The 27 Known Wii Launch Titles

Via Joystiq comes a long list of the launch-day titles for the Nintendo Wii, posted at Nwizard. I was aware that they had quite a few coming out around launch, but 27 is pretty impressive. Selections include highly anticipated titles like Red Steel and Twilight Princess, as well as several titles that I personally am looking forward too, such as Metroid Corruption, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

Comments

Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the titles on that list is Trauma Center: Second Opinion. Now, initially I thought this was a joke but appearantly you use the Wii remote to operate on patients.

I guess I never thought of the special remote to be a cutting edge. What next? Prison Break: Shank or Be Shanked?

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[ArmyOfFun]

There's already a Trauma Center game for the DS. Although I guess it's fairly hard to find copies of now. I loved the game until level 2.2, which despite 20 or so tries, I couldn't get past. I haven't played the damned thing since.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[SamSim]

Did you not see the original Revolution teaser nearly a year ago, where the guy is clearly doing dental surgery with his remote? Listen for that sickeningly familiar drilling sound.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[GFLPraxis]

You hadn't heard of it? I interviewed some officials at Atlus at E3. They were only beginning development at the time, but they said you'd use both the pointer and motion sensors- he couldn't give me any official details, but he made an example of, say, making the incision using the pointer (pointing on the screen to cut, 2D, like the DS touch screen), then reaching in with the remote as a different tool in three dimensions.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[oldManSquad]

I did the same at chapter 5.2 where you had to deal with 5 guilt patients in a row all under 10 mins. That just took the piss.

I'll still pick up the Wii version though, as it is an entertaining game and they have defibrillators included this time around!!. I just hope they fix the replayability as the DS had none. Yes, you could replay the DS operations in a time trial mode BUT all the tutor tips where left in! So trying to race against the clock but having to stop to page through information that you learnt the first time around just killed it.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[Gulthek]

It's only familar if you've had a tooth drilled you insensitive clod!

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[timster]

You don't have to deal with all five before the time runs out to complete the mission. I think you have to complete at least two, and not let anyone die.

And it's true that the tutor tips are quite annoying, but the clock stops while they are up.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[Turken]

Really? I also read something like this at Gamefaqs so I tried focusing on keeping the people alive, but I still failed the mission when time ran out while working on patient #5. I eventually had to put the game down for a few days. Fortunately, when I came back and tried it again, I finished all five patients with almost a minute to spare. I think that somethimes the best strategy is to take a break and not obsess over not being able to complete a task. Getting frustrated only makes it harder.

Re:Trauma Center: Second Opinion

[justchris]

According to what I've read, the game will have two doctors to choose from, the second one having a different special ability rather than Healing Touch, so you'll have a reason to play through it at least twice.

Should be interesting

[digitrev]

Though as usual, launch titles mean nothing. It's all about the first price drop.

Re:Should be interesting

[CastrTroy]

The Wii doens't need a price drop, as it will be priced well below the XBox 360 and the PS3.

Re:Should be interesting

[GFLPraxis]

"The Wii doens't need a price drop, as it will be priced well below the XBox 360 and the PS3."

But the games are still priced at the same price as new current-gen games, $50. Launch titles tend to drop in price rapidly. Today even the best Cube launch titles (Metroid Prime!) are $9.99 new, $4.99 used at GameStop.

I'll buy the big titles I want at launch (Zelda, Metroid, maybe Wii Sports so I can force my non-gamer family to play it) and grab everything else when the price dives.

Re:Should be interesting

[Omeger]

Since when was Metroid Prime a launch game?

Re:Should be interesting

[murphball]

Launch titles will determine either the success or failure of the Wii in comparison to the other consoles available...

I think you really underestimate the importance of having good solid games with the release of a console. Without them, what would drive initial sales? Without initial sales, where will the developers go? I'd say other platforms. There's much more to it than simply having a couple of games to release the console with.

And I tend to agree that the price drop is not as important in this case because of its already bargain-basement pricepoint in comparison to the XBOX 360 and Sony's over-priced black box of doom...

Re:Should be interesting

[GFLPraxis]

Oh duh. Should have referenced Rogue Squadron 2, not Metroid Prime. My bad. Regardless, every game that came out in the first year quickly dropped to $5-$10.

Re:Should be interesting

[Turken]

In general, Nintendo titles do NOT quickly drop in price after release. At least not first party titles. This has pretty much been the case with the Gamecube, and will remain to be the case on the Wii. How long did it take for the launch titles you mention to get to the budget price they're at now? It took years, not months! The only thing that tends to make a nintendo title quikly drop in price is when a sequel comes out. Unlike the other consoles, becoming a "players choice" title does not grant an immediate $20 price tag either. It just means that they'll keep making more copies of the game, with small price decreases every now and then.

Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata has said before that he feels the game market is much healthier if games are given an appropriate initial priced based on various development criteria and costs, and then not discounted at all for several years.

While the downside to this philosophy is that you do fork over a lot of money for the AAA titles, the benefit is that you also don't have to risk much on low-budget gems. We've also seen this philosophy being played out in the DS market. There, the AAA titles generally run $30-35, while "cheaply produced" titles such as Brain Age and Big Brain Academy hit the shelves at only $20.

Re:Should be interesting

[John Nowak]

Rogue Squadron 2 dropped to $5 because it is a complete piece of crap. Any game that bad would've done the same within a year or two.

Re:Should be interesting

[KDR_11k]

Perhaps where YOU live but I've never seen a Gamecube game for 5€. They never drop in price for at least a year after release and after that they cost maybe 30€ if you're lucky, often more and only very few games get price drops at all.

Re:Should be interesting

[Roguey]

First time I've ever seen anyone claim Rogue Leader was crap. It got pretty good scores across the board IIRC. And sold pretty well to boot.

Rebel Strike was the bad one.

Re:Should be interesting

[John Nowak]

You played it? Heh.

Re:Should be interesting

[Roguey]

Yes?

Sure it's no X-Wing but it's still an enjoyable game. I'm not sure where the hate for it is coming from. It was graphically one of the best games out at its time, and did a great job of recreating the space battles from the movies.

Plus they put it together in like nine months, which is pretty impressive.

Mario not far behind, but...

[amrust]

Is this the first Nintendo console to release with no Mario game ready at launch date?

Re:Mario not far behind, but...

[HarvardFrankenstein]

Nope. Technically, the Gamecube didn't, either, unless you count Luigi's Mansion, which most people probably don't.

Re:Mario not far behind, but...

[generic-man]

Nope. The GameCube didn't have a Mario game ready until the following year.

It had a Luigi game, but who plays Luigi games?

Re:Mario not far behind, but...

[gforce811]

I'm not sure about that, but I do know it is the first Nintendo console with a Zelda title at launch.

Re:Mario not far behind, but...

[BTWR]

Mono = One
Rail = Rail

Re:Mario not far behind, but...

[BumBiscuit]

Is this the first Nintendo console to release with no Mario game ready at launch date?

No, there have been at least three, and probably more depending on how liberally you define what constitutes a launch title and/or a Mario game.

