How To Get Serious or Hardcore Gamers to Buy and Play More Wii Games - RPGs and Mature games
The Nintendo Wii Has Broad, Diverse Appeal
The Wii has been a tremendous success with casual, women, younger, and older gamers. These are three markets that the console industry had left largely untapped. But what about serious gamers?
Hardcore gamers are not completely ignored by the Wii, but they are certainly the one market that does not seem to receive a lot of attention. This definitely has not hurt the Wii’s bottom line, but it does mean this is an area where the Wii has the most to gain at this point.
Give Us A Serious, High Quality RPG
RPGs are often very good sellers, and people tend to want to own a copy rather than rent it (often due to the many hours it takes to complete an RPG). They appeal to more serious gamers with the character development, in depth story lines, etc. The GameCube actually had some very good RPGs. One very notable example was Summoner 2 (a game I actually played and beat on both the GameCube and PS2 because I like it so much and they had subtle variations).
The Wii lacks some high quality, serious RPGs. Zelda games are great, but they do not fit the bill here.
A Good Mature Game or Two Wouldn’t Hurt
One of the most successful third party games for the Gamecube was Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (speaking of which, that game needs to be on the Wii Virtual Console). This was a very serious, psychological thriller with terrifying action and a very mature storyline. The game did great both in sales and critical acclaim. Why have there been no such games on the Wii? There are tons of adults that own a Wii, and they would eat such a game up with a spoon.
While games like Grand Theft Auto or Bully could potentially go against the overall reputation of the Wii, there is nothing wrong with a serious, mature rated game like Eternal Darkness. There should be games like this for the Wii.
A Great Shooter - Like Perfect Dark
This is near blasphemy from someone like myself - a die hard PC first gamer. But Perfect Dark is my favorite shooter of all time. I am not saying it is the best, but it is the one I had the most fun with. Perhaps it was timing or just something perfect about the game, but I have never enjoyed playing a shooter as much as I did playing Perfect Dark. The bots, the maps, the game modes, the weapons, everything was just, well, Perfect. I spent many weekends playing the game with friends (including my at the time girlfriend, now wife). The only thing wrong with the game is the fact that it caused physical pain. We called it Nintendo Claw. It is the shape your hand takes after playing entirely too much Perfect Dark for many days in a row.
Sadly, Microsoft bought Rare so we cannot have a sequel to Perfect Dark on the Wii. But surely someone out there could make a spiritual successor.
(NOTE: Perfect Dark Zero pictured at right only because it is a nice picture. The original Perfect Dark is the one that rocks.)
All These Years, Still No Real Pokemon Game for a Nintendo Console
After 4,000 versions of Pokemon on the Gameboy/DS, we still do not have a real, full featured Pokemon game for the real Nintendo console. Pokemon hand held games have been coming out through the life cycle of the N64, the Gamecube, and now the Wii. Back in the N64 days, I almost imported a device from Japan that would let you play Gamecube games on your N64, just so I could play Pokemon Red and Blue with a real controller on a real display.
The gameplay of these games is great - evidenced by the fact that they are now up to their zillionth Pokemon handheld game (what are they at now…. Pokemon Malachite? Pokemon Talc?). It boggles my mind that they have never released a full, big budget version of this game for their primary, non-hand-held console.
Everyone loves Pokemon! Hardcore gamers as well as kids. My 7 year old and my 3 year old are nuts for Pokemon.This is a win-win. Make it happen!
Market the Sports Games Where Sports Fans Are
There are more great sports games in the Wii than any other console. Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort probably jump immediately to mind (the picture over there probably helps with that), but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Pretty much all the other third party mainstays are on the Wii as well, and in some cases the Wii is the best version. Madden football is the king of sports games, and many gamers find the control setup with the Wii Motion controller to be the best way to play.
Nintendo should be advertising its sports games on ESPN, ESPN.com, and other sports related television stations and web sites. Go after the sports fans where they live and breathe!
Make Better Use of the Online Capability
The XBOX 360 dominates the online console gaming space, but that does not mean the Wii has to completely surrender it. While it is true that many Wii owners probably do not know how to get their Wii online, that is what Bright Hub is for! There are a lot of gamers out there who play online games almost exclusively, and the Wii is losing out on all of those customers.
Wii owners have access to a wealth of free games on the Wii internet channel. That alone is enough to get people excited about the Wii’s online capability. How about Wii Resort Sports played online? Or the above mentioned Pokemon game? Pokemon played online would be a titantic smash hit that could rival or surpass Halo.
Conclusions
The Nintendo Wii is dominating this generation of the console war. But you can never have enough success, and the gamers you abandon in this generation won’t be there for you in the next when you might need them. With only a few years left in the lifespan of this console, now would be a great time for the Wii to go after this last untapped market - serious, hardcore gamers.
