Nintendo only made 1 mistake with the Wii launch...

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soonersfan60

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No, I am not griping about spotty availability of systems or controllers. I think they have done a great job of getting product out while still keeping the hype high by making the system a bit hard to come by (and thus increase its desirability).

I am not talking about the price of the system. Yes, I would have liked a bit cheaper, but I don't think it is too bad for what you get.

And the lack of a second controller set, while annoying, is not really a "mistake." All systems today come with only one controller, and most people will know enough to buy a second (when they can find it).

Nintendo's only mistake is not allowing each Wii system owner to get one free VC game--even if it was an NES game. Can you imagine if Super Mario Bros. was included as a download? Or Duck Hunt? Or even the original DK? This would have gotten everyone hyped up about the VC potential. I will bet some people do not even realize that this is possible or haven't even hooked up their systems online. This would have ensured that everyone went online right away and gotten people into the fun of downloading VC games.
 
They may still do this. The VC thing hasn't started yet, right? When it does, maybe they'll offer a free download or two.
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']I dont think they needed to give away a free VC game but rather have demo VC games like xbox live.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. In fairness though, I know for a fact I would never ever download Donkey Kong, but I've had a hankering to play it and a demo would have satisfied that. Furthermore I know for a fact that I would have not downloaded something like F-Zero or Wario's Woods if I could have played a level or a track of them on a demo. Most of us have played these games so it's not like we're going to be surprised going into something like Mario 64. They need to implement demos for the original content games, but I can understand leaving it out for the VC games from a business standpoint.
 
true, but it's not a huge deal really. Alot of our complaints (price, 2nd controller, VC games, etc) are valid, but not big deals.

Personally, I hope they allow you to download demos of VC games before you buy them like XBLA. Especially since I never owned a TG-16 game. I'm excited for games I never had a chance to play.. but.. I don't wanna dish out $6 if I dont like it :)
 
Well, as other people have said, try-before-you-buy might kill some sales... (Urban Champion, anyone?) Most of these games people know the title or know the main character, so they might buy it based on that. I am just talking about getting people to do it the first time. And if they made it like the NES pack-in sets, that would have been sweet.

Javeryh, I understand your frustration with the component cables. I certainly don't expect them to be packed in because not everyone can use them, but you're right that they should have been more readily available.
 
[quote name='lilboo']true, but it's not a huge deal really. Alot of our complaints (price, 2nd controller, VC games, etc) are valid, but not big deals.

Personally, I hope they allow you to download demos of VC games before you buy them like XBLA. Especially since I never owned a TG-16 game. I'm excited for games I never had a chance to play.. but.. I don't wanna dish out $6 if I dont like it :)[/QUOTE]

I don't mean to start a console flame war here so no one take this the wrong way but, When both MS and Sony offer demos of arcade games, Nintendo needs to follow through to match and not throw up it's hands and say "fold". There is no technical difference in needed power for this to happen so there is no excuse for it not to happen.

[quote name='soonersfan60']Well, as other people have said, try-before-you-buy might kill some sales....[/QUOTE]
I would imagine if you went to a car dealer and they didn't allow you to test drive a car, you would think something is wrong with the car. With VC not being rentable or having a demo form, you stand to lose as much as $10 on something that might be laggy or broken without the option to try it. IMO this would cause people to be more cautious of VC purchases,hurting sales.

Mistake 2: Composite and Component cables should have been on the some cable ala 360.

Mistake 3: there should have been enough controls for every system to have 4 wiimotes and nunchucks without hassle. + The splitting of the control caused some confusion among parents.
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']I don't mean to start a console flame war here so no one take this the wrong way but, When both MS and Sony offer demos of arcade games, Nintendo needs to follow through to match and not throw up it's hands and say "fold". There is no technical difference in needed power for this to happen so there is no excuse for it not to happen.[/QUOTE]

It'd be nice if they did, but for them to not let you try out their products before buying them is far from saying fold. A lot of NES games lose their luster after, oh, five minutes (as do a lot of games on Live). Nintendo is being smart by not letting demos go out. Again, this fucking sucks for gamers, but from a business stand point, it makes perfect sense.

Edit: Point 1, not so flameish. Point 2, discussed to death already. Point 3, eh. Apparently the controllers are the most expensive part of the system and the only thing Nintendo is taking a loss on. I can see it being in their interest to have a bit of a controller shortage at first, cut development costs down/plunge money generated from the system launch back into production, and then release more controllers. Again, it fucking sucks for gamers but it can be seen as a smart business move.
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']...offer demos of arcade games, Nintendo needs to follow through... There is no technical difference in needed power for this to happen so there is no excuse for it not to happen.[/quote]

True, no technical reason, but a practical reason. Nintendo knows that they would lose a few sales on some of those simplistic NES games that are available now if you could demo them first. (Urban Champion, Pinball, etc.)

EDIT: Beaten to the punch because it took me too long to craft my reply...
 