The Nintendo Entertainment System didn't launch with a Mario game either, though many people remember Super Mario Bros as a pack-in title. The original NES came bundled with Duck Hunt and Gyromite (and therefore, with the Zapper light gun and R.O.B. robot.) Super Mario Bros didn't come out until several months later, and didn't become the official pack-in title until several months after that.

After that, we've got:

• Super NES: Super Mario World
• Virtual Boy: nada, unless you want to count Mario's Tennis (and if you're going to do that, you might as well call Tennis a Mario launch title for NES, since the titular plumber acted as chair umpire in that game)
• Game Boy Mono: Super Mario Land
• Nintendo 64: Super Mario 64
• Game Boy Color: nada, although Super Mario Bros DX came out not long after
• Game Boy Advance: Super Mario Advance (if you want to count a decades-old port as a separate title)
• GameCube: Luigi's Mansion (sort of)
• Game Boy DS: Super Mario 64 DS (again with the porting)

Did I miss anything?

-- Bum

Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

This may sound odd, but I am a rookie part time volunteer EMT and I will probably end up playing Trauma Center: Second Opinion while sitting around waiting for a call at the firehouse.

Although release games do not mean much in the long run, this list is not the tradition batch of driving, shooting, and shooting while driving games that other consoles seem to love.

Re:Trauma Center!

[kinglink]

I can just imagine the lawsuit.

"Your honor, when Miss Sanders woke up all she saw was Mr. Andrewman standing over her muttering "this isn't the game.. This isn't the game" and was thrown back into shock cracking her head open on the concrete"

Re:Trauma Center!

[MrSquirrel]

Hey, why can't Trauma Center: Second Opinion be a driving/shooting game? Wheeling a gurney down the hall at incredible speeds! Shooting patients up with morphine! I can't imagine how fun it's going to be to wield the Wii-mote like a scalpel and just "go at it" on a patient who complains to much. Mad they called me... they're the mad ones! I'll show them, I'll show them good!

Re:Trauma Center!

[Vokkyt]

Hell, I'm getting Trauma Center soley for the fact that we get to dice people up a little. I have a roommate who would love to dive into a game like that, with simulated scalpel action and everything. If we could wire up a little machine to shoot blood at him, he'd never stop playing.

Re:Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

Hey, it's better than playing GTA!

"Now Miss Sanders, could you please tell the court what happened."
"Well, the ambulance crashed into my car and started on fire. As I turned to run away the driver lept from the vehicle with a baseball bat and struck me until the money from my purse began glowing green and levitating near me. He then stood over me, shouted 'Live damnit!' and I was fine."

Re:Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

From experiences with some nurses and phlebotomists, the "Shooting patients up with morphine!" part of the game probably looks something like this:

public void shooting()
{
System.out.println("You missed the vein. Please try again");
patient.life()--;
if(patient.life() > 0){shooting();}
else {patient.kill(bloodloss);}
}

Re:Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

I would love it if they made a Palm version of the game. Then doctors could spend their breaks getting virtual revenge on those really annoying patients.

Re:Trauma Center!

[Babbster]

Doctors can't buy a Nintendo DS?

Re:Trauma Center!

[voice_of_all_reason]

Eww, you want to do the same thing off hours that you do at work? It would either make the hobby boring or work torture :(

That's like if I was a garbagement and spent my weekends driving around picking up empty soda cans.

Re:Trauma Center!

[kinglink]

You forgot the part where you forced the woman into your car to have sex with her (rape according to some) before actually killing her. That's Jack Thompson's favorite part.

Re:Trauma Center!

[Danse]

Doctors can't buy a Nintendo DS?

With a Palm, they can look busy and professional though.

Re:Trauma Center!

[twistedsymphony]

If you pick a career doing something you love then it's not that big a deal. I know many programers who go home and program little pet projects after hours. I'm a mechanical engineer and "engineer" and build quite a few things in my spare time unrelated to work.

Re:Trauma Center!

[Turken]

If that's your only reason for getting Trauma Center, then you'll be pretty disappointed. The way the game plays, deviating from the proper surgical procedure will quickly result in a failed mission and you'll have to restart. There is no "free play" mode where you can just slice and dice in an exploratory surgery doing whatever you want.

Re:Trauma Center!

[sammy baby]

You forgot the part where you forced the woman into your car to have sex with her (rape according to some) before actually killing her. That's Jack Thompson's favorite part.

Um - I understand the joke, but forcing someone into a car in order to have sex with them is rape according to most people, not some. Right?

Re:Trauma Center!

[kinglink]

Yes. However what I was reference is that while some people will say that when the player gets a hooker to have sex with him in the car (I always assume blow job) it's sex, however a group in Las Vegas that is basically run for the protection of prostitutes has said that the act is rape, even though there's no force and she doesn't seem upset when she gets out.

Re:Trauma Center!

[Tweekster]

Exactly, as long as you make sure your hobby side is just that a hobby and not more work...

Re:Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

I guess there are similarities between garbage men and EMTs, though Dilbert's garbage man is smarter than most EMTs. Anyway, I am a rookie volunteer part timer. I was talking about playing the game while on the job. Unless you are in some large cities (Philadelphia quickly comes to mind) most of an EMT's shift is spent just waiting for a call. It is a great way for college students to get some studying done. No distractions for hours on end and you can't leave to go to a party.

Also, I do not get to do the fun things that are in the game. A basic level ambulance only carries scalpels for cutting the cord in childbirth and I'm not (yet) allowed to start IVs. At least let me pretend that I'm a busy doctor while being lazy/on call!

Re:Trauma Center!

[KDR_11k]

Uh-oh, you're decreasing a returned value there, I don't think that's going to work.

Re:Trauma Center!

[andrewman327]

Obviously you don't know many people who do IVs. I was trying to make a joke about missing the vein until the patient dies. I guess /. is the wrong forum for morbid healthcare jokes.

Re:Trauma Center!

[KDR_11k]

Yes, I got that. But it should be patient.health, not patient.health(). Optimally you'd have a getter and setter function, especially in a multidoctored environment but that'd be overkill for a simple POC.

Dear Lord...

[Sorthum]

I've been coding too long. I misread that as "The Crystal Beavers."

Re:Dear Lord...

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

now that's a game I'd like to play with the wiimote!

Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[kinglink]

The article is right, if this doesn't get you excited nothing will.

It also takes the 360 launch and the PS3 launch and makes them both decently laughable.

But I don't know if it'll be a great launch, time will tell. Though with Metroid Prime, and Zelda it's going to be great for nintendo fans, a Hawk game, and Madden (perhaps working with the new controller and not the VC controlleR) that's going to be exciting.

Excite Trucks and Dragon quest Swords is interesting.

The only flaw is that there's a LOT of racing games. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing but it will be interesting in the least if the controller is good for that I'm hopeful for a good GT style sim. I'm also hopeful for interesting online multiplayer in Crystal Chronicles.

The only thing I wonder about is COD3, NFS carbon, and Madden are all made by huge companies, Madden should be ready in time, but the other two... I am not sure if they'll make their dates.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[MindStalker]

The only flaw is that there's a LOT of racing games. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing but it will be interesting in the least if the controller is good for that I'm hopeful for a good GT style sim.

