Wii Hardware Upgrade Won't Happen Soon

As high-definition graphics become more and more entrenched in this generation of game consoles, Nintendo has had to deal with constant speculation about a new version of the Wii that would increase its capabilities. Today, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime bluntly denied that a hardware revision was imminent, saying, "We are confident the Wii home entertainment console has a very long life in front of it." He added, "In terms of what the future holds, we've gone on record to say that the next step for Nintendo in home consoles will not be to simply make it HD, but to add more and more capability, and we'll do that when we've totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii. And we're nowhere near doing that yet."

Comments

It makes sense really

[sopssa]

Wii has a large userbase of casual gamers. There wouldn't really be anything that new for then. HD sure, but I know many people who really aren't that interested in it. I am, sure, I would love a Wii HD with Motion Capture Plus. But thats probably not the case for majority of people, especially girls who usually don't understand why their boyfriends/husbands want a huge HDTV.

The only thing Wii was missing was the better motion sensors, but it wasn't possible financially at that point, the technology was too costly for competing with better priced console. After that it would be just everything that more hardcore players would want, and that isn't Nintendo's largest market.

Re:It makes sense really

[xtracto]

Yeah, similarly as Sony CEO denied the existence of a PS3 Slim before they unveiled it.

Re:It makes sense really

[phantomfive]

In addition to that, half the games don't even make full use of the graphics capabilities already available. Zelda, for example, looked basically the same as on game cube. Right now I'm playing fire-emblem, and while it's a great game, the graphics aren't much better than you would see on PS1. It's kind of amazing to me now, that after all these years of chasing graphics, finally there is a console that ignores the race and still does well.

Re:It makes sense really

[fm6]

Well, they already made the decision to drop out of the graphics arms race, and instead concentrate an features that made the system more usable. That strategy has paid off handsomely. Why go back on it now?

I wonder if consumers are beginning to get tired of all that expensive tech that ends up being obsolete in a year or two. The recession is a factor, but even before, we saw people asking themselves if they really wanted Blu-Ray, HD, or whatever. The fact that cheap-but-fun Nintendo products are outselling the fancier competition is consistent with that.

Re:It makes sense really

[Lussarn]

especially girls who usually don't understand why their boyfriends/husbands want a huge HDTV

I must be lucky, my GF already talks about 3DTV. Last year I tried unsuccesfully to hold her back on the home cinema system.

Re:It makes sense really

[zmollusc]

Might it be that, for most people, DVD resolution is 'good enough' for video, like mp3 is 'good enough' for audio? Or am I just restating the '640k' thing?

Re:It makes sense really

[Toonol]

I've stopped caring about advances in graphics since about the time of the PS2. There are new things the current gen of consoles offer... networking, motion sensing, better storage... but if you look fundamentally at the games, I don't think the improved graphics make them any more fun. There's nothing on the 360 that couldn't have been done on the x-box, if the developers had just cut back the complexity of the graphics; and it would have been no less fun.

At some point, the majority of televisions will transition over to HD, and so it will make sense that the Wii needs to upgrade to meet that. But I see no point in upgrading purely to get a boost in graphics.

Fire Emblem, by the way, is the best game I've played on any console this gen... and they could have made it for the Nintendo DS with almost no changes in gameplay.

Re:It makes sense really

[bronney]

Exactly bro, ever notice the people in Pixar's film don't exactly look like people? Yet their movie completely rocks? It's always the content. The actors do play a part but if you've seen great actors in shit high budget movies you'd know what I mean :)

Re:It makes sense really

[Z00L00K]

One really interesting thing when it comes to the Wii is that the controllers are talking Bluetooth, which makes them useful for other applications too.

Just take a look at the Wiimote library.

And recently I have interfaced a Wiimote with a windows mobile device, so anyone stating that it can't be done is wrong.

Re:It makes sense really

[sonamchauhan]

"I would love a Wii HD with Motion Capture Plus."

Its Wii MotionPlus not Motion Capture Plus, but ... so would I :)

you may have just started something here...

Re:It makes sense really

[Inda]

Are you two kidding? Full blown HD graphics with shadows, complex textures, high poly count and the like are what I want. I want to see blemishes on skin, blades of grass moving and reflections in water. I want to hear footsteps on metal, birds tweeting and monsters breathing. I want downloadable content, voice chat and massive multiplayer events.

