Is the Wii really gaming?

[ilspooner]

I think it is a good casual game console. I think it could be part of the future of casual game consoles, but not much else.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Thats like saying yore not eating a salad because youre using a spoon. It may not work as well, but youre still eating the salad, or at least attempting to. However, youre salad is only lettuce and tomato, none of that cheese, carrot, red onion or capsicum.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Honestly? Look at Nintendo's 2010 releases. Even THEY seem to be getting tired of motion controls, just putting in little pieces and small gestures, with Skyward Sword being the exception. That's the thing: the best uses of motion control used it minimally to enhance the game. Build the motions around the game (the shakes in DKCR, the spin in Mario Galaxy, the finishers in No More Heroes), not the game around the motions (all the shovelware).

As for "is the Wii gaming"? Yes. It is. This should not even be a question. And anyone who tries to argue otherwise needs to get their head out of their ass. Just because it's not appealing to YOU doesn't mean it doesn't count. That's the main mentality of the Nintendo hate: it's not OUR kind of gaming, so that means it's just plain NOT GAMING. Get the fuck over yourselves...

 

[jackpipsam]

yes it is a Gameing thing, don't be biased cuz it doesn't have HD.

 

[TiefBlau]

What the fuck else would it be? You play games on it, it's gaming. Gaming on an iPad is still gaming, gaming on a PC, is still gaming, gaming on a phone, is still gaming. Given that it has actually led the market in distribution models (if we ignore the PC), and it has caused both Sony and Microsoft to try and jump on the Motion Control bandwagon, yes it is an indicator of the future of gaming.

... and people say PC gamers are elitist, sheesh...

I imagined a stern middle-aged man saying this.

Made me lol.

 

[Verex]

Technically yes, but it's kind of like the retarded kid of consoles.

 

[Mr. Omega]

snip.

Of course it should be a question. You may dislike the answer, but nothing wrong with asking it. Actually the main mentality of Nintendo is "Wii make money!" Laughable as that may seem, it's really the goal of every business.

IMO, the wiimote waggles distract from gaming quite a bit. I liked Super Mario Galaxy and though the idea of snagging star bits with the cursor was OK, I felt that "shake to spin" function could have been better if it was placed on a button. When you consider the best Wii games are usually games like Red Steel 2, No More Heroes or House of the Dead: Overkill, it seems pretty obvious what the Wii is best at. Which makes it all the more sad that it's so deluged with shovelware. The system can create good motion control experiences when appropriate. (Mario Kart is actually kind of fun.) But I think Nintendo would do well not to force designers to shoehorn the motion control into more traditional games, or at least give us the option to swap to the classic controller in a game like Zelda.

Now enough sweary bollocks. =P

I said mentality of Nintendo hate. Not Nintendo. But I do agree with the rest of your post. I was just saying a lot of the biggest Wii titles in 2010 seemed to have very little motion controls in them, and seemed to go for an NES style control (Kirby, DKC, even Other M for the most part). I also agree the option for classic controls would be awesome.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ofcourse it's gaming, but it's gaming with 15 year old tech, sure Nintendo doesn't need more for it's cartoony games but other developers would kill to get their hands on a proper machine, so apart from first party Nintendo games there are very slim pickings.

And no, it's not the future of anything, apart from a waggle fest or two....

 

[GotMalkAvian]

It's definitely gaming, but I don't think it's the future. The Wii opened a lot of doors for game designers by proving motion control on home consoles as a concept and making it popular. Unfortunately, Nintendo's "the hardcore gamer is no longer our core demographic" policy meant that most of the Wii's content would be fated to being shallow gimmicky games aimed at children and casual party gamers. Hopefully, with the Move and Kinect now out, developers will start experimenting more with just what motion controlled gaming can do.

 

[Wondermint13]

Oh Ive been waiting for somebody with enough guts to actually post this in the form of a question!