Well they've already shown how the wiimote can be held sideways and used to steer, and with the rumble and sound capabilities it sure as heck beats out using most console controls as far as racing goes. Of course a real wheel is always better, it'll be interesting to see if anyone makes a wheel that this plugs into the center of. Just need some sorta force feedback. Oh well.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[kinglink]

It depends on how it feels when it is rotated and how it works. If it's actually rotating or moving right or left, that won't be great but if someone gets the feel for moving the entire motion of a clock, great. The only down side? not having a second remote to use two handed steering on (though if they toss a stick shift as a second controller in I might mess my pants)

But yes a wheel with the wiimote that plugs into the center would be "hot" in a way most of us can't imagine :)

What I'm VERY hopeful about is more companies just using two controllers rather then the nunchuck. Imagine sword fighting where you control both the sword and the shield and feel like you're holding both? That would be beyond amazing.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[MindStalker]

Exactly, I really hope we see a lot of inexpensive expansion for the wiimote. Hopfully nintendo doesn't get greedy and require expensive license deals.. Oh well time till only tell.
Greatest expansion idea I've seen yet, powerglove 2.0, all you need is a glove with a slot ontop to fit the wiimote, I could make one at home.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[twistedsymphony]

you wouldn't need two controllers IIRC the nunchuck attachment has motion sensing capabilites as well.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[kinglink]

*drools* please be true.

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[twistedsymphony]

I just checked.. and yes the nunchuck does contain the same 3-axis motion and accel sensors as the wiimote: http://wii.nintendo.com/controller.html

Re:Impressive. though a slight flaw.

[kinglink]

Looks good is a far way from looks 600 dollars worth. Not even the 360 launch made me want to drop 400 dollars on it.

The Wii is launching with around 299 price tag (maybe 250) and these games can make many old school fans interested (Zelda, people! ZELDA!... Sorry I lost it for a second). It's still not a flawless launch but with the exception of the PS2 launch (mostly for the interesting games like SSX) it might be one of the best, however time of course will tell.

I think I just wet myself

[Vokkyt]

This is a very promising start, IMO, for the Wii. Good variety of games and enough "full" games that they don't come off as gimmicky. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, Far Cry, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (for some reason, I read Crystal Beers), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Metal Slug Anthology, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Trauma Center: Second Opinion.

All of these resonate as being good, solid starters on the Wii and giving us a reason to buy launch titles. The promise of more games to come seems just vunderbar.

I am curious as to what online features these games are going to introduce on launch, and if we are going to be waiting for the online features like we did for the DS.

Re:I think I just wet myself

[meringuoid]

DBZ and Marvel games? Don't those always suck?

DBZ games are bloody awful, unless you're a fan of the series, in which case sometimes they're great.

I recall discovering the Yamucha vs Vegeta hidden fight in Budokai 3 a while back. It was the last time I played it, Budokai Tenkaichi came out a week later.

The fighting mechanism in Budokai 3 is fairly clumsy, and most moves are essentially different graphics on the same few button combinations. As a fighting game, it sucks. But as a Dragonball Z simulation it's perfect.

The scenario was a grudge match, presumably over Buruma: Yamucha had challenged Vegeta at the Tenkaichi Budokai. Everyone thought it was suicide. In he goes anyway. Now, it seems the AI is programmed, to some extent, to roleplay. Vegeta seemed almost to be holding back. I pummelled him damn hard, but of course Yamucha against the Saiyajin prince doesn't do much damage. Still, he was getting worn down very, very slowly, and not really landing anything on me... YES! I'm WINNING! HA! Not so hard after all, eh, Vegeta?

Ah, but he isn't using his full power yet!

* whack! * Vegeta connects with a powerful blow, and gets the ki together and the breathing space to become a Super Saiyajin. Oh shit. Next move, up in the air: BIGGGGGU BAAAAANNNNNGGGGU ATTTTTAAAAAAAKKKKKKKU! Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow. Pain.

Down comes Vegeta to finish me off. Edge of the arena. Doomed. Wait... hang on... left over from when I fought Dr Gero, don't I still have?... AH! Last chance. Dodge, back off, Senzu bean! Full health!

Cue another minute or two of desperate melee brawling, and somehow I manage to finally kick Vegeta out of the arena.

Magnificent. True Dragonball Z. Long, pointless, drawn out to incredible length. Halfway through it turns out one combatant wasn't using full power and he goes Super Saiyan. Flashy spectacular special move. Further brawling. Other combatant pulls Senzu bean out of ass and is restored to full health. Even more brawling. Eventual victory for our hero.

But if you don't like DBZ for itself, you'll undoubtedly hate the games.

As for Budokai Tenkaichi 2: I'm kind of hoping they'll use the Wiimote creatively. Trunks' sword is obvious, but I'm really hoping they implement some of the special moves as gestures. I want to stand in front of the TV, Wiimote in hand, and perform the hand movements for a Makankosappo.

Oh, and the possibilities for multiplayer are incredible. Fusion Dance, anyone?

I keep meaning to buy Supersonic Warriors 2 for the DS. I wonder if it uses the microphone? Perhaps you do double damage if you shout 'Ka... me... ha... me... HAAAA!' along with the game?

Re:I think I just wet myself

[friedmud]

"Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (for some reason, I read Crystal Beers)"

Hmmm... I read that as _Crystal Beavers_... I'll let others tell us what this means... ;-)

Friedmud

Ubisoft

[Spookticus]

hmmm....ubisoft seems to really be into this with all the titles they are releasing at start

Re:Ubisoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this surprise you?

What some industry insiders must have figured out is that it simply makes sense to support the Wii; and I don't mean this in a "Nintendo Rules!" fanboy sort of way.

The reality of Next-Generation game development is clear, if you make a moderately graphically impressive XBox 360 or PS3 game you will be spending (at least) twice as much as your most expensive XBox or PS2 game; at the same time you will not suddenly start to sell twice as many copies of your game for switching to the new platform. Even if you charge more for your games you will not (necessarily) increase your revinues because people will be far more reluctant to purchase a $70 game as compared to a $50 game. What this means is your costs will increase, your revinues will remain about the same, so your margins will get tighter; or you may even start losing money.

Now consider the Wii, the system is designed to be much more powerful than previous generation systems while still maintaining the general (technical) graphical style of the previous generation; essentially, it's goal is to eliminate the problems with the previous generation rather than to start a new generation. The result of Nintendo's design is that the cost of development has not increased at nearly the scale of either the XBox 360 or PS3. The Wii may also (through its unique input device) bring in new gamers which (potentially) could increase sales. If the Wii delivers on it's potential, development costs stay the same while revinues increase meaning your margins are fatter and you become more profitable.

The buisness case for supporting the Wii is sound.

I (personally) suspect why certain developers are not supporting the Wii more heavily now is that the company makes it's decisions from a marketing standpoint. Marketing people are more likely to say "our game is mature so it should be on the most mature system", buisness analysts will choose the system with the largest userbase or best margins, and designers will choose the system with the greatest technical advantage or the system with the unique features that enable them to create their vision.

Re:Ubisoft

[Spookticus]

Its not that I dont like ubisoft or am trying to put them down in anyway. It is just the one thing that caught my eye when looking at the list

Are those REALLY confirmed?

