games™ Forum

From what i've seen the Wii has settled in very comfortably alongside its more expensive and powerful rival consolses, personally i only own three games, Play, Sports and Zelda, but must of my friends who have one have bought a good three or four games since launch. Nintendo must be doing something right.

Of the 3 “next genâ€

I have all three consoles, and at the moment i'm afraid that the wii has become a little redundant. The main problem is the lack of games at the moment. There are a few good party games which show you which direction nintendo intends to go and these are good for a quick bash with some friends but apart from Zelda, nothing to sink your teeth into. Looking at the release list for this year it appears there will be nothing until christmas either. (Unless we in the UK get to see Paper Mario sometime this Summer)
As for the Virtual Console, I am a little underwhelmed, most of the games I already own,( a few times if you count the extras on GC Animal Crossing and the Zelda collection on the GC) and there seems to be no intention to bring out Jap or American releases in the UK which I did hope we would get. However, I do have faith that this time next year we will have see quite a few quality titles come out for the Wii so it will be time to bring out the duster.

My Wii has been gathering dust for some time now and that's because...

Oh wait, sorry wrong console.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't love Nintendo. I'm a member of an online community that brings together people to get WFC games on the go, and my main gaming has been Nintendo based for quite a while but there are reasons for that other than "Nintendo roxx0rs!!!!"
See, my gaming heritage has been everything but Nintendo until a little bit of N64 and a lot of the Gamecube, so at my age (29) where retro means going back to the games you loved, for me it's about educating myself about the games I missed, and seeing as I never had a NES, SNES or TurboGrafx the Virtual Console is perfect for me (I don't like playing console games on a PC, sorry One Eyed Willy).
It's true that the "real" Wii games have been few and far between of late, but I can't dismiss the fun I've had from Excite Truck, Kororinpa, Wii Sports, Mario Strikers or Wii Play (GamesTM's review be damned, it isn't just worth it for the extra remote).
In fact, proper big games like Zelda have been untouched and unfinished for months, but I 100% completed Kororinpa and loved it, and I'm really looking forward to Mercury Meltdown Revolution. The next big adventure (Metroid Prime 3) doesn't get me excited - it's the little games that are my current bread and butter, big games are too daunting for me right now. Besides, I never got on with the previous Primes.

I don't care much for sales (never have) and I couldn't care less whether the Wii sells millions or hundreds - it's all irrelevant to me.
I think Nintendo did the right thing by bypassing the usual ways of competing with Microsoft and Sony, yet instead of praise for this, all you hear is "well the games look shit, don't they?".
By comparison, when was the last time a DS review had the words, "well obviously the graphics are rubbish, PSP graphics are brilliant!" It doesn't happen, and in fact it would be ridiculous.

Totally agree with you Hendo, Nintendo have found a niche for themselves with the Wii. They learned their lesson with the Gamecube in trying to compete with Sony and Microsoft at the same game, so by creating a fun, innovative console their long term future I think is pretty secure. Games like Excite Truck and Mario Strikers are fun because you can just jump right into them and play for an hour or two. I think when people picture a "casual gamer" they immediately think of some dad or businessman who bought a Wii because he think it might be cool. That may be true in some part, but other casual gamers are people who simply don't have the time to invest in loads of RPGS and FPS's. I'm a medical student and I know that certainly is the case with me.

It's good to see a company that doesn't just try to follow in Sony's footsteps, though I'm not sure whether Nintendo can keep their momentum without releasing more games that cater to the traditional gaming markets.

I absolutely love Nintendo and i have done ever since the Nes days, there is just something about the whole brand that screams fun, what company do you know that brings so much happiness and fun into games. I know Nintendo may be seen by some as a kiddy company who make kiddy games but this is not the case in my opinion. Nintendo are here to bring out the inner child in everyone and make games as fun, bright and as colourful as can be. I think the Wii is one of their best inventions to this day and i am glad they decided not to follow the usual lead by just making a more powerful machine and playing the same way. When i play on my Wii i feel that it's a refreshing new way to play games and even involves you mastering a new skill by using the Wiimote.

I do not think that Nintendo have left out serious gamers out at all because the games are yet to come, they have already brought us Zelda and if that isn't for the hardcore then what is? The £180 i have spent on this console was excellent value for money, i play my Wii whenever i get the chance and it is rarely unused for more than a couple of days, i also don't know how anyone can be complaining about the releases of late, yes there isn't a lot of A* games out at the moment but there certainly is enough to keep anyone occupied for a while. How much money can one person have? On top of all this you have got the VC with games that people may never of even had the console to, there are loads of great games available through this service at the moment so why not get downloading?

