The Wii's life is almost over, what are your concluding thoughts?

[Quaidis]

Didn't Nintendo say that they planned to have the WiiU going on at the same time as the Wii to appease both sets of gamers? I don't think it's almost over by a long-shot.

That said, I still have my Wii from launch and it works great. My Wii gaming collection rivals my PS2 one.

Motion controls aren't for everyone, but it was a fun and interesting turn towards something new. Personally, I can't imagine playing Resident Evil 4 without the Wiimote to shoot things with.

The thing the Wii did right was keeping a variety of games. The other two consoles out there heavily leaned towards shooters this last generation, which sucked balls because they all ended up looking the same at the end.

The thing the Wii did wrong was go a year or two without releasing more than one or two good titles (right in the middle of the last 6 years). There was a time where I was left dry, waiting for another exciting game. Waiting for the next Zelda or Metroid.. SOMETHING! And had to resort to replaying older games or looking towards other systems for entertainment. That was coincidentally when the whole 'hardcore gamer' vs 'casual gamer' flitz took hold the loudest. Seriously, Nintendo, you could have planned that out better.



I haven't decided if I'll get a WiiU. However chances are I'll wake up one morning with a serious hangover and find one randomly on the table. (More or less in one piece)

 

[Promethax]

"Did you like Nintendo's direction?"
I wasn't really a fan of it, but I respected it.

"Can motion controls be the future of gaming?"
At its current level, motion controls are too clumsy and inaccurate to be "THE FUTURE!!!"

"Did the lacking specs affect your opinion of it?"
Not at all.

"Despite its setbacks, where the exclusives up to standard?"
I personally enjoyed Zelda: Twilight Princess and Smash Bros.

"Did you own one?"
Yup.

"Overall, what are your opinions on it?"
I don't really care, tbh. Let Wii fans enjoy their games and let me enjoy mine.

 

[Xanthious]

Did you like Nintendo's direction?
Not at all. Nintendo bailed completely on the core audience in favor of catering to a casual audience that eventually grew bored and left like rats off a sinking ship.

Can motion controls be the future of gaming?
Not if there is a kind and just god. Motion controls simply don't work as well as a good old fashioned controller. Outside of the garbage sports mini games I never saw a Wii game that wouldn't have been better with standard controls.

Did the lacking specs affect your opinion of it?
Yeah, it pretty much looked like ass. How Nintendo released a console alongside the Xbox 360 and the PS3 without something as basic as HD support totally baffles me. The only real upgrade it had over the Gamecube seemed to be motion controls and those detracted far more than they added.

Despite its setbacks, where the exclusives up to standard?
Not really. It was just the same properties we've seen since the SNES days regurgitated over again with tacked on motion controls.

Did you own one?
Had a roommate with one. Played it a few times. Never cared for it.

Overall, what are your opinions on it?
I thought it was garbage. It was a combination of bad controls mixed with graphics that were about ten years out of date designed to cater to soccer moms and grade school children. Again, it was garbage.

 

[Yopaz]

There are quite a few solid titles for the Wii that I really love. Some of them could just as well have been on other consoles or on PC, but I am going to be completely honest and say that Resident Evil 4 proved to me how great a game can be made for the Wii. It shows some decent graphics which proves the Wii can handle such, although the graphics aren't on par with Xbox 360 or PS3 and miles away from PC they're still good. It also uses motion controls to a perfection, yet it gives you the option to use a GameCube controller. The motion controls gaveme a better feeling of shooting and it was a lot better than using a controller in my opinion since it lets you aim a lot faster.

Motions controls are rarely necessary for a game, but they can be fun. I'm not sure if Nintendo did a good or a bad choice with this, but all in all I enjoyed the console very much for the solid titles it has. I also enjoy some of the titles for the 3DS and I think I will get a WiiU for the same reason. There will always be new Mario games, new Zelda games, new Mario games and hopefully some solid RPG games such as Tales of Symphonia, Xenoblade or The Last Story. If they can manage to fix the WiiU's currently terrible third party support and learn from the mistakes they have done in the past then they are heading down a good path.

 

[DarkRyter]

No More Heroes was super rad.

 

[Rock-nerd]

Alas poor Wii, thank you for SSBB, Skyward Sword, Mario Galaxy and mario kart, you will be missed

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I liked it when it first came out. Sadly ended up selling it, the novelty of motion controls is nice but with out some killer apps the thing is almost more useless then my PS3.