[JFMulder]

I mean, I've heard people speculating for months about the launch line-up for the Wii. If those are indeed confirmed launch titles, then I must have been following Wii related news at the wrong places because I have never seen such a list anywhere. Tentative launch line-up, sure, but definitive??

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[buswolley]

google wii

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[JFMulder]

Sorry, but if there is no press release, then it doesn't exist. Everybody says it's confirmed, but nobody points to a press release or any article that would confirm this.

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[scarpa]

There's no single list of all the titles. Ubisoft confirmed their titles a couple weeks ago in a press release. EA did during their big press event, Nintendo has been confirming titles here and there.. etc.

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[antifoidulus]

google wii

Only on slashdot is that a) a sentence and b) a sentence that won't get you labeled as a pervert. Though Google's lawyers might take you out back and rough you up a bit...

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[GFLPraxis]

http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article.php?article ID=419
Ubisoft announced 7 launch titles just this last week.

http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article.php?article ID=418
Midway also announced 6 titles.

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[JFMulder]

Launch window and launch day are very different things. Microsoft had 16 launch day titles. Ubisoft and Midway are providing 13 launch WINDOW titles. So this means that the games can ship anywhere from day 1 to 3 months later, give or take. That's hardly a launch line-up.

Re:Are those REALLY confirmed?

[twistedsymphony]

There were 18 Xbox 360 launch day titles, if you were to include Xbox Live Arcade games there were 32 games total, and a handfull released over the next month. But MS was expecting as many as 45 games launch day and as many as 60 in the launch "window" (whatever that really means). Of course this didn't happen, developers had setbacks, testing wasn't as smooth as anticipated, games failed certification, etc. etc. etc.

I think it's great that Nintendo is planning on having 27 titles (if they do, it will be the best Nintendo launch in their history) though I'll believe it when I see it... for most consoles, I expect to see about 70% from what they origionally "plan" on delivering, to what actually gets delivered.

Re:Cool!

[chrismcdirty]

1. The penis joke is very old. Get over it.
2. ^H is the backspace character. What you've just printed is equivalent to 'They got 27 W Wii titles...' Good luck next time.

Launch Window, Not Day

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't these launch window titles (first 3 months)? The only launch-day games confirmed by Nintendo are LoZ:TP and Wii Sports. Hopefully about 15 will make launch-day, with another 20 or so coming in the following three months.

Date?

[ILikeRed]

Amazon is showing October 2nd release date for a Wii game, Walmart is showing the same for Avatar: The Last Airbender Wii, Best Buy shows November 3rd for a few games... has Nintendo given a solid date yet?

Re:Date?

[Wind_Walker]

There's no set launch date for the Wii yet. Long-standing rumors on the 'net are pointing towards October 2, but I seriously doubt that. Nintendo has publically stated it will not be out in September. They have also stated that it will be out before the PS3 (November 17th I think) so there's your date range.

August 23rd Nintendo will present "Wii fulfil our promises" where it's expected that they will announce a launch date and price.

Re:Date?

[7Prime]

Wanna totally screw over Square?

Go for a Halloween release ;)

Seriously, FFXII is probably a bigger release to worry about than the PS3 launch.

Re:Date?

[2008]

There are two Square launch games on that list. I don't think Nintendo has any interest in messing with Square. And I don't think Square would put out Dragon Quest out at the same time as Final Fantasy.

Of course, it's a lot more likely that the Dragon Quest game is a launch game in Japan but not elsewhere - they've had FF12 for ages, and localisation takes time.
In fact, the article doesn't say anything about which territories the games launch in, so before you get excited remember that we can probably expect a slightly cut down list - although most of the games seem to be Western.

Re:Date?

[Gleng]

October 2nd release date

Hmm, that's a couple of days before my birthday. I'll have just been paid too. And I'm taking the first two weeks of October as holidays from work.

It looks like my prophecy of spending my holidays/birthday sitting around in my underpants playing video games and eating Twiglets may be fulfilled.

How many exclusives?

[LoverOfJoy]

I'd like to know how many are exclusives? I know I recognize a few that will likely be released on the other consoles but even some of those could potentially be more fun on the wii. Madden NFL? It could either be the lame version that no one opts for or it could be the most fun version. I have doubts that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will be best on the wii but Tony Hawk has potential in my opinion. I think it could be jarring at first to play a game franchise that you're used to playing with an ordinary controller but some games in particular could be more fun once you got used to it.

Re:How many exclusives?

[AndyG314]

As far as I have looked into it, these are the exclusives: * Avatar: The Last Airbender * Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors * Elebits * Excite Truck * GT Pro Series * Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess * Metroid Prime 3: Corruption * Monster 4x4 World Circuit * Red Steel * SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab * Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz * Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam * Trauma Center: Second Opinion * Wii Sports Not a bad list...

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Tweekster]

It has enough horsepower. The gamecube for how "underpowered" the xbox fanboys claimed it was has great graphics.

then again, they must be doing something right with that lack of horsepower you claim, because a number of games looked far better than the xbox/ps2 counterpart.

Looks pretty good

[thatguywhoiam]

... although I am not as schooled on the big N franchises as others...

However I take exception to the PS3 comparison. That launch looks pretty damn good as well. (There are 30 titles confirmed.)

What sticks out for me (personally) in the Wii launch: Far Cry, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball, Metroid Prime 3. Thats a great list, and makes the Wii probably worth buying day one.

But... the PS3 list is also quite good: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy PS3, Possession, Killzone PS3, Tekken PS3, Warhawk, Gran Turismo Vision. Those are all launch titles as well.

This is good news across the board. From what we know currently, both of these launches look to wipe the floor with the Xbox360 launch. (Which is really too bad. I say, the more the merrier.)

Re:Looks pretty good

[Wind_Walker]

Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy PS3, Possession, Killzone PS3, Tekken PS3, Warhawk, Gran Turismo Vision. Those are all launch titles as well.

Emphasis mine.

MGS4: TBA 2007
FF 13: Unknown Hell, FF 12 for PS2 is only coming out on Halloween this year.
Possession: 2007
Killzone: TBA 2007
Tekken: TBA, not playable at E3 so I'm betting early 2007 at the earliest.
Warhawk: You finally get one right.
GTV: Q2 2007

But hey, at least it only costs $600 for a Blu-Ray player, because you're certainly not going to be playing any games on it in the near future.

Re:Looks pretty good

[thatguywhoiam]

Sorry - I got my info about PS3 launch titles from here. Perhaps that source is wrong.

But hey, at least it only costs $600 for a Blu-Ray player, because you're certainly not going to be playing any games on it in the near future.

Perhaps. If its all the same to you, I'll take the opinion of someone tagged 'WindWalker' with a pinch of salt. We know you've made up your mind. :)

Re:Looks pretty good

[jizziknight]

I think you might be confused, unless I mistake your meaning. The game is Wind Waker, not Wind Walker. Considering the total difference of literal and figurative meanings of the words, it's not all that likely that there's a correlation between the two. I would assume that WindWalker would be in reference to some sort of flight (or whatever) not in reference to the game. Perhaps WindWalker him-/herself can clear this one up?

Re:Looks pretty good

[jthill]

the launch line-up is as lackluster as the PS2's was

And that ought to end every argument about the long-term importance of launch lists.

Alla same, gimmegimmegimme.

