Hate To Say It But I've Hit The Wii Wall

:(......i bought my wii earlier this year around june and i was loving it. i love wii sports and i love no more heroes, bw2, zak & wiki and super mario galaxy. even some of the wiiware titles were cool. but after that i haven't touched my wii in like 3 months. people kept telling me "yo man, that novelty is going to wear off". i didn't believe them then but i have to say that it's true. the novelty has worn off.

don't get me wrong i'm not at the point that i'm gonig to trade/sell my wii (at least not yet) but it's hard for me to stay committed when so many of the games that are out there really don't take full advantage of the wii controls. i mean that is why i bought it. soo many of the games that are on the wii either use or can use more traditional controls which makes me think what is the point. :(

i think i've hit the WII WALL.

I was sort of hit by that towards the end of summer, as far as the actual Wii disc games. De Blob and Wario: Shake It were a good one-two punch that put an end to that though. The WiiWare and VC games have been stronger than ever though. Even if you have everything that was released on the VC, you still have Tetris Party, World of Goo, the Art Style games, MegaMan 9, and Bomberman. If none of those appeal to you I'm not really sure what to tell you. For any shortages that the Wii has had, I think the downloadable games alone do a nice job of making up for them.

Nintendo has been suffering from a lack of developer support since the n64. The lack of developers is due to multiple platforms and corporatization(due to rising dev costs). Theres no money for 3rd party developers to make high quality games. Developers spend a decent chunk creating new titles and if it works out then they dump all of their money into the sequels until people lose interest or the devs get bored. If you look at all the consoles its either big budget titles or complete garbage. The cost of developing games has obliterated the middle ground.

Nintendo has been suffering from a lack of developer support since the n64. The lack of developers is due to multiple platforms and corporatization(due to rising dev costs). Theres no money for 3rd party developers to make high quality games. Developers spend a decent chunk creating new titles and if it works out then they dump all of their money into the sequels until people lose interest or the devs get bored. If you look at all the consoles its either big budget titles or complete garbage. The cost of developing games has obliterated the middle ground.

_AbBaNdOn

I think it has more to do with their target demographic than anything. And especially in the Wii's case, you simply can't do faithful ports of mutiplatform games in the general case. They have to be technically downgraded and in many cases modified in design.

I've hit the Wii wall without even buying one - playing on demo kiosks and at friends' houses has given me so little fulfillment that I'm kind of glad Nintendo went the direction they did this generation - it means I only have to spend money on two consoles.

Really, if you aren't into the casual Wii branded games or the plethora of shovelware and poor ports, there are so few games available that it makes the Gamecube look like it was bursting with quality content.

I was sort of hit by that towards the end of summer, as far as the actual Wii disc games. De Blob and Wario: Shake It were a good one-two punch that put an end to that though. The WiiWare and VC games have been stronger than ever though. Even if you have everything that was released on the VC, you still have Tetris Party, World of Goo, the Art Style games, MegaMan 9, and Bomberman. If none of those appeal to you I'm not really sure what to tell you. For any shortages that the Wii has had, I think the downloadable games alone do a nice job of making up for them.

Robio_basic

you made some good points. some of the games you listed i am interested in and haven't played like world of goo and de blob.

[QUOTE="Robio_basic"]

I was sort of hit by that towards the end of summer, as far as the actual Wii disc games. De Blob and Wario: Shake It were a good one-two punch that put an end to that though. The WiiWare and VC games have been stronger than ever though. Even if you have everything that was released on the VC, you still have Tetris Party, World of Goo, the Art Style games, MegaMan 9, and Bomberman. If none of those appeal to you I'm not really sure what to tell you. For any shortages that the Wii has had, I think the downloadable games alone do a nice job of making up for them.

gshell

you made some good points. some of the games you listed i am interested in and haven't played like world of goo and de blob.

Do yourself a favor and at least rent De Blob. There's nothing else out there like it, and never really has been for that matter. It's a completely original idea and was brilliantly executed. I won't fault people who don't like it, as everyone has different tastes, but it's very much this generation's Katamari Damacy. For people who complain that there's nothing to play on the Wii (not that you were complaining) and haven't picked this up, I just have to shake my head at them.

I've hit the Wii wall without even buying one - playing on demo kiosks and at friends' houses has given me so little fulfillment that I'm kind of glad Nintendo went the direction they did this generation - it means I only have to spend money on two consoles.

Really, if you aren't into the casual Wii branded games or the plethora of shovelware and poor ports, there are so few games available that it makes the Gamecube look like it was bursting with quality content.

DJ_Lae

I always felt that the Gamecube was better than the N64 overall. But I get what you are saying and it's true.

I have three friends who bought a Wii first then at some point bought a 360. Two will admit they stopped playing a couple months before they bought the 360 but once all three got a 360, that was the final nail for their Wii coffin. One has already sold it, another will only sell it if he can get his investment back, and the other says he don't care if it just sits there as his sister might want top play it from time to time.

