Pachter finally says it: the Nintendo Wii the is McDonalds of gaming

[EzraPound]

360 isn't Taco Bell style, since it has a much larger library of good games availible and most of the 360 owners knowingly try to pick out the good from the bad.

Best-selling Wii games:

Wii Sports (40.5 million)
Wii Play (20.91 million) [was bundled in with extra Wiimote]
Wii Fit (14.01 million)
Mario Kart Wii (13.67 million)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (8.1 million)
Super Mario Galaxy (7.66 million)
Mario Party 8 (6.28 million)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (4.52 million)

...So the best-selling games on the Wii all received positive reviews - except Wii Play, which received mixed ones and was bundled a Wiimote, and Mario Party 8, which was presumably banking on (admittedly disappearing) franchise cred. Doesn't sound too much me like a case of people actually giving a damn about shovelware.

To me, the Wii is fast food - its just food, its not meant to be tasty or nutritous, it just needs to be able to slide down your throat. You'll find a fair few places that will be absolutely awful - the odd McDonalds in Washington DC - and some attempts at something more - the short lives deli experience that I actually liked - but its not really made to give anything more, and these things are short lived no matter how praised they are. The 360 is the Chinese restraunt that does takeaway - you can actually enjoy the taste, its pretty bad for you, it shows its costs in more ways than one, it manages to support itself through sinister means (I have a theory that half the Chinese restraunts in my area are money launderers for the Triads - there are four of them that operate with a 10 meter radius, and all four have survived for 7 years. The exact same thing happens with the Internet cafes and PC component shops), and its not exactly gonna give you the best meal of your life. The Ps3 is the high end restraunt - the food takes a little longer to prepare, but is delicious when it arrives, the bill is a bit of a shocker, but there are certain amenities to make the experience feel worthwile (some of which backfire, like a guy who watches you pee), the experience is hardly gonna be something everyone can experience, but those who do will no doubt have a memorable experience. With the PC, you can get everything between microwaved pasta and foi gras fed suckling pig, but the difference is how much you spend on it - the ingredients, the preporatory tools, the tableware, the wine, and so on.

It's a nice piece of literary pizzazz, but you do realize the analogy falls flat when you consider that two-thirds of the main menu items in high-end restaurants aren't shared by Chinese take-out, right?

Debating between whether you want an Xbox 360 or PS3 really just comes down to how much you're willing to pay for a Blu-Ray player and few exclusives - and a few exclusives that aren't even necessarily better than the 360's, to boot.

 

[shannon.archer]

The wii is a fine machine and has a fair amount of premise however the companies who make games for the wii must design to use everything it has to the best of its ability whereas trying to adapt bad 360 or ps3 games to the wii's repitue. The wii is in a league of its own as it is more of a novelty machine then that of a serious gamer.

 

[Elurindel]

"I mean, who sells more food -- McDonald's or Ruth's Chris Steak House, which certainly serves better meat? Nintendo has become the fast food machine. Sony is very much the high-end restaurant. And Microsoft is somewhere in between."

So where does that leave the PC?

The PC is where the Gods dine, while the console users serve cater to their whims.
The only drawback is that the "food" often takes a bit longer to reach the PC table.

So the PC is the Olive Garden of gaming?

 

[Aiwe]

If the Wii is the McDonalds of gaming, does that make Wii Fit an Oxymoron?

Nope, it makes it part of the McDonalds salad range. Made to look healthy, isn't really.

 

[mojojowjow2007]

So fucking what? yeah the wii is a family console for casual gamers and thats what its meant for and last time i checked nintendo doesnt really give a rats ass what some twat thinks. the wii is a fun thing to use.

if you want a high graphics, top end, immersive game. don't buy a wii.

dumbass.

 

[Sewblon]

It seems like he was purposefully ignoring first party software, like the Wii installments of Nintendo's long running franchises. He also seemed to be ignoring that most games on the 360 and PS3 are thematically limited for the sake of appealing to teenage males(Gears of War,Resistance,Killzone.)

