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The press average on Meta Critic for the two games you mentioned isn't exactly outstanding:

• Excite Truck: 72%
• Wario Land Shake It: 78%

If these are hopes for the Wii players, the hopes are thin.

2 years in and according to Gamespot only 8 games have made a score over 8.5 - 12 if you count 8.5

About the same on Meta Critic according to their All-Time High Scores:

• games > 85% : 10
• games >= 85% : 13

And for the record:

• games >= 90% : 7

The trend is quite similar on GameStats too (which is to IGN what Meta Critic and Game Ranking are to GameSpot -- no one is independent).

I very much agree with the original poster, there is a serious problem with the Wii, but it's not just with the hardware, it's with Nintendo and it started before the Wii. However, when you could -- rightfully or not -- put the blame for the sometimes mediocre software quality on a variety of reasons graviting around the below-average GameCube sales (unsupportive 3rd party, hasty development time, tiresome reliance on tried and true franchises), you can't do the same with the Wii. The Wii is a hugely successful console with a bunch of uninteresting games and the regular quality titles from Nintendo, Capcom, maybe a few others.

Even if those two usely live up to modern gaming standards, a majority of their games for the Wii lack surprise and excitement. What are exactly those top games on Meta Critic / Game Stats ? It's quite simple, really:

• Mario
• Zelda
• Nintendo characters galore (SSBB)
• PS2 port (Okami)
• Metroid
• GameCube port (RE4)
• Mega Man, Paper Mario, Mario Kart, Mario everything...

GameCube ports, which is becoming a well-loved trend among publishers, has to be one of the most obnoxious, shameful idea to ever hit game consoles; for Gumpei's sake, the console is compatible with GC games! The so-called original games are all these pretty lousy Wii Something titles that appeal an awful lot to the heretical casual gamer. Between that and the remakes, the ports and the franchises ad nauseum, what's left?

trailers and screenshot can't tell you everything about a game, you can see the graphics, hear the music but you'll never know if the gameplay or the story are crappy and if you are concerned about the subjective view of the authors just go to gamestats to find all the review and score of a game.
Anyway what we need now are more videoreviews so you can really understand what they are speaking about

Level 5 makes excellent RPGs

http://psp.ign.com/articles/719/719661p1.html

Square continues the FFVII universe

http://psp.ign.com/objects/711/711340.html

Another great remake of a Square classic

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/788/788783/

What you're asking for is a RPG where the battles are fighting game style. They actually have that already:

Namco X Capcom

Here's some english reviews:
http://www.gamestats.com/objects/726/726493/
http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/namco-x-capco m/
http://ps2.ign.com/objects/726/726493.html

On the same note, Iwata said Nintendo had no desire to make people pay extra out of the box for the Revolution's DVD functionality, since most people already own one or more DVD players. He also reiterated that the DVD player will be built-in and not an external attachment. At E3 2005, the company confirmed that an additionally purchased dongle would activate the built-in DVD functionality.

Despite not having a license Midway isnt just lying down. They are relasing an updated version of Blitz. Without the No Fun Leagues rules they include all sorts of goodies you will never see in madden.

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/719/719321/ [gamestats.com]

Highlights include being able to use steroids, bailing your players out of jail,broken limbs and an Atlanta QB named Mexico

http://media.www.gamestats.com/media/719/719321/im g_2871413.html [gamestats.com]

For those that dont follow the NFL Ron Mexico was listed as the alias for league posterboy Michael Vick, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming he gave her genital herpes. Chcek out the smokinggun. For extra fun try ordering a personallized Falcons jersey on NFL.com with the last name Mexico.

Despite not having a license Midway isnt just lying down. They are relasing an updated version of Blitz. Without the No Fun Leagues rules they include all sorts of goodies you will never see in madden.

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/719/719321/ [gamestats.com]

Highlights include being able to use steroids, bailing your players out of jail,broken limbs and an Atlanta QB named Mexico

http://media.www.gamestats.com/media/719/719321/im g_2871413.html [gamestats.com]

For those that dont follow the NFL Ron Mexico was listed as the alias for league posterboy Michael Vick, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming he gave her genital herpes. Chcek out the smokinggun. For extra fun try ordering a personallized Falcons jersey on NFL.com with the last name Mexico.

Despite not having a license Midway isnt just lying down. They are relasing an updated version of Blitz. Without the No Fun Leagues rules they include all sorts of goodies you will never see in madden.

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/719/719321/

Highlights include being able to use steroids, bailing your players out of jail and an Atlanta QB named Mexico

http://media.www.gamestats.com/media/719/719321/im g_2871413.html

For those that dont follow the NFL Ron Mexico was listed as the alias for league posterboy Michael Vick, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming he gave her genital herpes. Chcek out the smokinggun. For extra fun try ordering a personallized Falcons jersey on NFL.com with the last name Mexico.

Despite not having a license Midway isnt just lying down. They are relasing an updated version of Blitz. Without the No Fun Leagues rules they include all sorts of goodies you will never see in madden.

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/719/719321/

Highlights include being able to use steroids, bailing your players out of jail and an Atlanta QB named Mexico

http://media.www.gamestats.com/media/719/719321/im g_2871413.html

For those that dont follow the NFL Ron Mexico was listed as the alias for league posterboy Michael Vick, in a lawsuit filed by a woman claiming he gave her genital herpes. Chcek out the smokinggun. For extra fun try ordering a personallized Falcons jersey on NFL.com with the last name Mexico.

