The Wii - Is the Magic Gone? 492
Computer And Video Games asks the tough question: is the Wii's magic gone? After the flurry of excitement around the launch, lackluster ports and a persistent inability for Nintendo to keep units on the shelves has made it hard for gamers to sustain their enthusiasm for the system. It doesn't help that most of the good games slated for this year won't be out for months. In some cases, there's doubt they'll even make it out this year: Reggie Fils-Aime appears to be backpedaling on Metroid Prime 3 by Christmas, which would be a shame. GigaGamez has additional commentary. Are you still as excited about the Wii as you were when it launched?
Imposter!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, even as I like the Wii, I can see some "cracks in the armor". It's missing out on a lot of potential. Here are some things it needs:
a) Real calibration. Actually be able to tell it where your screen boundaries are located so that where you're pointing is a lot closer to where the dot is, enabling shooters that don't show your crosshairs. Preferably in the OS.
b) The Wiisaber. That alone will double sales.
c) Games that involves holstering the wiimote to one or more limbs. E.g. a dancing game or a bounty hunter type game where you have to hit a button on your arm to launch a rope. (I know Konami has a DDR like the former coming up, but sooner would have been nice.)
d) Online play.
Also, Zelda should have required you to pull back to load an arrow, so it's more realistic.
Store Shelves (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Store Shelves (Score:4, Interesting)
Where I live, it's hours after a shipment.
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I don't know if the magic is gone, but the sales are still up (three wal-marts, two targets, a best buy and circuit city in town are all out of wiimote's/nunchucks)
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Horsesh*t. Take a picture and post it somewhere. If there's a retailer that has a "stack" of Wiis on the sales floor, that has to be the world's dumbest retailer. I think this "magic land of easy-to-get Wiis" would be huge news on the gaming blogs.
In other words, I don't believe you.
------RM
Re:Store Shelves (Score:4, Funny)
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Woot for betas.
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And slashdot, PLEASE stop punishing me for being a decent typist.
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A video game console being sold out is only rarely a good thing. Being unable to meet demand only means bad things for Nintendo. Imagine how much closer Nintendo would be to the 360's lead, or how much further head the DS would be, if Nintendo could only produce units faster?
The demand doesn't vanish mysteriously once you can meet it with supply. It may dip as the buffer of people waiting to get one is emptied, but the steady desire for
Re:Store Shelves (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I'm sure Nintento execs are crying themselves to sleep at night about how bad things are going as compared to, say, Sony who has no problems meeting demand.
The demand doesn't vanish mysteriously once you can meet it with supply. It may dip as the buffer of people waiting to get one is emptied, but the steady desire for the system remains. The only thing the Wii and DS shortages accomplish is reduced sales for Nintendo.
Supply isn't free, or even cheap. Bringing new manufacturing capacity online takes time and investment. Making that investment when it may only be needed to satisfy short-term demand isn't necessarily a wise business move. In this case, who knows. But I'm pretty sure that Nintendo, who knows the actual costs involved, has a better idea than you.
Re:Store Shelves (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, maybe. They claim that they've ramped manufacturing up to a million a month. They've left the PS3 in the dust and they're shipping units faster than Microsoft was at the same point. They are also experiencing shortages with DS's. These are selling at three times the rate as the Wii. The company's last quarterly earnings announcement could be summarized as "We're printing money". Game makers are changing their plans to include Wii releases.
They could have anticipated the demand. But to be fair - no one else did. They could bring additional manufacturing facilities on-line. But it's not clear - given the cost and lead time, that it would currently make sense to do so. So bottom line - they're doing pretty good. I'm sure Sir Howard would gladly trade places with Iwata.
That's it! (Score:5, Insightful)
I am not sure anyone really expected the Wii to be selling at the rate it is, especially when its described as "a minor upgrade over the PS2 and a reinvented light pen". I wouldn't be surprised if most games companies banked on the high graphic consoles taking the market and therefore never really included the Wii in their plans. With the way its selling, I am sure there are many companies that are revaluating their plans.
What we learn from the Wii, IMHO, is that if you get the price point right and the right kind of innovation, then people will buy. While Sony will continue to sell consoles, their price point is wrong and they have the wrong kind of innovation. What I mean by the wrong sort of innovation, is that high quality graphics is already being catered for by the Xbox 360 and BluRay is a passable extra. Sony gets more points deducted for a difficult to develop for games platform, where Nintendo makes it easy by keeping it simple. Sony will probably be seeing the great games that really take advantage of the console eventually, but the graphics engines need to get there first, since few programmers truely master highly multithread develpment.
