From the very first time I ever played a Wii, I thought it was a gimmick system. Yes, its controller and controls were unique, and the little Wii Sports game that came with the system was a lot of fun when you had a room full of 12 other people, but I never really thought the system would take off and be a major player in this generation of gaming consoles (I was obviously very wrong with that prediction). And yet, everywhere I went there was the Wii, starring at me, constantly reminding me that I didn't have a new generation game console, that I was missing out on something. Once I discovered the Virtual Console, with the vast amount of old games that you could download for a minimal price, I started looking into buying a Wii for the first time. I discovered that I could replay most of the old games that I played when I was growing up. The price was much cheaper than the other two current generation game consoles. And there were tons of great games out for the system, like Mario Galaxy and Zelda Twilight Princess. Sarah had bought a PS2 for me the previous year (Greatest gaming system ever in my opinion. I have owned about 4 of them now.) and I was trying to get back into gaming. I had an itch for a newer console, and this time about a year ago I decided to take the plunge and buy a Wii, despite my initial hesitation.
After buying the Wii, I quickly made several Mii characters (fun but not much point), bought several virtual console games (Mario, Mario 3, Mario 64, Zelda: Link to the Past, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Street Fighter, Punch-Out!, etc.), and spent 50+ hours playing through an absolute amazing game - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (the best Zelda game to date in my opinion). After finishing Twilight Princess, I started Mario Galaxy, and played it off and on until I finally beat it. I would have to take breaks from time to time to cool off from being so mad at falling into black holes repeatedly. It was during those breaks that I discovered the weakness of the Wii.
I was wanting to play a good racing game (MarioKart Wii wasn't fulfilling that need), so I went to IGN to search for my options. Not surprising, there were basically no good racing games available. However, an F1 game was scheduled to come out exclusively for the Wii in October (An F1 game? Really? I love F1! There haven't even been F1 games on the Playstation for a few years, and now one is coming to the Wii!). As October approached, occasionally IGN and Gamespot would have promising updates, commenting on the frame rate and the realistic nature of the tracks and driving. I was getting excited. And then the game was released. It was a major disappointment. The final product didn't get anywhere near living up to the potential all of the beta versions had promised.
Now you might wonder what any of this has to do with Mario (or Zelda). Nintendo is probably the greatest game developer of all time. Their first-party, proprietary software for the Wii is exceptional. The Wii Fit is another good example of this. But pretty much all other third party software for the Wii is awful. The F1 game sucked. I bought a tennis game (don't know how IGN gave this an 8.5) for the Wii made by EA, a game that featured real players, all of the grand slams, and the new Wii Motion Plus, and it was terrible. When I searched for other games to play to fill in the gaps when I was taking a break from Mario, I was greeted by an exceptional list of terrible games. An example is a game titled Cold Stone Creamery. I wish I were making this up. Meanwhile, I noticed the PS3 was coming out with exceptional games like Assassins Creed II and Uncharted 2: Drake's Fortune. Once the PS3's price dropped, I went straight to the store and picked up one for myself, mostly leaving my Wii in the dust. Of course I will be at the store the second the new Zelda game comes out, hopefully later in 2010, but I really don't see myself making ice cream cones with my Wiimote when I can kill hookers on Grand Theft Auto.
And you may be asking how exactly Mario killed the Wii? Games like Mario and Zelda were great, and showed the true gaming power the Wii has, despite its lack of actual processing power. It is just too bad all of the other games for the system are so bad.
The Wii has been fun in spurts, but the only reason I own one is because it was given to me as a gift. I never would have gone out and bought one myself. The enhanced interaction is amusing, but in the end, never made up for the lack of graphics and other capabilities of current generation systems...at least not in my mind. That's a personal preference, so I'm sure there are those who would disagree.
ReplyDeleteAs you can relate, I too found more amusement in playing the old school titles via the virtual console than I did new titles for the Wii itself.
Funny how shortly after I write this post the news broke of the PS3/PSN error.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't even the graphics that I dislike on the Wii. Sure, they aren't as good as the graphics on the PS3 or Xbox, but the very few games that are good on the system are good despite the lack of great graphics. The thing that really bothers me is the lack of good games. It is a similar situation as the N64, though much, much worse.
Obviously neither one of us would be successful running a gaming company. While we pretty much agree about the Wii, that thing outsells the PS3 and Xbox combined. I really have no answer for how that is possible, other than to say there are many more people out there interested in cheap, simple games than more serious games. I guess the majority of people are happy playing MarioKart and making ice cream cones.
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ReplyDeleteOf relevance--
ReplyDeletehttp://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/wii-expected-to-slip-in-2010/1391452
Yes, interesting article. First off, there are a limited number of people who are going to buy a Wii before everyone owns one, so sales can only be sky-high for a finite length of time. Secondly, and as I pointed out in my post, third party software for the Wii is terrible, and as a PS3 owner, I am glad a lot of the development of those terrible games is now shifting to the PS3. It will be interesting to see how the Wii does in 2010, with all of their high profile games coming out. The article mentions all of this and I agree with everything the article says. I think 2010 will be a big year for video games in general. There are a lot of big titles coming out this year.
ReplyDeleteYeah well, it would be a hell of a lot better year if we could those schmucks to release GT5.
ReplyDeleteI am actually a little concerned about GT5. As more delays come, anticipation grows, and I think it gets to a point where there is no way the game can handle the pressure of expectations. Plus, I wasn't exactly blown away by that time trial demo. I really hope I am wrong about this.
ReplyDeleteThat trial demo was all right, but I'm sure there will be much better racing circuits on that game than Indy. Not to take away from the history of IMS, but that history is all about open wheel, oval racing, specifically the Indy 500. There will be much better courses than the Indy infield circuit.
ReplyDeleteYou're exactly right about the direct correlation between delays and expectations. I've been saying for months now that they have gone past the tipping point where the end product quality will justify all the hold ups.
Even if it's the greatest racing game of all time, it still won't make up for all the hassle at this point. No excuse for this game to have not been out months ago...prior to the 2009 holiday season at the latest.
I understand why the F1 guys complained about that Indy track. It is tedious to drive, not fun at all.
ReplyDeleteIf GT5 turns out to be as great as it's supposed to be, I will probably forget about all of the delays. Of course, owning this game has only been a real possibility for me since last November, so the delays haven't bothered me as much as other people.