The release of the Nintendo Wii and its subsequent success was a great thing for video gaming. It wasn't a "shot in the arm," or really a "breath of fresh air," or any of that other bullshit. It was just different. It was exactly what Nintendo needed after their previous two home consoles were downgrades from their predecessors (Super Nintendo was awesome, Nintendo 64 was okay, and Gamecube will forever be a flop). If the "Revolution" was released without motion sensing controls, would it have been a colossal failure? YES. But because it was, it hardly makes it a revolution.
The fact of the matter is that Nintendo is always the leader when it comes to goofy peripherals and funky new ways to play games. Some would even argue (Luke Smith) that the Wii itself is just a glorified Gamecube peripheral. Hmm... let's see, there was the Power Glove for the NES, R.O.B., the useless robot (who's resurgence in first-party titles lately has left me nauseous), Virtual Boy, and a little device called the Nintendo Dual Screen which was slated to be an ugly failure to the PSP... and how did that one turn out?
My point is that Nintendo has been doing this for years. While the Wii was the first commercially successful attempt on a home console doesn't mean it's anything new. It fell right into Nintendo's reputation. Surely it changed gaming, but there's a good side and a bad side to it.
Just from a titles perspective, it appears that it's about 70% bad as of right now. But there are more than just titles factored into it -- though it plays a huge role. If you're like me and have a Wii and another home console (Xbox 360), you couldn't wait to run out and try a game like Madden for the Wii. If the "like me" parallel continues, you were bored within 10 minutes and vowed never to play another multi-platform title on the Wii again.
Simply put, there are games that play perfectly on the Wii -- Zelda is a great example. But other games like Madden feel completely unnatural, and the trade off of poor graphics for innovative controls is just not worth it. That says nothing about Madden as a title... just Madden on the Wii.
No, no, the Wii has plenty of other horrid titles to worry about. Sure there is just about every Playstation 2 port in the world, as well as gimpy movie titles such as Spongebob and Cars... but I'm talking the fluke games made especially for Wii. Sure, some of them are fun (Cooking Mama, Trauma Center), but most of them should never see the light of day. And those that are multi-platform for current generation consoles are usually a huge downgrade due to the poor graphics and unnatural controls.
This is not to say that I don't love my Wii. I do... to death. But most of the time it is my exclusive "Wii Sports" machine... used for very little else. Sure it has ancillary channels such as news and weather, but they will never be my main sources for it. I commend Nintendo for its other channels like "Check Mii Out" and "Everybody Votes."
Am I forgetting something? Ah yes, the Virtual Console. Sure, the first time you start up Donkey Kong you feel all nostalgic... but the second time you crank up Donkey Kong you regret having bought it. Most other games are chalked up to a crapshoot of patience. You cannot wait to purchase Super Marios 1-3 for $15, fully knowing that Super Mario All-Stars (which includes all three titles) will be out in the future at some point, for $8. At the end of the day, it's not worth it.
But to say that the Wii being successful will kill gaming is ludicrous. Games will not suddenly be backscaled in graphics... advances will continue to be made. Graphics are almost as far as they can go for realism... and those who complain are just splitting hairs. There will always be those who want one or the other... I wouldn't trade my 360 OR my Wii, for very different reasons. If anything, it'll just force Sony and Microsoft to lower prices if they wish to COMPETE WITH NINTENDO.
Yes, I just said that. While it is a valid argument that Nintendo is in its own niche this generation, it's still a home console. They said so themselves. I scoffed at the thought of a Wii60 or a PSWii, and now I have one. But it's not as if Sony and Microsoft are fully embracing and aligning with the Wii, they're just not naive enough to deny its success. Even though they are the top selling console, I could see arguments that they cannot win this generation... though I can see people saying that they cannot lose it at this point.
Regardless of winning or losing the generation, Nintendo can't truly lose at all. They're back on the map, after being an afterthought for the past decade. And with titles like Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros, and Mario Kart bound to fly off the shelves quicker than they can be released... the future looks bright. But I bet that future would be a lot brighter and clearer in HD.
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