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I'm sure I can't be the only person on slashdot who reads this and thinks "well actually I thought it would." Surely I haven't just become the world's leading business analyst overnight. Following on from their strong showing with the DS, I felt a lot of people (although none of the moron^H^H^H^H^Hexperts who get paid to share their infinite wisdom) seemed to predict this as Nintendo's second coming. Perhaps some analyst company
Internet Hive Mind > Business Analysts (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Store Shelves (Score:5, Interesting)
That's true. I was really excited about getting a Wii last November, I've been trying to find one since then with no luck. Let's just say I'm starting to get severely annoyed with the lack of supply, an xbox 360 is looking more and more appealing every day. I am really loosing my patience with Nintendo, I wanted a fucking Wii pretty bad, but now I'm just fed up and annoyed that I can't find one, and that turns me off it altogether. I wonder how many other people will buy another system instead because Wiis are no where to be found.
Re:Store Shelves (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Store Shelves (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, the fact that you commented you might buy another system could very well mean you aren't the demographic Nintendo was after. They've been pretty clear that while they'd like the hard core gamer, they're really after people who aren't really gamers or people who are no longer gamers. I wouldn't even consider a 360 or a PS3 because that just feels "been there, done that" to me. It's not how I get my kicks these days.
Re:Store Shelves (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Store Shelves (Score:4, Insightful)
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Within days? I've heard reports of minutes and hours, but I haven't come across a report of Wii's staying stocked on the shelf until even the next day... Do they last on the shelves longer by you?
Re:Store Shelves (Score:4, Funny)
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Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.
- Yogi Berra [quotedb.com]
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Isn't Nintendo's inability to keep it on the shelf a sign that the excitement is still there? If the excitement were gone, would stores still sell out within days of recieving a shipment?
Yeah. Well, except for the "days" thing, the stores in my area have been telling me minutes. I mean, inability to keep in stock is a bad thing in some ways -- I'm sure Nintendo would love to be able to meet supply right away if only to ramp up game sales faster, but according to the local places I've been asking, (1) the
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BTW, I say this as a happy Wii owner. I love everything about it except for the fact that any time I want to buy
Re:Imposter!!! (Score:4, Informative)
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They mostly went like this...
Picture of an incredibly bloody finger
"I needed 4 stitches and now i'm on the road to recovery to playing again!"
Despite injuring themselves, their furniture, breaking windows, etc. it's just so damn fun the main consideration is how soon they can play again.
Wii Hardware Info (Score:3, Informative)
Inside the chip is a small micromechanical structure which is supported by springs built out of silicon. Differential capacitance measurements allow the net displacement of the tiny mass to be converted to a voltage,
I couldn't tell ya (Score:2)
Have we given up on the Wii? (Score:5, Interesting)
I want one as much as I always have, but there is no way in hell I'll get it through walmart.
So I wait.....
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I personally don't hate the South, I'm just sick and tired of paying for them and especially sick of a small proportion of them trying to strong arm our poli
I love my wii. (Score:2)
So for the last time, No: I'm not trading you for your PS3.
Persistent Inability to Keep Units On the Shelf... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Persistent Inability to Keep Units On the Shelf (Score:2)
But on the other hand, the fact that I can't get one means that I've essentially given up trying. I actually gave up early January and figured that I'd check again in February, but they still aren't available, so now I've basically completely given up until the summer at the earliest.
So not being able to meet demand might, ultimately, hurt them - I just don't care about the Wii anymore. I don't really want it anymore. I did at one point, but after being unable to get it, I've basically given up - I've sto
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Then, a few weeks later when the newness had worn off, I realized I really had no interest in the thing and I never got one. Don
Re:Persistent Inability to Keep Units On the Shelf (Score:5, Insightful)
Since they still fly off the shelves.... (Score:5, Informative)
Ask again when you can walk into any Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc and find them sitting on the shelves at any given time.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Off-topic, but I certainly hope this isn't true.
We're in the hall of mirrors (Score:4, Insightful)
So true. The danger of being inside a community of like-minded masters of the universe is that you can't see beyond the bubble you're in. Enterprise IT pundits didn't see Linux until it had already infiltrated the enterprise. They'd all been too busy talking about "soup to nuts solutions" to read the writing on the wall. The same thing is happening with games.
