Happy Birthday, Wii!

Nov. 20 4:48 PM by Alicia Ashby

In the space one year Nintendo's gone from a much-derided last place in the console wars to probably the hottest-- and most controversial-- of the three system manufacturers. Here's what the internets have to say on the subject, from praise to complaints.

  • C-Net's Crave blog offers some analysis, claiming only Nintendo can make a significant profit off of vintage game download. The post is responding by a recent announcement by Microsoft that they'll be offering various Xbox titles for DDL via Xbox Live... which is really only useful if you have an Elite.
  • Right now it's no secret that Nintendo has their WiiWare channel in development, a way of delivering original games to Wii users with the same DDL method used to snag Virtual Console games. A recent IGN podcast claimed there would be file size limits, but Nintendo denies it. Personally, I don't see how Nintendo can get away without limiting file size, since the Wii's internal Flash memory is so limited. It's easy to max it out with VC downloads alone.
  • Bloomberg's monthly report last week basically asserts that at this point Nintendo can sell as many Wiis per month as they can make. Puts a lot of the complaining about the Wii's lousy hardware and bad software selection into perspective, huh?
  • In New York, the Wii is being as part of physical therapy courses for people recovering from arm injuries. I'm expecting to read an article about how the Wii cures cancer any day now.
  • GamePro wishes the Wii a happy birthday with a glowing endorsement from Will Wright, but also mentions the growing dissatisfaction hardcore gamers feel with Nintendo's family-pleasing system.
  • In a CNBC article covering the Wii's tremendous sales success. Reggie Fils-Aime claims that sales wouldn't even be hurt by a recession.
  • 1up's Jeremy Parish takes an astute look at the state of the Virtual Console now that it's a year old, and takes Nintendo to task for making so much content available when there's no way to expand the Wii's internal memory. This is a complaint Nintendo needs to take seriously so long as they're trying to push downloads as major products.
  • IGN takes advantage of the anniversary to prepare a huge feature showcasing the best Wii games of the first year, reminisce about launch day, and take a brief look at what Wii gamers can expect in 2008. It's pretty cool, although some of the games IGN picks indicate a somewhat shaky definition of "best".

Comments

You must be registered and logged in to leave comments.

If you are already have a login with GamePro.com, Gamerhelp.com, Games.net or GameProFamily.com, then use that login!