I don't really feel like addressing these points but I will because I am in a bad mood right now so you are going to hear it from me.

First of all the Play on Wii series. The Gamecube wasn't a really popular system. Many gamers didn't get to play lots of these underated and unique games such as DK Jungle Beat and the Pikmin series. There is an audience for these games. I recently learned that these Play on Wii games aren't being developed by Nintendo's Big teams.So it isn't like the games are distracting Nintendo from other games.

About Darkside Chronicles: The game was announced a few months back. News for the title is somewhat limited.The game is slated for a Winter 09 release.As far as I know that is 8 months away at the latest. So please wait for more info before writing a limited blog about it.
It sounds as if you are trying to find something to gripe about.

I said I was going to counter this and by all that is good I will...

This would have been a fine post and would have agreed with this... If we were in 2006 or 2007. Back then there WERE GC remakes, along with the occasional PS2 re-release. But its 2009 and in my honest opinion this argument is old and beaten to death.

First off, you mention that many developers are doing this, yet in your blog you only mention Nintendo and Capcom, offering no other example of developers crapping out on Wii this year. Capcom has always re-released their games on every gaming platform conceivable. The original Resident Evil was released on the Playstation three times and Street Fighter II is the mother of all milked franchise. So to Capcom this is business as usual. Its nothing exclusive to Nintendo. if it can be re-released again Capcom will do it.

As for Nintendo's New Play Control series I find it laughable how you say that Nintendo consider this major releases. So far only two games have been released, only one will be released next month and no word on the other titles. Why? Because Excite Bots was released this month and Punch-Out will come next month, and Wii Sports Resorts will be out in July. The NPC never prevented the release of new, original titles. They were mainly filler releases, games whose production never halted the creation of bigger, far more profitable title.

Finally, you do realize that you are writing this blog at a time where the Wii has seen the most original software releases since launch, right?

Let's see what was released between January till May of 2009...

Tenchu Stealth Assassins
Marble Saga Kororinpa
House of the Dead Overkill
Deadly Creatures
Sonic and the Black Knight
Dead Rising Chop Till you Drop
Rygar
Major Minor's Majestic March
Madworld
New Play Control Power Tennis
New Play Control Pikmin
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Echoes of Time
Rune Factory
Excite Bots
Punch-Out
My Sims Party
Ultimate Shooting Collection
NASCAR Kart Racing
We Ski and Snowboard
Trivial Pursuit
Ready to Rumble Revolution
Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars
Guitar Hero Metallica
Pro Evolution Soccer 09
Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves

That's 25 notable titles released between January and May of 2009. Of these 25, two belong on the New Play Control line (Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis), one is a XBOX 360 port (Dead Rising), one is a Playstation 2 port (Rygar), one is a multiplatform release (Guitar Hero Metallica) and is basically the console version of a DS title (Echoes of Times). So that's six titles that are ports in a list of 20 original, brand new titles released in the year so far. And we still have titles like Grand Slam Tennis which are made to feature original Wii content and controls.

I may not have all of my facts correct and I did my best to check all releases, but the fact remains. We have seen a lot of original titles on Wii since the year started and only a handful of them were ports of older titles. And the rest of the year promises to bring even more new titles.

So it seems that when you wanted to criticize Capcom for not stepping up Wii support you wanted to bring down everyone else, making you look like an old dog barking as his own reflection. Really, the only one guilty of this is Capcom, and this is something they have been doing for YEARS. Nothing they do remains exclusive, the fact that they are doing this on the Wii doesn't prove anything about the Wii as a console.

REmake/Zero controls aren't TBD.  They've been out in Japan for a while and have no Wii controls whatsoever.

Play on Wii may not be internally developed, but they certainly are distracting Nintendo from other games, when they make up the entire first-party Wii lineup for Q1 2009.

I'm sorry, but if you honestly believe that NPC has gimped all Nintendo releases then you are exaggerating. I honestly believe these were released in order to fill up a release caused by Motion Plus and the long development time of core titles. And even then, the ones who shined through were third parties who made brand new, original titles on Wii.

Have you noticed that starting in April Nintendo has only announced ONE NPC Game and the rest were new? April saw release of Excite Bots, May will see Punch-Out and July will see Wii Sports Resort with Motion Plus.

