"It'll be interesting in a year when the Wii has been out there and the non gamers either continue to play or get sick of Wii Sports/Wii Play and get rid of their Wii or if they'll actually end up buying more games and keeping their consoles."
Very few people would put down $250 for a video game console and then sell it six months later. It'd be a lot easier to just browse the aisles at Target or GameStop and try something else when the itch for novelty arrives.
Heck, I didn't get back into gaming until the middle of last year, and now I've got seven titles for the Wii already... which does not include Zelda, since I don't have the time to sink into it yet. There's plenty of good stuff for the Wii as it is, and the future looks even better.
Sure, the Wii has its share of shovelware (Open Season) and quick cash-in ports (Far Cry), but IMO a lot of titles are getting knocked by a few reviewers who don't want to take the time to learn the new motion-control paradigm and ding a game as a result.
Case in point: 1UP/EGM ripped on SSX Blur for poor controls, only to have their review mocked by gamers when videos appeared on YouTube disproving all of their points. Similarly, Gamespot dumped on Wii Sports, only to get humiliated when videos appeared showing the reviewers couldn't be bothered to get off their couch and actually play the games as intended.
At this point in time, I'm taking Wii game reviews from "professionals" with a big shaker of salt, and prefer to instead rely on word-of-mouth recommendations from people who actually own the games and play them.
"I've sunk a whole bunch of time -- many, many hours -- into Wii Sports. Bowling especially!"
What he said. I'm still playing Wii Sports to this day, usually 4 or 5 times a week. My bowling skill score keeps fluctuating around 980-1050, and I'm still working how to bowl strikes more consistently to raise it. Anyone who says Wii Sports gets dull after 20 minutes is talking out of their posterior.
And another fun long-playing Wii game that gets overlooked is Excite Truck. It takes a damn long time to S-rank all of the tracks in Mirror Mode (and unlock the final unlockable). Too many folks, however, simply win a few races and mistakenly assume they can "beat" the game in a few hours...
[b]Excite Truck[/b] is a game that gets overlooked by too many folks, IMO -- ignore the lackluster reviews, this is one of the best arcade racing titles since [i]San Francisco Rush.[/i] I've been playing it since December and am still working to S-rank all of the tracks on Super Excite level, and my "quick" 10-minute games turn into hour-long sessions as a result...
"not to downplay the Wii, I think its a really fun system, but most of the games simply aren't as feature filled."
If that were true, then feature-filled Wii games should be expected to cost more than $50. And yet I can find feature-loaded titles like Sonic and the Secret Rings (all-new for the Wii) and The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (with new Wii-exclusive missions and career paths) at the same $50 price point.
I'm sorry, but anyone who dismisses Wii Sports as "not much more than a demo" obviously hasn't played the game for more than ten minutes. Try getting Pro rank on one or two of the events before you try to diss it.
"btw, which of the WII racing games would people recommend (NFS, Excite Truck, 4x4 Monster or others)? I think the next game I'll get is a racing game (I am looking for a game with GOOD entertaining one player mode)."
Excite Truck, hands down. The two-player game is weak, but the one player game will have you unlocking stuff for weeks. Highly recommended if you like arcade racers (as opposed to real-life sims).
"What exactly are people doing with their Wii? People can't possibly still be playing WiiSports."
I'm still playing Wii Sports every day, mostly doing a quickie fitness test and maybe a game or two of bowling or tennis. Outside of that, my family also gets in games of ExciteTruck, WarioWare, and Wii Play (which is decent for a $10 disc), along with Super Mario Bros. on the Virtual Console.
I admit it's a little light at the moment, but Sonic and the Secret Rings and SSX: Blur are coming within the next few weeks, so I'm not hurting for deeper games.
"Why would it be a bad thing to link to vgcharts? They essentially just archive Media-Create and NPD's sales charts and have some (limited) functionality to compare the data..."
Actually, IIRC the owner of the vgcharts site has admitted that he regularly "massages" the data to be "consistent" with whatever "trends" he sees. While it's not like the numbers are pulled from whole cloth, it's sufficiently unreliable that its results should be disregarded IMO.
I've been stuck on "Jumping Jack Flash" with the normal difficulty in Elite Beat Agents. That third verse is a killer, and I can barely limp along to the fourth...
