Many of you discount Summa for what he says about the Wii. You can just call him a Wii hater and assume that he was assaulted by Reggie when he was a young child. Yet after continually playing with my Wii since leaving the illustrious Joystiq, I've come to feel that the Wii is in grave danger.
And for all those who are wondering -- yes, Summa was right. No, this is not an April Fool's post.
I think the nail in the coffin for my Wii hating was when I got to see the Spider-Man 3 game for the Wii. Now, I fully understood the fact that they had two separate teams work on the different versions -- in fact, that made me hopeful for the Wii version. This meant that the Wii controls were actively being thought of, and that a lot of attention would be put into the game. When I finally got to play it, the controls weren't too bad. I had a bit of a tough time adjusting to webslinging, but after a while it felt natural. There were slight problems with getting it to recognize a quick succession of attempts to shoot my web, but I'd attribute that to me flailing about like an idiot.
The thing that really killed me was the graphics. No, I wasn’t expecting PS3 or 360 level graphics (although that would have been nice). I was expecting graphics at the level of the GameCube, but I was sorely mistaken. On the Wii, the game looked like it was early to mid PS2 graphics. What I saw in the game was well below God Hand and probably a step above Gungrave: Overdose. If the Wii can't even produce graphics that are as good as the last gen, isn't that a sign of serious trouble?
Spider-Man 3 certainly isn't the only one with this problem -- Red Steel has it too. It seems to me that games that are supposed to be realistic in it's artistic style are having problems on the Wii. Games like Excite Truck, Elebits, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl won't have so much of a problem, since they have stylized graphics that seem to work fine on the Wii. The problem is that not every game is going to have stylized graphics. This is one of those questions I should've asked: "Have there been difficulties in designing for the Wii graphically?"
Sure, this could be because the console is still in it's in infancy, but the problem lies in two factors -- one, that developers aren't able to come out of the gate and use the controls to a really good potential. I blame this on Nintendo's PR hype -- they showed footage of people diving all over the place while playing an FPS, and at launch we get Red Steel, followed shortly by Far Cry. Now, I'm afraid to pick up Medal of Honor: Vanguard for the Wii, without even looking at reviews, simply because I fear that I'll be buying a game that has similar controls to the previous two FPS games on the Wii. The second problem is that the Wii made such a drastic jump back in terms of graphical quality for some unknown reason. I can understand the Wii having some problems initially, and only being at a GameCube level, but with Spider-Man 3 and Red Steel, it's showing graphics that are piss-poor.
The fact that two separate development teams were necessary for the Xbox 360/PS3 version and the Wii version of Spider-Man 3 is a serious problem, since that means developers now need to put in more time in order to port their games to a third console. Normally, this won't be that bad, but not every game can guarantee a Spider-Man-like experience for the player. If the games don't sell as well as the publisher hoped, then it will give them less incentive to put out games for the Wii.
There's the possibility that this means that developers will come out with more inventive games for the Wii, but that's only one side of the coin. The other, and more likely, is that they will put less and less effort into what they produce on the Wii, creating a GameCube scenario all over again. Unless some real creativity pops up on the Wii, I'll be banking my money towards the 360 or PS3. What do you think, Joyst-er, Destructoid readers (I've got to get used to saying that)? Is Nintendo doomed to repeat it's GameCube mistakes?
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Many of you wanted to hear more about Spider-Man 3 for the Wii, and here are my thoughts: The game is a good effort, but I feel like the game doesn't have quite as much effort in it as it should. Miyamoto himself said that developers shouldn't put 3rd string people on developing games for the Wii, and that's the situation we have here with this game. I've said all I can about the graphics -- I'm not expecting something that's equivalent to the 360 or the PS3, but I want something that's as good as what the GameCube could put out.
The controls are somewhat clunky, as webslinging and combat are somewhat broad, but I can see a little improvement from what the launch titles have to offer. Webslinging takes a little while to get used to, but after about 10 minutes, the controls should feel fairly natural. I'm not so sure they'll stay with you, though, if you walk away from the game for a couple of days. The interactive cutscenes, by the very nature that you're doing movements with the Wiimote, are more engaging than their PS3/360 counterpart.