Re:Looks pretty good

[galdosdi]

Well, except that there was a recent story indicating that the PS3 won't be able to play commercial Blu-Ray movies after all. But no, I'm sure that $600 block will be quite useful. I have this door that keeps sliding and I can't seem to find anything that will hold it in place.

Re:Looks pretty good

[Burpmaster]

I think the 5 digit user id speaks for itself.

Re:Looks pretty good

[Guppy06]

"And that ought to end every argument about the long-term importance of launch lists."

The launch price of the PS2 was 1/2 of the PS3's. For those prices, people can (and did, especially in Japan) pick it up for its DVD "features" while waiting for games, but even if the PS3 actually sells as a BluRay player, the BluRay library just isn't what the DVD library is, even at PS2 launch.

For the utterly lazy

[Kesch]

* Avatar: The Last Airbender
        * Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
        * Blitz: The League
        * Call of Duty 3
        * Cars
        * Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
        * Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
        * Elebits
        * Excite Truck
        * Far Cry
        * GT Pro Series
        * Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
        * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
        * Madden NFL 07
        * Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
        * Metal Slug Anthology
        * Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
        * Monster 4x4 World Circuit
        * Need for Speed: Carbon
        * Open Season
        * Rayman Raving Rabbids
        * Red Steel
        * SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
        * Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
        * Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
        * Trauma Center: Second Opinion
        * Wii Sports

Mmm, CoD 3, Red Steel, Zelda, Metroid Prime 3, Metal Slug. No, that's not a Wiimote in my pocket, I'm just really excited to see this lineup.

Re:For the utterly lazy

[PMuse]

Madden NFL 07
Wii Sports

A little thin for the audience that likes sports games, no? Madden will be solid, though.

Re:For the utterly lazy

[7Prime]

Actually, it's Wii Sports thats getting all the attention, since you actually play the games like they're sports... unlike the "sports manager" games that tend to dominate sports these days.

Seriously, Nintendo has never had the sports crowd in their pocket, they know that attempting to go after the jock/frat crowd too much is likely to have a negative impact on the rest of their fan base (mostly people who hate that culture), so I think that's entirely reasonable.

Re:For the utterly lazy

[PMuse]

...they know that attempting to go after the jock/frat crowd too much is likely to have a negative impact on the rest of their fan base (mostly people who hate that culture)

Really? Has Nintendo's player base really been all that different that PS or XBox's? N64 had NFL, MLB, NHL, FIFA, WLS, and boxing titles for many years.

To be sure, there is a video game crowd that is not jocks. However, there is also a video game crowd that loves sports. The notion that to please one of them, the company would have to abandon the other seems to be a false dichotomy. Obviously, a game platform can accommodate both crowds with different titles. Why deny yourself either market segment when you could sell to both?

Re:For the utterly lazy

[kmhebert]

You're way off here. First, Nintendo has had some fantastic sports games in the past (Tecmo Bowl, RBI Baseball, Bases Loaded, Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf, NES Open, Super Spike V'Ball, etc) and there is no reason it won't have great games now. Fear of alienating their fan base? Where do you get evidence that THAT will happen? I say the more games of all types the better for everyone. Especially me.

Re:For the utterly lazy

[LoverOfJoy]

To be honest, I'm kinda glad that a lot of the sports games aren't the first out of the box. Sports games are pretty much all sequels even if it's another company making it. When it's more of the same the best thing they can add is just perfect game controls. With how different the wii controller is compared to past controllers, game developers need lots of time and testing for it to play really well. Who wants a clunky sports game that isn't going to be as good as earlier ones? Let developers practice on earlier games and once they've really got it down come out with an awesome sports game. Same is true with fighting games. Those really fast paced games where a slightly different move makes all the difference is better off waiting for the second (or third) round of games.

Re:Cool!

[Sailor_Kashyyk]

Wow, you have good points in your reply to my post. I admit that the post I made wasn't funny at all. I'll try to think more before I actually post one. Thanks for your reply.

Avatar, Excite Truck, and Spongebob are fine

[WillAffleckUW]

but I'm looking forward to Mario and Spore the most!

I'm an Avatar and I'm ok
I work in Space and I play all day
I wear Square Pants and dress up nice
My Spore's on straight but my Truck's Excite!

Re:Avatar, Excite Truck, and Spongebob are fine

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

I am so pissed that Spore got pushed back to the second half of 2007.

Better a far-off release than an incomplete game, I guess. *sigh*

Re:Avatar, Excite Truck, and Spongebob are fine

[WillAffleckUW]

I am so pissed that Spore got pushed back to the second half of 2007.


I thought it was a March 2007 target release for the PC version, and a Summer 2007 target release for the Wii version?

Re:Avatar, Excite Truck, and Spongebob are fine

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

The Wii version hasn't even been confirmed yet. At the moment it is only being made for the PC.

Take a look at this interview with Will Wright from a few days ago.

Re:Avatar, Excite Truck, and Spongebob are fine

[WillAffleckUW]

There was confirmation online in the Sims 2 chat rooms from them that they are working on Spore releases for Wii and another article (that was linked there) with a provisional release date.

It's not just a rumor.

Sorry I don't have links, but I do stuff like that at home not here.

Whats really important...

[222]

is the number of non-nintendo launch titles. It seems Nintendo has finally embraced 3rd party developers, and the developers seem quite excited to work on such a unique platform.

I know I'll be standing in line on the launch date ;)

Wow...

[superdan2k]

I think I've got mild dyslexia. I thought that said "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Beavers." That's going to get an AO rating for sure!

Re:Wow...

[mh101]

Want some crystal beavers? here you go.

From 0 to Slashdotted in 8 comments...

[RyoShin]

Wow, that server went down hard.

Here, you can see the list of titles at Wikipedia.

While we can be sure who will win the console wars for at least a year, it looks like Nintendo may win the Launch Wars. Not only having a massive number of titles available, but having a lot of "Most wanted" Titles (Madden, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3) will really boost sales. I doubt we'll see a shortchange in console availability (I'm looking at you, Microsoft), but it may sell out in any case.

Now all we need is to wait for the end of this month when all will finally be revealed.

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[Rallion]

You start out by complaining that the games are all continuations of franchises, and then say what would be better is something like...a Mario game. Okay. Sure.

Just because it's part of an old series doesn't mean it has the same gameplay mechanics.

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[scarpa]

Rayman Raving Rabbids looks to be one of the more innovative titles coming out for the Wii. From the interviews and other promotional material I've seen there will be many "mini-game" type uses for the controller depending on the situation as well as a coherent control scheme using the new controller. Also, Mario Galaxy is looking great although it won't be available at launch.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[poot_rootbeer]

Seriously - this is a hugely underpowered console compared with the PS3 and XBox 360.

But it has more power than any other console in history apart from those two. I think it'll do just fine. Sure, there will be some game experiences available on the PS360 that just won't be possible on the Wii due to its comparatively lesser computing muscle, but because of the controller possibilities the inverse is also true.

Monkey Ball!!!

[hal2814]

Please tell me I can control the monkey ball with the wiimote. That would be so sweet. I wouldn't even have to change my playing habits as I already unintentionally lean while rolling him around. Now I'd actually be accomplishing something.