I think Nintendo knows that with Motion Plus a reality soon they really can't just release NPC games. They will try to release as many original titles as possible that use the new unit. NPC may truly be on hold by the time the year is over.

Oh and one last thing, the RE ports are the worst. The NPC series at the very least has true widescreen support, compelling Wii controls and new content and gameplay additions. The RE ports is just that; ports. No new features, no neat uses of the Wii controls and no new additions. Nothing. Even the DS remake of RE 1 received a lot of new content.

So you should be damning the RE ports rather than trying to prove an old point about Wii releases.

At least give us some of the GC games that didn't get their fair chance to shine.

Eternal Darkness, Twin Snakes and Geist are just begging for rereleases.

That's another thing. The first set of Wii releases were made up of games that were never that popular, save for the Metroid Prime games and Mario Power Tennis.

I think the Metroid games and Pikmin were purely promotional. The Pikmin games were never that popular, even if they gained a solid audience. If its true that a brand new Pikmin is heading for Wii it makes sense to re-familiarize players and newcomers with the franchise and release compelling, attracting version of the classic games.

The Metroid Prime games were likely ported because the controls in 3 were so well received that it created the urge to create a Wii MP trilogy with Wii controls.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Chibi-Robo were great titles that didn't do as well as they should have, especially Chibi-Robo, so its great that they got chosen to be part of the first batch.

Wow, the REhashes don't have any Wii-specific features at all? Shame on you, Capcom. Pap64, that list is your counter? Aside from House of the Dead and the NPC games, I'm flabbergasted as to how you can call any of those Wii-specific games "notable." All of the games on there that I've seen reviews for (again, aside from HotD/NPC) have gotten poor reviews. Chop 'Till You Drop, Wii Ski & Snowboard, Sonic & the Black Knight...it's just sad. Guitar Hero: Metallica is great, but it's just another Guitar Hero game.

Look, I don't want to debate the list. I'm saying that we're playing GC games on the Wii. GC games are being released FOR THE WII. I CAN ALREADY PLAY GC GAMES ON THE WII. Give me new content, guys.

Review scores can be skewed to send a message. Black Knight is a good game.The reviews that say it is bad need to learn how to play properly.
You say you want new content. There is new content coming from Nintendo.
Haliberd what games do you have for your Wii?

i still want NPC for geist. it was a great game and lost because FPS on a GC, well, frankly sucked.

i do agree though, give us NEW games, not ports. seriously is there a gamer left who doesn't have at least one port of RE one? it was a good game, bu tnot that good.

The problem with the glorified ports GC->Wii isn't that they exist (If you own them already, it doesn't affect you.  If you don't, you have an opportunity to play them for the first time.).  The problem is that developers aren't releasing good new original Wii titles to coincide with the old, so the old takes on a much greater focus.  In the past 7 months or so we've gotten what...2 quality releases, none of which having tremendously-great lasting appeal (Madworld, HotD: Overkill)?

I just don't know about the Wii these days.  Especially after getting that PS3 earlier this month, I've just been increasingly less interested and disenchanted with my Wii.  These days the thing basically just serves as a platform for me to play old games from my childhood and the rare good original WiiWare title.  I bought into the dream with the Wii: that the thing would revolutionize how we play games, that we'd be seeing the cutting edge in game design to coincide with the future of interface devices.  Instead so far we've gotten maybe 3 games that couldn't be done easily on one of the other consoles that really took advantage of what the Wiimote can do (those being Zack & Wiki, Umbrella Chronicles, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption).  Honorable mention to No More Heroes as well.  Aside from those, the vast majority have just been traditional designs that poorly attempt to graft button mashing onto the Wii's waggle functionality, old games I already own, and games made for people who don't care about games.  It's sad when my first 5 PS3 games (Dead Space, Alone in the Dark: Inferno, Valkyria Chronicles, Mirror's Edge, Bioshock) do more to try to advance game design within their respective genres than anything I've played on Wii.

Black Knight has mixed reviews/perceptions for a reason. It's a not a bad game, but if that many people "don't get it," then it's probably not the reviewer's fault.


As far as this goes, I really could care less about Capcom re-releasing Resident Evil games. If you don't want the games, don't bother buying them. I like the NPC games because they're bringing back games to a wider audience. Once again, if you don't want the games, don't buy them.

