Wii

[Black Lushus 0]

I'm thinking they're hedging their bets on the online play as well as the wii zapper support for CoD...they can make a competent port while sacrificing with the graphics, I would imagine.

[AndrewTS 0]

Sorry Andrew, I still think this game could be fun. Big Dumb Fun. And Jennifer Tsao from 1up liked it a lot. I'm sure you can pull out some reason why 1up is disreputable, but we can do that for every game site.

 

Added a little detail there for ya. 1up isn't necessary much more or less reputable than anyone else (I don't believe Nintendo is going to moneyhat the hardcore gaming press anyway). Stated reviewer does have a higher tolerance for this stuff, though.

 

So, maybe Nintendo made a game that isn't very good by your standards, or Matt from IGN's standards, because it isn't aimed at you or him.

 

A music game with shitty, midi-quality music and virtually no gameplay is a bad music game. It's not my fault if "casual gamers" (or those tolerant) don't have any standards for what they're willing to pay 50 bucks for. I'll make no apologies for Nintendo for it, though.

 

There's nothing nefarious about that. If the casual gamers decide that Wii Music is a lot of fun, does that validate Nintendo's approach? Or does it just make the gamers morons?

 

It makes them willing to overpay for cheap crap. And morons, no, if they have no reasonable standards to judge by. Fans of Rock Band, though, well, they have little excuse.

 

I think COD: World at War and The Conduit are two games that are going to tell us just how serious the Wii is going to be.

 

A High Voltage game and a port? lol

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

All I know is I played Bloody Wolf for about 90 minutes today and loved it.

[Black Lushus 0]

I think COD: World at War and The Conduit are two games that are going to tell us just how serious the Wii is going to be.

 

A High Voltage game and a port? lol

 

Yes, what's so funny about that? Anya, is that you on Drew's sn?

[AndrewTS 0]

I think COD: World at War and The Conduit are two games that are going to tell us just how serious the Wii is going to be.

 

A High Voltage game and a port? lol

 

Yes, what's so funny about that? Anya, is that you on Drew's sn?

 

I don't see, based on their pedigree, why someone should be excited about a High Voltage game. Maybe if you were a really big fan of the Hunter: The Reckoning game, which was pretty average at best IMO.

 

And I can't get hyped up for a wii port of a CoD game that's going back to WW2. Plus it's Treyarch, so you shouldn't expect anything really new or exciting either (but you could probably expect bugs!). Is it even Treyarch handling the Wiiport, or some outsourced ninja developers? Rebellion is apparently doing the PS2 version. I'd be surprised if the Wii version was much different than just the PS2 version + waggle:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty_5

[Black Lushus 0]

Who's getting excited here? I'm simply implying that if those two games suck, then it's obvious the Wii is going nowhere at all with any type of serious non-Nintendo games.

[luke-o 0]

The Wii thread is a lot like the TNA folder in which if you defend said product you are seen as a "apologist".

 

I just hate how if you say anything good about the Wii it comes off as defending it. The Wii is a very good console with some great games. Are some of the games crap? Of course they are. Are some games on the 360 crap? Of course they are. Are there more crappy on the Wii than the 360? Probably, but those are the games aimed at the "casual" auidence that I'm not a part of so I just ignore it and let them slide past me.

[AndrewTS 0]

Main Entry:

apol·o·gist

Pronunciation:

\ə-ˈpä-lə-jist\

Function:

noun

Date:

1640

: one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something

 

I'm not attacking the Wii itself. It's just that this is one of the top games Nintendo is offering for the holidays (oh, and Animal Crossing!), and that's pretty weaksauce, imo

[BUTT 0]

I think Wii Music and Animal Crossing are the only games Nintendo is releasing for Wii this season, which is super-lame. But at least they have third parties picking up the slack with excellent titles like....oh FUCK.

 

The only Wii game this fall I actually am looking forward to is the Castlevania fighting game, which I know makes the dudes over at Joystiq cry but I still contend it could be fun. Besides which, I liked the N64 games, so I have no aversion to bad CV games. (Except the Game Boy games. Not GBA, I mean the original GB games like Belmont's Revenge and Legends. Those games BLEW.)