Not to mention, with the set up required for the motion bar, made it a pain in the ass to bring to peoples houses for rounds of Smash Bros.

That said, I did really like the Virtual Channel, seeing those old games get second life and what not.

 

[Jazoni89]

Worst console to have existed for 2 decades.

errr...herm, what about the Virtual Boy, The Atari Jaguar, The CD-I, The 3DO?

Surely, the Wii was better than those consoles at the very least.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Did you like Nintendo's direction?
Can motion controls be the future of gaming?
Did the lacking specs affect your opinion of it?
Despite its setbacks, where the exclusives up to standard?
Did you own one?
Overall, what are your opinions on it?

1 - Not at first.
2 - Motion controls alone? No. Motion controls do add something if they're more subtle like they were in Donkey Kong Country Returns or, Fortune Street.
3 - Nope. The games I played on it looked great and most of them handled very nicely
4 - The Wii-exclusives were better than the other console exclusives: Hands down, no contest. Gentlemen, you may fire when ready.
5 - There's one that is a family Wii and, I have co-ownership of my GF's...so technically? I have one in my bedroom now but, that's the family one that I kind of hi-jacked.
6 - Some of the games seem really finicky. I can't go 2 minutes in Skyward Sword without re-configuring the cursor. Other games though like Other M, Donkey Kong Country Returns and, Smash Brothers Brawl control extremely well on what can be compared to an NES controller. Admittedly, there are other exclusives I haven't had a chance to play yet like No More Heroes (not an exclusive I know) or Conduit but the other games I have played I've mostly liked-to-loved. Despite the re-used franchises, there is a sense of creativity on the Wii that didn't seem as present on the 360 or PS3 (well, the 360 anyway: where was it's hyper-cute exclusive to compete with LBP or, Kirby's Epic Yarn?). Also unlike the 360 and PS3, you can put a Wii-disc into the console and play the game almost instantly! No downloading or uploading to be done. The most you have is the Club Nintendo registration thing that is completely optional and doesn't effect your game.

I am just getting into the Wii and I can't believe I snubbed this console. Same with the Gamecube but that generation I was a teenager and wanted blood-soaked games. I'm ready to go back home to Nintendo and I love what I've found with the Wii. I can't wait for the Wii-U and in the mean-time, I have my 3DS.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Didn't Nintendo say that they planned to have the WiiU going on at the same time as the Wii to appease both sets of gamers? I don't think it's almost over by a long-shot.

Yeah, but every console developer says that. It's often a bit of a stretch to say that any system has any real lifespan beyond a new system coming out. Even if developers release 2 titles a year you could technically say the system isn't dead but, yeah, it's pretty much dead.

 

[Grygor]

Nintendo Wii 2006-2012

The Wii will most likely live past 2012. The Wii U coming out definitely won't kill production of Wii games or make everyone throw away their consoles. Think about how many people own Wiis just now, and think about how many people *won't* rush out and buy a Wii U as soon as possible. Wii Us will be far outnumbered for a LONG time, possibly as long as it's around (the Wii *did* sell very well). Like with the PS2 when the PS3 came out, it'll still be hanging around for at least another few years yet

You've not had much experience with Nintendo then, have you. No Nintendo console since the SNES in Japan or the NES everywhere else has lasted more than a year into its successor's lifespan. Just about the only new releases you can expect on the Wii after the WiiU comes out are the next year's installments of the various annualized sports games.

Heck, there are currently only about 24 games in the Wii release schedule for the rest of this year... that's less than the number of PS3 games on the schedule for the next three months, and down from the already-low 80 or 90 released last year. (Last year of course being the WiiU announcement - before that, there were over 250 new Wii games every year.)

 

[Podunk]

Sadly, I think the Wii died a few years ago. It's been so long since a noteworthy game came out, and it doesn't look like there is going to be another one. (Except maybe the ones from Project Rainfall)

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

My opinion of how this generation of home consoles rank in order as below. (Own or have owned all 3)

1: Ps3
2: Wii
3: Xbox 360


Motion Controls & Influence
---------------------------
The claim that motion controls is nothing but a cheap gimmick is silenced by the explosive number of sales and the obvious influence it had over it's competitors causing them to attempt to replicate its success by creating the Microsoft Kinect and Sony Move. Despite these claims it is in fact so successful that Nintendo is further venturing into the world of motion controls by releasing the Wii U, which will likely top charts as well.

