It's all about online. Lack of online ultimately put the Gamecube in last place, and if Nintendo doesn't get thier ass in gear and get a standardized online format for the Wii (in which third parties can take their games online as well) the Wii will suffer the same fate as the Gamecube in the long run.

The title of this post originally appeared on the cover of "Next Generation" magazine back in January 1997 in the form of "There is something wrong with the N64". In this article, it talked about how the cartridge format along with the alienation of third-party publishers was creating a fairly dismal future for the Nintendo 64, especially compared the success that the SNES had enjoyed. Back then, Nintendo 64's were still flying off store shelves with people flocking to play Super Mario 64. There wasn't much else to play back then...Waverace 64, Shadows of the Empire...triple A titles were definately few and far between. Goldeneye was six months away and Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark were years away. I thought the article was presumptuous and fairly offense at the time. This is Nintendo. They make the best games, period. Too bad that the article predicted the future with fairly remarkable accuracy.

Fast forward to eleven years later and we have the Nintendo Wii, and somewhat of a Nintendo Renaissance. Wii systems are selling well and people seem to be enjoying Wii Sports as something new and refreshing. Twilight Princess was an incredible game. Warioware is an incredibly good time. Yet something rings a little too familiar with the situation in which I've described above.

I am aware that Super Monkey Ball, Trauma Centre, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Madden are all decent third party games. The recent ports of Godfather and Call of Duty 3 are fairly decent. Still, there is something wrong in the province of third parties in Nintendo country. Games are still lacking online features. Third party developers are shoe-horning the Wii's control scheme into existing franchises with mixed results. There are not of original exclusive properties on the horizon from third parties, and certainly nothing new compared the types of games we've seen on the Wii thus far. In fact, many of the same games being released for the Xbox360 and PS3, if they do come to the Wii, are stripped down versions with the Wiimote controls shoehorned in. The amount of children's third party licensed titles already amounts the amount that was released on the Nintendo Gamecube.

I know that it too early to condemn the Nintendo Wii to the same fate as the N64 and Gamecube suffered, but already some of the same symptoms are already arising. While the software that Nintendo has released thus far has been fairly faithful to the Wii's promise of new experiences and innovation, Nintendo is still giving hardcore gamers the "Nintendo Difference" that it gave them in the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube era. While the advantages of that are too numerous to list here, the disadvantages warrant our attention. It seems petty that I should say that the disadvantages warrant more attention than the advantages at this point, please keep in mind that many of the disadvantages are over 11 years old! All Nintendo players that have chosen a Nintendo system as their main system in the last 11 years have endured the following:

Lack of online play in games - I'm aware that Pokemon and Metriod Prime 3 will have feature heavy online components, but considering online play in console gaming has been the norm ever since the Dreamcast came online in 2000, there is simply no excuse for this lack of online software. Especially when it comes to third party software. Why weren't Madden and Tiger Woods released with a full set of online gameplay features? Considering those games were using the template of the previous Xbox/PS2/Gamecube versions in every aspect other than the control scheme, implementing online gameplay wouldn't have been difficult. While it's easy to blame EA for this oversight, something tells me that Nintendo doesn't have a support system for online play for third party developers in place yet. Looking to third party offerings in the future, there doesn't seem to be anything online on the horizon, and not much more than what the DS enjoys as far as franchises go from Nintendo. It is ridiculous that this problem still plagues them in 2007....even the most hardcore Nintendo fanboy must admit that.

Third party titles being "lesser" experiences on Nintendo's systems than on competing consoles - During the days of the N64 it was the lack of quality textures, music and FMV. For the Gamecube, it was the lack of online and glitch-ridden PS2 ports. Something always kept the purchasers of third party software from overlooking Nintendo's version. I fear the same thing will happen on the Wii, especially when HD becomes standard, few companies will develop anything less. If this is coupled with the current drought of online games and lack of original Wii games from third parties, the Wii may again be only a platform for game players to experience Nintendo's first party software. Considering the quality of that software, it isn't necessarily a doomed platform, but it's life cycle will be considerably shortened because of it.

Dependance on existing franchises and the danger of the Virtual Console - even though Nintendo is far, far better than most companies in this respect, it has still reached a point where it's almost killed the appeal of so many timeless franchises. While Mario has always appeared in more games than bear his name, Link, Samus, Pikachu, Fox and almost everything in the Mario universe is in danger of the backlash of overexposure. The Virtual Console, arguably the Wii's best feature at this point, is reaching a point of no return with Nintendo's classic games. Will you really want to play through the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2 when you've already cleared Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 on your VC? You probably already own a better version for your GBA or SNES. Fifty percent of the biggest games in Nintendo's history are already available on the VC, and we're just getting into the sixth month of the console's lifecycle. By this time next year, almost every game you wanted to play and many that you didn't, will be available on the VC. That is a great thing...if the Wii's software release schedule has improved enough to take the main focus of appeal for the system off of the virtual console. If the VC is basically done in the next two years, what remains? Original properties? Nintendo seems to have enough trouble keeping pace with Wii software releases, let alone original VC releases on top of that. Why aren't we seeing more games announced in the vien of Disaster: Day of Crisis and Project Hammer? Nintendo needs to fill the gaps of genres that seem to pass the system over, with intellectual properties it already owns. Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn and Super Paper Mario are a good start but the Wii's library needs more. An epic Golden Sun RPG? A new survival horror adventure in the world of Eternal Darkness? A God of War like romp through ancient Greece as Pit? A serious racing simulator in the vien of Gran Turismo/Project Gothem? A sandbox game, not ripping off GTA's theme, but in an original and intuitive setting? Any kind of MMO experience? Perhaps these ideas should take precidence over a sixth iteration of MarioKart, or a ninth iteration of Mario Party or any Mario Sports title. Considering the perfect backwards compatibilty with the Gamecube (another stellar feature) new entries into these franchises seem even less necessary.

Improved use of Miis beyond anything we've seen thus far - Nintendo has a runaway hit with the Mii feature on the Nintendo Wii. Timing is of the essence, and Miis need to be implemented in more of the Wii's features before users simply lose interest. Miis are such a success, that they should be itegrated into almost every aspect of the Wii, where they would seem a natural fit. Online games are a no brainer, but the Miis could be used in all kinds of interaction, not just with other players, but with all kinds Wii feature specific activities. Nintendo sometimes has a bad habit of bringing too little,too late when it comes to the untested and innovative. E-reader? Gameboy Camera? Transfer Pack? Connectivity? Let's hope the Mii doesn't fade into the obscurity that these products did. There is great potential.

There is great potential for Wii. More than any Nintendo system before it, in my humble opinion. Nintendo can't drop the ball this time though...the have to make these disadvantages non-issues. While their survival may not depend on it, their achieving greatness absolutely does. Nintendo only has this advantage for this generation, surely the Playstation and Xbox brands will include everything the Wii offers in their next iteration of consoles five years down the line. Nintendo's time is now, and I would hate to see them squander it due to problems that they've been aware of for years. Not before we can use the Wiimote as a lightsaber. Come on, I know all of us are waiting for that.

Future Perfect is a great game. Pick it up, you won't regret it.

So is this game an expansion, or somewhat of a sequel? More importantly, do you have to own the first game in order to play this one? How does that work on the Xbox 360? Do you have to boot up the original game, and then toss in the Shivering Isles disk?

I'm having a little trouble expanding my Nintendo DS collection. The problem is: I can't rent games or try them out before I buy them. Gamespot's reviews are helpful, but I tend to find that they rate DS games a little lower than what I would rate them.

DS owners with big collections, what would you consider to be 10 must have DS games?

Thanks in advance.