Is the Wii getting desperate?

[beoweasel]

I was lurking around my local Gamestop, doing what I like to think I do best, which is annoy the management to death with inane small talk about videogames. And at some point, the clerk brought up that he believed that Nintendo has chucked out its "Seal of Quality" and has let the Third-party developers run rampant. This theory did have substantial evidence to back it up, there were titles that were blatant rip offs of other franchises, other games that claimed to be sequels of games that never existed, and some titles that was so horrendously ugly, that my eyes had jumped from my sockets, bitchslapped me, and the set fire to the game box.

I find it strange, the Wii is being heralded as the next thing in gaming, and that its leaving the X-box 360 and the Playstation 3 in the dust, and yet aside from a small number of titles (Chiefly Zelda and Mario) its produced mostly giant piles of shit. Mind you, Playstation 3 can also be accused of the same, but it has the excuse of trying to stuff tons of ultra-pretty graphics into its games (but neglecting everything else.) So what is Nintendo doing? Why are they saturating the market with so many bargain-bin titles, that even at best, can be called mediocre?

 

[GrowlersAtSea]

The Wii does have an incredible amount of low quality titles, to the extent that some people have even compared it to the sheer number of poor quality, high priced games that proceeded the 1983/1984 video game crash.

For it's success it does strike me as a fairly dedicated gamer how view top quality games it has. It's now outsold the XBox 360 but I can only name three or four games that really actually interest me. Compare that the 360's impressive and ever-increasing library and there seems to be something up. The 360 does have a ton of horrid games, but it also has some of the best too, much like the PS2 of the last generation.

Nintendo's innovation, willingness to take a risk, and gamble to go after an untapped market has payed off big. But if they don't start really working to get quality games, I worry that the Wii, already suffering from the least powerful hardware of the generation, may end up lacking the quality games to keep it afloat.

 

[defcon 1]

That makes 3 giant titles, not quite as much as the 360 or PC. If you ask me, people may have just gone ga-ga over the new controller interface. I have played Zelda for the Wii and the remote added a whole new dimension of interactivity for me. I can't imagine playing it for the Gamecube without it feeling like an Ocarina of Time cliche, without the ocarina.

 

[squirrelman42]

If you are a die-hard gamer as was described in an article on this site the other week, the Wii is NOT for you. There are many casual games, and a bunch of sleeper games that are released on the Wii. The Wii is the get people together and have fun system. It's the real-world social gamer system. It's the family gamer system. It has it's share of crap (M&M's racing and others) but there are quality games out there that are out of the public eye, Geometry Wars comes to mind first. Can you really say the PS3 library is doing any better? I can't even think of an PS3 exclusive other than Ratchet and Clank that I would play (possibly Drake's Fortune if I knew more about it). Nintendo will see that these crap novelty games are losing them money and change or lose their crown, assuming they are losing money on them. I return to my first point. Just because you don't want to play something, doesn't mean it's bad, it means that you're not the intended audience. Does a 5 year old care about story? No, he just wants to make Shrek jump.

 

[Battlecruiser]

Soul Calibur Legends was a fairly good game, as was Twilight Princess, Red Steel, Super Mario Galaxy, Bleach: Shattered Blade, Geometry Wars, Godfather: Black Hand Edition. Wii isn't doing to bad, all things considered. But yeah, those third-party developers are churning out a bunch of crap for the Wii right now. Nintendo needs to bring back the Seal of Quality and start focusing on REALLY good games if they want to keep their act together. I'll tell you who the biggest offender is in the bad third party category, Data Design Interactive. They're the bastards putting out games like Ninjabread Man and Anubis II

 

[Fire Daemon]

The Wii markets an audience who wants to play Movie and cartoon knock offs. Thats why it sells so well. When nintendo said "were moving to a more casual audience" they didn't mean "were going to make fun games that everyone will enjoy" they infact ment "fuck you, we can't be botherd giving out good games so we will just sell crap to idiots".

On a side note: After everyone complained about a lack of 3rd party support, now that we have 3rd part support everyone is pissed off.

:edit: The death of rats avatar is cool

 

[end_boss]

The Wii also has Big Brain Academy, Rayman Raving Rabbids, WarioWare: Smooth Mooves, Cooking Mama and Trauma Centre; games that are highly overlooked as major selling points for the system, because these forums are populated with hardcore gamers, gaming purists, and/or video game snobs. But these are the games that the casual gamers buy, and it's the casual gamers that flood the marketplace. As far as I observed, from the systems that I sold, which system was the big winner this holiday season? The DS Lite. Inexpensive, innovative, and hosts a lot of games for the casual gamer, like Brain Age, Platinum Sudoku, Cooking Mama, etc etc. DS Lites had a far stronger attach rate to Nintendogs than to Zelda. Hell, the Wii comes with Wii Sports in the box, and for the longest time, that was the favourite game of anybody who owned the thing.