Any gamer who's pulled out a GFX card and replaced it with a better model will say the same.

Wii? It's a child's toy. It's a child's toy that my child doesn't even play because it's a poor and expensive experience.

Re:It makes sense really

[BikeHelmet]

Are you two kidding? Full blown HD graphics with shadows, complex textures, high poly count and the like are what I want. I want to see blemishes on skin, blades of grass moving and reflections in water. I want to hear footsteps on metal, birds tweeting and monsters breathing. I want downloadable content, voice chat and massive multiplayer events.

Sounds like you need a PC rather than a console.

Consoles are great. I need one so that when people visit, they keep their mucky hands off my computer. Guess which console I went for?

Re:It makes sense really

[clickclickdrone]

>I must be lucky, my GF already talks about 3DTV. Last year I tried unsuccesfully to hold her back on the home cinema system.
It's a trick. Mine was the same until I married her. Now she just complains about all the Hifi, TVs, speakers etc cluttering the place up.

Re:It makes sense really

[hattig]

Never mind that this guy isn't about to Osbourne Wii sales.

Until they want to show it off, it won't exist. Simple really.

You don't see Microsoft talking about the XBox1080, or Sony talking about the PS4 - that's because they don't want existing sales to tank as people wait for the new product. I don't see why Nintendo would be any different. The only guaranteed thing is that all three companies are more than likely well into the design process for their next generation consoles.

Re:It makes sense really

[Toonol]

Doom is the best selling game on xbox live, if I remember correctly. Unenhanced graphics. My son at college just recently beat Nightmare mode, and called me to brag. Pixelation and all.

Re:It makes sense really

[Negatyfus]

I have often wondered if what I saw the Xbox 360 put out would have been possible on the Xbox. My conclusion is: no, it wouldn't have been. It would have been a scaled-down, lesser experience. The consoles are power-beasts this generation and can barf up some very impressive things. Not only in terms of graphics do the games provide a better feeling, but also in amount of enemies on-screen, AI and animation. The latter plays a big role in gameplay. I also like in-game cut-scenes. The Xbox could do that, sure, but for the first time they actually look like something worth watching. No blocky polygons and blurry textures to distract you from the story that is unfolding. I appreciate all the people shouting "Gameplay over graphics, rawr!!" but they are both important. The fanatics can play with their emulators, if they'd like, but I do like a good graphical experience (both on consoles and PC).

Re:It makes sense really

[Kugrian]

Guess which console I went for?

PS2. Cheap ass.

Re:It makes sense really

[Kugrian]

I got one of those. T2000. What model are you using?

Re:It makes sense really

[WillAdams]

A woman marries a man thinking he'll change... he doesn't.

A man marries a woman thinking she won't change... she does.

I doubt this will ever change.

Re:It makes sense really

[DrXym]

I've stopped caring about advances in graphics since about the time of the PS2. There are new things the current gen of consoles offer... networking, motion sensing, better storage... but if you look fundamentally at the games, I don't think the improved graphics make them any more fun. There's nothing on the 360 that couldn't have been done on the x-box, if the developers had just cut back the complexity of the graphics; and it would have been no less fun.

The "graphics don't matter" argument doesn't hold much water. If we go down that route, then through backwards induction there was nothing in the PS2 that couldn't be done on the PS1 with cut back graphics. And nothing on the PS1 that couldn't be done on the Sega Saturn. And nothing in the Sega Saturn to Sega Megadrive. And nothing in the Sega Megadrive to NES. And nothing in NES to Atari 2600. And nothing Atari 2600 to the Telstar. etc.

Except of course graphics wasn't the only thing that changed between console generations. Processing power, memory, storage, general throughput, controllers, number of players, modelling, animation, audio, networking, physics are all improved. Each generation was capable of delivering experiences that you simply couldn't get on the one before. Do all these things guarantee a better game? Of course not, but they are powerful tools that can and should be used to deliver the best experience.

An obvious example of this would be Dead Rising. The concept worked so well on the 360 because the console had the power to render hundreds of zombies. A veritable horde of them. When the game was ported to the Wii, even with cut down graphics, the game had been emasculated so you were lucky to see a dozen zombies at once. The game lost its soul in the transition. Some games simply do not translate well even if you cut down the graphics.

