Microsoft jumps on Wii-bashing bandwagon

[Repyh]

You'd think people working for major corporations would have some sort of training in regards to company image or code of conduct when giving public statements...

IGN: Microsoft Says Wii is for Babies

Microsoft Says Wii is for Babies
Well, not exactly - but apparently once you hit your early teens, you outgrow it.
by Matt Casamassina

March 28, 2007 - Oh, sweet mud-slinging, how we love you. It would be impossible to count how many times company reps poked fun at GameCube, just as it would be a difficult undertaking to calculate how many times former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi spoke ill of his hardware competitors. Nowadays, though, publishers rarely speak badly of Nintendo or Wii as both are overwhelming success stories.

But Microsoft's group product manager for Xbox and the Live platform, John Rodman, recently took a stab at it. According to a report by Daily Tech, Rodman insinuated that gamers would outgrow Nintendo's new console just as soon as their voices started to change.

"We don't feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing," Rodman reportedly said. "We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14, they want something else."

Whoops. We must've missed that memo. And so did our parents.

[Grumath]

Someone from a PC game company needs to release a statement saying that once these same customers surpass 70 IQ points, they realize that 95% of XBOX games come out on PC and that they don't need a console.

[Lenardo]

riiight

my inlaws have...bought a wii

my parents are thinking about it

my best friends- all married with kids(9-15)...are hunting for the wii.

i also heard all norwegian cruise line ships have wii's installed in their atrium with several kiosks....

[Cor]

Originally Posted by Grumath

Someone from a PC game company needs to release a statement saying that once these same customers surpass 70 IQ points, they realize that 95% of XBOX games come out on PC and that they don't need a console.

Your comment is about as idiotic as that of the Microsoft exec.

[Sharmai]

*Sigh* Well there is no such thing as bad press right? The more mud slinging at the Wii the greater the Public Awareness and thre greater the sales..

[Tabris]

The Wii is pretty awful, or at least the games for it right now. The mass market appeal has only confirmed a general negative view of most people.

[Insiderr]

Wii is identical to the DS in everyway.

You buy it, there is probably 2 games you are interested in for 9 months and you keep thinking to yourself, why did I buy this shitty system?

Out of nowhere, awesome games are flying left and right and you don't have enough money to buy them all. Sucky system becomes awesome system in a year.

[Dildo Faggins]

or it has proven that people who thought the ps3 and xbox 360 were going to win have no idea on what appeals to the mass market. This bashing against wii shows an incompetance on what drives the market. Wii was never intended to be a technologically advanced and hardcore gaming system, and that is why it is winning.

[RiskyChris]

Originally Posted by Insiderr

Wii is identical to the DS in everyway.

You buy it, there is probably 2 games you are interested in for 9 months and you keep thinking to yourself, why did I buy this shitty system?

Out of nowhere, awesome games are flying left and right and you don't have enough money to buy them all. Sucky system becomes awesome system in a year.

I was about to come in huffing and puffing when I realized you were talking about roughly the first year of the DS, which I fucking agree down to the core. This is exactly why I have faith in the Wii's library (which I'm satisfied with right now anyway, a little light though). While the games right now hold up decently,and will continue to do so throughout the year, 2008 will be a ridiculous explosion of titles.

I had to stop buying DS games because I wasn't playing everything I bought.

[Vorph]

He was going along fine during the first half of his statement, but should've rethought the second half. I'd have gone with "We think that the Wiimote is for fags." Now that would've been a gold mine of free press, I guarantee.

[Sean]

Shrug, half of his statement is right - he just went a bit too far with the 14 year old comment.

The Wii consumer base and the X360 consumer base *are* different.

my inlaws have...bought a wii

my parents are thinking about it

my best friends- all married with kids(9-15)...are hunting for the wii.

I'm going to take a stab here and say that they're not the type of people who would buy an X360/PS3 and the type of games typically available for it in the first place. The Wii's system, games, and controllers are marketed towards them.

[Akileese]

They're not, but as everyone knows, hardcore gamers are the minority. Those are the type of people that will fuel the PS3/360 sales (more so the PS3 because of the price). You're openly admitting you're not appealing to the masses while Nintendo is. This is mirroring the DS so much it is pretty scary. I mean, they still can't meet demand and they really don't have any tip top games out. Think of how hard it's going to be to get one once the real big guns hit.

[Slick Willey]

How many PS2's have been sold to date? 100 million? For a "hardcore" base, that's fairly large. I would think Sony views their market at least that big for the PS3, unless of course you think the PS3 (by virtue of its price) is suddenly a "hardcore" system and the PS2 was a "casual" system, and that Sony therefore decided for some strange reason to create a product (PS3) that would only appeal to a much smaller base than it previously had with the PS2.

And I agree with the posters above -- the first of his statement is right, and I don't think there is 100% overlap between the wii market and the 360 market.

[Kildace]

Originally Posted by Akileese

They're not, but as everyone knows, hardcore gamers are the minority. Those are the type of people that will fuel the PS3/360 sales (more so the PS3 because of the price). You're openly admitting you're not appealing to the masses while Nintendo is. This is mirroring the DS so much it is pretty scary. I mean, they still can't meet demand and they really don't have any tip top games out. Think of how hard it's going to be to get one once the real big guns hit.

If there are more casual than hardcore owners of a system, then studios will make games, but they will mostly be casual games or shit like brain age. It's just like on the DS, there's a terrible signal / noise ratio and I don't see awesome DS exclusives as often as I see 360 exclusives.

[Sharmai]

Originally Posted by Slick Willey

How many PS2's have been sold to date? 100 million? For a "hardcore" base, that's fairly large. I would think Sony views their market at least that big for the PS3, unless of course you think the PS3 (by virtue of its price) is suddenly a "hardcore" system and the PS2 was a "casual" system, and that Sony therefore decided for some strange reason to create a product (PS3) that would only appeal to a much smaller base than it previously had with the PS2.

And I agree with the posters above -- the first of his statement is right, and I don't think there is 100% overlap between the wii market and the 360 market.

The mass majority of the PS2 base is NOT hardcore.
The hardcore crowd did NOT drive PS2 sales.