The Wii caters to the casual gamer, it's inexpensive, and requires physical activity to play some of its games; another huge selling point. Nintendo doesn't care about what the third-party developers do; it's not their problem. It just means they won't fight for exclusivity rights to Ninjabread Man 2. Nintendo makes games for all demographics, from the casual gamers who play games like Big Brain, Cooking Mama, and WarioWare, to the hardcore gamers who play Metroid and Zelda, and even have games that appeal to all sides, like Mario Galaxy. Those are all the best selling games on the system, and they're all Nintendo first-party games, so they're the ones that put bread on Nintendo's plate.

And let's not also forget about the Virtual Console and backwards compatibility; the fact that it carries games dating back to the NES, along with Sega systems and even TurboGrafx 16, and the Wii itself is inherently a Gamecube, you basically have at least 8 different systems in one console.

So I wholeheartedly disagree with the claim that the Wii only has a couple of good games on it. Yes, they do have crap. Lots of crap. Big, huge, steaming piles of semi-diarrhea mush with a Slurpee-like consistency. But there are lots of games to play on the Wii that are worth somebody's time, because the Wii appeals to a far broader audience than the 360 or the PS3. Possibly even combined.

 

[joeyhndc]

Heh, I almost bought ninjabread man based on the bargain bin price and the horrible title. Glad common sense won out there.

 

[Knight Templar]

the Wii isnt like that.

let me explane the consoles

PS3= snoby rich kid with very few freinds.

Xbox360= popular, partying drunken 19 year old

Wii= cheep and dirty, like a king cross hooker.

and who doesnt like hookers?

 

[PurpleRain]

Xbox360= popular, partying drunken 19 year old

Hazza!

 

[KurtNiisan]

PS3= snoby rich kid with very few freinds.

Xbox360= popular, partying drunken 19 year old

Wii= cheep and dirty, like a king cross hooker.

- So you're saying I'm a snobby rich kid with very few friends, who is also a popular partying drunken 19-year-old who used to be cheap and dirty like a Kings Cross hooker?
I own both a PS3 and 360, and had a Wii for 3 months before I got bored and sold it off.

Somehow that doesn't work..

 

[sammyfreak]

Just give me a good real time sword fighting game for the Wii and it will be the greatest console ever.

 

[Lance Icarus]

I have always felt that people completely missed the good points of the Wii, instantly jumping to the third party titles and it's casual exterior. It's biggest strengths have nothing to do with it's software (minus the usual Nintendo franchises). The Virtual Console packs the greatest catalouge of all time, even throwing in some more obscure systems that deserve to be tried. I know simply owning a legit copy of Punch Out that works makes me extremely happy.

Speaking of game quality, this notion of bringing in a strict quality control system just can't work. The "Nintendo Seal" worked in the NES days because the time it took to work carefully and add a layer of polish to the game only took a few months. They were just easier to create. Now games have "full 3-D up the ass" (Zero Punctuation) in order to even get noticed. It takes years to really make a great game, especially with gamers today who think anything below 9/10 is okay and 7/10 to be utter failures. It's simply harder than ever to create a game.

 

[Prodigs]

It's no different than with the Gamecube. There were so many God awful titles on that console that really lowered it's reputation (espicially it's ratio of games designed for children against games marketed at adults, something I couldn't care less about but something which the gamer of today takes ridiculously seriously), and it would have flopped much earlier if it didn't have such best seller exclusive titles as Metroid Prime, Wind Waker and of course Melee.
And so it's the same with the Wii, we have a lot of mediocre third party titles and then we have games like Twighlight Princess, Prime 3 and the upcoming Brawl that will act as it's salvation.
There are however three main factors that are giving the Wii a strong edge in the market:

- The price. People aren't cheap, but parents see more sense over a console that takes up little room, costs considerably less and doesn't have a number in the name over a console which bears the opposite to all of those.
- The controls, you can either interperate the Wiimote as a gimmick or an innovation but with it's potential for casual gamers and game-o-phobes backed up by a strong advertising campaign, it's a whole new audience.
- Free online, something the Gamecube didn't have (screw that...Gamecube had less than virtually NO online) which we all know is an important factor in the games market.

