Wii Sales Concerns

[fast]

I apologize, I misunderstood what you were trying to say about Iphone gaming. And I guess I will agree that the Wii is lacking those few must haves that every past system leader has had. However I believe the system represents a paradigm shift that we all better get ready to embrace. Gaming is becoming mainstream, and while that is a good thing, it brings with it a whole different way to look at the industry. I will explain this thought more in the near future. The following is the response I typed a couple days ago:

The industry is shifting, so old standards will not be applicable. With every new generation we have a new set of gamers coming back from years of inactivity. This is only more prevalent now that many of those who began with the NES are now old enough to have children old enough to begin. That said, gaming is becoming a socially acceptable pastime, even if it is just the causal games.

I know how to judge a good console. By my definition, it is any console I can have a lot of fun playing with my friends and family. I know my definition is not acceptable by the general populace, who place their faith in the opinions of others (reviews). Think about it. What is a review? Someone’s opinion, right? Sure that person should have more knowledge on the subject and should be looking at things objectively, but that is a rare case when it comes to professional reviewers. I knew a couple back in the day who started playing games when they got their job. And ofcourse, you cant spell ignorant without IGN. So why should I take someone, or in the case of Gamerankings, many others opinion on a title when I can form my own? I personally had a lot of fun playing through Daikatana in coop (on the pc) – Coop negates the awful AI which was a major issue with the title.

In the future I will show others many of the same games I show them right now – Tastunoko vs Capcom, Mario Galaxy, Kororinpa, Castle of Shikigami 3, Cooking Mama, Dragon Quest Swords, Excite Truck, Ghost Squad/House of the Dead 2/3/overkill, Lets Tap, Warioware, and as soon as I get copies of them Zack and Wiki, Punch Out, Sam & Max, Monster Hunter Tri, and the Agatha Christie games will be added to that list – the Agatha Christie games are modern point and click adventures.

Out of those five are the only console ports available, and only HOTD2/3 are available on other systems.

As for games like Gears of War and Assassin Creed – I am leaving Bioshock off since it is not terribly original, I cant really say much. Assassins Creed was actually a very good title for the parts I played, Gears of War “technically” supports legacy controls. But it does so so poorly I cannot play it. Therefore I cannot make any justified opinion on the title. See I play with legacy controls for FPS/TPS games on consoles – meaning left stick is move and turn, right stick is strafe and look up and down. I have been playing that way since the mid 90s and it is difficult for me to learn the other way. While it is easy for others, I have tried and just cant do it. So while Gears of War supports legacy controls in theory, the hyper important run and cover system is controlled by holding down A and using strafe to move left and right. Meaning I have to play with my thumb and pointer on the top of the controller – let me just say that it is very uncomfortable after a few minutes. This alone makes me not want to buy a 360. The Southpaw Legacy crowd gets shafted most of the time, but now I am going in the wrong direction.

I will easily put up Kororinpa to GTA4, Fallout 3, and Fable 2. In terms of the amount of fun my friends and I have obtained from Kororinpa far outweighs the other three. Fallout 3 was just a disappointment (if they had called it something else like a Fallout sidestory it would have been fine, but we were hoping for so much more). I know you are going to say: it is great for my friends and I to get enjoyment from something simple like Kororinpa but it is a hard sell to others. But I will tell you some of our history to explain this: Most of my friends and myself grew up playing PC games. From Space Eggs to Supreme Commander. I use to play a lot of Wolf 3d, ROTT, Jedi Knight, Red Alert, Half Life, and UT, with them, and others. I have played every major PC release up to Bioshock, and a huge chunk of the back catalog. So when I play something like Fable, I see a bad Gothic or Neverwinter Nights. And I never really liked the Grand Theft Auto titles – though 2 was great in multiplayer. Sure Kororinpa is like a Mojo or Marble Madness, but how it is controlled is something that makes it different. While that is a poor example, I am sure you see where I am going with it.

