Today is Halloween. The holiday season is almost upon us, and I see lots of people wondering "What game-system-accessory should I purchase?". The question often revolves around the availability of "Hardcore games" for that particular system. This is particularly true with the Wii. The number of people dubbing the Wii as a "party-focused system" or "devoid of core-games" seems to be growing further day by day. But, ¿Are those genres (party-multiplayer and core games) indeed mutually exclusionary? ¿or is it just a mere misunderstanding of the point explioted by supporters and detractors of each console?.
Some people wonder ¿Is the Wii worth it? and they base this doubt in the apparent lack of "core games" of this platform. Back in the days of SNES and N64, one usually had the console and about 10-12 games at a maximum. I have 3 games for my SNES and 3 for my N64. I've played many others, but I rented or burrowed them. I don't know if the current trend is to purchase a new game every 15 days or so. If I could hardly afford 3 or 4 games for my console when the prices were around $30-$40, then how could I hope to build a huge game library when the console alone is worth $300-$600 and the games are $60 and up?
In the last generation, whenever someone asked me about the best system, I invariably answered "The GameCube". Then they said that its games were too expensive, and thus I replied "The best system FOR YOU is the XBOX". Since one could play pirated games (priced around $5-$10) without having to implant an expensive mod-chip onto it, the XBOX was the ideal for those who wanted to buy games on a monthly basis. This was even worse for the PSX, since you didn't need a modchip either, and CD games were a lot cheaper to copy.
However, when it comes to original games, I just can not afford more than a game per holiday season. This is why it seems so strange to me when someone touts: "...once I finish MP3-C, RE4 and TloZ-TP, what will I play?" The console that I have most games for is the GBA (6 in total), and I purchased one every 4 months at best. Even so, as soon as I purchased a new game, I usually finished it in a couple days, but that didn't made me feel framed or in some sort of "what to do" state. I simply played again and finished it over and over again. I've finished Super Mario World about 200 times, and yet I usually sit and play it through. This also applies for all of my games. So, I can't conceive of another answer to that weird quiestion than "Well, just play them over again!". But of course, I have a life to live, and I just cannot devote my entire life to play games (I also have to MAKE games), so I guess that playing around 10 hours a week is OK.
I'm not saying this on behalf of the Wii, this same reasoning applies to the other consoles as well. But the true point is the "difference" between core and party games. The fact that someone sees a difference is maybe due to the fact that core-games are single player and party games are focused on multiplayer. So, the difference is that we hardcore gamers are meant to be selfish ones who don't like to share the fun with the ours? It's true that all of the games I own are focused on single player gameplay, and they barely have any multiuplayer mode (if at all). But when I was young, I loved to gather with my pals and beat the s**t out of one another in Mortal Kombat or Mario Kart or GoldenEye! But these days, I don't have my childhood friends with me, since I moved to another city 7 years ago, and my siblings and current friends aren' too fondof videogames. That's why I buy sinlge player games. But with the Wii, this is bound to change. With its "pick up and play" philosophy, I can enjoy those party games with my siblings, and even with my mom, without them feeling overwhelmed by my superior gaming abilities! This is the main reason why the Wii is outselling the competence by far. The money is usually handled by the father, and if he is to spend $400-$600 in a machine that only his elder male child will use and enjoy, then he may prefer spending $250 in a system for his whole family.
So, if you are young, hardcore gamer, you have a steady (and abundant) income stream, and you are the only one who plays videogames in your house, then the Wii may not be for you. The X360 or the PS3 may be wiser choices for you. If you can afford a $600 system and $50-$60 games every month, then there's no reason for you to dismiss the PS3. But the mainstream (and by that I mean tha whole world) is composed of people like me, with reduced budgets and lots of other things to think about besides playing videogames. As for me, videogames are my whole life, and I'm studying computer engineering in order to devote my entire life to game development. But I just cannot sit all day long to play videogames. I have many systems and games, but I play at most 10 hours a week, because my studies consume most of my time. So, for me, the Wii is the ideal console. It adjusts to my budget, it has many games that I can enjoy with my wife, my child (well, she's my daughter-in-law, but I love her as my own child), my siblings and my mother, and it has true hardcore games for me to fully enjoy and play over and over again in my spare time (just like Link to the Past and Yoshi's Island for my SNES).
Another fact of concern about this matter has to do with FPS. More and more, it seems that only the FPS are considered "core-games", so the other genres are dubbed "for kids" or "for casual gamers". It's true that the hardest genre to pick up and play for a newbie is FPS, due to the complexity of the control scheme and the precision required. But, oddly enough, the Wii is the ideal plattform for FPS, due to its revolutionary controls that makes FPS far more intuitive and accesible to newcomers. However, the only great FPS for Wiiis Metroid Prime 3-Corruption. Perhaps the others have notraised to the occasion because the developers have not yet fully understood the nooks and crannies of the controls, and that's why the only noteworthy FPS for Wii was made by Nintendo itself. This leads to a disturbing finding: Could it be that there's some sort of "racism" from hardcore-gamers towards casual gamers and newcomers? Is the seeming "hatred" towards the Wii from its detractors due to this plattform's philosophy to open the doors of gaming to new audiences and making used-to-be-hard FPS more accesible to the casuals?
My final conclussion on this matter is that the Wii is the ideal plattform for me, not only because of the reasons I mentioned above, but also because, as a true hardcore gamer with more than 15 years of experience, I can revive my early days playing again all those great games that marked my infancy and adolescence and made me the person I am today. On the other hand, if you don't like to share your games or your devices with others and you can afford to buy a new game whenever as soon as you finish the last one, then the PS3 and the X360 are wise choices for you.
I'm not making this blog post to annoy anyone or to create turmoil. Rather, I'll appreciate any feedback you may want to give me in this subject.
Tsuki wo miru tabi omoidase!
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