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 Jesse
Divnich, The
simExchange
The
third-party publishers have failed capitalize on the gap between the
large demand for quality Wii games and the supply of them.
2007 was a
good example of this gap, as we had millions of Wii consumers
screaming for more quality titles, but had third-party publishers
porting over games like Need for Speed, NBA Live and
Manhunt 2 -- all with lackluster quality and sales
performance.
Lately,
industry professionals and the general gaming community have
suggested that Nintendo bring back its "Nintendo Seal of
Quality."
People have forgotten why Nintendo introduced the seal
in the first place: to stop piracy and to inform consumers of any
extremely low-quality titles. Once piracy wasn't an issue and game
quality began to evolve, more and more titles were receiving the
seal, diluting its significance.
Believe
it or not, back in the 80's, a lot of gamers made purchasing
decisions based solely on the box art and the description on the
back.
Fortunately, technology has evolved and we now have numerous
media outlets (magazines, gaming community web sites) that have taken
the place of needing a "Seal of Quality." It is unlikely
any poorly developed title will fool consumers -- shame on Manhunt
2 for thinking otherwise!
I
believe we won't see a huge influx of quality third-party published
Wii titles until 4th quarter 2008. Until then, a few third-party
titles can occupy our time: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,
Rygar, No More Heroes and Sega Superstars
Tennis.
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Core games outsell casual games on the Wii. The good sales of Carnival games could be attributed to the fact that it was one of the few Wii third party games that had TV ads. Also if you visit some game forums you will see that some core gamers like the game.
The Wii like the DS will need a good mix of casual and core games.If people keep going on and on about how casual the Wii is and ignore good selling core games then most Wii owners will not be happy. Even casual gamers want something more than mini games.
The Wii is a platform for casual gamers and the games that are coming out reflect that.
The Wii is also a platform for hardcore gamers, but I would venture that less than 40% of Wii owners got the console for Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros and Metroid. Oh, and Zelda.
The Wii is also a platform for ports and quick cash-in (on the trend) titles. This just adds to the casual title library, but this is where the shovelware comes in.
I'm a little bit more upbeat about the future quality of Wii games because of the supposed specialised teams being formed at Ubisoft and EA, as well as the increased priority the console has been given by Activision Blizzard (when it was just Activision) and THQ. Square Enix also factors into this, despite the negativity everyone has been spreading regarding 3rd party sales.
They know they have to find a way to monetise the fastest and best selling console on the market right now and if making better games is the way to do it, then, by Jove, I think they've got it.
If the Wii wants to really innovate, it will take the casual 'easy to learn' game genre, the hardcore scene, buy them a nice bottle of wine, turn on some Barry White, and get them to make to make a brand new genre that combines both worlds.
I'm personally holding out for a casual game that manages to slip an epic plot in there somehow.
I do consider myself a member of that group. As a teenager, I used to play a ton of very hardcore games (I beat Xenogears). But now, I'd rather play games as a leisure activity like TV or movies - not as a dedicated hobby that envelopes most of my free time. Thus, I find myself losing patience with most hardcore games these days. I thought I would love BioShock, but I didn't bother finishing it due to its inconsistent and rather spread out level of quality, and I now regret the purchase. As for "casual" games, well, they just don't appeal to me much.
A recent game that I think captures the "ex-core" essence is Portal. It's hardcore in that most non-gamers probably wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of it (it certainly requires some precision FPS and spatial thinking skills), yet it's casual in its length and difficulty. Those were the best 3 hours of gaming I can recall recently, and I came out of it wishing more games were like Portal.
Shorter and denser, please!
Anyway, the idea that both types of games can't exist on Wii is ridiculous. The problem is 3rd parties will develop quick cash ins, ports or just terrible games. Or worse, a developer will develop a good game but dedicate zero marketing dollars to it and then complain that core titles can't sell on Wii. Good business sense dictates if I take the time to develop a title on any platform that's adheres to industry standards of quality (consistent framerate, no clipping, clean design etc) AND market the game, I'll have a better chance of selling it.
Let's look at Soul Caliber Legends. Terrible game. With Soul Caliber 2 performing very well on Gamecube, one would imagine that a Soul Caliber fighting game would sell well on Wii considering it currently has no other fighting games. ANY Soul Caliber would have been a better choice than Legends. At the very least, as annoying as ports may be, a port or update of Soul Caliber 2 or 3 would have been better received than Legends by the core audience, provided it was at least marginally improved over the original game. Also, it would not have taken a huge investment to bring the game to Wii, increasing the chances of profit. I'd rather have an original SC but if companies are going to go port happy or just update old games on Wii, make better choices, use common sense and stop using lowest common denominator development practices. If developers would do this more often, a "Seal of Approval" wouldn't be necessary.
The issue here is making games available to the larger audience as well, and the compromises so far may not be the right ones to make. To make the interface truly intuitive. The less time you need to learn the interface, the more patience I am sure a gamer, casual or not, has with the game. Hard-Core gamers don't need flight simulator controls. Aeroplane enthusiasts might, but not a gamer, unless that depth of immersion adds to the fun in the game. Most hardcore pc gamers know wasd+mouse works fine, and in any shooter would probably try using that first. In a wii shooter the controls are pretty self-explanatory once you've got the nunchuk plugged in and are told to point at the screen with the wiimote. Like mr. Jeffries says, make the lovechild of casual and hardcore. 'Easy to learn' in my book means intuitive. All you need for the wii, mr. Jeffries, is a well written and designed game with adequately responsive controls, and you've got it. I don't know if Metroid (Wii) appeals to the casual gamers, but it seems to be a good example of how it could be done.
I remember reading an article about EA regretting not heading puting the Wii on their radar in early 2006 like they should of...
They said they regretted it and plan on making up for the lost ground; when I don't know.
Nintendo can't be blamed for the flunking of 3rd party titles, and I hope the trend doesn't lead them back into a "damned if you damned if you don't" wall. We all agree that 3rd party titles are 3rd rate titles on the Wii in majority.
In conclusion, we all know that there are many more things to a successful game outside of development, let's just agree that the console has nothing to do with that equation. (what can I say I loved pong) As for the fad or trend or surge or bubble or whatever, it will pop - when? I don't know. But for now know that Nintendo brand is iron clad, heeding it's luster you know it's sheer steel - it won't break easily. (Hint for sony: Insert Software here.)