Re:It makes sense really

[Bai jie]

Yeah because Sony lying totally means that Nintendo is too.

Re:It makes sense really

[Obyron]

They jumped out of the graphics arms race and into the peripherals arms race. In Canada the Wii costs around 200 bucks at Costco, which is the cheapest I've seen it, and around 200 dollars cheaper than the xbox. But you need to get a nunchuk to play certain games: 25 dollars. A second controller and nunchuk, around 50 bucks total. Want to get motionplus for both of those to improve the motion sensing? 50 dollars. You're now at 325, compared to the xbox with a second controller which gets you to about 450 (and also comes with the Elite system, Modern Warfare 2, and a 250gb hard drive). The average new game for the 360 up here runs 60-70 dollars. For the Wii they're slightly cheaper... unless they're some hokey peripheral game like WiiFit, where you're going to pay 100 dollars. Want another balance board? That'll be 60 or 70 dollars. Want to buy Mario Kart and get two little steering wheel controllers? 90 dollars. If the Wii is not the most outright profitable console of this generation I'd be shocked, because they nickle and dime you to death with cheap peripherals, and people buy them. It seems like every game they come out with comes with some new gadget you need to buy, and I hardly think that's an accident. I'd like to see Microsoft and Sony put out a commercial comparing Total Cost of Ownership, because even if you're paying for Xbox Live Gold every a year, you'll probably end up spending more money for your Wii.

Re:It makes sense really

[JayAEU]

It's a good thing there's actually a customized version of the Wii just for those girls that don't want their boyfriends to have a proper HD setup...
http://bit.ly/7wnVfm

Re:It makes sense really

[SargentDU]

If the son is playing games instead of drinking - Dad is money ahead!

Re:It makes sense really

[Hurricane78]

I’ll make a bold statement:

I am a game designer. And you know which games I personally like to play most?
Small innovative (flash) games and the like! (Think kongregate.com.)

It sees that big budget games tend to go all aesthetics and technology.
But small games go more in the direction of good gameplay (mechanics).

I wish people would not forget, that it’s all four (story, gameplay, aesthetics, and technology) that are relevant.
And the quality of a game, is all those things, multiplied with each other. (With story having the biggest factor, but the others being not much less relevant.)
They have to support each other.

Re:It makes sense really

[Hurricane78]

That’s because Pixar avoids the uncanny valley like hell. And they are right to do so.
Pixar could already go practically 100% on making realistic humans. But that tiny bit missing would make it a very creepy experience. Which perhaps works if it’s supposed to be a monster in a horror movie. But not in your typical Pixar movie. ;)

I agree, that we are past “realism” as an ideal.
Nowadays, it’s like art: You try to create a style. Its own “realism”.
Like Finding Nemo, which at first had so much realism, that it creeped people out. Then they changed the whole style to something less realistic, and more fitting. Which worked nicely.

Re:It makes sense really

[tepples]

But you need to get a nunchuk to play certain games: 25 dollars.

Since when was Player 1's Nunchuk accessory eliminated from the standard bundle?

unless they're some hokey peripheral game like WiiFit, where you're going to pay 100 dollars.

It's not the only peripheral game. Cross-platform peripheral games include DDR, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band, even on your favored X [] O. And if you're including MotionPlus in the Wii's price, do you plan to include Natal in the 360's or Eye in the PS3's?

Want to buy Mario Kart and get two little steering wheel controllers? 90 dollars.

The Wii Wheel is a piece of plastic. There are third-party replacements: after you buy the game and one wheel, additional wheels cost $15 or so.

Re:It makes sense really

[plastbox]

Confused? I don't see why.. First off, I am a guy and a geek by nature.

Ergo, we mostly notice the women who are "dumb" when it comes to anything we care about.

Guys notice girls who look good. Girls who care about appearance don't generally care about tech. As geeks and nerds, anyone without a basic understanding of simple tech-stuff qualifies as "dumb". Ergo, we are attracted to "dumb" girls, and "Most girls are dumb" is perhaps a result of this.

The rest was just a random rant, a bit of support for the gals we so easily disregard as being dumb because they have no interest in or understanding of the things we all love. I was making the point that someone we consider dumb because they could never build a pc from scratch or learn (and enjoy) programming might have other skills and interests that they value.