Re:Monkey Ball!!!

[Wind_Walker]

Here's a good article about the E3 demo with good descriptions of the controls for SMB Wii. The entire time I was reading it I had a girlish grin on my face, thinking "Man, I can't wait for this".

Re:Monkey Ball!!!

[justchris]

Please tell me you were 'filled to the brim with girlish glee'. It will bring my life meaning.

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[StocDred]

Sounds like a solid start, but I am not really impressive

Agreed!

Tony Hawk is online

[GFLPraxis]

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is the only confirmed launch title that will feature online play. A page on Nintendo's website actually specificly talked about the online functions, but was taken down shortly after (it wasn't done- there was still placeholder text on the page).

However, Square Enix officials talked about Crystal Chronicles being online way back when we were still calling it the Revolution. They haven't mentioned it since, so they may have dropped it, but it was *supposed* to be online.

I'd guess Madden, Need For Speed Carbon, and Call of Duty 3 would be online too, as those games are online on other platforms. That's just a guess though, don't quote me on that.

However, there is very little first-party online support from Nintendo. We've got an article on that over at NintendoPlayers...
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/feature.php?feature ID=18
(written before Tony Hawk was confirmed to be online, but still just as relevant about first party games)

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[MindStalker]

However, there is very little first-party online support from Nintendo.

Hu? In the past maybe, I'm pretty sure Nintendo has been pushing online heavily with its newest DS games and has talked extensivly about Wii Online.

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[GFLPraxis]

"Hu? In the past maybe, I'm pretty sure Nintendo has been pushing online heavily with its newest DS games and has talked extensivly about Wii Online."

Except they haven't announced ONE online first-party launch title. They've talked about online support, but they've only announced ONE online game (Smash Bros Brawl), and that's scheduled for 2007 and according to the developer's blog they haven't even started working on the online features yet. Did you read the article I linked to? ...oh right, forgot where I was for a second.

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[MindStalker]

Sorry your right, I read it after I posted. But honestly, if Call of Duty isn't online I'll be embarassed, as for the others they really arn't the types of games that fit well with online multiplayer. Do expect to see a lot of online games being produced by the third parties though.

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[twistedsymphony]

If the new Xbox Live has shown us anything it's that ANY game can benifit from online features even if it's nothing more then stats or activity tracking. Of course leaderboards can be used by more then just online games. Many of the classic games like Frogger and Pacman use the Leaderboards for that little extra value.

Even being able to see what offline achievements someone has earned it well worth it IMO.

Being "online" is more then just multiplayer.

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[MindStalker]

And there really is no reason to think Nintendo isn't going to include these features. Remember they havn't even announced all featues. Its still to early to speculate. Or maybe I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping they don't f this up, because I really want my Wii to be perfect. /Accidental Wii joke there. Sorry.

Re:Tony Hawk is online

[kirun]

Never mind that, when can I get Tony Hawks' Moldovan Tennis?

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[grumbel]

Just because it's part of an old series doesn't mean it has the same gameplay mechanics.

Very true, however all those Wii games seem to actualy feature almost the exact same gameplay mechanics like their predecesor. With Mario64 it was a gigantic jump, a jump from 2D to 3D, completly new game mechanics, new controls, everything complete new, only the setting was familiar, same with the jump from Zelda3 to OoT, or Super Metroid to Metroid Prime. The Wii-Zelda on the other side looks just like OoT with more polished graphics and I couldn't really spot anything fundamentally new in Mario Galaxy either and with the new MetroidPrime its hard to tell that you are not playing one of the predecessors without looking closely. Sure, the controls are adapted for the new controller, but thats relally not all that exciting, even with the Wiimote.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Rallion]

Seriously - this is a hugely underpowered console compared with the PS3 and XBox 360. I hope Ninntendo are right in their apparent assumption that these days consoles have enough power, and the typical consumer doesn't care about running at ultra high resolutions.

I really think they're right in that assumption, and I'll even take it farther: The average consumer isn't even going to be able to tell the difference. Hell, I myself can't really see any improvement in 360 or PS3 stuff over the best-looking Gamecube games (RE4).

MOD PARENT UP

[voice_of_all_reason]

Slashdot can always use more leved-headed discussions.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[freakified]

While this statement could be construed as a troll, I think he makes a valid point: The Wii is only marginally more powerful than a 6th generation system. Now I realize that Nintendo is working off the assumption that "Graphics aren't everything," but that statement is not the same as saying "Graphics are nothing." Personally, I wish that Nintendo had at least tried to make the graphics noticeably better, instead of simply increasing clock speeds. For example, the XBox 360 is capable of providing full scene antialiasing with virtually no performance hit. Would it really have been so difficult for Nintendo to integrate a similar graphics capability into the Wii?

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[the linux geek]

What lack of horsepower? The final specs haven't even been revealed yet, except that it will have PowerPC processors. If you're going to be trolling, at least don't be so obvious about it; back up your crap.

Re:To be Online or Not, That is the Release Questi

[kinglink]

sounds like you like good games, you might want to check out Blast Corps too. Great 64 game.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[7Prime]

Really, the horsepower will only be a hindrence for the biggest budget titles (Final Fantasy, etc.), as it costs so much to produce those great graphics. Also, remember that HD takes a good magnitude of additional horsepower, so the probability is that the poly-count will be about equal on SD/ED between Wii and 360/PS3 games. Basically, the only really noticable difference in graphics between the Wii and the 360/PS3 will be the lack of HD. A few may point to this as an achillies heal, but HD is still a luxury item, and a bit of a novelty at this point. It may be a little less so in 4 years, but Nintendo can come out with an HD-powered Wii, I think this is a much better business model then trying to be 4 years ahead of the curve (ie: Sony).

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[liak12345]

While MS and Sony were trying to steal the show with overpowered machines, Nintendo managed to undercut the competition by a few hundred dollars, came out with an innovative new technology that has caught everyone's attention, and managed to come up with one of the best release line-ups in years. Yep, they'll be hurting. Food for thought as I walk home with a brand new Wii and 5 or 6 games that are sure to be smash-hits. All for cheaper than buying a game-less PS3.

FF:CC

[Silent sound]

This really is an amazing launch list. Almost the most amazing thing about it isn't even the number of titles, but just the sheer range of the titles that are there. Basically every single console genre except fighting games, from RPGs to FPSes to platformers to sports to "unclassifiable", has one really standout title and one potentially promising title on that list. That's practically unheard of for a launch. I would personally go so far as to say this is the first good console launch since the Super Nintendo.

(It does make me sad of course that Wario Ware won't be making it for launch, but apparently it's coming before Christmas...)

There's one thing about all this that's so odd though it makes me wonder whether or not this list is for real. Is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles really a launch title? That seems almost impossible to believe. How could this game be coming out in just two or three months when we know almost nothing about it?

Re:FF:CC

[Draconix]

Isn't DBZ Bodokai a fighting game?

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Tweekster]

If by marginally you mean 2x then you would be correct.

