Nintendo = Innovation.
Everyone knows this. Time and time again, they have proven that, despite not having the enormous financial resources Sony and Microsoft enjoy, they are capable of not only surviving in the gaming industry, but also causing it to grow single handedly. The DS is selling like hot cakes. Undoubtedly the Wii will, too. For all of you who worry about its inferior graphical capabilities, the sheer ingenuity of the controller alone is enough to sell the unit. Forget the Virtual Console. Forget the backward compatibility. Screw the Wii channels. To hell with WiiConnect24 -- which is probably going to turn out to be a kick-ass online service by next year. The Wiimote alone would suffice. But should it have to?
So, instead of focusing on the negative aspects such as the lack of a hard drive, inability to support resolutions above 480p, or positive aspects such as the controller and the massive catalog of Virtual Console games, I’m going to try and talk about one of the other glaring (yet, easily repairable) issues with the console.
The lack of RPGs.
Let’s be honest here. The RPG genre is undoubtedly the most popular in gaming. RPGs are at least half (if not more) the reason behind the success of the PS2. The
Final Fantasy line, the
Baldur’s Gate games, the
Suikoden games, the
Shin Megami Tensei titles … I could go on all day.
RPGs sell consoles. Sure, action, strategy, sports and racing all have their own fan base, but who DOESN’T play RPGs? The PlayStation 3’s list of upcoming role-playing games is fairly long. The new
Final Fantasy games are, of course, right at the top. They’re followed very closely by
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,
Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom, all three of which are launch titles. Of course, the list doesn’t end there … there’s a lot more stuff slated for 2007, and this list will, no doubt, continue to grow nearing the launch of the PS3.
“So, how many does the Wii have?” you ask?
Four.
Yup. That’s it. Four. Furthermore,
Marvel Ultimate Alliance and
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors are launch titles, but the other two --
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers and
Fire Emblem --are listed as TBA 2007 and Q2 2007, respectively. What the hell is up with that?
Now, the Wiimote is great and all, but if the darned thing is going to restrict Wii games to mostly Action and FPS titles, one tends to wonder if it is, indeed, going to be the secret to Nintendo’s success or just a thorn in their side. Mind you, people have called the Wiimote a double-edged sword before, but only because the concept is so new and crazy. Did anyone even pause to consider that if the console seems so well suited for Action, Adventure and FPS titles, it might just end up being restricted to only those?
This brings me to another point. Everyone’s been going on about how the Wii is only approximately twice as powerful as the GameCube, and doesn’t even come close in terms of sheer power to the 360 or PS3. Well, all the more reason they should focus a little more on RPGs. We’ve all seen first hand that role-playing games don’t need drop-dead gorgeous graphics in order to be captivating. Look at
FFVII … look at the games Bioware produced using their Infinity engine. Hell, look at all the role-playing titles on the GBA!
Come
ON, Nintendo! Where’s the RPG love? There’s already a whole bunch of franchises that could be ported to or "Wii-made" on the Wii. Granted, ports are usually a dirty, half-assed affair, but hey, they’re better than nothing (I played both
FFVII and
FFVIII on the PC, just so you know)! And they’d suffice until someone decides to start making new titles for the system, seeing as how GameCube owners missed out on a lot of good role-playing titles, too.
I hope someone over at the big N takes notice of this and gets to work on fixing the problem. Unlike the “inferior” hardware, this particular issue is much easier to rectify.
Contest:
10:35 AM on 10.25.2006
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