There's a "lively" discussion of this topic over on Kotaku, who linked to this story earlier today:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wii-demand-kneecaps-indie-wii-movement-237840.php

It seems a bit absurd to complain that the systems is too popular for non-gamers. Yes the gamers are snatching them up quicker than the non-gamers care to, but is this the fault of Nintendo or is the Wii just more popular with gamers than they thought it would be? Non-gamers are generally not early-adopters.

They're not pulling a Sony and shorting the market (see PS2, PS3-xmas) just to build hype, the systems are being pumped out there by the millions. And it's completely understandable that the demand for devkits is extremely high right now... publishers who were originally worried are now seeing the Wii's success and pouncing on it.

Truthfully, it's a far better business decision to give the "crappy licensed games" first shot at devkits... they are guaranteed sellers (which is unfortunate but true).

I am very interested in Wii development, and have been experimenting with the controller via PC bluetooth. But I completely understand Nintendos reasoning and am glad that they aren't ignoring us altogether (as Nintendo used to do to small third-parties).

I was just reading about another system that, according to execs, "moved beyond the hard-core gamer and into the mass market" after quickly reaching the mark of 1 million units sold -- the Sega Dreamcast.

Which, by the way, would be a great platform to develop for if you're a individual or very small-scale developer. At least in that case you won't have the enormous entity that owns the console actively keeping you out of the market as part of their corporate strategy.

I run a small studio and we have had success working with Nintendo. In my experience, they are doing a lot to work with small indie developers. It's not like we just emailed one day and next day we got a kit. We had to work hard to develop a relationship, and had to develop some unique concepts that we knew would appeal to Nintendo's fanbase. The kits are hard to get (we waited 6 months, but they are becoming more available now) but just the fact that they are working with us, are interested in our IP, which isn't mainstream by any stretch, is amazing. We're very small and don't have a publisher. We just have good ideas that aren't rehashes of old games, and enough experience to show that we can deliver. I believe the whole culture at Nintendo has changed for the better. They want to disrupt and grow the market by appealing to everyone, and they know that working with small studios with unique creative talents will yield some gems.

As for the supply/demand issue...open your eyes. A friend of mine, she is not a Nintendo Fanboy or even a 'gamer', camped out at Target just last week in the rain from 4am in the morning with her boyfriend. Just because she played Wii Tennis at my house and got the fever for it. 60!! Wii's arrived that day, and they were all sold before the store opened. Realize that this isn't Nintendo pulling some carpet out from under us. Wii's are selling faster than any electronics item in history, and is on pace to sell 25 million quicker than anything before sold 10 million.(the DS, btw) What we have here is a phenomenon.

Be patient, develop a unique vision for a great game and be professional and Nintendo will work with you. And you'll have the biggest next-gen market to sell your game to.

ingio -- thanks for your comments. I'm encouraged by them of course, and my purpose is not to deride Nintendo but to point out that the gestures toward indie support made before, during and after the 2006 GDC have not yet come to fruition.

About the issue of demand, I'm sorry that everyone is misunderstanding my point here. A product that sells out in a day before opening is clearly a success at some level, but it still sends the wrong message: this is a gadget that is not possible to get unless you try really, really hard. And I think that's a dangerous sentiment to attach to it. Nintendo may or may not be able to manufacture and ship more quickly, but they certainly can manage the process and image better than they are.

I'm not entirely sure how you can say people are misunderstanding your point.

"There's no point making games for a machine nobody can buy."

You are saying because we can't walk into a shop and buy one there's no point developing for it. Whether you can easily buy one or not is irrelevant.

The fact over 4 million have already been sold worldwide should be a good starting point to decide if the Wii is a platform worth investing in.

Maybe Nintendo needs to buy up all of those excess PS3s and convert them over to Wiis :)

What do you think Nintendo could do to better their image to the non-gamers? I really can't see any major failures so far. Even with the whole breaking wrist-strap fiasco, they managed to put a positive spin on it (people are enjoying Wii Sports even more than we expected!).

When you talk to the average person about the Wii, they don't say "yeah, Nintendo isn't making nearly enough". They say "yeah, those things can't stay on the shelf". This, in my opinion, is a pretty good public image for any company to have.

My question is "how long can Nintendo keep this image?" I think that Nintendos biggest failing so far is the lack of first-party games that appeal to non-gamers. We got Wii Sports, and... well, we got a decent-but-not-great Zelda port, we got a collection of WarioWare minigames, and now we're getting Metroid, Mario and Paper Mario sequels which are gamer-centric twitchfests.