I'm hearing on a lot of forums that people are selling their Wii's to get 360's and PS3's, why on earth? The reasons are there are no games coming out! The console has been out around 7 months god dammit hasn't anyone got any patience? Let your console breath before you can let it live. You cannot play 360 and PS3 games like you can on the Wii. Nintendo is offering you a revolutionised way to play games and it's a hell of a lot of fun. The best is yet to come from this console i believe and once programmers fully adapt to the hardware the games will get better and better, i can't wait for Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros and Metroid to name a few.

In the world of today i would say the casual gamer outweighs the serious gamer so in terms of sales i can only see the Wii selling more and more until every three out of five families have one. I'm not sure the serious gamers have much faith in Nintendo as they are not seeing their Gears Of War and Devil May Cry games but this is the whole point of owning a Wii in my opinion, it's different from the rest of the crowd and this is why i own a Wii and enjoy playing games on it. One hundred and eighty pounds? Money very well spent.

I must agree with what dj trooper jusy posted. Although the Wii doesn’t currently have any hard hitting games for the experienced gamer, many of the titles that are out are extremely playable. Currently I’ve got both a Wii and a PS3 and I’ll honestly admit that I play the PS3 more, but that’s only because I want to clear Resistance on Superhuman. FOM is the only game I play regularly on the PS3 and so far none of the other games have grabbed my attention for any great length of time.

Turning to the Wii however, when I play it I’ve got a nice selection of games to choose from (when my other Wii owning friends haven’t borrowed them.) As has been mentioned by Hendo, Exite Truck is a fun game to play for a few hours when you get the chance. It brings a kind of racing that really feels at home on a NINTENDO console.

Kororinpa and Eledees are two games with simple but addictive styles. The graphics in these games suit them well and they don’t need HD. Why pump up the power when it’s not even needed.

I was a little dubious when Mario Charged Soccer came out because of the Wii’s control setup. Having played it however I’ve seriously been asking myself how I ever got by with a normal joypad for footy games. The Wii’s controls lend themselves amazingly well to football games and MCS added an extra element of fun to the entire experience.

To end this, I’ve currently got three PS3 games of which only FOM gets played with any regularity. As for my Wii, there are several games that regularly get their time in the machine.

dj trooper wrote:I'm not sure the serious gamers have much faith in Nintendo as they are not seeing their Gears Of War and Devil May Cry games but this is the whole point of owning a Wii in my opinion, it's different from the rest of the crowd.

Best quote so far.
You use the 360 and PS3 for the big blockbuster games, don't expect the same on the Wii - it's there to be different isn't it?
Wouldn't everyone moan if all 3 machines were exactly the same and offered the same experiences?

As with any previous Nintendo console, the Wii is really only any good for it's first party titles. As with the GameCube, any serious gamers should look elsewhere. The Wii is centred around the concept of "Plug in and play fun", rather than "Keep you transfixed for long periods of time". Nintendo games are mainly aimed at younger generations or people with short attention spans, or people who don't want to do a lot of thinking but still want something interactive to do to pass the time.

Sony and Microsoft want you to play their consoles / games as an alternative to going out / listening to music / watching Dvd's or Tv etc. Nintendo understand that people want to do other things, and give us games that can be picked up and put down again with ease. In the case of games like WarioWare and Wii Sports, they want us to play less but more often, rather than play lots for long periods, instead of doing anything productive. This is also true for the DS as well.

What about quality?

The quality of the machine is quite high; it's robust and well styled, as well as being a very functional design in terms of size and noise. That said, the lack of some very basic features cannot be ignored: no hard drive to speak of at a time when this is standard in not only this generations machines, but consoles released 7 years ago. Furthermore, the retail price is not so far away from the Xbox 360, so it's hard to feel it's justified.

In terms of the quality of the software, I feel that it reall has yet to meet not only expectations (which are often too high) but frankly any reasonable standard. Six months after launch there is still only one title on shelves that I feel warrants its price, and thatis Twilight Princess. Given that one of the selling points of Wii prior to launch was cheap games, it really isn't acceptable that some glorified mini-game titles are retailing for just short of the price titles like Gears of War and Oblivion launched at

What about innovation?