 

[Sixties Spidey]

JESUS FINALLY SOMEONE HAS THE BALLS TO SAY THIS.

In all seriousness though, you can't actually blame Nintendo at all, OR the developers. The same audience that has stuck with Nintendo ever since the release of the NES is supposed to be the target audience for the Wii. Not the "Under-sexed-housewives-and-spoiled-little-shits" demographic. Given the demographic that Nintendo chose for the Wii, do you honestly think that the developers are going to give a flying fuck about the games they put out?

I think you know the answer to that already.

 

[Cowabungaa]

If the Wii is the McDonalds of gaming, does that make Wii Fit an Oxymoron?

Nope, it makes it part of the McDonalds salad range. Made to look healthy, isn't really.

It is actually. For example the the paralysed girl who walks again with the help of Wii Fit [http://www.herald.ie/national-news/computer-game-helps-girl-walk-again-1608763.html]. Wii Fit is basically an exercise program. Sure it's not the best stuff out there, but obviously it's better then sitting on a couch just fiddeling with a joystick, ala 360 and PS3. Anyway, that's not the point obviously, and even though I want a Wii I couldn't care less about Wii Fit.

But about Wii games:
Yes, there is a shitload of crappy, cookie-cutter games who ride along with the Wii's success and profit from the relative ignorance about game quality from most "casual" (and I use that term carefully, I consider myself a casual gamer but I think I can distinguish the good from the bad stuff) gamers, like mums buying Wii's for their children. However, look through the crap and you'll see plenty of good titles. Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, Super Smash, Zelda, ya know. But next to that you've got games like Tenchu: Shadow Assassin's, MadWorld, House of the Dead: Overkill, Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars Directors Cut, No More Heroes 1 and 2, Boom Blox, Fatal Frame 4, Dead Space: Extraction, Trauma Centre, bla bla bla I think you get the message (not all games from that list are already released, as most will know). At least plenty of games that give me a reason to want a Wii. Same for the PS3 ofcourse.

 

[Daye.04]

I have to agree with everyone else here. That seemed rather harsh, and indeed a bit too simple minded. It just didn't seemed well enough thought through. (By the way. I think this is a nice spot t admit I enjoy McDonalds) I have a Wii. Now I - as everyone else - have to admit that it has a lot of crappy shovelware. AN unforgevely amount of shovelware. Allright. We get it. Nintendo is so populare you can make a game about a plant growing, and it'll still sell. It doesn't mean you should actually do it.

A few months ago, a co-worker was talking about video games, and he expressed a lot of interest in "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games". I was about to tell him (politely, tactfully) that I'd heard it was pretty bad, but then another coworker chimed in about how awesome it was and she had so much fun with her kid and her sister and.. yeah. These are not "hardcore" gaming people. They love the DS and the Wii, and they love it for the "bad" games. Something licensed? Hell yeah, buy it! Something with a princess in it? Buy it for your daughter right now! Ooh, this one's a rip-off of a quality franchise but it's ten bucks cheaper.. score!

I get pissed off, because they're not appreciating (Aaand the rest of this)

(How come everytime I read a long rant about something, I hear Yathzee reading it out loud? In ZP mode?)

Well. I have that game. And I had fun with it. You're probaly expecting me to counter your opinion now, but no. I agree. It's awful. Okay, we did have some fun with it .. A little while. But then it just didn't make enough sense, really. It wasn't fullfilling enough. THe minigames (Wich the whole game is, really) are fun to do once in a while, but I don't think the .. This ... Thing deserves to be called a game. It's just not good. But there is several good games out for Wii. And I honestly think that Mario Kart is a good, fun game.

Also. I am sorry for bringing this up again, but:

As for what Pachter said, it just sounds derrogitory.

I'm sorry, but...you failed. I disagreed with your post, but I was willing to respect your opinion until I hit the end.

Oh, the pain...

Oh dear god. Someone please kill me now? Please? Did someone just swap me over to another forum? Oh sincerely hope so.

