OK time to face some hard realities about this industry. For some of you its not a hard reality at all, you'll just upgrade and move on with your lives. I won't for a while however, and many of you will at least be waiting for the kinks to be worked out.
The Wii U is right around the corner. So this thread is about wii support. And Lets be clear about what I mean when I say "support".
Sony has a good reputation for "supporting" their consoles well after there life span. Both the PS1 and PS2 saw many notable releases long after their succesors dropped on store shelves. Maybe nintendo will follow suit, though if history is telling not quite as well.... However support for a console now only conists of 1/3rd game releases. There are other matters at hand. Namely the fact that today's consoles are fully connected media devices that rely heavily on the internet. As a huge sega fan one of the most frustrating things about collecting for the Dreamcast was that it was the first console to truly focus on online gaming and media. Its irritating to see all the great games like Phantasy Star Online that are now all but pointless. Its a sad state of affairs the old cart consoles didn't have to worry about. At least not nearly as much (I promise not to leap into a lecture on the sega channel if you won't).
So even if we don't get ANY new games after the release of the Wii U, here is what I am most concerned about as a proud wi owner who doesn't want to upgrade any time soon:
How much longer till my Netflix account stops streaming to my favorite console?
How long till Call of Duty is....well lets face it freaking pointless because no one is really buying those games for the single player campaign (in fact I'm not sure some of the old ones like 3 even still have people playing)
How long till we stop voting, checking the news, keeping an eye on the weather through their wii? I know its a small feature few of us probably use but I think its kind of nice.
Here is a big one: How much longer do we have to download the virtual console games we have been eyeing before it all just disappears?
You get the point. How long do you guys think we have until the servers shut down and our wii is no longer connected? And how do you think that will effect the collecting aspect of the console? Do you think a lot of these games will significantly lose there fun factor without that connectivity?
The Wii U is right around the corner. So this thread is about wii support. And Lets be clear about what I mean when I say "support".
Sony has a good reputation for "supporting" their consoles well after there life span. Both the PS1 and PS2 saw many notable releases long after their succesors dropped on store shelves. Maybe nintendo will follow suit, though if history is telling not quite as well.... However support for a console now only conists of 1/3rd game releases. There are other matters at hand. Namely the fact that today's consoles are fully connected media devices that rely heavily on the internet. As a huge sega fan one of the most frustrating things about collecting for the Dreamcast was that it was the first console to truly focus on online gaming and media. Its irritating to see all the great games like Phantasy Star Online that are now all but pointless. Its a sad state of affairs the old cart consoles didn't have to worry about. At least not nearly as much (I promise not to leap into a lecture on the sega channel if you won't).
So even if we don't get ANY new games after the release of the Wii U, here is what I am most concerned about as a proud wi owner who doesn't want to upgrade any time soon:
How much longer till my Netflix account stops streaming to my favorite console?
How long till Call of Duty is....well lets face it freaking pointless because no one is really buying those games for the single player campaign (in fact I'm not sure some of the old ones like 3 even still have people playing)
How long till we stop voting, checking the news, keeping an eye on the weather through their wii? I know its a small feature few of us probably use but I think its kind of nice.
Here is a big one: How much longer do we have to download the virtual console games we have been eyeing before it all just disappears?
You get the point. How long do you guys think we have until the servers shut down and our wii is no longer connected? And how do you think that will effect the collecting aspect of the console? Do you think a lot of these games will significantly lose there fun factor without that connectivity?