 

I don't know why Nintendo doesn't give money to third parties to produce better software for their system. I'm not saying they have to money-hat them in the way that Sony and Microsoft allegedly have to certain publishers in the past, but they have to know that the money will all come back to them eventually, in the form of royalties and such. Maybe they just don't want competition for their own games, but they only release 8-12 of those a year for their system, and third-party hits are basically free money. Well, not free if you're paying off the publisher, I guess. But it would work itself out eventually.

[BUTT 0]

Also, REAL TALK: Nintendo shouldn't have sold Rare. I know they got 175 mil out of it and Rare hasn't meant much for Microsoft, but that partnership give them a real FPS franchise in Perfect Dark and a developer that could make Donkey Kong games that people actually bought. Also, Viva Pinata could have been a successful franchise on Wii, moreso than it is on 360 at least. And that new Banjo-Kazooie? Nobody's gonna buy that on 360, but it would sell on Wii. And we might have gotten a Blast Corps sequel by now, because Nintendo loves sequels. Maybe a new R.C. Pro-Am as well.

[AndrewTS 0]

I think Wii Music and Animal Crossing are the only games Nintendo is releasing for Wii this season, which is super-lame. But at least they have third parties picking up the slack with excellent titles like....oh FUCK.

 

This is what annoys me the most about the Wii right now. Fortunately, my holiday will be fine with the 360 games I do end up buying.

 

The only Wii game this fall I actually am looking forward to is the Castlevania fighting game, which I know makes the dudes over at Joystiq cry but I still contend it could be fun. Besides which, I liked the N64 games, so I have no aversion to bad CV games. (Except the Game Boy games. Not GBA, I mean the original GB games like Belmont's Revenge and Legends. Those games BLEW.)

 

The character designs make me wanna cry, but if it is Power Stone-ish it could be a fun diversion (but not worth 50 bucks in these troubled times). Also, Belmont's Revenge is a good game. Legends was indeed bad, though. Count me among those who liked the (2nd) N64 title. Castlevania Adventure is also pretty lame, but a little more forgiveable as it was an early GB title.

 

I don't know why Nintendo doesn't give money to third parties to produce better software for their system. I'm not saying they have to money-hat them in the way that Sony and Microsoft allegedly have to certain publishers in the past, but they have to know that the money will all come back to them eventually, in the form of royalties and such.

 

Nintendo funded the development of, and published Fatal Frame IV in Japan. It bombed, though, so I doubt we'll get it here under the Nintendo label. Nintendo also is helping publish Sin and Punishment 2, mainly because of good sales for the VC release of the original (the N64 release of S&P was a bomb, incidentally). Nintendo's also done more outsourcing for some of their titles, although the results haven't been too spectacular (Wario: Master of Disguise, Yoshi's Island 2, for instance).

 

Also, REAL TALK: Nintendo shouldn't have sold Rare. I know they got 175 mil out of it and Rare hasn't meant much for Microsoft, but that partnership give them a real FPS franchise in Perfect Dark and a developer that could make Donkey Kong games that people actually bought. Also, Viva Pinata could have been a successful franchise on Wii, moreso than it is on 360 at least. And that new Banjo-Kazooie? Nobody's gonna buy that on 360, but it would sell on Wii. And we might have gotten a Blast Corps sequel by now, because Nintendo loves sequels. Maybe a new R.C. Pro-Am as well.

 

Perfect Dark Zero was, by nearly all accounts, a pretty terrible game. I doubt lower-spec tech would have benefitted it at all. Also--I don't seem to recall DK64 being much of a success, either. Viva Pinata and Banjo are fair points, though (though I have zero interested in Viva Pinata, myself), but I wonder if VP would really "fit in" to N's lineup. However, is Rare worth all the wait for their occasionally-decent titles?