The reason the Wii feels like a money making scheme – which I typed as monkey making, is because many of the big developers did not believe in it until recently. Many wrote it off right off the bat due to lack of HD, others do to the paltry internal memory, both of which were going to be big issues this gen. However after it boomed, they flocked to it. Now we are getting games for it that are really starting to show it off. So yeah, not ideal and the first year did kinda suck, but now the console is really showing some awesome games. I mean Monster Hunter Tri looks awesome:


And rumor has it, a US release is not terribly far off.

As for Xbox Arcade vs Wiiware. That is a hotly debated topic but I have played a lot of the best offered on each and it’s honestly a tie. But if you factor in the Virtual Console, its hands down Nintendo. Both offer unique titles that are awesome – Castle Crashers and Virtual On are main reason I want a 360, but Dr Mario, Lost Winds, Alien Crush, and the Art Style games are all hotly played on my Wii. But, like I said, the VC trumps all. I mean Bomberman 94, Sin and Punishment, Legend of Mana, most of the Mario’s, and Phantasy Star IV is a sickening ace in the hole that no one can match. Like you said – possibly the greatest retro console of all time (if you have the money for it). Personally I only bought Bomberman 93 and Mario Kart 64 (two of my families most played games of all time), but my friends have been alittle more loose in their spending and I have got to reap the benefits of that.

The only console with more titles is the Gamecube with the Gameboy Player. The GB/GBC/GBA catalog is simply massive. Even if the VC added handheld support, they would have to add games for a very long time to catch up.

[RCBH928]

I understand your point of view
that the Wii brings fun and good time to all people, even if the games are simple. I guess it is a turn in the videogame industry, I guess we will be going back to when videogames were first out with simple buttons and simpler graphics.
I also do agree that the point of videogames is to have fun, and as long as that is fulfilled it doesn't matter if you are playing Pong or Crysis .

What my view is that the Wii is capable of so much more. I also believe that going back to simpler games is over shadowing or ignoring the sect of the people that play games to go into a fantasy world. It is fun being on a magical quest(final fantasy) or beating the crap of human vs aliens war(Gears) or being a secret spy(Metal Gear).
I think the Wii is truly ignoring this sect of consumers on purpose , where the Wii can really give a lot and flourish in using the motion controls.

If you argue that developers were looking for Wii to be a failure and concentrated on ps3/xbox , that is true. But it has been 2.5 years since the Wii is a crazy success(most successful ever?) but we have not seen any reaction from the developers except in simpler games. Developer's attitude is towards "Our fans are on the ps3/360 and we see no reason to go into the Wii" . So all that makes things hopeless for a guy like me. If there are promises of great games to come, I sure will think better of the Wii.

[fast]

I think the main problem here is that we view great games differently. But that’s cool, thats how it should be.

To go off topic:
I have a major problem with new games that dont allow me to remap buttons/sticks. This is biggest with FPS games, ie Gears of War, and a lesser one for platformers or puzzle games. I use legacy controls, and have used them for almost 15 years now. I am not keen to learn a new control scheme, you cant relearn twitch, and so standard controls are right out. Gears of War legacy controls fine except for when you “roadie run.” When you hold down A, you use the right stick to turn, making it impossible to play without using your index finger aswell as your thumb (this hurts a lot after a short time). As you can imagine, this means you can play the singleplayer ok, but the multiplayer is pathetic. There have been many complaints about this raised to Epic Games, for both Gears 1 and 2, but they have done nothing. Atleast Valve updated Left4Dead through patches. So most of the major console releases of this generation I just couldn’t play. Thankfully the PC has pulled through for most of them.

[RCBH928]

I am not sure what is the problem with Gear's controls, they are fine really. I also never really liked to change button configuration because usually the default is the best, but I wonder why they won't let the option exists. Maybe on PC version because of multiple controllers available .

I am crossing my fingers and wishing for serious adventure games that fall in the adult's category for the Wii.

[omer]

Everyone who I know who owns a Wii realizes that they just wasted their money on a fad. Personally, I'm glad the Wii sales are going south because the inferior Wii which is a joke of a console is an insult to the gaming industry. I'm not a hater of the Wii i promise...If a company decides not to give a crap about releasing quality games, then in no reason do they deserve to be #1.

