Report: Only 11% of Wii games rate higher than 80
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 11:01am by Blake
Game Funk reports:
The Wii, released alongside the PS3 in November 2006, has seen a considerable 189 games released. Of these titles, a whoping 69, or 37% are complete trash. On the flipside, there are only 20 good games, making up a minuscule 11% - and of those 20, 4 of them are ports of last generation PS2/Gamecube games!
Nintendo Seal of Quality, GET!
May 1st, 2008 at 11:19 am
I kind of resent the insinuation that anything below 80 is “complete trash”. I’m looking at you, “Excite Truck”.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
I below below 80 is “average” on GR, while below 60 is “poor/trash”
May 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
Excite Truck is a fun game but I only rented it.
I was going to comment a bit on this but I think the article actually sums it all up nicely and I agree. Wii is cheap to develop on and has a huge install base. It only makes sense to develop junk games for it because there are plenty of idiots out there who will buy it.
Then again, people who we might want to call idiots will have a great time with these shovelware games because they just aren’t as critical about games.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:36 am
Crap games are normal for the most popular system. Just look at the PS2 and Ds, there’s tons of games that are total garbage, it takes awhile before more quality games start coming.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:39 am
i don’t like this article. I have found more than enough good games to play since launch. I have more games to finish than I can handle, so I could give a **** if there are shitty games out there. It’s not like there aren’t games worth my time (i’m looking at you Baroque, which got terrible reviews but I loved)
May 1st, 2008 at 11:46 am
Here’s the problem, in my opinion of these rankings. XBox and Sony basically have 2 or 3 formats that work for them, and they stick closely to those formats (fps, sports, rpg for example), so instead of trying to come up with new or different types of games, they simply make the same games over and over, just with different plot twists. Sure, they are pretty good games, and they usually rank well in these kind of rankings, but their not that creative.
Wii, on the other hand, is trying to push the envelope, and change the whole face of video-gaming. In doing that that, they are putting out different kinds of games, games that are new and different. Unfortunately it’s true that some (if not many) of these games, aren’t that good, but a lot of them, although they don’t get ranked very high by the traditional, give-me-a-halo-like-fps-game-or-it’s-no-good rankers, are actually being thoroughly enjoyed by a whole lot of people. So, just because the traditional rankers don’t care for them, they are being called junk.
These sites that rank games seem to have the attitude that if it’s not what we’ve always considered good before, then it can’t be considered good now. XBox and Sony are going to continue giving us the same stuff every year (perhaps with a different outfit on the main character, so they can resell the same game next year), and they are going to keep getting much higher rankings by these sites. Wii is going to continue to press the envelope, try new and creative games, and is going to keep getting lower rankings.
I’m not excusing all of the junk that is being pushed by many 3rd party companies, because granted there is a lot of it. But I do think that many of the games that are getting low scores are much more appreciated by the casual gamer than these sites would ever want to give credit for.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:59 am
This is the most ridiculous article I have ever read.
It is another attempt on slamming Nintendo.
The statistics are so slanted towards certain genres of games - and if certain game genres aren’t found on a specific system, how can you make an accurate comparison? You can’t.
This is just some at-home writer throwing pretty numbers altogether, adding color to two different columns, and not focusing on the entire picture that this article should cover: The breakdown of game genres on each console. Not overall, just each genre.
Why don’t we see the graphs for RPG games on each? Or FPS? Platformer?
It’s because this site does not know how to hire a worthwhile researcher.
And if you’re going to compare overall games, DO NOT USE JUST YOUR SITE’S STATISTICS to represent every other video game reviewing site.
That’s just blatant misrepresentation.
And while I do see there are some really bad titles that happen to appear on Wii, they also appear on the other consoles, too - so it’s completely worthless to put the blame on Nintendo.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
The graph is a bit misleading, because it uses percentages instead of absolute numbers… but it’s true that Wii has very few big (traditional) “blockbuster” games. Read the full original article for a more balanced assessment overall.
One point that is always glossed over is the price point of PS3/360/Wii games. I can reliably go into stores and buy a good Wii game for $30 or less; not so much for the other systems, where you typically need $55-70. This probably stems from the fact that PS3/360 games have much larger development budgets
Additionally, I think that the GameRankings review scores are useful but sometimes misleading. They evaluate Wii games from a “hardcore” gamer perspective, which is much different from how I approach gaming these days. Although I appreciate some aspects of Devil May Cry, it doesn’t fit my criteria of a “good” game right now. On the other hand, some of Wii’s oddball games are much more interesting to me - especially when they also appeal to my wife.
Question: Is it just me, or does the Wii dominate when it comes to niche games? (Think: Baroque, No More Heroes, Cooking Mama, Zack & Wiki, Trauma Center, Endless Ocean. Not all “great” games, but an interesting and varied selection to be sure.) For that matter, has the definition of “niche” changed at all, since a casual game like Cooking Mama probably has a much wider audience than hardcore ones like The Darkness?