Contest:
7:37 PM on 04.01.2007
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![Weekend Reading: Why I'm worried about the Wii [Update] photo](http://www.destructoid.com/elephant//ul/30721-RedSteel.jpg)
Clown Shoes.
I'd flood the market with these things, while it's still fairly hot. Developers would have little choice to make games for it, if everyone had one. Time is Nintendo's greatest enemy.
but i don't have to remind you all. i'm just being captain obvious.
I waited in the frigid lines during Michigan's negative temps to get one opening day. Only to play it when im drunk yet im not to disappointed because it sparked my interest in console games again (since n64 other than ps2 for GranTur)
Will we see Nintendo move on from the Wii in a few years and make something graphical to me is the big question
To see a problem with having to have a separate team develop for the Wii than the PS3/360 is to reject innovation, and to beg for stagnation in the industry. What's the point in having 3 consoles if they're all *about* the same?
Graphically, yes, I am disappointed. But my 52 year old dad just played Wii Sports and Wario Ware with the kids for hours, and that is rad. If I even tried to explain Oblivion to him his head would explode.
Instead of blowing all the money they've made into advertising they need to R&D that shit and push out a really decent console...
Nintendo is starting to look more and more like its on the verge of producing novelty hardware/software at low cost solely for kids, unless they get their act together quick. There are few wiixclusives advertised that I am in any way excited about, and the online is gimped up the butt. That means my wii is most likely shelved 3 months between decent games, while my 360 is going to get the most play time until sony manages to get off their collective asses and introduce exclusives (or significantly better versions of games) that are worth my time and money.
Nintendo chose the right direction in terms of choosing to set itself completly apart from the powerhouses, but unless it maintains a good run of original IPs that make use of the systems unique capabilities, its blessings are going to soon be its curses.
Yes they know it is not as good as 360 and PS3 but they were saying how good it looked and that was only in 480i.
And about Red Steel, yes some of the graphics on it looks not so great but there are quite a few parts that look REALLY good. I am not sure what people are looking at when they say such things. and I know Wii doesn't have the BEST graphics ever, but I have yet to see something that as horrendous as what you editors are saying.
I got God of War 2 and it got like a 10 on graphics on a certain site, I played thru it at 480p and it was FAR from perfect graphics, and had some hiccups in the graphics, and yet EVERY Wii game (even if it looks REALLY REALLY nice) gets around a 7.5. I think...
TOO MANY reviewers and blog/website editors have it concreted in their minds that NEXT-GEN = UBER-W00T 1337 GRAFX
Yeah graphics are great and can mind blowing but it sounds like...whatever, this post is going to get 209374 posts and no one is going to read this post or most of the others. This "next" gen group makes me sick/annoyed and makes me think twice about considering buying a 360 or a PS3, Ill just save the money and buy a car or what not.
I know, I guess you can sum up the next five years in a crappy movie game. (The majority of movie games suck anyways). OMG, I guess I should sell my Wii on ebay for a profit now because the system sux...
This is a joke right? April Fools? Is the shine truly coming off of the Wii?
I demand instant gratification with a never ending string of stellar titles to keep me interested.
Sheesh, There have been several games that make good use of the Wii remote, the most recent God Father: Blackhand. The 360 took over 6 - 8 months to get some decent titles rolling out regularly.
Devs need some time to learn how to get the remote to work properly as well if they're doing half ass ports like Spiderman.
.. except smash bros' may force me to buy this, or.. just play at my friends house.
I'm guessing you or the people you were showing your wii off to (lol wii joke) still haven't played a glorious 1080i 360/ps3 game yet on a nice HD setup. C'mon. You know I'm right on that one.
oh and by the way what the fuck is clown shoes doing on Destructoid? Its an April Fools joke gone wrong!!!
You summed it up pretty good actually. 6 million consoles in 4 months. Fucking thing is still sold out everywhere, with lines at walmart every sunday. But, shit. Spiderman don't look good. The things a goner. Happy April 1.
"I'm guessing you or the people you were showing your wii off to (lol wii joke) still haven't played a glorious 1080i 360/ps3 game yet on a nice HD setup. C'mon. You know I'm right on that one."
