ARTICLE: Do complex games face an uncertain future on the Wii?

[Tek7]

During its first four days on sale in the US, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure sold approximately 30,000 copies. A week later, it had added 15,000 to that total. Hardly breathtaking figures in a nation with over 3.7 million Wiis in its bedrooms and living rooms, and the game also struggled to leave a mark in its homeland, where it is known as Takarajima Z: Barbaros no Hihou. There's no doubt about it: Capcom's splendid piratey adventure has, as much as it saddens us, flopped.

Source: Do complex games face an uncertain future on the Wii?

Whether or not you own a Wii, this article is worth reading. As the cost of producing games continues to rise, developers are taking fewer chances and delivering innovative titles less frequently.

 

[Blkstones]

the wii is hard to make games for, mainly because of the controller. if they introduced a GC like controller that was usable with wii games it would be alot easier to make more comlex games.

 

[nattyg]

controller + poor graphics and sound.

the wii is great for "party games" IMO...that's really all we use it for after giving up on some of the other games

 

[Kidan]

the wii is hard to make games for, mainly because of the controller. if they introduced a GC like controller that was usable with wii games it would be alot easier to make more comlex games.

everything is hard to make games for - and frankly, there are a lot of games that just flat out don't use all the capabilities of the wii controllers.

Consider Star Wars Lego: The Complete Saga. It has the movement functionality, such that if you swing the wii remote, the character swings his saber, yet I rarely use that, as I usually use the button for attack instead. The movement is tacked onto the game, not an inherent part of the experience, and it shows in the experience.

In the end, the Wii remote and the nunchuck attachment make a perfectly fine controller even without the remote's movement capabilities. It's not the controller that's stopping folks from producing a great, complex game for the Wii.

Frankly, developers are still locked in the old Nintendo/PS/XBox paradigm of how to make games. We've not really seen a game which truly harnesses the power underlying the Wii Remote in regards to interactivity; or even other form factors for controllers which could conceivably be pressed into service via the infrared hook-up, and a negligible system update.

The Wii is the only true next-generation game console, while the X-box 360 and the PS3 are the same consoles as their predecessors, with just higher polygon counts and faster GPUs. That is what hurts the Wii. The paradign it exists under is too far away from the X360 and the PS3. If someone made a game, dedicated, and pushing the Wii's hardware, if it was designed to fully take advantage of all that the Wii offers, it would not be able to be ported over to the other consoles; and as we all know, game distributors want to get as many copies of a game onto as many devices as possible.

nattyg - while the wii's graphics are not as pretty as the other gen3 consoles, it's still on a par with the PS2, and frankly, it's a much better price point. I don't need all those pretty, pretty polygons for the latest in the same old games I've been playing for 15 years. I want something new, and fun, that's why I went with the Wii.

 

[vibrokatana]

The problem IMO is that the wii is the runt of the pack in terms of graphics, sound and logic capabilities. The problem is that they marketed the system as a "social" system, which means that single player games are thrown to the wayside. When people see games like gears of war for the 360 and MGS4 on the ps3 which have in depth single player and beautiful graphics the wii will be forgotten. The wii is continually being held in the traditional sense of a console IMO, puzzle or cartoony action games and a lack of realism. Most of the owners of the wii are likely less informed and don't keep up to date with the latest games, rather they buy from word of mouth interest or only purchase a game every few months. One of my rather dislikes of nintendo is that they pretty much monopolize their own platform, dousing the market with their own titles to the point where outsiders have to work 3x as hard to gain significant market share. The wii is a shallow revolution, it was great for nintendo's pocketbooks and for a perceived revolution in game play but I fear that consumers are being left in the dark and not truly experiencing the games the platform has to offer.

 

[Avesther]

I think Wii was too big a change to the traditional gaming platform. When I picture how games (or computers or other similiar systems) are going to be accessed in the future, the WII is the closest thing to it that we have today.

 

[Durruck]

My impression is this: The Wii is the first of it's kind. As time passes, we'll see other system manufacturers (and subsequently, game developers) mimic some of the ideas. The motion controllers are brilliant. We keep getting closer and closer to rendered graphics on our PC that resemble actual movie footage, but displayed, changed on the fly based on what we do.

In essence, we approach a true Virtual Reality machine.

Interactive systems have been getting more and more complex over the years. It's only a matter of time until there's some little helmet that changes our perceptive from a 3rd person looking at a TV to a first-person view of a full-surround environment much like what is represented in some Sci-Fi movies. I don't think we're within 5-10 years of realizing such a system, but with every innovative idea such as the Wii, we draw closer.

