Is Nintendo’s Toughest Competition Coming From Fisher-Price?
If you've ordered anything Nintendo Wii related from Amazon.com, there is a decent chance you might have recently received a promotional e-mail from them. But no, it's not advertising Super Mario Galaxy or any other upcoming Wii product. It's advertising this:
Introducing the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle. Featuring the kind of immersive gameplay that Nintendo has only recently dreamed up with Wii Fit and the yet to be released Balance Board, this plug & play gaming system is perhaps Nintendo's fiercest enemy. As we all know, Fisher-Price has an even stronger reputation of catering towards the "undeveloped" than Nintendo, and they've beaten Nintendo to the punch in terms of getting it out to the public first. The public have responded, and they are letting Fisher-Price know that they like what they see. The Smart Cycle is currently much cheaper than the Wii, with a price tag of $100 ($89.92 on Amazon) compared to the Wii's $250 ($360 on Amazon). The innovative Fisher-Price gaming machine is currently the third best seller in Toys & Games on Amazon's site and has a high average rating equal to that of the Wii's (4.5/5). To see why the Smart Cycle is getting so much hype, check out Amazon.com's product page for a "wicked awesome" trailer, as the young gamers like to say. Well folks, at least we can say that Wii had a good run.
By Shagr
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November 3rd, 2007 at 9:18 pm
yep, it will completely destroy nintendo, yep.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Damn, Nintendo watch yourself. This and the Chinese "Vii" will destroy you. Nintendo, I'm scared for you. You guys should file for bankruptcy and sell the Wii for $50.
November 4th, 2007 at 12:15 am
What? No way in hell is this going to beat the Wii! It's nothing more than a cheap rip-off of the Wii, but with the games being either educational or babyish. At least Nintendo's games are family-friendly (even if not exactly "mature"), and can be enjoyed by pretty much everyone. Plus, with masterpieces like Galaxy and Brawl coming out, this rip-off doesn't stand a chance in hell.
It'll be popular with maybe 2-7 year-olds, whereas the Wii will be popular with people of all ages, and for good reason.
The Fisher-Price Smart Cycle is a joke. Dumb Cycle is more like it.
November 4th, 2007 at 12:54 am
oh crap! Baby on bike with videogame... Destroying a 100 year old company... OH GOD NO THE HORROR I AM SOOO SCURRED!!! PLEASE NINTENDO... PLEASE!!!
November 4th, 2007 at 1:28 am
I agree. This one-trick pony for 3-to-6-year-olds is surely Nintendo's fiercest enemy yet. As we all know, the rapid pedaling action of the Smart Cycle has so much more entertainment potential than the Wii's flexible, expandable, diverse and intuitive movement interface could ever have. The smart cycle is fun for mom and dad too; pedaling on a tiny toy is something the whole family can do together, just like playing the Wii!
I mean, what kid hasn't cried his or her poor little heart out for their own stationary exercise cycle! Now their days of riding a bike with real wheels in the dangerous outdoors will be over. Safe at last, exploring the TV instead of the real world; for only three times the price of a real bike too!
Speaking of price; since the whole family can use and enjoy the Smart Cycle, at just over a third of the price of the Wii, this thing is a steal! Those pedaling games will never get old compared to the thousands of gameplay possibilities offered by the Wii. I still can't believe it... only a third of the price! What value!
Since the Smart Cycle so obviously deserves to be in the same class as the Wii, it's nugatory amazon rating that is on par with the Wii is the icing on the cake as far as I am concerned, and it surely means the Wii's run is over.
November 4th, 2007 at 1:50 am
(Congrats to Michael and I see what you did there for seeing what I did there. We at Almost Monumental are kind of Nintendo fans if you haven't noticed. We've been referring to Super Mario Galaxy as "the second coming" for crying out loud. This post was done in good fun and isn't supposed to be taken seriously.)
November 4th, 2007 at 6:55 am
No crash helmet, no sale.
November 4th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Its no competition because
1. It's designed for children who dont have the stamina or the reactions to play a Wii for more than a minute.
2. It WILL break if anybody bigger than an average 6 year old uses it.
3. Its plug and play, those things have less power than an old NES for crying out loud.
4. With the dumb cycle you can pedal and turn. With the Wii-mote you can swing, slash, punch, jump, shake, play several different sports AND use it in a traditional game controler sense along with just about anything the game designers can come up with.
5. The wii has games for older people too.
6. The wii gets new games all the time, the dumb cycle has 1 crappy game and never gets any new ones.
November 4th, 2007 at 11:05 am
"Lmao", you do know that everyone here is being sarcastic, don't you?
November 4th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Oh please, this fisher-price thingamabob can only be aimed at young children, while any person of any age can get the wii. The Wii will do fine, it does not depend on the wii-fit and even if it did there's no way this article isn't jumping the gun.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
this is a piece of crap only of tard childern just aviod!!
November 4th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Teros, I think you're completely wrong on this one. The Smart Cycle is definitely competing with the Wii. I'll show you by refuting everything you just said.
"1. It's designed for children who dont have the stamina or the reactions to play a Wii for more than a minute."
More like the Wii was designed for children who don't have the stamina to play the Smart Cycle, lolamirite? You actually have to move your legs with this new system. You won't be able to do that with the Wii until the balance board comes out.
"2. It WILL break if anybody bigger than an average 6 year old uses it."
Do you know this is a fact? Have you ridden one (assuming you're bigger than an average 6 year old)? It may have been designed for "little people" but I don't think FP is foolish enough to ignore the older crowd as well. I ordered 2 so if it breaks I'll get back to you that one.
"3. Its plug and play, those things have less power than an old NES for crying out loud."
Plug and play systems may have less power than the standard gaming systems, but since when has power meant anything? The Wii is outselling the 360 and PS3 without as much power.
"4. With the dumb cycle you can pedal and turn. With the Wii-mote you can swing, slash, punch, jump, shake, play several different sports AND use it in a traditional game controler sense along with just about anything the game designers can come up with."
This is true, but it's possible that new peripherals will be released for the Smart Cycle allowing you to do even more than what you can do with the Wii. Besides, the Wii doesn't let you pedal like the Smart Cycle does, which seems to make you really feel like you're there.
"5. The wii has games for older people too."
Again, these games aren't just for kids. I really want to travel back in time to be with the dinosaurs, and the Smart Cycle allows me to do just that.
"6. The wii gets new games all the time, the dumb cycle has 1 crappy game and never gets any new ones."
This isn't even true! The Smart Cycle has more than 1 game and in the trailer you can see there are multiple software keys. I'm starting to think you didn't even watch it... I'm sure that if it continues to sell at the rate it's selling, we'll see even more games coming out for it.
November 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
(sarcasm) omg is so awsome! Nintendo are going to get utterly owned by a big plastic bike!
pfft, its just a big plastic bike, what else can it do?
November 25th, 2007 at 9:18 am
(sarcasm) omg it is so cool!!! nintendo is in trouble! ¬¬
seriusly ( sry about my english,i'm brazilian =) ) this ''bike'' is NEVER going to beat nintendo!!!! You pedal and turn... on nintendo wii you do 99999999999 more things!!! OMG! that ''bike'' ins't even good...