Dear Wii: I’m Leaving
January 15th, 2009
A word to the reader: This is not an attempt to bait anyone. I am not judging Nintendo against Microsoft or Sony since Nintendo is clearly doing their own thing at this point. The opinions contained within are mine, feel free to disagree with them, I merely ask that you do so in a civilized manner.
Today, on a whim, I decided to fire up my Wii. It has been so long I nearly forgot I own the thing. Despite it being an innovative piece of hardware that I enjoy playing, there simply have not been any games that have caught my attention recently. I went so far as to look up the Wii on Gamerankings.com, more than half of the most popular games for the system are at least a year old. I would indeed be interested to play the latest Tenchu installment now that it is back in the hands of its creators. However, Acquire hasn’t exactly been rolling out the hits since Tenchu 2. This lack of must-have software is not exactly surprising to those of us who have owned previous Nintendo systems, but it is nonetheless frustrating.
I game on a limited budget and for the amount I dropped on the Wii so far, I could own five or six games for consoles that have more than five or six games worth playing a year. I don’t mean to get down on Nintendo, they always release some of the best games for their systems, but the Wii is shaping up to be an exception to this. Twilight Princess was a good game, but for all the wait it still can’t beat Ocarina of Time. The main reason I bought the system, Brawl, was a complete disappointment to me. I was expecting some innovation, instead I got a beefed up Melee. For me, the worst of it was Mario Kart. First of all, it looked like someone hacked a Gamecube to display widescreen. Secondly, they took the series backwards, excising innovation from the game. They dialed down the difficulty and added the novelty of the wheel, watering down what has always been an excellent franchise. Nintendo, you break my heart. I feel like a battered spouse here. I keep telling myself, “Nintendo won’t do it again, they didn’t mean to hurt me. It was just an accident, a moment of weakness, I know Nintendo loves me.”
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Nintendo is only paying lip-service to those of us who grew up with the brand. Let’s face it, just because Nintendo still wants our money doesn’t mean they give a damn about us. Let this be a wakeup call to all my fellow abused souls out there. We’ve been gritting our teeth and hoping things will get better, but it is time to make a clean break. The Wii is nothing but an underpowered and over-hyped waste of potential. Now now, don’t get upset with me, search your feelings, you know this to be true.
I am truly sorry, Nintendo, but it’s time we started acting like the adults we are and acknowledge that it’s over. We had some good times, and I’ll always cherish those, but you have a new lover now and she drives a minivan. We can still be friends, there will always be time to revisit the classics. I just… I can’t let your latest consoles into my home anymore, I’m sorry. Don’t look at me like that! Oh Nintendo, at least we’ll always have the DS.
-Matt Frank
Tags: DS, Mario Kart, Nintendo, Ocarina of Time, Smash Bros, Tenchu, Twilight Princess, Wii
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January 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I really do like the Wii, but I think developers have simply spent too much time trying to use the novelty to drive sales. Games that don’t need motion controls are getting it as a gimmick, and it makes them worse. Games are being made specifically to use the motion controls, and it comes off even more gimmicky. Those games are fun for a good 30 minutes, but they lose the charm after the gimmick wears off.
The other problem is the fact that they really are catering to the casual market… and it’s working for them. They are selling a ton of systems and a ton of crappy games to the casual gamers. Sadly, we, the hardcore gamers, are the minority in the market. Nintendo is being smart from a business perspective, they are making a ton of money, but at pains to the true gamers. This blame also falls on the developers who are simply trying to make a quick buck off the Wii with their casual games. I’ve been hoping that the gimmick would wear off and we’d start seeing some games for gamers come out, but they have been few and far between.
Luckily, we’ve still got Monster Hunter coming. This is one that every Wii owner should pick up the day it comes out. I guarantee it will have more depth than not only every other Wii game, but most games on other systems. I still have hope for the Wii. Perhaps people are starting to realize the gimmick and developers will finally move on.
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January 16th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Yeah man, I think holding onto the arm of the Wii has some pretty limited advantages. You can have some pretty interesting conversations in it’s presence, and it invites you to some pretty fun parties, but that’s it. Meanwhile, I’ve been having affairs with some of it’s older siblings that I have no intention of ending. Take that next-generation!
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January 20th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
The sad fact is that we aren’t Nintendo’s target audience anymore. They’re too busy making money hand over fist from aging hippies buying Wiis and AAA titles like Imagine: Babyz. It’s good business sense; hardcore gamers are fickle and hard to please, why cater to them when you have an alternative market? So, best give up and cast your lot in with a console maker that doesn’t.
Although frankly every console this generation seems mismanaged in various ways. Nintendo is at least turning a profit, which unfortunately leaves them the winners.
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January 21st, 2009 at 12:50 am
Yeah, I agree with you on this account. In fact, I just sold my Wii with Brawl and a few controllers for $415. Now to try and decide what to spend this money on so it won’t disappoint the second time around.
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January 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I have to agree completely. I’m not a big fan of the main titles (Brawl, MarioKart, Zelda). My husband wanted it, and I stood steadfastly by my opinion that it seemed like a gimmicky mess until a friend brought it over with WarioWare. Man, I got played there. Warioware was so much fun I gave in to the begging. Now our Wii sits on the shelf, completely ignored. I enjoyed Mario Galaxy and Paper Mario, Wii Fit was a gimmick that got me exercising regularly (until I couldn’t be bothered anymore), but other than that, it sits ignored for months on end. My SSBB fanatic husband can’t even be bothered. He’d rather play Fallout 3 on our PS3. The Wii has just been a lot of hype with no follow-through for our household. We just can’t bring ourselves to care about it, especially when there’s much better games available on our PS3. I’m glued to my DS every day for work (I’m a game translator) but other than that, Nintendo doesn’t have anything to draw me and keep me caring anymore.
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Svenn reply on January 22nd, 2009 5:05 pm:
… you find more use for your PS3 than your Wii? Really? 360 I can see… but I can’t find much of anything on PS3 to keep me interested. Little Big Planet, Disgaea 3, and Valkyria Chronicles is about it.
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January 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Perhaps it is untimely to give up hope! The Wii Remote is both an excellent innovation and a huge distraction for developers. Nintendo still has a much larger console base out there, and that should attract some exclusivity! I think game companies still need to get used to balancing gimmick versus fun.
All hail the DS though, good point. Castlevania: Order roxor my soxor.
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May 26th, 2010 at 11:11 am
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