Hardcore gamers don't realize that their pastime is mainstream now. Just look at the term "games." When I was a teenager, "gamer" meant someone who carried the DMG, the Players Handbook, and the Monster Manual in his backpack at school. Now pencil and paper games have gone mainstream in the form of console and PC games. Adults play these games. Females play these games. It is madness! The inner sanctum has been breached!
Wii is doing great, and it will continue to rack up impressive sales, until eventually even gamer media will adapt their thinking and broaden the appeal of their own offerings.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not Flamebait, That's Cool (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally, I think the Wii is fine and will get one eventually. A co-worker though tried playing it and hated it because there was too much delay between the controller and the game he was playing. Clearly it isn't a problem for most people...but it is one of the more legitimate complaints I have heard about the system.
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When I was reading through this article that was my thought too, that the author was nuts, but he's got a point. I'm no longer as excited about the Wii as I was in November/December when it was first introduced, when it was still brand new and cool. The commercials aren't on TV anymore, and even if i got one today and told my friend's I'd probably get responses like "So? My step brother's uncle's son had one 4 months ago, big deal".
The luster has diminished s
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Yes. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)
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I was going to get one (Score:5, Funny)
Hype =/= Magic (Score:5, Insightful)
You have to think about it - developers have just been exposed to a massively, paradigm-breaking gaming concept. Give them time. Just because the hype has settled down, doesn't mean the magic's gone.
Typical Launch Problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Most game consoles launch in Q3 or Q4 of a given year and end up with a decent supply of games (for being new systems) because there is value in being the only game of a certain type on a system; its a great opportunity to create a new franchise because far more people will pay attention to 'Red Steel' when it launches with the system as compared to it launching at some arbitrary later date.
Q1-Q2 of the following year launch systems have a great deal of difficulty getting a decent supply of games; it is the typical slow part of a year and there are too few systems released (being that it is a new system) for most developers to release a game.
I would (personally) wait until E3 before I determined whether the Wii was having any problems
Call me crazy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like they're buying them as fast as Nintendo makes them. And its lost the thrill?
Re:Call me crazy... (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously, you don't understand. Take the late, great Sega Dreamcast. Thousands of Dreamcast consoles were left sitting on shelves for months on end. It was such a magical time, that Sega went out of the console business. But, hell, they made up for the millions in financial losses with volume. Shenmue became such a must-have game that Sega just announced the release of Shenmue Balboa. In this, the seventeenth volume of the game series, Ryo Hazuki is a 65 year old hack boxer that fights a latter-day Mike Tyson.
There's no magic in the Wii anymore. There is too much demand. I'm waiting for the next system, the Nintendo Uus.
Interest still high (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, some anecdotal evidence. Yesterday when I was looking through the Best Buy ad I noticed that Wii Play had been released. I called three local Best Buys and all of them had sold out of Wii Play.
I think the steady stream of classic games like Mario Kart, and Super Mario World are helping out too.
I wouldn't cite the DS as a benchmark (Score:2, Insightful)
Sony Marketing (Score:2)
Funny, isn't this exactly what Sony is doing with the Blu-Ray format, releasing dozens of older movies to flood the market and claim that they are releasing more titles than their competition?
In both cases, having older games/movies available is just fine if enough customers haven't played/seen t
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When someone buys a new gaming system they want to be dazzled, when someone buys the DVD of Casablanca they already accept what they're getting.
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Personally I don't buy consoles and even if I did I probably wouldn't bother myself with something that doesn't offer all that can be offered in a set top box.
And maybe I'm wrong here but I would think that graphics would be the easiest update to porting a game.
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I'm not talking about DVD. I'm talking about Blu-Ray. No one is going to shell out $30 extra for a Blu-Ray without expecting to get something back for it.
Also, it's really not as hard to see that a game is a port if the graphics still look up-to-date for the console. Given the Wii's graphics capabilities, most any recent PS2 game is going t
It's just hitting middle america... (Score:2)
My response... Send your kids outside, don't make them dependent on the TV.. even if you're claiming "waving around a game controller" is a valid substitute for running around outside.
Re:It's just hitting middle america... (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yes and no.... (Score:4, Funny)
I've yanked the PS2 right off the shelf. It's not entirely my fault. I think the console cheats.