 

Also, the Rare sale was 2002-ish. Far pre-DS boom and pre-Wii success. Nintendo probably felt it a good sale because it gave them more operating capital. They also undoubtedly saved money on paying for the deadweight of development that has been modern Rare (for the original Xbox they made one new ultrabomb of a game, and one port).

[dubq 0]

The only games I'm looking forward to for the Wii in the near future are Mad World, House of the Dead Overkill & Dead Rising. Possibly Tatsunoko vs Capcom providing it doesn't also get a PS3 release (or even released over here at all, for the Wii, period).

 

I never thought would happen but I've only touched my Wii (that's what she said) maybe twice since I bought a PS3 earlier this summer. =\

 

I still think it's a great console, but I now really see where it's place is in my gaming rotation. It's niche games like No More Heroes and arcadey type games like HotD that I enjoy on the Wii. That's just me, though.

[AndrewTS 0]

What's even more messed up--nay, inexcusable--it that this will pretty much be Nintendo's worst holiday lineup in ages.

 

For comparison's sake, let's look back at the N64 era (for North American releases).

 

1996: DKC3, Wave Race, Cruisin' USA, Gretzky 3D Hockey, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (and of course, this was shortly after the N64 launch, so we at least had Pilotwings and Super Mario 64).

1997: Diddy Kong Racing, Bomberman 64, (Mischief Makers was October, though. Also, this was the year Goldeneye and Star Fox came out.)

1998: Ocarina of Time (Third party note: Rogue Squadron released)

1999: Jet Force Gemini, DK 64

2001: Banjo-Tooie

 

In the cases when they only had one big release--it was a pretty big one (Ocarina). If not, they at least had a few. And I'm really only mentioning November/December releases. The Wii has had..what, just Wario Land this month?

[BUTT 0]

Nintendo funded the development of, and published Fatal Frame IV in Japan. It bombed, though, so I doubt we'll get it here under the Nintendo label. Nintendo also is helping publish Sin and Punishment 2, mainly because of good sales for the VC release of the original (the N64 release of S&P was a bomb, incidentally). Nintendo's also done more outsourcing for some of their titles, although the results haven't been too spectacular (Wario: Master of Disguise, Yoshi's Island 2, for instance).

S&P and Wario and Yoshi's Island don't count, because those are just Nintendo contracting with outside developers. Everyone does that. I'm saying they should throw some money at Capcom and say hey, why don't you make a new RE game using the RE4 engine? Actually, Capcom should be smart enough to do that themselves, but they'd rather make rail shooters and ports of early Gamecube games.

 

 

Also--I don't seem to recall DK64 being much of a success, either.

Nah, it was a big hit. It sold over three million in the US and was one of the few million-sellers for N64 in Japan. But it really wasn't Donkey Kong Country, it was Banjo-Kazooie in a monkey suit.

[BUTT 0]

What's even more messed up--nay, inexcusable--it that this will pretty much be Nintendo's worst holiday lineup in ages.

 

For comparison's sake, let's look back at the N64 era (for North American releases).

 

1996: DKC3, Wave Race, Cruisin' USA, Gretzky 3D Hockey, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (and of course, this was shortly after the N64 launch, so we at least had Pilotwings and Super Mario 64).

1997: Diddy Kong Racing, Bomberman 64, (Mischief Makers was October, though. Also, this was the year Goldeneye and Star Fox came out.)

1998: Ocarina of Time (Third party note: Rogue Squadron released)

1999: Jet Force Gemini, DK 64

2001: Banjo-Tooie

 

In the cases when they only had one big release--it was a pretty big one (Ocarina). If not, they at least had a few. And I'm really only mentioning November/December releases. The Wii has had..what, just Wario Land this month?

Gretsky 3D was a Midway game. Actually, I think it was a Time Warner Interactive title that Midway obtained when they bought Atari Games in '96. Did you know Midway was the only third-party to release N64 games in the U.S. in '96? And it was just that and MK Trilogy. I contend that a lot of third-parties missed the boat on supporting N64 early. Pretty much everything sold well at first because there were so few games. By taking that wait-and-see approach, they missed out on a huge window where they had little competition. By the time Capcom came around, for example (in 1999!), the bloom was already off the N64 rose and while the lineup was still small compared to PS1, there were enough games that a new N64 release couldn't automatically stand out.

