Author Topic: Three's a Magic Number: The Wii Turns Three Talkback Thread (Read 11140 times)

NWR_pap64 · « **on:** November 04, 2009, 11:23:10 PM »

This will be the discussion thread for our newest feature "Three's a Magic Number: The Wii Turns 3!". This feature will take a look at some of the more significant events in the Wii's third year. The first part will explore the re-birth of the on-rails shooter and the impact the new storage solution had on the Wii.

Click here to read more...

King of Twitch · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2009, 01:15:52 AM »

It's interesting that you focused on more conceptual events instead of making it a list of games, can't wait for the next part

N-World · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:19:15 AM »

Wouldn't a list of games just been an endless list of shovelware titles like My Magic Pony Frisbee Frolic Adventure or 3000-in-One Happy Family Super Party Bonanza*? Mixed in with a handful of titles that might have been interesting to gamers (but never purchased, ho ho).

*I don't know if these games actually exist on the Wii, but they probably do.

If you have something you'd like to contribute to the discussion, please do so without resorting to immature jokes. Like any market leader, the Wii has a library consisting of both great titles and shovelware. ~vudu

Killer_Man_Jaro · « **Reply #3 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:21:06 AM »

I concur with that sentiment, Zap. There's so much more to talk about with regard to trends than software lists, which is pure opinion trading.

Maybe the staff has already got the next segments all planned out, but I think this wouldn't be complete without a page dedicated to "The Rebirth of the Second Dimension", both on the disc-based and download frontiers. Very noticeable increase of 2D titles this year.

stevey · « **Reply #4 on:** November 05, 2009, 01:47:39 PM »

Wow three years already? Feels like it only was yesterday where everyone was camping out in the snow and stalking UPS men...

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:15:44 PM »

Killer Man Jaro: That's an excellent topic of discussion. Unfortunately, I can only think of two games that are 2D games; New Super Mario Bros. Wii and A Boy and his Blob. True there is Wario Land Shake it, but that was released last year.

What other games were released this year that were 2D?

vudu · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:18:47 PM »

Quote from: NWR_pap64 on November 05, 2009, 03:15:44 PM

What other games were released this year that were 2D?

Muramasa

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:25:38 PM »

Ah right, right. I believe there are more titles that are in 2D...

vudu · « **Reply #8 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:34:06 PM »

There are also quite a few titles on WiiWare, including Lost Winds, Nyx Quest, Swords & Soldiers, the remake of Adventure Island, the upcoming remake of Bonk, the ReBirth series, Cave Story, etc.

Killer_Man_Jaro · « **Reply #9 on:** November 05, 2009, 04:17:16 PM »

Yeah, I was about to answer, but Vudu has it pretty much covered.
Although now that you've reminded me of all those games, it makes me think of another potential topic. If there's not enough material to talk about 2D games, I'd guarantee there's plenty to say on the "The Flourishing of WiiWare". It's been an exceptional year for the service and it's not over yet either. There's at least a dozen titles worth owning at this point, plus several more good ones before 2009 climaxes.

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 05, 2009, 05:23:58 PM »

Oh, I am already writing about WiiWare, except it will be called "Wiiware's First Anniversary". The article will focus on how in just a year WiiWare delivered on its promise of delivering exclusive Wii games from both third parties and new blood developers.

Its very long, and will likely add more as more notable games come up.

ejamer · « **Reply #11 on:** November 09, 2009, 12:24:37 PM »

Klonoa was released this year, and represents another good retro/2D title on Wii as a full-disc title.

There are some interesting trends with Wii over the past year - some positive and some painful for gamers:

WiiWare is blossoming with some great games available, but weak advertising and a customer base who aren't taking advantage of online functionality means that people are missing the boat.
Although we saw a wave of more serious games, some of them sold under expectation making it anyone's guess if we will see a second wave next year.*
Other gaming platforms conceded that motion controls have become the defacto standard instead of a fad, and jumped onto the bandwagon with heavily-hyped peripheral announcements.
The boundaries between exercise and game continue to blur, with Ubisoft and EA and Nintendo all releasing successful games for that niche.
Piracy has become a much more visible and vocal topic for Wii.
The high-water mark seems to have been met for sales, as Wii turns the corner into the next stage of it's lifecycle and name recognition alone doesn't push numbers. (Interesting for the future when stock prices are dipping, critics are jumping ship, and even Nintendo representatives are saying that the system isn't in a healthy place right now...)

