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NWR Interactive => Podcast Discussion => Topic started by: Jonnyboy117 on April 01, 2012, 01:47:18 PM

Title: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on April 01, 2012, 01:47:18 PM
WiiWare is probably fading out in advance of the Wii U release (and whatever next-gen digital platform it carries), but several interesting games have been released on the shop over the last year or so.

FAST is a futuristic racing game from Shin'en Multimedia, notable for its difficulty, polished visuals, and sense of speed. It's available for 1000 Wii Points.
NWR Impressions: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/26346 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/26346)

escapeVektor, Ch. 1 is an action/puzzle game from Nnnnnnooooo. It's their first title since hitting the jackpot with the My Notebook series of DSiWare apps. It's available for 500 Wii Points.
NWR Review: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/27953 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/27953)

MotoHeroz is a vehicular 2D platformer from RedLynx, also known for the Trials series on PC and Xbox Live Arcade. This is a similar game with less realistic physics and more cartoony visuals. It's available for 1500 Wii Points.
NWR Review: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/27887 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/27887)

All of these games are available in North America and Europe.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Killer_Man_Jaro on April 01, 2012, 06:12:56 PM
Actually, Nnooo's first game was the high-score shooting gallery Pop, a launch title for the WiiWare service.

I'd bank on MotoHeroz being the most interesting to discuss out of this trio, so I'll vote for that.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on April 01, 2012, 06:28:10 PM
Thanks, OP corrected.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 01, 2012, 08:21:17 PM
It's a shame that so few people have played (or presumably ever will play) some of the good titles on WiiWare.  That goes for the platform in general but doubly so for games released over the past year or two.  I would've loved to see Fluidity as an option since many people missed that gem too.


MotoHeroz is one that I've been interested in, but the platform seems so dead that I never got around to buying more points to pick it up.  I'll put my vote there and figure this might be enough incentive to


escapeVektor also sounded interesting... isn't that getting a 3DS re-release though?  I've heard that the series is moving to portables.  If true, I'd rather buy it there.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: broodwars on April 01, 2012, 08:52:40 PM
I really couldn't care less what wins this poll. I didn't know any of these games existed before this poll, and I'm sure not interested in playing them now.  Picking a title at random, I guess I go with FAST.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on April 01, 2012, 10:00:27 PM
Fluidity was on our short-list, but we decided to drop it since the game has already been discussed a fair bit on RFN. I don't think any of us have played any of the final three nominees, unless you want to count the demo of escapeVektor that I played at E3 while drinking beers furnished by Nnnnnooooo. #tehbias
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Lithium on April 01, 2012, 10:13:04 PM
I chose escapeVektor just for the inevitable star wars reference. Screw it i'll just do it myself


Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: RW on April 02, 2012, 02:05:07 AM
I say we should redo the options and include STRIDER!!


Thanks,
RW

Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Shaymin on April 02, 2012, 06:17:30 AM
Strider's not a WiiWare game, though.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 02, 2012, 08:21:15 AM
Fluidity was on our short-list, but we decided to drop it since the game has already been discussed a fair bit on RFN. I don't think any of us have played any of the final three nominees, unless you want to count the demo of escapeVektor that I played at E3 while drinking beers furnished by Nnnnnooooo. #tehbias


Fair enough. Fluidity has received more attention in general - including the Club Nintendo spotlight where people could exchange coins for the game.  It is a great game though. Still playing through on a casual basis and find myself consistently impressed with the level design and creative challenges they dropped into Fluidity.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on April 02, 2012, 04:42:31 PM
I predict the cheapest game will win.
 
You'll see.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: lolmonade on April 02, 2012, 06:45:48 PM
Interesting decision to use WiiWare as the source for the games.  I personally haven't had the most stellar experience with my WiiWare purchasing decisions, but am interested to hear what everyone else has to say about these games.
 
I don't believe I will participate in this one.  FAST intruiges me as a game similar to F-Zero, but based on the review it seems a bit bare-bones.
 
escapeVektor doesn't look like my cup of tea.  I have limited interest in puzzle games.
 
Voted for MotoHeroz, because while it seems like something that would be more suited as a web browser game, I don't believe I've heard the NWR crew discuss a game in the same category as this.
 