[quote name='soonersfan60']
Nintendo's only mistake is not allowing each Wii system owner to get one free VC game--even if it was an NES game. Can you imagine if Super Mario Bros. was included as a download? Or Duck Hunt? Or even the original DK? This would have gotten everyone hyped up about the VC potential. I will bet some people do not even realize that this is possible or haven't even hooked up their systems online. This would have ensured that everyone went online right away and gotten people into the fun of downloading VC games.[/QUOTE]

Here the OP makes a valid point, which leads me to believe that Nintendo was under the impression that hardcore gamers would DL VC games(which is wrong for the most part). Because if Newb gamers don't know about the online or VC, who's buying VC titles? Some type of enticement program needs to be introduced in order for VC to succeed.
 
Me and my mom were discussing that since the 20th anniversary of the NES was so recent, they should have packed in Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros for the Wii launch
 
[quote name='OzCatter']Me and my mom were discussing that since the 20th anniversary of the NES was so recent, they should have packed in Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros for the Wii launch[/QUOTE]

No to mention a NES stlye painted Wii
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']No to mention a NES stlye painted Wii[/quote]

Points to the person that can find me the pic that was a mockup of a Wii with NES paint
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']I would imagine if you went to a car dealer and they didn't allow you to test drive a car, you would think something is wrong with the car. With VC not being rentable or having a demo form, you stand to lose as much as $10 on something that might be laggy or broken without the option to try it. IMO this would cause people to be more cautious of VC purchases,hurting sales.[/QUOTE]

First off, you need to stop editing in your post. It makes quoting a bitch. This is a similar argument a bunch of people on Boxtorrents (an anime torrent site) used to make when ADV threatened them with a lawsuit for putting up DVD rips of their copyrighted material. The vast majority of people said that previewing helped them buy more DVDs, not less, because they could see the content ahead of time. They then turned around and stated that they downloaded 90 series and bought one of them, but without being able to download, they sure as hell wouldn't have bought that one. It's a backwards argument that says their ability to see and play something encourages them to buy more, not less.

I disagree totally with this view as the vast majority of the games on the VC are NES games that are relatively simple. In a day and age where people return games to GS/EB a day after they buy them for 60% of their value, what's to say they wouldn't be perfectly happy with one level of Donkey Kong or one ball in pinball? The reason why Live has new features on most of these games is because they know that people will not buy them if they were standalone titles with just a demo up, even if the demo shuts off after two minutes of play. By not having demoes, Nintendo doesn't have to do anything to expand on the original releases. Including a single download would have been smart (or better yet, packing in a free download with a game after you register it to mynintendo), but it's a should of, would of, could of situation now.
 
[quote name='OzCatter']Points to the person that can find me the pic that was a mockup of a Wii with NES paint[/quote]

nes_ds_s.jpg


I will keep trying but this is pretty awesome so far.
 
I think the VC aspect of the Wii is going to end up getting the shaft, don't get me wrong its a cool component of the Wiis backward compatability but I personally would have rather had a GBA slot on my Wii than the whole downloadable games thing.
I can tell you that there is a thirsty market for old school retro games right now, we sell many NES,SNES,64 carts of every genre every day in our store and IMO NOA slept on the fact that this could have been a huge selling point for the system.
1 free DL game makes sense business wise if for no other reason than to get people using the VC system.
 
The least they could've done was have Super Mario Brothers on the VC in the first place. There would be no better game to introduce the VC to people.
 
I'm not so passionate as some here, but my thoughts on "mistakes":

1) The Wii Channels aren't up and running
2) Would have liked a free VC game myself out of the box
3) Not being able to find enough controllers

The other comments are great ideas, but I wouldn't consider them "mistakes". I downloaded Zelda by the way, and it plays EXACTLY like the original. No glitches that I have found and I'm almost all the way through.
 
it may not be a mock up, but the picture you posted is a mock up. very cool find though. here is the real pic
retro-wii.jpg


nintendos number 1 fuckup on the wii is the update tool. It updates as it streams the update, so if your internet connection breaks (like alot of peoples did on the first day) you fuck yours system hard. it needs to have a option to udate from a sd card or cd or dvd or something. Also it should keep a internal backup of the first firmware that shipped with the system (or they should give you a restore cd ect...) The only way to fix the update problems is with a update. now thats ironic.
 
they dropped to ball on the ease of getting additional wii motes, numchucks, component cables, and classic controller cases. Most of my local stores didn't have it in stock at all for launch.
 
I would argue the price was the biggest screw up. It should've debuted at $200 OR included a Component cable with it. Regardless I'm waiting until a price drop and I HOPE the different color Wii's will hit around that time. I'm thinking of picking up the red or Green Apple Wii.
 
I ordered mine before hand and got it in two days for only $30+shipping from Nintendos' site. It was available so if you didn't get it ~you dropped the ball.
 
They 'chose' the 'Revolution' name on the skin cause they probably got 5,000 units printed up with that name back when it was called Revolution. No other reason to resurrect that name unless your stock is tied to it.
 
Not enough component cables at launch was the only mistake.


*EDIT
I thought of one more mistake: making the wiimote lanyard too flimsy.
 
Biggest mistake they made was not having COMPONENT CABLES available!

Just what the heck were they thinking????
 