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[7Prime]

You're not going to get another revolutionary jump like the one 2D -> 3D graphics gave us, not anytime soon, anyway. Plus, I'm going to argue that revolutionary jumps don't provide, in the long term, the biggest fun factor. This is an era of polishing, taking revolutionary games that had promise, and making them even better. Nintendo is offering something about halfway in between, this go-around. The GameCube was a TOTAL polishing system. There was really nothing substantial that the gamecube could do that the N64 couldn't do (except graphically). The Wii is substanially different from the GameCube in that it has created a control system that is much better suited for 3D game movement than previous control systems. It will require a fairly large change in the way you play the games. Maybe not quite as different as adjusting from 2D dpad setups to 3D a-pad setups (Mario World -> Mario 64), but still substantial.

The NES was a revolutionary system, the SNES was a polishing system (it took 2D graphics and gameplay about as far as it could), the N64 was a revolutionary system, and the GameCube was a polishing system. The Wii falls more into the catagory of revolutionary, although the games LOOK similar to their GameCube counterparts. The thing that I think Sony is going to have problems with is that it's the only system, ever, which is the 2nd polishing system in a row. As much as their pushing various things, the only major difference between the PS2 and the PS3 is graphics. MS came on board in the middle of a polishing generation of consoles, so they're a bit more justified in doing a polishing system at this time.

I agree that it's time for a new revolution... but one isn't really on the horrizon. Nintendo is at least TRYING, I don't see anyone else doing this.

Oh, and don't give me that, "this generation is going to be about Online Play", because it's not. Online play will always be a secondary feature for consoles, as it should be. It it's no gameplay revolution, either, it just changes who you can play with at a given time.

Re:the problem is cross platform games

[Turken]

Are you using the same TV screen as the store displays? Many stores now have bright, crisp LCD displays for the demo units, while you most likely are using an older CRT television which is not configured to optimally display games. And what cables are you using? standard RCA cables, wheras the PS2 and Xbox demos have component cables? There are many system setup differences that are more likely able to explain your problem other that the difference in gamecube/ps2 hardware.

Now, if your complaint had to do with the rendering quality, or processing speed (games slowing down on one version when the action gets intense), or visual details present/absent, etc., THEN you might have a case to make.

Re:To be Online or Not, That is the Release Questi

[astrokid]

Once you've downloaded the games from the Virtual Console you should be able to save them on an SD card. I believe the Wii has at least one, possibly two slots available.

I'm really hoping the games are not locked down to the machine and that it will be possibly to take my SD card to a friends house and play games there.

Let's ask that the other way around

[ianscot]

I hope Nintendo are right in their apparent assumption that these days consoles have enough power, and the typical consumer doesn't care about running at ultra high resolutions.

Similarly, one might ask the question: have MS and Sony been right in their assumption, made years in advance, that the HDTV market would be mature by now? The market for their products is considerably narrower, limited as it is to those who already own or would own HD sets -- and their products themselves are perceived as much more expensive partly because they went the HD route.

Perceptions of "horsepower" aside, for me the HD feature is actually a potential drawback of those other systems. If I can't see games in all their splendor, why would I pay $500 or whatever for a console whose main claim to glory is the HD images? A whopping $2000 ($600 + an HD set) just to get in the door is a LOT to ask. Too much for me, personally.

So I see what you're saying, but it cuts both ways.

Note also that while MS and Sony are pitching to the dedicated gamer willing to shell out a big lump of bills, Nintendo's rhetoric has been all about broadening the market. With the DS, at least, it seems to work -- if my kids' 82-year-old grandma avidly playing "Brain Age" this last week was any indication...

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[coop247]

Hell, I myself can't really see any improvement in 360 or PS3 stuff over the best-looking Gamecube games

Try upgrading that 10 year old TV. I'm on the fence when it comes to next gen consoles, but my friend brought his 360 over and hooked it up to my HDTV and it was amazing. It makes the Gamecube look like a NES.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Knuckles]

The Wii is only marginally more powerful

Totally not true. Yes, it is an upscaled GC in essence, but the GC was very good (see Resident Evil 4) and lacked in a few specific departments: it had not enough RAM and the CPU wasn't fast enough to fully feed the GPU. This has been been corrected.

The GC has 24 MB RAM. Nothing is known about the amount in the Wii, but given current RAM prices it is safe to assume a lot more. Heck, even the very low "specs" that were allegedly leaked recently (ars thinks they are fake) have it at 64 MB.
The "leaked specs" give a 729 MHz CPU for the Wii, which seems far too low given current technology, but even that would be a significant improvement over GC.

With that info, let's revisit the GC specs. Notice the Image Processing Functions:

• Fog
  
• Subpixel anti-aliasing
  
• 8 hardware lights
  
• 4 pixel pipelines (4 x 162 MHz = 648 MPixels)
  
• hardware nurbs
  
• Alpha blending
  
• Virtual texture design
  
• Multi-texturing, bump mapping
  
• Environment mapping
  
• MIP mapping
  
• Bilinear filtering
  
• Trilinear filtering
  
• Anisotropic filtering
  
• Real-time hardware texture decompression (S3TC)
  
• Real-time decompression of display list
  
• Hardware 3-line flicker filter

Some of these haven't been used much on the GC due to aforementioned problems. On the Wii they will be and likely some more.

Now, that surely doesn't make the Wii a PS3, but it's misleading to say the Wii is only "marginally more powerful" than the GC. Also, have you watched the E3 video of, say, Mario Galaxy? It's way better than the GC.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[freakified]

I was more or less referring to the appearance of the screenshots, which don't seem particularly different than the screenshots of games of 6th gen systems. (Generally, I've noticed some fancier lighting effects, such as the bloom and specularity effects visible in Red Steel.)

While the system may very well be more powerful that its screenshots would serve to indicate, I would have liked to see a more profound difference between the graphical power of the Wii and that of systems preceeding it.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Knuckles]

Forgot the ars link

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Knuckles]

Well at least you get the full picture, the above ars guy took the specs on face value, this is the one I had in mind.

Wii vs. PS3 spoof

[Kuvter]

This video is a great PS3 vs. Wii spoof using the Mac vs. PC ad campaign (18+, may not be appropriate for a work environment)

Re:Wii vs. PS3 spoof

[Leo Sasquatch]

Okay, I'm getting a Wii, but the 'PS3' girl in the video was so hot! I watched it 8 times just to hear her say "my vibrating features have been disabled".

Re:Wii vs. PS3 spoof

[geminidomino]

Funny, but I have to ask. WTF was "18+" about that? The bikini?

Re:Wii vs. PS3 spoof

[Kuvter]

I didn't think it was, but GameVideos.com said it so I thought I'd pass it along. As a long time /. reader I've seen complaints when people werent informed. I thought I'd tell everyone instead of throwing caution to the wind.

Re:Wii vs. PS3 spoof

[geminidomino]

Oh, I wasn't blaming you either. The site popped up a similar warning.

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[Daetrin]

Zelda is a port af a Gamecube game, MetroidPrime is the successor of Gamecube game with some new controls, so are Need for Speed, Metal Slug, Madden, MonkeyBall, FF:Chronicals and plenty of others. That list reads like a "been there, done that"

As opposed to the games people are looking forward to on the other consoles, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 12, Halo 3, God of War 2, Gran Turismo Whatever, etc?

Is your conclusion that people would rather play the same old games with a large graphics improvement rather than the same old games with more moderate graphics improvements and some new interface changes that might improve playability? And which will probably be somewhat cheaper to boot?

