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Well, Nintendo has done such a great job of showing their support for hardcore titles on THEIR OWN PLATFORM that we keep hearing things like, "Oh, I sold my Wii already."
Especially after this year's E3, right?
A lot of people who've been holding on to their Wii consoles have been wondering if publishers will continue churning out Mature Wii games, given that none so far have broken sales records. However, Gary Dunn of SEGA Europe has confirmed that they do plan to continue supporting Mature titles for the Wii.
While games like House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld are often cited as examples of enjoyable Mature Wii games, they don't beat shovelware in terms of sales. But Dunn says there is a profit, just enough for SEGA to keep this up.
Let's not forget Bethesda's interest in that "hardcore" Wii market. EA, of course, is already ankle deep with Dead Space Extraction.
Sega's recent targeting of a mature audience on the Nintendo Wii has been successful in the long-term, with the publisher telling GamesIndustry.biz it has more budget for similar adult content on the format.
Although The House of the Dead: Overkill didn't set the charts on fire on initial release, the company said that sales at a lower price point have made the game profitable, and the company is still willing to experiment with product despite the Wii being seen as the home of sugar-sweet games.
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"You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega.
"We're taking a look at the resources we have now. We've got money to invest in development, we're just considering where to invest it next," he added.
News story attached to:
Additional sources:
- SEGA to continue support Mature Wii games (neoseeker.com)
Comments
That 'M' label means absolutely nothing.
As long as the game is fun, amazing, and uses the wii-mote properly or optional GC/Classic controller then it's hardcore.
As long as I get Metroid other M, and SMG 2 is much harder than the first, then I'm happy. Really those are the only games I'm interested in.
Besides, some of these mature games suck.
If I really need to explain it any further, then the magic will be totally ruined.
Don't make me ruin the magic.
It's an unfortunate correlation.
This is good news though, I was worried after the disappointing sales numbers (beginning numbers) they wouldn't even bother, but I'm glad to hear they are making money and hope they keep pumping out quality titles
I doubt it will ever happen though. The Wii really just isn't setup to host a good hardcore game. The motion controls are frustratingly unfit for any such game, and the Wii's graphics capabilities are subpar. I'm not sure what games use the classic controller, but that one doesn't exactly look easy to handle either.
I really think that the problem isn't just Nintendo not sending out any hardcore games, but that they haven't come up with any good exclusives at all. The problem is, for games that are multi-platform, the consumer will almost never go to the Wii. Like I said before, the motion controls are unfit for most games, and the graphics are subpar. There's only a few multiplatform games that gamers might prefer on the Wii (for me, Tiger Woods PGA Tour). Therefore, the only way the Wii is going to get any game sales is by coming up with an exclusive that really grabs everyone's attention.
The Classic Controller is as easy to handle as your plain old Dualshock.
Not to plunge into a list war, but in the future:
Monster Hunter 3
No More Heroes 2
Sin & Punishment 2
Just to name a few that can be hit exclusives. Although, the levels of niche each represent are pretty high.
Wii games have been doing fine on the sales front, too. Of course, not as high as people would want, but only a few games are really catching fire across all systems; the whole industry is on a low right now.
Looks like you'd have to hold it with your palms open to me... There's no handle's to grip on, and the sides of the controller jet out rather than in.
I honestly hope that they end up being hit exclusives, but I'm not convinced that news of these games reaches the average Wii user. The downside of a console geared towards casual gamers is that casual gamers aren't as likely to keep up-to-date with these kinds of things.
In my opinion, they would have to come up with something amazing to really grab the non-casual gamers' attention, sort of like what Halo did for the Xbox.
Sin & Punishment 2 looks FANTASTIC.
Really glad they brought the first one over -- I guess that did well enough to warrant a sequel.
That, and obviously quantity of software is a factor.
Classic Controller Pro.
They don't need to, as long as the message is being let out by way of word of mouth, advertising, etc.
The problem most publishers are doing is that they are sending games off to die with little-to-no fanfare. That kind of begs for small sales.