 

Also, Rogue Squadron was basically first-party. LucasArts is officially listed as the publisher, but Nintendo "distributed" it. Same deal with Episode I Racer.

[Black Lushus 0]

I would love to see a follow up to RE4 Wii Edition, that game is too awesome.

[AndrewTS 0]

Gretsky 3D was a Midway game. Actually, I think it was a Time Warner Interactive title that Midway obtained when they bought Atari Games in '96. Did you know Midway was the only third-party to release N64 games in the U.S. in '96? And it was just that and MK Trilogy.

 

I know it was Midway, but gamefaqs was listing it as a Nintendo published title, but when you check the Data specifics, that was only in Europe.

 

I contend that a lot of third-parties missed the boat on supporting N64 early. Pretty much everything sold well at first because there were so few games. By taking that wait-and-see approach, they missed out on a huge window where they had little competition. By the time Capcom came around, for example (in 1999!), the bloom was already off the N64 rose and while the lineup was still small compared to PS1, there were enough games that a new N64 release couldn't automatically stand out.

 

Nintendo still had publishing arrangements that turned off a lot of companies, especially the Japanese. The Wii is getting the "wait-and-see" approach on "hardcore" titles. Which is unfortunate because almost nobody is taking the risks. No, PORTS aren't risks.

 

Also, Rogue Squadron was basically first-party. LucasArts is officially listed as the publisher, but Nintendo "distributed" it. Same deal with Episode I Racer.

 

I knew there was a bit more to that relationship than just publisher/developer, but I couldn't remember. Danke.

 

S&P and Wario and Yoshi's Island don't count, because those are just Nintendo contracting with outside developers. Everyone does that.

 

Nintendo doesn't normally hand over their licenses to a small developer they don't own. So it's different than Nintendo's normal procedures. Also, S&P was such a bomb on N64 retail, it's still a big risk and Nintendo's bearing it all. That's not too common for them.

 

I'm saying they should throw some money at Capcom and say hey, why don't you make a new RE game using the RE4 engine? Actually, Capcom should be smart enough to do that themselves, but they'd rather make rail shooters and ports of early Gamecube games.

 

Okami was a PS2 game, so there's an exception! Dead Rising is pretty much a heavily altered version of the original game. If it does sell well (and I believe it will), I think some variant of RE5 will hit Wii, but I would bet co-op would be out and the game getting heavily re-written. They could perhaps also do a "separate ways" style side-story, too.

[dubq 0]

They should just start a new set of RE spin-offs for Wii using that engine. Doesn't even have to be watered down ports of RE5, RE6, RE7, and so-on. Hell it doesn't even have to have anything to do with them.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The way everyone was talking, I thought all this anti-music game discussion was about some sub-par Nintendo made Rock Band. As I've now seen the WII MUSIC~! commercial, I don't get it. Those old people, young people, Asian people... they're all having a blast waving Wiimotes and Nunchucks wildly in the air playing 1 of 60 different instruments, bebopping to the bleeps and bloops of the Super Mario Bros. overture. I'm sold.

[BUTT 0]

One of the reasons why it's such a sore spot with the gaming press is that it was the big reveal at the end of Nintendo's E3 conference and they were expecting the sales juggernaut that is Kid Icarus instead.

[AndrewTS 0]

One of the reasons why it's such a sore spot with the gaming press is that it was the big reveal at the end of Nintendo's E3 conference and they were expecting the sales juggernaut that is Kid Icarus instead.

 

If anyone was expecting E3 to have a megaton announcement, they were just kidding themselves. However, it should have still been better than that.

 

The fact that the major Nintendo releases for the rest of this year are Wii Music and Animal Crossing is pretty sad. No Reggie, Animal Crossing is a not a major "core" title.

