Is Wii a Gimmick---My insight

daviduk200

The XBOX 360 Guy
Jul 18, 2007
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Scotland
Wii Online Code
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ok dont flame me :)

listen to my does wii = gimmick insight.

We have had the wii for nearly a year now, and one of the main points bought about by wii haters and critics were, its a gimmick/novelty.

but is this true, i was thinking about it and i have come to a 50/50 decision, yes and no.

we are now into wiis 200th games (give or take a few) and so far only a few have really shone out to me. soome of which include Zelda, Mysims, RE4.

but do the controls influence these games into being better? my aswer is also 50/50

Take Zelda for example, the controls were fine, but did they add to it, in my opinion, they made it nicer to play but were not important part of it,

Now look at RE4, The controls work excellently, and they do really make the game what it is, with out them, the game would be just a dumb port, yes its still a port, but its a clever port, which makes the game 100% better, than it was before, the controls were the only reason i got the game, and i cannot imagine buying it if the controls hadnt been changed,

Now finally look at Mysims, I love this game to bits, but the bad points, were Pushes the wii so much, it makes a hell of a lot of noise, and its LAGGY,
did the controlls add to the experience? NO.
i feel this game would have benifitted greatly from being on the PS3 or 360, They would have found this game a walk in the park to run, the graphics would have been shaper, and mostly it would run smoother, The wii controls added very little to it, and missing out in what it did add wuld be more than made up for graphic and smoothness made.

jsut looking at those 3, we can see a sort of pattern, not all games are suited for the wii, but some i couldnt imagine on any other console,

Rayman raving rabbids, On anything other than wii, it was a terrible game.

Warioware smooth moves (bad game imo) but on another console hell no.

red steel, well, 50/50. good game shooting Pointer added to it, but graphics were below par, and the sword play was not good.

Marvel ultimate alliance, Wii controlls added nothing to the game.

Golf, wii controll adds to the game a lol.

Crash of the titans, wii controls made the game easier and more fun.



many developers are looking at the wii as a quick cash syatem, they see the sales, they notice mostly casual gamers (i,e NOOBS) and they can fool noobs easily into buying a sub par unfinished game. they put little effort into it,

But critics make half the problem, they criticise games for not using motion sensor and pointer, but then, they criticise a game even more if they use them wrong.

but agreeably a game that doesnt use them would be better suited for another console, but one that uses them wrong should be thrown away.

think of all the games you own, Whic ones, use the wii remote well?, Which ones dont use it?, and which ones, Shouldnt use it?, and finally which ones would you prefer on a different console?

for me, the controls are the most important part, along with game play, but graphics are only important if the gameplay isnt affected by which remote its used on.


SSBB, will not be using wiimotes sensors, would it be better on another console? (dont think about it from nintendos point of view, think about, graphics and how smooth it would be) Ill leave that for you to decide.

imo

FPS' suit wii,
Mini game collections Suit wii,
Some platformers suit wii.
Very few Racers Suit wii,
No Sims suit wii, (well would be better on another console)

think of which console would benefit the game, not which game would benefit the console i mean halo on Wii would benefit the console, but would it benefit the game? doubtfull,

Rayman raving rabbids, console benefitted the game, not the other way around,

wii had around 15% of its game used right, 25% work fine but would benefit from other console, and 50% just need another console to work well at all.
and 10% will suck no matter which console.

developers fault, or criticsc fault?

i let you have your say now.

Im not good at essays so my Insight thingy was badly written , but i hope i got my point across.

dont flame me lol
 
Well most of what you said is pretty true.
But some games, like ports or ones that are not exclusive (pretty much Ps2 tune ups) will not have good controls.

I have seen all games made by Nintendo have good controls.

Racing will improve with Mario Kart, and Metroid helped the FPS out even more.
Things will look up don't worry.

As for the Wii being a novelty, I think it lost that title when it was selling well on sub-par games, leaving many (myself included) speechless.
With all the hits that are upon us this holiday season, it will go even smoother.

Good post though.
 
CantGetAWii said:
Well most of what you said is pretty true.
But some games, like ports or ones that are not exclusive (pretty much Ps2 tune ups) will not have good controls.

I have seen all games made by Nintendo have good controls.

Racing will improve with Mario Kart, and Metroid helped the FPS out even more.
Things will look up don't worry.

As for the Wii being a novelty, I think it lost that title when it was selling well on sub-par games, leaving many (myself included) speechless.
With all the hits that are upon us this holiday season, it will go even smoother.

