Newbs, noobs, and gamers – Wii remote strap drama continues

According to a Gamasutra article just posted recently, “Nintendo execs have acknowledged media reports of uncoordinated gamers causing damage to televisions, furniture, and even fellow players.” At the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said they were “investigating” possible solutions to Wii remote disasters. He also had this to say: “beyond our expectations people are becoming more and more excited playing with the Wii.”

It looks like he’s saying “can we help it if people get too excited playing on the funtastic Wii?” Hehe. Crafty Nintendo exec. The other crafty exec, the Shigeru Miyamoto said, “We are encouraging people to understand that you really don’t have to be so excited.” They are looking for “additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself.”

The way a couple of us here at QJ see it, Nintendo is dealing with three things.

Revenge of the Newbs. Nintendo markets the Wii to non-gamer newbs. Non-gamers will have to learn it’s just a game – it’s not real! I’ve seen golfers treat Wii Sports as if it were the real thing – the Wiimote flies off because it’s not a real club! Wii Sports is Helen of Troy – the game that launched a thousand Wiimotes… into the air!

Village of the Marketing Executives of the Damned. Long-time gamers and “normal” (non-noob) people are also having accidents. A couple of us blame our favorite Wii advertisements. We want to enjoy the Wii as much as those actors looked like they did on TV. We need a re-education campaign. Calm down. The remote is not a tennis racket – there’s no real ball, so no need to use real strength. Sit down. Take off your shoes. Unbutton your trousers. Relax.

Express Yourself Don’t Repress Yourself. Gamers lose control. We mash buttons. We yell at the screen. We laugh too much. We’re happy people. It’s natural to sometimes swing too hard or reach too high (example: the old Thanksgiving YouTube vid from RobotsPiratesNinjas above). It’s one thing to make the Wiimote anti-idiot by explaining how not to play (Nintendo has warnings to put on the strap and dry your hands). But telling people how not to play might become another thing entirely: it’s like telling people not to have fun.

According to a Gamasutra article just posted recently, “Nintendo execs have acknowledged media reports of uncoordinated gamers causing damage to televisions, furniture, and even fellow players.” At the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said they were “investigating” possible solutions to Wii remote disasters. He also had this to say: “beyond our expectations people are becoming more and more excited playing with the Wii.”

It looks like he’s saying “can we help it if people get too excited playing on the funtastic Wii?” Hehe. Crafty Nintendo exec. The other crafty exec, the Shigeru Miyamoto said, “We are encouraging people to understand that you really don’t have to be so excited.” They are looking for “additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself.”

The way a couple of us here at QJ see it, Nintendo is dealing with three things.

Revenge of the Newbs. Nintendo markets the Wii to non-gamer newbs. Non-gamers will have to learn it’s just a game – it’s not real! I’ve seen golfers treat Wii Sports as if it were the real thing – the Wiimote flies off because it’s not a real club! Wii Sports is Helen of Troy – the game that launched a thousand Wiimotes… into the air!

Village of the Marketing Executives of the Damned. Long-time gamers and “normal” (non-noob) people are also having accidents. A couple of us blame our favorite Wii advertisements. We want to enjoy the Wii as much as those actors looked like they did on TV. We need a re-education campaign. Calm down. The remote is not a tennis racket – there’s no real ball, so no need to use real strength. Sit down. Take off your shoes. Unbutton your trousers. Relax.

Express Yourself Don’t Repress Yourself. Gamers lose control. We mash buttons. We yell at the screen. We laugh too much. We’re happy people. It’s natural to sometimes swing too hard or reach too high (example: the old Thanksgiving YouTube vid from RobotsPiratesNinjas above). It’s one thing to make the Wiimote anti-idiot by explaining how not to play (Nintendo has warnings to put on the strap and dry your hands). But telling people how not to play might become another thing entirely: it’s like telling people not to have fun.