When he’s not faking a defection to the IGN Xbox 360 site, IGN Wii editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina is busy making blog posts I consider worthy of Sony’s Press Relations page. People regularly defend this corporate blogger because “he really does love Nintendo,” but it’s all a wash when posts like his latest hit the Net.
In a stunning display of unabashed back-patting and inane pseudo-economics analysis, ol’ Cass breaks out the “is it bad to make a profit on a game console?” chestnut and reminds us that he thinks $200 would be much better.
I agree, it would be better. You know what else would make things better? If I had the ability to fly. And to see through things with X-Ray vision. And make my office furniture spontaneously turn into delicious edible treats that I could consume while firing off huffy, snark-filled posts about how much I disagree with the seizure-inducing IGN. Point is, we the rabble made the $200 a false reality by believing in our own hype. As I have said before, the $249 price point was set in stone the moment Nintendo said “will sell for no more than $250.” Get mad at yourself for believing the fantasy.
Key Casamassina point: Price is $50 too high at $250. While I absolutely hate the Apple/Nintendo comparison that has expectedly sprung up, I need to make one here out of necessity. When it comes to electronics, especially electronics whose goal is to become mainstream, the $250 price point doesn’t amount to spit. Once upon a time, iPods went for $399 or more, and people bought them. Today, they go from $79 to $349, and people buy them in droves. Regardless of what Microsoft says about the Zune and Apple’s shrinking market share, it’s Apple that people think of when buying music players, to the tune of more than 70% of the market. People will see the demos of the Wii, hear about it from friends like they did with Tracey Clark, and finally play it themselves. And just like the iPod, the hundreds of dollars they’ll have to spend won’t seem so bad. This is especially true when right next door in the store aisle sits a loud, obnoxious and even higher priced alternative that may or may not be overheating at the time. Oh, and the Wii includes a game that illustrates in simple terms how the system will play you say? You mean someone doesn’t have to explain to me how to use the console? It just works? Here’s my money and a first born child to be named later.
Second key point: We should be getting more controllers. There’s all this talk and crying about extra controllers these days, and how if Nintendo wanted to include the whole family, they’d have given us two, or four, or a dozen Wiimotes for the holidays in our Wii boxes. This argument is irrelevant, because it assumes that the person who owns the console is the sole proprietor. This is not anywhere near to what Nintendo has said its Blue Ocean strategy will entail. Not even close. Who is to say that my sister, or my dad or mom, or even my dog can’t go out and buy a Wiimote on their own? What’s stopping that? If I bought a Wii and had control over all the ways to interact with it, that is yet another layer of obstruction to getting everyone involved with the Wii. That’s what the small amount of memory is for in the controller, to make each Wiimote the property of the person who uses it. To personalize it to the point that they are carrying it over to a friend’s house to play their Wii. In this sense, Nintendo has done, again, exactly as advertised. When you see those four people playing WiiSports in those silly ads, those controllers are theirs. They contain their little Mii avatar, some personal info, and they belong to them. To say that I have control over their avatar and that their controller must remain with MY Wii console would defeat the purpose, and would make the Wii just like everything else available today. Rubbish.
Third key point: Bad release date. Do you honestly believe that a company that has confirmed it will be launching 4 million consoles without any incidents in manufacturing gives one single solitary thought about Sony right now? Sony, with its 400,000 units and history of outright lying to the consumer about anything it can? Nintendo doesn’t care about Sony or its release dates because, as The Wiikly has so eloquently pointed out, the company in the eyes of Nintendo is irrelevant. The PS3 release, an assured sell out, is a drop in the pond before the following Sunday when Nintendo will flashboil an entire ocean. The media blitz, online and off, will be incredible. You won’t recognize Nintendo in the coming months, and I suspect that is exactly the point.
So, maybe I’m jealous. Because some people get paid to write about Nintendo and I don’t, but I doubt it. I write here with no other goal in mind than to intelligently and passionately get the word out about Nintendo ”“ for better or worse. You introduce money and fame into that equation, well, you get the results you see in the link below.
That's a really good point about the controllers. I hadn't thought on it that way.
I agree: That's a good point that I had not seen anyone else make, that the controller is an extension of your online persona, almost like an Xbox LIVE account, but in physical form.
I've heard the point about everyone having their own controller a few times, and I think it's a great idea. It sure beats everyone buying four controllers!
