It seems like years since E3 ’06, when it’s only been a few months. As we struggle through the summer drought, it becomes simple to lose sight of the imminent and enormous change that is ready to overtake the entire gaming industry. We’ve had a good taste of the coming generation with Xbox 360, and while it has fared much better than the Dreamcast, round two is approaching quickly. In a few months, Sony will unleash its Playstation 3 entertainment powerhouse, and Nintendo’s Wii will finally be on store shelves. While there are plenty of questions about the PS3, Nintendo Wii seems to be gaining strength towards it’s release later this year.
As the Nintendo guy, I’m zeroing in on Wii. You might predict that I have a positive slant toward Nintendo and you would be correct. After all, developer support is the strongest in years, there’s a radical and compelling new dynamic to the console, and people are proably still standing in line to see the Wii in the LA Convention Center. So, it’s pretty easy to presume success for the House of Mario, right? Wrong. Not by a long shot. Today, we examine the question…”Could the Wii Fail?”
Dumb mistakes. Nintendo’s made plenty of them in the past. From cringe-worthy advertising to burning bridges with developers, the gaming veteran has hit most of the metaphorical potholes. Does disaster loom? Well, that all depends on the new Nintendo, the Satoru Iwata Nintendo, and if the risks he’s taking are right. Iwata has done a good job to cleanse Hiroshi Yamauchi’s imperialistic Nintendo image, making amends with scorned developers and paying some honest-to-god attention to the American market (Reggie, anyone?)
These improvements considered, the Wii is still Nintendo’s biggest risk since the NES. A massive philosophy change is sweeping the company, and here I’ll examine how disastrous it could be if the overhaul isn’t handled with the utmost care. Let’s look at some key elements of this new movement.

1: Bigger ideas, not bigger budgets.
Iwata stated that Wii will embrace more creative game concepts that haven’t been tried before, focusing on fresh gameplay instead of graphics. This seems like a good idea in principle, but a firm balance must be maintained. We need a healthy, diverse collection of software—the low-budget quirk games, the pick-up-and-play titles, and most importantly, the epics. The magnum opuses that fuel the industry and stir speculation must not be abandoned. Is Nintendo doing just that? Not entirely, but there is reason for concern.
As an example, Wii Sports garnered as much criticism as praise during its E3 showing, from diametrically opposed factions in gaming fandom. Nintendo loyalists were shouting rhetoric, while the PS3 fans from just across the way were smirking and guffawing at the simplistic visuals. Wii Sports is...