This wireless wiimote thingy gives me all sorts of new freedoms to hurt myself and others.
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I managed to play through Zelda without any flailing around. In fact, I TRIED flailing and it just didn't add anything. Tiny movements were sufficient, and it really didn't amount to any more effort or exhaustion than moving around joysticks.
But, to top it off....when you really want to be lazy, and just kick back and play, the Wii controller excels here. Some games you can play single handed. When 2 hands are required, y
Counterpoint: DS (Score:4, Insightful)
The DS took a while before it showed its full potential. The PSP took the initial lead, but the DS has pulled far ahead now. IMHO, the breakthrough game was "Kirby: Canvas Curse", which showed off the real potential for the touchscreen, followed by Nintendogs.
I suspect the Wii will go the same way. It already has quite a few games that show its potential. There are also a fair number of games that were hyped, but were rushed out the door to meet a Christmas release and had a poor control scheme (like Red Steel). As more games start piling up, the Wii should get a solid position in this round of console wars.
put-down article (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo's "inability to keep units on the shelves" is a good one. They're sold-out is what it really means. And not thanks to artificial shortage, Nintendo has shipped a lot of these machines.
Is the excitement still there? Not as in the first few days, which is natural. But I'm still enjoying it a lot, and so does everyone I've had over to play a game or three. It isn't the cure to cancer, but it's a great living-room gaming system, and I'm still proud of owning one.
Now, someone please send the poor author of TFA one so he can stop being all stuffed up.
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Nintendo stands to make much more money meeting demand, both for the Wii and the DS. Demand doesn't magically vanish once it is met. I don't understand how forcing people to continually assail Gamestop employees at ungodly and inopportune times about the possibilities of Wiis in "the back" helps anyone. Nintendo doesn't make a sale, Gamestop doesn't make a sale and their employee
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Non-gamer "hype." (Score:5, Insightful)
One actually went out and got a Wii and is very happy with the graphics. Non-gamers may see it as "good enough." You and I of course know that the other systems are far more powerful graphicly, but my friend wasn't about to go out and spend $700 to get a PS3 as his first game system. We had a new friend over as well. Another non-gamer. Even after I had gone to bed, they were up to 3am, playing Wii Sports Golf.
Nintendo has hit the nail on the head I think. We might see the hype die off, but the hype that goes on is word of mouth. You know, plain old conversation in real life. Not everyone's primary mode of contact is email or web bulletin boards. I think this kind of "hype" goes far further in expanding the video gaming population than any ad campaign could.
I'll let you know if I ever see one to buy (Score:2)
Just launch-year jitters (Score:3, Interesting)
Newsflash: Wii is different than typical console (Score:2, Insightful)
My family and friends are still having fun playing Wii Sports, Rayman, and other games we purchased MAYBE 45 DAYS AGO at most!!!! I would worry more if I paid $50 for a game that only lasted me a week (or less).
Not everyone is a hardcore gamer who needs GameFly to feed their rabid consumption. The Wii seems to fail mostly in the eyes of that particular crowd.
Am I looki
I sure hope so (Score:2)
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Nobody is forcing anybody to buy any bundled crap. I walked into Gamestop last month, asked them if they had any Wiis in stock and the guy went in the back and got one. Just because they're not sitting on the shelves doesn't mean they're not available. Gamestops are much more likely to have Wiis than Target or Best Buy from my experience. Also, people complain about problems getting controllers but I picked up Zelda, an extra Wi
Ask me when... (Score:5, Insightful)
The magic is there, the mass media (NOT video game specific media) simply set their expectations HIGHER than hardcore gamers. The Wii had by far one of the best video game launches in history, thats a fact. Video game consoles suffer from a "drought" of games between 3~12 months (depending on who you ask) after its initial release, thats a fact. The Wii is just over 3 months old, thats a fact. When you compare the outstanding launch (Zelda + Wii Sports pack-in = Profit!) to the current lack of games (Warioware and Elebits are fun but they aren't Metroid or Super Smash Bros), of course you'll be extremely disappointed.
Re:Ask me when... (Score:4, Informative)
Video game consoles suffer from a "drought" of games between 3~12 months after its initial release.
"It's a fact."
