Wedbush Morgans top videogame analyst, Mr Michael Pachter, has been talking Nintendo again and more specifically the “lot of crap” and “shovelware” that resides on the Wii.
We have to agree with Mr Pachter. The Wii with its new motion controls and the success of Wii Sports spurned a huge amount of cheaply developed games by all kinds of developers wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Of course there are some great titles on Wii too and all popular consoles are flooded with cheaply produced games that receive poor ratings by critics, however the Wii may set a new record for the console with the highest amount of shovelware ever!
In an interview with Gamasutra the Pachter says:
“The housewives who thought Wii Fit looked like fun, the grandmas who thought that Wii Sports would be a fun thing to play with their grandkids, and the 20-somethings who only wanted to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band… none of them people who you’d call ‘gamers’. They are not buying much more software. They bought what they wanted and don’t feel the need to buy more – nor are they aware of what other Wii games are out there. They’re oblivious.”
More on Pachters thoughts after the break.
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Once again Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has predicted a Wii price cut by this holiday season. Though consoles have usually had either a price cut or at least added bundles at this point in the Wii’s lifespan, the white wonder machine has not had anything so far, worldwide. In fact the price has even gone up in the U.K to compensate for the weakening economy.
Though Mr. Pachter is right in that the Wii will, at some point, will get a price cut, we think this year may be a little too soon. Nintendo have the option to add a range of colours and game bundles to add value to the console before cutting the price to boost sales. A Wii Sports Resort bundle with MotionPlus would be certain to help hardware sales.
Of course this is all speculation on our part and Mr. Pachters. All or none of this could happen, but considering a recent slow down in sales in Japan, Europe and North America of the Wii it is reasonable to assume Nintendo will pull something out of the bag, especially if Microsoft and Sony make similar moves this year.
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Michael Pachter from Wedbush Morgan Securities and his humongous report on gaming have thrown up the top gaming brands in 2008 from all publishers.
Topping the list not surprisingly is ‘Guitar Hero‘ at a whopping $992 million revenue, helped on no doubt by the high price of the guitar that comes with the game. In second is ‘Mario Bros.’ quite a way behind at $761 million and in third is ‘Rock Band‘ at $662 million. With ‘Guitar Hero 5‘ and ‘The Beatles: Rock Band‘ both out this year, music games could well take the two top spots for 2009.
I don’t think too much will surprise you on the list but we thought ‘Warcraft‘ would have charted higher than 17 (even though it is old) and we’re more sad than surprised about Petz making number 30!
Hit the link for the full list.
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Everyone’s favourite videogame analyst, Michael Pachter has the same view as me that Nintendo need a more ‘hardcore’ showing at this years E3, after over emphasising the casual market at last years show. Michael also notes that it has been quite a while since the last Zelda and Mario game on the Wii which is true, but he also mentions that maybe Nintendo will bring back Goldeneye. That seems a very strange comment to me and not so sure he has hit the nail on the head with that one.
Follow the read more link to hear what the crystal ball-gazing analyst has to say. Read more…
Two of the worlds leading games analysts have been looking deep into their crystal balls again to predict sales of Wii MotionPlus.
Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, believes “around 20 percent of Wii owners in the US and Europe will have bought Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 or EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, so that’s around eight million” as those games come bundled with the wiimote peripheral.
“I think another two million will buy MotionPlus with new consoles. I expect MotionPlus to be a sneaky success (like Wii Fit), and ultimately attach to at least one third of the [Wii's] installed base” Pachter concluded.
Jesse Divnich from EEDAR however was a little less optimistic with his future sales predictions. Hit the jump to find out what they were. Read more…
