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If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these Think Services sites:
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 Game Set Watch (the Group's alt.game weblog.) |
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Opinion: Two Years In - How The Wii Has Failed
by Brice Morrison
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October 28, 2008
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[Following his ebullient first installment praising Nintendo's Wii, designer Brice Morrison looks at the flip side - discussing just how the console "has failed to deliver on the magic it promised."]
Released in November, 2006, the Nintendo Wii is revolutionary to say the least. With its innovative user interface, it has completely taken the world by storm by reinventing what video games are and who they are made for.
With nearly 30 million sold worldwide and over 160 million lifetime sales predicted (more than twice that of the Xbox 360 or PS3), Nintendo has clearly hit the ball out of the park.
Critics are raving, the crowds are cheering, it seems as though the once sagging console industry has been rejuvenated and ready to run at a blistering pace for years to come.
To this day, two years after launch, you still have a hard time finding a Wii in stores. But what consumers are lining up to buy isn’t the Wii, what they are buying is the idea and the dream of the Wii.
Consumers, many of whom have never played games before, have been picking up a Wii, enjoying it for a few weeks, and then watching it collect dust by their TV. They can’t explain why, but for some reason they just don’t play it anymore.
This is because the Wii has failed to deliver on the magic it promised.
A License to Dream
When I first heard about the Wii, I was completely ecstatic. Though the idea of movement-based controls are now obvious, at the time it was completely and utterly original. Such an idea had never even crossed the average gamer’s mind.
All we saw for the future was a jump from button-mashing to VR Headsets, with nothing in between. This first step off of the classic game controller was nothing short of mind blowing.
Everyone who watched in awe at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006 also watched their minds begin spinning with ideas. This is a godsend, we thought. We can do everything!
We can make fitness games that work your body, shooting games with actual movement, puzzle games with tactile interface, and much more. Truly, the Wii seemed like a license to dream anything.
But the ceiling was bound to appear.
Waggle: The Empty Promise
The principle failure of the Wii and its Wii remote is in its promise of immersion through movement. When many people imagine what playing the Wii would be like after seeing the commercials and experiences of other players, they imagine an incredibly immersive experience.
The movement based controls of the Wii hearken to a completely visceral play session, becoming one with the virtual world in front of them. We all drooled at the opportunity to dive behind couches in our living room to escape gunfire, being able to replicate a real tennis match without leaving the house, or having a sword fight that was even more real and tactile than the ones we had as children with wooden sticks.
It has been a disappointment, therefore, to see our promised virtual experience reduced to shaking the controller.
The problem is that waggling the Wii remote does not, in itself, add to a gameplay experience. If I want to open a virtual door and am asked to turn the Wii remote instead of pressing a button, that doesn’t make the experience more immersive.
While it may be novel once or twice, the simple movement itself does not enrich the game. In fact, it can become tedious and frustrating. Developers are just as guilty as players in this regard.
Creating one game after another that is essentially a recycled last-generation title, but with new Wii remote action, does not make it any different than the title was before.
The sad truth is that substituting Wii remote movement for a button press is nothing more than an empty promise. Upgrading to a new technology only to have the freshly minted fun evaporate after one run through is not technology well spent.
Looking Behind the Curtain
I remember teaching my cousin how to play Wii Tennis, and when he went to serve the ball, he lifted his left hand, the one not holding the Wii remote, to toss. At that moment, he didn’t understand how the Wii worked.
All he knew was that it was some sort of magical machine that mimicked your real life movements. It was a joyous occasion and a incredible exploratory experience.
But the innocence did not last long. Upon further experimentation, he learned how the controller worked, discovering that a quick snap of the wrist gave the same forehand as a loopy swing of his whole upper body. As the initial amazement wore off, Wii Tennis became simply another video game.
When the public imagined what was possible with the Wii, we imagined complete, full-on physical experiences akin to backyard football. Perhaps, we thought, you may even get a little bruised up in a game on the Wii, playing with competitive friends.
Many of the early press responses to the Wii held this view, with parents saying that they enjoy it because it gets them and their kids off the couch. But to say that you think the Wii gets you off the couch is to reveal a naive understanding of its fundamental gameplay.
Sure, it may get kids off the couch, but when they’ll be doing off the couch is flicking their wrists, not playing basketball.
