Topic: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 146

[Jonnyboy117]

April NPDs and the WiiWare anniversary help us overcome the lull in game releases and news before E3.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=18459

 Episode 146: WiiWare Short Shorts    

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With E3 just a few weeks out, things are pretty slow in gaming land. Hence, we have a short episode this week, starting with a relatively brief New Business. As Jon catches up with Dead Space and Super Mario Galaxy, Greg forges ahead with Rhythm Heaven and Contra Rebirth, the new WiiWare game available in Japan.  Jonny and James give progress reports on de Blob and Rune Factory Frontier, respectively (though not respectfully).    

After the break, it's NPD sales data time.  April was a tough month for everyone, except Nintendo thanks to a big debut for DSi and continuing dominance by Wii Fit and other evergreen titles.  But where are Excitebots and Rhythm Heaven, and should we be worried for them?    

We close by marking the one year anniversary of WiiWare, with the goal of celebrating it better than Nintendo did (which shouldn't be hard).  There's a discussion of the platform's overall accomplishments and needs, and we each highlight our favorite WiiWare games from the first year.    

Next week: our annual pre-E3 bonanza!    

Credits:    

This podcast was edited by Greg Leahy.    

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon.com, or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!  

[kraken613]

I totally agree with your, "a lot of hardcore gamers don't have a Wii." I know a lot of people who don't have a Wii. They don't there's  enough for them. Most are almost to the point where they are will to buy one if there's a big E3.

[Mop it up]

What WiiWare needs? Retail compilations.

Hardcore gamers are lamers. Softcore collecting is where it's at.

[Jonnyboy117]

What WiiWare needs? Retail compilations.

Yeah, actually.

Softcore collecting is where it's at.

...no comment.

[kraken613]

Did Greg say anything about his Excitebot's week count?

[broodwars]

So Zelda 2's the next Retro-Game, eh?  Well, I have to agree with John: my hatred for that game is so strong I remember it quite well already without having to play it again.  It does a lot of interesting things, but doesn't do many of them particularly well (awesome temple music aside) and so comes across as just mediocre.  I must admit, though, that I'm very surprised Nintendo never remade this game ala Metroid Zero Mission, as with some major game design overhauls here and there this could be an awesome game.  But it will be interesting to hear James' impressions of the game considering all the experience he's built up over the past few years playing bad games, so it should be familiar territory for him.

EDIT:  Nice.  I see John has the same issue with Mario Galaxy that I have.  Granted, I did complete the game with 120 stars anyway, but still...great to see someone else have the same issue with how the game plays.

[farnham]

About the NPD discussion

Pokemon Platinum sold 805k in march and 433k in april...and was released march 22th.. i believe you said that the sales were poor but 1.238 million in little over a month sounds pretty good to me..

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Nice episode title.

I'm totally bad about WiiWare: I own maybe two WiiWare games. It's shameful, I know. I'm very happy with the game choice for the next RetroActive. I guess I'll save my thoughts on that for the proper thread.

[Yoshidious]

Regrettably when Jonny prompted me to begin talking about Rhythm Heaven I just went on from there and I had quite a lot of stuff to cover with Contra ReBirth as well, so this is going to have to suffice:

This is Week 4 of ExciteStrike

It may well not be mentioned on-air next week either with it beng the E3 show, but it goes on inside nevertheless...

[Jonnyboy117]

About the NPD discussion

Pokemon Platinum sold 805k in march and 433k in april...and was released march 22th.. i believe you said that the sales were poor but 1.238 million in little over a month sounds pretty good to me..

Yeah, you're totally right.   We didn't really cover the March NPDs in depth (that's one of the shows where I was out of town), so it didn't connect.  My apologies -- it's a pretty bad factual error that led into an ultimately pointless and misguided Pokemon discussion.  I guess the mania and remakes will roll on.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Yeah for Greg pwning the Lindy Luthor! Don't see Greg get into many debates so it was a pleasure to here.

[Mop it up]

What WiiWare needs? Retail compilations.

Yeah, actually.

Wait, seriously? Somebody agrees with me on this? Does somebody make mention of retail WiiWare on the podcast? Because if so, I might have to make this the first one I listen to.

[GoldenPhoenix]

What WiiWare needs? Retail compilations.

Yeah, actually.

Wait, seriously? Somebody agrees with me on this? Does somebody make mention of retail WiiWare on the podcast? Because if so, I might have to make this the first one I listen to.

Should be listening anyway. 

[Mop it up]

I know I should, but my computer can't handle multi-tasking and I don't have a way to listen to the podcasts on anything else.

Believe me, they are on the list of incentives to get a new computer.

[Jonnyboy117]

I know I should, but my computer can't handle multi-tasking and I don't have a way to listen to the podcasts on anything else.

Put it on your speakers while you play DS nearby.  That's similar to what I often do, though I use my iPod and headphones.

