Yoshida interested in getting Wii consumers to stay with PS3

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 12th 2008 at 7:15PM }

When Nintendo dominates the NPD charts month after month, it's unsurprising that competitors (like Sony) would want to follow suit. Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida notes that the Wii has been incredibly successful in capturing the casual gamer -- a demographic that used to be PS2's bread and butter. "[Social gaming] has been massive on PS2 as you know," he tells IGN UK. "Nintendo Wii's success is really helping that, as is the success of music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero -- they're bringing in these people, creating the style of playing games with your parents, and that continues to be important for the success of the PS3 as well."

While Wii has been doing a great job of introducing gaming to a new audience, Yoshida is hoping that some of the Wii audience will learn to move on to other platforms, such as the PS3. "After they've played a Wii and played some of the games, some of those consumers might try something else. I'm really interested to try and convince those consumers to stay with us."

How will Yoshida be able to capture that audience? He points to the SIXAXIS as just a small part of the strategy: "[it's] really important to us to create a new experience. And that was what we've been doing with the EyeToy camera, the SingStar mic and the Buzz controller. We always look for a new way to give users interaction with games." As for a brand new "dedicated motion controller" ... well, "that's a possibility."

Tags: ps3, shuhei-yoshida, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Khaled @ Sep 12th 2008 7:38PM

Well how about they actually release something good for the eye & motion control?

MBO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:44PM

from what i've heard eye of judgement is pretty good...

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:45PM

@MBO.......

its maaaaaaaaaaad late to capitalize off that Card/Pog market of the mid 90's-2005 period

Pablos102030 @ Sep 14th 2008 12:23AM

Have you seen the tank game demo? THAT, my friend, is fucking sweet.

Coldness @ Sep 13th 2008 1:26PM

Yeah! Could you imagine the PS3 with Wiimotes?! I think it would be awesome!

PS3 FTW!

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:42PM

Good EyeToy Games FTW!!!!!!!

and dont say "Eye of Judgement" cause that game would only have intrigued me 8 years ago when I was in my "Yu-Gi-Oh" stage........lol

MakaiOokami @ Sep 12th 2008 8:41PM

Quit spamming the boards.

First of all it wasn't a bad attempt to try and reinvigorate the collectable cards. They'll come back in style if they can just market things right.

Second they are innovating with the Eye Toy but... programming inputs into motion capture is quite a bit different from physical controls.

Third get the new Socom game at release. Get the headset. They're adding voice recognition but you need a headset that's specifically disigned for it. You'll essentially be getting Socom for 10 dollars. You can most likely sell it to someone for 20-30 dollars and get the headset at a discount or you can just play the game, have some fun with it, and then sell it.

Fourth you have like half of the messages on this board... can't you find something better to do than be a troll living under the bridge? Sorry I'm not really into answering your riddle but... it's probably ill thought anyway.

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 15th 2008 8:32AM

wow I got voted down for the first time ever.......lol

but umm yea........damn those cards........

I got the PSEYE for the mic mostly and ended up using it for EyeCreate a few times.......

I KNOW that motion capture is different from controls on a controller...........just as motion is different from voice........but the PS3 can handle it.......

already have SOCOM PRE-ORDERED.......

and as for me "trolling"..........

not at all........not my fault the damn comment system on here takes for ever to put up a post........half the time I cant tell if it took or not so I click refresh and my comment comes up numerous times...........

and "BOARDS"!?!?!?

This is a BLOG guy..........NOT a MESSAGE BOARD........get ya terminology straight

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:44PM

and oh yea........

dedicated Motion Controller a possibility????

hmmmmmmmmm

as long as its not that god forsaken split-apart dualshock 3 mock up that was on here a while back.........

MBO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:44PM

lol i said it. still, lots of people will like it

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:49PM

lol.........

yea......I still say they can do a LOT better than that......

hell I'd settle for more games having voice recognition capabilities and the ability to put your face in games like Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune and even our Avatar in HOME as well........doesnt get much more customized that your OWN face......

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:49PM

MBO @ Sep 12th 2008 7:46PM

i don't like motion personally :P i prefer the traditional buttons and analog sticks

AdrianXIII @ Sep 12th 2008 7:47PM

The first time I read that, when he said "us", I thought he meant us as in gamers(in general), so they can play more. Not us as SONY, but idk...

The Aggie CEO @ Sep 12th 2008 8:06PM

lol.......

of COURSE "US" meaning Casual PS2 customers staying SONY.......

Iridium @ Sep 13th 2008 1:44AM

I bought a PS3 right after launch because I really wanted one. I found a Wii at Best Buy when I walked in one day last summer. I bought it because they weren't around and my wife wanted one. With trade in credit I actually paid more for the Wii since I had to buy another controller, nunchuck, SD card, and another game.

My PS3 always got more play time and I find the Wii to be a regrettable purchase. I played Mario, Zelda, and Metroid but past that there isn't another game I want to play.

After buying Tiger Woods '09 for the Wii to replace Woods '07 for the PS3 I realize how crappy the Wii controls really are. The motion controls work fine for party games and WiiSports but any attempt to replicate real motion just doesn't work at all.

Nintendo should be working on trying to keep gamers who bought a Wii playing the Wii. If not pretty soon software sales are going to show how poor a system the Wii really is.

Metal_Gear @ Sep 13th 2008 5:59AM

Would be an awesome way to allow Wii users to change without it being too drastic at first and then allow them to spread out into Singstar/Buzz and those other family games.
Then they wont be left out when the big name games come out, like GTA and such, they wouldn't have normally cared if they just had a Wii but now they have the system and everyone is buying and talking about the games they may have a look and buy it too. And with games like Little Big Planet and EyePet keeping the family together and other fun PSN games. It may only be the price thats holding them back, but they would still have to develop the motion controller and produce a game or two for its launch and I think they would have a price cut by then.

Mr Khan @ Sep 13th 2008 12:33PM

Wii's success caught everyone by surprise, which really led to its own detriment: the shortages and the bad 3rd party games (with exceptions, though)

The more intrusive problem with getting them to jump ship to PS3 is cost, though, since the Wii's new audience might not want to plug $400 down quite so readily, but Sony does have a good docket of social/casual games to appeal to all.

FragonWagon @ Sep 14th 2008 12:21AM

ya know... sony is doing great and IMO i think the way they are marketing is smart in a way,cuz if ya think about it,it saves them money not to MASS market these games in order to put that investment into making the games betteror DLC or something ya know?..
and also IMO i think the wii harware sales are bull,just for the fact that like most of the wii users either have a 360 or a ps3,exccept for japan-but other then that,nno one just wants to own a standard-def wii with a semi good library and crap online experence.
its awsome for certain situations and garbage for alot of others... all of my friends that i know have a wii also have a ps3 (screw xbox),so think about it,really.
only in japan are they dominating.. oh and i agree that sony is doing great with the family games (LBP,BUZZ Q-TV,SING STAR,ROCKBAND ect ect... ).
in the words and actions of SCEA "anything you can do,i can do better"