First. "I'm sorry, but ... You failed."? (Oh, by the way. You're complaining about grammar?)
How can someone possibly fail just because you don't agree with them? You do not agree that his statement sounds derogatory? I would guess that even people who are deeply against Wii will agree that his statement sounds derogatory. And .. Just .. Don't use "you fail" like that. It just makes you seem less intelligent. Please for your own sake.
Also. You were willing to agree until you noticed a spelling error? Are you serious? I dearly hope not. Because then .. Oh dear god. Yeah. That's all I can say

 

[rossatdi]

It's kind of true. But the 360 is the Taco Bell. PS3 is the Papa Johns.

I love Taco Bell! But it does make you suffer the next day.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I agree. For some reason, McDonalds burgers sell and so do Wiis and I hate them both.

 

[Neflame]

I'm going to try to say this as slowly as possible: the quality of games and what makes a game "good" or "bad" is a matter of, everyone say it with me now, personal taste and opinion.

Criticizing a person for the kind of games they play is just stupid. It's like criticizing someone based on what hair products or toothpaste they use. They buy what they consider to be good in their eyes, not always what the masses say is good. Because sometimes the masses can be wrong.

Now, this example will probably draw a lot of nasty words toward me. But, I don't really care, I'm making a point here.

I played Half-Life 2 at the recommendation of a friend and found it to not be the great game so many have made it out to be. Probably because I found the beginning to be what seemed like a poor 1984 homage. It's a bad game, but certainly not the shining gem people make it sound like. But just because I don't particularly enjoy this game, does it mean I have a poor taste in video games? No, it doesn't. What most of you do not seem to understand is that buying games, just like with buying everything else, comes down to what you like personally. So Nintendo releases a bunch of simple games. Why are you people constantly whining about this? It's a good long-term business move because those kind of games will ease the next generation of gamers into other games.

Now let me make this clear: I own both a Wii and a 360. I enjoy both systems equally. But, if I have come off as slightly fanboyish toward Nintendo in this, I can promise you all that I know it. Mainly because I have been playing Nintendo consoles since the early 90s. But now I'm getting away from my original point.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is: there is no point constantly bitching about Nintendo's choices. Yes, they have been a little lazy with quality control on some of these third party titles, but there is no point constantly pointing it out. People are going to buy what they enjoy and it's not always going to be what everyone else likes. Let me remind you that just because the majority of the gaming crowd says a game it good, does not mean that it is.

Now, to sit back and see how many people I just pissed off.

 

[Pandy]

Wii: Revels. Some great, some awful.
360: M&Ms. OK, but a bit monotonous.
PS3: Peanut M&Ms. OK, monotonous, but a bit more substance.
PC: Dark chocolate ginger. For the more discerning palate/Inedible.
Sinclair Spectrum 48K+: Worcestershire Sauce Flavour Crisps. Obviously.

 

[Sylocat]

And Gears of War is haute cuisine, I suppose?

 

[manicfoot]

Mario Galaxy got GOTY in 2007 from many people. How many times has Mcdonalds won Restaurant of the year? I really hate this guy. I own 27 Wii games and I'm a 'core' gamer. There's great games on the system. You just have to look for them.

 

[speedcoreXdandy]

360 is more like a curry house that sells only vindalloo....

*red rings of death joke*

SORRY.

But on topic I agree with all analagies in this thread relating to the Wii and PC gaming.

 

[quack35]

"I mean, who sells more food -- McDonald's or Ruth's Chris Steak House, which certainly serves better meat? Nintendo has become the fast food machine. Sony is very much the high-end restaurant. And Microsoft is somewhere in between."

So where does that leave the PC?

Who cares?

 

[Adfest]

I have a Wii and an Xbox 360, and I've only bought the decent games, not the cookie cutter bullshit minigame assaults. This seems to be generalising at it's worst.

I have a Wii, a 360, and a PS3, and I only play the finest games as well, but I'd say that this is generalizing at its finest.