The limitations of the Wii remote’s accelerometer (even with Wii Motion Plus) reveal it to be far short of the dream machine that players were pining over. The necessary later release of Wii Fit shows that Nintendo developers have come to terms with the limitations of the Wii remote by itself.
Wii Fit may be fantastic for those who want exercise, but it’s too specialized of a peripheral to do much for those who want to explore the virtual worlds present in other games, but in a more immersive way. We wanted the Wii remote to satisfy our needs outside of exercise, too.
What We Bought Vs. What We Have
The Nintendo Wii is an elegant symphony of hardware, software, marketing, and imagination. At first glance, it appears that it can do everything you could think of, an experience full of promise.
Everyone loves the idea of the Wii. The idea of a totally immersive experience. The idea of games that are more like kickball and less like Tetris. The idea of entering a brand new world. But after some time, we learn that we have purchased nothing more than a shakable A-button.
Without doubt, future console releases and peripherals will attempt to satisfy us further. The Wii has made a great leap forward, but those who think we have already arrived are mistaken.
[Brice Morrison is a game designer who has been developing quirky titles since he was in middle school. Before taking a job at Electronic Arts, he developed several successful independent games such as Jelly Wars, an action adventure franchise, and QuickQuests, a casual MMORPG.
While at the University of Virginia, Brice founded Student Game Developers, an organization which continues to produce games every semester and open the doors to the games industry for students. His blog at BriceMorrison.com discusses games in a broader context and how they can be more than simply entertainment.]
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Don't get me wrong, I bought a Wii on day one, standing out in the cold since the AM in a line to get one. But I have to agree with this article when it says the magic that was promised just was not delivered past the initial reaction of "Link swings the sword when I do!"...
If I was gonna attack Wii it'd be by charging that it's deliberate attempt to appeal to the mainstream will, in the long run, erode the quality of games. As game publishers realize they can sell better by marketing to the mainstream, fewer games will be made for us. Hardcore gaming will be marginalized. I can envision a scenario where Japan, a place where hardcore gaming IS the mainstream, will return to its role as the place where hardcore games are made, while American companies make simpler stuff for a mainstream American audience.
I disagree. I think Nintendo turned back the experience of the earliest Nintendo "core gamers". Honestly, Wii Sports gives the same pleasure (and also the same period of "fascination" that wears off after a few months) that the 8-bit NES era games (like Ice Climber) had.
So, if anything, Nintendo actually turned back to the "corest" of "core gamers", in my opinion, and giving new players exactly that experience.
Personally I disagree totally with anything claiming that trying to widen the audience is equivalent to "abandoning" anything. The "they aren't for us, so they're against us" attitude just is a logical thinking flaw.
The flaw with that logic is to think that "core gamers" have not changed over the 20 years since the NES has come out.
If you mean that it is giving a new generation of gamers the chance at the same experience we had when we first turned on the NES, I think that this could be said of any new gamer who turns on a console for the first time or plays his/her first PC game. This is not specific to the Wii or any console for that matter. A lot of console games are played until the next buy every month (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20668 shares this observation, under "Smarter Solutions"), so the "fascination effect" is all but gone in consoles nowadays.
They are doing that again.
I don't see why people are claiming that Nintendo is abandoning them. The games they have made for the Wii are almost exactly the same types of games they have made for every other console they have made. Honestly, do you see any real difference between Mario Galaxy and Mario 64? What about Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time? The only thing that has changed is the input method and updated graphics.
If you really want to complain about the lack of "hardcore" support for the Wii, why don't you take your complaints to 3rd party developers. They are the ones who are shoving out the crap you complain about. Nintendo is trying to develop titles that utilize the Wii's unique controls and constraints in fun games that can appeal to anyone. Most of the rest are just interested in cashing in.
There are several developers who want to give you what you want, but they simply cannot meet your expectations of 360 or PS3 like experiences. So get over it. The Wii is not like those consoles. If you hate the Wii so much, just stop complaining and play the consoles and the games you like.
One last thing. I have said this many time before and I will keep saying it everytime people complain about the Wii. Hardcore gamers are the minority in this world. Nintendo has proved this. Hardcore gamers hate to be reminded of it. THat is why they complain and moan so much. They have it thrown in their faces that they are not the ones who control the market and the direction of gaming anymore. They don't like it so they complain. And complain is all they are good at.
