There are a lot of rumors going around the internet about the successor to the Wii. I’ll be one of the first to admit that there’s very little I like about the Wii. Now people like myself can complain all day long about how it’s one of the worst consoles in the history of EVER, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the most financially successful consoles out there. If you look at the NPD numbers, it’s pretty impressive. As of December 2010, Nintendo has shipped almost 85 million units. That’s over 30 million more than the Xbox 360, and roughly twice the amount of PS3 systems. By anyone’s standards, that’s pretty impressive. Another impressive note is that since it’s not as graphically advanced as its competitors’ systems, they make a profit off of every system that they sell. When the PS3 was first shipped, they shipped each unit at a loss of $250 per unit. They had hoped that software sales would make the system profitable, but they ended up having to cut quite a few costs, and do some pretty magical things to make themselves competitive.
Now it’s 2011 and it’s pretty clear that the Wii has reached the end of its life, for the most part. Wii systems are not selling like they used to and there are no indications that there’s going to be a rebound in demand for it. In fact, there’s a rumor that the system may be dropping in price to $150 on May 15 (mental note: I need to go trade mine in before that). With the end in sight for the console, it’s not surprising to hear about a successor system that may be coming out in 2012. According to reports from Game Informer, the system will be more powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I don’t believe I’m alone when I say that it’s about time Nintendo comes forward with interesting new technology. The Wii had its success, no doubt about that. Unfortunately, however, Nintendo lost a lot of its original consumers who grew up playing Nintendo consoles by appealing to the casual gamer crowd. Depending on who you ask, some may even say they forgot about their original “hardcore” fan base altogether. Most people like myself, who grew up playing Nintendo 64 and GameCube, skipped the Wii altogether and went to other systems. Smash Bros. may be fun, but it’s not enough to keep me coming back to the Wii over and over again.
With a strong possibility of a new console soon, I’ve assembled a few thoughts on what I think the Wii2 needs.
Third Party Support
Nintendo can’t simply make the games alone. Nintendo’s first party titles are usually pretty good for their systems, but how many third party games are really worth having on the Wii? Imagine if Nintendo started licensing out their first party IPs to companies like Epic or Gearbox? I’m pretty sure if they let Gearbox handle a Metroid game, it would be better than the disaster that “Other M” was.
If the Wii2 is to be successful, they need to really develop and nurture their relationship with third-party developers. The GameCube had some pretty good titles, but most of the developers were Japanese companies like Capcom. With Japan declining in their games’ quality, Nintendo needs to do a much better job at catering to American companies. At the end of the day, you can have a great console that’s got enough power to render life as we know it, but if there aren’t enough good titles for it, especially exclusive titles, there’s no reason to invest in it.
Backwards Compatibility
Nobody wants to have to start their game library over. I’m not particularly worried that Nintendo will pass on the opportunity for their new console to play Wii games, somehow. What I am worried about is that there is currently no system in place to transfer content bought on the Wii Marketplace. Once your Wii is gone, there is no way to transfer your old content. If they can figure out a way to make a smooth transition over to the new console, they’re going to have a lot of satisfied customers who get to keep the content they already paid for.
Be Innovative, but not Gimmicky
This is a very hard line to follow, especially for Nintendo in recent years. Nintendo has tried to establish themselves as an innovative company, but they go almost into the realm of being a gimmick. Motion controllers on the Wii work pretty good, but it’s pretty obvious there isn’t a whole lot more you can do with the remote and nunchuck now. I remember playing Disney Epic Mickey on the Wii, and the entire time, all I wanted was to plug in my Xbox 360 controller and play with that. The game it was trying to be just didn’t seem to feel right with a Wii remote.
Their next system shouldn’t necessarily take a step backward and go to only a standard controller, but they should have a much stronger support for it. There are a few games on the Wii that have the support for the classic controller, but it does a good job of making sure you realize that it’s second to the remote and nunchuck.
In my opinion, one of the best controllers was for the Sega Dreamcast. It actually has the exact same layout as the original Xbox controller. What really made the Dreamcast controller innovative though was the VMU (Virtual Memory Unit). The VMU was a little memory card with an LCD display that only the player could see. If you were playing Madden with a friend, you could select the play you were going to use without your buddy seeing what you were up to. The coolest thing it did, however, was the fact that each VMU was something you could take with you wherever you went and played little mini games on that could be re-uploaded to your Dreamcast and put into the games you were playing. This kind of support really leads into my next section:
Strong 3DS Support
One thing that the Wii currently does, which I think is pretty cool, is that you can download content for your DS, then upload it to your DS and take it with you. Now, the feature is there, but there isn’t a lot of emphasis on its ability. So now I’ll ask, what if they started making a game like a full-fledged, next-gen, console-based Pokemon game that had an awesome online feature, and then had a feature where you could download a portion of the game to your 3DS? You could take it with you, battle your friends, look for items, level up your Pokemon, and then re-upload it to your Wii2. If they could find a smooth way to make that happen, and then most importantly support it for the long-haul, it could be a very cool feature, indeed.
Competitive and Strong Online Services
PlayStation’s already got it. Xbox 360 has definitely already got it. The Wii kind of has it but I don’t think Ninendo gets it, if you know what I mean. The Wii has the ability to connect to the internet and connect with friends, but it’s not very well supported. Most importantly, there’s no social aspect to it. Nintendo really needs to create a whole separate team to develop a top-notch, fun, and rewarding online service. It needs to be cross-compatible with their 3DS, as well. Xbox has gamerscore and PlayStation has their trophies, but what if Nintendo did something where you could earn something comparable to a gamerscore that actually got you something? For example, the more you play a certain game, you’ll unlock things for your Mii, get you early access to demos, free content, and other cool things they could throw in there for you. To really compete with the consoles out there, they really have a long way to go in order to establish an online presence. Without a good online presence, there’s really no draw for some players.
A Mario Game at Launch
The Wii2 needs a Mario game on day one. It needs to be a really big one, as well. When Mario 64 came out, it totally changed my whole world. At that point, I had no idea a videogame could look so good. The whole experience was magical for me, and to be honest, it still is. I can still play Mario 64 and have a ball. It has a timeless quality to it. There needs to be really big, beautiful, amazing Mario game right at day one. I want to take my console home, open it, plug it in to my TV and play a new Mario.
A Complete Rebranding
I could go on and on, but this is that last item that I’ll mention. If Nintendo is serious about recapturing their “hardcore” gamer demographic, they need to realize that if it has the word “Wii” on the box, it’s going to be a hard sell. They need to drop the whole Wii moniker and put it behind them. This is a new console, a new generation, and it should definitely be a new direction for Nintendo.
Even with the frustrating disappointment I had with the Wii, I have to say that I’m extremely optimistic with what the next system may offer. We won’t know a whole lot of anything until E3 this year, but I have a feeling that everyone is going to like what they see. The Wii is the only system that I haven’t been a fan of in Nintendo’s entire history. I owned most Nintendo consoles and I don’t think that Nintendo is going to completely abandon the demographic that made them who they are today. If they come out with something fun and innovative, yet simple, they can recapture an entire lost demographic and build it on top of the casual crowd they already have and become one of the most successful gaming companies of all time.