On first play, the new controller certainly feels fresh and highly intuitive, especially in a title like Wii Sports. However the initial 'it really works' enthusiasm dissapears after a while as one becomes accostumed to it. Ultimately a controller is only a conduit for gameplay, which is the most important aspect of any game, and a change in controls will not bring real innovation by itself; a by-the-numbers FPS will still be just that regardless of how you control it.

What about shelf life?

I think that the shelf life of a console is always decided by the quality of software on it, and whilst this hasn't been a strong point for Wii since launch, I still believe that it is more than capable of lasting the distance. I have high hopes for titles like Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and others, so I think the potential shelf life is no different to that of any other console- whether that potential is fulfilled, only time will tell.

If it's mums, dads, uncles and grandmas buying it, will they still be playing in two years time?

Once again, I think the software is key here. The demographics may change, but ultimately, whatever age you are, you want to play games you enjoy. If Nintendo can keep making games that people in these 'new demographics' want and enjoy, then those people will continue to play- it's really as simple as that.

What about the serious gamer? Has Nintendo abandoned them?

Whilst I think abandoned is a strong word, I think it's fair to say that Nintendo's overrall target audience today is certainly different to that of even 3 years ago. I think those more interested in tradionally styled/themed games will still have a somewhere to go in Wii's software catalogue, there's no doubt that unless third party developers come through stronger than they so far have, a lot of people will have to own a console other than Wii to enjoy the games they want to play.

How often do you actually use your Wii? You may own more than one console, but what if you didn't. Was it money well spent?

Whilst initially I used my Wii a great deal after buying it at launch, the lack of other appealing games (Wii Sports, and I bought Twilight Princess) has mean that it has been used very little over the last 2 or 3 months. This is in contrast with my 360, which I bough in January this year and which if anything I am using more and more (and in more and more ways). If I didn't own another console, frankly, I'd be going out to buy one; frankly the Wii simply does not offer enough right now. Money well spent? Well, I still think the Wii will justify itself in the fullness of time, and I'm looking forward to some of the big titles, Mario Galaxy in particular, but ultimately only time will tell.

I bought my Wii online when they were unavailible in the shops and paid over the odds for it. For me then, it had to deliver, and it has.
The most important factor to the Wii's success in my eyes is that it isn't trying to be like the other consoles, it's being itself. This is a good thing. Nintendo's strategy of attempting to appeal to audiences of all ages has paid off in the short term at least, as it has been proven that they have achieved great success in getting non-gamers interested.
Whether they can keep up the momentum remains to be seen of course. But there are many different genres in gaming that will benefit tremendously from the innovation the Wii provides. Shoot-em-ups and racing games are probably the most obvious. I think what will determine the Wii's success will be it's ability to compete online. 360 games such as Gears of War have a huge online contingency, heck, Halo 2 still pulls a huge crowd and its around 3 years old now. This generation is all about online gameplay. If Wii can secure a series of online games which stay true to the reason consumers have bought the console, pick up and play, fun for all, simple to get a hold of games, it will continue to celebrate success in the marketplace.

its good to see something done differently for a change but what happend to the games? ben pretty barren for a long time now

Its quirky new and interesting. Its flying off the shelves and Nintendos mastery of manipulating supply and demand has kept it limited and in demand.

The problem is no-one really seems to know what to do with it. The slew of 'party' games or mini games available for it quickly become dull and users are waiting for something new to hit....but its not coming.

Several games have had ports from the other consoles which only served to show that the Wii can't compete aesthetically and that motion control only works for games that were actually designed with it in mind.

Even though units continue to shift at retail, they need to maintain the momentum by keeping a steady drip feed of decent and more importantly diverse software that has been specifically designed for the machine.

The problem for Nintendo is that most devs can't afford to develop single platform this gen and so the problems mentioned above with ported titles persist.
Its a catch 22 situation that is seeing Wii's consigned to gathering dust under peoples TV's while people buy PS3's and 360's.
If the trend continues I think the development landscape will be very different in a years time.

First I thought "wow cool motion control, think of all the things they could do!". But soon doubt set in and now I think "So it's pretty average motion control that just replaces button presses and the box is far too underpowered to do anything special."

I had a lot of high hopes for the machine but it's not shown me anything that impresses. Saying that it doesn't seem to be aimed at the likes of me.