May 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
One last response to the original Infendo post:
“Nintendo Seal of Quality, GET!”
While I don’t think that a Seal of Quality is necessary, it’s a good idea to label certain games that are of high quality… but who is qualified to judge the games, and on what criteria exactly is the decision made?
Nintendo isn’t qualified to offer quality awards for anything other technical merit, because they are one of the key publishers for the system. (Would they really publish a Nintendo game and *not* give it the seal? No conflict of interest there, eh?) To have any real meaning, a neutral third-party is required for this - which is where game reviewers have typically been useful.
But another problem raises its head here: most game reviewers have been playing video games hours each day for many years. Their gaming excess has created a set of expected conventions - controls, graphics, etc - that are intentionally absent on the Wii, making their ability to rate games effectively useless to the average Wii owner. (Example: which is better? Dual analogs in a FPS game, or the point and click controls we see on the Wii. Convention states that dual analog controls score higher, even though I feel that the Wii setup is a huge step forward in console FPS games.)
So a huge gap has been created. Who can objectively rate a game like Endless Oceans that doesn’t even try to follow the usual conventions? Does it deserve a score in the high 80s, the mid 20s, or somewhere in between? Looking at GameRankings, you can see ratings covering the entire range…
May 1st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I will be the first to concede that the Wii has far less impressive a software library than the 360. But that being said…I own 21 Wii games, and none of them are “absolute garbage.” In fact, some of them are the most fun I’ve had with a video game in years.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Is this consecuence of the success of the console? I mean, while there are more consoles in the market, more trash games’ll be. All for the money that companies can win, besides it’s sad that the companies doesn’t invest more in the wii games like the other consoles.
I don’t understand, maybe the less they can invest, the better, cause the wii sold itself. Win a lot with the less effort.
Instead, on Ps3 or Xbox 360 games, they have to put more effort cause the console and games are more expensive, and if they not deliver some with quality, maybe don’t sell well and cause losses.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
My thoughts (since I was lazy when writing my original post): 1. A new interface is bound to increase the percentage of poor games. 2. Nintendo is not to blame. 3. An hit product garners lots of sub-par vendors trying to make a quick buck. 4. Wii has the largest selection of underdeveloped games, but the highest number of “innovative ones,” especially ones that I personally enjoy. 5. This data makes for really good discussion.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Prediction: 79% of these games were developed by Destineer.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
^You just dissed the DS! Run.
Eh, this is just a case of person putting a bad spin on data. some of the best games, peoples favorites and best selling are not rated above an 80. Why did he make 80 the cut-off? did he see too many games in the 70’s he didn’t like or have never played?
May 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I was pointing at blake and referring to number 4. I gotta start being more specific.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
doesn’t look unfair or misleading to me; the report looks like it treats the 360 and ps3 the same as the wii. whether you think all games below 80% are junk or not, the fact is the wii has more of them, regardless of what you call them.
i’m also going to go ahead and reject the idea that some games can’t be rated. (’objectively’ rated? aren’t all ratings a reflection of a critic’s taste?) and reject that the ‘hardcore’ VG industry is suffering any more plot repetition than any other media. (and that nintendo is curing that- just how many mario games does the wii have now? how original. mooooo. galaxy is sweet. but adding waggle didn’t exactly blow my mind.)
go ahead and disagree with the ratings of professional critics. i think we should encourage that. but i also think most critics look for fun. they really don’t care if master iron chef is in it. if a carebear game kicked major keester, we’d all be waggling a carebearstare. so this article looks like confirmation of what we’ve all complained about- too much wii shovelware.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
This just in: Don’t see any more movies because a majority of them are straight-to-DVD garbage.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
What games does it consider good and what games does it consider bad?
Article = poop
May 1st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
@ Platinum
Ratings are via Game Rankings.
good = 80% and up
poor = 60% and down
That’s an IMPORTANT POINT. Not only is the survey an objective reflection of aggregragate opinion, the crap games are below 60%, NOT 80%
recommeded: reading the article (though, i really did only skim it. i’d rather write posts than read it carefully)
May 1st, 2008 at 2:40 pm
cause alot of reviewers are guys that play shooters all day…. they are not use to the innovation that the wii provides… ..but the sales tell the stories
May 1st, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I don’t agree with the cutting point for “good” being 80%… That excludes a lot of innovative games that get a low score because of unfulfilled expectations. Battalion Wars 2, SSX Blur, and Excite Truck, three of my favorite Wii games, all got 75 or lower score on Metacritic.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
This is merely a compilation of certain game reviewers opinions. They aren’t fact. I thought SSX Blur, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Godzilla: Unleashed were brilliant, most reviewers did not. Even if this was made more “proper,” though, I dont think it would change a lot.
