Was the Wii just a fad whose popularity has come and gone? If so, it was a lot faster than anyone expected. When the Wii first came out, personally, I was not that excited about it. Then I got a chance to play it. I admit I found Wii Sports to be quite entertaining. But only when played with a bunch of friends. Playing by yourself? Not so much. The motion control system was very creative and worked like a charm (However charms work). But I kept thinking to myself, what else is there? What else can Nintendo do to stop me from saying: This is just a gimmick.
They can stop me from saying that by making more quality titles to utilize their motion control technology of course! To some extent, they did. But was it enough? Were these games fun? Funner than Wii Sports at least? In my opinion, no. Not at all. Especially the third party titles.
Being a huge fan of the original Mario Kart growing up, then playing it again on the DS (which was an absolute blast), I finally gave in and got Mario Kart for the Wii to play with my little nephew during his summer break. I thought it would be fun to relive some of the great Mario Kart memories and make new ones. Unfortunately, I only played it once with the Wii’s motion controls and never played it again. In fact, I’ve put it up for sale on Glyde.com in order to get some of that money back to put towards Wii Sports Resort instead. (Wii Sports seems to be the only games worthy of the motion controls) For me, playing the Mario Kart on Wii would have been a better experience if I used the D-pad controller most experienced gamers are so used to.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said recently in this Wired.com article:
“Consistently, big time titles will be released in the marketplace for this hardware,” he said. “When that stops, to reinvigorate the console, or to put it another way, I think the current decline in hardware sales is due to the fact that there aren’t many big titles (at the moment).”
I am not about to argue with Mr. Iwata here, but I do think there are bigger issues with the Nintendo Wii that is the direct result of the drastic drop in sales, other than the lack of big titles. And no, we can’t blame the economy for everything.
For one, I think the whole motion control frenzy of the Wii, has lost its luster. The gimmick is wearing off and it shows with the newest hyped up title for the Wii, ‘The Conduit’. Wasn’t that game supposed to bring the FPS genre to the hardcore Wii gamers? The hype was definitely there. But it seems The Conduit didn’t sell as much as it should have, even with decent reviews. Why is that? It was a big title, right? So was it due to the motion controls? Are gamers over it already? If so, should Microsoft and Sony re-think their future motion control ventures?
Many gamers are used to using the D-pad controllers and aren’t all caught up in the motion control craze the game industry has just begun getting into. If Nintendo increases it’s processing power of its console, brings back the awesome Mario platform games of the past and truly creates a next generation entertainment system without the gimmicky motion controls, I can see it being more successful. Indeed, it can be argued that the Wii is already a success. It blew the competition out of the water for many months. But for how much longer? Sales are hurting now and Nintendo is finally feeling the pain. And ask yourself this question. Ask your friends as well. Are you playing the Wii as much as you used to? I am not.
My last point about the Wii is this, and it’s probably the most important for me. The Wii can be fun to play… sometimes. But it’s not a console that I like to play by myself. The Wii is at its greatest when played with a bunch of friends and/or family. And how often do you get the chance to do that? More often than having the opportunity to play it by yourself? Probably not. If you have Wii parties all the time, then I assume you are happy with your Nintendo Wii investment. For other gamers like myself, who do not have 3 or more people to play with at any given time, the Wii just can’t compare to an Xbox 360 or PS3 entertainment investment. Besides, can we really afford all these Wii injuries?
So what is it? Why is Nintendo hurting so bad right now with sales? Is it the lack of big name titles? Or are gamers getting over the initial buzz of the Wii motion control controls?
Please express your opinion, as I have done in this article, in the comment section.
The Gamer Report 