Numerous headlines report that, in an interview with eWeek’s Darryl K. Taft, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division president Robbie Bach called the Nintendo Wii no more than GameCube 1.5. And that he said even the original Xbox is better than Nintendo’s supposed next-generation console. So, some folks dug in and decided that yes, the Wii is underpowered and the Xbox can indeed pee just slightly further. Others decided that yes, Robbie Bach is just jealous of the Wii’s success and is really just an idiot.

So, much like the experts set out to prove that Wii whiz comes up short, we at Brittlefish set out to prove that Robbie Bach was just jealous and that Wii whiz is more colorful than Xbox, even Xbox 360, whiz. Sales figures were gathered, graphs were created, pH kits and a ColorVision Spyder were ordered, and we were off to the races.

On a lark, we went to eWeek to read what he said. You know, to see for ourselves just how mean and jealous that Robbie Bach really is.

Wait a second, must have the wrong link. No, they all point there. Let’s see… look at it in Print mode. Um, okay search: “1.5″. Nothing. Search: “gamecube”. Nothing. Dang it. Oh, okay, this is part three of the interview. Back to part one. Search, and… nope. Part two? Nada. Okay, alright, let’s actually read part three.

Wait A Second

First off, Robbie Bach did not say Nintendo’s Wii was nothing more than GameCube 1.5. He may have implied it but he didn’t say it. Second, he didn’t come off as jealous. Actually, he sounds appreciative of a competitor’s success.

What Robbie Bach Really Said

What Bach said was that Nintendo struck a chord with the market, that he was surprised by the Wii’s broad success. Sure, he points to the Wii’s lack of graphics horsepower and its limited feature set, and to Nintendo’s challenge to move outside the casual gamespace.

In fact, he had some interesting things to say about how he views Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s differing market challenges.

So the challenge for us is how do we drive to more casual users, and how do we bring more casual experiences to Xbox and Windows? And the challenge for them is figuring out, “Hey, how do I broaden beyond a casual demographic?” We’ll see how that plays out.
…
I think Nintendo and Microsoft are clearly in the driver’s seat on what’s happening in this generation. And they’re different driver’s seats. In a way, … our circle and Sony’s circle overlap I would say 90 percent. Nintendo’s circle and Microsoft’s overlap say 20, 25, 30 percent, something like that.

The fact is, the Wii arguably does have slightly less raw graphics processing power than the original Xbox, and the Wii does lack simple features like DVD playback. Bach’s point is that the Nintendo platform’s future growth is limited by its graphics and feature shortcomings. He points to its controller as the reason for the Wii’s current success, and wonders if that appeal will be lasting. These are good points.

Sony Market Problems

His criticism, if you want to call it that, was reserved for Sony and their lack of success with the Playstation 3. In fact, Back sounds almost compassionate towards Sony.

It’s interesting to note that a year ago if somebody had said, “Hey, we won’t be discussing Sony,” that’s an interesting statement, and I think something that frankly hasn’t been written about very much.
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But Sony I think has some real challenges. They’ve got a pricing problem, they have a cost problem, they have a content problem, and they don’t have an online service. But I’m just talking about the psychology of me doing an interview with you as a reporter coming in and not uttering the word Sony without me bringing it up.

Reality Check

Frankly it is not surprising that Wii fans would be stung by the GameCube 1.5 non-comment, and that some would set out to count the horses under the hood. It is a shame that the interview was reported for what it was not. The “Wii is GameCube 1.5″ slam has been floating around the Internet for some time and the headlines just used Bach’s mention of the Wii’s underpowered graphics as proof.

Here’s a news flash for you: Robbie Bach works for Microsoft and should be expected to promote their products to the detrimate of other companies’ products. He didn’t even do that to Nintendo in the interview. He merely pointed out some facts about graphics and features and pointed to Microsoft’s challenge to do better in the casual arena.

On the other hand, everyone is missing the point of the Nintendo Wii. It may incorporate older graphics technology and lack some features, but Nintendo decided instead to innovate in the fun department. Compared to Xbox and Playstation 3, it is inexpensive fun, different fun, active fun. In the end, the only measure that matters is how much fun it provides and for how long.

Tags: Industry News · Nintendo Wii · Platforms · Playstation3 · XBox · XBox 360