No.. The Wii is not gaming. It's a shiney white TV apparator that families with shiney white teeth and money to waste on their 3 year old kids use to stand around and play with on a saturday.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Wow, way too many people are writing needlessly long answers to the OP's question. My answer? YES. You're playing a game, and therefore are gaming.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Interesting question.
IMO I think that Wii games are more "Games" than most of xbox360 or ps3 games.
I say that because most of non-Nintendo games are movie wannabes.
Just take a look where other than Nintendo gaming is going..
Games which their single player modes last for only 4 hours,with much of it being cutscenes..
Developers now pay huge money to cinema story writers,hollywood voice actors and musicians,and often overlook things like gameplay,replay value and fun.
Today's games feel more like interactive movies,while Nintendo's games like Mario or Donkey Kong feel more like Arcade games,the true and original that started it all.
Don't get me wrong,I'm not saying that one of them is good and the other is bad,it's just that the game industry has a schism.
I like playing both kinds of games.
I enjoyed the awesome cinematic feel Mass Effect and Crysis had,but I also love the gameplay at Nintendo's own games.
Will you believe it if I say that until I got Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario kart wii,me and my friends where playing almost every week Mario Kart 64 on Nintendo 64 and Super Smash Bros mellee on gamecube ?
Games that are 10 years old or older?
Well it's true,and that's what's great about Nintendo games.
They never become stale or outdated and they are always fun to play.
I might question Nintendo's decisions regarding hardware,but I can only respect them as game developers because they make awesome games,that just doesn't loose their fun factor over time,which is something magnificent.

So Wii IS a gaming console.

Now regarding the future...
I speculate that most of the software developers will continue to try to make their games more cinematic,which means future games will have more cutscenes and will be shorter,while Nintendo will continue to create new things hardware-wise that we can't even imagine right now,and that Microsoft and Sony will follow Nintendo's moves on hardware.

 

[jjboat]

It is only a part of the future, but not gaming's whole future. It has brought in a wider audience. But much like movie goers can be divided between your average person who watches all the big hits and the film lover who watches everything from indie art-house films to obscure foreign films, I think we will see the same thing with motion controlled gaming and hardcore gaming.

 

[Roxor]

Sure it's a gaming platform. It might not be my platform of choice, but it still counts as one. If you want to be generous, it's a computing platform, just a very restrictive one.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

WARNING; DUH ANSWER.

Of course it is. It plays games.

Future of gaming? Not unless they recall them all then re-release it, ignoring that it was already released once.

My point being, it can't be the future if it's already here and has been out for a while. The real future of gaming is the wang-interface peripheral. That thing's going to sell like jimmy-cakes once they work out the various, accidental-neutering bugs. Also, the chaffing.

Ah, I dream of the day when a twitch of the old dip'n stick unleashes a volley of missles from my in-game mecha.

/looks off into nothing, dreamily, a small smile creeping across his face.

 

[moretimethansense]

Is it gaming?
Of course it fucking is!
Is it the future?
I highly doubt it.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Interesting question.
IMO I think that Wii games are more "Games" than most of xbox360 or ps3 games.
I say that because most of non-Nintendo games are movie wannabes.
Just take a look where other than Nintendo gaming is going..
Games which their single player modes last for only 4 hours,with much of it being cutscenes..
Developers now pay huge money to cinema story writers,hollywood voice actors and musicians,and often overlook things like gameplay,replay value and fun.
Today's games feel more like interactive movies,while Nintendo's games like Mario or Donkey Kong feel more like Arcade games,the true and original that started it all.
Don't get me wrong,I'm not saying that one of them is good and the other is bad,it's just that the game industry has a schism.
I like playing both kinds of games.
I enjoyed the awesome cinematic feel Mass Effect and Crysis had,but I also love the gameplay at Nintendo's own games.
Will you believe it if I say that until I got Super Smash Bros Brawl and Mario kart wii,me and my friends where playing almost every week Mario Kart 64 on Nintendo 64 and Super Smash Bros mellee on gamecube ?
Games that are 10 years old or older?
Well it's true,and that's what's great about Nintendo games.
They never become stale or outdated and they are always fun to play.
I might question Nintendo's decisions regarding hardware,but I can only respect them as game developers because they make awesome games,that just doesn't loose their fun factor over time,which is something magnificent.

So Wii IS a gaming console.

Now regarding the future...
I speculate that most of the software developers will continue to try to make their games more cinematic,which means future games will have more cutscenes and will be shorter,while Nintendo will continue to create new things hardware-wise that we can't even imagine right now,and that Microsoft and Sony will follow Nintendo's moves on hardware.

I don't think the question should be if the Wii is a gaming console, so much as if it's a good gaming console. I'll be voting "No", on that one.

I see Wii as a supplemental console.
Its lack of good 3rd party games makes it one.
My main gaming machine is a PC,and I play mostly there,games like Mass Effect,Elder Scrolls,Crysis,Stalker etc..
But there are times that I just want to play something less immersive and more funny,perhaps with my friends when they are here so I got a Wii.
I don't play games like Wii sports or Wii fit,I hate them.
But games like Mario Kart,Smash Bros,Zelda and Metroid are also must-play expiriences IMO.