Re:DS Launch All Over Again

[Turken]

Having a launch like the DS isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, the first wave of games will feel "gimmicky" because the developers are all trying out the new interface. However, give the system a year, and people will start to build on what features really work. I think that it is safe to say that Christmas 2007 will be the point where the Wii really begins to shine, as we get past the Wow factor, and really get into the creative gameplay. Also, the developers by then will have enough experience and code built up for the system that they can add more focus on tweaking the graphics further to make games that look as good as they play.

So, if the Wii vs. PS3 is anything like DS vs. PSP, then I'll be anxiously waiting in line for a Wii on day one since I know that I will still be playing with it two years later... even if the first few games are gimmicky and rushed out.

Re:To be Online or Not, That is the Release Questi

[Fool_Errant]

Have they said whether or not the SD cards usable with the Wii will be ordinary SD cards or specially modified Nintendo-branded ones? I've got other reasons to invest in high-capacity SD cards, so if I can pop in any standard SD card, I'd be thrilled.

O_o

[gknoy]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

I read that as "The Crystal Beavers", and was very confused for a second.

Re:To be Online or Not, That is the Release Questi

[catprog]

Unfortnatly it is made by rare (so no Virtual Console :-()

Re:Solid start, but not impressive

[grumbel]

As opposed to the games people are looking forward to on the other consoles, such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 12, Halo 3, God of War 2, Gran Turismo Whatever, etc?

I am not impressed with the other consoles either. The thing with the Wii however is that it actually could offer some completly new game experiences, but in large part it simply doesn't seem to do that. I miss that one exceptional game which makes me go 'wow', like Mario64 did on the N64. Nintendo designed that cool new controller and now all they offer is sequels and stuff that would have worked just fine with a normal one. WiiSports so far seems the only thing that is truly build for the new controller, but then a tennis game in which I can't even move the player seems kind of limited.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[Desult]

Agreed. Although, I will say, RE4 beats anything I saw in the last gen. This is typical of "great" GC games in my experience... Fight Night Round 2 on the GC beats the tar out of Round 3 on PS2. Vice City on Xbox is up to par with RE4/FN2 on GC, imo.

But get Fight Night Rd 3, or Oblivion on 360... wow it's good. I just bought a 50" LCD projection HDTV, and it blows me away. Not every game is as "wow" as those two (e.g. Moto GP), but FN3 totally sold me on the 360. I'm sure it'll be similarly good on PS3, but I'm not willing to buy into the HD/BR battle at this point. I'll be perfectly happy waiting on the PS3 to price drop in 3 or 4 years, and pick up a Wii in the meantime. I did the opposite in this gen (PS2 (launch price, though not at launch) -> Gamecube (first price drop) -> Xbox (refurb at 130)), and I've been able to play all the great games eventually, at a hardware cost under the cost of a launch PS3.

Before the PS2 console gen I used to buy computer parts for gaming... but I'd rather drop 400 bucks on a full system than on a graphics card (which will almost always need a tricked out system to perform at peak). I do most of my work on a laptop nowadays anyway... it's just not worth the time/money to stay on the PC upgrade train for me anymore, when X360 looks like it does... now just to hook a keyboard/mouse into it so I can play FPS games =)

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[buffer-overflowed]

Shadow of the Colossus - Note the jagged edges and overall muddy appearance.
God of War - Same.
Resident Evil 4 - Getting better but still muddy, some jaggies.
Halo 2 - Same as RE4, some jaggies.
Oversized(remember, 480p, up to 16:9) Red Steel shot 1 and shot 2 - Crisp, no jaggies, decent lighting, texture detail is good.

Re:So the onyl thing that will stop Nintendo now..

[KDR_11k]

Polycounts are limited by the transformation performance, HD affects the fillrate. You might see fewer per-pixel shaders or lower resolution textures when going to HD but the hardware difference here will make up for that.

Limited enthusiasim....

[rtechie]

Yeah it's 27 titles (supposedly) but have you LOOKED at these titles?

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Call of Duty 3
Cars
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Madden NFL 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Need for Speed: Carbon
Open Season
Rayman Raving Rabbids
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab

Multiplatform. Avatar, Cars, Open Season, and SpongeBob are crappy kiddie games. Most observers are of the opinion that multiplatform games will do better on the PS3 and 360 because those platforms have better graphics, and multiplatform games won't be likely to take advantage of the unique Wii controller.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Blitz: The League
Far Cry
Metal Slug Anthology
Monster 4x4 World Circuit

Old, already out on other platforms. Monster 4x4 is a disaster.

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Elebits
Excite Truck
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
GT Pro Series
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Red Steel
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Wii Sports

So we're REALLY left with 12 unique launch titles. And Wii Sports and Excite Truck seem to be little more than controller demonstrations. Bigger news is the relatively robust 3rd-party support. Nintendo won't have to support the launch on it's own with significant titles from both Square Enix and Ubisoft (Crystal Bearers and Red Steel). Time will tell if this will last.

Another thing to remember is that some of these titles were likely GameCube titles that were switched during development. I'm told the relatively similar architectures made this possible. IOW, expect many of the launch titles to look like GameCube titles.

I suspect the system will fare well in Japan, with the titles seeming to slightly cater to Japanese audiences (not a lot of sports games I notice), do fairly well in Europe, and struggle in the USA. Much like the Gamecube. In terms of commercial success, Nintendo is still likely to be Microsoft due to the 360's poor showing in Japan.

Re:Limited enthusiasim....

[MojoBox]

I don't see how a game being multiconsole makes it irrelevent. Also, Rayman Raving Rabids is being desinged for the Wii first, then ported. And as for "crappy kiddie games", maybe, but let's reserved judgment, one way or the other, till we can play them or read real reviews of finished products eh?

Re:Limited enthusiasim....

[rtechie]

The Wii, since it will almost certainly have the worst graphics and a controller with limited buttons, will probably be the least desirable of the 3 platforms for multiconsole games. The best games on the Wii are likely to be those that take good advantage of the controller, and multiconsole games are unlikely to do that. I also think that the Wii will be big for classic games, much bigger that XBOX Arcade, because it's going to have a much bigger library.

And yeah, "crappy kiddie games" is accurate. Almost all movie, cartoon, and tv show games suck HARD and this has been determied by wide consensous. Check out gamerankings.com if you don't believe me. The only truly good movie/cartoon/etc. game to come out in recent years was Chronicles of Riddick, and everyone who reviewed that game commented on what a fluke it was (it was considerably better than the movie, also unheard of considerign how badly video game movies suck). It is 100% reasonable to assume that these games will be terrible because if they ARE any good it will be an amazing fluke.

I'll reserve judgement on Raving Rabids, I don't know much about it. I'm not a fan of Rayman or platformers in general.

Re:To be Online or Not, That is the Release Questi

[justchris]

They have confirmed that they will be using standard SD cards. They have said nothing about how these cards will need to be formatted, though, so it's likely you'll need a special card for the Wii because of formatting and DRM. Unless you can partition the card, with different formatting for each partition.

Nintendo has also hinted at being able to use USB harddrives to extend storage, but they haven't officially confirmed it yet.