Myself, after playing their games and at stores, just isn't my flavor of console.

[QUOTE="DJ_Lae"]

I've hit the Wii wall without even buying one - playing on demo kiosks and at friends' houses has given me so little fulfillment that I'm kind of glad Nintendo went the direction they did this generation - it means I only have to spend money on two consoles.

Really, if you aren't into the casual Wii branded games or the plethora of shovelware and poor ports, there are so few games available that it makes the Gamecube look like it was bursting with quality content.

Nifty_Shark

I always felt that the Gamecube was better than the N64 overall. But I get what you are saying and it's true.

i loved the gamecube. it gets a bad rap but it was probably my favorite console, personally. now that i think about it, my wii will be getting use in the coming months only in so far as i will be going back to replay all the gamecube games i missed

for me, its not that the novelty has worn off. nintendo is just making crap games recently. look at wii music, thats a prime example.mattg90520

[QUOTE="mattg90520"]for me, its not that the novelty has worn off. nintendo is just making crap games recently. look at wii music, thats a prime example.Skylock00

im not saying it isnt fun, im just saying it doesnt appeal to me. granted, i dont consider myself as "hardcore" as some gamers but id still love to play a zelda or metroid game on my wii, heck even a mario party game, sooner than something like wii music. nintendo is clearly taking steps to appeal to the largest group of people, which is a group separate from loyal gamers, that group being non-gamers

[QUOTE="mattg90520"]for me, its not that the novelty has worn off. nintendo is just making crap games recently. look at wii music, thats a prime example.Skylock00

Be sure to give us all a good solid review after you've put in sufficient time with the game. I'm very interested to hear what you think about it. I've been on the fence. It just seems like in every review I've read about the game, the reviewer already had his/her mind made up about what they were goiing to think about the game before they played it and that had a lot of impact on what they said about it.

i dont use my wii much anymore, but i cant say ive hit a wall. i knew when i bought the console that it was going to be like other recent nintendo consoles, that is, a supplimentary console. yes, id obviously love to get a zelda quality title every other week, but its just not going to happen. i honestly cant believe so many people expected it to.

the wii is even priced like a secondary console. id say ive gotten my money's worth so far.

i think i've hit the WII WALL.

gshell

I've hit the Wii Wall long ago and I keep hitting it everytime I go to a game store: all those horrible kid games and shovelware I see on the shelves are the bricks that wall is made of.

I swear, if someone one year ago told me I would have lost interest in a Nintendo console, I'd have lol'd in his face.

Thanks a lot Mr. Satoru 'I love money' Iwata for all your great work.

Thanks a lot Mr. Satoru 'I love money' Iwata for all your great work.

Black_Knight_00

It's true that Nintendo's output so far this generation (namely most of this year) is much lower in general quality than in the past, but the vast majority of shovelware is done by third parties, period.

Even given that, though, I still own mostly Wii games this gen, and that trend is most likely to continue at this rate.

Nintendo has been suffering from a lack of developer support since the n64. The lack of developers is due to multiple platforms and corporatization(due to rising dev costs). Theres no money for 3rd party developers to make high quality games. Developers spend a decent chunk creating new titles and if it works out then they dump all of their money into the sequels until people lose interest or the devs get bored. If you look at all the consoles its either big budget titles or complete garbage. The cost of developing games has obliterated the middle ground.

_AbBaNdOn

The Wii has plenty of 3rd party support, that's not the problem. The problem is that none of those 3rd party devs are interested in making anything except shovelware. There's a few exceptions, but developers know that just about anything will sell well on the Wii. As a result there's no incentive to make good games. Why spend hundreds of millions dollars in development costs when you could spend thousands instead making a cheap, crappy minigame compilation that will sell double what that decent game would have. Another reason that you don't see the same caliber of games on the Wii that you see on the 360, PS3, and PC is because the Wii is really just a gamecube with motion controls. Developers can't port a game like GTAIV to the Wii without completely remaking the game from scratch and even then it will never be as good as it's PS3, 360, and PC counterparts (case in point: Dead Rising).

Unfortunately, the Wii is my only system. What has happened both this generation and last (which are the only two generations I've bought consoles in thanks to my age at the time and money) is that I've been too impatient to wait until costs come down and more games come out, and I don't have much money to spend, so I go for the cheapest console near the beginning of the generation. Both times, this has been the Nintendo system (and I was raised on Nintendo, so that attachment doesn't help). Last gen I regretted purchasing the GC first instead of the Xbox or the PS2 (I bought all three, but if I'd bought one of the other two first, I probably wouldn't have gotten a GC)--my eyes were opened that generation and my tastes changed. This gen, although I love some of the Wii's games, I'm regretting purchasing it. I've b****ed and moaned before about regretting it, but this time it's legitimate, since it's not just that the Wii doesn't have enough of what I want, but that the 360 actually does have enough of what I want, unlike before. And as I've said elsewhere, I wouldn't even be looking at the Wii games I've been looking at if I had another console to play the better (to me) games on.

