RE: Wii Has No Good Games
By Shaun Hatton - November 29th, 2007
Contrary to popular belief, Nintendo’s Wii actually has some of today’s best games. This image shows how much fun it is.
Time and again, on various gaming news sites and forums, one is bound to come across posts or articles that claim, without citation, that there are no good games for Wii. To some extent, it’s understandable how someone might think that. Since the system’s launch and subsequent dominance over the console market, a large number of opportunistic developers have decided to ride the Wii’s coattails by churning out port after port with what is essentially tacked-on motion controls. Oftentimes these controls don’t even work well, resulting in not only a boring game, but also a very poor user experience.
Wii owners do not want Ninjabread Man. Wii owners don’t want to play a version of TMNT where attacking is only done through shaking the Wii remote like a hyperactive child (which can result in terrible RSI), only to see the hero onscreen performing the same attack regardless of how the remote is shook.
People didn’t buy the Wii so they can play PS2 games they missed. They bought it because the Wii has the potential to offer an amazing, fun, and immersive experience. We’ve all heard stories about how people took their Wii systems to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and before long, the entire family – grandparents included – were having a blast playing Wii Sports. This kind of broad appeal should be commended, and if Nintendo were to pull the plug right now and say, “That’s all, folks! We’re done with the Wii!,” it still wouldn’t take away from all the fun the system has brought, and will still bring, to so many people.
But therein lies the problem: Many people already feel like the Wii has abandoned them, and because of this, they have abandoned the Wii. Forum posts like, “the Wii is collecting dust” are all too common. Why?
Some might argue that the Wii, apart from Wii Sports, has no good games. Unfortunately no one is going to agree unanimously on which games are good and which are bad. For instance, I think Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games I’ve ever played, but have read numerous stories and reviews trashing it. In fact, the first time I played it, I hated it because I was used to the freedom given in Half-Life 2.
Perhaps that’s part of the problem. Gamers are comparing the Wii to Xbox 360, which is something Nintendo never intended. Though both systems are in the same market, they are both targeted to very different demographics (except now, where Microsoft is zeroing in on family fun with games like Scene-It? Lights, Camera, Action and the Big Button controller).
Another part of the problem is the fact that Wii really does have some horrible games available. And a lot of them are budget-priced, making them seem like a good deal when, in reality, they’re not worth the plastic they’re made with. But because of the lower price, they sell well, which gives the publishers more incentive to push out more crap.
Older games for Nintendo’s previous systems used to sport a little logo on either the front or back of the box that read “Official Nintendo Seal of Quality.” But sometime during the GameCube’s lifetime, that logo was inconspicuously changed to read “Official Nintendo Seal,” giving the connotation, when read between the lines, that the game may not be as good, and that Nintendo had lowered their standards for third-party developers. If that was indeed the case, who could blame them? That system needed more support than a recovering alcoholic.
But getting back to Wii: there aren’t a lot of Mature-rated games for the system, and everyone knows that “hardcore gamers” (I abhor that term) love their Mature games when ironically half of them aren’t old enough to even drive or shave (though they do enjoy cussing up a storm on Xbox LIVE – which is a topic for another editorial altogether). This could be another reason for the feeling of abandonment.
However, not all is lost when it comes to great games on Wii, for there are many awesome games out for it, and surely enough to occupy your time unless you’re one of those gamers who does nothing but play video games and can blaze through Super Mario Galaxy in one sitting. The next two pages list ten Wii games that are well worth not only the money, but your valuable time as a gamer.