 

1up's Jeremy Parish--that site's most outspoken and consistent Nintendo apologist, posted a blog entry about this: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=891969...cUserId=5379721

 

In other words, Wii Music isn't your enemy. If you're like me, you'll probably never play it -- but the existence of a game that you don't desperately need to play doesn't represent a deadly threat to your hobby/interests/way of life, either. Shrieking about how it's destroying the industry is shrill alarmism at its worst; Nintendogs and Wii Fit didn't prevent the existence of Gears of War 2, and I'm pretty sure Wii Music isn't going to cause Bungie to cancel its next project.

 

So...what I get from that is a) he doesn't really like it, and b) buy a 360 if you don't like what Nintendo is offering these days.

 

Nah. If you want to gripe about Nintendo, focus instead on how it's taken to compromising its legacy of great action games by simplifying them for a lowest common denominator audience that views those titles with the same disinterest I feel toward Wii Music....

 

And this is what I feel the problem is. Wii Music isn't the problem. The lack of major, awesome titles alongside it is.

 

 

 

 

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I get so freaked out by the update light. At least now I work midnights so it's on when I get home, not waking me up in the middle of the night.

 

What exactly did the update do for WiiShop?

[Thoth 0]

I get so freaked out by the update light. At least now I work midnights so it's on when I get home, not waking me up in the middle of the night.

 

What exactly did the update do for WiiShop?

 

Unless those search categories under WiiWare were there before, it added them. If they were there before, I have no idea, other than a patch to try to defeat Homebrew.

 

Actual changes: Getting ready for DSi, Wii Points now referred to as Nintendo points.

[luke-o 0]

I would love to see a follow up to RE4 Wii Edition, that game is too awesome.

 

They're making a Wii-version of the first Resident Evil game. So it's a remake of a remake (go Capcom).

 

Also, Japan got a Wii-version of Resident Evil 0 and there is a chance we'll see it too.

 

This may not be the strongest line-up of games for the Wii, in fact it's pretty bad. The only saving grace is that there are some good games out next year and from all accounts, Day of Disaster is pretty good.

 

I've just given away my 360 because I've not used it since GoW and haven't had any urges to play any of the new games out for it. With the exception of Dead Space, but given that it's made by EA leaves me with no confidence.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Finally bought a Classic Controller yesterday. Makes my VC playing much easier!

[Guest Smues]

Earthword Jim (Genesis version) on the VC today. After that summer of suck they have completely redeemed themselves with the VC releases the last month or so. Of course, when I went to gamefaqs to find out what today's releases were I saw posts bitching about how awful today's release was because there was no Halloween themed game. I guess there are some people you just can't make happy ever.

[Thoth 0]

I was always jealous of the Genesis version because they had the extra level.

[AndrewTS 0]

Finally bought a Classic Controller yesterday. Makes my VC playing much easier!

 

Now all you have to do is put up with that annoying hanging Wii Mote.

 

Or buy one of those holders to keep the Wiimote locked to the pad. Which lasts about 5 minutes then won't hold because the wiimote is so much heavier.

 

Or use a Wavebird and deal with the crappy d-pad.

 

Or go with a 3rd party pad. =/

 

Of course, when I went to gamefaqs to find out what today's releases were I saw posts bitching about how awful today's release was because there was no Halloween themed game. I guess there are some people you just can't make happy ever.

 

FWIW, this week last year we got Samural Ghost, Magician Lord, and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, so there is precedent for it.

[treble 0]

Finally bought a Classic Controller yesterday. Makes my VC playing much easier!

 

Now all you have to do is put up with that annoying hanging Wii Mote.

Do you play standing up?

[BUTT 0]

It would be annoying to have to keep the remote in your lap while playing. Luckily, with the way my room is set up I can keep the remote in a drawer at my computer table while playing with the Classic Controller. It would be nicer if I wasn't beholden to a wire, but it works.

 

Anyone else prefer playing N64 VC games with the Wavebird? Mario 64 is much easier to use, I find, with the Cube controller.