Right now, the best games I have on Wii are:

1. RE4, and except for a downgrade in controls, I could get a version with the same content for the PS2.

2. Super Mario Galaxy, which is superb, but I haven't been a platformer fan since the N64, and I don't really replay this game.

3. Metroid Prime 3, another great Metroid game. However, it feels too much like an FPS and not as much like a Metroid as I'd like.

4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which I'd rather not be without. I have Melee, but Brawl has so much more to appreciate.

5. RE: UC--Not a fan of the genre and I don't really replay this, but it's good, if only because it's a quality RE game.

6. Zelda: TP--I could just get the GC version, which is just as good, if not slightly better.

And when I compare those and the upcoming to-my-taste Wii games, I'm left disappointed. The above are the cream of the crop on the Wii (IMO), minus RE: UC, I suppose. My list of wanted 360 games I recently compiled is easily thrice that size. Not all of them are superior in quality, but I think that's made up for by the sheer number.

Being a busy college student, not having an income, and being tight on money only compound the issue, since if I had both systems, I'd easily go for a 360 game. I'm tempted to sell stuff (yes, I know... I've only said that a billion times before, too) and buy a cheap Jasper 360.

So... I suppose this is a bit of a wall.

[QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"]

Thanks a lot Mr. Satoru 'I love money' Iwata for all your great work.

Skylock00

Come on, you're pulling my leg right? Of course neither Iwata or Nintendo made the crappy third party games (or the good ones for that matter).

This doesn't excuse them one bit though, since those horrors get the Nintendo seal of approval and are the response to a precise Nintendo marketing policy. Third party game may be developed by external studios, but it's Nintendo that approves them and sells them. That's the great work I was referring to: lowering Nintendo's quality standards like there's no tomorrow.

Not that this didn't happen in the past, but if you remember, during the golden age when Yamauchi was CEO we didn't have this problem at all.

It has nothing to do with novelty. The wiimote is not a novelty its a very good control input device that many games could use very well. This "wall" is the same wall that can hit any system, its the games, end of story. This has been a poor year for the Wii, third parties have yet to really start making original games on it. Most importantly Nintendo ran out of their big guns. We got Smash which was excellent, Kart I dont care for but some liked it, thats about it. AC is big but I dont care for it. This Wii crap has to stop, well actually it wont cause it makes a ton of money but I dont like it. Once the games return the wall will stop. Third parties seem to actually be doing stuff with Mad World, Monster Hunter, Little Kings Story. Hopefully Nintendo is working hard on the next cycle of their big games cause the system needs it.

dvader654

Not interested in MH or LKS. Mad World is iffy. The third party stuff I actually am looking at is, as I said, not as good as stuff I'm seein' on the 360 and PS3. And I'm not sure if I can trust Nintendo with Zelda anymore. The story and cinematic aspects are improving, but they keep lowering the difficulty and making stuff like Phantom Hourglass. To this day, I bet if I went back and played the 3D console Zeldas (excluding FSA), I'd have a consistently better experience with OoT and MM. I haven't been impressed with a console Zelda since MM. To be blunt, while I do still enjoy Zelda games, the series is suffering from monotony. Supposedly the new one will be different somehow, but I still distrust Nintendo with this franchise these days.

[QUOTE="Skylock00"][QUOTE="Black_Knight_00"]

Thanks a lot Mr. Satoru 'I love money' Iwata for all your great work.

Black_Knight_00

Come on, you're pulling my leg right? Of course neither Iwata or Nintendo made the crappy third party games (or the good ones for that matter).

This doesn't excuse them one bit though, since those horrors get the Nintendo seal of approval and are the response to a precise Nintendo marketing policy. Third party game may be developed by external studios, but it's Nintendo that approves them and sells them. That's the great work I was referring to: lowering Nintendo's quality standards like there's no tomorrow.

Not that this didn't happen in the past, but if you remember, during the golden age when Yamauchi was CEO we didn't have this problem at all.

It might've been improved from the slew of crap that was rampant during the Atari age, but honestly, having a more slack policy over what could come out on a platform was what people accused of Sony back when the PS1 was around, and eventually that platform and its successor became host to several strong quality titles in time. Sony's loose quality standards allowed for a larger influx of smaller developers and lower budget titles that gave the system a great variety.

Granted, there are other factors in play, but the only thing I see correct in your statement is that Nintendo approves these games to being sold on their system (with the exception of WiiWare titles, which I will conceed is sold through Nintendo as a direct distributor). At the end of the day, the main players in terms of what becomes standard on the system are the developer/publishers, and the buying public, in my eyes.

