Topic: Nintendo Reveals Wii Party

[NWR_Neal]

More party, less Mario.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=23034

 At Nintendo's recent financial briefing, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed a new title, Wii Party.  According to Iwata, Nintendo is developing Wii Party "with the aim to make it a marquee party game for Wii".    

   

The development goal of Wii Party was to create a party title that Iwata said has "an adequate volume of game play".  This seems to be an indirect reference to Wii Music, a title that was seen as a rare misstep for the company, drawing criticism for being too light on actual game content.  Noting that 2007's Mario Party has sold 7.6 million units to date, Iwata sees Wii Party as a title with "great potential".    

   

He also revealed that over 160 million Miis have been created across Japan, the U.S., and six countries in Europe, and that the Japanese hit Tomodachi Collection is making Miis more appealing than ever before.  As a result, Wii Party will allow users to play using their Miis in the game.    

   

Wii Party will see a Japanese release in Nintendo's current fiscal year, which ends in March 2011.  North American release details are unknown at the present time.

[broodwars]

*just shakes his head sadly*
 
Well, we knew we were due for another big Nintendo casual title so this isn't surprising, but it is disappointing to see it be just another mini-game collection.  At least for the sake of our casual fans they can be sure it'll probably be a great mini-game collection.  You'd think, though, they'd be using the opportunity to create a new franchise that caters to casual play beyond the Wii ______ line, something like a Peggle-type game or whatnot.

[Stogi]

Excellent. Get this out before E3.

[ThePerm]

lol Either Nintendo is making Casual games or diluting the Mario brand with spinoffs, make up your minds people.


If I were Nintendo I would make up a new character that is a Mii everyone could make and slowly introduce him in this game, and then in subsequent releases the game would be named after this character.

[Pale]

I'm quite excited about this. It looks like another game that takes place on the Fit/Sports Resort island which is awesome.  The time frame also leads me to believe that they took the game seriously and people were given the time needed to pollish the hell out of it.

So yeah, this is probably a day 1 game for me.

[Ian Sane]

This seems like it would have the potential to be one of the better Wii Series titles at least.  This looks to be much more of a videogame than Wii Fit or Wii Music.

I'm not that irritated because Nintendo currently has some big titles due soon.  Part of what made Wii Music so offensive was that that was IT.  Nintendo didn't have jackshit released around the same time so it really gave the impression that non-gamers were Nintendo's top priority.  But right now with games like Super Mario Galaxy 2, Sin & Punishment and Metroid: Other M right around the corner, let the rubes have their overpriced mini-game bullshit.  I only don't like Nintendo targetting non-gamers if it affects their core game output.

Though is Nintendo kind of admitting that Wii is now a stronger brand than Mario?  I mean this is fucking Mario Party without Mario.  It suggests that Nintendo thinks that Wii Party would sell better than Mario Party 9.  Though they might just feel that specifically the Mario Party brand is overexposed and this would be a suitable reboot.

I can't imagine this is using the vitality sensor so what is using THAT?  Also, does this suggests Nintendo is running out of ideas for the Wii Series?  This isn't exactly all that innovative.

[broodwars]

lol Either Nintendo is making Casual games or diluting the Mario brand with spinoffs, make up your minds people.

I think I was pretty clear in defining just what my problem with this game is: it isn't that it's a casual title, though that's not the kind of game that really appeals to me.  I made my peace a long time ago with the fact that the casual games fund the games I actually want to play.  My contention is that it's yet another mini-game collection on Wii, because that's apparently all Nintendo thinks the casual audience will play, despite the tremendous success across the party lines with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  We can have other kinds of casual games, as evidenced by Pop Cap's works.  Peggle is an incredibly successful (and awesome) casual game that's somehow not a mini-game collection.  Sure, it's a download title but there's no reason Nintendo couldn't cook up an exciting new non-mini-game casual IP that could justify a retail release and be just as successful.

[TJ Spyke]

Though is Nintendo kind of admitting that Wii is now a stronger brand than Mario?

The three biggest selling games of all time are Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Fit. Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus are well on their way to join them (as both have sold more than 12 million copies).

I don't think this is a sign of running out of ideas. This actually seems like a natural extension of the Wii series and Miis, I am surprised they waited this long to do it.