This isn’t a fair chart but the Wii is sort of lacking in the area of top-tier high-quality games. The only really “good” 3rd party games a ports. The rest are Nintendo’s own IPs. We need a GTAIV or something.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
…but not a port of GTAIV. Just an all-new videogame effort that is really good.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hmm, so games above 80 are considered good, and games below 60 are being labeled trash right? Ignoring if that an accurate label or not I wonder how this compares to the other “winners” of previous console wars.
I think I may spend the next hour or two tabulating the scores for the PS2 for comparison. That’ll at least give us some numbers to point at instead of this sort of impotent arguing.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:35 pm
“We” need a GTA IV? Really? I didn’t know that…
You know, maybe there are some people out there who NEED it, but I REALLY don’t. Doesn’t appeal to me AT ALL.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I motion to have deepthought banned from comments.
He always plays “devil’s advocate” and takes the “status quo” approach to every new story. He’s the subtlest troll I’ve ever seen. He even writes in all lowercase letters to make appear that he’s retarded or much less intelligent. He even brings up crappy talking points that make no sense, as in basically ignoring every original game Nintendo’s made since the launch of the DS and Wii, saying “MORE MARIO LOL.” It’s tired, it’s old. Put it to rest.
As for the article, considering the extreme resistance these press outlets had against the DS and Wii from their announcement to release to bitterness at their sales numbers, is it any surprise that they’ll scurrilously downrate Wii games or bring up shovelware rates as if suddenly the amount of shovelware on a platform is some kind of indictment on the platform when they were silent all last generation to the PS2’s vast ocean of shovelware.
First it was Wii games don’t sell. Now it’s Wii games are bad. What’s next, Wii games cause cancer?
May 1st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
this article is crapping up this site.
All those in favor of removing it from the mainpage? *aye*
May 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Am I the only one that agrees with the article? Man you guys, sometimes the numbers can be cold and hard. Try to deny it if you like, but the Wii’s shear quantity of shovelwere is blatant, and there’s no need for a graph to prove that. Obviously we all have opinions about which games are better than others/deserve higher ratings, but the general consensus speaks for itself.
I don’t want to call all of you guys fanboys, but I think the word may be a little fitting for some of your reactions. (I would prefer not to say any names). I bet you guys that the writer of that article is the biggest Nintendo fanboy here, and he is writing it in hopes of trying to get people to see what the true problem with the Wii is. If enough people see what the problem is, to the point where it hinders Nintendo’s profits, Nintendo will remedy it.
Go head flame me all you want, but my points, and the points of the article stand firm.
My points are:
1. Generally speaking, the majority of games on the Wii are crap.
2. Neither Nintendo nor third-parties are not doing anything to help.
3. It pretty much all depends on the people buying the products, and this article is trying to show everyone that.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I agree with some of the posters above. I bought Big Brain Academy for Wii and had a blast, especially with friends. It didn’t score 8 or above, but does that mean it’s a bad game? I think many of the casual games are judged too harshly on the hardcore sites. Wii Sports has poor graphics, but it’s still one of the best games on the system, or any system for that matter. Naturally it will score lower based on the hardcore review criteria. This doesn’t excuse some of the weak efforts and sloppy ports some third parties are guilty of, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots good games to play.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:34 pm
So, I’ve just finished my tabulation, and I’ve got some numbers, and they’re not all that surprising.
2223 total PS2 games on game rankings.
386 with no ranking. These are being discounted from the totals. This leaves us with 1837 as our total.
344 games with a score of 80% or higher.
992 games between 79.99% and 60%
500 Titles with scores below 60%.
This leaves us with the following averages.
>80%: 18.7%
60%: 54%
80%, 44% in the middle section, and 39.85% in the
May 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Damn, if this is true, I didn’t see that coming. However, the 11% that’s considered “good” match up to the awesome-o meter for all the games on the PS3 and/or XBox360 combined.
If there was another graph about the statistics for only the “good” games and how much people loved them, I’d say the Wii would be much, much higher.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I apologize for the double post, but I really need to remember that open brackets screw up html enabled web forms. Oy. Anyway, this is what I was trying to say.
So, I’ve just finished my tabulation, and I’ve got some numbers, and they’re not all that surprising.
2223 total PS2 games on game rankings.
386 with no ranking. These are being discounted from the totals. This leaves us with 1837 as our total.
344 games with a score of 80% or higher.
992 games between 79.99% and 60%
500 Titles with scores below 60%.
This leaves us with the following averages.
>80%: 18.7%
Less than 80% but >60%: 54%
Less than 60%: 27%
Of course, this is discounting a whole 17% of the games listed at Game Rankings. The numbers change a bit if we add them back. While it may not be fair to do this, I’m going to pretend that they all would’ve gotten less than 60% scores. At minimum we can assume that they probably would’ve gotten at least less than 80% so I’m more comfortable with the first statement than the following ones.
