Wii Owners Looking at a Nintendo Drought?

The site Computer and Videogames has up an (unverifiable article) stating that several anticipated Wii titles are going to be delayed until late 2007. Specifically, they mention Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption as being out of our hands until the Christmas season next year. They report this information via 'reliable sources', and Nintendo is unwilling to confirm or deny the claims as of yet. N'Gai at Newsweek reminds us that Reggie Fils-Aime denied the possibility of a 'Nintendo drought' in an interview they conducted back in October. Here's hoping he doesn't live to regret these words: "... The third example I would give you is Mario Galaxy, another from-the-ground-up Wii game that we are strategically timing the launch to make sure that we continue driving momentum through 2007. So N'Gai, how do I answer the question, 'Will there be no drought,' and 'How will we make sure that there are fantastic titles for Wii?' The answer is Zelda, Metroid and Mario. Which is a pretty darn good lineup."

Comments

Old Games, Pshhaw

[spykemail]

Who cares about the new games? Question is: will every NES game I have in my basement be re-released so I can pay for it again and play it without spending 3 hours trying to get my old (3) NES to work?? The adapters for the controllers are already being made, all I need to do is $250 for the Wii, $? for the adapters, $? for near mint NES controllers, and $5 and I'll be playing Super Mario Bros. like it's 1985.

Re:Wheres my Wii...

[nonsequitor]

I stopped by GameStop trying to get a second nunchuk for Wii Boxing and he said the second wave of Wii shipments was sold out in 10 minutes flat. He's had several people return PS3's now that they aren't getting the prices they expected on ebay only to have the next transaction in the register be someone buying the PS3, to try to sell on the internet.

I find it strangely curious and sad that the holiday season has spawned a new industry of parasites. People who will buy up whatever the hot toy is only to put it up for an online auction trying to make a massive profit off someone who couldn't buy it in the store because everyone who bought one got it with the intention of selling it on ebay.

The answer to your question is:
Your Wii is now up for auction on the internet, once supply picks up, it will be returned to the store after its temporarily inflated value goes back down.

Drought now or drought later

[SalaciousPucker]

Zelda was a Gamecube port. It was held back on the Gamecube solely to be a Wii launch title. Besides that, what do you have on the Wii? The games fall into two categories based on what I've seen: Tech demos (Wii Sports) or 3rd party XBOX ports (usually bad ones). Still, it's a pretty strong launch, solely based on Zelda.

The problem is that the Wii launch, constitutes almost the entire production from Nintendo game studios over the last couple years, cause they sure weren't making Gamecube games. I'm sure they have a Mario and Metroid game in 2007, but what has Nintendo done to prevent a drought after that? The real problem is that Nintendo consoles still rely on Nintendo providing all the games worth playing and they just don't make them fast enough, for a broad enough market, or even at the same level as in the past. The reason the PS1 or PS2 was consistent was not cause of Sony's games, but cause of 3rd parties.

3rd party Developers are not looking at the Wii as a place to make new creative games - why do it on old technology? The Wii is going to be looked at as a dumping ground or a place to make a cheap buck. PS2/XBOX ports, new levels on an old engine, rework the control scheme and push it out the door. Look at the Wii version of Far Cry or the fact that the 'new' Wii Prince of Persia is actually the OLD Prince of Persia (with NEW control scheme!) that came out last year for examples of this.

Re:Drought now or drought later

[paitre]

who has an HDTV set at home, anyway? Me. Bought 2.5 weeks ago, as a matter of fact, for far less than I was expecting to spend for a 40+" set.

I have been quite pleased with the purchase, and the upgrade to HD/Digital Cable is worth the $5mo it's costing me (NFL in HD ftw).

That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play control is going to have.

Again - look at the DS. I just bought a DS Lite for my 8yo for his birthday, and it was absolutely intuitive for him to use. Hell, I'm seriously considering getting myself one for MY birthday (or to celebrate my divorce being final, whichever happens first) to help break me off of my MMORPG habit. :D

Re:horses

[meringuoid]

You mean the answer is flogging dead horses by using the same franchises over and over again.

These horses are far from dead.

The last Zelda and Mario games that came out, I bought both of 'em on launch day. New SMB I finished in a weekend, though it took me a long while to find every level and get the three-star save file. Twilight Princess - well, I'm at just over 30 hours since the UK launch on December 8th, and I just completed the Snowpeak quest. Died twice early on, only once been seriously threatened since then.

These games have been fairly easy, because I'm extremely good at them. For this I have to thank some 20 years of experience. But they're both of them excellent games, at least as good as anything else you'll find on the shelves. My experience of their forebears means I pick up the new game much more quickly, but it doesn't make it any less a great game.

A new Zelda or Mario isn't like a new Madden or even a new Championship Manager. It's not just a reissue of the same basic game with prettier graphics. It's the same underlying mechanism, sure, and with recurring characters, but it's always a new world to explore.