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| 01.01.2007Designers Notebook.. Wii worship again
Again I watch with amusement and exasperation as another game designer follows the herd in considering a motion sensing stick, an "iMac" case and cartoon graphics to be "a radical new approach to gaming". It isn't. Its a nicely designed enhancement to well known and often released technology, which allows a nice game experience, especially for the casual game market.
"Gameplay," they said, "is really about interactions, not graphics." Of course the Wii says gaming isn't about graphics, because it doesn't have any. It's like a car dealer telling you cars aren't about having a good engine when selling you a car with a rubbish engine. When buying a bicycle, the sales brochure will advertise the good things bicycles have to offer. Motorway cruising will not be mentioned.
The Wii is a fun game console, Wii sports is amusing and accessible for your mum (and for me!). My dad loved golf. But he wont be playing the Wii in a few months, he won't be buying games, it's a quick bit of fun and not a basis for the kind of long term lifecycle Sony or Microsoft are looking at. It's Christmas 2006's must have toy, and I think it will sell countless millions quickly, be seen as a great success in those terms, then fade away while the competitors are still selling in 5 years time.
After that is it going to be Nintendo all the way? Already there are hints that that means Zelda and Mario and living on the fanbase who had a NES.-Shaun Fletcher
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Letters to the Editor