Regardless, look forward to the discussion!
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 02, 2012, 07:12:55 PM
escapeVektor is coming to the 3DS, so I have zero interest in playing the WiiWare version at this point.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: MegaByte on April 02, 2012, 07:26:19 PM
escapeVektor doesn't look like my cup of tea.  I have limited interest in puzzle games.
It's only a puzzle game as much as Pac-Man is a puzzle game.

All of these are good games in their own right, and some of the best on WiiWare and I'd recommend them all. MotoHeroz is probably the deepest experience.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: gojira on April 03, 2012, 11:06:19 PM
I own FAST, so I would comment on that game if it would win. 

I played the demo for MotoHeroz.  It seemed like a fun game, so I would maybe pick it up.  But it seems like a much more fun multiplayer game, which is a mode I would never play.

From what I've seen of escapeVektor I'm not that interested. 

Since I can't vote for 'not escapeVektor', I don't think I'll vote.  I'll just see what wins and decide then.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Miyamoto on April 04, 2012, 08:27:06 AM
Wow. Shame on me. I've hardly heard of any of those. Think I'll play along with the guys this time.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Pandareus on April 04, 2012, 10:36:27 AM
I'm shocked at the number of people who never heard of these games.

What the hell do you guys do with your Wiiiiiiiis?
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 04, 2012, 10:39:26 AM
Nothing, most likely.

I'm the Director of a Nintendo site and I've sparingly used it since early 2011. I missed all these on WiiWare because I just didn't really play my Wii when they came out.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: broodwars on April 04, 2012, 10:55:59 AM
I'm shocked at the number of people who never heard of these games.

What the hell do you guys do with your Wiiiiiiiis?

Play games that were actually worthy of my time and money, which naturally meant ignoring WiiWare for the most part.  There's really no reason anyone should have heard of these games, given what a pitiful job Nintendo has done of conveying that information and making people want to check these games out.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 04, 2012, 11:43:43 AM
I'm shocked at the number of people who never heard of these games.

What the hell do you guys do with your Wiiiiiiiis?

Play games that were actually worthy of my time and money, which naturally meant ignoring WiiWare for the most part.  There's really no reason anyone should have heard of these games, given what a pitiful job Nintendo has done of conveying that information and making people want to check these games out.


You are conflating the issues.


People haven't heard of these games because Nintendo did a pitiful job of getting information out about them, or about WiiWare in general.


However, these games (and a nice handful of other WiiWare titles) are certainly worthy of your time and money. Suggesting that WiiWare should be ignored on the basis of a lack of quality software is silly.  "On noes! Wii has no gamez!"
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: broodwars on April 04, 2012, 12:22:53 PM
However, these games (and a nice handful of other WiiWare titles) are certainly worthy of your time and money. Suggesting that WiiWare should be ignored on the basis of a lack of quality software is silly.  "On noes! Wii has no gamez!"

No, the Wii has games.  It's just that WiiWare is not the place to go for them outside that "handful of nice titles" (World of Goo, Bit.Trip series, etc.).  And when a service is 95% ****, I'm not going to waste my time keeping up with it, especially if even RFN doesn't care enough to talk about these games.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 04, 2012, 01:40:46 PM
However, these games (and a nice handful of other WiiWare titles) are certainly worthy of your time and money. Suggesting that WiiWare should be ignored on the basis of a lack of quality software is silly.  "On noes! Wii has no gamez!"

No, the Wii has games.  It's just that WiiWare is not the place to go for them outside that "handful of nice titles" (World of Goo, Bit.Trip series, etc.).  And when a service is 95% ****, I'm not going to waste my time keeping up with it, especially if even RFN doesn't care enough to talk about these games.


Your loss then.


iOS is way more than 95% junk, both DS and Wii can't be far off, and I'd wager that PS2 probably hits the mark too.  Trying to pick out quality isn't always easy, but it's much easier with WiiWare where the total number of titles available is quite limited when compared to those other platforms.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on April 04, 2012, 02:15:58 PM
I have heard of all of these games and many more on wiiware that seem interesting. Just sayin. It is mostly a matter of limits to resourcing, both time and money. And I am also just about out of room on the SD card too.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on April 04, 2012, 07:49:27 PM
And when a service is 95% ****, I'm not going to waste my time keeping up with it, especially if even RFN doesn't care enough to talk about these games.

