The Wii: It is a Phenomenon Known as Déjà Vu
By Jonathan on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 10:14 PM PST In Nintendo, Nintendo
Recently I was thumbing through the latest collection of Penny Arcade comics, titled Birds are Weird, when I came across this comic from four years ago. Suddenly I felt an almost blinding sense of déjà vu…because I realized the same goddamn thing was happening all over again with the Wii.
The last game I bought for the Wii was Super Paper Mario, back when I first got my system at the beginning of April. The next game I would even consider buying would be Mario Strikers Charged, which isn’t due out until July 30. So let’s see: I bought my last Wii game at the start of April…April, May, June, July…that’s four months between two good games all over again!
And what’ve we got between those: Mediocre games based on movies (Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman 3), remakes of older games (Scarface, Resident Evil 4, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon), and some games that are just a lot of mini-games crammed into one (Big Brain Academy, Mario Party 8)? All these games are barely worth a rental.
So we’ve got Mario Strikers Charged to look forward to, and then Metroid Prime 3: Corruption a month later. And then what? Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy are due out sometime in 2007, but there’s still no official release date, meaning we probably won’t be seeing them until Christmas time. So we get two good games and then nothing for almost four more months. Again.
And we’re still not seeing much strong third-party support as of yet. We’re hearing some companies vowing more support for the Wii, but we probably won’t see if they make good on it until next year. So once again, the only games worth buying for Nintendo’s console are the Marios, the Zelda, the Metroids, and the like.
What the hell, Nintendo? You’re on top of the console heap, but that doesn’t mean you you can rest on your laurels now. You’ve managed to get people playing video games who normally wouldn’t, and that is commendable. But now that you’ve got people using your system, you need to hold their interest; and that means more games. It’s no wonder people are already starting to accuse your system of just being so much hype.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 aren’t taking your sudden rise to power sitting down. They’re still pumping out great-looking games like Shadowrun, The Darkness, and Overlord. And they’re just getting warmed up; the games they’ve got planned for the future look even better. Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3, GTA IV: the list just goes on and on. They’re also starting to secure exclusives right and left, from Beautiful Katamari to Haze.
The sad thing is, I really want Nintendo to succeed. They’ve built a reputation of being innovative, even in the face of opposition. Now that it’s finally worked out for them, I’d hate to see them lose that support by repeating old mistakes.
Must be one of those hardcore gamers complaining again. Those mediocre games are on the next Gen systems. Sonic was the best of the lot. Madden was better then the Next Gen versions. Scarface is a blast, and so was the godfather. RE4 has rave reviews and I won’t even discuss the goodies I downloaded from VC. 360 had a whole year and all I can think of that was great was Gears of War and after that Forza. Thats a long time between great titles. PS3 best came out at launch and that’s it. Take one look at the may sales charts and you see Forza and thats it, Guitar hero is a remake of an older PS2 game, Spiderman 3 is based on a movie and C&C is an OK copy of a PC game. The other games you mentioned didn’t put a dent on the sales chart. I really see no reason for people to keep posting these blogs complaining about a system that is doing better job of putting out games people want to buy and play. Come back with an article when the data backs up your statements.
so true and so sad
I’d say the Wii doesn’t start being a good, solid contender (game wise) until at least Fall, when games such as Metroid Prime 3, SSB: Brawl, etc. appear. But even then that’s pretty “iffy”.
The real problem here is that as gamers we are both disgruntled and jaded. Just like gas prices, these consoles cost more and more yet consistantly deliver the same experiences over and over. A true gamer is never satisfied with today’s tech. we are constantly looking forward to the next great game or system and are seldom rewarded. Our joy comes in small morsels and our disipointements in gigantic main courses. It’s sad, but such is the life of the true gamer. – PS… this was all written with a wii-mote(man is my hand tired!!!).
UH OH LULZ!!!!
……….$hit Pickle
I think it’s just that people get higher and higher expectation for games. It’s not that lesser good games are coming out, nor is it that games are coming out further and further apart, it’s just that all of us eventually raise our expectations for games in that, games that may have been considered “good” back a few years are now complete crap and games that were awesome back then no longer have the same hype, and games with numbers past 3 are more or less living off the same hype that’s gotten them that far. We lose sight of the other games that are still decent, but just not as good as the monster ones. You can find lots of reviews of games that you’ve never even heard of (or at least never considered purchasing) in a lot of places that get high scores and praised by the author of the review, but you’ll never see them in the top 10 games of anything.
Thing is we all like difrent games. not evrybody can buy a game often. Since before the wii came out people (even nintendo) though it will fail then the e3 changed their minds. when the ball gets rolling more good games will come out more often
What are u web editors ON ABOUT?? I want the Wii to win WTF!! It wont win, at least not in the real gamers market. It’s a fun cute console they should have put it out 2 years ago. There are no serious games out for it and it’s childish. COME ON PS3 to beat ALL rivals. The next GTA and IV wont even b good enuf for the xbox3shitty they’ll have to downscale. PS3 is light years ahead of its time. The xbox3shitty shld have been put out when the ps2 had just past it’s peak.
Why nobody picks on Nintendo DS or compare its power with PSP, because it’s simply a succeess and full stop, nothing to argue about, and despite being out for 2 years or so it still manages to outsell PS3, 360, Wii and any other console in the market.
I think the Wii will follow the same road of the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo fanboys, just be patiente and feel sorry for Sony fanboys.
I find it interesting for people to clamor on about the PS3
it can even muster 100k sales in a month. If we all rem about a year ago al developers were stating that development funds would be dedicated to the 360 and the PS3 and what ever was left over would go to the Revolution
“the Wii’s original/development name”. Now that the Wii and the title to play at any party any were Wii sports of all things is cresting over 400 k each month and the closest competitor in the home console Biz the 360 is onlydoing 180 k they have reallocated funds and started canceling titles for theother consoles that are not too far into development as the entire industry was wrong about which console would dominate. No one saw this kind of
Ezplosion coming not even Nintendo saw it. So all you broken
hearted sony fans ” Im lookingat you John” and hopeful 360 fans buckle up and enjoy the highdef graphics. I will be playing the best titles of 07 on my Wii. When 08 roles around and the Nintendo is still slam scrumping
sony and MS you may want to drop[ the pride and join the ride.