Good post though.
Honestly I have been hearing the saying or something similar to "things will looks up." or "just wait untill these games." I mean is Nintendo just all hype? Now I don't know much about previous games for the wii and how much hype they had since I have only had my Wii since the beginning of October. Therefore my facts may seem wrong maybe. But w/e. It is seeming that all the wii is hype. Look SSBB delayed apparently to work on more stuff. I highly doubt that they would have to delay it about 2 months (is that correct?). Idk but it is looking like the wii is just getting more and more money just because this is going to come out. And I'm deff not saying that Sony Microsoft and other companies don't try to get every penny out of everything, I'm just saying that Nintendo does it in a more deceiving and wrongful way. BUT we will just have to see. *sigh*
 
i disagree im like you i feel 50/50 on that but its like i said in my other posts, and you add another point if only nintendo games have the controls and nintendo only has 4 to 5 games how long will this last, not long if the type of trend that you explain keeps going. not trying to start an argument but he just validated my points. the system cant continue to do well with trends like that.
 
There are few "must own" titles for the system and nothing that's really selling it. People buy a 360 for Halo 3, Gears of War, etc. People are buying the Wii for the controller and the games seem overlooked.

RE4 did it the smart way. Build off the GC version, add in the PS2 extras, and give a new control scheme while leavign the standard control option availale for those who don't like the remote controls.

TP shows some of this. Swinging to sword slash is a 50/50 on remote sensitivity, it's not wholly reliable. I've played up to the last mirror piece and I still prefer button mashing on the GC to sword fight on this game. Most of the time I want to shield slam I end up spinning thanks to crappy motion sensing in the nunchuk. You CAN use the pointer for menus and aiming but turning the pointer off reverts the camera to the control stick and is just as effective.

If they just threw a "standard" control option into a lot of games alongside the remote, it might have done a great deal more for the library to move titles. Not everyone likes the remote and sticking just the remote into game controls will alienate a few older players.

"Non gamer" marketing moved a good deal of consoles but when it comes time to rely on software sales, don't count on the non gamers to buy a bunch of $50 games. They should also think more about VC titles... focus more on releasing stuff that will sell in droves. Stop cramming in a bunch of filler titles just to keep up the 3 a week schedule. They're competing with emulation, which is free, or those "TV game" pirate units sold at malls and such on Christmas which might have 80 games for $20. I'd gladly pay $6 for TMNT or $5 for Kirby. I'd be hard pressed to pay even $1 for Urban Champion or Elevator Action. Crap titles like JJ and Jeff need not be here. The VC should be a large money vacuum as they don't have to do anything to publish these games but I'm not tempted to buy many of these titles.
 
well if you put the option to use a regular controler with these games don't you defeat the purpose of owning a wii? just my thoughts
 
No.
Giving many the option to choose helps things out, rather than makes a problem.
Adds more to the overall thing really.
Also this way people's old preferences will not be overlooked.
 
well, this is what i think. developers may think that the wii is easy to develop for because they can build a game up for a next gen console, then scale down the graphics so that it will run smoothly on the wii. then later see how the controller can make very simple actions seem pointless to put motion on, but do it anyway.

games that have been built from the ground up for the wii itself, even when they have others going to other consoles, will be able to become better games. they just don't want to take the time to do that. i think they just want to make a quick buck off the wii version and think they need to put no effort into it.

the wii would be an awesome console with less laziness by developers. after a while i think they will get the idea and be able to make better games as time goes on. lets just hope my theory comes to life lol.
 
OK, so lets take the other 2 next gen consoles.

The 360 like the PS3 are sold mainly on their next gen graphics, if you say that the wii is a gimmick just because most games dont use the wii's unique controles to full effect can we not say the same about the 360 and PS3, its not as if all 360 and PS3 titles are pure Eye candy now are they?

In the first year that the 360 was out, there wasnt a single title that you could realy call next gen, it wasnt untill Gears of War came out that you could and the same will happen for for the PS3, its current line up isnt great by any means.

And the same will happen for the wii, going by nintendos past record with consoles (N64 & Gamecube) you cant realy hold the developers responsible for not jumping on the wii as a viable system can you? now that they have seen it is a viable system more and more developers are now making games (Sometimes EXCLUSIVES) for the system and it will take time for then to make full use of the wii's unique controlers.

Is the wii a gimmick with its revolutionary controllers? Hell no, just like the mouse or joypad wasnt.

Give it time people, give it time. Its only been a year.