The "drought" doesn't matter for new casual gamers (Score:5, Insightful)
All you need to do is take a look at the DS to see where Nintendo is going with the Wii. You've got a ton of light, casual content, in the form of brain training, casual sims (Nintendogs) and light puzzlers. Plus in Japan, there are all sorts of "non-games" (cookbooks, dictionaries, etc.). In the meantime, because the userbase is there and so large, there's plenty of traditional "hardcore" content as well (Castlevania, RPGs, etc.) to keep the main fanbase pleased.
I think it's a bloody smart business model to adopt. However, it's going to take a while for it to take shape on the Wii, just like it took a year to develop for the DS. Just be patient, gamers. In the meantime, there are all sorts of other games to play on "those other consoles", if you prefer the traditional hardcore games.
Sadly... (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps when Fire Emblem, Metroid Prime 3, and Super Smash Bros. come out. It needs real games
Yeah, the magic's gone (Score:5, Funny)
All three! (Score:3, Interesting)
The Magic is gone because its sold out (Score:2, Interesting)
Some of it might be... (Score:2)
Sure, if you've played it non-stop since Xmas. (Score:2)
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I wonder how long it'll take before there is a wii emulator, with people using the original controller.
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That's strange, I am 30 and I own the Wii and a 360. I'm too old to be messing around with my PC in order to make it even run games.
Virtual console? How about virtual arcade? (Score:4, Insightful)
R-Type on TurboGrafx-16 was probably the best arcade port of this game. However it's still not the real thing. And most arcade ports just plain suck, why play the SEGA Genesis version of Golden Axe or Altered Beast when the arcade version was much better.
There's also the fact that some games never had ports either, or on other older consoles. Such as Raiden Project on the Playstation. Or Slapfight/A.L.C.O.N. which was only released on C64 AFAIK.
And last, how about letting us play the virtual games on our Nintendo DS? They already have the emulator for the NES (I'm guessing, with all the GBA ports), we know that even the GBA is powerful enough (emulators exist), so why not let us play at least the NES virtual games on our DS? It can already download demos from stations in game stores, so we know it's possible.
I wrote about the very same thing... (Score:2)
Why do I want one? (Score:4, Interesting)
What are the "must have" games for the Wii? Seriously. I'm aware of Zelda, but ehh, I don't have much time to actually *play* a lot, so I'd probably get bored of it. My game playing time during the week is limited, and even on the weekends I might not have much time. On IGN half or mor of the reviews were for VC games - reviews of Mario 3 and the like. While that's cool and all, I don't want to spend $250 so I can download my old collection of Nintendo games, and I already know what those old games are like - I played the originals. There are the party games, but I'd only have a use for them maybe once a month or so - whenever we have a bunch of people over. The woman isn't interested in watching me play through a single player game, and she's not much into gaming anyway. Maybe if there were something she'd be interested in....
I could always go with the sports games, but that only lasts awhile, and why get a Wii if I'm just going to get Madden or some NCAA game? I'm interested in the potential of a Wii, but when I got right down to it, I had to ask myself - what would I get it for? Is it just the novelty and then it'd wear off? What are the must-have games everyone is talking about?
Ahhhh, it doesn't matter anyway. In my medium sized city, not one of the area stores has any in stock, let alone knows when more might come in. Bah. Maybe I've outgrown video games - that's depressing...
Geezers return to game stores (Score:3, Informative)
In addition, since playing the Wii at my house, my other age 40+ friends that "don't play video games" are actively in the market for a Wii.
So, yeah, the magic must be dead.
Re:Where was the magic? (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you actually looked at the iPod competitors? Almost all of them pack in more features at a lower cost. I'm not saying Wii will become the iPod of the console world, but most powerful hardware is hardly a prerequisite.
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The Wiimote is not a peripheral. The "Wii remote" is the central part of the system. It's not an iPod vs. an iPod. It's an iPod vs. a CD-player.
(And, really, the iPod of iPods, namely the iPod, sells so well partially BECAUSE of all of its peripherals.)
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I thought Wii Sports was a game!
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I am in no hurry for a Wii though. I think it will be a lot more fun when a more variety of games are available, which I think is in
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As for playing hours on end, did you actually TRY? I've been playing the heck out of Zelda for hours on end, and it doesn't get tiring at all.
I know, I know... I'm feeding the troll...
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and then follow it up with
Without considering that (in graphical performance) the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 and the Wii is more powerful than the Gamecube. Thus, if you're happy with the graphics
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I know it can be hard to deal with the fact that Wii is owning the other consoles, but try to live with it without making yourself look like a complete ass.