Personally, I've been fine with the Wii releases this year. I don't think all of the games on Pedro's list are really quality, but there's still a good amount of games.

If you're not happy with Wii releases right now, then go get a 360/PS3, or grab some of the outstanding DS games that have come out. Since last fall when I basically just got review copies and 360 games, I've gotten two 360 games (Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and Namco Virtual Arcade), a couple DS games, and a good amount of Wii games. I've been very happy with my Wii. I'm sorry if a lot of other people haven't been.

I mean seriously, if you don't like Excitebots, you must be allergic to fun.

If one doesn't like what you're seeing on Wii, sell it off and leave the site for good.

Pre-tendo Fans and unfit soccer grandmas don't care for third party non-casual "efforts" anyway.  Once they realize Zelda and Mario and all their milked derivatives aren't a big deal, the reality that they've wasted their time with this company will sink in.  In fact, just leave gaming altogether.

Why?  I don't have a problem with the Wii as a console, just that so few developers on the system are taking any advantage of what the system is truly capable of.  I do my part and support 3rd party releases on the system even if I think they are inherantly flawed just to keep the hope alive, but it's so frustrating to see the Wii's potential continue to be unfulfilled (even by Nintendo) year after year.  We were promised true innovation and we got waggle!  Are we ever going to see what this system is truly capable of, or is waggle the best it has to offer?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=18275

Eh, I've been complaining about this for probably at least a year.  I agree with you, Halbred.  I agree with you completely but I find it odd that you waited until now to write this.

Nintendo realistically started this all with Twilight Princess.  It's a Gamecube game.  Or at best you could call it a multiplatform game.  But the truth is you didn't have to buy a Wii to play it but many Cube owners did anyway.  Nintendo noticed that.  Third parties noticed that.

Now I often hear the argument that the Cube wasn't very successful so there's a whole new audience for those games.  Okay, but why should we get those IN PLACE of new content?  Why should those be sold individually at the price they're at?  Why can't Nintendo just re-release the Cube versions when EVERY Wii owner has the ability to play Gamecube games?  And most important of all WHY SHOULD I GIVE A FUCK?!  I owned a Cube.  I supported Nintendo.  And now I've had to deal with about six months or so of NOTHING unless I want to rebuy games I already own.  Note that when Square re-released the old Final Fantasy games on the PS1 they did it around the same time Final Fantasy VIII came out.  Note that REMake and Resident Evil 0 came out on the Cube in the same year.  The new content and old content was released around the same time.  With Nintendo the NPC series has been released by itself with no new content at the same time.

To me it just all fits with Nintendo true focus with the Wii.  The non-gamers are the priority.  We're just an afterthought that they assume will support them no matter what.  The NPC series and the sorta-ports like those Mario sports games and Animal Crossing?  All of that is for non-gamers who are too ignorant to notice their Wii can already play these games.  It's not a service for people who missed out on the Cube, it's not about giving old games a second chance, it's a SCAM.  It's taking advantage of non-gamers who don't know better and Nintendo fanboys that will buy the same game multiple times.

Recycling content is done because it's lazy and cheap.  Don't ever fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

ExciteBots, Tenchu 4, Deadly Creatures, Marble Saga, PES2010, and a few multiplatform games that are quite good if you like the genre such as Trivial Pursuit. Pretty sad when an example of a genre pushing game is Alone in the Dark on PS3. Also I find it extremely silly that you point to 3 games only that can't be done on other systems, really shows you are reaching to bash the Wii. You forget Boom Blox, PES, Dragon Quest Swords, Red Steel, MoH2, Wii Fit, Wii Play, Madworld. I do like your little statement "For people who don't care about games", great way to create a strawman for your Wii bashing argument. There are PLENTY of games of all types on Wii that have taken advantage of the motion controls in ways that other systems could not. Just because you don't like them doesn't make them bad games.

Also Mario Galaxy didn't try to advance its genre? What about Madworld? What about Little King's Story? Also there is nothing wrong with more traditional game designs that don't integrate Wii controls, we see it on the DS all the time, but that does not mean the DS hasn't innovated things does it? If you aren't excited for Wiis upcoming lineup, I question whether you really want to like the Wii in the first place. Has this been a slower time? Sure but we still got 4 or 5 good to great games in the last 4 months from a variety of sources and it is getting better from here on out.

