Brand Design Blog, News and Ideas

Nintendo’s new gaming system the Wii has made an unexpected splash into the gaming market.

While many people showed some interest in the new style controls, no one saw the potential in this new system

In 2007 the Wii is topping U.S. sales and has almost doubled sales over competitor products.

Why has the Wii been so successful?

The new functionality of the remote controller brings you closer than ever to being part of the action. Swinging at tennis balls, attacking enemies with sword thrusts or throwing jabs in a boxing match provide an experience that actually build a sweat. You feel like you’re getting some exercise while playing a computer game.

The way you use the controller is simply…Fun!

The games themselves are built around group participation. Most games, the whole family can join in. Unlike other gaming experiences, you have the opportunity to interact with real people.

One of the other points I have to make is that the ‘batteries were included’. Very rarely do I ever purchase a game, toy or electronics device of any kind that comes with batteries.

Is this important? Yeh!

The ability to be able to play with a gift as soon as it’s opened is a huge bonus from a customer satisfaction point of view.

It’s Christmas morning, your child has opened their gift only to find that they need to wait until the shops open to get batteries before they can enjoy their present.

Simply adding good quality batteries into a package such as this is a master stroke. It only adds a few dollars into the overall cost and you can build that into the purchase price.

The benefit in customer satisfaction is infinite. Customer satisfaction drives more sales through customer referrals and the proof is in the sales figures.

So, the reason why I love the Wii? The product has simply been designed to perfection.

Everything has been thought of and constructed around user experience. By thinking about the customer and how they and their friends will interact with the product, Nintendo has been able to tap into not only the gamer community but the public as large.

They’ve created a much larger customer base than other system designers and for that they have my approval and applause.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 am and is filed under design fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.