What's Up with the Nintendo Wii?
Anyone noticed the recent dearth of intriguing, headline-grabbing games for the Nintendo Wii? Some 555,000 little white boxes leapt off store shelves in July U.S. sales, according to NPD data, and Nintendo certainly did brisk top 10 software sales with Wii Play, Mario Kart, and Wii Fit. But look a little closer -- those three games came out in February, April, and May, respectively. Scan July's top software SKUs and the 360 and PS3 snatched five spots between NCAA Football 09, Soul Calibur IV, and Civilization Revolution -- all July releases.
While that speaks well of Nintendo's ability to sell more of less, is it setting the company up for a saturation crash, when the demographic lode its cracked wide open eventually taps out?
Check out Gamestop online. The front page is a great big love letter to PC, 360, and P3 gamers. Other than the multi-platform Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, there's not a Wii game in sight. Click on Gamestop's Wii-specific link and it's like falling into a vat of vanilla. Mario Super Sluggers, victim of lackluster reviews, headlines the portal. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 and Guitar Hero: World Tour are ports. The only "bestselling" portal-splashed game is currently Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility.
Still awake?
The 360 has Gears of War 2 and Fable 2. The PS3 has Resistance 2 and Little Big Planet. Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria and Red Alert 3 and Wrath of the Lich King are incoming for PC gamers. Multi-platform majors include Crysis: Warhead (PC), Silent Hill: Homecoming (360, PS3), Dead Space (PC, 360, PS3), Far Cry 2 (PC, 360, PS3), Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3), Mirror's Edge (PC, 360, PS3), Tom Clancy's Endwar (PC, 360, PS3, PSP, DS), and Left 4 Dead (PC, 360). And that's just plucking from the pre-holiday lineup.
The Wii? Try de Blob, Samba de Amigo, Wario Land: Shake It!, Cooking Mama World Kitchen, and Wii Music. Wii Music? According to Shigeru Miyamoto, it's "more interesting than a video game." Maybe because it isn't a video game?
I can't wait to see how stuff like Fracture (360, PS3) and Rise of the Argonauts (PC, 360, PS3) and the new Prince of Persia (PC, 360, PS3, DS) game pan out. NBA 09: The Inside (PS3, PSP, PS2) and Lord of the Rings: Conquest (PC, 360, PS3, DS) and The Last Remnant (360) certainly have my curiosity halfway piqued.
But Twin Strike: Operation Thunder or Pitfall: The Big Adventure or Margot's Word Brain? Not so much.
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You seem to have conveniently not mentioned The Conduit, Madworld, House of Dead: Overkill, Cursed Mountain, Sonic and the Black Knight, Overlord: Dark Legend, Little Kings Story, Fragile, Red Steel 2, and Disaster: Day of Crisis.
Do a little research before you write a stupid, misinformed article.
You must have this article confused with another one, because I'm talking about games *this* year, not ones either somewhere off in 2009 or completely off the radar.
No one's even *previewed* several of those, and gauging their relevance is impossible.
Wow, you're right, Nintendo is lacking so-called killer games.
No, nevermind. I mean, have you ever considered that maybe those games are interesting to people if not just different. I clicked on each of the links provided and the ones of the wii seem more varied than all the other games you list. De blob looks like an acid trip, Wario looks mad, wii music looks like you'd play it after you got home and you just want to lie down, cooking mama might just give me a few ideas on what to cook.
Just look at all the games for the pc/xbox/ps3. It seems they all cater to the same demographic. It reminds me of Naruto fans. Well written show, but you know it's just going to be crazy over the top action scenes. looking at Fracture looks like looking at GEARS. Same with RotA and LotR. Also, has anyone noticed that RotA, LotR, and last remnants site look very much similar.
Point is, it's different. And if you aren't halfway piqued, well then enjoy the games you like.
The autor of this article seems to be a bit misinformed. Ok he like shooters. So lets see the shooter games for the wii for the rest of 2008: Call of Duty 5, Quantum of Solace, Brothers in Arms:Double Time and Disaster:Day of Crisis. The last for now only in europe it seems.
Other games: Force Unleashed, Dead Rising, Clone Wars, Sam&Max, Ferrari Challenge, Monster Lab, Crash Bandicoot:Mind over mutants, Sim City creator, Wario Land, Mushroom Men and de Blob ... etc.
The last two games have already received rave critics from tests of demo-versions. By the way where are decent jump&runs for xbox or ps3 this year? None? What a pity.
Since Nintendo suddenly announced Disaster:Day of Crisis in Europe, only two month before release, perhaps there will be more surprises on the way. And the next year will be obviously the biggest Wii-Year with many AAA 1th and 3rd-party titles on the way.
can't for the moment the wii is obsolete. all those people... hehehe.
almost had me buy one...
I have a feeling that Nintendo is gonna just spring games on us, that way it keeps speculators from hassling them and allows the consumer to decide for themselves, if we all listened to reviewers, we would be stuck with the same old games, and no one would ever try anything different. If Nintendo wants to spring games on us, I am all for that, especially because I was not a sucker who went out and bought a Wii in the first place...