That argurment is almost older than the Wii itself. While we all can say that the machine is revolutionary, that doesn't change the fact that the design specifically alienated developers of next-gen titles. These third-party developers you speak of that are trying to cash in, that's all the Wii has. Why? Major developers can not afford to devote time to downgrading next-gen titles which most likely would not sell compared to their brethren on other consoles. Nintendo designed a system which focused on fun, but in keeping the console cheap along with a history of misunderstanding in the online game realm created a system which is simply not up-to-date. Control innovations aside, we are looking at a last generation console in regards to physical power or second to last generation console in regards to social networking and online play. No wonder third-party developers don't want to develop games for it like we expect them to!
Sure, the Wii is reaching out to people who haven't played games before. But in the very specifications of the system, Nintendo did not care to support what "hardcore gamers" expected, and what current generation developers needed. That is a formula for a shovelware system, no matter how many Mario and Link games Nintendo squeezes out.
And that is both true to casual gamers and hardcore one's. To exemplify casual gaming tendencies, just take a look at reflexive's top seller's and you will have a good idea of where casual is going.
So when Wii launched, i was both excited and scared, because they were trying to experiment in other directions ( as they have been doing for some time now, from 64 controller, to DS ),
which could and did expand our horizons to what games can be like, but as a new ground to explore you never know what could happen.
But as it turned out, while Wii's console aims for a huge different aprroach, Wii's games aren't that different from what there used to be on Gamecube or 64, and other consoles. Yeah, you changed the controller, but few titles actually use it to truly make it a unique experience. So i think it's more a game designer, and third party companie's problem than with Wii itself.
Of course i wasn't expecting a truly VR experinece for $250, but i was in love with the idea of playing games in a way i never did before, and to be able to see game industry trying to recicle itself to some new paths, which didn't happen yet. Hell, it's more likely littleBigPlanet is gonna change the market more than Wii's games did. But hey, at least Nintendo is trying right? How are games supposed to be considered an art form if we as part of it don't grow?
How did it alienate developers? The PS3 alienated developers more than the Wii. With the Wii, you had similar technology to the previous generation. Any GC developer could developer a Wii game with little headache. The PS3 completely rewrote its development. It in no way resembled the PS2's development. PS2 developers had to relearn the system in order to develop for it. That is part of the reason there were so few games for it at launch.
I love this line, "history of misunderstanding in the online game realm" That is classic. I still don't understand the benefits of playing a game with other people in other states who are going to call you f*g and n*gg*r all through the match. There is nothing wrong with Nintendo's approach to online gaming. You get the code of your friends from your real life friends and you enter those codes in order to play with them. What is wrong with that? Seems more agreeable to me than play some random moron with severe racial and homophobic tendencies.
Here is another funny one, "Nintendo did not care to support what "hardcore gamers" expected, and what current generation developers needed." Just what exactly is that? What did this generation "need"? Did we really need Blu-ray? Did we really need lifelike graphics? did we really need graphics cards that could render 10 thousand bullets and all their damage at once?
No. We needed fun games that looked good and played well. Those can be found on any system whether they are on the Atari 2600, the Wii or the PS3. Games don't need the latest in GPUs to be fun.
Next, "That is a formula for a shovelware system, no matter how many Mario and Link games Nintendo squeezes out." Yes there is a lot of shovel ware. I admit that. But there is a lot more freedom when it comes to innovation in design. The Wii provides a low cost platform for development. Developers and publishers are more willing to experiment on the Wii than any other platform besides PC. Why? Because they don't have to spend $20 million dollars on the game. There have been more developers shut their doors after a flop on the PS3 than on the Wii. Studio sizes can be smaller. budgets can be smaller. You don't need as many game sales to make a profit.
Sounds good to me. Where do I sign up.
Those of us who make PC, console or even mobile games owe a HUGE debt to Nintendo. Many of us wouldn't have careers without them introducing a new batch of gamers every year.
I remember the game crash of '84, Nintendo saved the industry. They're just repeating those same steps over and over. If you feel abandoned, its just because its time for you to move on... just like your parents will, or did, do to you when it was time to move out of the nest.
