Nintendo Wii

The Nintendo Wii, it was a cultural phenomenon that changed gaming forever. Everyone and their mom were a gamer when this system was on the market. A platform made for accessibility, inclusivity, and fun. Amidst the early 2000s, Nintendo was falling behind the competition, Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 2 had consistently outsold Nintendo’s previous system, the GameCube. Nintendo’s answer to this was a blue ocean marketing strategy. “Nintendo changed the game. Nintendo came up with the Wii. The console had worse graphics and a slower processor than its rivals, yet it destroyed them in sales, and it drove the company to new heights of popularity, praise, and profit” (Kirk). Rather than try to compete with what was available and make the most powerful and advanced system, they opted for what was new and unique at the time. Hence the Nintendo Wii was born with the idea of being accessible, inclusive, and simplistic, whilst still being a fun experience.

At the core of the Wii was simplicity, which helped propel it to become what might the most inclusive gaming system to date. While many traditional controllers were and still are available for the Wii, it was meant to be controlled through the Wii Remote, colloquially known as the WiiMote, which also had an optional nun chuck attachment. The WiiMote aimed to simplify the complicated control schemes of modern games by having fewer buttons but also allowing for motion-controlled video games. Jesper Juul, a video game designer and researcher states, “the Wii home console is what Juul describes as “mimetic-interface” gaming: the system mirrors the player’s movements” (Codename Revolution 2). By having this overly simplified control scheme where the players movement is replicated in game, it allowed for not only children but everyone to experience the Wii. This is one of the core reasons to why the Wii is such a great system for young children, there is no major learning curve to control the game, it is a matter of simple physical motions being replicated within the game. Not only is it simple enough for children but for everyone, teenagers, parents, grandparents, etc.

In 2006, video games wouldn’t typically be viewed as a social activity. At this point in time, video games were all heading in a similar direction, a singular local player with online play. This would change with the introduction of the Wii, a new in-person social gaming experience. Whilst many of the Wii’s games did support online play, most were a local multiplayer experience. Taken from Codename Revolution,

Viewed one way, all of the mimetic-interface games for the Wii are multiplayer, in the sense that they are designed to be played in social settings, where others in the room can at least watch and interact with the player, if not take turns playing. The on-screen game is the occasion and pretext for an off-screen party, to use Nintendo’s phrase. (Codename Revolution 134)

The Wii is a system that strives off having more than one player. As a rule of thumb, the more players, the more fun. This makes it a very great system for children, it’s not just a video game, it’s a social experience. Whilst being good for a kid and their friends, it’s also a great activity for parents and their children. As a kid that grew up playing video games, Wii Sports was the only video game I can recall my parents wanting to play with me. This has to do with it being such a unique and simplistic game for the time. For example, baseball, our favorite sport from Wii Sports, requires the pitcher to do a throwing motion, and the batter to do a swinging motion with the remote. That more or less is all the input required to play this game. Wii Sports is an incredibly simple game, however that simplicity is what makes it so great.

Throughout the years, Nintendo systems have always been very competitively priced, and the Wii is no exception. “It was, at $249, cheaper than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which retailed at $299 and $499 respectively” (Kirk). This lower price helped more people access the Wii and boost its popularity to lengths much further than its competitors. As of 2013, the Wii was discontinued, however decent price for a Wii now a days would be ~$50, making it a great option for young children.

Anyone that was a kid or teenager during the late 2000s has definitely played the Wii at some point. The Wii is not only a great system for kids, but even for adults too. The simplistic, yet fun nature of the Wii’s motion controls allow virtually anyone to be a gamer. Nintendo’s choice to operate in a blue ocean market also helped them keep the price down and the product accessible to most. Various factors such as simplicity, inclusivity, accessibility all help the Wii to be the ultimate family game system.

Works Cited

Jones, Steven E., et al. Codename Revolution : the Nintendo WII Platform / Steven E. Jones and

George K. Thiruvathukal. MIT Press, 2012. https://suny-new.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01SUNY_NEW/bih0dd/alma996680216604844

Espineli, M. (2019, May 13). The most influential games of the 21st century: Wii Sports.

GameSpot. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-most-influential-games-of-the-21st-century-wii/1100-6466810/

Kirk, C. (2012, October 22). How the Wii saved Nintendo and changed gaming forever. Slate

Magazine. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://slate.com/business/2012/10/nintendo-wii-the-console-that-beat-the-xbox-and-playstation-and-saved-nintendo.html