A price equilibrium is set by what the market wants, which is subjective to the collective desires of people.SO, if people think its too high…guess what, to them, its too freaking high.Yes, I am putting my econ degree to use, sue me. Yes, my attorney salary can let me afford all these systems with their insane controllers, but its still too high for me.So, can we just get off this price topic already. If you think its worth it, buy it, if you dont think the Wii is worth it, wait for the price drop.This incessant posting by supporters and detracters of the price point hasen't changed a thing. Let's stop beating a dead horse.
Matt Cassamassina is the reason I don't go read IGN. It's a long time he makes stupid comments like this and he even claim to love Nintendo? I'm sick and tired of him.He seems to be as mainstream and stupid like the worse fanboy. And whilst he's in chief of Nintendo section on IGN, he doesn't seem to be fond of Nintendo that much.On the other hand, I TOTALLY agree with your post and especially with your conclusion. That is why I check Infendo.com every single day, listen every podcast (and loving it!) and I'm going to sign up to infendo boards right now.
FUCKIN EH! I was expecting the $250 price point therefore I am not surprised or upset, simply wet with anticipation for Wii.I read IGN and Matt's stuff and oh boy he gets me steaming, at times I think he hates Nintendo more then I hate Sony or Microsoft. I am an Apple, Panasonic, Nintendo guy. Matts stuff can be refreshing and there are some articles that make me shed a tear over some of the fights he has defending the big N. In the end I IGN is the only mainstream sight I check out on a daily basis, I like their info, and their opinions, until the hatred comes out and bad words which they are paid for. But overall your right I come to Infendo, and GoNintendo, and OnNintendo, and 4CR, etc cuz its run by fanboys like me who have this passion for a company out of Kyoto who started by stripping bark off a mulberry tree.Us true Nintendo fans cant be paid to be persuaded. I was with Nintendo for so called bad times (N64 and Cube) although I don't consider them bad times. I love all Nintendo has to offer.In the end Jack fans like you and me are persuaded by Nintendo not money
Matt doesn't HATE Nintendo..he jsut HATES the moves they do he sees as mistakes.It's what happens to fanboys who are dissapointed by there company/idol they love and only see doom…..I think there's a Star Wars saying that can sum that up…"Fear is the path of the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."
I think Matt had some valid points though. It seems day by day as we approach the release date of the Wii, it's luster is slowly starting to fade. Sorry for the lame cliche, but it's true. During the near end of the summer I was saying for sure to all my friends that I was going to get one. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I was going to buy one. People speculated an October release.Then the bad news just started flowing out. Released late Novemeber. $275.95 Cdn (or $250 USD). The Controllers will be close to $80 dollars Cdn for a Wiimote+Nunchuk. If that wasn't enough to turn me away from the Wii. More bad news comes out, region locking (ugh) even for GCN games, way over-priced virtual consoles games ($10 bucks for a N64 game what idiot…), the fact that it doesn't even play DVD movies! I know it's a gaming console but face it, we will already have it plugged in, it's just convenient to use a gaming console (ala PS2).So now all the excitement I had for the Wii is gone. What is it now? It's just a gimmick. An overpriced gimmick. Will I stil get one? Yeah probably. It just sucks that everything we wanted about the Wii is gone, and we are forced defend it. Like you just did in your huge article.
Everything "we" wanted about the Wii is gone? I don't think so. Maybe you wanted a DVD player. I didn't. Maybe you wanted 200 dollar system and 30 dollar controllers. I didn't, or rather I didn't expect them to be that low. Such dreams are wishful thinking. So don't go saying "everything we wanted about the Wii is gone", because you don't speak for the majority. I'd be willing to bet you're one of the very small vocal minority as well.The point I'm trying to get to is this. From the beginning we were told the system would be all about games. Yet people theorized all these others things it was going to do. Some were just assinine. Then the controller was revealed. The idea of playing = believing was put forth. Hell for me, seeing people play = believing. I see people in the videos sprouting up across the net playing the Wii, and you know what I see? Smiles. I see people laughing, enjoying themselves immensely, and glowing when they have to give up the remote, wishing they could have a little longer hands-on. It's the kind of thing that doesn't happen often in this industry anymore: originality. It's a bold fucking move, and it's paying off in spades, especially if 3rd parties follow suit. It's about games, and not only that, it's about revolutionizing HOW WE GAME. Not video tech, not multi-functionality (though we are getting some nifty features via the net, if you recall), and not keeping up with the Joneses. It's about having fun. Plain and simple.So while you might have been expecting something else, whatever it was was not in line with what Nintendo was intent on bringing forth. I haven't even played the damn thing and I'd go as far as to say you won't even remember why you said "everything we wanted from the Wii is gone" come its release.AND, on a last note about the controllers being an extension of your gaming persona, I totally agree. My wife and I each will have one for ourselves, and we'll be bringing them to friends' houses who have Wiis. I love it.