Ps3 is a failure in my eyes...it's a kick in the balls that Sony needed. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE THE PS1 AND PS2, but not the PS3. Great system...but overpriced, especially at launch.

I have to hand it to Microsoft this generation.. The 360 came at a fair price and later on upgraded for the better for cheaper! The ONLY bad thing I have to say about the 360 is the RRoD, but Microsoft has finally answered it with the new Jasper models. (so far)

I wish SEGA would rise back from the dead and unleash a true gaming system.

[Curlypaul]

Thats never going to happen - theres barley enough room for 3 major consoles and Sega are making good money at the min so why would they risk everything? Sega will never release new hardware so get used to it.

For me the 360 problem is an utter killer - I dont care if the games are the best ever there is no excuse for selling harware that doesnt last 12 months. The PS3 is the better choice of the 2 and I will get one when the price drops.

I dont know why I get involved in these discussions - I have a wii and I'm glad that I bought it. There is plenty for me to play by myself and plenty for me to play with a gang of drunk mates and plenty of great core games on the horizon. If you dont like it, well that doesnt spoil my fun one bit and this is the last time I get into this kind of thread.

[alienjesus]

For me the 360 problem is an utter killer - I dont care if the games are the best ever there is no excuse for selling harware that doesnt last 12 months.

This. I'm going to be taking back my xbox to the shop for the 3rd time since i bought it at the start of the month. I realise im probably having really bad lukc here, but its really put me off the console.

also, the wii has plenty of quality games, just you have to know what to look for under the dirge and shovelware. Kinda like the ps2, although to a more extreme extent certainly.

[enderfall]

My opinion on the Wii mess is that developers were caught with their pants down. I imagine that (internally) all the big game developers initially laughed at the Wii and thought it was going to be a commercial failure. When it caught on, they needed to catch up and convince their investors as to why they didn't have many games coming out for the #1 selling system. To do that, they released junk. And more junk. Then smaller companies started releasing the dreaded shovelware. Sadly, the Wii will survive with 1st party titles like Mario and Zelda, and there have been so few of those recently. My Wii sits next to my TV, hardly ever being turned on. I had a slight renaissance when I bought Mario Kart after the holiday season, but after a couple weeks, I grew tired of it.

But by far, the biggest failure of the Wii is the friend code system. It would be fine if you only needed to enter in a code once for the system itself, but each time for every game? Forget it, Nintendo might as well have never tried to develop an online enabled system considering how outrageously clunky it is. Nintendo's goal was to protect kids from online predators, when they actually managed to alienated the hardcore gamers wanting to play Nintendo's games online.

[MyNESstayFR3SH]

The Wii...(exhales). I was SO hyped to get one. I believed the hype. Thought the revolution was here.... was STARVING. I finally got mines and... no system ever got less play than that bs. Almost like after first day I gave it up.

I being the big Zelda fan that I am even borrowed(to cheap to cop) TP and only played it for few hours.. the shaking the controller thing got old real REAL fast.

My Wii just now sits there and the only reason it's not back in the box its cuz I use it to play gamecube games cuz I cant afford to get the component cables for gamecube but the wii ones are cheap. Wii Blows.

Interesting note though... my sister got my parents into playing it and now they play the wii more than anyone. I never seen that in my life, my folks gaming? I guess Nintendo completed their mission.

[MrPopo]

But by far, the biggest failure of the Wii is the friend code system. It would be fine if you only needed to enter in a code once for the system itself, but each time for every game? Forget it, Nintendo might as well have never tried to develop an online enabled system considering how outrageously clunky it is. Nintendo's goal was to protect kids from online predators, when they actually managed to alienated the hardcore gamers wanting to play Nintendo's games online.

I'm sure all of us will agree that the friend code system is fail. Really, a single code for the system like the PS3 ID or the Gamertag would have been sufficient. I mean, honestly, how many situations come up where you want someone on your Mario Kart friends list but DON'T want them on your brawl friends list?