For example a sense of style. The reason I mostly wear black, dark blue and gray'ish colors is that I'm safe from total failure no matter what I throw on each morning. Why do you think every guy out clubbing wears essentially the same thing, while no two girls would be caught dead looking the same? Why do you think men are very comfortable looking like a bunch of suit-wearing clones while women go out of their way to look good and unique?

Do you think that doesn't require extensive skill and experience? I advice you to ask your girlfriend, wife or a female friend to let you do their makeup. Perhaps you'll acknowledge their non-tech related skill when they end up looking like they've been shot with Homer's makeup shotgun. =P

Re:It makes sense really

[Hatta]

Translucency and fog have been used to great effect on previous gen consoles. Hell, on the N64 it seems like there's nothing but fog. :)

Re:It makes sense really

[nloop]

Are you two kidding? ... I want to see blemishes on skin, blades of grass moving and reflections in water. I want to hear footsteps on metal, birds tweeting

Look around, see that door? Yeah, that one with the sunlight behind it. Close the computer, and walk out it.

Fixed that for you.

Re:It makes sense really

[Maxo-Texas]

Everyone learned the lesson of Osborne computers.

If they said there was a new WII coming out in 11 months or that the new Wii's controllers would impale your hand with spikes, sales would plummet.

Re:It makes sense really

[DrXym]

But how many zombies at once could Super Smash TV on the Super NES or Doom II on the PC show at once?

You're missing the point. The grandparent was claiming "There's nothing on the 360 that couldn't have been done on the x-box, if the developers had just cut back the complexity of the graphics; and it would have been no less fun.". I just provided an example of a game which was distinctly less fun and emasculated when someone cut back the complexity of the graphics and other areas to run it on a less powerful system.

I have never said that there weren't fun games on older consoles. Of course there are. But fun is not equated to (lack of) graphics, and indeed there are many games that couldn't exist at all in the form they do if not for the state of the art at the time they were made. It seems some people think it's okay for old games to have pushed the envelope graphically or otherwise when they appeared but somehow not okay for modern games to do the same. Which is a very weird position to take.

Re:It makes sense really

[djnforce9]

Yup. Dolphin works very well actually and it's surreal being able to play a current gen console game on a PC (usually this kind of thing only happens with portable game systems which are relatively simpler or otherwise wait at least 10 years after the console is released (which is why we are only now starting to get competent PS2 emulation)). You can even use real WiiMotes w/ Motion plus if you have the right bluetooth receiver.

Here's a good demonstration of "New Super Mario Bros Wii" on Dolphin at an HD resolution and why it can look better than the real hardware:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MurWPRzmzo

I've tried this myself and to be honest, I find it MUCH more comfortable when played using an Xbox 360 controller than a real WiiMote (no more fierce shaking to do that spin jump and rotating cannons and the platforms feels less awkward when using the triggers instead of actually rotating the controller)

Re:It makes sense really

[Golddess]

As far as I am aware, sales of the DS, DS Lite, and DSi did not plummet when the DS Lite, DSi, and DSi XL were announced (respectively).

Though I will admit that when I personally heard about the DSi XL I decided to skip the DSi.

Re:darn it!

[Misanthrope]

My own speculative name was the Wii-Wii....

So what he's really saying...

[myddrn]

In terms of what the future holds, we've gone on record to say that the next step for Nintendo in home consoles will not be to simply make it HD, but to add more and more capability, and we'll do that when we've totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii.

Translation: We still have MOUNTAINS of shovel ware to sell!

nowhere near

[Reed Solomon]

>"when we've totally tapped out all of the experiences for the existing Wii. And we're nowhere near doing that yet."

exactly. they've only just come out with a black wii. then they will have a blue wii, yellow wii, green wii, then they still have to do the special edition pokemon pikachu wii, the clear see through wii, the smaller wii with a different disc loading mechanism, an even smaller wii with a new controller, then FINALLY they'll release the WII HD, after all our waiting, then 6 months later they'll release the wii 2 electric boogaloo

Re:nowhere near

[FrostDust]

While Nintendo has indeed released such variations of their consoles in the past (except for disc loading, are you thinking of Sony?), you're omitting that none of the redesigns introduced new features to the console. The user is not disadvantaged by not buying the new models.

Having differently colored casings does nothing to the capabilities of the system. The smaller redesigns use less material and may be more "stylish" compared to when the system was first released, but still add no new features.