The Wii's potential has been realized with pointer functionality in a variety of games. Motion controls haven't been fully realized because of the lack of precise control, but even then we still got Tiger Woods 09 which was fantastic and utilized it well. With Wii Motion plus we are already seeing a few titles that look fantastic that could ONLY be done on Wii such as EA Tennis, Sega's Tennis Game (Maybe), and of course Tiger Woods 2010.

Time unfortunately (and the fact that I'm on the clock at work) prevents me from properly refuting your post, Goldenphoenix, but I will in full later on when I'm on my dinner break.  Suffice it to say I'll give you Boom Blox.  While it's not a game I particularly cared for, it could only be done in its current design with the Wiimote.  The rest...well...not so much, and that wasn't a really stellar lineup you put there anyway.

As for Mario Galaxy, it was a good game but hardly revolutionary.  That game could have been played with the GameCube controller and it might actually have controlled better.  As for the 3D space w/ sphere world concept, I never thought Mario Galaxy made great use of it and its made especially limited use of its gravity mechanic (I feel World of Goo did more with that than Mario Galaxy did).  I just completed Prince of Persia Next-Gen last night, and it makes Mario Galaxy's use of 3D space look like a joke.  Granted, Galaxy laid the foundation but I never felt it made the best use of it.

Super Mario Galaxy was controlled perfectly with the Wii Remote and would have been vastly inferior on a standard controller. Still the best platformer this gen.

Well, to each their own.  I found Prince of Persia to be a more memorable game than Mario Galaxy, and a much better platformer (and to be honest, better-looking).  But I've always been into that series more anyway since Sands of Time, as it's much more daring in its platforming and story.

I completely disagree.  I'll take a button press over waggle any day for that spin attack. 

Exactly.  Not to mention using Waggle for the Fire Flower.  Ugh, the premature arthritus...

What did it actually need the remote for?  I know it used it for collecting Star Bits and there was the spin move.  But what did it NEED the remote for?  The spin move was just waggle and could have just as easily been assigned to a button and the Star Bits are a pretty superflous part of the game.  Yeah you couldn't just port Super Mario Galaxy to the classic controller without some change in design to the game.  But never for even one second did I think "they could NOT have done this game on the Gamecube."  It wouldn't have been exactly the same but the differences that required the remote were so minor that the game would likely have been equally enjoyable with a traditional controller.

If Wii Sports didn't exist and Nintendo had to use Super Mario Galaxy to "sell" the concept of the remote I think Nintendo would have been a laughing stock.  The implementation of the remote is pathetically minor.

Of the 7 games in the New Play Control lineup, I own only the two Metroid Prime games, so I don't mind the simple concept of these games being re-released. What I do mind is that I think they are overpriced, since most of them add little more than a new control scheme and widescreen support.

I would only buy the ones which would cost about the same to get the GameCube version used, so I'm passing on Pikmin because it is fairly cheap. I might get Pikmin 2 when it is released though as it is hard to find the GCN one for a good price. Metroid Prime 1 and 2 on GCN could probably both be had for less than $30. I've not looked up Chibi-Robo so I'll see on that one. Donkey Konga would probably be the best value of the bunch since the GCN version required a special bongo controller, and the Wii version has some redesigned/new stages.

The only one which disappoints me is Mario Power Tennis, as it pretty much kills any chance of a sequel being released.

I wouldn't assume that, Nintendo could always make a sequel especially as another first party title with Wii MotionPlus.

Why would they bother when the Wiimake will probably sell consistently over the next few years? Besides, Camelot has no interest in creating any more Mario games, and that's probably one of the reasons why the Wiimake exists to begin with.

I'll honestly say I'm too busy playing lots of new games (yes, on the Wii too) to worry about whether the NPC re-releases are bad. Then again I never played Pikmin 2 (and only rented 1) so maybe I should worry about them but then again Little King's Story is in the same vein and sounds pretty interesting too...

