My Gaming Regret

One of the biggest regrets in my short lifespan was selling my Wii to pay for my very own Playstation 3.

Before others bash me for essentially saying the Wii is better than the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, you need to understand who I am. I’m the type of person that enjoys a cartoony game more than realism. I hate realistic games, I live real life, and it’s boring. Too much work, too many emotional issues. When I go home, I don’t want to play more real life, I want to play to ESCAPE real life. And that’s what the Wii did for me. While the motion controls were sloppy at times, when used properly it worked. Does anyone remember the first time they shook the Wii Remote? I sure do, and it was magical!



I bought my Wii in 2007, and I played Wii Sports for 2 months. It got boring after a while, so I thought to myself I’d save some money to buy more games. So I did. Super Smash Brothers Brawl with my friends is STILL my new year’s tradition. And Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite console game of all time. I played some other games, like Wii Sports Resort, and while not all were my cup of tea, I liked them enough. No More Heroes is still a game I miss.



As the Wii hit 2010, I played that bloody thing so much it broke, and I bought a new one from my uncle. It was magical, for one, because all my data was gone. A fresh slate for my Galaxy and Klonoa save files? Sign me up! I played those games to completion AGAIN. I even got extra remotes, and I loved playing New Mario Bros with my brothers, who had not as much fun as me, but still fun.



2011 was the year everything seemed to drop. Not that there were no good games; I played Skyward Sword a lot, but everything seemed amiss. So I played some games I missed. Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Sonic Colors, Twilight Princess, Little Kings Story, Klonoa, and Red Steel 2 are some examples. I liked them, but nothing caught my attention. World of Goo was amazing on Wiiware, but the backlog was beaten, and then came the shock to me.



It was July 2012, and the Wii U was on the horizon, giving me Nintendo excitement. I never played my Wii anymore, and our old family Playstation was sold so my brothers could buy 2 Xbox 360’s. My Wii was something I took everywhere. I had amassed the perfect library of games, like both Super Mario Galaxy’s, Zelda titles, Metroid Other M (I liked it) and a myriad of third party games such as Klonoa, Rayman Origins, and much more. However, I missed my PlayStation 3, and I did the unthinkable: I sold my Wii for PlayStation 3 money.



I didn’t look back, playing God of War, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and enjoying titles like Darksiders, and crying while playing Journey. But something struck at me while playing those games… nothing smacked my heart while playing. By that, I mean nothing really drove me to play it The Wii, while hugely underpowered, was special. Like that one cousin who may say weird things, but he’s still the fun one.



Nintendo was my childhood, and I think they always will be, because they represent to me what gaming is all about: fun. Some games on PS3 are fun (nobody can look me in the eyes and tell me Uncharted or God of War isn’t fun) but it brought along something I didn’t expect: maturity. The Walking dead is now of the most mature games I think I’ve ever played, and while Dishonored was my game of the year, it made me question my sanity the more I played it. I play games to escape, and the gritty realism isn’t cutting it anymore. I need magic.



My Wii U should be in my hands either Friday or Monday. If the magic is lost, I have no clue if I will be able to go back to games. I am growing older, of course, but I still feel the same way when I play Mario 64 as I did when I was a toddler. I can’t wait for the next generation, but HD really isn’t the captivation anymore. Nintendo needs video games to prove the potential of the Wii U.



Judging from last generation, I think they will do just fine.