Ron Schenone

Wii Doesn’t Need HD Because Consumers Don’t Want It?

Posted by on Jan 17, 2010 | 6 Comments

Last week I wrote about the Wii and its deal with Netflix to stream movies. The thinking was that the Wii would also be offering HD to compliment the Netflix experience, but that doesn’t seem to be high on Nintendo’s list of what the Wii consumer wants.

In what I find are unbelievable statements, the CEO of Nintendo of America states that:

Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime has been talking about the streaming service that is coming to the Wii.

Reggie went on CNBC and said that Wii owners won’t miss the HD content available on the other game consoles via Netflix that the Wii won’t be capable of streaming. He said, ” …there is really no loss for the Wii consumer.”

He continued saying, “But, even more importantly than that, the consumer has voted. Over 26 million consumers have bought a Wii. The consumer is saying, for them, the quality of the visual is not nearly as important as the overall entertainment, the overall value of that experience and that is really, what has propelled us. In terms of what the future holds, we’ve gone on record to say the next step for Nintendo in terms of home consoles will not be simply to make it HD, but to add more and more capability and we’ll do that when we totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii and we are nowhere near doing that yet.”

Interesting statements. It seems that if consumers continue to buy the current Wii, Nintendo may have no intentions of upgrading its product. I believe an HD upgrade is overdue and would be a valuable asset to the Wii.

What about you? Does the Wii need a facelift?

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • http://ExpertsUpdate.com Danny Minick

    They have facelifted the Nintendo DS a billion times, I don’t see why Nintendo won’t do the same for the Wii.

  • http://kclowlife.com KC Lowlife

    I have to agree with Nintendo. I gamed on computers for over 2 decades now. Wii was the first console I bought and the price point was a big factor.

    I don’t have a HD TV. When my tube dies I’ll buy one. Even then, I’m not sure that my Wii would become my main interface for Netflix.

    Have you really thought about how the interface is going to work with no keyboard? Or perhaps you could buy an add on keyboard but since I already have a HTPC with a keyboard I don’t really feel the need to do that.

    To me the netflix streaming on wii will affect low budget consumers in most cases. College kids, very young professionals, etc. But Maybe I’m out of touch.

  • http://frugalcoder.us/ Tracker1

    I’d say in another 2 years, that a Wii v2 that has Blu-Ray built in, with media playback, and a upnp/dlna client would be a good point. Nintendo is right here, that the people buying the Wii aren’t doing it for the greatest graphics, but because the game play is so compelling.

  • http://www.Ian-E.com Ian E

    The Wii doesn’t sell because of it’s high-quality graphics, but rather the genuine concept.
    The Wii enables people of the older generation (those who didn’t play video games) to play games, and actually.

    Seriously.. ask you mom to play Xbox with you. Won’t happen.
    Wii? Probably, the concept is simple and with games like Wii Fit and Wii Tenis etc .. It enables those who previously have not considered buying one.
    Which is a huge lost revenue for many game makers, let alone console makers.

    Honestly, people aren’t really that into HD content as you would first think. Internet connections aren’t all that “yet”. (at least for streaming).

    When it comes to HD games, people like that, but as long as the game “kicks butt” there is no real need for HD.
    I find myself playing older games, such as Super Mario World and such A LOT!

    Also, you /can/ play “The Wii” in full HD with an emulator.
    Not condoning piracy or anything here, I do it all the time (but with the games I own!)

    Ian
    @calif0rnian

  • koongfu

    I agree with the CEO and KC Lowlife, I was a PC gamer for long time, my first console is a Wii and I don’t miss high quality graphics, I just want funny games not too complex, HD is not needed for that.

  • Ben

    Well, HD would be nice…but nowhere near necessary, for me at least, as I don’t have an HD or even flat-screen TV to play it on!!! I would prefer better game play then better hardware. As long as Nintendo keeps making awesome Mario, Zelda, Metroid and more titles, I’m a dedicated Nintendo gamer.

    Oh, and about the facelifting thing – only until now you could store games onto the DS (with the DSi) but the Wii had downloadable games from the start – if there is no way (which there does not seem to be) to transfer all of your old games to a new facelifted console, it would SERIOUSLY annoy gamers, and you would even have to leave some of your old game data behind.