[Seacor]

E3 2010 Nintendo Conference:  More party, less Zelda.
 :

[King of Twitch]

I can't tell much from the screenshots or the very small amount of information, but it definitely looks as though Nintendo is aiming to DGF.

[Mop it up]

This is disappointing. I guess this signifies the end of Mario Party. Is this being developed by Nintendo themselves?

What this game needs to stand out from the literally hundreds of other minigame collections is the use of Wii Motion Plus. As far as I know, there aren't any that currently use it, and that is the only real way for them to come up with dozens of minigames that haven't already been done several times before. That would be the only way I'd be interested in this, as I have enough minigame collections as is. This reveal didn't mention it, so I'm guessing it won't use it.

[NWR_Lindy]

As far as I can tell, this is being done by Nintendo themselves.  Why pay Hudson to do it, really?  They can make it cheaper, and probably better, with an internal team.  Heck, it's not like they have to bother making character models, for one thing.

[AV]

This better require the wii motion plus.

[NWR_Lindy]

There's no way it would require it.  They want this to be as accessible as possible to all gamers, whether they have WMP or not.

[Mop it up]

That's a missed opportunity then. They could always package one with it.

Really, I don't know why they shouldn't. They're clearly pushing Wii Motion Plus as a standard, considering it is now packaged with all Wiimotes except white, and is now even included with the system itself. Yet there are so few games for it, and only Zelda is currently in the pipeline. By the time this game releases, everyone will either have four Motion Plus, or one for every Wiimote they have, or could easily get them. I mean sheesh, even now some people have more than four.

[NWR_Lindy]

You're underestimating the overall market penetration of WMP, though.  It's a sizeable number, but still a fraction of the userbase.

[Mop it up]

And that means Nintendo shouldn't continue to push the Wii Motion Plus into the hands of every Wii owner as they have been doing? I mean hey, they released a dual-Motion Plus pack for Wii Sports Resort. They could release a 4 Motion Plus pack for this game, if they wanted. It's the perfect opportunity to continue to push for Wii Motion Plus domination.

[broodwars]

I'm with Mop: if Nintendo's serious about making Motion + the standard (as it should be considering it fixes very serious design flaws with the device) this game needs to be packed with at least one (preferably 2 or more) and require it.  Nintendo likes to do this with its peripherals: create a peripheral, have 1 or 2 games support it, and then half-heartedly support it or drop it entirely.  The thing is, standards are created by making it known that the old standards are gone, and you'd better believe 3rd parties are watching what Nintendo, Ubisoft, and EA are doing with the Motion +.  Now that the Motion + is out there, it should be unacceptable for Wii titles that use Motion controls (beyond just a flick or whatnot, ala Galaxy 1) not to use it.  When Nintendo kind-of, sort-of supports their peripherals they never take off.  Considering this game will definitely use motion controls, why not use Wii Motion +?  It can only make your game better.

[Ian Sane]

I find the situation regarding Motion+ to be very strange.  It really seemed like it would be the new standard but it's really just been treated like just some peripheral by Nintendo.
 
Nintendo just seems to be very conservative this gen.  That's ironic since the whole reason for their success was that they did something really risky with this unorthodox controller and gimped specs and a marketing campaign towards a demographic that at that point had no interest in videogames.  But after that risky move proved to be successful they haven't really taken too many risks.
 
Every game that uses an accessory comes with that accessory and then it's like a one-use item, potentially because Nintendo is afraid if other games use it they'll have a limited audience because of the peripheral requirement.  Zelda is rumoured to require Motion+ but does anything of Nintendo's that requires an extra doodad not come with the extra doodad?  Nintendo rarely ever supports the classic controller anymore and has all sorts of games that only use the remote.
 
Nintendo seems very afraid to offend or confuse their new customers.  Having multiple controller options can be confusing what with all the different icons on the back of the box.  No surprise that this is becoming less common.  It seemed odd that NSMB Wii only supported the remote but it kind of makes sense when you consider that while the nunchuk comes standard with Wiis it is sold seperately from remotes.  NSMB Wii is a multiplayer focused game and Nintendo probably figured that it was way more likely that someone would own four remotes than to own four nunchuks.  Therefore it has to work with just the remote (and only the remote so as to not confuse).
 
