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Robbie Bach: "The Wii is not a great product" - Article

by Pat Fass , posted on 03 May 2007 / 1,509 Views

May 3rd - eWeek has posted an interview they did with Robbie Bach (President of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division). In it, there are numerous questions ranging from Zune to the XBox 360, but of most interest were Bach's comments relating to the competition.

When asked what he thought about Nintendo and what his opinion on the Wii was, he was quoted as saying, "It's a very nice product, but it actually has a relatively specific audience and a fairly specific appeal...   ...the controller itself". He continued, "The rest of the product is actually not a great product", and then followed up by drawing a comparison to the original XBox,  saying "They don't have the graphics horsepower that even XBox 1 had."

The conversation then changed to Sony, and Bach said "[Sony] have a pricing problem, they have a cost problem, they have a content problem, and they don't have an online service."


You can read more of this rather larger interview by clicking the link...

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2125544,00.asp


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23 Comments
Tammi (on 12 July 2011)

I suppose the Wii should have had better graphics, but at least they brought something completely new to the video game world. Motion controls aren't great for every game but some turned out to be pretty good. MS just crammed a bunch of extra stuff onto the console that we don't need...

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RenegadePhantasm (on 09 May 2007)

Sorry. I'm pretty sure the graphical capabilities of the Wii are at least slightly above that of the original Xbox. Pure horsepower says 243 MHz vs 233 MHz GPU. Sure half of the games feature PS2 quality graphics, but statistically the system should be able to pump out more.

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Christopher_G2 (on 07 May 2007)

Well how bout this for criticism: one wonders if the time will actually come when the 360 appeals beyond the hardcore gamer, or when it does well in a European country outside the UK, or when it sells over 5k in a typical week in Japan. One wonders if there's a time where it will actually bring in a substatial profit for Microsoft.

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Poltergeist13 (on 06 May 2007)

As everyone gets a Wii and triumphs in glory that its the best selling console, I'll be on the sidelines laughing, playing 360 & PS3, saying "look at what gaming has come to, waggle and tech demos, topped off with a lot of Mario games and 5 year old tech." Actually I'm already getting a good laugh. Wii numba one...lol.

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Alvar (on 06 May 2007)

so many wii-bots coming to its rescue :p

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Nmaster0 (on 06 May 2007)

so what the wii is outselling the xbox 360

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Kai Master (on 06 May 2007)

"the three red rings of death" lol It's become a classic! I hope mine won't get red ringed before being done with Halo 3 (1 yr or 2)

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Cipherr (on 05 May 2007)

"specific audience"???? look who's talking.




Yeah no kidding, I got a GOOD laugh out of that, the Xbox is the most hardcore centric console out there. Catering almost STRICTLY to them. Yet he has harsh words for the Wii.

Pot&Kettle.jpg

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Smash_Brother (on 05 May 2007)

I love the Wii, but you know what? Why do we care what this guy says?

If I tried to "pwn" every person on the internet who didn't like something I liked, I'd die of old age before I was done.

Seriously, Wii fans, just ignore stuff like this. Paying it heed only gives it power.

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ColonelFury (on 04 May 2007)

This guy is really a complete idiot. I just have a problem with his bottom statement. What does he mean PS3 does have an online service? Haven't he ever heard of PSN (Playstation Network) which will definetly top XBL by the begining of next year with the addition of PS Home. This guy needs to wake up and smell what he's shoveling.

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Diomedes1976 (on 04 May 2007)

Microsoft is always insulting the competitors .Sony is "talentless " ,Nintendo Wii is a "low resolution toy for children " ,PS3 "hasnt got online " (then I wonder what I am doing playing games online ..) ,Wii is a nice little device but "not a great product " ...

And all that from the people of WIndows (worst SO ever) and the three red rings of death !!!

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masschamber (on 04 May 2007)

I think the specific audience he's talking about are humans, most other animals don't play video games

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Delusional (on 04 May 2007)

"specific audience"???? look who's talking.

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Avinash_Tyagi (on 04 May 2007)

Microsoft Damage control and FUD, they can read the charts, they know Wii is set to overtake them

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iandrade (on 04 May 2007)

It forgot to say that its two consoles accumulate damages of 5,4 billion more than… E that already must have learned since the PSone that GRAPHICAL does not gain “generation” and never earned.

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Saintelistan86 (on 04 May 2007)

I will NEVER understand anyone who argues that the Wii should have come with DVD playback. Are you serious? I bet you that every single Wii owner has

A) At least some other console that has DVD playback.
or
B) An actual DVD player!

The more fluff, the less profit....and uh...I think the world is making a major statement in that they prefer next-gen gameplay over next-gen graphics. I would personally love to see a combination of the two, but I can't have my cake and eat it too.

But yeah...as stof said: "Dog bites man, more at eleven!"

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eques judicii (on 04 May 2007)

well it is misconstrued a bit... he is talking about the hardware (in terms of graphical capabilities i assume) outside of the controller... he does not say it is bad... just not "great"

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LingLing (on 04 May 2007)

he forgot to mention that 50 % of Xbox360 sales are to people who use it as an ultra high powered hairdryer...

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shams (on 04 May 2007)

<yawn>

And this would be the same guy singing the virtues of the Zune, and why it IS a great product (of course it doesn't matter that the Wii is selling well, and the Zune isn't...).

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stof (on 03 May 2007)

This just in, guy from company insults products of competition!

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Legend11 (on 03 May 2007)

He actually never said the comment attributed to him in the title of the news article so it shouldn't be placed in quotes like that and attributed to him. The legal name for it is "defamation" and if he wanted to he could sue you because of it.

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