Fanboys have gone too far when they are quoting Yoda. (look above)
Sometimes I wonder if people really read the article and reference it as they write their responses. I didn't get an agry tone from that article in the least! Nowhere did Matt ever say that he "hates" anything, and in fact, even after talking about the parts that he disagrees with, he then says "Even with all of this being true, it's not as though I believe Nintendo has made some crippling mistake. In truth, I think Wii is going to perform phenomenally this holiday" and goes on to laud Wii Channels. You've got to realize that everyone has a little problem with something, even if they love it. Nobody's fanboy love should blind them (though so often it does). If you ask me, Matt approached the issue very fairly considering that it was strictly an opinion piece – to quote, he "tripped over a reader post that asked the question, what does Matt think of the Wii's price and release date? … it just never occurred to me to editorialize about them. And since it's probably a little late for a full-blown article, here we are on the blogs." You can agree with him or not agree with him. Nowhere in this piece did he portend authority. Meanwhile, you put a good point out there about the controllers. That's something not many people seem to recognize, but it's part that I'm looking forward to – heck, I might even do a little outside personalization on mine (think custom charms to thread through the wristband slot, and the rest of it plastered with stickers – if you fanboys don't find that terribly blasphemous :P). But I think Matt makes plenty of good points from the view of his personal expectations and the way he sees the game market and consumer reaction. I do agree that gamers who are stressing about the price should blame only themselves for the hype, but Matt isn't stressing; he's just giving a hypothetical nod to how it could have worked 'better' at a $200 price point. He acknowledges that "selling Wii for $249 through the holiday is a smart business move. As much as I'd prefer it were cheaper, even I recognize that. … when the competition finally does make an aggressive move to lower the price of their systems, Nintendo can drop the price of Wii to the magic sub-$200 point and go from there." Nothing is trashed or cemented in his piece.I recognize that yours is an opinion piece as well, and everyone is going to have a different take on Matt. Just don't let yourself fall into a hypocritical loop (not that you are) by flying off at the handle.
*starts slow clap*Wow, delicious. I ate that entire article up. Now Matt is trying to put a horrible tasting article down my throat? Good thing I ate this article before that. But enough with the food here. When I grow up, I wanna be the Nintendo editor for IGN! That would be fun.
Matt should just shut up, or f off, either way will make me a happy camper (camping outside of his house that is! gonna getcha!)The Wii wont stay 250 forever, Matt, and the mainstream non-gamers Nintendo is aiming for wont just run to the stores when its released, perhaps some will get a Wii, but not all. Nintendo just doesnt want to lose money on this thing, which is their right, as a business.Soon the Wii will be sold for 200USD without a profit lose, and then they can fully start to aim the non-gamers.And I dont even care about his other points, I just wanted to react to this shit.-Fank
I thought almost everything Matt said was valid to an extent.Let me know when you here the "pop" of when you head exits Nintendo's ass.While I do not like Matt (in fact I think he's a big douche) he stated his opinions and gave logical reasons for them. Since it was not what YOU wanted to hear, you all decided to bitch about him and dream to impeach him from the IGN Nintendo Channel.I would rather have someone in charge if the Nintendo Channel that looks at things critically, and doesn't praise Nintendo just for blessing us with games.
I'll be the first to say it that Matt Cassama-whatever is sort of a douchebag in terms of perspective.He bullied the DS, wimpered on the HDTV exclusion, and bulked at the price.The DS is a mass success, beating out the PSP (which he claimed had a clean win with the DS), the HD thing seems to have proven itself as most aren't too worried about it (other than Matt, and a few other people), and then we have the price. Boo hoo. You complain about lack of HD output (for a higher priced TV) yet you don't wanna pay the $50 extra.So let me get this straight. You'll buy an expensive HDTV, but you are upset at the console being $250? Nice, Matty. As for the "does $250 equal the worth" arguement: Do you think your HDTV is REALLY worth what you paid?Idiocy applies to a few IGN writers. I remember reading Bozon's Blog where he stated that Nintendo commited suicide with the "Wii" name. Now it seems that harsh blanket statement has been forgotten so quickly.
