MS exec questions long term potential for Nintendo Wii

[wraggster]

via gamesindustry

Chris Satchell, general manager of Microsoft's Game Development Group, has questioned whether the Wii has got what it takes to keep gamers' interests in the long run.

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Satchell said, "I think the Wii is of interest, I'm not sure what its long term potential is. It's a super-strong for Nintendo's first-party IP, but beyond that?

"I get that it is getting more developer support and that's good, but I just don't know if it's going to be that compelling."

The Wii hit UK shops earlier this month, racking up sales of more than 105,000 units over launch weekend. That makes it the fastest-selling home console in history, beating Xbox 360 - which sold 70,000 units in the first few days after its launch last year.

But according to Satchell, it's still to early to tell whether the Wii will be the winner in the end. "It's going to start very fast, it's a cool thing that's different, but I?m not sure how big it's going to be in the long term," he said.

Satchell also questioned whether Microsoft's other rival in the console space is taking the correct approach when it comes to online services and user-created content, stating, "I don?t think Sony has the right focus. I'm not even sure, looking at how they execute, that they even think that it's important.

"Like providing people with tools so that they can be creative; they certainly don't seem to do it in their professional space, so I don't really believe they're going to do it in other spaces."

He observed that it takes "many many years of technology investment and many tens of millions of dollars" to get an online service like Xbox Live up and running, adding, "They're not chasing a fixed target, they're chasing us constantly innovating.

"So I think that's where we do something different - we desperately care about the game development platform. How you enable the developers, how you give them a great software platform to build on. I don't think our competitors care in the same way; they have different interests," Satchell concluded.

[keith 2k7]

Webster I know thin my be irrelivant to this but I ran psp theme on my 1.5 psp and it rebooted itself then it came up a blue screen saying system settings lost press 0 to recover then I press 0 it reboots gets to the loading screen then the eact same blue recover screen comes on can you please help me?

[shadowprophet]

First sony says the wii is more of a novelty, and now microsoft, (like anyone even cares what they say)

Questions the long term success of the wii.

Sounds to me more like there underline concerns are how the hell did we lose out to them!!:rofl:

Classic, classic stuff :thumbup:

[Ewan]

they're chasing us constantly innovating.

This is just classic. I think I heard them say the same thing about Linux and Apple, though.

:thumbup:

[muffinman]

lol.

problem is you've got to agree with them i was glued to my wii for like 2 days now i've completed zelda its affect of coolness is kind of wearing off....

[dejkirkby]

Webster I know thin my be irrelivant to this but I ran psp theme on my 1.5 psp and it rebooted itself then it came up a blue screen saying system settings lost press 0 to recover then I press 0 it reboots gets to the loading screen then the eact same blue recover screen comes on can you please help me?

Wrong thread to post in at first and you have partially bricked your PSP.