What's up with the Wii?

Wii is for party games, PC is for everything else.

I don't think anyone is saying the Wii is a bad system. It's just that between the Xbox360, PS3 and the Wii, it's the least good.

I really don't like the game library of the Wii compared to those two other systems. Too much shovelware, not enough quality. It's the first Nintendo console I haven't bought.

What's really interesting is that the PS3 controllers have the same ability to have some motion controlled stuff. I think the Blazing Angels game I have supports that ability (because you can move it like a plane to move the plane on the screen). If there were a couple designers that would support that (like Madden), that would be pretty cool.

Dokapon Kingdom is totally worth it. It will get old at some point, but for a while it is so much fun. The tag line is "the friendship ruining game" and they aren't fucking around. You can be such total dicks to each other.

mikoyan wrote:

What's really interesting is that the PS3 controllers have the same ability to have some motion controlled stuff. I think the Blazing Angels game I have supports that ability (because you can move it like a plane to move the plane on the screen). If there were a couple designers that would support that (like Madden), that would be pretty cool.

The PS3 controllers definitely have some motion control sensors in it (pseudo gyroscopes?), but anecdotally the accuracy is bad when compared even to Wii without MotionPlus (henceforth M+). The sensor bar really makes a difference and the PS3 is using only the controller relative to itself and the home unit. That said, I'm all for it--the whole motion thing really opens up gaming design space, especially when you start breaking even that and end up with things like this: Johnny Lee's Projects .

Maybe PS3 and XBox360 have/should have their own threads. There's plenty of console fanboyism out there, let's not crank another one up here--I'd have them all if I could:

1. Explain it to the wife in any reasonable manner.
2. Reasonably connect them all to my TV without electrocuting myself and/or causing a brownout.

I would be all over that XBox Live Arcade. STREET FIGHTER 2 HD REMIX? Fuck yes. And CAPCOM VS. MARVEL 2 on the way? Fuck fuck yes yes.

How many systems do you have hooked up, Jeb?


I've got the XBox, Wii, PS2, Sega Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64 on one TV, and a SNES hooked up to another TV in another room. More than that, yeah, you're looking like the dad from Christmas Story trying to plug in the Christmas tree.

I'd like to see more games working off of the Wii Fit platform. Wii Fit is getting good sales (I've heard as many Wii Fits sold as PS3s) so there's a lot of them out there to work from.

Sag.

Ken B. wrote:

How many systems do you have hooked up, Jeb?


I've got the XBox, Wii, PS2, Sega Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64 on one TV, and a SNES hooked up to another TV in another room. More than that, yeah, you're looking like the dad from Christmas Story trying to plug in the Christmas tree.

We're a no TV family--we don't even have cable hooked up anymore. My wife believes that video signals will destroy our children's fertile minds, so it's not like I can plop down and play any old time. (Hey, at least I get to play M-rated titles). I've got the DVD-Recorder, the PS2, and Wii all in there, and I fully occupy the shelving unit with games and accessories. I'd need to build an addition to house anything else. My next purchase will likely be a ROKU/Apple TV box of some sort for streaming. Please folks, don't talk to me about how the XBox360 can do this--I know it can--it will also make my wife kill me.

Back on topic--the bang for the buck with the Wii's VC really makes a difference. I've got TECMO BOWL, SUPER MARIO 64, ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME, STREET FIGHTER 2 HYPERFIGHTING (SNES), SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 (import), KID ICARUS, METROID, SUPER MARIO BROS. 3, PUYO PUYO 2 (Sega Genesis import), and MARIO KART 64 on there. Tack on the Wiiware, and I've also purchased and thoroughly kicked the ass of WORLD OF GOO (OCD'd about half the game so far). Anyone played the minigolf WiiWare game? Teeeeeeempted. Oh, and man, I love that I can download the DS demos in my living room. Love it.

I don't understand why Barnes is down on the Wii, especially since POP UP PIRATE has been released on Wii Ware!!!

