Sega Calls Wii An "Expensive Board Game"

Nathan Meunier

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Sega Calls Wii An "Expensive Board Game"



Though non-gamers dig the Wii, Sega's Darren Williams feels it's quickly becoming "the most expensive board game on earth."

The Wii may have attracted new audiences to gaming, but Sega believes it's getting harder to make games stick on the console. Speaking recently to GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/darren-williams-part-one], Williams, Sega A&R's head of content, had plenty to say about the Wii and the hurdles the game industry is facing in the coming year.

Williams doesn't deny Nintendo's console is dominating the market - he noted Sega had great success with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - yet he said the Wii market is confusing. Official statistics place the average age of Wii ownership at a lot higher than it likely is, he said. According to Williams, the industry is looking to the Xbox 360 and PS3 to broaden their appeal.

"I think on one hand the Wii has become the most expensive board game on Earth," he said. "It's the kind of thing that families will play at Christmas, and probably won't play again throughout the remainder of the year."

Sega is backing software on the Wii with titles it hopes will appeal to slightly older gamers who get pangs of nostalgia over classic properties. He said the market exists and needs to be served, but it's risky. Much of the Nintendo's console's success is due to the physical experience it provides, according to Williams. "The Wii is great fun because it's a very physical machine," he said. "Any game that doesn't take advantage of the Wii's input methodology tends to be a little bit sneered upon."




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Somethingfake

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Of today I meant, I have a sega mega drive laying about here. They have no modern consoles, so I don't think they much in the way to criticise.
 

AceDiamond

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Sega: Well let's see we kicked our own ass out of the console-making biz...let's see if we can't kick our own ass out of software development too...

Seriously, big fucking hypocrisy to say this after you made friggin "Sonic and Mario at the Olympic Games"
 

RAWKSTAR

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I remember years back when there was the NES vs all the machines sega could through out and expansions for them likes the 32X (Bloody hell) and the sega CD, and look who was right there... Maybe sega shouldn't complain about something they couldn't top them selves.
 

raemiel

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At the risk of being facetious I must say: maybe if Sega made a decent game that wasn't trying to suck some life out of an already dehydrated corpse of Sonic they might find more success and better attatchment rates to their games so people wouldn't only play them during christmas.
 

DiamondJim

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Agreed with the aforementioned hypocrisy. Genesis was a blast, but... yeah, where are you today? Hanging by a thread to your dying hedgehog?

Sega should shut their collective mouths until they do something worth merit (recently).
 

Killerbunny001

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Bah, correct me if I`m wrong but this is a lot of hot air OR the legendary: "quick say something controversial maybe someone will remember us".
 

ward.

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That feels like it was quoted out of context.

He is however correct but being an expensive boardgame doesn't stop it from making nintendo filthy rich.
 

Signa

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The only thing that is holding the Wii back is developers like Sega. If some one got their act together, they could make some pretty sweet Wii games. All we get instead is lackluster party games from every no-name dev on the planet.
 

Fanboy

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It is a board game; It's called monopoly!

Sega should know since they already lost that game to Nintendo.
 

PureChaos

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which gaming company nearly went bankrupt on many occasions? also, i have a wii and i play it most days, not just at christmas!
 

Trace2010

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Okay,

1) It is true...the Wii is most fun as a multiplayer console.

2) The Wii (if it doesn't come out with better single player games) will end up losing out.

3) However, Nintendo STILL has POKEMON...they will never be going anywhere.
 

asinann

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The Wii is a gimmick system and is losing developers. Games that are made for all of the big three systems have to be almost completely remade to work on the Wii because Nintendo wants their motion sensitive crap included in every game. I don't play games to be active, I play them because I want to get fatter and fatter until I eventually tilt the Earth's axis because I'm so bloody fat.
P.S. Pokemon while an ok game was ruined by the cartoon (that still runs somehow even though I don't know anyone who lets their kids watch it.)
 

Helmet

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Trace2010 said:
Okay,

1) It is true...the Wii is most fun as a multiplayer console.
I think that's entirely a matter of opinion. I think the damn thing is stupid, myself. Haven't played one in probably a year. No regreta, either.
 

Cheshire Cat

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I had a Wii, I played Zelda:TP, then the Wii sat gathering dust for months until I sold it last week... It's an awesome machine or at least an awesome idea, but there just isn't enough non-shovelware games on it...
All I see is huge quantities of thrown together generic wave-arms-about multiplayer crap with maybe one or two GOOD single-player games and those are Ninty's rinse-and-repeats like Zelda, Mario and Metroid...

My 360 gets occasional use with it's exclusives like Fable 2 and Lost Odyssey and others like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and GTA4, but for the main part I'm still getting all my games on PC (Fallout 3, Saint's Row 2, C&C Red Alert 3) for the fact that on my 3+ year old machine my games still look better than the consoles best efforts and I don't have to pay £40-60 for a game or pay for mods for the game and online playing.

PC Gaming dead? Pffft, Yeah Whatever...
 

Trace2010

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Helmet said:
Trace2010 said:
Okay,

1) It is true...the Wii is most fun as a multiplayer console.
I think that's entirely a matter of opinion. I think the damn thing is stupid, myself. Haven't played one in probably a year. No regreta, either.
I am sorry, I need to rephrase my point:

1) "You will have the most fun while playing the Wii in a multiplayer experience."

Sorry, re-read my post...it didn't make sense to me either.
 

Elurindel

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I wonder which board game Manhunt 2 is supposed to be, especially as you can use the wiimote like a knife...