I'm actually surprised how much I've been playing the Wii. I've gotten addicted to Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (which is fairly long), and I still have to beat Trauma Center: New Blood. I bought Boom Blox the other day...which was interesting but I don't think I'm going to back to it any time soon. It was a good game, but I feel like I played enough of it. I had a couple more levels of RE:UC to complete as well.

As far as WiiWare goes, I bought Megaman 9 and World of Goo.

Oh, and I was thinking of going back and playing some old Gamecube games on the Wii that I wanted to play some more.

Mostly the Megaman collections and Sonic collections.

Really? I could have sworn that having rather strong numbers of rather poor quality licensed games for every Nintendo console we've seen. Even when Yamauchi was imposing strong contracts with third parties, and Nintendo of America wouldn't even allow publishes to manufactuer their own games in the US, thanks to the likes of companies like LJN and the such. Other practicies that Yamauchi carried out also were pretty directly related to third parties leaving Nintendo rather rapidly by the time the PS1 era came about.

It might've been improved from the slew of crap that was rampant during the Atari age, but honestly, having a more slack policy over what could come out on a platform was what people accused of Sony back when the PS1 was around, and eventually that platform and its successor became host to several strong quality titles in time. Sony's loose quality standards allowed for a larger influx of smaller developers and lower budget titles that gave the system a great variety.

Granted, there are other factors in play, but the only thing I see correct in your statement is that Nintendo approves these games to being sold on their system (with the exception of WiiWare titles, which I will conceed is sold through Nintendo as a direct distributor). At the end of the day, the main players in terms of what becomes standard on the system are the developer/publishers, and the buying public, in my eyes.

Skylock00

Yes, I remember a lot of 3rdP crap for every console, even for the heaven-descended ones of the Yamauchi era but I also remember an endless line of fantastic 3rdP games to eclipse the bad one, which is not happening on the Wii. We are (and this can't possibly be denied) so desperate with all the awful trash that's available, that we're hyping like crazy games like The Conduit and Disaster, like they were some kind of messiah, which they likely aren't.We all knew back in the 80s/90s that what we wanted were Nintendo games (Zelda Mario, Metroid, you name it), but we could always find a great game to play in between them. Not now.

I also remember how Nintendo used to relate to the gamers during the Yamauchi era: was there a new Zelda game scheduled for 1998? They would tell you and show a pre-alpha demo in 1995 and then continually keep you posted with a regular stream of screens and details about what you were waiting for. They made you feel like you were inside the company.
What are they doing today? Are they working on a new Zelda? Are they not? We don't know for sure, it's been hinted at E3, is that proof? They lost all respect for the gamers and built a berlin wall between them and us, and that's why I dislike the current management.

Back to Iwata & C., there's truth in what you say about the developer-consumer line, but Nintendo could say 'no, I don't want this on my machine' to all the junkware they're licensing (including all the internally developed trash involving Miis) but that's the point: they could care less about quality, since the target audience has shifted towards people that don't know anything about games, can't tell a good one from a bad one and don't realise it when they've wasted their $60. They can publish a game at half the costs and earn twice the money. Of course, we still get the occasional quality third party title, but if someone tells me they're not making us miss the old times, he's in denial.

I've hit the Wii wall without even buying one - playing on demo kiosks and at friends' houses has given me so little fulfillment that I'm kind of glad Nintendo went the direction they did this generation - it means I only have to spend money on two consoles.

Really, if you aren't into the casual Wii branded games or the plethora of shovelware and poor ports, there are so few games available that it makes the Gamecube look like it was bursting with quality content.

DJ_Lae

I couldnt agree more. I played Galaxy and havent touched it since.

[QUOTE="gshell"]

i think i've hit the WII WALL.

Black_Knight_00

I've hit the Wii Wall long ago and I keep hitting it everytime I go to a game store: all those horrible kid games and shovelware I see on the shelves are the bricks that wall is made of.

ugh....tell me about it.....i mean that crap they are putting on the wii is just shameful,....but i am encouraged by some of the posters in the thread....gamestop has a used b2g1 sale and if i can find de blob or boom blox i'm there.

The disappointing thing for me isnt the lack of titles available, it is the lack of titles for my age group. Being in my 30s many of the wii games that have come out this year have been aimed firmly towards the 6-12 age group. Certainly even the wii games I have purchased and enjoy appeal to children, there is nothing wrong with appealing to them, but to keep complexity, story, difficulty out of the games provides little involvement from me as a player. Which is sort of ironic since the control schemes of the wiimote and balance board would seem to open the door for so much more than it has.

I still dont have a 360 or ps3 (been putting it off very long - though I finally have a hd compatable tv) but I have been back to playing my ps2 games instead of using the wii. And they are with very few exceptions better games. So much for progress of technology.