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I know it’s the popular and trendy thing to lavish Nintendo and the Wii with copious amounts of praise right now. I will not be doing that. I’m actually quite disappointed in it. I also cringe a bit when I hear people parroting over and over again how innovative Nintendo is being.
Nintendo is NOT being innovative. They are doing the same thing they have always done year after year. Repackage the same outdated hardware again and again with a new coat of paint and get people to buy it.
Like the how the Game Boy became the Game Boy Lite and Game Boy Color. Which were then followed by the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro (which are all based on the SNES BTW). Not to mention the various colors they all came in. “Whoa! The Game Boy now comes in Neon Pink and Ice Blue! I have to get a new one!”
Now there’s the DS which unsurprisingly became the DS Lite. Both of which are basically a handheld N64 you control with an annoying little stick and touch screen. That reminds me, I love Zelda games. LOVE them. I HATE having to drag Link around with that stupid little stick in Phantom Hour Glass. A touch screen is also nothing new. Tiger Electronics Game Com had a touch screen and stylus and predates the DS by seven years. Plus Nintendo themselves had dual screen LCD hand held games in the 80s. So that’s also nothing new.
Now my rant comes back to the “innovative” Wii. Let me start by saying motion sensing is not new and motion sensing is not innovative. The Atari 2600 had a motion sensing controller and the PC already had one nearly ten years ago. Motion sensing is an annoying gimmick.
Motion control is just not responsive enough or precise as a dual analog control. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve thought to myself how much better and less frustrating a game would be if I could just control it with the damn analog sticks and button presses instead of shaking and wiggling the controllers around.
Not to mention the sheer annoyance factor of the Wii waggle syndrome where you have to shake the controllers like a friggin jack hammer to perform certain actions . So popular this recent motion sensing fad has become it is even being shoe horned into another system’s hard core games and totally messing them up. (I’m talking to you Lair.)
Then there’s the Wii’s total lack of graphical prowess. The Game Cube wasn’t exactly cutting edge last generation and is really showing its age now. The Wii is basically an over clocked Game Cube with a bit more RAM . Even though the Wii is an enhanced Game Cube, it is still less powerful than the first XBOX. Forget it being “next-gen.” It’s not even as powerful as a last- gen system. So we have games looking at best like high end Game Cube Games (Metroid and Mario Galaxy) to worst looking like games that would have been ugly on the Sega Dreamcast.
Okay, I feel better now. I like Nintendo, I really do, and I love their games (especially Zelda and Metroid) and I’ve been buying their systems and games since the first days of the NES and will continue to do so. (I will say the day they make you control a Metroid game with that Wii Fit board is the day I stop buying Nintendo games.) I’m just getting frustrated by the sheer glut of just inexcusably bad games (Nintendo Seal of Quality my arse), abysmal controls, underpowered outdated hardware and the undeserved praise they’re getting for it.
Nintendo is NOT being innovative. They are doing the same thing they have always done year after year. Repackage the same outdated hardware again and again with a new coat of paint and get people to buy it.
Like the how the Game Boy became the Game Boy Lite and Game Boy Color. Which were then followed by the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro (which are all based on the SNES BTW). Not to mention the various colors they all came in. “Whoa! The Game Boy now comes in Neon Pink and Ice Blue! I have to get a new one!”
Now there’s the DS which unsurprisingly became the DS Lite. Both of which are basically a handheld N64 you control with an annoying little stick and touch screen. That reminds me, I love Zelda games. LOVE them. I HATE having to drag Link around with that stupid little stick in Phantom Hour Glass. A touch screen is also nothing new. Tiger Electronics Game Com had a touch screen and stylus and predates the DS by seven years. Plus Nintendo themselves had dual screen LCD hand held games in the 80s. So that’s also nothing new.
Now my rant comes back to the “innovative” Wii. Let me start by saying motion sensing is not new and motion sensing is not innovative. The Atari 2600 had a motion sensing controller and the PC already had one nearly ten years ago. Motion sensing is an annoying gimmick.
Motion control is just not responsive enough or precise as a dual analog control. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve thought to myself how much better and less frustrating a game would be if I could just control it with the damn analog sticks and button presses instead of shaking and wiggling the controllers around.
Not to mention the sheer annoyance factor of the Wii waggle syndrome where you have to shake the controllers like a friggin jack hammer to perform certain actions . So popular this recent motion sensing fad has become it is even being shoe horned into another system’s hard core games and totally messing them up. (I’m talking to you Lair.)
Then there’s the Wii’s total lack of graphical prowess. The Game Cube wasn’t exactly cutting edge last generation and is really showing its age now. The Wii is basically an over clocked Game Cube with a bit more RAM . Even though the Wii is an enhanced Game Cube, it is still less powerful than the first XBOX. Forget it being “next-gen.” It’s not even as powerful as a last- gen system. So we have games looking at best like high end Game Cube Games (Metroid and Mario Galaxy) to worst looking like games that would have been ugly on the Sega Dreamcast.
Okay, I feel better now. I like Nintendo, I really do, and I love their games (especially Zelda and Metroid) and I’ve been buying their systems and games since the first days of the NES and will continue to do so. (I will say the day they make you control a Metroid game with that Wii Fit board is the day I stop buying Nintendo games.) I’m just getting frustrated by the sheer glut of just inexcusably bad games (Nintendo Seal of Quality my arse), abysmal controls, underpowered outdated hardware and the undeserved praise they’re getting for it.
when the PS3 comes out with more games I'll get on too
-Tallahassee 
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Two things have kept me away from the Wii: my worry that the standard definition games wouldn't look that great on a big HDTV, and that after the novelty of the system wore off, it would not get much use (I've heard many people complain about this). Of course, if my son was old enough, I'm sure I would have ended up getting one anyway, but hopefully by the time he gets a bit older to enjoy games, Nintendo will put something out that can handle high def.
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