Fortunately, scuttlebutt is that John Lassetter has decreed an end to all future Disney "cheapquels" (aside from the few that were in the pipeline when he first entered the job), so we should be sequel-free by late 2007/early 2008.
"I was hoping that it wouldn't be the case with the Wii, since presumably they are much easier to build"
Unless Nintendo has bred Pikimin that can assemble the components in seconds, not bleepin' likely. After all, installing a CD-ROM drive into a case takes the same amount of time as installing a Blu-ray drive.
"At least in the case of Wii Sports, that doesn't work as well as it sounds. You *can* do it, but the movements are a lot less natural. Getting up and moving around makes the games a lot easier to play, which helps keep you on your feet."
True dat. I play Wii Sports on a daily basis, because it's fun for quick bursts, and I like to pretend the Fitness Age test actually has merit.;-) But when I try to play using just wrist flicks instead of full-body motions, my performance drops significantly. Might as well get up, get into the game, get a better score, and not look like a toolbox in the process.
It's no different than playing Duck Hunt with the Zapper. Sure, you can stand right next to the screen and get perfect marksmanship, but why?
The problem is that while you and I may define "exigent circumstances" as something truly dire (like the typical emminent terrorist attack), I -- and a lot of suspiciously cynical folks -- believe that Bush defines "exigent circumstances" as any damn selfish reason that pops into his head.
Given Bush's (in)ability to govern over the last six years, I wouldn't trust him with any authority greater than Barney Fife's.
Slashdot Mirror
"It'll be interesting in a year when the Wii has been out there and the non gamers either continue to play or get sick of Wii Sports/Wii Play and get rid of their Wii or if they'll actually end up buying more games and keeping their consoles."
Very few people would put down $250 for a video game console and then sell it six months later. It'd be a lot easier to just browse the aisles at Target or GameStop and try something else when the itch for novelty arrives.
Heck, I didn't get back into gaming until the middle of last year, and now I've got seven titles for the Wii already... which does not include Zelda, since I don't have the time to sink into it yet. There's plenty of good stuff for the Wii as it is, and the future looks even better.
Sure, the Wii has its share of shovelware (Open Season) and quick cash-in ports (Far Cry), but IMO a lot of titles are getting knocked by a few reviewers who don't want to take the time to learn the new motion-control paradigm and ding a game as a result.
Case in point: 1UP/EGM ripped on SSX Blur for poor controls, only to have their review mocked by gamers when videos appeared on YouTube disproving all of their points. Similarly, Gamespot dumped on Wii Sports, only to get humiliated when videos appeared showing the reviewers couldn't be bothered to get off their couch and actually play the games as intended.
At this point in time, I'm taking Wii game reviews from "professionals" with a big shaker of salt, and prefer to instead rely on word-of-mouth recommendations from people who actually own the games and play them.
"I've sunk a whole bunch of time -- many, many hours -- into Wii Sports. Bowling especially!"
What he said. I'm still playing Wii Sports to this day, usually 4 or 5 times a week. My bowling skill score keeps fluctuating around 980-1050, and I'm still working how to bowl strikes more consistently to raise it. Anyone who says Wii Sports gets dull after 20 minutes is talking out of their posterior.
And another fun long-playing Wii game that gets overlooked is Excite Truck. It takes a damn long time to S-rank all of the tracks in Mirror Mode (and unlock the final unlockable). Too many folks, however, simply win a few races and mistakenly assume they can "beat" the game in a few hours...
The only Nintendo console to be sold at a loss, from what I heard, was the Gamecube -- and the loss was only $10 per unit.
"What really pisses me off is the lack of units online."
There are units for sale online -- but they sell out in a few minutes...
[b]Excite Truck[/b] is a game that gets overlooked by too many folks, IMO -- ignore the lackluster reviews, this is one of the best arcade racing titles since [i]San Francisco Rush.[/i] I've been playing it since December and am still working to S-rank all of the tracks on Super Excite level, and my "quick" 10-minute games turn into hour-long sessions as a result...
Quick, Mr. Iwata! Wave your magic Wii-materializing wand! We need another 5 million consoles!
"Innovative controls don't begin until we say so."
--Kaz Hirai
"But do you get to mime the strangling and neck-breaking actions with the wiimote?"