We get 15% for >80%, 44% in the middle section, and 39.85% in the Less than 60% section.
Again, I’m not at all comfortable thinking that this is remotely good way of getting at these numbers since a number of those titles with no ranking were likely in the 79-60 range. If we want to err on the side of caution more, splitting the games with no ratings 50-50 gives us 53% and 31%.
Either way we look at putting those ratingless games back in, the numbers here aren’t too far off from what we’re seeing on the Wii, and the worst case scenario for shovelware is actually worse than the Wii. Throw in the fact that we’re talking about a paradigm shift in control, a shift in gameplay style that’s harder to review traditionally (or for traditional reviewers to review fairly, take your pick), and the fact that a lot of developer support continues to involve throwing out stuff fast to cash in on the buzz without putting in a lot of effort, and the numbers are about in line with what you’d expect.
In other words, my whole response to this has to be… this is news?
May 1st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Oh, just as I sent that last one I remembered I forgot to add something.
I haven’t heard the word “Halo” for months. All I’ve been hearing recently is “Brawl, Brawl, Brawl,” and some stuff about MK Wii. Granted those were most recent, but the “Halo Hailstorm” is over, and it’s been over. And this Nintendo hailstorm, I think, is going to last a lot longer.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I have to agree with DmNT….the fanboyism around here is getting a bit ridiculous, even considering it is a pro-Nintendo site.
Some of the replies here have been really amusing.
“Wii, on the other hand, is trying to push the envelope, and change the whole face of video-gaming.”
This after it was stated the 360/PS3 is good for only having 2 or 3 good formats and sticking with them. I wasn’t aware pushing the envelope was a new Mario Kart, a new Zelda game, a new Brawl game, a new Mario game, a new Wario Ware game, a new Mario Strikers game, a new Mario Baseball game, a new Mario Party game……get the drift? I laugh how people, usually around here, trash games like Halo 3 for being “more of the same” yet praise Nintendo for basically doing the same thing. Again, Wii Sports, a glorified demo, is STILL the best use of the motion controls.
Second, saying you want to ban someone because they don’t goosestep along to the pro-Nintendo march is silly and pretty much immature. His point on Mario, whether you agree with it or not, is valid for the very reason I just posted. You can’t dump on other systems for doing it yet ignore when Nintendo does the same freakin’ thing.
And third, gee I wonder why you’ve heard more Brawl and Mario Kart right now more than Halo…maybe because Halo 3 came out in Sept. of last year and Brawl and MK have come out much more recently. Heck by that logic I can say “All I’ve heard lately is GTA IV, I guess Brawl and MK are old news now”.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Eolirin, it’s probably a pretty safe assumption that the unrated games are total crap. usually it’s licensed crap like barbie and games ending with Z isntead of S that never get reviewed.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It cost more to develop for the Ps3 and more for the Wii. The numbers do not surprise me, but i still wouldn’t enjoy the ps3 games more then my Wii games and everything good on the 360 (Gears, Bioshock etc etc) i can get on my PC *shrugs*
May 1st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Also of note is the break down on game types. The article references that it’s “ironic” that there are 40 games with over 80% ratings, (I count 44 or so actually, but whatever) but people still say that the ps3’s biggest problem is that it has no good games, yet it fails to take into account the fact that the reason why people say that… is because those 40ish games barely deviate from each other. There are 14 sports games, 12 shooters, 6 action games (GTA IV through Assassin’s Creed), 4 racing games, 2 RPGs (and an RPG expansion), and a handful of other things, including GH3 and Rock Band. But if we want to look at exclusives it gets even worse…
We have Disgaea 3, GT5, MotorStorm, Ratchet and Clank, Resistence, Hot Shots Golf, SingStar, Uncharted, Warhawk… and that’s about it. While these games are all solid, most if not all of them aren’t must haves. There’s an updated version of Ninja Gaiden Black, if you want to count Sigma, but it’s really not an exclusive per se. So the “not enough good games!” complaint is very very valid.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Er, that was for the PS3 in case that wasn’t clear. Oy need to not leave important things out of sentences.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
If there is a bunch of crap software for the Wii, it hasn’t bothered me in the least. There are plenty of good games to fill my time and remember to pass on anyt title that ends in Z ;p
May 1st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
it’s not that the guy put a bad spin on Wii, that would make it old news and ignorable anyway. It was the ignoring of 61-79% games. What are they, chopped liver? They’re not good or bad, but aren’t decent enough to be considered fro an analysis on average games or split into the good/bad camp?
I do believe the data would still show the poor receiving of Wii games by critics overall, but that data is incomplete. It at the very least ignores the middle ground of game consoles. The games that hover around “average” that can make up the bulk of many peoples collections. Since 11% are good and 37% are “complete trash”. I guess the other 52% is…irreleveant?