I think you might be right.
@Ephriam
A lot of studios developing mainstream games are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on blockbusters that aren't getting ported to the Wii, because the hardware isn't anywhere near powerful. The Wii's graphics are poor and it has too little internal memory to speak of. It doesn't need to be a powerhouse like the PS3, but I do not see where using hardware just more powerful than the Gamecube is acceptable. It isn't, and games that get ports to that system are going to reflect that. And when we are talking about these mainstream games not doing as well on the Wii, they sell poorly. We have already seen a lot of games going to XBox360, PS3, and PC and getting passed over on the Wii because it just wouldn't sell. I never said they had to look the best. But the Wii isn't even close.
If you do not like playing online games with strangers, that does not mean other people do not enjoy it. Sure, some people are immature, but that does mean it is a worthless experience, especially with moderation features such as muting players or rating players like XBox Live! has been doing. The problem with Nintendo's approach is that it is trying to shield children from inappropriate content, when simple parental control systems could have the same effect. These kind of blanket censorship with no support for voice chat and relying on clumsy friend codes hurts everyone who wants to play online with people easily.
I also am trying to put forth points to why I believe the Wii didn't live up to expectations and why I think it is a failure in those regards, while you seem to be attacking me and people who do not enjoy the Wii. This article (and others like it) provide sound, well-articulated arguments without resorting to personal attacks. There is no need to get that defensive.
Wait. "If you do not like playing online games with strangers, that does not mean other people do not enjoy it." "but I do not see where using hardware just more powerful than the Gamecube is acceptable. It isn't"
How can those two arguments exist in the same post. Why is it not acceptable to not have the latest in graphics technology and like it, yet acceptable to not like certain online components?
I hope that made sense.
The only problem with your argument, is that for 90% of Wii owners, they could care less that it does not have the same graphical capabilities of the PS3. Did you know that less than 20% of tv owning Americans have an HD tv? Did you know that? I do. That is one of the reasons why I don't see anyone outside the "hardcore" caring that the Wii is incapable of displaying HD graphics.
I don't mean to sound like I am attacking you directly, but everytime an article like this comes up along comes the highhorse PS3 and 360 owners to talk about how the Wii is not a next-gen console. Why is it not next-gen? Because it doesn't have the same graphics capabilities. It doesn't have the same online capabilities. It doesn't have a DVD drive. It doesn't support HD. It doesn't have big enough storage.
But you know what, 90% of Wii owners don't care about any of that. They have SD tv sets. They have a DVD player already. They play games with people in the same room as them. They don't download hundreds of games. The games still look good even though they are not photo realistic. They don't care because that is not what they were expecting in the first place. They consider games graphics to look more like cartoons than Movies.
The reason I come across as attacking you and other people who hold you OPINIONS, because that is what they are, is because all you think about is what YOU want and what YOU expect out of a games console. You don't stop to consider what other people who are interested in gaming want. Nintendo did and now they are reaping the benefits of that decision.
I have to wonder, actually, how many had similar experiences to my own.
Megaman 9 is on XBox as well, I believe.
@Ephriam
Once again, I didn't say it had to have HD and the best graphics. I said that they had to be decent. The graphics on the Wii match the Gamecube and N64.
Also, I don't disagree that the majority of Wii owners do not care about the issues with online play, console storage, and graphics. The majority of Wii owners could possibly be people just getting into gaming. (I don't have actual evidence to prove this, so if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.) That's not my point. My point was that it was a failure for the people who already were into gaming. The people these issues effect are the people who play the current generation of games and do not see games being made for the Wii that interest them outside of the sparce releases Nintendo made with their traditional characters (and this doesn't include the now mandatory Mario Party and sub-par Mario Sports game).
Yes, Nintendo got into the casual market. Yes, Nintendo attracted thousands of new gamers, young and old. But does that mean the console was perfect? No, not at all. I would like to see how many people own a Wii and only have Wii ____ games, such as Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Sports, etc. These people are sure to be satisfied with what the Wii has given them, a casual games machine. In this way, Nintendo was 100% successful. My point of criticism is that they did this for their new market, and not for the existing gamers. These gamers are used to third-party support beyond poor ports and shovelware (which as I discussed might be linked to the poor hardware support), better online functionality and overall performance.
