# Wii Speak not retroactive? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 29, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872 "2008-11-29T02:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/21 "2008-12-01T00:05:53Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#): > > Wii Online is free, yes, but so is PSN, which is still infinitely better than anything Nintendo offers (though inferior to XBL by a long shot. $50 a year is totally worth it, XBL is fantastic) and I dunno, maybe I’m just strange, but I really don’t run into enough assholes online when I game to make it a big deal, and those I do run into I just mute, which takes all of 10 seconds to do. I’ve actually met quite a few people on XBL that I enjoy gaming with. Sure there are assholes, sure there are a LOT of assholes, but it never really ruins the experience for me. Nintendo just dropped the ball really badly with this, it was my biggest gripe with the Wii when it came out, and it still is a huge gripe these days. They just don’t get it. Playing Wii online with friends is still easier to do if you _call them on the phone_ to set it up, and that’s just wrong. Online gaming just isn’t a priority for Nintendo (quite frankly, neither is appeasing long time fans who’ve been with them since the original NES, like myself), and it really should be > > Voice chat allows strategy games to basically include strategy. We’re talkin basic tactics in games like COD or Ghost Recon or any other shooter. Any game where you have to cooperate with other players is simply impossible on the Wii atm, will Wii Speak change that? I can hope, but I’ve been very disappointed in the Wii overall since I got one (the day they came out). There are a few good games for it, but they are very few and far between, and most of the ones I play are better with a Gamecube controller (Mario Kart Wii and SSBB being perfect examples of this). I have a Wii and a 360 and to be honest I haven’t touched my Wii since just after MK came out, whereas I play my 360 pretty darn often. > > As for only 10% of people playing games online… really? I think the 6 million plus XBL subscribers (not to mention the bajillion WoW players) would have to disagree with you there My girlfriend wanted a Wii. We went and got one. We played it a bunch when we first got it, but then we forgot about it. The girlfriend doesn’t play on Live, but she’ll warm up to it, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/22 "2008-12-01T00:19:02Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#): > > As for only 10% of people playing games online… really? I think the 6 million plus XBL subscribers (not to mention the bajillion WoW players) would have to disagree with you there Yes. A study of game sales in last week or so revealed that for an average title an online component did not add significantly to sales. Naturally I found [the article](http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=202380) just after posting. They note that the boost is enough to make it worthwhile to implement cheaply but the figure is a low percentage of actual sales. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/23 "2008-12-01T00:19:42Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#): > > As for only 10% of people playing games online… really? I think the 6 million plus XBL subscribers (not to mention the bajillion WoW players) would have to disagree with you there Don’t forget that that 10% also includes people who still game on a PS2 or only have a DS or PSP, all of which have rather limited online options. While 10% seems a tad low (especially when you add in all the PC users who game online, which I would guess is somewhere north of 95%), I don’t doubt that the majority of gamers don’t play online. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/24 "2008-12-01T00:37:00Z")
Well, what would be a more accurate metric? Would it be best to see what percentage of Xbox owners play on Live? Break it down by console? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/25 "2008-12-01T00:56:39Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Well, what would be a more accurate metric? Would it be best to see what percentage of Xbox owners play on Live? Break it down by console? Sure, but all those numbers are proprietary, so we’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/26 "2008-12-01T00:58:36Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Sure, but all those numbers are proprietary, so we’ll never know. And also prone to be overinflated if they can only come from the publisher. There are LOTS of people on Live, PSN, World of Warcraft, and other assorted folks. That will only increase in number and influence. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/27 "2008-12-01T00:59:59Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Well, what would be a more accurate metric? Would it be best to see what percentage of Xbox owners play on Live? Break it down by console? Microsoft guards their accurate numbers for good reason (inflated promotional statistics aside). I’d think a reasonable one would be knowing how many unique users played an online game on Xbox Live in a small, fixed period. Twenty-four hours seems reasonable for a sampling to me but a week may be better. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872/28 "2008-12-01T01:44:49Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > Naturally I found [the article](http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=202380) just after posting. They note that the boost is enough to make it worthwhile to implement cheaply but the figure is a low percentage of actual sales. That seems crazy wrong to me (the 4% thing, they even say on the website EEDAR responded to say 4% is wrong) just given the fact that if such a small percentage of games made a profit no company could afford, or would want to, produce games. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I don’t doubt that the majority of gamers don’t play online. I wouldn’t doubt that either, but the idea that it’s only 10% seems very low to me. Less than 50% sure, I’ll take that as a given, but it’s gotta be higher than 20% imo. And no, I don’t have any cites, this is pure conjecture Also of interest would be to see how much money people who play games online spend per year on gaming vs how much money those who don’t play. It might be a small percentage of gamers play online, but they make up quite a decent amount of the actual game sales (whereas those playing only PS2 games or only DS might buy games much less often, therefore make up a less significant percentage of the market). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wii-speak-not-retroactive/474872.md?page=1)