May 1st, 2008 at 8:21 pm
If I played all 189 games, then this would probably effect me… but seeing how I do some review of games before buying them, I’m enjoying all the Wii titles I’ve bought so far.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The NES had over 500 games for it… about how many did you buy? I had like 22… on the Wii in the first year I have.
Excite truck
BWii
Brawl
RES:wii remake
RES cron
No more heros
Red Steel
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Metroid prime 3
Mario Strikers: Charged
Geometry Wars: Galaxies
Bomberman Land
Baroque
Scar face
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Samurai Warriors: Katana
Endless Ocean
Guilty Gear XXX Accent Core
Wii Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
Metal Slug Anthology
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and The Tower of Mirrors for
Super Paper Mario
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Rebel Raiders soon not sure when it comes out. And No I haven’t got MK yet. Hell most of those game have not been beaten yet!
Then a whole lot of VC games. I think I bought like 3ish PC games? ET:quake wars, crysis, UT3… So my FPS needs are fine right now.
And really the whole look at all this crap thing is silly and only bait for fanboys because you can easily find some thing to play yet you will have a harder time wowing people with graphics though yet thats what my PC is for. I think the whole “the Wii has too many crap titles” only works for fan boys are people who have a friend that they must defend the system to. This would be the online gamer. Really if you are beginning to feel like you have nothing to play then maybe you just might want to get a job and buy another system. Or maybe even worst gaming is not for you because seriously the VC releases are very very good games no matter the price and they are quality like most of these games have been on some blog sight best games list depending on what they like. The Wii’s catalog in heaven for a real gamer yet for some reason new gamers are having a hard time playing these games also. It’s so weird to see people say WOW this game has aged so badly…LOL it always looked like that! The Genesis emulation is spot on even with the rainbows around every thing and bad sound effects…LOL
If you’ve played the GTA game will will agree from a game making stand point I have to give it all tens too! It’s pretty much a huge feat they’ve done… but will it get me to get an xbox… nope… it’s not what I want to play.. the same goes for people who don’t want to play a game with mario. The whole fanboy thing is getting out of hand and the whole specs being under powered matters if it’s a crutch for developers which it clearly is some times yet it still pays off. The whole innovation thing is also a crutch that pays off with nintendo. But really I play games “I” have fun with and thats all that matters to most gamers because that is the sole reason why the Wii sales. It has the game they want to play even if that game is Wii sport, play. etc. No matter how much hardcore gamers put down that demo it is still the reason why the Wii is crushing you system or PC of choice.
The whole kiddy thing is a problem certain males have with gaming and is the reason why they will eventually not be gaming. Most games are very juvenile in execution. In away it makes them all kiddy even if it is about killing. This is why gaming has been viewed as some thing that is actually bad for people for so long because of that very nature and then comes nintendo making games about games and interaction again and suddenly adults are ok with it. The only way for the HD guys to one up nintendo next time is to push way beyond what realism they can do now and actually hire real writers from the movie industry. That is if they want to continue on the same path. Yet nintendo is already there.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Eolirin has a point there I have the cash to get a PS3 and xbox 360 but really they don’t have any thing I want. Those system appeal to a certain type of gamer and I wouldn’t really call him hardcore because even hardcores like to have fun yet only a few games do huge numbers. Most of them that did huge numbers may not even be played again or they may even be traded in. I can’t put my figure on it but the PS3 is a good example… it is simply missing the line up of games that made it so popular. I’m not sure if this is because of the cost of development or these developers simply don’t want to make these games for this system are maybe it’s the fact that fans online have told developers they simply don’t want those type of games. Every one is just trying to run that effect marathon along with HD gloss. The games have lots of cool things to them yet they are more like sight seeing than games to me some times… not sure why? Well maybe I am but I’m sure my reasons are not the same for every one.