In regards to your question:

"Why are they saturating the market with so many bargain-bin titles, that even at best, can be called mediocre?"

Thats nothing new, ever since the newly bought out Atari started making poor quality titles that fucked over the games industry in the early days, consoles always get a large share of mediocre games.

 

[Yan-Yan]

Right now it seems that there are really considered to be two categories of games out for the Wii: 1) Games 'I' want, and 2) Everything else. I use the generic 'I', because the games in category 1 are based solely on individual preference. If we look at the games which are being created, packaged and sold for the Wii, as opposed to the Virtual Console's contribution, there are games which are quite literally for everyone. For every game there, there is someone out there looking at it and going 'I bet this would be fun...' because it's a licensed game about dancing penguins, or because the box made the game look interesting.

And not just children, which it used to be for a long while now, but adults who never really cared about the console systems are looking at the Wii games and being drawn into it. I know for a fact, my father, who hates console games, thought I was crazy to buy the Wii. Until he went to the store with me and looked at the games. Suddenly that Penguin game looked pretty neat. After that, my mother was dragged to the store by him and she became interested in the games.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the Wii, while yes has a lot of 'dirt for games', every one of them has the potential to be a blossoming flower if in the hands of the right person. And with such a variety I can't help but think that Nintendo has done something right. People who normally dislike video games are loving it and the games it has. We've all heard about nursing homes picking up the Wii for the elderly, right?

As for people comparing this slew of "games 'I' don't like" to the 1998/1999 video game crash: Can you, with a straight face, tell us that there is a single game out for the Wii that is comparable to E.T.? A game so horrible that it can turn so many people from the gaming industry that we'll see people flee from the Wii, and Nintendo with it? Bit of a stretch, but for the majority of the games out there, there are enough people willing to buy and enjoy it to keep the game afloat. And those that fail are taught a sharp and pointy lesson about games.

In the end, there are games we like, and games we don't like. As hardcore gamers, some people on these forums will literally scoff at the idea of people buying The Ant Bully or Happy Feet for the Wii, because some shmuck in a gaming magazine gave it a 'bad' score, or because it's a third party license that doesn't interest us. But what do we know of the casual gamer, that mythical beast never seen to prowl these forums? It's like an African tribe talking about what kind of fish the Polar Bear likes best.

The answer is, of course, what ever kind it can get.

 

[Terramax]

Nintendo's marketing strategy.

Release a new console
-Make a new Mario
-Make a new Zelda
-Make a new Metroid
-Make a new Pokemon
-Make spin off sports titles

5 years later, release a new console
-Make a new Mario
-Make a new Zelda
-Make a new Metroid
-Make a new Pokemon
-Make spin off sports titles

5 years later, release a new console...

And now the Wii has come along and things are different. There appears to be more games for this system than the N64 and Gamecube, why?

Because up until this point Nintendo have been a bunch of snoobish morons who avoid competition on their consoles because, if people spent more money on 3rd party games, less money would be spent on official Nintendo products.

This was fine for the N64, but not for the Gamecube. Even though Nintendo were making a profit, the margine of profit was significantly less.

From the moment the Wii was announced 3rd party developers we being approached by Nintendo with open arms in a way no-one had seen before. Here's my theory:

Years ago Sega and Nintendo could survive because a great majority of the most successful brands even in the west were from Japan. But over the years the gap between what kinds of games the East and West want and play has divided greatly.

Sega went out of business because, despite the quality, innovative, original titles on the Dreamcast, there was not enough support from the 3rd party developers, especially from the West. The west didn't want arcade games like Crazy Taxi. They wanted Fifa and Grand Theft Auto.

A games console/ company cannot be successful forever without 3rd party support, regardless of the quality. People want choice.

I'm sure Nintendo saw their company was heading the same direction with the GC and knew that the only way to prevent this was to break their so-called 'seal of quality' and open the doors for everyone.

Ninty has stated themselves their targeting a different audience with this console. This is because, simply put, they can't compete with the kinds of games Microsoft and Sony provide. Because, for better of for worse, whether you like it or not, Nintendo can't make non-franchise games.

 

[Nesstee]

......It's simply harder than ever to create a game.

...Thats no excuse not to try.
Personally I think the Wii generation starts and ends here. How many casual gamers (moms, grans, and the like) do you think will buy the Wii-2....when the old wii works so well and has so many games they can play to death(wii sports, fit, play). The casual gamer will be satisfied with their crap party titles for years to come, for a much longer time than the average console lifetime.