If they want non-gamers right off the bat, where is their equivalent of Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, or Brain Age? (The Everybody Votes Channel doesn't count, it's complete crap). Why isn't there a Sims-alike Mii game at or near launch? Or even better, where is the new IP that all non-gamers want to play (Brain Age did this for DS). For all the money spent on porting Twilight Princess they could have ten casual games. Sure we'll get them at some point, but Nintendo needs to be ahead of the game before the non-gamer interest goes elsewhere. It's only a matter of time before beanie babies come back into style, and then Nintendo will lose it's chance :)

I think you're all forgetting that the primary means of dissemination for the console has, and will continue to be, through families. In other words, the hardcore son or father buys it to play Zelda, the sister and mother get hooked on Wii Sports. I don't want to reinforce gender stereotypes here, but that was the gist of Nintendo's marketing copy pre-launch. Its also largely true. The sunk cost economics involved assure that even though a "gamer" may have made the purchase, there is a highly diverse cross-over market just a few rooms away. 4 million Wiis could easily mean 10 million potential customers.

From what I've seen, Nintendo is starting to meet demand at a more sane ratio, but truth be told I haven't seen a whole lot, just a few spare units at random stores here and there. I don't think the December craze has maintained its fury.

I think the market Ian is implicitedly interested in is twenty-something non-gamers who are otherwise "art-exposed" and hip to the cutting edge of popular culture, thereby exempt from the familial distribution mechanic I described above. They too have tasted the media buzz, and are probably quite dissuaded by the supply issues. Honestly, I think web-based games are the best way to target this market, and I'm fairly positive I'll have to use that means to do so before Nintendo is willing to do business with me. Thats how it works, you gotta marginalize the risks involved in new ideas.

Now, Ian seems to have that track record already in place, and I wouldn't be suprised to hear about you getting a dev kit late this summer. (BTW, I'm curious about what business model you're trying to puruse, are you pursueing the traditional download/conversion model, or are you trying something based on ads?)

Very true. The Zelda playing kid will buy the system, and then show Wii Sports Baseball to Dad... one more conversion for the big N. My dad doesn't play video games, yet we spent Christmas day playing Wii golf.

The twenty-something non-gamer "art" market are certainly looking for something with more bite to it, and the Wii certainly has more potential to tap that market than the other consoles do. However it needs a "gateway drug", something that is not too far out of the comfort zone. Wii Sports is a good step, as well as Trauma Center and the upcoming Phoenix Wright. Once these new players have tested the waters, they would be more open to other types of "games", persuasive, interactive storytelling, and so forth.

I look forward to seeing what can be done with a console whose sole purpose is to disrupt the gaming market. I just hope Nintendo makes good on their word and embraces the non-gamer crowd. I don't know if they can survive another generation of tired sequels.

i think you might be jumping the gun a little :)

it would be wonderful yes to have dev kits going out to indie developers right now but i imagine nintendo is only able to manufacture a limited supply of dev-kits per month and has a commitment to existing publishers, which it would be unwise to ignore.

We should be celebrating the fact that for the first time in history development for a nintendo console is going to be opened to small/medium scale developers, and without the traditional costs associated with media manufacture.

nintendo has shown over the last 12 months a tendency to move slowly and carefully when undertaking such 'culture shifts' within it's business model - such as the online games, the iterations of the DS etc. - and it is only recently that they have made public statements regarding independent devs and the download service.

while it may be incredibly frustrating, it is encouraging that they _are_ committed to bringing indies on board, however long it may take to roll that out... re: the comment about no indie games till 2008, yes that sucks too but it does keep with the trend where the quality of games suddenly increases come the second year of a consoles life.. ;)

personally my biggest annoyance at the moment is the impossibility of finding nunchuks for purchase in australia. two months on from wii launch and i still can't beat up my flatmates in boxing :(

NINTENDO_Revolution_SDK_2.1_Wii-SYNDiCATE
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RELEASE.iNFORMATION

ReleaseDate..... 2007-02-21 Format..... A lot of files
Filename........ syn-wsdk21.xxx Region..... N/A
RarCount........ 6x15MB Source..... N/A
Url............. N/A

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APP.iNFORMATION

The official software development kit for the Wii, with en-US
documents

This is a resonably old build unfortunately, but not tagged

We didnt include some other related files but this is the main
package, could be useful/interesting to some people

____________________________________________________________________ _ _
RELEASE.NOTES

No hoarding!

\________________________________________________________________________
SYNDiCATE - ++----------------'
ascii.dv!

That sucks, I think if they allowed indie Wii developers it would progress much faster, but it's all about $$. I'm a gamer so I just enjoy good quality regardless where it comes from.