[quote name='XboxHardcore.com']They need to drop the prices on the VC games... that's what they need to do!![/QUOTE]

Prices are just fine. How many people pay $2 on iTunes for a 22 minute TV show they watch once?
 
[quote name='mezstizo']I ordered mine before hand and got it in two days for only $30+shipping from Nintendos' site. It was available so if you didn't get it ~you dropped the ball.[/QUOTE]
if you are talking about the component cables, yes they offered them but IIRC they were sold out within 15min. They didn't have enough of them. I have no problem getting cables for the 360, xbox, ps2 or ps3. They should be abundantly stocked at the stores with them. I get it, they don't think it is about the graphics and HD tv's are not the majority, but there are plenty of people that wanted the cables didn't get them.
 
[quote name='XboxHardcore.com']They need to drop the prices on the VC games... that's what they need to do!![/QUOTE]

I don't mind $10 for N64 titles, but it should be $2-3 for NES, $3-5 for TG-16, and $4-7 for Genesis/SNES. I think I'm being generous to them by suggesting such pricepoints, too.

As for component cables, they'll be nice, but do you all have to shit your pants over them the way you do? The system maxes out at 480p; it's not like the damned PS3, which does 1080p but ships with the same cables as the Wii. Now THAT was a mistake.
 
[quote name='lordwow']They absolutely dropped the ball on no online multiplayer to start. WiiSports online would have been fabulous.[/quote]You only think that because it's not there. When their online system blew up after it was overloaded on launch day, the mistake would then be "not load testing their online system well enough."
 
To be perfect the following should be done:
1. They should have provided 2 complete controllers.
2. Component / Composite cables would be one set of cables.
3. Everyone would get 1 free NES & 1 Free N64 download.

Hopefully as sales lag in year 1 or 2 they will offer some of these things in the Wii bundle
 
Don't lose sight of the fact that Wii Sports came with the console. If Nintendo was trying to broaden their base and show of the Wii's capabilities by reaching the "casual gamer," Wii Sports is far better suited to the task than retro games. Hardcore gamers would have appreciated the download (ditto with component cables) but most casual folks won't care either way.
 
They should do a continuation of the PIN codes from 1st party Gamecube games, at the very least.

You should get 250-500 points for new, 1st party Wii game purchases.
 
I agree that Nintendo could have done a better job w/ the extra controller and attachments but think about it, if you're complaining about these then that means you already bought a Wii; and hence, already in Nintendo's pocket.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo purposely marginalized their accessories production to make more Wiis as they have more to lose by not having enough consoles to sell than wiimotes.

The component fiasco was absurd, though - someone needs to smack Perrin upside her head.

As for the lack of working online functionality, how long did it take for the original Xbox Live to get a somewhat functional?
 
[quote name='lordwow']WiiSports online would have been fabulous.[/quote]

WiiSports online defeats the purpose. That game is meant to be played in the company of others.
 
I agree for every game you buy you should get VC points. It would probably cause people to buy a few more games and the VC points cost them nothing.
 
[quote name='Vegan']WiiSports online defeats the purpose. That game is meant to be played in the company of others.[/QUOTE]

Really, and when you have a full time job and other responsibilities as do your friends as you get older ; how easy does it become to get together to play a game?
 
[quote name='joshofstl']Don't lose sight of the fact that Wii Sports came with the console. If Nintendo was trying to broaden their base and show of the Wii's capabilities by reaching the "casual gamer," Wii Sports is far better suited to the task than retro games. Hardcore gamers would have appreciated the download (ditto with component cables) but most casual folks won't care either way.[/quote]

But I think one free VC download out of the box would have gotten a good portion of the casual gamers to try it. That may have made some of them interested in it enough to do it again. When the system is new, that is the time that people want to try out everything, and they likely would have done the VC download. If they liked it (esp. if it was a good game, like SMB1) then Nintendo may have had a VC customer for "life" who would be looking for other games.
 
[quote name='botticus']You only think that because it's not there. When their online system blew up after it was overloaded on launch day, the mistake would then be "not load testing their online system well enough."[/QUOTE]

Touche. I don't blame a company when a server crashes day 1, it's expected pretty much. But, if it was a poor online system (and it may be, we'll have to see) i'd be upset.
 
No online would be the biggest mistake for me. I was really disappointed when i heard that.

The VC add in would have been nice, but as someone mentioned you do get wii sports already. Im sure they will add vc games after the first wave of buyers have had their fill and they want to sell more units.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I don't mind $10 for N64 titles, but it should be $2-3 for NES, $3-5 for TG-16, and $4-7 for Genesis/SNES. I think I'm being generous to them by suggesting such pricepoints, too.

As for component cables, they'll be nice, but do you all have to shit your pants over them the way you do? The system maxes out at 480p; it's not like the damned PS3, which does 1080p but ships with the same cables as the Wii. Now THAT was a mistake.[/QUOTE]

I agree on the VCS pricing except in terms of SNES RPG's I easily think $8 is fair since I see most, if not ALL, of them priced at at almost double that. $10 I guess I can agree with you on though the ONLY games I'd buy are Ogre Battle 64, Sin and Punishment and Paper Mario.
 
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