We see tons of sequels.  Sequels are safe and inoffensive.  There is no risk of introducing some new IP that isn't popular or for whatever reason actually offends people.  Everything is a sure-thing.  We have stuff like the Super Guide to help people that are just too damn sucky at videogames to succeed.  Everyone must be pleased with the Wii.  No one must be confused or upset.
 
So to not use Motion+ for this makes sense because what if someone doesn't have it and they don't want to buy it and they might even be upset about the suggestion that Nintendo would want them to buy it?  It's safer to just stay in the present and make zero progress.
 
Nintendo has found their Utopia so now they have to maintain the status quo.  They come across as a sports team that has the lead and is now playing to not lose instead of taking risks to win.  They took the risk, got the lead, and are now playing tight trapping defence.
 
If Zelda uses Motion+ it will come with Motion+.

[BeautifulShy]

First of all Ian it has been confirmed that Zelda will use Motion Plus.
Another thing New Super Mario Bros Wii does use the Nunchuck. It even shows the icon on the back of the box.So your notion about confusing customers is wrong.
Another thing most Wii games use the Wiimote and Nuchuck so the likelyhood of having both Wiimotes and Nunchucks are high. Please get your facts straight before talking about things.

Anyway I am willing to give this game a try to see what Nintendo does with it.

[Ian Sane]

Another thing New Super Mario Bros Wii does use the Nunchuck. It even shows the icon on the back of the box.So your notion about confusing customers is wrong.

It does?!  Really?!     I thought it was a remote-only deal.  What are the controls when you use the nunchuk?  I own the damn game and I didn't know you could use the nunchuk.
 
Still I think the suggestion that Nintendo doesn't want to use peripherals that don't come with the game is a sound one and Nintendo is still Mr. Conservative.

[BeautifulShy]

Uh analog stick to move. Z button you hold down then walk to run. A button is to jump. B button you use to pick up barrels and then you flick the wiimote to pick up the barrel. Flick the wiimote to to a little spin.
Pretty simple things...

[NWR_Lindy]

There are 70 million Wii consoles out there.  Let's just say there are 10 million WMP's out there.  Why on earth would Nintendo make a game that would ONLY be playable by 1/7th of the Wii's install base?  That makes no sense.

It will be able to USE Wii MotionPlus, but there's no way it's going to require it.  This isn't Wii Fit, where the entire game itself is tied to a peripheral.  This is just a party game with random events.

If it require WMP I'll be very surprised.

[Mop it up]

The logic makes some sense, but if it were followed, new systems would never be released because the older ones have a larger userbase. I know the Wii Motion Plus isn't a new system... but it is like the DSi, which has exclusive games on it not available to the tens of millions of DS owners.

Also, one point, as I said, there are hundreds of minigame collections on Wii, including Mario Party 8 which is still selling. What does this game offer that none of the others do? Maybe it'll use it, but not require it, but even then, the games wouldn't be as intricate if they could be played with a regular Wiimote. And I really think that, if this game were going to use it, it'd have been announced with this reveal.

We know there are 16.4 millions Wii Motion Plus out there because Wii Sports Resort includes it and that's how many copies it sold. Then add in the millions sold with Wiimotes and other Wii Motion Plus games, and it has to be at least 20 million. Then figure that Zelda is being released before this and will include Wii Motion Plus, and that's even more in consumers hands by the time this game released. There will probably be 30-40 million out there at the time, at least.

[BlackNMild2k1]

There are 70 million Wii consoles out there.  Let's just say there are 10 million WMP's out there.  Why on earth would Nintendo make a game that would ONLY be playable by 1/7th of the Wii's install base?  That makes no sense.

isn't that problem avoided by packaging a M+ or 2 in the box?

and there are closer to 20 million or more M+'s out there
14 million copies of WSR all included at least one, and the most popular version of TW10 was the bundle.

It will be able to USE Wii MotionPlus, but there's no way it's going to require it.  This isn't Wii Fit, where the entire game itself is tied to a peripheral.  This is just a party game with random events.

If it require WMP I'll be very surprised.

Once again, if they require it, it will be packed in. Not like you buy the game, realize that it needs M+ then have to go back to the store to buy M+'s. They could easily just bundle in 2 and then assume that you have atleast 3 since this game is aimed directly at the same people that bought the Wii for WiiSports and also the 14+ million people that bought WSR.