> But good games sell consoles too.

Exactly.

Guardian Heroes -> Sega Saturn
Soul Calibur -> Dreamcast
Gran Turismo 3 -> PS2 + Logitech Racing Wheel

I'd say that the majority of people would disagree with you http://www.gamestats.com/objects/492/492830/?ui=ga mefinder.

I think you forgot to mention that those games 90% of the time ARE the best games of their time. Of course, this is only opinion. But, if you go to gamestats and check Highest Rated top 10 list, three of them are ZeldaX and MarioX, and two are in the top three. This has to show for something. Oh and also look at Most Wanted top 10.. Is it that hard to believe that Zelda (as of reading it now) is #1?

Why even bother Microsoft? The original was nothing more than a miserable failiure in terms of quality and sales, and in a Platform market containing the Jak and Daxter series and Super Mario Sunshine a poor mans Crash Bandicoot is not going to serve you well. Especially on a console whos main userbase comprises of fans of Driving Games, First Person Shooters, and half decent PC ports.

The market east of the English Channel is/has been long lost, give up, and pray that Halo 2 is good enough to cancel out the Killzone/Snake Eater and Realistic Zelda hype. Gamestats shows them neck and neck, and when all that exists of Zelda is a near month old 1 minute trailer, that's bad news for Microsoft.

Numbers don't always suck though.

There are plenty of sites that average review scores. Others have already pointed out GameTab and Rotten Tomatoes. There is also GameStats, Gaming Chart and Game Rankings

Game Rankings in particular is good because they include a "difference" listing for each site to compare how far their reviews are from the average of each game.

For example, you can see that the average PSX Nation review is 8.5% higher than the average.

I believe This might be a good example of what outsourcing games will get you...

-B

While not exactly a direct answer to your question, IGN posted a list of the 25 most popular unreleased games. Their methodology isn't very clear, but it seems to be based on a variety of things.

In any case, the notable point is that the most popular games are evenely split between 1st and 3rd party, but almost all the games are either exclusive or have some sort of exclusive feature on GameCube.

Up with Powervr and Kyro down with the evil nvidiots !!! They bought 3dfx killed glide and refuse to release win xp drivers for 3dfx.

And for good reason... it's a blast to play. I have the original, as well as the sequel, and have already pre-ordered the "squad based combat" version called Fallout: Tactics. It is a "real time" game but you disable the real time play for the classic Fallout turn-based mayhem.

I highly recommend Fallout if you like the isometric view of Diablo but don't like the real time game play.

Plus, you get the fantastic post-apocalypic environment of The Road Warrior with some good humor (making fun of themselves at times). Definitely worth picking up a used copy on eBay or from a friend.

Some Fallout sites:
Duck And Cover
No Mutants Allowed

• Linux.com (27 Apr)
  
• Adrenaline Vault (25 Apr)
  
• Games weekly (23 Apr)
  
• casManG's (April 10?)
  
• Intelligamer (April 10?)
  
• Computer Game Online (Feb)
  

And a couple of fan sites:

• Station Terminus (Joe Shodan)
  
• Terminus (hosted at A Talent For War)
  

Oh, and it isn't massively multi-player, and that's a *good* thing:
they've gone for allowing people to create their own servers, and for
a gameplay model that seamlessly moves from single player to
multiplayer, whilst retaining lots of depth. Very ambitious, and it
looks really successful. I'm impressed.

From The Specs Page:

Linux
----------
Processor: P2-300
Memory: 64 meg
Graphics card: 3d accelerator with Glide drivers
Sound: Full duplex recommended
Controllers: Mouse required, joystick recommended

So what if I have a Creative Annihilator Pro/GeForce 256? It doesn't have Glide drivers....

========================
63,000 bugs in the code, 63,000 bugs,
ya get 1 whacked with a service pack,

Although I saw one comment mention Terminus, I think it deserves MUCH more than that.

Terminus is a persistent universe RPG, in space. It is a 3D simulation set in our Solar System, two hundred years in the future. It is scheduled for release on 6 June 2000, for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

For more on Terminus, check out Station Terminus.
There's an awesome preview at The Adrenaline Vault.
Here's another at Linux.com.
Lastly is the website of Vicarious Visions, the developer of Terminus.

Terminus was at the E3 (or, at least, was supposed to be) - I don't know why the writer of this article didn't see it / didn't mention it.
It hasn't gotten a whole lot of press, but it's been mentioned in quite a few game mags out there. I, for one, am going to buy this game the day it comes out - both to support games on Linux, and because it looks like a lot of fun.

-lw

(Hedwig? Is that an alien from Star Control 2?)

I've never seen a decent game [...] Bungie. [...] I've never heard of Halo, but Oni looks like another boring first person shooter with the tedium of Mortal Combat thrown in to make you fall asleep faster.

First, Oni is third-person.

Second, Halo (also third person) looks very cool. Grab this movie (bigger version here) and tell me that your jaw doesn't drop.

Third, WC3 owes pretty much everything to Bungie's Myth. You know, that game that was released several years ago that featured full 3D terrain, a total lack of resource management and unit building, etc. Now let's look at the features of WC3 gameplay...hmmmm...