[NWR_insanolord]

Now I may be clinically insane, and in fact I'm pretty sure I am, but I own 21 WiiWare games and I like all of them and only regret buying one, just because I later bought a better version of the same thing.

[NWR_Lindy]

Now I may be clinically insane, and in fact I'm pretty sure I am

QFT

[GoldenPhoenix]

This is day 1 of my pseudo strike against RFN until they mention the EXCELLENT Jungle Speed.

My favorite Wiiware titles are:

1. World of Goo
2. Alien Crush Returns (Fantastic pinball game to kill time)
3. Jungle Speed

Followed by a ton of other good Wii Ware titles like:

Cubello
Orbient
Space Invaders get even
Lit
Groovin Blocks
Tetris Party
Gyrostarr
Onslaught
LostWinds
Toki Tori
Strong Bad Series
Bonsai Barber
My Life as a King

Most of these are close to being in my top three. Pretty good for a "disappointing" service. And these are games that I've played, I'm sure there are others.

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't even own half the games GoldenPhoenix mentioned and I still like all my games.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I don't even own half the games GoldenPhoenix mentioned and I still like all my games.

I usually buy them after I read a couple of reviews. The service, while being really slow when it comes to game releases is far better then people give it credit for. Is it perfect, or Xbox Live Arcade level yet? No but it still is far from dissapointing either when you look at the selection of good games. There are hidden gems in the collection.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'd say that it's at least as good as XBLA; I go about as nuts with XBLA as I do on the Wii Shop but when you take away the classic games from XBLA I own more WiiWare games.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I'd say that it's at least as good as XBLA; I go about as nuts with XBLA as I do on the Wii Shop but when you take away the classic games from XBLA I own more WiiWare games.

Good point, most of my XBLA games are mostly classic games.

[Jonnyboy117]

When we said WiiWare is disappointing (if we said that at all), we were referring to how the service is run and Nintendo's own involvement in it.  I don't think any of us disparaged the game selection or the games themselves; hence the latter half of the discussion when we talked about all our favorite games.  ;-)

I always got the impression that Jungle Speed was meant to be played locally with multiple people, which doesn't often happen around my Wii.

[GoldenPhoenix]

When we said WiiWare is disappointing (if we said that at all), we were referring to how the service is run and Nintendo's own involvement in it.  I don't think any of us disparaged the game selection or the games themselves; hence the latter half of the discussion when we talked about all our favorite games.  ;-)

I always got the impression that Jungle Speed was meant to be played locally with multiple people, which doesn't often happen around my Wii.

Yeah it is more of a multiplayer game but it is so much fun with great production values.

In regards to Wiiware, I agree, the most disappointing aspect is Nintendo's involvement, so if I didn't interpret that correctly then I am sorry. It does surprise me how many gems there are already though, it is a great counterbalance to something like XBLA.

[Sundoulos]

I've worked in software development for a number of years now (though I'm not in the games industry); as a developer, given some of the restrictions (and hurdles) of actually releasing a WiiWare game on the Shop Channel, I have to wonder if I'd ever consider it.

I was doing a quick search for opinions about the matter and stumbled across this blurb:   N-Europe: More Developers Praise WiiWare  I suppose that I have to consider that the original source of the article was Official Nintendo Magazine, but I still found some of the quotes to be interesting and encouraging.

Medaverse's Jesse Lowther, lead designer of the upcoming Gravitronix talked about the low-risk financial prospects involved with WiiWare:

    "They gave us the tools we needed and let us run with it... There's no creative input from Nintendo, only technical input where the game must meet certain standards to ensure it doesn't brick people's Wiis. It's just a godsend for developers who don't want their ideas compromised. Plus, if the game doesn't sell well, we can generally shrug it off and begin work on the next one."

Semnat Studios' Daniel Coleman was also modest about working under banner of Nintendo's downloadable service:

    "There are no suits trying to control your creativity. They want developers to express themselves as freely as possible... This creative freedom is vital to the growth of the industry. It encourages experimentation and risk-taking. We are very fortunate to be developing for consoles since we're such nobodies."

But why choose to develop for WiiWare over rival services like Sony's PSN? Well, Shane Guilano of Autonomous Productions (the company responsible for the forthcoming Butterfly Garden - expect to hear more about that title soon) gives a very interesting personal anecdote:

    "Our company got to where we are today with perseverance, luck and the insight to develop a relationship with Nintendo when everyone still thought it was nuts to release a game system with a controller that looks like a remote control. Nintendo reached out to independent developers before the Wii was even launched in a way that was revolutionary. The whole vision for WiiWare, as Miyamoto has said publicly, is to foster this creative independent revolution. I once sat next to [former Sony exec] Phil Harrison at a Will Wright GDC talk in 2006 and he wouldn't even give me his card." 

So, I suppose that even though Nintendo is making some egregious errors in the eyes of some, they are doing enough that's right to foster continued support.  Here's hoping we see more WiiWare success stories soon. 

I also hold out hope that not all of our complaints fall on deaf ears at Nintendo.