It's also kind of telling that Halo's appeal hasn't really been replicated on either the 360 or PS3.
Sales from a "hardcore" base only make up a certain baseline: see inFamous back in May selling an odd~150k units. The majority of sales for almost any title that's at a high sales count comes from a casual-base.
For what it's worth, No More Heroes is Suda's best-selling game. But then again, Suda is Suda.
And like I said before, even though the Wii's console sales have complete dominance over it's competitors, non-exclusive games still manage to find more sales in the other consoles, which is shown by the new Ghostbusters game.
Yeah, that one looks a lot better. If a hardcore game made full use of it then it would be a lot more fluid. Although it doesn't give it an advantage over it's competitors, it's good to see Nintendo realizes that not everyone enjoys motion controls.
You realize that a good portion of Wii owners are middle-aged or older, right? The biggest reason the Wii has so many console sales is because of it's appeal to the older audience, rather than just kids and teens. I doubt they exactly talk about the latest video game news with their buds. As for advertising, I've never seen a Wii exclusive ad on TV or anywhere else that a lot Wii owners could easily view it.
What Halo did was attract a new audience, and now that that audience is loyal to the 360, Microsoft doesn't need another Halo. Game sales of their exclusives have beaten Halo several times over. Nintendo attracted a larger casual audience, but lost a lot of people in the process. Nintendo has never been known for it's hardcore games, but the subject here really is more of hardcore fans, and anyone can enjoy a good classic Nintendo adventure game, which is something they've failed to replicate so far on the Wii. At least the GameCube had some decent adventure games, like Super Mario Sunshine, that last Zelda game (forgot the name), etc. The Wii has Super Mario Galaxy, which I thought was horrible, and they haven't come out with anything else since that you would consider a true Nintendo adventure game.
On the Wii, yes. Incase you haven't been paying attention to what I'm saying, I believe the Wii needs to grab the non-casual gamers' attention. They've done great with their casual games, but I'm not sure how long that will last. Sony and Microsoft are catching up in the ways of casual, and will likely be outdoing the Wii altogether soon (See Project Natal). If they want to attract a larger audience, then they need something like the Halo effect.
"Have you seen that Wii Fit thing?"
It doesn't have to be the latest game news, but word of mouth is word of mouth.
Which is my point.
No, they haven't. Halo will always be Microsoft's strongest brand and biggest exclusive. No other 360 exclusive has come even close to matching Halo's ridiculous, but very much earned, numbers.
Super Mario Galaxy is pretty much one of the games of the generation, and it is good enough to become a classic in its own right.
Halo in a franchise with strong casual appeal, so, trying to achieve it's effect is the opposite of what you want it the Wii have. However, it is the series that made people think the FPS is the premier hardcore-only genre, and that's rather unfortunate.
Furthermore, the casual base makes for the majority of sales on ANY system. This has always been the case in the industry, and doesn't look to change. "Hardcore" gamers are an extremely vocal minority.
Whether Sony and Microsoft can break into Nintendo's stranglehold depends on whether their motion solutions are up to snuff. It's too early to tell right now, but there are a multitude of factors against it. Better tech does not translate to better sales, as the industry has constantly shown.
Both Halo 2 and Halo 3 have surpassed the first one, and both Gears of War 1 and 2 have as well. Four times definitely justifies "several".
Not nearly as good as what they used to put out, a huge disappointment in my opinion.
What? Yeah, maybe 15 years ago casual games were the majority of the market, but clearly not anymore. The Wii has a few strong casual games like Wii Fit, Wii Play, and Mario Kart (not counting Wii Sports because it comes with the console), and then Sony has LittleBigPlanet, but those three games definitely don't make up the majority of the market when you consider things like the Halo franchise, Elder Scrolls, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, etc. What really kills me is that you think they make up the majority on any system, which is complete BS.
