Power Button Podcast
Tip JarWii: Then And Now (Plus: Attempted Rationalizations!)
September 15, 2006
The gang over at Joystiq has put together a list of what Nintendo's Wii was originally supposed to do versus what it will finally be able to do. Confused? Basically we're looking at a list of broken and kept promises, although the p-word is a bit stronger of a word than I'd like to use in this instance. While the company did keep to their original ideas in some respects, a few things were pushed into 2007 or tossed to the curb entirely.
Then: The Wii could play DVDs via an unspecified and entirely nebulous dongle. The original console description reads: "Two Disc Formats, One Slot: Instead of a tray, a single, innovative, self-loading media bay will play both 12-centimeter optical discs used for the new system as well as Nintendo GameCube discs. Owners will have the option of equipping a small, self-contained attachment to play movies and other DVD content."
Now: Inserting a DVD into the system will likely produce a polite error message indicating a complete inability to play DVDs. Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan explains DVD playback was removed "in order to deliver the machine at a cheaper cost and because most people today already own DVD players." On the plus side, this reduces the amount of times we'll have to type a dubious word like "dongle."
Yeah, the DVD thing is probably for the best. It's probably safe to say that from a market standpoint everybody who wants a DVD player has one by now. I have three devices in my home that can play DVDs. Only one of those is a dedicated DVD player. I really don't need another right now. Here's another:
The Wii's Twilight Princess is still on track for launch, whereas the Gamecube (reminder: the platform the game was originally developed for) is forced to wait until December 11th. Sure, that makes sense. Not implementing a widescreen mode must be trickier than we were previously lead to believe.
Don't believe for a second that the GameCube version of Twilight Princess somehow needs a few extra weeks of work over the Wii version. This is classic marketing at work. By delaying the GameCube version of the game (which I'm surprised they're still going to release) the company ensures that if you want to play the new Zelda game as soon as possible, you'll buy a Wii. It's all about timing.
A quick glance at the confirmed launch party list reveals that Metroid Prime 3 has not been invited. It's been delayed until 2007, and no amount of pleasantly worded paragraphs can hide our resulting bitterness.
Another issue of timing, and again it's all about the Wii version of Twilight Princess. It's safe to say that Twilight Princess will be the big Wii game of 2006. That's the one that most everybody who buys a Wii will be picking up. Why release another guaranteed mega selling game at the same time? As much as we'd all like to believe that Nintendo ever seriously considered releasing Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, and - just for kicks - Super Mario Galaxy all on the same day, it was just never in the cards. We'll probably see Metroid in the spring of next year (where a few extra months of work will make it better) after the Twilight Princess buzz has settled.