Now, it is my opinion, true. But I believe that what I am saying is not without evidence and support, so that's why I am posting it. I have considered what other people want out of the system. And it's fine for newcomers. I am talking about the people who waited in line for the Wii first day and bought into the hype. These were the "hardcore" or existing gamers. The new people came after the press and Nintendo advertising as games for all ages. So what I am saying is Nintendo has failed to deliver to the people who were already here when the Wii came out, and that is why I believe it is a commercial success but a sad failure of a console for the previous crowd.
You're the one asserting your "opinion" as fact. You attack hardcore gamers for being self interested. What the hell do you want us to be? I didn't say anything bad about Wii. It is very succesful at what it set out to do, sell video games to a mainstream audience. I enjoy Wii, but I fear the repercussions its success may have for the medium. Wii is certainly not alone in this boat, Guitar Hero is right alongside it. It's simple business. If you can create Game A with 300 million potential customers or Game B with 10 million potential customers, it does not take Rupert Murdoch to realize that Game A is the better business option. In time companies will gradually move towards creating more and more Game As because the point of the endeavor is not to create good games, but to sell games. I'm not saying mainstream stuff is necessarily bad or that I don't enjoy it, but there are game elements that have difficulty fitting into a game for mass consumption. I imagine there will always be a niche of hardcore gamers that present a market to be sold to, so i'm not here crying about the sky falling.
Think about how much you dislike the crap movies and crap music that are continually devoured by America's fatty middle. Video games are going to go in that direction. It is my opinion that if something attempts to appeal to everyone it ends up a bland, uninspiring turd. From politicians to movies to music, it is a common theme.
Just like the most simple shovelware, only the most simplistic analysis of Wii's appeal would focus solely on the remote's accelerometers.
"The idea of games that are more like kickball and less like Tetris. "
This article appears to me to be based on a significant misunderstanding of Wii's core concepts. Wii was designed with fun and the opportunity to try new things at the forefront. Not total immersion. Total immersion would surely be more complex and offputting for the inexperienced gamer - in direct contrast with the goals of the system.
'Waggle' is but one component of the controller's advances. Split into two parts. Featuring a highly responsive digital pointing device and independent analogue stick. The Wii Remote is far more than accelerometers. It has a scaleable complexity making it suitable to a vast array of genres which have barely been touched upon by developers.
The reasons for western publisher caution are many and varied, and likely some are exercising quite justifiable caution. Those that invest heavily in 'next gen' tech will also have little interest in Wii development.
But it's a crying shame that more developers haven't been able to release games exploiting the controller. Where's C&C and the fresh console RTS games that are such a natural fit? The big budget adventure games? The action flight games? Taito's 'Space Invaders Get Even' is the first game to have truly capitalised on the pointer+analogue stick for a new type of game.
The reasons that the 'revolution' has not delivered for the 'hard-core' gamer (*shudder*) is down to publishers either not taking risks, or having conflicting priorities. And perhaps lamentably simplistic assessments of the marketplace.
But it's definitely not down to any 'limitations' of the remote control, which has barely been explored by anyone outside of Nintendo.
"I didn't say it had to have HD and the best graphics. I said that they had to be decent." You can get some really fantastic visuals on the Wii. So where is the problem? Oh that's right, they are not photo realistic.
"The people these issues effect are the people who play the current generation of games and do not see games being made for the Wii that interest them outside of the sparce releases Nintendo made with their traditional characters"
So move on and stop your complaining. If you don't find joy in it, don't mess with it. Why can't you figure it out. Just because it is a games console does not mean that it must conform to all your gaming needs.
Anthony,
I am sorry if I offended you. I don't think I directly responded to you in anyway, but sorry.
I know they are my opinion, but there are quite a few facts in my posts. The primary point to my posts is that you do not need the horsepower of the PS3 or the 360 to have a great gaming experience. People seem to forget that. But that is mostly the hardcore that forget that. They tend to be distracted by the newest "shiny shiny." brought to the market.
Now you say this is about business. You are absolutely right. Nintendo looked at the current business model of the games industry and realized they were not going ot be able to compete on the same level as Sony and Microsoft. So they went a completely differnet route. And they scored big. They thought outside the box and benefited from it.