But we do... that's why we're doing this RetroActive!
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Hey Einstein! on April 05, 2012, 10:02:56 AM
I really couldn't care less what wins this poll. I didn't know any of these games existed before this poll, and I'm sure not interested in playing them now.  Picking a title at random, I guess I go with FAST.


Looks like broodwars is getting called out by a few folks so thought I would dive in too. I totally agree with brood here (except for the part about voting for FAST).
And isn't this a crazy situation!
We are all people who love Nintendo games so much that we listen to a weekly fan made pod cast and post stuff like this on a forum. AND STILL many of us have never heard of these games and don't care about WiiWare.

I was really disappointed that the RFN guys choice was WiiWare for this poll before I even knew what the games were. Why is that???
I guess the guys who have contributed to the discussion already have answered that for me:


Bad marketing, bad games & bad marketing of bad games.


Man I hope Nintendo have learned something to apply to WiiUWare, or whatever they call it. As for me I will sit this Retro Active out because I'm almost exclusively a handheld gamer these days. But maybe I'll try the winner when WiiU hits town.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 05, 2012, 10:35:10 AM

I can understand people avoiding WiiWare because it's a hassle to buy a pre-determined amount points and then try to spend them the "right" way to avoid waste.


I can understand people avoiding WiiWare because digital downloads locked to a console and there are no known plans for transitioning/upgrading to other hardware.

I'm still amazed that people would intentionally avoid good, cheap games that are easily available on a platform they already own simply because they prefer to stay ignorant as some sort of statement, instead making the modicum of effort to sort good from bad. (There are reviews out there and at least one website dedicated to covering all of the content released via WiiWare. There also isn't exactly a ton of content to sift through to find the gems.)


But hey, it's a free world and there is more than enough gaming to go around. Spend your dollars however you want.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: broodwars on April 05, 2012, 01:29:45 PM
I'm still amazed that people would intentionally avoid good, cheap games that are easily available on a platform they already own simply because they prefer to stay ignorant as some sort of statement, instead making the modicum of effort to sort good from bad. (There are reviews out there and at least one website dedicated to covering all of the content released via WiiWare. There also isn't exactly a ton of content to sift through to find the gems.)

Or I just prefer to not suffer from a gaming version of Stockholm Syndrome, which I think sums up how many people can feel that way about WiiWare.  :P

Edit: maybe that should be "Kairon Syndrome." :P
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 05, 2012, 02:07:31 PM
Interesting fact: If you look at the 100 highest-rated Wii games on Metacritic, 24 are WiiWare games.


You could argue that sequels or games in the same series (ie: Bit.Trip, Mega Man, LostWinds) should be single entries... but by the time you add more games to bring the total back up to 100, more distinct WiiWare titles are included.  The percentage doesn't drop significantly, and still makes up more than 1/5 of the list.


Make whatever argument you want about marketing or quality or being held hostage (???). It doesn't matter. When you write off WiiWare as a whole, you reduce the selection of quality games available on the system.  End of story.






Anyway, I'm done peddling the merits of WiiWare.  People aren't going to change their minds, and I'm sure that you all have enough gaming lined up that it really doesn't matter if you miss out on a few interesting titles.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 05, 2012, 03:30:15 PM
It's like with iPhone games. The vast majority are awful, but if you're willing to do a bit of research you'll find some really good stuff on the service.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Killer_Man_Jaro on April 05, 2012, 03:59:42 PM
I'd go as far as to say that it's like any digital distribution service. In this day and age, the platforms are more accessible to a greater number of developers, and as a result, more crap makes it in. I'm thankful that informative outlets, such as this website, exist to nudge us in the direction of titles worth playing - they may be outnumbered in the marketplace, but they are still deserving of recognition.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Hey Einstein! on April 10, 2012, 09:41:43 AM

I'm still amazed that people would intentionally avoid good, cheap games that are easily available on a platform they already own simply because they prefer to stay ignorant as some sort of statement, instead making the modicum of effort to sort good from bad. (There are reviews out there and at least one website dedicated to covering all of the content released via WiiWare. There also isn't exactly a ton of content to sift through to find the gems.)


