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Should Nintendo Wii Owners Settle For So Much Less?

August 27, 2009 in Blog comments 4

From terrible third-party support to shovelware to downgraded ports to a lacking online service, the Nintendo Wii has recieved quite a bit of flak over the years. But are these complaints really unwarranted? Should Nintendo owners settle for what Nintendo are currently offering, or should they be demanding more? HDwarriors.com takes a look...

Nintendo, through their various policies and marketing strategies have built a consumer atmosphere of lowered expectations, even as they achieve record sales. While the company is doing quite well right now, is everything about this strategy sound?

First thing's first. Even though the Wii is (comparatively speaking), an underpowered console, this isn't the issue, though of course this is an aspect. No, the main issue here is the question of why Nintendo gamers have bought into this strategy, settle for so much less, and have ever falling levels of hope and expectation.
Miss Razz via hdwarriors.com »
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  • 3
    Dine_Agoti Aug 27, 09
    Personally, it wouldn't take much for them to convince me to buy the only Nintendo console that I have yet to own, the Wii. An online service (somewhat) comparable to XBL and PSN would do it. Forget an appropriate price tag, non-gimmicky games, and the expulsion of anti-gaming concepts like Demo Play; decent online capability is honestly all I'd need.

    But that won't ever happen. Why? Because casual/non-gamers do not desire online play. I may be a "gamer," but I am not the target audience of the Wii. How topsy-turvy.
  • 1
    kokushishin Aug 28, 09
    Summary: BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

    I'm sorry, but if you have to rely on "big name" titles, you are not hardcore or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

    I'm sure improvements can be made, but no one is ever happy with online play.
    • 1
      Dine_Agoti Aug 28, 09
      I'm not sure how "big name titles" come into play here. Are you referring to the great number of multiplatform titles that are not released on the Wii for a plethora of reasons, one of which being that the system isn't powerful enough to handle said games? I think most would consider that a fairly legitimate flaw of the Wii. As terrific as Mario *insert object/sport/random word here* 5 is, I'm pretty sure most Wii owners would love to play games like Bioshock, CoD4/WaW/MW2, Oblivion, Final Fantasy XIII, and Arkham Asylum without having the games significantly downgraded (if they even makes it to the console at all).

      And as an owner of both a PS3 and a 360, I have to say that I am vastly happier with PSN/XBL than I would ever be with the online service of the Wii. I know this because although I do not own a Wii, I have played one extensively (my brother and I swap games and consoles quite a bit, and he owns a Wii). I would go down the list of things that make the Wii horrendous as an online machine, but I'll just quote the article:

      quote
      While at times there are good experiences online as far as little lag goes, I've yet to play any game on the Wii console where there haven't been major issues with lag, skipping, and finding match-ups. Unfortunately, even though they've made and continue to make billions of dollars in profit even in an economic crisis, Nintendo refuses to invest in high quality centralized servers for their online games.

      Up until late last year, Nintendo had no voice chat option even for the Wii. Finally, once they allowed it, they did so by dictating that it be only through their annoying first party device which acts more like a conference call than a chat.

      Can you imagine how much more amazing Super Smash Bros Brawl would have been without as much lag, with quick match-ups, no friend codes, and voice chat for friendly smack talk if you chose? Why hell, it would almost be like Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers have it! We can't have that now can we?
      • 0
        Big A2 Aug 29, 09
        quote
        I'm pretty sure most Wii owners would love to play games like Bioshock, CoD4/WaW/MW2, Oblivion, Final Fantasy XIII, and Arkham Asylum without having the games significantly downgraded (if they even makes it to the console at all).
        If I wanted to play those games, I wouldn't have bought a Wii.

        And by ""big name" titles", I think he meant all the Mario and Zelda stuff that bloggers like the idiot who worte this only focus on and ignore stuff like Muramasa.

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