left to be got from standard buttons only controllers?!

[mcj metroid]

Lol ok now let's hear the opinion of a publisher which actually makes good games!

[Speedfreak]

Bol, PS3 and 360 are already outdated. Fail for this man.

 

Sega don't have to worry about creativity though, they can just wait for Nintendo to do it first and can carry on being the shittiest developer on Earth as they have been the past couple of years.

[McMad]

This thread is gonna be fun...

 

In a counter-point though, how comes dated graphics applies to the Wii but not the DS?

 

I think the general public are starting to care more about how games play and not how they look.

[Demuwan]

A bit rich comming for Sega isn't it.

[That Guy]

Lol ok now let's hear the opinion of a publisher which actually makes good games!

 

Biiiiaaaatttttcccchhhhhh. You're right.

[immy]

Sega thinks wii will lose?

 

 

bollocks, this means it's destined to win.

[Kurtle Squad]

"I am a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool,"

What??

....Also note this coming from Sega

 

 

"The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3,"

The 360's been out ages n when I switch from one console to the other I don't think "H0ly Sh!t; crappy gr4fiX"

 

 

"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?"

Yeah....I mean, the Analog Stick died after 5 years...and don't get me started on the D-Pad:indeed:

"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?"

We aren't creative enough to make decent games, we are Sega, duhyick!!

 

 

"We know the PS3 pool is pretty deep. There's a lot to exploit there," Steinberg said.

Again....What?

Oohhh....I see...The motion controls for the PS3 will be a value to developers than more than 60 seconds is what he's suggesting:heh:

[Zechs Merquise]

oh, great advice from the 'masters' of the console! They are the last bunch that I would take advice off when it came to the console market.

 

What's more, if the Wii continues to outsell the competition like this then you'll end up seeing developers turning away from the PS3 and 360 to the Wii, the Wii will gain momentum and nothing will stop it. Once a console gains a lead of that level it becomes very ahrd to reverse the situation

[Mikey]

Nintendo cut back on the Wii's power at our expense. I'm not too happy about that at all. It's a decent machine, but it's too under powered to hang with the 360 and PS3 in the long run. Sure, it may win in terms of sales, but in terms of killer apps, I don't see it coming close to the others at all.

[nekunando]

He's so right.. there's so much more to get out of conventional pads that we have never seen before.. here's just a few examples:

 

- Pressing SQUARE to accelerate in racing games instead of X

- Pressing CIRCLE to accelerate in racing games (when SQUARE gets boring)

 

There's loads more, I could go on.. but I'll leave the rest of you to think of all the possibilities.

 

..um.. yeh.. but anyway, it's about time SEGA made a good game, regardless of the controller.

 

I understand that the Wii graphically looks dated, of course it does, but if the quality of games gets better and better during it's lifetime, why shouldn't it last a good 5-6 years? I'm excited to see what's coming.

[Tyson]

It's the same philosophy that killed them out of the console wars; graphics over anything else. If they can predict the demise of the Wii, why couldn't they do it for the Dreamcast.

[Zechs Merquise]

I personally can't remember the last time Sega made a game that really turned heads, most notably their flagship character hasn't starred in a real ground breaking game since the days of the megadrive.

[Tyson]

Wait, why am I offending Sega? All my favourite games are from them. Dreamcast 2!

[Smiter]

Like almost everyone here has already said, the Wii is already "outdated" in terms of graphics, and that doesn't seem to have done its sales much harm. Nintendo DS, anyone?

 

It takes far more than simply ramping up graphics power to create innovative games. The standard button interface has been around for decades. More freedom in interfaces can only mean more freedom and innovation for games.

 

The Wiimote gets me more involved in the games, because I'm actually feeling more feedback from what I do in-game. That just heightens the experience.

 

The Wiimote hasn't been fully harnessed yet, developers are still learning to use it. Unimaginative developers simply won't bring the best out of it, but if powerhouses like Nintendo, Square, Konami etc. can harness its potential, then the games can only be awesome - and the 360/PS3 won't be able to run those games with their standard pads.

 

Give it a year, and let's see just what the Wii can do.

 

P.S: The last Sega game I loved was Skies of Arcadia (DC and GC). Since then, their games haven't lit my fire. Sonic Wii was OK, but not great.

[mcj metroid]

oh, great advice from the 'masters' of the console! They are the last bunch that I would take advice off when it came to the console market.