I'm sure you're right. Seeing as MOST people have never played anything in glorious 1080i. Hell most people who own 360s, probably haven't played anything in 1080i. So yeah, people bitching about the graphics are gonna be the tiny percentage of people with large displays that make mincemeat out of 480P. I have 27 inch TV and the Wii looks great on it. SSX Blur and Excite truck both got "oohs and aaaahs" from the graphics. So yeah, it's all based on how big your TV is and what you're used to. Casual gamers think the Wii looks fine. I think the Wii looks fine. For the money, I think it's pretty damn good. I haven't seen a game that looks good enough to warrant buying a PS3.
Also, god forbid I use a game as an EXAMPLE as a general rule of thumb.
Zelda was awesome but more of the same, and Mario looks cool, Metroid kinda. Not enough to make me want to run out and buy a Wii right now. If they can pull off more original games and actually live up to some of the controller's potential, I'm on it.
Red Steel was such a disappointment, but we all kinda smelled that one coming.
We got the wii for nintendo games. period.
What the..
boy do i feel like an ass.
the virtual console...ha. i find it funny how i paid for games that i already own and already downloaded on my PC.
again, its just a novelty.
hopefully it's a temp for now. give it a shelf-life of 2 years max. by then, maybe nintendo will have a new system in the works. but honestly, i really doubt it.
here's a thought...nintendo as a third party developer?
But you did pay for them. So now I'll just sit here behind the safety of my computer screen and laugh at you, because there's nothing you can do about it and it makes me feel big.
Visually, if you looks at last gens GameCube games (Rogue Squadron, Twilight Princess) you can see there's a lot of power there that could be taken advantage of but never really was by some game developers.
But really... It's not Nintendo's fault, they're trying to do something good. It just those damned lazy game developers.
The graphics aren't very good. There's been times where it's decent, but if anyone has played "GT Pro Series", then they know that the Wii can produce some real bullsh*t for graphics. Looks like some SNES type sh*t. its awful.
but then again "its not about the graphics, its about the gameplay"...so wheres the gameplay then?
its nothing more than a side system, you HAVE to have a 360 or PS3 with it or else you will be bored as hell or forced to play crap....but w/e, its good for its price i guess...
I hate how that tends to happen with new systems. Lots of hype, not many games really worth playing for a year or so.
Please.
I think half the problem here is a desire for instant gratification. People must have the absolute best everything right away or it isn't even worth buying. The other half of the problem is the impatience of the average 'hard core' gamer. They want it now now now gimmie it now I want it I want it absolutely shingingly perfect.
The savage truth is that while many people just tout the Wii as a GC 1.5, that's really not the entire story. While it probably uses similar coding mechanics, I would wager that much of it has actually changed, and it is going to take most developers some time to get used to the new ways they need to code. All we are seeing is a post-release lull. The Xbox had it, the 360 had it, the PS2 had it, the PS3 has it, and so does the Wii. Release games are usually crap, which is what we saw with titles like Red Steel and Farcry: Vengance. Unfortunately, due to instant gratification, these titles alone are enough for some people (like Rob Summa and now Justin Murrray) to almost completely write off the system as a steaming pile, not content to at the very least give it a chance to prove itself.
We saw the same thing w/ the PS3 in it's infancy. People hated on the PS3 'cause the only thing worth playing was Resistance: Fall of Man. Now the titles like Motorstorm are being released, and with more titles in the pipe for release, people are now willing to at the very least give the PS3 the chance it deserves. People don't seem so willing to do the same for the Wii.
Seriously though. Nintendo seriously has to do something, and they seriously have to do something fast. Whoever made the comment about innovation over adaptation is right on the money.
And honestly? As much as I'm looking forward to Metroid Prime 3, I'm not that worried about playing FPS's on the Wii -- I can do that just fine, at my computer, with my mouse and keyboard.
The biggest hurdle that Nintendo is going to face is the novelty of their console. I would bet anyone dollars to dimes that the Wii will NOT be selling as fast next Christmas, unless they can really release some awesome games for it.
Second, I more than urge you to buy a Play Station 3. That system is up and coming and has the graphics, games and, control you truly need. Not only that but it is a Millions seller. The PS3=Win, and its time is now, dump your wii. WITH ME! and just get a PS3. This will solve all your problems.