No, that's The Godfather for the Wii.
If it plays as good as Sonic and the Secret Rings did, I'll be happy.
Since he resigned of his own free will (and was not fired), it appears you're now lacking a point...
"not to downplay the Wii, I think its a really fun system, but most of the games simply aren't as feature filled."
If that were true, then feature-filled Wii games should be expected to cost more than $50. And yet I can find feature-loaded titles like Sonic and the Secret Rings (all-new for the Wii) and The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (with new Wii-exclusive missions and career paths) at the same $50 price point.
I'm sorry, but anyone who dismisses Wii Sports as "not much more than a demo" obviously hasn't played the game for more than ten minutes. Try getting Pro rank on one or two of the events before you try to diss it.
"btw, which of the WII racing games would people recommend (NFS, Excite Truck, 4x4 Monster or others)? I think the next game I'll get is a racing game (I am looking for a game with GOOD entertaining one player mode)."
Excite Truck, hands down. The two-player game is weak, but the one player game will have you unlocking stuff for weeks. Highly recommended if you like arcade racers (as opposed to real-life sims).
Cars is an okay racer and sandbox game if you're six years old.
If you're old enough to read Slashdot, go get ExciteTruck instead. Best arcade racer I've played since San Francisco Rush 2049.
"What exactly are people doing with their Wii? People can't possibly still be playing WiiSports."
I'm still playing Wii Sports every day, mostly doing a quickie fitness test and maybe a game or two of bowling or tennis. Outside of that, my family also gets in games of ExciteTruck, WarioWare, and Wii Play (which is decent for a $10 disc), along with Super Mario Bros. on the Virtual Console.
I admit it's a little light at the moment, but Sonic and the Secret Rings and SSX: Blur are coming within the next few weeks, so I'm not hurting for deeper games.
"Why would it be a bad thing to link to vgcharts? They essentially just archive Media-Create and NPD's sales charts and have some (limited) functionality to compare the data ..."
Actually, IIRC the owner of the vgcharts site has admitted that he regularly "massages" the data to be "consistent" with whatever "trends" he sees. While it's not like the numbers are pulled from whole cloth, it's sufficiently unreliable that its results should be disregarded IMO.
I've been stuck on "Jumping Jack Flash" with the normal difficulty in Elite Beat Agents. That third verse is a killer, and I can barely limp along to the fourth...
Fortunately, scuttlebutt is that John Lassetter has decreed an end to all future Disney "cheapquels" (aside from the few that were in the pipeline when he first entered the job), so we should be sequel-free by late 2007/early 2008.
"What they could have used is a co-op mode.... one person on camera, the other w/ the zapper."
Uhhhh.... how about starting a one-player game, then giving the remote to one player, and the nunchuk to the other?
"I was hoping that it wouldn't be the case with the Wii, since presumably they are much easier to build"
Unless Nintendo has bred Pikimin that can assemble the components in seconds, not bleepin' likely. After all, installing a CD-ROM drive into a case takes the same amount of time as installing a Blu-ray drive.
"At least in the case of Wii Sports, that doesn't work as well as it sounds. You *can* do it, but the movements are a lot less natural. Getting up and moving around makes the games a lot easier to play, which helps keep you on your feet."
;-) But when I try to play using just wrist flicks instead of full-body motions, my performance drops significantly. Might as well get up, get into the game, get a better score, and not look like a toolbox in the process.
True dat. I play Wii Sports on a daily basis, because it's fun for quick bursts, and I like to pretend the Fitness Age test actually has merit.
It's no different than playing Duck Hunt with the Zapper. Sure, you can stand right next to the screen and get perfect marksmanship, but why?
The problem is that while you and I may define "exigent circumstances" as something truly dire (like the typical emminent terrorist attack), I -- and a lot of suspiciously cynical folks -- believe that Bush defines "exigent circumstances" as any damn selfish reason that pops into his head.
Given Bush's (in)ability to govern over the last six years, I wouldn't trust him with any authority greater than Barney Fife's.
"True enough, but there are other ways to suck them in."
Not with all those buttons and thumbpads, they won't...
Quite simply, this is why the Wii will come on top. There is no way you can do that with an XBox 360 or a PS3.