After Nintendo launched its next-generation Wii video game system in Japan and the US on Nov. 19, more than 600,000 consoles were sold in the US in the first eight days.
Time magazine even wrote that Wii Sports might be "the greatest video game ever made."
Meanwhile, as many as 1,690,000 consoles were sold in Japan within three months of the launch. That figure was about 2.4 times higher than for Sony's new PlayStation 3 system, which was launched around the same time.
Gaming magazines have praised the Wii, calling it a great product that is changing gaming culture.
What makes Wii such a sensation is the unique way in which it changes how people play games. As a result, many who have never played video games before or who have only used them occasionally, including the elderly and women, have taken to "exercising" with their Wii remotes.
Wii fever has spread rapidly around the world, with many gamers hoping the console will be launched in their countries. Although Taiwan has an official Nintendo agent, a long wait is expected here since the company has made sales in the Japanese and US markets a priority.
Hence, Taiwanese who bring the consoles back to Taiwan after traveling abroad find it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain warranty service and repairs.
The National Communications Commission has also expressed concerns over the Wii's wireless communication functions.
Ever since the launch of Nintendo's red-and-white Family Computer system in the 1980s, no system has received so much attention -- not even the PlayStation series that broke Nintendo's gaming monopoly.
In 1983, Nintendo launched the creative Famicom and changed youth leisure and entertainment patterns. With its success, the gaming pioneer went on to dominate and set the rules for the gaming industry.
There were no drastic changes until Sony launched its PlayStation system in 1994. The PlayStation 2, with about 200 million consoles sold worldwide, became the most popular gaming console in history.
The success of the PlayStation 2 was partially a result of its improved audio and video capabilities. Therefore, when designing the Nintendo 64 and Game Cube, Nintendo believed that it could expand its market share by simply offering games with still better sound and video capabilities. Nevertheless, those two products failed to make much of an impact on the market.
In June 2004, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata publicly announced for the first time that the company had initiated a new console development project called Revolution.
In the face of a shrinking gaming market, the company felt it had to propose possible solutions to attract more gamers and boost the whole industry.
Iwata repeatedly stressed that Nintendo's biggest enemy was the lack of interest among gamers, rather than the PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, or other next-generation consoles.
After more than two decades of development, the gaming industry had become like a more diverse -- but also much thicker -- novel that many were reluctant to take on.
With its revolutionary creativity, the Wii has subverted traditional methods of gaming and brought gamers back to the starting point, allowing them to experience the freshness and fun they felt when they played video games for the first time.
For Wii players, games are no longer like a thick novel, but have instead morphed into something resembling a comic book.
With its Revolution project, Nintendo also underwent an internal self-awareness revolution and stopped behaving as if it was the hegemon of the gaming industry, basically re-entering the market as a challenger.
"Starting from zero" was Nintendo's slogan to win gamers back and a symbol of the company's recognition of its failures and its determination to start anew.
Perhaps it is too early to conclude that Wii will be a huge success. Nevertheless, as Nintendo adjusts its approach to management and implements the Revolution project, it is clear that a successful conceptual revolution has also occurred inside the corporation.
Li Shih-hui is an assistant professor in the Graduate Institute of International Business Management at Ching Yun University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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