A factual presentation of the decline in gaming

[Cobalt Blue]

I have to be honest: since the dreamcast i barely get impressed by anything nowdays. if i had the money i'd rather buy a whole arcade cabinet and stuff it with all the roms i could get.

[Omegajak]

Lest we forget games that get lost in the shuffle.

Megaman Legends 3: "It could and happen but only if someone slapped me with a good 400K straight to the face." -A lot of people would like a Megaman Legends 3 but will it happen economically?

I think people have mentioned but a lot of developers are worried about how much revenue they're bringing back in to keep their company afloat. A lot of that fear stems from the power of the smartass who can get his hands on a game for free. It's depressing to know someone who SHOULD pay for your hardwork can and will not if they can help it.

[Rai]

Unfortunately gameplay isn't something that is going to appear on the game's box, but the graphics will. Trailers and TV spots are easy to manipulate, believe me, I did a few. So yeah, the current mindset is "screw the game, long live the graphics! Huzzah!"

Ah, right where I was heading. The thing to remember is that the developer is still a company, and as a result, the ability to sell a product generally trumps product quality.

[DioShiba]

A real huge reason of the wii's decline was because the fact not many developers (by this I'm speaking of the majority of 3rd party developers) don't seem to think they can make something out of it when you compare it to what you can make on the PS3 or 360.

Lets be honest, the Wii was really a huge experiment to begin with, and far as I see it there hasn't been much of success game wise. While yes it's been a pretty decent success financially with the consumers, there hasn't been much attention gaining from the wii to begin with from the guys making the games. Think about it for one second and you realize that a lot of the 3rd party games suck, and the only two that I would not consider bad would probably be NMH or Madworld, but aside from those two games I don't really see whats out there that has at least some potential because of how fucked the controls get if the developers don't know what they are doing with them. And to be blunt, I think the wii's remote waggling gimmick's days are going to be numbered eventually, comparing it to other systems and there own possibilities.

[Ultimecia]

You don't need to stray too much far, Drew. Just check 360's Project Natal and the yet-to-be-show PS3 new controller based on Wii Remote or something like that.

Nintendo don't needs to worry too much about sales, like koopaul said. Wii Fit sells a lot, and don't forget that Nintendo have a strong fanbase in Japan and world-wide. If it got the Nintendo brand, it will sell. Wii was a big experiment if you ask me. Nintendo will likely be more competitive on the next generation.

I decided to try the Wii before buying the other consoles because of this, the different approach was interesting enough (and I used the "I want to get into shape" to convince my folks to don't kill me, LoL). And thanks to the college I'm playing less games I'd like to play, but Wii games so far are pretty entertaining (note: I'm NOT a Nintendo fan, so except for Metroid and Punch-Out you won't find Nintendo stuff here (except softmod stuff))

So far I'm just waiting for good RPGs before deciding, so far none of the current titles appeals to me and I have a good gaming computer. It will be enough for a while.

One thing I notice... Usually by Christmas and summer's vacation (in Northern Hemisphere) they usually release the best and most anticipated games, but in the last few years there are even less releases by then. And both TGS and E3 are kinda... Disappointing, in many ways. Or it's just me?

[Koopaul]

It seems that only Nintendo knows how to make good games for their system with of course a few exceptions that sadly never succeed.

The Wii might actually have a lot to do with this gaming decline. It introduced uncertainty into the buisiness. Confusion and more.

[DioShiba]

You don't need to stray too much far, Drew. Just check 360's Project Natal and the yet-to-be-show PS3 new controller based on Wii Remote or something like that.

that's what I pretty much meant by "comparing it to other systems and there own possibilities", I probably mis-phrased it. But I was referring to what was yet to come with things like natal and the new PS3 controller"

As for what koopaul and you mentioned, I wasn't necessarily speaking of Nintendo, while yes, anything Nintendo will sell, especially if it was released directly from them. But then comes the games made by other developers like Capcom or Sega, the games from them are licensed right under Nintendo. But that doesn't mean it will sell just because it's on their own system. Look at games like Zack & Wiki, that was a good game on it's own, but that ended up not selling well. Same with what Sega released for the games they published that were targeted towards mature audiences (Madworld and House of the dead: overkill).

Hell, speaking of Wii even Nintendo didn't have all the greatest games in the world. Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that his own game, Wii music didn't sell well as he wanted it to compared to other games he made, and that's because it sucked a pretty huge dick there. And that's an example.

My point is, just because 100 million games are licensed under Nintendo doesn't mean it will always sell well. Sure, it's under Nintendo's name, but there are more games then just you're Wii Fit and New Super Mario Bros Wii in the library.

EDIT: and koopaul has another point to that it could even just be the wii itself. the way it was being handled by the Big N did make some of the 3rd parties pay more attention to the 360 an PS3.

[Vipershark]

A real huge reason of the wii's decline was because the fact not many developers (by this I'm speaking of the majority of 3rd party developers) don't seem to think they can make something out of it when you compare it to what you can make on the PS3 or 360.

Lets be honest, the Wii was really a huge experiment to begin with, and far as I see it there hasn't been much of success game wise. While yes it's been a pretty decent success financially with the consumers, there hasn't been much attention gaining from the wii to begin with from the guys making the games. Think about it for one second and you realize that a lot of the 3rd party games suck, and the only two that I would not consider bad would probably be NMH or Madworld, but aside from those two games I don't really see whats out there that has at least some potential because of how fucked the controls get if the developers don't know what they are doing with them. And to be blunt, I think the wii's remote waggling gimmick's days are going to be numbered eventually, comparing it to other systems and there own possibilities.

This, so hard.

I played CoWaW for the Wii today while I was visiting a friend. While I was pleasantly surprised at how accurate the aim was (on any other Wii game that has FPS-like aiming, accuracy is next to zero), the controls were utter shit. It was plagued with impossible button placements to execute key maneuvers. Not to mention the fact that to switch grenades, you have to twist the controller, hit the D-Pad while twisted, and THEN press another button, all while trying to aim. Melee attacks are purely waggle based, making it impossible to aim where you're trying to melee.

Not to mention the fact the "multiplayer co-op" was literally player 1 playing through the game as normal while "player 2" is just an aiming reticule that's on player 1's screen.

I can understand that the DS and Wii were both experiments that surprisingly turned out well by luring the casual crowd. But in doing so, Nintendo has unleashed a stream of terrible games that alienates their original, core audience that have been there since the beginning.

I'm somewhat disappointed that the next Zelda title will be a Wii exclusive, as that will force me to use the Wiimote controls. When given the choice between the Gamecube and Wii versions of TP, I bought the Gamecube version because I couldn't stand the controls on the Wii version. It seems that the series has officially been retconned to make Link right-handed to fit the Wiimote controls as can be seen by concept art, but I really hope that they do include support for the Gamecube controller, or at the very least, the Classic controller.

In short, tone down the touch gimmick on the DS (don't get rid of it completely, but allow for different control schemes at the very least. I want to play PH with the D=pad and buttons, not the stylus), and totally kill waggle control, or at least make it mandatory to have a classic controller/gamecube controller option as opposed to wiimote and wagglan.

[tsr moderation staff]

i love what nintendo did with the ds. yeah, it has tons of crappy third parties from ubisoft, but it also has an overall solid library, many of which use the touch screen really well. It has a lot of games that can attract pretty much anyone. the wii on the other hand... well it can play gamecube games

[Vipershark]

i love what nintendo did with the ds. yeah, it has tons of crappy third parties from ubisoft, but it also has an overall solid library, many of which use the touch screen really well. It has a lot of games that can attract pretty much anyone. the wii on the other hand... well it can play gamecube games

pretty much this
with the amount of actual good games on the DS, I can get over the abundance of shovelware.

With the Wii though, the lack of good games is inexcusable.

[Cobalt Blue]

i would buy a wii for my mother. i'm p sure she would love it.

[Koopaul]

Well there are plenty of good games for the Wii its just they are overshadowed by the thousands of terrible third party games.

[Rai]

i love what nintendo did with the ds. yeah, it has tons of crappy third parties from ubisoft, but it also has an overall solid library, many of which use the touch screen really well. It has a lot of games that can attract pretty much anyone. the wii on the other hand... well it can play gamecube games

pretty much this
with the amount of actual good games on the DS, I can get over the abundance of shovelware.

Actually, now that you mention it, I wonder how well the DS is doing compared to the GBA?

[Maxpphire]

There is a very big reason why "Nintendo's official seal of quality" turned into "Nintendo's official seal."

[Koopaul]

Still I there's enough good Wii games to warrant a purchase.