With that said, I agree with Kidan - at this point, gamers haven't seen what the Wii is truly capable of. Give it a while, we'll start seeing incredible interactive games. 10 years ago, nobody would have believed that today we'd be dancing in our homes and computer able to "grade" us on our performance. Time should keep bringing us more in-depth ways to utilize the motion-sensitive controllers.

While I think VK is correct about the difference in how marketing works for Wii games, I think that less frequent releases of better titles would actually do more to help sales rather than 50 new games in 6 months that don't take advantage of what the Wii has to offer.

I knew that the Wii had inferior sound and graphics capabilities when I bought it, but I like the unique controls and more affordable price.

 

[Tek7]

We've not really seen a game which truly harnesses the power underlying the Wii Remote in regards to interactivity

I'd have to disagree on this point. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Mario Galaxy are both AAA titles that make terrific use of the Wii controls. And Zack & Wiki itself makes creative use of the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote without feeling tacked on.

To be fair, Rayman Raving Rabbids is a blast at parties, too.

And Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess rocked, even if it was a port of a Gamecube game with a bit of extra polish.

So there are excellent games on the Wii that make creative use of the Wii's motion-sensing controls. Unfortunately, for every AAA title that uses the controller in innovative ways, there's two bargain bin Spongebob Squarepants and the Stupid Something Or Other titles, in which developers tack on a waggle here and a wiggle here to a cheap Mario clone with a worn out IP (intellectual property). You know you've picked up one of these half-baked titles if the cover reads, "Also on the PS2, DS, Xbox 360, PC, Commodore 64, iPhone, Game Gear, and your microwave."

In short: Please don't judge the Wii based on bargain bin titles. Before you write off the Wii, play:

1. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
   [*]Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
   [*]Super Mario Galaxy

and as we all know, game distributors want to get as many copies of a game onto as many devices as possible.

Kidan speaks truth.

Most game companies do not consider their product art--even if their marketing department says they do. Game developers are creating products to be purchased. (Ubisoft, I'm looking at you.) If they can produce the product cheaply, sell it to the largest audience possible, and take the least risk possible, they win. Innovation = risk, risk = possibly losing your job.

Nintendo can afford to take chances and create innovative games--and consoles, now that Sega's out of the hardware game. Smaller developers can't.

I want something new, and fun, that's why I went with the Wii.

Ditto.

EDIT: And if you want to play a game that takes full advantage of the capabilities of the Nintendo DS, pick up Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the game and I don't want it to end.

EDIT: By the bye, if I wanted super shiny graphics, I would have saved up $1000-$1500 USD and built a new gaming rig.

Of course, I plan to do that in the future anyway, but while my wife and I are paying off student loans, trying to find long-term jobs, and paying the bills, paying $250 for a console and $50 for a game beats paying $1000 for a new PC and $50 for a game.

 

[moxie]

My hubby and I have both the Xbox 360 and the Wii, and the Wii wins at our house.

Mike tends to buy more serious games for the 360 (most recently Call of Duty 4), but 9 times out of 10 I catch him playing Rayman's Raving Rabbids on the Wii. Super Mario Galaxy is one we're looking forward to. While the Wii feeds our appetite for new and innovative gameplay, it also signals a return to the fun/laidback atmosphere of the games of our youth (we both grew up on Atari/NES/Sega).

Interestingly, several of my co-workers (who have definitely not been gamers in the past) are becoming big fans of the Wii, and say that it's the only system they'll play because it actually requires you to move and get into the games rather than just vegging on the couch. They've played it at friend's houses, and now are looking for their own consoles but there's not a Wii to be found for sale anywhere in our area. Perhaps the Wii isn't quite up to par for hardcore gamers, but Nintendo's purpose in creating the Wii was to reach an entirely new market with the game style. It's exactly what they did back in the day with the NES, and they have done it again with the Wii.

To be honest, many of the more artistic/hardcore/graphics-intensive games are intimidating to non-gamers. While PS3 and Xbox can continue to feed the same crowds over and over with the same formulas, the Wii is out there appealing to new gamers. Hmmm... almost sounds like a church parallel there... nah.

I do kinda feel bad for our 360 though. It's been relegated to a Viva Pinata machine and overpriced DVD player for the most part.

 

[XionTawa]

XBox 360 and PS3 = Overpriced computers with controllers and no customization...

Wii = A wonderful idea

When I looked into both the Xbox360 and the PS3, I said to myself, "There is no way I am paying that much for a crappy computer that can only play games..."