----

*Why won't people pay for good games on Wii? I have a few guesses... but no proof.

My ideas:

Games have been devalued with quick price drops and cheap downloadable games both making it silly to pay $50 for a new title.
Piracy is an easy and popular option among the gamers who would normally be the target of these titles.
Also there are reputation and bias issues with the Wii from both retailers and gamers. In one example, Muramasa isn't even going to be carried by major retailers in the UK because they'd rather target casual gamers instead. In another example, PS3/360 gamers can often be seen online whining about Wii exclusives and trying to get them ported to other systems instead of buying and playing it on the Wii.

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 12, 2009, 01:27:59 AM »

Thanks for all the feedback you guys!

The second set of stories is up. This time, we talk about WiiWare's first anniversary, and the Virtual Console's 300th game.

Read more.

King of Twitch · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2009, 01:34:29 AM »

"Konami's Contra series also saw a revival in the form of Contra ReNirth"

broodwars · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2009, 01:36:18 AM »

Quote from: Zap on November 12, 2009, 01:34:29 AM

"Konami's Contra series also saw a revival in the form of Contra ReNirth"

"Article needs Proofreading...BADLY!"

An interesting read, though, even if I feel that WiiWare got more than a little sugar-coated.

King of Twitch · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2009, 01:43:38 AM »

"putting it along side Zelda 2 and Twilight Princess as the Zelda titles some players don't seem to like"

:mooncrashonpedro:

Quote from: broodwars on November 12, 2009, 01:36:18 AM

An interesting read, though, even if I feel that WiiWare got more than a little sugar-coated.

I think the MM section was a little long and descended into blasphemy, but I'm looking forward to the next entry!

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2009, 02:31:05 AM »

Fixed the mistake. Thanks for noticing!

I will try to write shorter stories next time, but it can be hard to be brief while making sure the story is told. The WiiWare story alone had a lot to talk about, and I may update it, so stay tuned for that.

As for the Zelda comment, not saying that the games are bad. They are great. But they seem to be crapped upon the most when discussed.

broodwars · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2009, 02:58:57 AM »

Quote from: NWR_pap64 on November 12, 2009, 02:31:05 AM

Fixed the mistake. Thanks for noticing!

I will try to write shorter stories next time, but it can be hard to be brief while making sure the story is told. The WiiWare story alone had a lot to talk about, and I may update it, so stay tuned for that.

As for the Zelda comment, not saying that the games are bad. They are great. But they seem to be crapped upon the most when discussed.

Would you mind fixing this sentence: "Not only was this one of the first Megaman games in years it was presented like an NES title, making it a delicious retro treat players just couldn't resist." It just bothers me, since I think you meant to put a "but" after "years".

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be over here with my friend Waldorf.

Killer_Man_Jaro · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2009, 03:00:23 AM »

Kudos to you, Pedro, for taking the time to construct these articles. I don't know if anyone else on staff contributed to them so far, but if not, insist they help out. So much to talk about, so little time, am I right?

Considering the relative age of WiiWare compared to rival download services XBLA and PSN, I think it's doing extremely well. And if you disagree with that sentiment now, I'm sure you'll feel differently by the end of Q1 2010. There was a feature in a magazine that previewed somewhere in the region of 30 decent-to-great games coming to WiiWare in the next five months.

broodwars · « **Reply #19 on:** November 12, 2009, 03:17:50 AM »

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro on November 12, 2009, 03:00:23 AM

Kudos to you, Pedro, for taking the time to construct these articles. I don't know if anyone else on staff contributed to them so far, but if not, insist they help out. So much to talk about, so little time, am I right?

