Wii thoughts episode 4 - I've just lost faith in Nintendo

[Killarapp]

I tried to turn my Wii on today, first time in a few months. I stuck in wii sports and was greeted with the feeling of meh due to being home alone. There was no real desire to play the game alone due to its limited options, so I tried to connect to the shop channel. It didn't work, wonderful, it would have worked if the wii just used a bloody ethernet wire but no this stupid touchy feely wifi is what we got. I tend to need to restart my PC to get it to work, couldn't be bothered this time.

Twilight princess and Wii Sports bored me shortly after Xmas my family has lost interest too. While i'll never admit there bad games, the lasting appeal has died for us. I had fun with the Godfather BE strangling people with the Wiimote but haven't seen anything to convince me this is the future or even more just a fad.

This console was to revolutionise the FPS genre, I haven't seen one FPS that has universeably been accepted as having brilliant controls. I certainly haven't seen anything revolutionary on the Wii gameplay wise. Medal of honor, Call of duty, Red steel, ps2 ports... just the same old gameplay, design and overused concepts with new controls and worse graphics than their counterparts on the 360/ps3. But who can blame them? its exactly what Nintendo are doing, wheres the innovation in Brawl / Mario Galaxy / Zelda TP and Metriod? they all look and play just like the last one on the GC. All I see is the new controls and some proof the Wii can do good graphics that nobody else seems to listen to.

Then lets look at Nintendo themselves and their attitude towards Europe. Wheres our Paper Mario 2, Pokemon pearl/diamond, Super smash bros brawl and Wiifit? last time I checked once a game is out in the US it doesn't need translation anymore. Maybe a tiny bit but not enough to delay the game months and months. No doubt we'll get Brawl Summer 08.

Your thinking thats a bit OTT, historically though, was Metriod not set for launch? was Galaxy not due Q1 2007? was Brawl not coming to everywhere but here in 2007? what gives Nintendo?

And while were pointing out Nintendo's broken promises its only fair to bring in Wiiconnect24. I remember being told you would wake up in the morning and something special like a new character in SSBB would be waiting for you... every few weeks we get a news letter... messages arnt even instant. Sometimes a new channel that doesn't download automatically, patches? same thing. Theres no reason to leave my wii on overnight. And wheres this DS demo channel thing we were promised?

And online, oh boy don't get me started, not even a headset Nintendo... I thought you were commited to online?

For the hardcore gamers at least this is basically the gamecube situation all over again. Just waiting and waiting and calling Nintendo stupid...

For the none gamer, well I don't think Nintendo can replicate the success of the DS due to the price difference. Most adults see the Wii as £180 to play Wiisports. Nintendo might be able to beat the fad if they revolutionise the gimic... so its a shame Wiifit wont be hitting this year in Europe anyway.

So im totally disillusioned with Nintendo, your take on this?

[ferrydaniel21]

quite a big rant my friend, i understsnd your frustation but you still have to remember that the wii is a young console, I remember when I got my ds last year for xmas & I hardly played it, until early this year, the ds hs a massive success because of its games, it has sold 40 million units worldwide because of this, just be patience with the wii. Good things will happen

[whatdoesntdie]

Still plenty of time for a lot of great things to happen with the wii, i strongly believe that there are secret projects on the go that will blow our minds once they get announced.

I also believe Nintendo are going to listen to its gamers conerning online play, we need to remember that we got the first online game and once other online games come to both here and the US and there is an outcry for communication between users, then nintendo will say ' ha already done it, will be out soon' kindof thing.

As for the nintendo and europe load of rubbish - i strongly agree that we are mistreated, japan and america always have and always will get there stuff first and i dont think there is much we can do about it - but it is annoying (however we must remember we got mario strikers first and it was online so we got that first too).

As for uninspired games release so far, im not complaining too much because i like alot of the games i got for my wii, including wii sports, and wario and toger woods, all good games i enjoy. FPS games?? - Just wait till RE : Umbrella Chronicles and the new medal of honour!!

[FooFan]

I've always said that we need to give the Wii time to develop as it is still new and people are not sure how to best use it at the moment. having said that, I'm very disappointed with Nintendo's constant delaying of games over here in Europe.

When the Wii was first launched we were promised so many great games in the coming months, but one by one they've all been pushed back and Japan and America get them before us. With the exception of strikers, which is quite a big exception seeing as it's online

I've never really bought a console the year it came out, I always seemed to make do with what I had and then got the new console the following year. But because the Wii was relatively cheap I decided to go for it in it's launch year.
So I'm not used to watching games slowly churn out over the first few months... But, After seeing clips and screen shots of the likes of Galaxy, SSBB, Wii Fit, Forever Blue, Mario Kart, Metroid, Battalion Wars 2 etc. I know that for all the people who do wait a year, like I usually do, they are going to be buying a console that will have a number of high quality titles available and plenty more to follow

There is nothing we can do except wait and hope that Nintendo get their act together regarding all of the issues you've brought up, because they are all problems. We've shown enough commitment to buy the console in it's early stages so I think we're going to have to carry on the commitment and hope it's repaid.

[Gaffer]

Wow....quite a post. I'll take it bit by bit:

I think the mojority of people who want a console, would prefer wifi over ethernet as they would prefer less clutter/wiring visible. In fact, a big gripe about the 360 is that you have to pay an extortionate £60-80 extra just for a usb wifi attachment whereas the Wii and PS3 have it built in.
The wifi'd 60Gb PS3 sold (I think) up to 9 times as many consoles as the 20Gb ethernetted version in US up to it's discontinuation so I think most people do prefer wireless.

In contrast to your experience, WiiSports gets played the most when family is around and the same holds true for many folks. It's a great and simple game that is quite addicitive....I'm not bored with mine yet, but I do understand that newer versions are starting to appear (eg, Brunswick Bowling instead of WiiSports).