I can say that, as a lifelong video gamer who plays violent and at times complex games, that the wii just sucks my asshole. For me.

I totally get why other people are into it, they have different demands and lifestyles. But this BS how someone like me, whatever label you're using on me (hardcore, core, ???), could be satisfied with the Wii is horseshit. And a lot people seem to be suggesting it, not necessarily here, but elsewhere. The Wii is a huge missed opportunity. Motion control is a cool idea. I was legitimately very excited about the Wii during the leadup to its release. But an idea that has now been hijacked by endless shitty minigames while good games don't sell as well. The incentives are obvious to game makers.

Just because some game in black and white that says fuck a lot came out for the Wii doesn't mean it in any way competes with the PS3/Xbox for my demographic.

Wiiware is also a huge missed opportunity outside a couple of titles. VC is great if you haven't played all the old gems (most haven't). For me, I still have my NES, SNES, genesis etc. I also have ROMs of all the old games I want. So for me, not a huge sale there, to be honest. But I totally get why it's resonating with everyone else. Again, just not for me.

I'm glad I got a Wii. I was all set to get an Xbox 360 when I changed my mind at the last minute.

I've seen games like "Gears of War" and to me they are nothing but hyped up versions of "Doom", eye candy for gamers, nothing but "push button movies" with a bad script.

The "Graphics Arms Race" has ruined videogaming in my opinion. The really great games from the past had to deal with limited memory and had to make intelligent design choices to make an actual game that was fun and not a game just to show off some Geek designers cut scenes.

the*mad*gamer wrote:

The "Graphics Arms Race" has ruined videogaming in my opinion. The really great games from the past had to deal with limited memory and had to make intelligent design choices to make an actual game that was fun and not a game just to show off some Geek designers cut scenes.

A million thumbs up.

POP UP PIRATE? What?! I missed that. That's awesome, but it's not the same without that eye-destroying pirate flying out.

The "Graphics Arms Race" has ruined videogaming in my opinion.

It's a little cranky old man sounding, but I totally agree. Most AAA video games now are too much about creating a cinematic experience than gameplay. And I have yet to see a single video game that really pulls it off because so far there hasn't been a single video game ever released that had writing as good as any given Z-grade science fiction or fantasy film. I think we could realy point the finger at FF7 for this trend, and it's done nothing but continue on today.

It's one of the reasons why indie games are so successful now- they offer a return to gameplay. The Wii was supposed to do that, but it has only been intermittently successful.

I have something like 50 or 60 VC titles. Some are games I've never played before (missed the N64 generation and a lot of SNES stuff), some are favorites, and some I got purely for nostalgia (SAMURAI SHOWDOWN). The value VC brings to the system is, I think, grossly underestimated. Sure, you can get most of that stuff on emulators but you can play on a proper TV with a real controller on an actual game console. That's a lot more fun to me.

And I have yet to see a single video game that really pulls it off because so far there hasn't been a single video game ever released that had writing as good as any given Z-grade science fiction or fantasy film.

The only game I've ever played that felt like a film was SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS. Pat knows how much I love that game, I used to talk it up a lot on another message board we used to hang out on. It totally feels like an art house film in every way, except with a budget (special effects) that an art house could never manage.

It does it without lengthy cutscenes or hammy dialogue either.

Even the ending is poignant and at the same time ambiguous.

Michael Barnes wrote:

The "Graphics Arms Race" has ruined videogaming in my opinion.

It's a little cranky old man sounding, but I totally agree. Most AAA video games now are too much about creating a cinematic experience than gameplay.

It's not nostalgia. I missed pretty much all the SNES games, but discovered them in my late teens using an emulator. Many games with limited graphics were just great gameplay-wise: "Ogre Battle", "Front Mission", "Der Langrisser", the list goes on and on ... I will have to post a Top SNES games list.

Two video games which very much succeed in creating a cinematic experience are "Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood" and "Max Payne 2"!