Can we please stay on topic here? This article isn't about Matt's previous articles or any of his prior opinions, it was a reaction to one single piece that he had written, so let's focus on that one. I would hardly say that he was "upset at the console being $250". He was making a statement about general consumer reaction and how that would affect Nintendo in the market of people who walk into a store and decide whether to buy it. He has said he will be picking one up, and he is not personally balking at the price. Idiocy applies to writers at every major gaming blog. I have yet to read a blog and find that every writer is completely satisfactory, and you won't either, because not all of them are going to agree with you. If you can't handle that he has a different perspective on things, then if you don't have anything nice or worthwhile to the discussion to say, then don't say anything at all. Good call, Frisby. Post before that? You say "The Wii wont[sic] stay 250[sic] forever, Matt … Soon the Wii will be sold for 200USD without a profit lose[sic]," which means you missed the part of the article where Matt said exactly that. But it doesn't really matter, because your next statement, "I dont even care about his other points, I just wanted to react to this shit", invalidates your argument anyway.
A bit off topic, but do the wiimotes still only have 6kb or so of memory? for 40 dollars, they should be able to stick at least 256mb of super cheap flash memory in there. Plus, if it is around 256-512mb, it might be able to be used as a memory card as well.
I agree with All Your Lost Socks on this one. I seriously can't believe you wrote that long of a blog entry on what Matt thought. It was $50?! Give me a break, dude. And he wasn't even that upset about the whole thing. It was him talking from his wallet's perspective, that's all. How you got people to waste their time by reading this blog entry is the bigger problem.$50… aye carumba.
Personally, I was raised to respect people's opinions and try and find the logical explanation in what people have to say. I think that both Matt and Jack have some capital points (though to be honest, I personally agree with Jack more). I dont have anything particular against Matt or his opinions, especially because he backed them up, as Jack did as well. I think the people who have decided to proclaim Matt as a "douchebag" because they dont agree with his points is immature and insane.My opinion lies most strongly with Jack's argument on the controller price point (I actually never looked at it that way). He definately makes a better point than Matt. Put simply, if another person in the household wants to play with their own Wiimote (be it multiplayer or just so they can have their own identity in the home), then they should scrape up the money and buy it themselves. In my house, I really dont have a use for more than one controller because nobody in my house plays video games but me, and I dont often invite people over. I'm hoping Wii might change that, but I doubt it. My parents take themselves way too seriously. I think there will be other people in the same situation, so jacking up the price of the release bundle just so some people can have multiplayer experiences that others dont have any use for just doesn't make any sense.The price point was expected and anyone who hoped for something cheaper should blame themselves, not Nintendo.The release date thing I'm on the fence about, but probably because I'd like to have Wii in my living room ASAP. But to be honest, there aren't even going to be enough PS3s here in the states (or anywhere for that matter) to come close to outselling Wii. Enough said.I do wish that Matt hadn't said anything about the Wii not playing DVDs. We asked for a great game system, and that's what we are getting.Those are my opinions. I dont feel like labeling anyone as a douchebag tonight, sorry.
Seems to me that no matter how cheap Nintendo made the Wii, or how early they released it, it never would have been cheap enough or early enough to shut up all the whiners and haters out there.Seriously. If they HAD set the Wii at $199 like all the whiners wish they had, then everyone would just turn around and say "Well, it REALLY should have been $149 if they wanted the 'impulse purchase' factor."As for wanting it earlier, that's just because people are impatient and think "omg I want to play it right now" automatically means "omg Nintendo should have released it tomorrow, what idiots".Sad times.
Wow. This basically hits every spot I was aiming for. I couldn't have said it better.
@ Andrew GNo one really called Matt a douchebag for his artical.I said i dont really like him (in fact I think he is kind of a douche, and I just got the vibe from him in his video interviews and podcasts. He seems to be a know it all who spouts out his opinions and really does not listen to argument.anon said I'll be the first to say it that Matt Cassama-whatever is sort of a douchebag in terms of perspective.Once again, leaving it open to ones perspective.You do some great art Drew…(can I call you drew?) but try not to take too much out of context and start screaming NAME CALLER!! NAME CALLER!!
Matt is the most famous gaming journalist, for a reason. He knows more about it than you will ever know. He's like a celebrity around IGN. Just because he doesn't think that everything Nintendo does is perfect, you don't have to critique him. Come on; you're both bloggers.Perhaps you do it out of envy.
