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Oh no he didn't: Microsoft man dubs Wii a novelty
Pretty this won't be. In an interview with Gamasutra, Microsoft big cheese Aaron Greenberg ended up discussing the rivalry between the Xbox 360 and Wii, and in the process loftily dismissed Nintendo's console as a "novelty." Greenberg compared Wii buyers to "the same people that buy a karaoke machine," and suggested that the console was simply "something [to] break out when people come over, and it's maybe a fun thing [...] They're not really buying it for games, they're just buying it as a novelty." From there, he adopts a more conciliatory tone, stating that Microsoft "[doesn't] really see the Wii as a direct competitor, we actually very much complement the Wii experience." Greenberg believes that Wii owners will eventually "graduate" to the Xbox 360.While we can't ignore the 360's higher software tie-in ratio, Greenberg and his fellow naysayers seem to forget that the Wii hardware alone turns a profit for Nintendo, that it continues to thrash the pants off everything else out there, and that demand still outstrips supply in some parts of the world, despite the thing launching more than 18 months ago. The tiresome excuse of Wii being a "novelty" is beginning to wear horribly thin.
One Shots: It's an epidemic!
In our never-ending quest for game news and views, some of the writing staff have been heading out to the four corners of the MMO market. This generally means logging time into games we wouldn't normally play. Much like Eloise, I recently headed into the world of RuneScape, and admittedly found much the same experience with some of the players. Now this isn't to say I didn't like it at all; personally I found the stalkers and beggars downright hilarious. Of course, I also freely admit that I have a weird sense of humor. So today, I share with you the above screenshot I took to show what happened to me literally not 30 seconds after I'd completed the tutorial and landed in the main RuneScape world. "Money plz" he repeated to me about 15 times as I spoke with the kindly old man who was helping me find my first quest. "money need kthx." All the while I was howling with laughter at someone hitting the very obviously just-spawned me up for cash. A quick ignore and I was on my way, but it raises the question -- how do you handle the inevitable beggars and annoyances? Do you give them an earful, or just laugh at them for being so utterly stereotypical?Do you have a story to tell, or a screen to share from the far-off corners of the MMO multiverse? If so, send them to us at oneshots@massively.com. Your image and story could be featured next for us to all enjoy -- or cringe at.
