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Nintendo Wii 'like a virus', games boss sniffs

The President of videogame developer Epic Games has compared Nintendo's Wii console to a “virus”, despite having caught bought one himself.

Mike Capps recently told gaming website IGN that the Wii is like a virus: you catch the bug, have it for a couple of weeks then you get over it. After that, you're immune to its charms.

In the meantime, he said, your friends, who you invited round in the early days of the 'infection', have caught the bug too and are busily showing the console off to their chums. And so on.

Epic’s President also implied that the console’s games are not up to much, and said that the few titles he did like would still be better off on other consoles.

Microsoft appears to agree. Last week, it claimed the Wii's software attachment rate in Europe is just 3.5 titles - a lot lower than the seven-odd titles it claimed Xbox 360 owners have bought.

Mind you, the software giant also said it had recently doubled 360 sales in Europe - though it later emerged it was still behind both the PS3 and the Wii, in the UK.

As for attachment rates, Nintendo claimed in January that in European Wii owners have bought 5.6 titles on average - rather more than the 3.5 MS claimed. Who do you believe? ®

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