Nintendo brought technology,innovation and fun into one neat little package in November of 2006 and have changed the way games are played. With it’s intuitive interface and simplistic game play the Wii captured new demographics of casual gamers and made believers out of the so called hardcore gamers with fun first and third party titles. I initially was not sold on the Wii and it’s kiddie graphics but like many I was swayed by Wii sports and soon I too owned Nintendo’s newest console.
I have owned nearly every Nintendo home system and it has been a staple in my family since the days of cleaning cartridges with cotton swabs and alcohol were the norm. I had high hopes for the Wii but along the way something odd happened. Nintendo dropped the ball and the hard to find console soon became the one most readily available. Once the buzz died down Nintendo went back to the drawing board and created Wii fit which helped move more units along with a new motion control add on as well. Nintendo was back in the game and was selling systems like hotcakes.
Recently though it seems Nintendo has applied all their creative energies into promoting the DS platform which while innovative in it’s own right, holds a large chunk of portable gaming at it’s mercy and the Wii seems to have floundered. With limited first party offerings and barely any third party games of note it seems the big “N” has lost touch with console owners resulting in a 21% drop in sales for the Wii. Now don’t get me wrong Nintendo has still had great sales but their “skirt” is showing and the allure and cuteness of the Wii is wearing things.
As a gamer it saddens me to see Nintendo not putting the Wii front and center given its dominating position in the home console wars. Nintendo has the tech, franchises and talent to make great games whether they are 1st or 3rd party offerings. Let’s break down the right,wrong and ridiculous things Nintendo has done with the Wii
Right
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Price- Nintendo has done a great job pricing the Wii competively
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Pack In Game-Including Wii sports as your flagship title was a no brainer
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Wireless
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Backward compatibility with GameCube titles
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Virtual Console
Wrong
- Terrible community- Between friend codes and crappy multiplayer it seems the Wii is no match XBL or even PS-Home
- 1st party titles are released sporadically which kills any interest in the system.
- Poor control integration with various franchises
- No marquee third party titles. Tatsunoko vs.. Capcom while good did not sell units
Wiidiculous
- No 5.1 sound
- No high resolution graphics. Sure a Mii will look shitty in 720p but what about visually appealing games like Mario Galaxy 2 and the upcoming Metroid:Other M
In no way am I shitting on the Wii but I am disappointed in the fact that Nintendo is not really trying to compete.Sure, Microsoft and Sony are copying Nintendo but they are also righting the many wrongs that Nintendo has. I hope Nintendo realizes that it has had such a huge impact on gaming and created a new fun and physically interactive medium but without proper support all those innovations will be for nothing.
What are your thoughts on the Wii and do you see Nintendo dominating the home console market once more?
I haven’t touched my Wii in months. This weekend I’ll be playing Monster Hunter Tri tho.
Nintendo’s argument is that people don’t want online play or HD graphics.
And of course, they know best, selling millions of units to any mom who wants her kids to shut up.
One main thing I ahte about Nintendo is that it’s almost always one killer app per franchise per system, meaning,you usually get 1 main installment of a Mario game, one Mario Kart, One smash bros, and that is it for that console generation.
We’ve lucked out getting 2 metroids for GC and 2 for Wii, 2 Mario games on the wii, but typically, that’s it, so they push units, they just don’t support them as well once you have it.
I hardly ever use my wii, I have about 12 GOOD games on it, but that’s it, out of the 600 + they have, that’s a terrible ratio.
I think that hte release of the “new” Wii is a step i nthe right direction but now that they are once again the cheapest whore on the block, they need to start turning some quality tricks again. Like you said, without the games, no one is coming back. SMG2 needs to be followed by a Star Fox, Donkey Knog, another Zelda, maybe a Kirby and a first party multiplayer game of some sort and as ridiculous as it sounds to say this in May, all of that needs to happen this year.