360:
* Halo 3 (8.1 million)[24]
* Gears of War (5 million,[25] may include PC version)
* Gears of War 2 (5 million)[26]
* Grand Theft Auto IV (4.074 million approximately: 3.29 million in US,[27] 750,000 in UK,[28] 34,000 in Japan)[29]
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (3.772 million approximately: 3.04 million in US,[30] 78,000 in Canada,[31] 53,501 in Japan,[32] 600,000 in UK)[33]
* Call of Duty: World at War (3.35 million approximately: 2.75 million in US,[27] 600,000 in UK)[33]
* Forza Motorsport 2 (2.674 million approximately: 2.23 million in US,[19] 31,255 and 100,500 Platinum Collection,[32] 12,600 in Canada,[34] 300,000 in UK)[35]
* Fable II (2.6 million)[36]
* Saints Row 2 (2.6 million)[37]
* Assassin's Creed (2.285 million approximately: 1.87 million in US,[30] 60,000 in Canada,[31] 55,041 in Japan,[32] 300,000 in UK)[35]
The only casual game on there is Forza.
It's more of a matter of trying everything and appealing to everyone. All the companies seems to be on the right trail, except for Nintendo.
I was referring to the series in general; Gears has come close, but none has matched Halo's appeal.
In your opinion, but the consensus is that it is one of the best games this generation.
Hold up: I didn't say casual games were the majority of the market. I said casual gamers are. Or can can they not buy hardcore games now? Or is it hardcore games are only bought by hardcore gamers?
Casual gamers make up the majority of software sales in the video games market. It was the case back with the NES, it was the case too with the SNES, it was in the case last gen with the PS2, and still is the case this generation. You really think there all 8.1 million people who bought Halo 3 are hardcore? Or all the people who bought Call of Duty are hardcore too? You've got to be kidding me.
On the right trail is one thing, but whether it delivers is another issue entirely.
Gears 1 and 2 both sold more. Halo attracted users to Microsoft, but it didn't sell as much. My point about Halo is that it pulled in a market, which is something the Wii should try to do that it seems to actually be putting off on purpose. Like the whole Fatal Frame thing, where they're purposely not shipping to the US just because they want to keep a certain image. Bad choice.
Opinions are opinions I guess. I think everyone knows in their heart that it wasn't up-to-snuff with Nintendo's past titles, though.
I misunderstood what you meant when you said "base", figured you meant sales. And no, you didn't say "casual gamers" are, you said "base", which honestly could of meant either thing.
Casual gamers can buy hardcore games, sure. Using that logic, the Wii should have sold a lot more hardcore games than the other consoles, considering more people own the Wii. Has it? No. The reason? The Wii has nothing that hardcore gamers enjoy. And therefore, whenever there's a muli-platform hardcore game, hardcore gamers are more likely not to buy it on the Wii, because there isn't anything else on the Wii they enjoy. Like I've said before, there's obviously a huge market for hardcore games, and the Wii fails to take advantage of it. They're going to fall behind soon in my opinion.
Better than not adapting at all.
And the source you choose for data does matter for things like this.
I can't go verify your numbers, but Halo 3 8.1 million vs. Gears 2 5 million. How does Gears sell more than Halo? Gears 1 and Gears 2 do not have a mutually-exclusive userbase.
You think that's really the reason? Not because there's been documented issues with bugs that they tried to get Tecmo to fix but they didn't?
Seriously, now? Everyone knows in their heart?
Should it have? By all means quite possibly.
However, the hardcore being the driving force of sales? Maybe for that small contingency of niche games, but casual gamers are the ones who drive the big sales for those blockbuster games. That's why you see those low-to-mid numbers for most core titles that did not reach mainstream attention in the US, Japan, and other markets. If they don't sell gangbusters, it means casual gamers did not find it worthwhile.
You are overstating the market power of hardcore gamers. They provide that relatively small-sized launching pad, but ultimately it is the console's casual base that will pick up sales.
There is a huge market for games, not necessarily hardcore games.
They adapted first. They adapted again by using Wii MotionPlus to supplement. There are no software right now for Natal and PS3Mote to seriously consider them, and remember, software sells hardware.
That aside I don't see what's surprising about this, both Overkill and Madworld have begun picking up in sales, and both are somewhat 'niche' titles as well.
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