Read Rhodri's post above. He nails it right on the head. The only reason we have so many crap games on the Wii is because developers and publishers are hesitant to think out of the box they have been in when it comes to controls. Sure they experiment by sticking an arm or a leg out, but why are they not jumping out completely. Nintendo did it. Look at them.
It’s similar to the ability to see a paper towl tube is a sword (or Lightsaber) or a pillow fort as a castle. The Wii lets people come closer to touching our imaginary worlds, but it’s far from perfect.
It isn’t ultra immersive. It doesn’t replicate the taste of Link’s Chu Jelly Potions or the heft of Mario’s gut. It doesn’t make us reel in pain (or even pretend to) when we take damage.
A lot of consumers have become accustomed to electronics making their lives easier or performing a job.
But rumbly controllers don’t either. The Wii simply meets us half way.
As a player I may not be engaged by simply turning a door knob. But if there is a mechanic tied to how slowly or quickly I perform that motion, I am intrigued. I can be immersed…
This is an aspect that often falls flat in many titles, whether I'm pressing a button or waggling a Wiimote. It's really up to the developers to make these mechanics resonate as well as any other component.
There is undoubtedly a learning curve to this type of creativity. A novelist uses words to suggest depth. Do they achieve it?
That depends on the reader. After all the aversion to this avenue of entertainment led to the popularity of Movies, Televisions and then Games in the first place.
Audiences took decades to develop ‘suspension of disbelief’ with film and television. Abuse of this luxury made them just as jaded. Maybe we’ve become jaded as a consumer culture or just expect more from our entertainment.
But luckily there are people out there that are willing take the leap.
If not, there’s always the Right Trigger and a rumble feature… :)
I personally don’t feel betrayed by Nintendo at all because frankly, this is the kind of nonsense I expect from them. I own all three consoles and the Wii occupies a third tier status and probably always will, especially with both MS and Sony consoles literally inundated with AAA software. Nintendo has had their head up their own ass since the N64 and while there is no denying that the Wii is a commercial success, the library and overall experience is literally a joke when compared against what the XB360 and PS3 offer, not to mention the PC.
The issue isn’t about casual versus hardcore because those labels and demographics are not even quantifiable. Everybody starts off as a casual consumer and at some point decides to invest more time and money into a particular hobby. The Nintendo-apologists keep making ludicrous statements about how the hardcore dollar doesn’t matter, but we all know that’s nonsense. There is a reasonably large chunk of the game-buying demographic that spends a copious amount of money on this medium and both MS and Sony continue to tap those consumers by offering great software. The mass market may spend more overall but more educated consumers still carry sway.
I would also point out that profit doesn’t always equal quality. The members of the Venerated Church of Nintendo love to point to sales charts as some sort of vindication for their chosen company but last year Spiderman 3 grossed six times the amount of No Country for Old Men, so does that change the fact that Spiderman 3 was an insipid piece of cinematic excrement?
The truth is that sales charts are all Nintendophiles have left because when you examine the software, the Wii has been a colossal failure. Yes, games like Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. were excellent, but for every one of those there have been two dozen shovelware releases, not to mention the many rushed ports using PS2 assets. From a technical standpoint, the Wii has yet to even match the graphical prowess of the original XBOX, yet people gladly fork over 250 dollars for what is essentially a GameCube with a waggle wand.
Nintendo may be on top but they too will fall again, probably because they mistake a fad for some sort of permanence within the market. The Wii has mass appeal right now but that will fade in due course and once again consumers will look for something more substantive than twitch fads and vacuous software.
It would be more accurate to say that Wii developers have failed Wii owners. Wii developers are responsible for creating content for the Wii. If certain developers have turned the control system into a "shakeable A-button", that's clearly a problem of the developers and not the Wii's problem.
If certain software genres are under-represented on the Wii, it is again the fault of developers and not the Wii. It's pretty simple business, really: if there is a demand for certain software on a platform, and nobody is producing it, then it's their own damn fault that they don't supply the demand.