I believe it's been stated before that no important dev teams were used on these so they are in addition, not in place of the regular games. No NPC would not have gotten us any additional games and instead we'd be left with nothing (but third party games). The drought was there and I don't think Nintendo just said "we have NPC so we don't need to release games there", they simply DIDN'T HAVE ANY GAMES TO RELEASE THERE. Oh I'm sure they could have told one or two of their teams that the deadline's been moved up and they should just rush out something playable but I for one wouldn't want that to happen and I'm sure neither do you.

looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

What exactly is derisible about what I said?

Everything after "To each their own".

lol...people actually defending story in a Mario game.  Oh no, Peach is kidnapped by Bowser AGAIN!  Oh noes, I guess Mario will have to rescue the needy ***** once again!  Oh, and he'll have to do it through a variety of multi-colored worlds (including obligatory and tacked-on minigames) collecting Stars (and it is always Stars) to open his way.  Maybe he'll have to take on a series of bosses so difficult that they fall to 3 of their own shots rebounded back at them!  Oh wonder of wonders!

As for the Platforming, the Mario games wish they flowed as well as the Prince of Persia games.  I've never once felt like I was doing something truly incredible and more than borderline impossible in Mario Galaxy, but there are plenty of such moments in the Persia series.  Mario Galaxy is Mario 64 with better polygons, some circular worlds, and a space theme.  That doesn't make Galaxy a bad game, just one I didn't like as much in light of other platformers I've played (Prince of Persia series, Sly Cooper series) that do more interesting things with the genre.

Story is completely pointless in a platformer, the lack of one in Mario is a good thing. The funny thing about this is I recently signed up for GameFly and Prince of Persia was at the top of my list and I got it in the mail yesterday but haven't had the chance to play it yet.

Aren't the PoP games designed to be "easy" adrenaline platformers?  That the Fresh Prince of Bel Air himself is so "able" that the level design and programming of the game prevents the user from making mistakes, masked underneath flashy animations and stunts unlike a primitive "pure" platformer such as Castlevania 1?

I wouldn't know cuz the games' stories and smoldering rage style and seemingly un-losable combat have zero appeal to me.

You obviously haven't played any of the Sands of Time and Next-Gen Prince of Persia games, because those games are in no way easy.  Yeah, you can't lose in combat in the Next-Gen PoP game, but I "died" plenty of times during the platforming sections.  I say "died" because you can't actually die in that game, as Elika will just pick you up and drop you back on the last solid ground you were standing on (which basically is a checkpoint system without having to go to a Game Over screen and reload, which is what you'd be doing anyway).  You can die in the Sands of Time trilogy, though, and there are some really hard and rewarding platforming sections in all 3 of those games.

And Warrior Within in the only PoP game with "smoldering rage style."

I enjoy both series, but the latest incarnation of POP was a bit unsatisfying.  While the platforming on screen looked remarkable I just felt like I was triggering a series of canned animations with the greatest of ease.  Same goes for the combat in the new POP.

Well hello.  Looks like I'll never bother with these games now.

Elika is a hottie though.

PoP is in a whole different "class" of platformers than Mario Galaxy. One is geared toward environmental puzzles and combat (PoP: always has been) while Mario Galaxy is about exploration and mission-based progression. That's fine--neither one is better than the other one, but I don't think they can be compared just because they're "platformers." It's like comparing Call of Duty 4 with Bioshock.

And insanolord, did you seriously say that storyline doesn't matter in a platformer? That's insane. I could say that story doesn't matter in an RPG. What's the specific genre have anything to do with plotline? Only certain genres are allowed to have stories and character development? You can't possibly have meant what I think you meant.

I think he meant that platformers have never been about the storyline really. Some genres are like that, there is a storyline but it usually doesn't matter much. Take a game like Black or most puzzle games. Do you buy Tetris or Bubble Bobble or Kororinpa expecting even a decent storyline? Platformers usually have one, but they have always been more about the actual gameplay. I will admit that this has changed somewhat in the last few console gens (since earlier systems had to rely mainly on the instruction booklets to express storylines for platform games).

