03.30.07
open wide and say “wii”
Medal of Honor: Vanguard on the Wii is completely crap. That shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone; the Medal of Honor (EA insists on the horrible Yank spelling, for some reason) series has been on a downhill slide since the first game, and EA has so far demonstrated precisely zero understanding of how to develop games for Nintendo’s quirky alternate-control consoles.
It’s getting a bit upsetting, though, that every time I review a Wii game that turns out to be shit (see Far Cry: Vengeance for another excellent example), this is instantly seized as conclusive proof that the Wii itself is a disaster. If we’re going to judge the potential of a console based on its weakest titles, then frankly, we might as well pack our bags and go home - gaming is dead.
Equally, I find myself scratching my head a bit at the claims that the Wii is fucked because a) it’s not getting enough good games; b) it’s only getting good games from Nintendo’s first-party studios.
The former claim I can pretty much understand. There’s definitely been a drought in the first few months after launch, and Nintendo deserve a slap on the wrist for that. However, most consoles experience this to some extent, and I think the company has done a good job of throwing out videos and demonstrations of stuff coming in the back-end of the year that people are getting excited about. Still, it’s a bit annoying not to have a few more games for the little white wonder.
What’s curious is that the argument from the Nintendo-bashing contingent seems to be that the console won’t get enough AAA games - “much like the GameCube and the N64″. I’m not really sure what people are looking for, to be honest; AAA games every month? No console in history has had that. The GameCube - and the Xbox for that matter - was sustained by having four to six massive releases every year, as opposed to Sony’s approach of having six to ten huge releases surrounded by acres of pap. Four to six big games a year does me fine, as a consumer; I don’t really want to pay for more than that, nor would I have time to play more than that. If the Wii gets six massive games this year, I’ll be bloody happy, and I think most of its owners will be too.
The other side of the argument, however, is utterly batshit loco. Who cares if the Wii’s biggest games are all Nintendo games? If they’re great games, I don’t care if they’re made by Nintendo or by Bob the bloody Builder. Certainly, Nintendo’s games have a certain look and feel which is eminently suited to their hardware, and if you don’t like that, you don’t buy a Nintendo console - but the claim that the Wii is somehow doomed to failure because of the lack of solid support from the likes of EA and Activision is clearly nonsensical.
Sure, I don’t think anyone is arguing that Wii is going to supplant the PS3 as the console of choice for the hardcore late-teens early-twenties gamer. Hell, Nintendo itself readily admits that that’s not really what it’s trying to do. So why do people insist on trying to judge the console’s merits according to the desires of that demographic group? It’s like moaning that Snickers bars are a bit shit for people who don’t like sweet things. Or peanut allergy sufferers.
Anyway, it’s a bit depressing to see the company who made the console taking the stick for the crap efforts of a development team. It’s like walking out of a crap film and having a moan about the Odeon - utterly ridiculous, but apparently that’s how we roll in videogame circles these days.
IanC said,
March 30, 2007 at 3:11 pm
The Godfather and SSX Blur proove that EA can make games that use the Wii’s controls well.
Rob Fahey said,
March 30, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Fair point, actually - while I think we’ll probably have to agree to differ on The Godfather, I had completely forgotten that SSX Blur was actually really well done on the Wii. I’m still not convinced that they have the right approach to the console, since what they seem to be doing pretty much comes down to porting existing games with modified control systems, but you’re right - they’re doing it better than I give them credit for.
Keith Andrew said,
March 31, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I think people who worry about whether the good Wii titles are third-party or not are probably thinking about support, and the troubles both the GameCube and Nintendo 64 - for differing reasons - had attracting it.
Despite the enormous amount of optimism that surrounds any new Nintendo console in the run up to release, in the West I think we’ve hit a level where it’s GTA or bust; if Nintendo ever want to get back into that position of being the market leader, then they have to attract the big franchises. Franchises like Manhunt, funnily enough, which they’ve already (perhaps uncomfortably) managed to scoop.
But when it comes to the experience for the actual gamer, it doesn’t matter to me at all who makes the titles. For starter, I’m still Wii-less, and will remain so until either Mario Kart or F Zero hit the system.
Wrestlevania said,
April 2, 2007 at 9:48 am
“Four to six big games a year does me fine, as a consumer; I don’t really want to pay for more than that, nor would I have time to play more than that.”
Perfect–and I think most people would admit the same.
I hate this seeming obsession in certain quarters that you must be out buying games every month. Bollocks. Am I supposed to buy the highest scoring shit game every four weeks or so, just because there hasn’t been a Triple-A title released lately?
I’m more than happy with a staggered, bi-monthly - or even quarterly - release schedule of top flight games for my platform and here’s an example; I just bought an Xbox 360 on Friday last week with Gears, Crackdown and PGR3. That’s enough to see me through now until BioForge is released in August/September–if anything else major came out before then I’d either have to forgo that title or pickup BioForge at Christmas. And then that’s going to throw out Halo 3… and there’s not chance MS would risk loosing even a fraction of the playerbase when it comes to Halo 3.
So, what I’m getting around to repeating is that this “AAA every month or it’s fucked” mentality is complete crap, spouted by people with absolutely no concept of good business–or good taste.
(Incidentally, if anyone fancies shooting some aliens/criminals in the face of an evening, here’s my Gamertag is - cunningly - Wrestlevania. *whoring off*)