It’s nearly Xmas time, and I’ve just realised that this year, for what seems like the first time in ages, there will be no Nintendo games on my Xmas list.
I was really pro-Wii in 2006 – with Wii Sports and Wii Play, Nintendo seemed poised on the cusp of something quite wonderful and revolutionary for gaming. It all felt so fresh again. Twilight Princess was a good game, even though its use of the Wii controller was fairly limited. A small drought followed, but last XMas, Super Mario Galaxy made up for it all and poured pure delight down the front of my vest. It was truly worth owning a Wii just for that one game.
Come winter this year, nada. Wii Music looks very much like Wii Fit; it’s not really a game, but differs from the latter title in that it doesn’t seem to serve any useful purpose except to populate your living room with dodgy MIDI synth versions of nursery rhymes. Might be ok for kids, but of zero interest to me. Apart from that, there’s the usual avalanche of crappy licensed tie-in games, and cut-down ports of cross-platform games, and that’s really it.
Nintendo’s XMas 2008 offering, what little of it there is, is rubbish.
Of course, they don’t care because their products will still continue to sell by the skipload despite this. Wii Sports and Wii Play refuse to be budged from the charts after 2 years, suggesting Nintendo is making most of its money from a very small handful of signature games and the console itself.
I defended the Wii from accusations of gimmickery when it was released, but I think I was wrong now. I don’t regret buying one, after all SMG was a crowning moment in my 2007, but it definitely hasn’t lived up to my expectations, and the total lack of anything new & interesting at the most important time of the year epitomises that. The GameCube disappointed by being too unsuccessful, is the Wii now disappointing by being too successful at selling on it’s old games?
November 30th, 2008 at 1:17 am
You know what might me actually buy a Wii? Pikmin 3! Lol.
I’m visiting my american inlaws at the moment, and their local walmart was still pretty well stocked up with Wii’s and Ds. Stark constrast with last year… and I did see more than one or two in peoples shopping carts.
November 30th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
It pains me to say this, but I actually agree with much of your post…
I too will be having a Wii (game) free Christmas (the DS is another story). Whilst I’m sure that there are great games on the way, it is an extremely poor offering from Nintendo this Christmas. Wii Music does not interest me in the least, I’m much happier with Guitar Hero: World Tour (on the PS3). As for Animal Crossing, I’ve already playing pretty much the same game on the Gamecube and the DS and have no desire to play it yet again (although it was fun the first time).
It really does seem that Nintendo are riding too much on a casual wave and ignoring to some degree their loyal fans.
I just hope that 2009 brings some fresh games for gamers.
December 1st, 2008 at 9:50 am
Yeah, with the Wii Nintendo seem determined to re-run every franchise they have, in most cases with very little change.
I know you loved Mario Kart on the Wii but I felt the same way about that as you feel about Animal Crossing – that I didn’t need to play the same game again with minor tweaks. I suppose it makes sense, since most of their new customers never owned a GameCube so they won’t have the same feeling of deja-vu, but for people who owned a GC it’s all pretty underwhelming.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
The halcyon days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFlcqWQVVuU
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Lol – someone’s had too much sugar