Sony and Microsoft could have killed the Wii before it would save Nintendo

The midnight launch of the Wii U is a perfect time to reflect on the craze, six years ago, surrounding its predecessor, and the industry-transforming success of the Wii. And there really is no finer story you could read about that than what Rob Crossley has written for CVG.

Microsoft and Sony both had their shots at acquiring the motion control technology that would make their consoles second- and-third place to Nintendo. Had either done so, it could have been the end of console making for Nintendo, whose GameCube was in dire straits.

[ritsuka666]

Awn, how totally unprofessional of Sony. Not that I'm surprised that they didn't want this guy's technology, but seriously... Sony could be a little less douchey about it.

[-Mika-]

That guy was probably exaggerating. Sony is a really nice company.They probably let him down easy.

[GreenRanger]

There's no such thing as a "really nice company."

[Meep]

"That guy was probably exaggerating. Sony is a really nice company. They probably let him down easy."

I......you....just read what you type...Do you think exec's at Sony are going to say "Oh hey man im sorry we didn't back up your idea, here is a coupon for a Sony TV and cookies on the way out"?

[BlackWolf]

You really think a company would not say something like that, only to make gamers skeptical of the technology the Wii was releasing? And most of all, do you really think a company would later talk well about their competitors?
Come on!! Don't be such a fanboy, please. Get real.

[Deku-Johnny]

Sony is one of the biggest douche companies in the industry.

[Information Minister]

Sony is a douche company compared to what? It's not like he got a much warmer welcome at Microsoft.

Quote from Tom Quinn about his meeting with Microsoft's Xbox division: "But the meeting went terribly. The attitude I got from them was that if they wanted to do motion control, they would do it themselves and make a better job of it. I mean, they were just rude. In fact, the meeting went so terribly that one of the executives came over to me afterwards and apologized on behalf of others. I remember him saying how this was not how Microsoft should be engaging with potential partners."

If you can put your bias aside for a minute, you'll quickly realize that the vast majority of companies in this business cares about money first and foremost, not about the people.

[Instigator]

You should read the actual story Kotaku got this from:

http://www.computerandvideo...

Quote: "We were in a tiny little room with a big PC projector and Kutaragi comes in, introduces himself, sits down and - I swear this is true - he closed his eyes the moment I started showing my pitch. He never opened them until I had finished.

It was awkward, very awkward, but I still asked him for feedback and he said, 'well, can you produce this for 50 cents?'"

That's not letting someone down easy no matter how you look at it. Microsoft wasn't much nicer to this guy, but then again all companies has acted douchey at some point.

[ssb3173]

If Nintendo were out of the gaming business then this world would be a much darker place. As Mr Iwata stated, if they stop making hardware, they stop making software as well. Not being able to play Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Mario etc anymore would really be a depressing sight.

[Yodagamer]

Not to mention most of the games left would be grey lifeless shooters. I mean i love the occasional shooter, but man i would be playing games alot less if nintendo died out.

[killerhog]

Yeah because jrpgs, mmo's (dc universe, free realms and dust 514), racing, adventure, hack-n-slash, create play and share, wrgs, horror, open-world, car combat, puzzle etc. doesn't exist especially if Nintendo falls? Gotcha.

Oh silly me, I forgot. Nintendo is the inventor of all, if they fall they take every genre with them since they created everything.

Oh my god I'm scared, how would Sony/I/everyone live on!! Think of the children!!! Because only Nintendo offers different genre games, but last I check, it was Zelda, Mario, metroid and some jrpgs. But oh my god Sony!! The company who introduce a few new genres like "create, play, share".

Really dude you'll be playing games a lot less because they're mostly shooters or because you don't own other consoles? Especially a ps3?

[OneAboveAll]

Nope. I'm sure MS and Sony would acquire the IP's. Much like they have access to Sonic and other old games.

Honestly, i couldn't care less. I used to love Nintendo but now i'm 26 and the lack of mature games has turned me away along with motion controls.

[Zodiac]

How would MS and Sony gain the IP's? They have been developed in house for 26 years.

SEGA is a third party developer now. that's how they can get Sonic games on playstation and xbox.

If Nintendo leaves, then every IP owned by Nintendo leaves the gaming world forever.

That is a big deal even if you don't like Nintendo anymore.

[jbgamer]

Zombie u, ninja gaiden 3 razor's edge, microsoft sensors conker's live, and reloaded, sony sensored ps2 version of bmx xxx, nintendo did not. Any questions?

[BlackWolf]

That's completely out of question. A company like Nintendo wouldn't give their best IP's to the competition if they stop producing hardware and software. Their games are produced on house, so if that goes down, all goes down. Sony and MS would have to go dry to pay for those IP's if they ever were for sale (not gonna happen IMO).

[Y_5150]

Well we will soon have no more twinkies.
Lets hope Mario will not join Mr. Twinkie.

[tigertron]

I doubt Nintendo would stop making software if they exited the hardware business. Just look at Sega, they're still making games even after the death of the Dreamcast.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

To be honest I thought the Wii sucked big time it was such a let down for me personally, I know I'm going to get a ton of disagrees for saying that but I just thought it was swamped in shovelware and the motion controls felt shoehorned into most of the games, plus there was no graphical leap like past Nintendo consoles.

But I wouldn't want Nintendo to go out of business because of one console I didn't like, I loved my Gamecube, N64, SNES and NES I've had great fun with them and gaming just wouldn't of been the same without them.
I hope Nintendo and Sony are around for a long time because for me personally they bring the best gaming experiences and have been doing for a long time now.

[schlanz]

Main problem with the Wii was the same problem with the gamecube, namely the lack of strong 3rd party support. Which is probably because the core crowd somewhat abandoned the Wii for the more powerful consoles with more robust online features.

Still, the console was well worth it imo for Nintendo games (skyward sword, metroid prime 3, brawl, galaxy 1 & 2, kart, kirby, dk county, a few others) and the small amount of quality 3rd party games (xenoblade especially.. my favorite jrpg of all time)

Definitely do not want to see Nintendo ever exit the games industry, and even if the lack of 3rd party AAA titles continues I'll still end up buying their systems if they keep making such great games.

[Kennny555]

ppl didnt realize that during the N64 and especially the Gamecube life time, Nintendo made most of their money off Pokemom ie movies, merchandising and every little thing they can milk off it.

[Sovereign59]

"Sony and Microsoft could have killed the Wii before it would save Nintendo"
Anyone else have a really rough time trying to make sense of that title? It's like a mixture of time tenses or something... "could have killed" to me implies past and "would save Nintendo" seems like an event that could take place in the future but the author is implying that Nintendo was already saved by the Wii. Maybe it's proper and I've just not seen much of this before. It's like saying (don't read this if you haven't seen season 4 of Dexter because I'm going to use that as an example) Dexter could have killed Trinity before he would kill Rita. I wouldn't say that. Should I say that? I would say Dexter could have killed Trinity before he killed Rita. Actually I'd put a few more words into it to add more clarity, Dexter could have killed Trinity long before Trinity had the chance to kill Rita. But should I just be saying Dexter could have killed Trinity before he would kill Rita?
ANYWAYS, I am maybe a bit too focused on this and should just go to bed.

[bubblebeam]

Way to turn it into a Dexter fandom session lol ;)

[Sovereign59]

It was the first idea for an example that came to mind. The fact that the article had the work "killed" in the title may have helped this.

[Deku-Johnny]

I imagine Sony and Microsoft would quit the gaming business if they had a failed console whereas Nintendo have enough cash to come back and try again.