If certain games appear to be shovelware to hardcore gamers, that's a problem with hardcore gamers and not with the Wii. Admittedly, there is a lot of bad software, but shovelware is a term used by hardcore gamers to lump together all non-hardcore games. There are many non-hardcore games on the Wii that serve a specific audience, use an appropriate Wii-style control scheme, and are innovative and entertaining for their audience. For example: "We Cheer". Hardcore gamers deride it because it doesn't fit into a hardcore genre like an RTS, FPS, TBS, RPG, or whatever. Yet it is selling well, has good reviews among its audience, has good motion controls, and seems fun to players. Does that make it shovelware? No. If there's one expectation I had of the Wii that has succeeded, it is that developers have had the freedom to try making games that could never succeed on a traditional console. If they don't succeed on the Wii, at least they tried. They would not have had the opportunity anywhere else.
I would have liked to see Brice's "success" and "failure" articles in a combined article. It would have allowed him to contrast the different sides better and let to more constructive debate. Instead, having separate articles is just causing another flame war. I hope to see a third article from Brice that bridges the two articles and shows that it's the people who develop for the Wii that have the true successes and failures.
As for motion controls not living up to expectations, I disagree. Sure in a lot of games it feels tacked on, but in some games is brings a totally new gameplay experience. Motion controls works brilliantly in games such as WarioWare, Elebits, Zack and Wiki, and No More Heroes. Let's not forget the remote IR pointer also brings a great, novel gameplay experience not found on any other console which works brilliantly in games such as Resident Evil 4, Lost Winds, Elebits, and Resident Evil UC. Also Nintendo will soon release MotionPlus which will bring true 1 to 1 motion which I can see being a totally awesome experience in games.
As for Nintendo abandoning hardcore gamers that is completely false. Nintendo released more "core" games for the Wii within the timeframe the Wii was released than the GC and N64. Nintendo is just making more games that appeal to a wider demographic. What's wrong with that? The more gamers the better for the video game industry.
Judging by opinions I've read on video game sites, hardcore gamers are big whinners. Sorry, but the video game world doesn't revolve around you guys. Sales reflect that. Not everybody finds games with violence and super realistic graphics appealing. If you don't like the Wii then you should sell it and stick to your PS3, 360, and PC. When Nintendo first revealed the Wii they said it was going to appeal to everybody, not just a narrow demographic. Hence the name "Wii". So why are you guys so surprised? Because of it is wide appeal is outselling the 360 and PS3 combined just about every month.
I'm glad for Nintendo.
you said "No. We needed fun games that looked good and played well. Those can be found on any system whether they are on the Atari 2600, the Wii or the PS3. Games don't need the latest in GPUs to be fun. "
This is true but if I want to play games that run on an Atari or Gamecube then that's what I should do as I already bought one. Nintendo should stop pretending there's a reason it sold people a new console that is essentially just a Gam,ecube and make Gamecube games again instead of encouraging us to waste our money on a 2nd Gamecube.
as a more experienced gamer i always was one step away from buying a wii but never did.
when i saw the promos i tought that 3month after launch we have kick ass tennis/boxing/lightsaber... games but now after years we still have one party games compilation after the other. only a handfull of games seem truly work with the controller concept.
maybe this all will change with motion plus but bringing motion plus years after the initial launch seems to me as if they say : "ok now we make it work"
as for casual games and their quality i also agree with some comments here. if you can sell a gazilion units of a game where the player has to press buttons in the rythm of blinking lights a la guitar hero companies will of course ask themselves if its worth spending 100times the resources in creating a solid mmo or next gen single player game
Not a single huge game was made to the Wii. How could developers "know" that those games won't sell on the Wii? Are they magicians? No More Heroes is hardcore and is the best selling Suda51 game ever. Red Steel is the only other hardcore game that some money was put into it, and it sold a million and a half units, even being rushed as hell (reflected on terrible controls, buggy AI and ugly presentation). There isn't a SINGLE game to cater to the audience who bought those games, RE4, HotD, and those other few hardcore Wii games that sold really well.