The only system I can remember with it's redesign having a new feature that the older model lacked is a newer DS having a built-in web browser, but this was previously available on the older models via a cartridge.

Offering redesigned systems, where the features are still the same as the original model, is not detrimental to Nintendo users. If anything, it'd be Microsoft and Sony that are worthy of such criticism.

Re:nowhere near

[Reed Solomon]

original gameboy, then came the gameboy pocket, then came various versions with different colours, then came the gameboy colour. then came the GBA with various colour editions. then the GBA SP, then came the coloured editions of that, also the NES styled edition (which I admit I own and still play) then the GBA MICRO. Then the DS, which wasn't supposed to kill the GBA but did anyways.

Nintendo always does this. they milk the cow until blood comes out, then they kill it, bring in a new cow, and feed it to the new cow.

As for the disc loading, I was mostly referring to the mechanisms of the original NES vs version 2. top loading vs front loading.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[Toonol]

I just can't read far enough into what all these execs say when they talk about the "long life" of their consoles that remain entertaining for 2.5 years at best.

I think I disagree. Why upgrade, if the only difference is going to be better graphics? That doesn't make games any better. The weakest console, graphically, won this gen by a landslide. The weakest console, graphically, won last gen by a landslide. It's the games, not the hardware, that make a console enjoyable... and the games get BETTER throughout a console's lifespan.

If a new console cycle started, we would be in for two years of really bad games before developers got back on an even keel. The games would become ANOTHER 400% more expensive to create, and probably shorter. Is there any game you want that can't be made on current hardware?

I would love to get another five years out of ALL the current consoles.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[magnusrex1280]

Obviously you haven't played any of the numerous Wii games that are really good. Are there also a bunch of Wii games that are gimmicky and simple? Yes. But don't assume that just because there are some crappy games for a console, that said console is successful only because of a unique feature. No console does as well as the Wii has without GOOD games. I own a PS3, a top-of-the-line gaming PC, AND a Wii, so this isn't just some Nintendo fan boy sounding off. I'm pretty picky about what games I buy, and the Wii has a bunch that are lots of fun, and have actual replay value.

Applaud the man.

[ledow]

Good for Nintendo. I don't really care about flashy sequels and having to re-buy consoles/accessories/games or hope that the backward compatibility works (if there is one). I just want people to carry on making games for a console that almost everyone has played. It's good business sense to keep your customers on a stable platform and sell optional extras / games that enhance their original purchase's value without *forcing* them to upgrade and alienating them, not to mention keeping the online Wii stores alive - how many people who have never touched emulation have been playing emulated titles on Wii without even knowing? It's good gaming sense (what matters is the game and the price, not the number of / type of peripherals, graphics, sound...) and at the end of the day, the Wii is forefront on the general public's mind... not including persistent gamers, people would struggle to give the correct name of the current version of the Xbox / Playstation, and would probably name Wii first.

"Wii 2" isn't required. Wii already proved that state-of-the-art isn't required, just a little bit of fun and know-how and something a bit different. Whether you hate it or not, you've played Wii at least once and tried it. I know that I can't say the same about the Xbox (any version) / Playstation (any version past the original PS1) consoles, yet my PC is full of every genre of game. Give it another 5 years or so, then people will be making games that actually test the limits of the Wii to the extreme all the time, then a successor that has full backwards compatibility will sell like hot cakes. And, to be honest, everyone I know that owns a Wii would actually be happier with some bundled accessory that enhances the whole console rather than a whole new console... a "HD addon" or even some processing upgrade that the Wii can interface with (like the N64 memory expansion modules, or the SuperFX/DSP chips that were in SNES games - Nintendo know what they are doing when it comes to getting the most out of a huge investment, which is why they're pretty much the only one making a decent return on hardware alone, not just the software).

If it works, and it sells, and it makes money, don't ditch it for a sequel... enhance it a bit at a time, one expenditure at a time, and keep your customers happy without shoving them between major purchases and platforms. If only MS could follow the same suit...

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[feepness]

According to MetaCritic, there are 26 Xbox games with 90+ ratings, 20 PS3 games with 90+ ratings, and 9 games on the Wii with 90+ ratings.

I don't see the value proposition in the Wii now that the more powerful and capable competition with better games have come down to a point where the price difference is largely irrelevant.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[quadrox]

I have a wii, and I regret getting it so far. The Only thing I play on it is Guitar Hero, and I certainly don't need a wii for that. Wii sports gets boring rather quickly.