The problem is, that as a launch console, it's only to be expected that the first year has the fewest killer games. Same holds true for PS3 (I'd contend that there are NO decent games out on that yet.......and where is GT5 (a supposed launch title?)) as well as the 360 (not many good games in it's 1st year either.....only on GoW did things reall start hotting up).
In short, this is an issue with all consoles....always has been and it's the price you pay for being an early adopter.

Re: releasing things earlier in US/Jap.....they're not alone in this. I think Sony is far far worse in this respect. They not only delay releases, but they openly lie about it (where is GTmobile for the PSP?...meant to be a launch game).
I do agree that it seems that it's only the Japanese companies that do this to us.....from what I can see at least MS treats us more fairly.
Basically since the end of WW2, Japanese industry has always put the US first - go and read any economics journal to realise the truth in this......it's part of post-war realpolitik.
The 360 has definitely been the better bet when it comes to software release dates in EU so far.

I myself agree with your statements re: online.....poor effort from Ninty so far.

The only reason to consider a PS3 or 360 has been the lack of driving simulators for me on the Wii.
I'm talking about either a Forza2 or GT4 clone.....in fact, these series' were available on both the xbox and the ps2, so there's no excuse for Ninty not serving one up (I'm talking about a simulator as opposed to an arcade racer like PGR/burnout/excite here).

Finallly, FPS'......well I'm sorry but I value the movement of the player above graphics for this. In this regard, the Wii clearly wipes the floor with anything on either the PS3 or 360. The fact that you can move/strafe with the 'chuck and aim/shoot with the 'mote as a pointer puts the Wii head and shoulders above RFOM or GOW imho.....regardless of how good the graphics are on those.

Red steel had poor graphics, yes.....but the movement controls made the game more immersive and things will only get better as these controls are honed and improved with games like Metroid 3.

Plus, everyone who jumped on the bandwagon after seeing the succesful launch (ie MOST of the software companies) will need 1-1.5 years to develop thier games, so I predict a whole bunch of releases from 1st quarter 08 - 2nd Q 08.

.....Just need to wait for a bit (if you're feeling down about it, just think of how much worse the PS3 line up is )

[Huwie]

As an old gamer, I'm very used to having to wait for European releases. It still ****es me off in principle, but in reality it doesn't bother me so much any more. As for FPS games, I've never been interested in them on any platform before, but the Wii is doing it so much better than any other console that even the poor games are good.

I definitely agree with you on the WC24 issue though. So far it's been an utter waste of time, and an insane missed opportunity for Nintendo. They're limited only by their imagination as to what they can do with it, yet so far it's being used to swap Miis (yawn), exchange messages (yawn (and also rather pointless since pretty much everyone who has a Wii online also has a PC and email account)) and use the Everyone Votes channel (lol).

[Scotty32]

to be honest - i see you bang on about online and how it doesnt come wit a mic. but thats not wot the wii is about. it sounds like you just want a cheap xbox or PS3.

if you care about online gaming so much - go buy an xbox ... or play on it if you already have one.


to me, the biggest annoyance is going into Game and seeing the ONE stand for wii (which, may i add is titled as 'Nintendo') and a whole wall for Xbox or PS3.

I remember when i had a N64, the self space would shrink and shrink as PS1/2 (wot ever it was at the time) took more and more space.

Nintendo have been going longer than Sony and Microsoft (in the console sense) put together - yet they get no respect from game stores which only seem to want to stock the other console's games and accessories.

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by Scotty32

to be honest - i see you bang on about online and how it doesnt come wit a mic. but thats not wot the wii is about. it sounds like you just want a cheap xbox or PS3.

if you care about online gaming so much - go buy an xbox ... or play on it if you already have one.


to me, the biggest annoyance is going into Game and seeing the ONE stand for wii (which, may i add is titled as 'Nintendo') and a whole wall for Xbox or PS3.

I remember when i had a N64, the self space would shrink and shrink as PS1/2 (wot ever it was at the time) took more and more space.

Nintendo have been going longer than Sony and Microsoft (in the console sense) put together - yet they get no respect from game stores which only seem to want to stock the other console's games and accessories.

Well said, Scotty

I agree with everything you said, I've realised Killarapp seems to always about moan Nintendo and the Wii, when he wants everything a 360 has.

Aside from that, every console has a dry patch of games and we're in the latter stage of it now.

You moaned about the fact that the big three had been pushed back, well they were released at their schedule dates, they'd be sh*t, then you'd be even more upset.

By christmas, MP3, Brawl and Galaxy will wet your juices and last you for this generation. Theres plenty of innovation in those games, online super smash, a natural way of playing Metriod and an all new Mario game.

I think you're being a gloomy Gus killarapp, and i dont think you're appreciating the good in the Wii and in what Nintendo are doing for gaming

[John Mc]

Well, we are going through a LONG perdiod where there are no good games for the Wii. Unless you like Mario Party 8, which has been recalled anyway (after finally coming on shelves after 5 or so delays then getting taken back off again!) you really don't have anything to grab your attention. I am really looking forward to RE: Umbrella Chronicles and the next MoH though.

On the topic of online Nintendo really have failed to deliver - especially with WiiConnect 24. It's actually gotten to the point where I have turned my WiiConnect 24 off. There's no real use for it at the moment and it really makes your Wii heat up.

Whoever said we are in the latter part of this games dry patch is wrong. The next must-have title for the Wii (Super Paper Mario) isn't due out until half way through September! We've still got 2 months of waiting to go....

[Huwie]

Originally Posted by John Mc

The next must-have title for the Wii (MySims)

Fixed that for you.