Can't see how the graphics on the Wii are bad. Have you played Shadow of the Colossus? Splinter Cell? Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles? Metal Gear? Monster Hunter? Metroid Prime? And I'm not even talking about Wii games. And all of those were amazing game, just to show how power isn't important to make a game fun. Mario Galaxy is made with a ported engine from the GC, and EVERYONE praise it for the graphics. And, for the record, CoD WaW will have, on the Wii, the CoD4 engine, with same AI, destructible cover, shader effects, iterative fire... All running on the Wii. Same features as on the HD platforms. There are some limitations, but are mostly due to lack of budget on the Wii team (30 people? WTF?) than the console's limitation (for example, mp is limited to 8 players, while The Conduit, a lot more technically impressive, will have 16).
Now to GHWT: DLC, always online, full band online. All features form HD versions and more. It just shows that not just the hardware limitations, but the online limitations are just imposed by third parties, that don't care to make decent games on the Wii, because they know they can make money with piss poor efforts. Activision saw how well GH3 did on the Wii (best selling version) and put some real effort into GHWT. And now we get the same experience as any other version. Nintendo limiting some online features doesn't mean third parties have to follow. They just do it, again, just to spend as little as possible on the Wii version. Even with the limitations, Mario Kart and GHWT are lots of fun, sometimes even better, by not having to deal with pranks.
Really, publishers are afraid. They invested on the other platforms (A LOT of money), and have games for them being made for 3+ years. No one believed on the Wii. Now, their last resort to make some money out of it is to cater to the hardcore audience and make them buy any of the HD systems (mainly, the 360, as it is easier and cheaper to develop for). So they neglect the Wii, make piss poor efforts to sell to the game hungry audience (yes, even the casuals are game hungry, as proven on the PC - that's why Game Party and Carnival Games sell so well) and make money with those games to develop HD games, that they will sell to all those that bought the "Nintendo abandoned the hardcore" talk (bs talk, as most big franchises already arrived in great shape on the Wii - Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Smash Bros, Mario Kart).
Just the publishers that have guts to realize that the Wii is not a fad, that they made a mistake, and that they can make lots of money on it are starting to put some effort: Sega (The Conduit, MadWorld, HotD Overkill), MMV (No More Heroes 2, Muramasa, Little King Story), and, to a lesser extent, Activision (CoD, GH, 007).
I am not a big fan of consoles, but my brother just bought one a couple of weeks ago. I watched them playing tennis, and I have to say that I had the feeling that it was not completely immersive as you mention in the article. Movement is not accurate and even you feel you are swinging a tennis racket, you have to move the character with the joystick.
This can be confusing and reduce greatly the immersion experience, but building an immersive device is costly. So, the Wii seem to be just perfect for starters without the need to spend a lot of money.
We, the true gamers, are why someone will make games that we want. To put it simply, there is $$$ to be made. We buy games. We buy them far more often than the typical Wii owner. There may be three times as many Wii's out there as their are PS3's, but I own about 15 PS3 games to my 3 Wii games. If Microsoft goes the way of the Wii, then Sony will be doing a dance of ownage as they will have just created a monopoly on the demographic that actually BUYS games...
Reading these comments make me laugh because everyone has an opinion...and opinions are like a**ho*es, everybody has one. The simple truth is EVERY company in business today, regardless of industry, is in business to make a profit and pay dividends to their shareholders--the people who really matter to these companies . This includes Nintendo, Sony, MS, EA, etc, etc. There are as many different ideas of how to go about accomplishing this as there are companies. If anyone truly believes any of these companies are making games for the hardcore gamer, you are sadly mistaken. They are making games they believe will sell so they can improve profits and satisfy the shareholders--period! In the past, the games that sold well were primarily games geared toward the hardcore gamer...this has now changed. Deal with it and quit whining and complaining and posting ignorant comments on websites. Happy Halloween, everyone!! :)
Reading these comments make me laugh because everyone has an opinion...and opinions are like a**ho*es, everybody has one. The simple truth is EVERY company in business today, regardless of industry, is in business to make a profit and pay dividends to their shareholders--the people who really matter to these companies . This includes Nintendo, Sony, MS, EA, etc, etc. There are as many different ideas of how to go about accomplishing this as there are companies. If anyone truly believes any of these companies are making games for the hardcore gamer, you are sadly mistaken. They are making games they believe will sell so they can improve profits and satisfy the shareholders--period! In the past, the games that sold well were primarily games geared toward the hardcore gamer...this has now changed. Deal with it and quit whining and complaining and posting ignorant comments on websites. Happy Halloween, everyone!! :)