 

What's more, if the Wii continues to outsell the competition like this then you'll end up seeing developers turning away from the PS3 and 360 to the Wii, the Wii will gain momentum and nothing will stop it. Once a console gains a lead of that level it becomes very ahrd to reverse the situation

 

Nah i would actually take their advice over atari... Remember atari on driver 3'' The gamecube architecture coulnt handle it''

haha

[jammy2211]

Nintendo cut back on the Wii's power at our expense. I'm not too happy about that at all. It's a decent machine, but it's too under powered to hang with the 360 and PS3 in the long run. Sure, it may win in terms of sales, but in terms of killer apps, I don't see it coming close to the others at all.

I think the point here is that Nintendo didn't want to rip developers off. In short, PS3 / 360 games cost about $25 million to develope, whereas wii games cost about $5 million. No company can afford to be putting $25 million in one project, so Nintendo were clever and innovated in a different aspect to allow developers to not have such risks when making games.

 

We will see tons of killer apps, I don't see how we won't. We might not see the realistic graphics the other consoles possess, but that didn't stop games like Okami and Killer 7 making jaws drop now did it? Wii needs more artistic games, along with the rest of the industry, and if companies can do that then we won't even notice the Wii's lacking hardware .

 

And this is just a SEGA rep trying to make a name for himself. Most of what he says doesn't even make sense. I'll care what they have to say once they finally make a good game, cause it's been a long time since that happend.

[Ginger_Chris]

Graphics are dependant on the developer. Good graphics usually have nothing to do with the amount of anti-aliasing, colour depth or screen resolution.

 

Examples such as viewtiful joe, super mario brothers 3, Wind Waker, Resident evil (the remake), tetris, pong etc are technically fairly average/low, but the amount of style means these games will always look good. Its not about making reflection perfect or faced photorealistic, its about creating a world thats either believable, or brings out emotions the developer wants.

 

But that means the developer has to do more art based work, or use the technology more efficiently, and well some developers aren't very good.

 

A game needs gameplay to be good at bare minimum, but style>technical graphics.

[Goron_3]

I think the point here is that Nintendo didn't want to rip developers off. In short, PS3 / 360 games cost about $25 million to develope, whereas wii games cost about $5 million. No company can afford to be putting $25 million in one project, so Nintendo were clever and innovated in a different aspect to allow developers to not have such risks when making games.

 

We will see tons of killer apps, I don't see how we won't. We might not see the realistic graphics the other consoles possess, but that didn't stop games like Okami and Killer 7 making jaws drop now did it? Wii needs more artistic games, along with the rest of the industry, and if companies can do that then we won't even notice the Wii's lacking hardware .

 

And this is just a SEGA rep trying to make a name for himself. Most of what he says doesn't even make sense. I'll care what they have to say once they finally make a good game, cause it's been a long time since that happend.

 

Just wanna say, do you have any idea how okami and killer7 sold?

 

Okami pretty much bombed everywhere tbh, especially japan.

[4q2]

"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?" Steinberg said.

 

An opinion by a suit, and one who obviously does not take too much notice of how well that controller can work when programmed well.

In all honesty I am confident that little innovation is the death knell of the standard controller.

[The Bard]

I think he's wrong because people will continue to make games for Wii and I think it'll continue to sell well. I agree with him on the point that Wii is ridiculously out dated, it barely does things that consoles last generation could do well.

 

Get the online system together Nintendo, and then you'll have a surefire winner...until then, I'll stick to my 360.

[thirtynine.]

An opinion by a suit, and one who obviously does not take too much notice of how well that controller can work when programmed well.

In all honesty I am confident that little innovation is the death knell of the standard controller.

And also the fact you dont even need to use it.

[jammy2211]

Nintendo cut back on the Wii's power at our expense. I'm not too happy about that at all. It's a decent machine, but it's too under powered to hang with the 360 and PS3 in the long run. Sure, it may win in terms of sales, but in terms of killer apps, I don't see it coming close to the others at all.

 

Just wanna say, do you have any idea how okami and killer7 sold?

 

Okami pretty much bombed everywhere tbh, especially japan.

 

So what? They didn't sell that well but that doesn't mean the be all and end all of games with artistic styles. Just look at Wii Sports, it has gained praise for it's unique art style, and now gone on to become the best selling game in Japan for God knows how long.

 

There are companies and artists with the creative flair to design games like this, and it's only a matter of time until the Wii becomes a stronghold for companies to experiment with these sorts of unique concepts.

 

I think Capcom admitted these poor sales were for reasons other then their art style, mainly due to poor marketing and whatever. There is a huge market for unique art styles like the earlier mentioned games, and I hope that No More Heroes, Zack and Wiki, Dewy's Adventure and NiGHTS 2 demonstrates that video games are much more an art then a simulation.