Is there life beyond Wii Sports?
Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 11:44am by Jack
Infendo regular invisibleman brings up a great point today in response to our post on the Wii and rehabilitation.
You know, I’ve been hearing all these Wii success stories for months now, and they are all wonderful, but after thinking about all of them, I find something curious: they all revolve about Wii Sports!!
Are there any other Wii games out there that deserve the praise Wii Sports has been getting? Or should publishers start talking about the benefits of Wii Sports instead of Wii? Just like when people talk about how ingenious Guitar Hero is, they don’t talk about how ingenious the PS2 or the 360 are!
It’s an interesting point. However, whereas the guitar is a peripheral that could actually be sold as a stand alone product for any console or simply just for your television (think those Atari game collection knockoffs at the mall kiosks), the Wiimote is the system. It’s a subtle difference, but the Wiimote is actually capable of producing other games besides Wii Sports, should developers other than Nintendo decide to get innovative and start firing off similarly groundbreaking IP. Guitar Hero is a one trick pony until they unveil whatever the heck Rock Band turns out to be.
Still, it begs the question: Is there a game out there now or in the near future that will recreate the feeling you had when you picked up and played Wii Sports for the first time? That will sustain this new momentum that has been severely lacking in the video games industry for a while now? I hope so, but with each passing month I see more and more stories about Wii Sports being the system, and not the other way around. It’s almost troubling. Almost.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Nintendo just needs to come up with a few more games that emulate real life experiences that everyone loves on the Wii- and it should be a collection as well. A “Wii Fishing” would do marginally well, but a “Wii Sports 2″ with fishing, duck hunting, hockey, sumo, etc. Could become a similar phenomenon to Wii sports.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
you know. guitar hero isnt really that innovative. its just a rhythm game that has a controller shaped to make people feel more talented then they really are.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Personally….I wasn’t THAT blown away by Wii Sports. I mean it’s fun, but after a while it got kind of boring. It’s basically just a demo of the system. If they make a Wii Sports 2, I hope it’s a bit deeper AND has online play.
My best Wii experience was with Twilight Princess. Swinging the Wiimote to actually swing the sword, using the Nunchuck to do a shield thrust….THAT was a great experience and the first one that really made me like the Wii.
May 14th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Twilight Princess is my favorite Wii game so far, but Wii Sports has this natural feeling to the controls that I’ve never experienced with anything else before or since.
I guess I’m looking forward to Wii Music the most, in terms of capturing the same feeling, but I don’t think too many Americans will feel the same way as I do. Probably whenever a really great casual golf simulator comes out, like maybe if Nintendo makes a deal with whoever makes Golden Tee, that’ll be the next groundbreaking Wiimote success.
Or, like with Nintendogs, it’ll be something none of us sees coming right now but it’ll seem totally obvious after it’s here.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:01 am
um, i think there are a few on the horizon as far as casual hits. wii fitness comes to mind first and foremost (an exercise game on the wii could be huge), as well as wii music. of course wii sports 2, even though nothing has been announced is a sure fire hit. some new sports on there would be great, or maybe even improve on some of the existing ones. like where is single’s tennis? how about shooting hoops? how about a real ping pong game, a superior one than the one on wii play? then you have the wifi game forever blue which players can join up online for a dive and explore the ocean. and i think people underestimate the next ddr coming out (hot party). that could be a killer app as well using both your feet and hands. boogie also comes to mind with its free flowing style. also, wii needs a game similar to clubhouse games. i believe that game over wifi could work better on the wii than the DS. the potential is huge. don’t forget also, that big brain academy is coming out soon.