Jack…So, maybe I'm jealous. Because some people get paid to write about Nintendo and I don't, but I doubt it. Anonymous said… Matt is the most famous gaming journalist, for a reason. He knows more about it than you will ever know. He's like a celebrity around IGN. Just because he doesn't think that everything Nintendo does is perfect, you don't have to critique him. Come on; you're both bloggers. Perhaps you do it out of envy. Hmmmm
Well, this IGN guy has a point (and I'll add some more).250 is expensive. I've heard a great urban legend that tries to explain the price. 200 would be considered inferiour and therefore Nintendo goes with 250 (*LOL IMHO*).While I guess 50 bucks is not "much money" considering that the console's lifespan is five years or more yet I'm gravely concerned about how Nintendo does not learn from the past.1. Where is the biggest marketing campaign in the history of the company?2. Non-gamer don't even know what the "Wii" is! Ask any non-gamer in the street if he/she knows about PlayStation, Xbox and "Wii". Almost nobody knows the brandname.3. 250 is expensive considering the "based on gamecube" hardware.4. 50 more bucks and you get Xbox 360 Core version (HD ready).5. Controllers are FREAKIN' 60 bucks. And don't argue about you could buy a Wii remote and a Wii Nunchuck separately (I'll laugh). And I would never expect to have more than a single controller packed in the launch box.6. Games are FREAKIN' 60 bucks (AFAIK). Where are the cheap inexpensive Wii games (I'm not talking about VC!) that are shorter, more fun, get non-gamers interested in games and ARE CHEAP?7. HDTV is a non-factor to me – for the next two years at least. Yet that doesn't mean the graphics are NOT important. gameplay > graphics. ALWAYS. but graphics are important.
@frisbyEh, that's just the impression I got. Maybe I misinterpreted. Sorry.@duckhuntdudeNintendo has already started it's ad campaign, it's all over the place in magazines and on the internet. It'll probably hit TV as soon as the console actually comes out (like the – dare I say it – ultra successful DS).And think about it this way. A few years ago, you could ask anyone what a Gamecube was, and they would probably not know. Now you ask them, they know it's that horrible system that bombed and didn't come out with too many good games, few and far between. So a new, interesting, and quirky title for their "next-gen" system allows people to forget about the Gamecube (regarded as Nintendo's big mistake) and start thinking about Wii. Make sense? If the two are exclusive and not in any way related, people will have a different frame of thought.As for the whole graphics thing, Wii is about twice as powerful as Gamecube (which had a couple of pretty sweet looking games), so I'm happy. I think the graphics for Wii look just perfect for me. I'm not looking to play some ultra-realistic game. Especially if it's boring and trite as they so often are on the other systems.Gameplay beats graphics anyday. Be happy.As for your argument about the controller, did you not read Jack's point-of-view on that subject? Read it and maybe you'll change your mind. It makes a lot of sense.
"3. 250 is expensive considering the "based on gamecube" hardware"Regular people make choices based on utility not on hardware. People will buy Wii thinking about how much fun they can get from it, regardless of hardware.I recommend you to read the blue ocean strategy book. You will undertstand a lot of new things."Non-gamer don't even know what the "Wii" is! Ask any non-gamer in the street if he/she knows about PlayStation, Xbox and "Wii". Almost nobody knows the brandname"Wii was introduced this year. Playstation about 10 years ago.Also fewer people than you think know what an xbox is"4. 50 more bucks and you get Xbox 360 Core version (HD ready)"Wii is aimed at people who would never buy an Xbox360 regardless of its price. It has no appeal to them.Wii offers certains things (like being easy to use) that you seem not to appreciate, yet most people do.Wii doesnt offer some things (like graphic power) that you appreciate but people dont. People dont really care about graphic power, thats why the Ps2 outsold more powerfull systems. What people apreciate is well done graphics that convey emotions, like for example nintedogs graphics. Those were not PSP style mega graphics yet people seemed to love them. A game called brain training outsold every single PSP game worlwide, despite having C64 graphics. Why? most people value fun over graphical power.
@Andrew G.I read Jack's point-of-view only later. It makes a lot of sense :)@Anonymous right after that:I always wonder how anyone knows what people want… I think it's very bold to state that "People dont really care about graphic power (…)" because I think that's not true.If Wii has 2x GameCube (or 1.5x Xbox) I'm happy yet we should not forget that graphics are important. Most of the time I'm the first guy to point out "gameplay > graphics" but most of my friends always counter this with remarks about how important it is for them to have a game that is "eye candy".I'm not here to troll around in this fine forum, I'm simply observing that the IGN guy has a point and most fans of Nintendo may not share that point-of-view but nonetheless it's there and a lot of people think that way.