That's a damn fine question. I'd like to say that the DS was what determined the Wii's direction, but the Wii's success helped spike the DS into the position it ultimately went it, at least in the West. The games like Brain Age and Nintendogs all came out before the Wii was ever released, but I seem to remember the commercials with Beyonce, Liv Tyler, and Lisa Kudrow all coming out after the Wii became a super hit.
Like you said though that was the best synergy between two consoles that the world has ever seen, and likely will ever see. Going forward console convergence is going to end anything like that. Plus I don't see Sony doing handheld again, and frankly I don't see Nintendo doing two systems again either.
Yeah great question and great system symbiosis. I'd say that the Wii helped the DS in this regard. I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't done similar advertising with the Wii U and 3DS. They should have Miley Cyrus licking the Wii U controller and twerking up against Mario.
The DS convinced me to try new control methods, which later on made me a lot more open minded about possibilities of motion controls. Without the DS, I probably would have been a lot more skeptical of the Wii. I can't say if that was true for other people or not, though.
The big difference with the Wii-mote was that it was in the format of the most famililar item of technology i nthe western world -- the TV remote. They even made the nunchuk optional (for the most part).
What this thread reminds me is that DS wasn't particularly successful till mario kart and advance wars. Also remember DS Phat?
So that's 3 out of 4 Nintendo consoles with bad first years?
First came the DS and the whole touching is good campaign. It was the first time touching was used as control method by a dedicated gaming console.
With that came the whole "let's simplify controls and make them more intuitive so everyone can be a gamer". The Wii was designed with that philosophy in mind.
gamingeek said:What this thread reminds me is that DS wasn't particularly successful till mario kart and advance wars. Also remember DS Phat?
So that's 3 out of 4 Nintendo consoles with bad first years?
I've still got one. Wanna see?
I need to count how many Nintendo handhelds I have one of these days
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
dunno
bugsonglass said:First came the DS and the whole touching is good campaign. It was the first time touching was used as control method by a dedicated gaming console.
...
Actually the game.com beat it by 7 years on that front.
aspro said:bugsonglass said:First came the DS and the whole touching is good campaign. It was the first time touching was used as control method by a dedicated gaming console.
...
Actually the game.com beat it by 7 years on that front.
This is such a "comic-book guy" comment.
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
No, CBG would say, "Well I guess that's true, if you had a time machine, and went to 1997 and destroyed Tiger-Bandai's game.com. But oh, wait, you don't".
I have one tiny bit of nerd knowledge more than this morning thanks to you guys.
aspro said:No, CBG would say, "Well I guess that's true, if you had a time machine, and went to 1997 and destroyed Tiger-Bandai's game.com. But oh, wait, you don't".
LOL, awesome.
By the way would I be right in assuming you have one of those? Or have you been "suspicious " of handhelds from the start?
___
Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Shall I touch you, Aspro?
bugsonglass said:aspro said:No, CBG would say, "Well I guess that's true, if you had a time machine, and went to 1997 and destroyed Tiger-Bandai's game.com. But oh, wait, you don't".
LOL, awesome.
By the way would I be right in assuming you have one of those? Or have you been "suspicious " of handhelds from the start?
I have two of them (the original model and the refinement) and about 20 games for it.
I don't think either one aided the other really. The DS would have been huge on its own, and so would the Wii. The DS hit before smartphones and tablets went mainstream, it was the kind of thing you'd get your kids to keep them quiet (all of them at least one, so there would be no bickering). That position was further cemented by games like Pokemon and Nintendogs. Brain Training convinced mum to get one too.
The Wii grabbed mainstream attention from the go, with Wii Sports and then swooned actual gamers with the classic Nintendo stuff (and Excite truck). It's a console that could be enjoyed by the whole family.
Both the DS and Wii originated from the same philosophy, and that philosophy caught on big. To say one helped the other sell in a significant way would be stretching it in my opinion, although the effect, if existant, can't be measured.
The chicken.
The egg.
SupremeAC said:I don't think either one aided the other really. The DS would have been huge on its own, and so would the Wii. The DS hit before smartphones and tablets went mainstream, it was the kind of thing you'd get your kids to keep them quiet (all of them at least one, so there would be no bickering). That position was further cemented by games like Pokemon and Nintendogs. Brain Training convinced mum to get one too.
The Wii grabbed mainstream attention from the go, with Wii Sports and then swooned actual gamers with the classic Nintendo stuff (and Excite truck). It's a console that could be enjoyed by the whole family.
Both the DS and Wii originated from the same philosophy, and that philosophy caught on big. To say one helped the other sell in a significant way would be stretching it in my opinion, although the effect, if existant, can't be measured.
It's the Apple paradigm. Get 'em to buy an iPod, they'll consider an iPhone, get 'em to buy and iPhone maybe they'll give up Windows.
It's about producing an ecosystem that is familiar and removing the stigma from buying a dedicated game device.
aspro said:It's the Apple paradigm. Get 'em to buy an iPod, they'll consider an iPhone, get 'em to buy and iPhone maybe they'll give up Windows.
It's about producing an ecosystem that is familiar and removing the stigma from buying a dedicated game device.
that can apply to all previous Nintendo consoles and handhelds. It's not specific to the Wii/DS situation. Get them to play Mario on an handheld, they'll want Mario on a home console.
Here's a question for you guys.
How much did the DS aid Wii sales? Or did it work the other way around? Both systems had massive take-up from markets that prior had shown no interest in gaming.
So do you think somemom played Wii Sports, liked it then say the Lisa Kudrow ads and bought a DS and Brain Age?
It was possibly the best synergy/ symbiosis since peanut butter and jelly.