My prediction is this:

In as little as 5 years time nobody will be playing FPS games with a joypad or even mouse + keyboard, considdering how neer perfect MP3's controlls are why would you want to? and if your answer is that you cant get used to them or you dont like them then just think back to your first games using either of the 2 alternatives.

Developers are now starting to develope games for the wii from the ground up, this means more time spent on making the controlls work, this can only be a good thing and will probably weed out most of the games with badly implemented control systems.
 
If you take in consideration that every marketed product is in some shape or form, a gimmick, as with every marketing strategy attempts to appeal to the consumer in hopes of generating sales. The PS3 uses Blu-Ray/Latest Tech, 360 is pushing latest technology as well, and of course that little Wii is boasting innovative controls. In reality it's all a gimmick if you sum it up.

I see your point, and understand that you seem to be saying that a lot of titles and the console in general seems to sell more on promise than it does on product. That is true to some extent when you look at so many developers late in the game and even some that are early, all frantically pushing out just about anything in hopes of delivering a paycheck. With that in mind, so many crap ports and crappy titles have managed to make it's way onto the system.

Despite that the sheer numbers of trash for the Wii is hard not to notice, but really crappy ports and titles are nothing new to a Nintendo console. Look at the classic NES for example, with games like Fester's Quest and so many others that was nothing less than terrible. Other popular consoles have had there fair share, ranging from Atari to PS2 however it's those few good ones that help hide such a wide selection of junk. Unfortunately the Wii still requires more worthwhile games to it's collection to render it's trash list out of the spotlight, so keep in mind the system is still new.

It is fortunate for the Wii developers that it shares the same basic development scheme as it's predecessor, which makes it easier to push forth good games faster as there is less need to re-learn the development technics to make the best use of the system. The downside to this is that last-gen the Cube was mostly overlooked so therefore there still is a learning curve involved as I don't believe that 3rd party developers even took full advantage of the Cube's potential. Now that the GameCube/Wii now has some serious attention, developers are attempting to come up with some killer apps to really cash in on the system. To do this it will take more than a quick port, and developers are going to have to really push the envelope when it comes to maximizing the Wii's hardware and frankly to see the Wii's full potential it's going to take time.

Games like MySims may seem like it's really pushing the console, however if that title was released two years from now after developers master the hardware potential (ie. better optimized code), what we would probably find is that the game wasting more than it's actually using. A good example of this is comparing the differences between games such as Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 on the classic NES, clearly a HUGE difference. I merely suggest being patient and wait to see the outcome for yourself.
 
I have to admit that the port-like games have been the most fun, to see a game thats been on other consoles and then made that much better by taking advantage of the features that make the Wii stand out and so gimmicky in people's opinions, are awesome. Stuff like The Godfather, a game that really isnt unique on another console, its just another GTA copy, but on Wii its a whole new 'experience'. This also applies for Resident Evil, SSX and I'm assuming Manhunt.
I'll admit the Wii is quite gimmicky, but I can only think this is the case with the games being half done, and not the actual Wii's fault. Stuff like WiiSports, I havent played that game in 6months, it was more a fad and gimmick, however if there were more options, like the ability to move your character in tennis,a dn the ability to verse CPUs in bowling etc, itd be a far better game and less of a 'look at me' gimmick.
So basically, Wii is an excellent system with lots of potential. It itself is not a gimmick, just the majority of games bank on its gimmicks and forget everything else that makes a game good. I think 2007 was a learning time for developers, and in 2008 they will take what they have learnt from the quality titles and implement these ideas into their games. Atleast that is what I hope.
Also, personally I think the mini-game genre already needs to be laid to rest, theres only so much that can be done, before its the same old, same old. WarioWare was fun for 5mins, Rayman was fun for 10... but we need hardcore games here, not the junk that those 'noob' buers lap-up, and parents buy cos theyre fooled by the cheap price and G rating.
Come on ppl, not everyone who owns a Wii is in the preteen age-bracket, and you are selling a console short calling it a gimmick, when it has this much potential. Bring on 2008 and beyond.
 
Don't let Brawl being released in 2008 fool you.
I have a feeling there are big things planned for after February.

I don't see the mini-games stopping really, as they sell well.
More of the games others will enjoy are coming.
The Wii aims to more than just pre-teens.
Kids, Teens and Adults/Grandparents can enjoy the little white box of joy.
 
Z3wpk said:
Look SSBB delayed apparently to work on more stuff. I highly doubt that they would have to delay it about 2 months (is that correct?)


you are obviously new to nintendo and its major games
lawlz :lol:
 
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