Overall, this thread is a success.
No Deg, this thread is an outright failure. The only thing it has served to do is, once again, start a massive argument - not debate, argument - which drags down the forums as a whole and generates nothing but negative feelings.
That deserves a standing ovation.
Sometimes it seems like people online fail to distinguish between trolling for comments and generating discussion. Post (or page) count isn't what makes a thread successful - the ideas and subsequent discussion generated are!
That said, it can be harder to generate discussion without a little bit of controversy sometimes... but does it ever get tiring to read these negative (and often ridiculous) threads in every Wii forum online. Is it only like this for Nintendo, or do Sony/Microsoft gaming forums have the same issues?
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Anyway, on a sidenote I think UncleBob also has an interesting comment up above:
"Any game that is quickly and easily ported to the PS2 and PSP isn't a 'best effort' by any developer."
On one hand, I agree. The Wii is clearly a more powerful system, and it also has many unique elements. In my mind, a best effort game should try to take advantage of those elements
whenever it clearly makes sense to do so. However, saying that games should be difficult or impossible to port a game to another system to be worth playing is a huge leap from that statement.
Even though Little King's Story is a great game, I still feel like it's missing out by not using pointer controls to improve the experience. The game could easily be ported to other systems, and suggesting that it's not a best effort is difficult when you consider the overall quality of the title. Most importantly, this game is downright fun to play.
Silent Hill is example of a game that did get ported (with notable downgrades) to other system, but remains totally worth playing and clearly best on Wii. Heck, Mega Man 10 will be worth playing and it could be easily and instantly ported to the NES. Obviously the ability to create ports isn't an automatic statement about the quality of a game.
So while I appreciate it when developers find ways to make their games unique and more immersive on Wii, I don't think a game needs to take advantage of those unique features to count as a "best effort" or be considered "worth playing".