You'd be a fool to do so because that series is one of the best platforming experiences ever made.  If you don't like how he describes the platforming in the latest Prince of Persia, that's fair enough but don't pin the whole series on that because the Sands of Time trilogy is probably more your thing.  Personally, I had a different take.  I felt like the latest Prince of Persia took aspects out of the platforming that were somewhat unnecessary and focused on enhancing the core experience.  You know what the only difference is in the platforming from the latest Prince of Persia over its predecessors?  You don't have to hold the R button to wall run anymore.  Instead, you just have to leap at the wall and the prince does the running part for you (you still have to determine the best time to jump off the wall, and you have to deal with any context-sensitive situations like rings along the way).  Other than that, it's the same core Prince of Persia platforming experience it's been since Sands of Time.  As for the combat, I don't see how you'd get that feeling.  The combat's simple, but hardly "triggering a series of canned animations."  You're basically dueling your opponent, deciding the best times to guard and the best times to attack, and it does matter when you attack and in what way.

Fair point.  I just find the Prince of Persia-style platforming to be more exciting and ultimately satisfying.  Mario platforming just feels "safe" and somewhat-random by comparison, especially since the PoP series has actually done fairly well in the story department since Sands of Time whereas Mario is still stuck in 1985.

Safe?!  You can't even die in the new PoP!  Meanwhile, Mario can have the flesh flayed from his bones by a frickin' laser beam.

What exactly is the difference between dying 3 times in a Mario game and having to start a level over and dying 3 times in Prince of Persia and having Elika drop you off back where you started every time?  The lovely thing about the newer PoP games is that they throw the user a bone with the time reversal/Elika save, but because the user has an escape route they use it as an excuse to toss in exciting and tricky platforming that would be incredibly frustrating in another platformer like Mario, etc.  But because the user always has an escape route, it's fair game.

And by the way, that "frickin laser beam" in Mario games?  That would knock off maybe 1/3 of his health in Mario Galaxy.  It'd be an instant kill (or at least what amounts to an instant kill) in a Prince of Persia game (disregarding for a moment time reversal) most of the time.

The difference is the feeling of safety that you brought up.  There is almost no sense of danger in PoP.  Death is on vacation.  He left no number where he could be reached.  Yet you prefer it over Mario because Mario feels too "safe."

Geez, you make it sound like there's solid ground in the new PoP (and note that this is only an issue in the new PoP, as the SoT games had a depletable Sand meter that gave you a Game Over when you died and were out of Sand Power) every 2 feet.  For most of the area-specific platforming sequences there's only solid ground about once every 3 minutes or so of running along walls over using power pads.  That's a LOT of ground to have to make up when you die, which brings with it a great deal of tension not to screw up (ditto for combat, since screwing-up in combat means having to start that fight practically over again since the enemy regenerates their health).

Look, we're not going to agree on this issue so let's drop it, ok?

That's dramatically overstating it.  Only the approach and escape from boss lairs even come close to that, and the escape sequences in particular destroy a great deal of tension in doing so.  The whole place is collapsing, you have to get out now now NOW, but then you fall, Elika takes you all the way back, and you still have plenty of time left.  Infinite time, as it turns out.  But those fake hurry-or-die sequences in games bug me in general, so whatever.

That's a funny way of putting it.  :D

But yeah, combat is pretty tense and exciting.  It still feels safe, though.  If you screw up, the enemy gets a massive chunk of HP back, which means the fight will take longer.  Your victory is still assured.  Your greatest threat is frustration.

The new PoP never gives me the sensation of failing and having to try again, even if that is what literally happens.  The painless reset makes it feel like I'm still on the same try.  In fact, it gives me a similar feeling to save state scumming or abusing quick saves.  If you can manage to feel like the game isn't holding your hand and making sure you have your lunch money pinned to your shirt, then more power to you.

I shouldn't have said it definitively because it's just my opinion and people are allowed to disagree, but yeah, to me story is pointless in anything except an RPG or Zelda. I love a good story, but when I'm in the mood for one I read a book or watch a movie, not play a game. When I'm playing a game I want to be playing and having fun; the gameplay is what keeps me interested, not the story. I think that's why I'm such a big Nintendo fan, Miyamoto's design philosophy most of the time is to give as little story as is necessary and focus on the gameplay.

I don't think story has EVER been important in Zelda games. ;-)

It is in Majora's Mask (in fact, Majora's Mask is probably the most narrative-focused of any of the Zelda games), and I'd say it's a fairly major element in Twilight Princess as well.