Ubisoft: Wii is for girls, 2K: Wii is full of it

In a Tulsa World article titled "Game industry finally notices girls," (thanks, folks, we had no idea), Ubisoft Senior Brand Manager Ann Hamilton described the Wii as a "girl-driven" system.

While no issue can be taken up with the Wii's wide appeal, it is interesting who Hamilton attributes this change in trends to: themselves.  Hamilton noted that "Girls wanted sports games to play, as well," mentioning their "Ener-G" series of games.  "What's driving the Wii sales is the use of Wii by women, girls and families," Hamilton said. "It's a really female-driven platform."

Taking the time to note the "Imagine" and "Ener-G" series of games by Ubisoft does raise a point: are these really the games that are capturing the time of girls on the Wii?  To this, we can certainly disagree.  After all, there are two games from the Imagine series on the Wii, and there are... no Ener-G games on the Wii?

As the Tulsa World article states, "The 16 titles from Imagine allow girls to role-play in real-life activities, including fashion, interior design, baby-sitting, even acting."  However, nearly all of these games are DS-only titles.  And every Ener-G game in on Nintendo's handheld platform as well.  Which means either A) the source article was poorly written, or B) Ann Hamilton just claimed that Ubisoft is shaping gaming for girls on the Wii with almost no content to back it up with.

Even if there were 16 of these games on the Wii, there is no doubt that girls enjoy many different games.  As we've heard before, it seems Wii Sports is taking everyone by storm, packed-in or not.

But on the other end of gaming, things aren't so bright and cheery.  Global President of 2K, Christoph Hartmann, is annoyed with the amount of shovelware that loads the Wii market:

"Where people go wrong in the casual market is that, while the development costs are exploding on the casual side, they're treating the Wii like the old PC market -- making cheap, accessible games. They think if they make ten titles and two are hits, they will finance the other eight. But they forget these eight crappy titles will flood the market and will lead to problems in terms of production -- and upset retailers. Also, the consumer will be pissed off because they'll be confused."

Hartmann does well to point out a means for developers to change this trend: by developing games around "well-known brands."  Ubisoft is actually doing just that by working to build brand recognition around Imagine and Ener-G, alongside other brands it has built.  It is also encouraging that Ubisoft has its share of core experiences in games like No More Heroes, Tenchu: Shadow Assassins, Red Steel 2 (unannounced, yet in development), and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.

Source: Wired Game|Life