@DmNt,ResidentialEvil I don’t see what the problem is here though. You are on a site that nintendo gamers fans and what not come to and you want us to bash them? If I did not like nintendo then I would not have bought their systems and their games you know? As a gamer I’m getting way more than I expected from nintendo actually. The whole nintendo is letting us down is silly so far nintendo is doing a knock down job of being a console manufacture. I don’t blame those guys for what other are putting out. And please you’ve know nintendo for a long time if you don’t like what they are putting out then you must know that this is all they have ever made? Don’t like their IPs then who told you they where going to change? I don’t remember getting a card thats says hey thank you for buying this system but we are going to make new IPs just for you! If you like the HD stuff out currently then I’m glad they did not cater to you. You have 3 systems including the PC to play those games on! Gamers who are real gamers ARE having fun with this system and 700.000 people just bought one last month and if the majority of games where crap (which reads there is nothing to play) then why is there such a high attachment rate and why do the games still keep selling? I mean you can try the Oh nintendo makes all the best seller So and what? We have games to play whats the problem? What!? 3rd parties don’t get good sales… well um they do if they don’t put out shovel ware. How come shovel war does not sale on the HD system? I’m sure I have a few game that most of you past over because of review scores but I approach this system the same way I did the NES… review scores are great for only one thing showing me screen shots and video and letting me see if they reviewer is a fanboy hype train or a big complainer because I’ll play a game before I decide if it’s good for me. These review scores are bad if you are the type of hardcore game that is told what to buy. Then maybe you won’t have any games then. If you just hate nintendo and mario and any thing thats not mature then good for you or too bad for you go buy a HD console we understand your pain and good luck with the next 5 years of gaming ahead of you it’s going to be rough. Yet there are other people that don’t mind this stuff and mario could be the a freak of a person and I would still play it because of the game play and the fact that nintendo games sale because of polish not mario most of the time at least for me. Hell nintendo could do a FF13 and I would get their before squares simply because I like how they develop games.
So it comes down to what you want from gaming. What you want may not be the reason why others game. It just seems like it is.
Then I what to ask you If the other systems are so hardcore then how come more of those games don’t sale to %50 of that audience? I mean games that have done so well review wise on the HD systems struggle to get the sales of the wii even though they got above 80% in a review score? I mean is nintendo that good that they can out sell more powerful tech with an inferior system with so called fad like games that are demos and loads of shovel ware? Yeah If i’m a hardcore gamer I’m not buying that. So it’s a good thing we all are not hardcore because your favorite HD system is moving pretty slow and even stalling in it’s home land. So you have to ask your self who is really the cause of the decrease in the industry? Fanboys, hardcore gamers or new comers? if the first two are so hard to please then would that eventually make it harder for each company to compete or even stay afloat. What happens if the HD systems got all of this shovel ware…. they would die… this is not the case with the Wii that say some thing…. the games on it are strong enough for people to ignore the shovel ware.
No one cares if you just don’t like nintendo but if your going to come here a discuss stuff then please know that most of us actually like playing our games. You can call us what you want but we are having fun and you not liking some thing isn’t going to change that now is it?
May 1st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Sorry I meant the PS3 is simply missing the line up that made the PS2 so popular. Yet when you think about it what line up made the PS2 so popular in the first place? Hope it was that game called DVD play back yeah That was fun I still play that one too! You see the industry was given to SONY last time simply because every one though they had won.
It’s going to be funny but there will come a day where execs will simply stop listening to the HD hardcore and embrace or tell them to buy there new hardcore Wii game. I mean after GTA4 who is gonna want to buy another game right? Oh star wars but it’s not as big! The production no these systems will simply created more high voltages unless features can be bought pre-built.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Poor residentevil just can’t seem to get it can he?
OK, let me try to explain it again in such a way that even my 8 year old daughter could understand it, and hopefully that will include your level of understanding as well (I know it’s probably pushing it, but we can always hope).
First of all the Wii is indeed pushing the envelope of video gaming. Games like Wii sports, Wii fitness, Brain age, WarioWare, etc… are games that are using a technology (or format) never before incorporated (oops sorry, big word - it means used) in gaming before. And, the Wii is also reaching out to a demographic (Again, big word, that means a section or group) that has never been gamers before. Now if you can’t understand that this is indeed pushing the envelope of gaming, than I really don’t know what else to tell you (BTW, my daughter understands this, so I’m hoping you might too).
Now, just because the Wii is doing this, it doesn’t mean that they can’t release newer versions of older games as well. Believe it or not, it is possible to do both. Are you still with me up to this point, or did I lose you? The Wii is on the cutting edge of newer and exciting modes of game play, AND they are giving their fans some newer versions of some of their favorite games.
Now, on the other hand, the XBox, and the PSP3 are primarily (that means mostly) releasing the same kind of games over and over. Games that are considered hard-core games. Yes, they are incorporating (again using) better graphics with each release, but the games themselves aren’t changing much at all.
OK? So do you understand, or should I get my daughter to try and explain it to you?
May 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Wii sucks. the games are inovative but only losers play them!
Mwahahaha im back! iv havnt left a coment in a while but here i am!