But hey, it's a free world and there is more than enough gaming to go around. Spend your dollars however you want.


Speaking purely for myself - I would never deliberately avoid good, cheap games that are easily available on a platform I already own.


But your closing sentence high lights the problem for me with Wiiware: I have too many platforms offering me good, cheap, easily available games: ios, eshop, steam, onlive, sen, chrome and of course wiiware.
It's a new strain of Lindemann syndrome: Most of the people I know aged under 40 have a computer, an ipod touch or ipad, a smart phone and at least 1 console or hand held. Most of the guys have 2 consoles, one for Wii Bowling & one for Modern Warfare. You can always find a bargain game for something.


My point is that most of these other platforms - despite being host to lots of rubbish - are much better at getting my money than Wiiware has been. They are better at direct marketing and their special offers get more coverage online (not that Nintendo do special offers for downloadable games).


Other platforms do a much better job of generating hype then has been managed for Wiiware games.
Also I find it fascinating that even on a Nintendo fan sight Wiiware has such a bad name that it makes people like me grown and people like Ejamer get defensive.


To summarize: my gaming time and disposable cash is long gone before I browse for Wiiware titles and recommendations. Despite my prioritizing Nintendo game experiences.


I'm really looking forward to hearing the RFN guys discuss this one. It's made for an interesting debate already and this is just the poll!
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: ejamer on April 10, 2012, 11:01:02 AM
Great point.  I strongly agree that the pricing policy (no sales or price drops) combined with limited hype and marketing make the platform less attractive when gamers are choosing where to spend their limited resources.


There are a handful of titles that I would buy if they went on sale. But when dozens of great retail Wii games are available for $10-20, I just can't justify spending full price ($8-15) on non-transferable digital content years after the original release.


Good games? Yes.  Good value? Meh... sometimes yes, sometimes not so much.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Crimm on April 10, 2012, 01:10:14 PM
We don't discuss WiiWare much on the show. This is a true statement that we cannot offer a counter-opinion to. However, there hasn't exactly been a bevy of things to talk about as of late.

Could I go back to doing the downloads on the show? Sure, but the rest of the cast would kill themselves.

I'm not sure how much hay I can get from Penguin Patrol.

"Waddle We Do?! Baby penguins have been stranded on thin ice by the evil (but oddly stylish) Walrus, and it's up to the Penguin Patrol to rescue them!"


I played that game when it was called Thin Ice on the Intellivision.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 10, 2012, 03:05:31 PM
But isn't your whole presence on the show basically just there to torture the rest of the cast? I think subjecting them to you talking about the downloads would be a pretty good way to do that.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Crimm on April 11, 2012, 09:09:11 AM
If it gets cut out there isn't really a net gain.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: xcwarrior on April 12, 2012, 07:02:43 AM
This works for a poll. I was looking to pick up MotoHerez anyway, this might be the motivation if it wins.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: LittleIrves on April 12, 2012, 10:14:24 AM
Personally I was excited when I heard WiiWare was the platform of choice. I just moseyed through the service for kicks a few weeks ago and found a bunch of games I didn't pick up when they released but am very curious about. Off the top of my head:

-Rock 'n Roll Climber
-Bonsai Barber
-Art Style: light trax
-Snowpack Park

And I'm just realizing all of these are Nintendo-published. But I think that's the problem....even if they're Nintendo properties, if they're not one of the "known" franchises, people scoff at them as junk without even trying them. Sure, these aren't going to be Zelda-deep experiences, but they seem like games you can't get anywhere else and have a unique and clever take on what a game can be. For all the people who say they want Nintendo to create new IPs...  they've been making new properties for years now in the downloadable space. Just haven't done a great job selling them.
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Crimm on April 12, 2012, 01:17:46 PM
EXECUTIVE DECISION!

ROCK AND ROLL CLIMBER!
Title: Re: RetroActive #22 Poll: WiiWare Edition
Post by: Pandareus on April 12, 2012, 01:38:43 PM
Hey! Say what you want about Rock N' Roll Climber, at least it was interesting!

I liked it while it lasted.