Then I have one of the Resident evil games. This one is fun enough, but the graphics suck balls so much it's unbelievable - mostly due to the low resolution. Most of the other games I see in the stores don't look even remotely interesting, and those that do usually have very bad reviews.

If you know of any good games, please tell me.

I'd like one change

[samael]

An HDMI cable. Every other device connected to the TV has one, but the Wii insists on converting to analogue and back again. I can't think of any reason why this would be terribly expensive or difficult to do. They wouldn't even need to support higher resolutions - just the same ones over HDMI.

Re:I'd like one change

[Professor_UNIX]

What do you mean component just doesn't cut it? I watch HDTV perfectly fine with component cables on my HDTV. In fact, I'm not using HDMI anywhere.

Re:I'd like one change

[nxtw]

What do you mean component just doesn't cut it? I watch HDTV perfectly fine with component cables on my HDTV. In fact, I'm not using HDMI anywhere.

Only HDMI has built-in digital audio, and it's the only way to get digital multichannel audio that isn't encoded as Dolby Digital, DTS, or WMA Pro (in home theater systems).
With HDMI, source devices can be connected to a home theater receiver or HDMI switch and a single cable can be connected to the display.

I actually have HDMI audio capable equipment, but use 6 channel analog instead (for my PC).

The Wii is a potential annoyance for those with home theater setups. The only audio output is two-channel analog and it's through the video port. Unless the HT receiver supports pass-through for the kind of video being used, special cabling is required to hook up the Wii to a TV and to a home theater system.

Re:darn it!

[Toonol]

I think that Nintendo's going to go with a new paradigm for console releases: They'll follow the iPod route. Their next Wii will just be the new model of Wii, with improved features, and slightly changed styling, but fully backwards compatible.

They want your WIFE to want to upgrade.

Like they would really tell

[otie]

No savvy console manufacturer confirms a hardware upgrade before it's just about to hit. Otherwise it'll hurt sales before the upgrade date.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[Toonol]

Visiting slashdot? How's 4chan?

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[ookaze]

According to MetaCritic, there are 26 Xbox games with 90+ ratings, 20 PS3 games with 90+ ratings, and 9 games on the Wii with 90+ ratings.
I don't see the value proposition in the Wii now that the more powerful and capable competition with better games have come down to a point where the price difference is largely irrelevant.

Staying locked in your bubble won't allow you to understand where you're wrong.
But it's pretty obvious : "Metacritic", "more powerful and capable competition with better games".
You are stuck in your old values that the Wii is disrupting right since before its launch, and you use Metacritic to confort you, a site that compile reviews from site stuck exactly in these same old values.
Sorry, but the Wii just shattered the record of sales for a console in one month in the USA this december (3.81 millions Wii sold, PS2, previous record owner for home consoles, was at 2.69).
It more than exceeded the sales of PS3 and XB360 combined.

Re:darn it!

[polar red]

that's 'wiife'.

it will make me consider another system

[pyster]

I just picked up a 55 inch tv... I've not picked up the hdmi cable because 480 wont look much different from composite. I have doubts I am going to by many more wii games because of this. Seems like it would be a wasted investment.

Re:it will make me consider another system

[MrMickS]

There is a noticeable difference in image clarity when going to 480p via composite. If you can't see this on your TV perhaps you bought the wrong TV?

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[fprintf]

We thought exactly the same thing when my 14 year old son bought a Wii with his hard earned and saved money last Spring. It sat gathering dust almost all summer, with his younger sister and I most often playing it. We only had Smash Bros, Wii Sports and Wii Fit to play and did not bother buying any more games because it really wasn't all that fun.

Fast forward to Christmas Day and I bought the family Wii Sports Resort and the required MotionPlus add-ons. The Wii has been played almost every day since. Our favorites are, in order, Archery, Swordplay and Table Tennis. Tons of replayability.