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 am
No, deepthought isn’t playing devil’s advocate. Him, along with a few other guys (you know who you are), is the voice of reason. Of common sense, which is getting less and less common around here actually. Is Wii a fun system? Yes, it is. Does it have more underdeveloped games coming out than the other systems? Oh heck, it does. Is it a good thing? No way. Does it bother us, considering we still have plenty of games to enjoy? No, it doesn’t. Should we try to deny the existence of crapfest? No, we shouldn’t. Is Nintendo themselves to blame for the said crapfest? No, it isn’t. Should Nintendo nation get all pissy defensive over this? God no, it shouldn’t. Do I enjoy my Wii? Oh yes, I do. Is Wii really all it was promised to be? Sorry, but no. Did all developers start releasing top-notch games for Wii just as they should for the leading console in terms of sales? Sadly they didn’t. Has Wii revolutionized gaming on a platform-wide scale, not just in terms of single games that “get it right”? No, it hasn’t. Is it going to? Hate to say it but I doubt it. Is that so very important as long as there are cool games to play? No, but Nintendo should still watch their promises next time. Is Nintendo even pampering the casual crowd as much as they said they would? No, dammit. Wii Fit is ace but that’s not the point. What about spiritual (not actual) sequels to Wii Sports? A year and a half after the system’s launch “playing Wii with my mother” still means playing bowling and tennis. After all this time, disregarding Wii Fit there are still no good Mii-based games. Am I entitled to complain about it? Yes, I am. Will I start hating Nintendo? No, I won’t. Should everyone get a perspective, though? Um-hum.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
I just don’t believe in averged scores in videogame industry since Wii Sports got a 7.6/10. How could they?
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
@Negrin, see… the thing is when you say “it has more underdeveloped games coming out than the other systems”, what’s your metric? If we were to look at previous systems that actually, you know, did WELL market wise… It really doesn’t. The percentages aren’t that far off from the PS2 for instance. The 360 and the PS3 have better ratios, but when you examine the games that are hitting that >80% bracket, you’ll find that most of them aren’t very different from the others. The other current-gen systems are also less popular with the market, so that means that releases *have* to be of a higher quality or the developers for those systems would be losing huge amounts of money. You can only produce shovelware when you have a big enough target audience that you can expect to turn a profit simply by scale. 5% of 20 million is a lot better than 5% of 10. If anything, the amount of shovelware demonstrates that the Wii has won the console wars in the market. Quality software *is* being released though, and will continune to be released. But so will a bunch of crap that’s half-baked, because, as market leader, the Wii is the only place that has a chance to turn any profit. Just like the PS2.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
@Eolirin: I couldn’t agree more with what you’ve just said. Sure, all the shovelware is a consequence of Wii’s popularity, and that’s a mechanism noticeable in every console generation. However, this generation is peculiar in that we have a system targetted strongly at casual users, who–let’s face it–have significantly lower expectations than you and me do and are much more likely to buy crap.
But that’s not the point. Not by a long stretch. What ticked me off and made me write my original comment was how ridiculously defensive the majority of commenters (yourself not included) here were. Attacking the author of the original article, attacking the article itself, attacking anyone who doesn’t share the official Wii superoptimism, attacking whatever possible target instead of addressing the actual issue. Just like Joshdad’s amusing comment about the unfavorable statistic being due to the fact Wii is pushing the envelope of gaming. Really? That’s what you wanna say? Just how hard does Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour push the envelope?
This is exactly how ridiculous the fanboyism of a large chunk Infendo commenters has become. This is not the first time I call for bringing back the “intelligent” in addition to “passion”, which, granted, is clearly here. I’m getting the feeling that not many people actually bothered to read the concluding section of the original article, entitled “What needs to be done”. Read it peole. Is that really something you can disagree with?
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Does Hannah Montana push the envelope? Of course not.
Does Wii sports push the envelope? Obviously it does.
Is Sony or XBox pushing the envelope in regards to giving us new and creative types of games? No, they are pushing the same stuff as always just in a new and brighter outfit.
I do hope you can see this, because it’s really not all that difficult.
The Wii is pushing the envelope whether people like you can understand it or not. Obviously not EVERY game being offered is doing this, BUT the Wii is the only system right now that has some games that are. Don’t be so ignorant in your assumption (and your reference) that because some games are trash (like HM), that the Wii is not changing the face of the video game industry.
The fact is that if I want new and exciting games that no one else offers, I will play a Wii game (and no, not HM). If I want a traditional FPS, RPG, etc.. type of game I can either play the XBox, PS, or even better my PC.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
cheers residential and negrin
also, nice work Eolirin- it’s too bad the data isn’t very clean. but the differences do sound significant to me, depending on how you split it. I’d love to see how these ratios trend over time. Perhaps the PS2 had more crap at the start?
i think the ‘most mkt share = most junk’ argument only carries so far. the low percent of highly rated games probably reflects this, but also reflects the ‘casual gamers happily buy crap’ effect.
also, this is a fairly different mkt from last generation. the mkt leader console requires significant alternate development from other platforms. combined, pc, 360, and ps3 have a larger audience, and can use largely the same in game assets (textures, etc). so offhand, i want to say the ‘mkt leader gets more crap games’ effect is diminished a bit, but i’m not 100% on that.
the tension between ‘mkt share = crap’ and ‘casual audience = crap’ is the largest disagreement I see on this article.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
@joshdad
mass effect man. THAT’s storytelling. THAT’s what I wanted Twighlight Princess to be.