Considering the relative age of WiiWare compared to rival download services XBLA and PSN, I think it's doing extremely well. And if you disagree with that sentiment now, I'm sure you'll feel differently by the end of Q1 2010. There was a feature in a magazine that previewed somewhere in the region of 30 decent-to-great games coming to WiiWare in the next five months.

Thing is, I'd probably feel much better about WiiWare if the flood of that (mostly bad games) hadn't resulted in an even slower trickle of Virtual Console, making both services look worse than they would otherwise. We got a flood of WiiWare shovelware on one side, and on the other we got one VC game of more or less debate-able quality. The article also doesn't address the perplexing problem of how Nintendo decides to release WiiWare. Companies will submit their games to the service, and then they'll find out when their games go up on the service pretty much when we do. Companies like Telltale that release episodic-ly can sort of control the flow of their releases, but for the most part it's seemingly random. That makes it difficult to make sure that prospective customers know not only that their games exist, but when they're available to purchase. This is especially a problem when a week after the game releases, it drops from the front page of the Wii Shop Channel and is never heard from again.

That's not to say that Nintendo hasn't been taking strides to improve the service. From the looks of things, Nintendo may have come to their senses on the exclusion of VC to WiiWare judging by the now 2 VC games a week again. We're also seeing the possibilities of demos as mentioned in the article, which for Nintendo is a fairly progressive baby-step towards basic acceptance of universal gaming standards. The Nintendo Channel has also been a baby-step towards getting the word out on releases, one that will hopefully continue to evolve. And best of all, as the article mentions we have seen good games on the service like World of Goo and more appear to be on the way in the near future.

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:32:56 AM »

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro on November 12, 2009, 03:00:23 AM

Kudos to you, Pedro, for taking the time to construct these articles. I don't know if anyone else on staff contributed to them so far, but if not, insist they help out. So much to talk about, so little time, am I right?

Considering the relative age of WiiWare compared to rival download services XBLA and PSN, I think it's doing extremely well. And if you disagree with that sentiment now, I'm sure you'll feel differently by the end of Q1 2010. There was a feature in a magazine that previewed somewhere in the region of 30 decent-to-great games coming to WiiWare in the next five months.

Thanks for the support. Yes, the other staff members are working on their articles. Give them a little time though, since we are a little busy.

broodwars: See, I did some investigation before writing the article, and WiiWare's biggest issue, the lack of a storage solution, is pretty much solved. Right now its only issue is how the market is still limited, something I mentioned along with the story about possible WiiWare demos.

I personally prefer them to favor WiiWare over the Virtual Console. WiiWare is where brand new content is found. It would be sad if Nintendo preferred old content over new WiiWare content. Besides, most people think the VC is useless since they own the original game or they download the ROM.

NWR_Neal · « **Reply #21 on:** November 12, 2009, 12:55:07 PM »

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro on November 12, 2009, 03:00:23 AM

Kudos to you, Pedro, for taking the time to construct these articles. I don't know if anyone else on staff contributed to them so far, but if not, insist they help out. So much to talk about, so little time, am I right?

I promise I'll have some stuff up soon! Tell my professors to stop assigning work and publishers to stop releasing games and I'd have all of this done already!

vudu · « **Reply #22 on:** November 12, 2009, 02:37:37 PM »

Quote

On May 19, 2009, Nintendo celebrated a milestone; the Virtual Console saw the release of its 300th game.

Minor quibble: May 19 was a Tuesday. You meant May 18.

Something to make you depressed: Six months have passed since then and we're only up to 327 VC games.

NWR_pap64 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 15, 2009, 02:31:38 PM »

Bump!

Two new stories have been added today. The first is written by staff member, Andy Goergen (DrewMG), and looks at the debut of Virtual Console Arcade. The second, written by yours truly, explores the potential of Warren Spector's Epic Mickey for Wii.

Read more.

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 15, 2009, 02:40:09 PM »

isn't your newest staff member Grant Buell?

News:

Author Topic: Three's a Magic Number: The Wii Turns Three Talkback Thread (Read 11140 times)