Library
-------
The quality of the Wii's library is likely to vary person to person. I find the library to be somewhat lacking with only a handful of quality titles to bridge the gap between Nintendo's mascot related releases. The compatibility with the Gamecube helps, but you shouldn't have to depend on a previous generation to help with a present generation console's appeal.

 

[V8 Ninja]

To me, the Nintendo Wii is very much like the Nintendo 64; it was the least-cared of the consoles in this generation but it had some truly magnificent titles. Not only that, but it also held up many niche markets along with it, such as the retail platforming genre, the retail on-rails shooter genre, and the ridiculous/experimental adult games market (see No More Heroes series, Mad World, etc.). For every experimental/not-a-shooter game on the other two consoles, there were at least three for it on the Wii. Now, the Wii didn't do it's online infrastructure well at all and the fact that Nintendo games were the only ones that were successful was a disappointment, but overall it succeeded in being something different and I'm happy for it.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

My concluding thoughts: "Meh, it was okay." This generation was - sadly - the most balanced, forcing me to buy all three consoles if I wanted my fix for the genres I love.

The only reason I bought mine was because it's currently the only console that gets any noteworthy JRPGs. I already bought Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story - and I'm quite happy with those. Especially since I can just plug in a controller instead of wiggling around with that silly dildo-esque thing.

Still waiting for Pandora's Tower, by the way.

 

[Quaidis]

Didn't Nintendo say that they planned to have the WiiU going on at the same time as the Wii to appease both sets of gamers? I don't think it's almost over by a long-shot.

Yeah, but every console developer says that. It's often a bit of a stretch to say that any system has any real lifespan beyond a new system coming out. Even if developers release 2 titles a year you could technically say the system isn't dead but, yeah, it's pretty much dead.

To be fair, the DS is still getting games and the 3DS has been out for quite a while now. The PS2 was also getting multiple games LOOONG after the PS3 came out. If people are still poor by the time the WiiU is released, it's no far stretch to assume the Wii will still have a nice host of games. I'm looking at DragonQuestX. There's also Pandora's Tower.

 

[Radoh]

I felt that if it wasn't for the smattering of games here or there I probably wouldn't have gotten it, though overall I think I got my money's worth out of it.

 

[wookiee777]

For their business, they made all the right choices. Got lotsa money off the Wii. Got lotsa new "casual" gamers who will buy around...4 games and only 4. And then they'll buy the Wii U, and another 4 games.

Personally, I hate it. The controller is pointless, and most games I play on it I use a Gamecube controller. The only games on it (aside from the virtual console) that I like are Super Smash Brothers Brawl (thought it is inferior to Melee), Sonic Colors, Super Mario Galaxy (1 and only 1), New Super Mario Brothers Wii, and Resident Evil 4. If I want to play a Nintendo console, I'll stick with my NES or Gamecube.

Frankly, I'm disappointed with Nintendo. The 3DS is ridiculous, and I don't really see any reason to buy it when I still have a perfectly good DS "Lite" to play games on. The Wii, I thought, was just going to be a one time gimmicky thing. Then they unveiled the Wii U. Not interested. Not at all. Though I have to ask, if they flaunt its ability to be played without the TV being turned to the right channel, then why isn't it a handheld console? There's already a screen on the controller so why not?

 

[MisterM2402]

Wah!

Hoho!

Yahoooo!

That's true, but I just thought what with the Wii having sold so many more units it would be less likely to follow in the footsteps of past Nintendo consoles. They've never had a console as universally popular before, so it wouldn't be fair to expect it to turn out just like its predecessors. I just don't see that many people buying a Wii U straight away and completely ditching their Wiis, so it would seem foolish to stop making games for such a large group of consumers. Total speculation, of course.

(Apparently, the Wii has sold [roughly] 1.5x as many as the NES, 2x the SNES, 3x the N64 and 4x the Gamecube. Pretty interesting.)

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Didn't buy it. GLAD I didn't buy it. I do wish that games like Twilight Princess had been released onto the Xbox or PS3, but I couldn't make enough sense of the motion controls to justify buying a Wii.