However we also bought my son an XBox360 with Assassin's Creed2 and ModernWarfare2. The difference between the two is dramatic, and if it wasn't for Wii Sports Resort I would still say that purchasing the Wii was a waste of money. The XBox is just soooo much better and the lack of motion sensing controllers for it does not seem at all to detract from the gaming experience. (Of course I hate the controllers, preferring a keyboard/mouse myself)

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[plastbox]

New Super Mario Bros for Wii

Seriously. Get it! I've only played through it with two players, but that game is so unbelievably entertaining I lack words. The only bad thing I have to say is that the controls feel a bit "sluggish" compared to the old NES/SNES games where responsiveness was a very important priority, but it's not so bad as to be an issue and is quickly forgotten in the glee of playing such an awesome game!

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[Burpmaster]

That's silly. Let's say you're going to get one console and the top twenty games for it. For the 360, the game 20 has a score of 90 (Bayonetta). For the PS3, game 20 has a score of 89 (WipEout HD Fury). For the Wii, game 20 has a score of 86 (Punch-Out!!). You're making a big deal out of literally a few points in a 100 point scale, even though each console has a largely different set of reviewers, judging the games by different standards.

What's more important is variety. Are you really going to get both Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? If you look at the 26 Xbox 360 games with 90+ ratings, about 10 of them are first-person shooters. Do you need that many shooters? In fact, if you pare down your 90+ list for each system by eliminating games that play similarly, you'll shorten the 360 and PS3 lists severely.

Speaking of paring down, the 9 games scoring 90+ on the Wii include both Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Trilogy includes corruption, so subtract 1 from the Wii's count. Oh but Trilogy is a pack of three 90+ games, sold for the price of 1, so add back 2.

Now with that correction, the Wii has 10 games with 90+ ratings. And that points out the problem of lasting value, totally unaccounted for by your metric. Game scores generally measure how good a game is while you're playing it, but completely ignore how long you'll be playing. There's no real difference between two games with a score of 90 where you'll play each for 10 hours and one game with a score of 90 that you'll play for 20 hours. Well, except the individual game has twice the value for what you pay yet counts half as much by your metric.

And that's the problem. What you're doing is similar to taking a bunch of objects, measuring their density, and summing the quantities. The result is meaningless. It will go up if you simply cut something in half. What you want to do is measure the mass, the actual entertainment value.

Re:Cel shading

[Gravatron]

Except most of the most beloved anime were those that pushed the art envelope, giving us amazing visuals to match the story.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[delinear]

My experience is pretty similar - we got a Wii the Christmas before last (well it was a gift to my other half, even though I was pretty sure she wouldn't play on it but I thought at least I might get some use out of it). We played it for a couple of days over Christmas while all the family was together but already after a few hours I was bored, and in terms of tactile response the controller felt cheap and uncomfortable to use for prolonged periods - we've not touched it since then (I was half tempted to try the new Motion Plus, but until the killer game comes along I think I'll pass).

Meanwhile I play my 360 regularly - I'd say the biggest difference is that the Wii bridges the gap between the non-gamer and the hard core gamer and lets them play together, but coming from the hard-core gamer end of that spectrum, playing the Wii solo just wouldn't be a rewarding experience for me. Playing it with the family slightly increases the fun quotient, but no more than, say, playing a board game together (and a lot more expensive in that case).

Having said that, I'm sure a lot of other people love the Wii (the sales figures seem to suggest that's the case), my biggest concern is that the more hardcore gaming console manufactures are looking at that much bigger pie and wondering how they can get a slice, I'd hate to not at least have the choice of a more "serious" gaming machine (other than going back to the configuration hell of PC gaming which, frankly, I don't have the time or stamina for these days).

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[Immerial]

Two factors to consider on this data point:

1. The order seems to match the order the consoles were released. A console out longer will have more games for it and a longer time for companies to refine their development process.
2. I place most of the blame for the lack of good games for the the Wii squarely on the publishers and not on the technical limitations of the console. Most did not take the platform seriously (some still do not) and therefore didn't develop good games for it. When the Wii started to sell like gangbusters they were caught flatfooted and just threw whatever junk they had together ('we gotta get in on this... this market is huge'). At least now it looks like some developers are now doing some serious work on the console.

It's true that there are technical limitations with the Wii but that doesn't mean you can't make fun games.

Re:Tapped out, eh?

[H0NGK0NGPH00EY]

If you know of any good games, please tell me.

In no particular order...

• de Blob
• Boom Blox (& Boom Blox: Bash Party)
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
• Elebits
• Little King's Story
• Wii Sports Resort
• Metroid Prime Trilogy
• Super Mario Galaxy
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii