Wii Games: A Repeat of DS

[fearsomepirate]

I would like to venture that we are seeing in some ways a repeat on Wii what of we saw on DS. As we know, both systems were hyped for their innovative features and sold pretty well at launch, but look at the software:

• The most well-received launch title for Wii, Wii Sports, isn't a really fantastic game with a lot of longevity, but show a ton of promise. On DS, that game was Mario 64 DS. The minigames showed a lot of potential for what DS might do.
• 3rd parties mostly approached DS from the standpoint, "Hey, it's new and innovative, so people will buy any old crap as long as it has touchscreen controls." By contrast, Nintendo made great games in their own right that were truly enhanced by the touchscreen--Advance Wars, Warioware, Brain Training, etc. We're seeing the same thing on Wii. Besides Wii sports, Nintendo's dishing out Warioware, Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid Prime 3, and Mario Galaxy, all of which look to be quality titles. Meanwhile, nearly everyone else is giving us broken ports of old games, or new games running on graphics engines that didn't even look good for last gen.

There are some exceptions, like Madden and Elebits, but an awful lot of 3rd-party Wii games would be bad even on PS2 with standard controls. I hope to see them move away from "Wii remote makes bad games good" to "Wii remote can give us opportunities to make better games."

 

[Natoma]

If Wii sales track anything close to DS (good start so far with 2 million consoles sold worldwide in just under a month), you'll see the same pattern of games. They'll get significantly better in the 2nd and 3rd generation, etc.

 

[Corwin_B]

First difference : Wii Sports is a new game, that really manages to show the potential of the controller (even if it lacks depth). Mario 64 DS was a port of a 10-years old game. In Japan, a similarity is that both consoles (Wii and DS) had Wario Ware at launch (Wario Ware is the poster child for quirky, fast gameplay centered on innovative controls).

Regarding 3rd party, it seems that apart from Ubi deciding to release any shameful crap they can in order to meet launch time, there is more effort being done than on the DS : look no further than Madden Wii reviews, for example. And that's from EA, the biggest shovelware publisher on Earth. Trauma Center is a very good showcase of Wii controls, and it seems some more efforts are being done (DBZ2 for example).

Otherwise, it's a launch. Which means a couple of rough jewels, and loads of shovelware. 3rd party seem to definitely pick up steam faster than with DS, though.

 

[ninzel]

I don't know that you can compare how devs support home consoles vs. portables given the same level of marketshare. Look at the DS, it has amazing installed base and market share,but IMO lousy 3rd party support in NA(quantity). If the Wii ends of having that same level of installed base and marketshare I could see the support being more like it has been for the PS2.
Are there more console vs portable devs? Do devs take home consoles more seriously? Do most devs prefer a home console to showcase their work? I don't know but it seems that trends don't translate acorss platforms.

 

[assen]

I don't know that you can compare how devs support home consoles vs. portables given the same level of marketshare. Look at the DS, it has amazing installed base and market share,but IMO lousy 3rd party support in NA(quantity). If the Wii ends of having that same level of installed base and marketshare I could see the support being more like it has been for the PS2.
Are there more console vs portable devs? Do devs take home consoles more seriously? Do most devs prefer a home console to showcase their work? I don't know but it seems that trends don't translate acorss platforms.

The Gameboy/DS vs. PS2 situation with regards to 3rd party support is due to the difference between the different attitude towards 3rd party developers, not the fact that one is a portable and the other a home console.

 

[ninzel]

The Gameboy/DS vs. PS2 situation with regards to 3rd party support is due to the difference between the different attitude towards 3rd party developers, not the fact that one is a portable and the other a home console.

Whats the difference?