And there’s a reason reviewers are holding GTA4 above their head as evidence for ‘games as art’. I’m getting my copy (finally) today, but l doubt the 10s are unjustified.
google the bioware’s guys discussion of games versus toys for an interesting (and balanced) perspective.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I’m in no way trying to downplay any Sony or XBox games. They are doing some incredible things with graphics, things that the Wii will never even come close to touching (and if graphics are your thing, then obviously you will be more satisfied with one of these sytems).
All I’m simply trying to do is point out that the Wii is the only system that is trying to go in a different direction, a direction that is obviously appealing to mass hordes of consumers. A direction that is changing the face of video-gaming (or as I stated before, pushing the envelope of where games are heading.)
As this article points out, yes, there are a lot of bad, junk games being pushed on the Wii, games that will be purchased by many casual gamers who aren’t as crititical as to what kind of game they are getting. But these junkers should in no way determine or set the standard for the overall direction the Wii is taking us. Yes, it is possible for the Wii to have both Junk and and Gold in their lineup. Hopefully as time goes by, the 3rd party developers will get more on board, and start giving us games that match the quality of most of Nintendo’s offerings, but until then, we (or at least most) can put up with the junk, and enjoy the innovative and envelope-pushing games that are also being offered.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Negrin, I do agree that there is often times a bit too much fanboyism and not enough critical examination, but that being said, Deepthought wasn’t exactly being a voice of reason either… The response to what he said was overboard, yeah, but his points weren’t exactly grounded either. Being an anti-fanboy in a bunch of fanboys doesn’t make your statements any more valid.
There are some extremely severe problems with the metrics that the article uses. Even ignoring the fact that the sample size for review scores is too small to deal with the fact that there are a large number of games that have a 15-20 point differential, and that some of the numbers are based off of a single review score, something that’d make a statistician cringe if he heard someone was using those numbers for statistical analysis… A lot of it does have to deal with the fact that we’re entering into new markets, and that critics are basing reviews on preconceptions of what gaming should be. Wii Sports for instance, is not ranked above 80%, yet, for a very large portion of the world population, it’s a vastly better game than Halo 3, which is ranked in the 90s. And that’s because for a large portion of the world’s population, Halo 3 is *completely* unplayable. Someone who is really into Halo probably is going to not only find more fault in Wii Sports, they’re also not going to get how *important* games like it are in bringing in new users (And it’s not cause they’re stupid, it’s because the gameplay isn’t for *them*). Truth is, Wii Sports more fun *for me* than any of the Halo games, or, really, any other console FPS will ever be, because I *hate* dual thumbstick controls for FPS games. I can’t aim with them, and I’m not going to spend hours trying to adjust just so I can play games that we’ve seen done better on the PC 10 years ago. “Fun” is too nebulous a metric to make any judgements on, it varies too much from person to person. That makes it so that this isn’t even a valid way of looking at quality when your reviewers primarily consist of a certain type of gamer. So, in addition to the reviews having large differentials, they’re also not even remotely random samplings, which makes using them as any sort of metric for talking about anything other than reviewers themselves difficult. Rather than being able to talk about quality, you can only talk about whether or not a certain type of reviewer likes them. The fact that reviewers are reviewing with an eye to fun, as Deepthought says, is exactly *why* they invalidate themselves, not proof that they don’t.
To illustrate: If I were reviewing one of the Halo games, it’d score much lower because I’d invariably compare it to PC offerings, and it’d come up lacking. Anything good about it I’ve seen already and grown somewhat jaded to, and there are lots of design issues that make it less than stellar if you strip those parts away. This is of course, absolutely *not* fair of me to do, because it should be judged on it’s own merits, not on the merits of other things. Thing is, no one does that. Everything we do, everything we see, is colored by our experience; as humans we’re hardwired to be like that. It’s very hard to divorce what we know from what we’re looking at currently and treat it as if it were in a vacuum.
So when you compare something like Wii Sports to previous console offerings it’s also going to come up lacking, and it’s going to be just as unfair to judge it based on that fact as it would be for me to judge Halo based on comparison to the PC realm. Halo was for console gamers who never *saw* any of that stuff before, Wii Sports is for people who have never *been* gamers. Both games are thus very important to their respective audiences because they *shift* paradigms for that group. But both games will be panned by anyone who “knows better”.
So Joshdad, is actually right. And he’s right because there still aren’t enough games out for the Wii right now that shifting 10 or so of them from less than 80% to over 80% wouldn’t be a big shift in those precentages. In fact, I just went through the Game Rankings list, and I can come up with at least 13 games from there that I would put at over 80, and the user rankings tend to agree with me. Doing that would shift the 11% to 17%, putting us about in line with the PS2 (This also highlights that since the Wii’s sample size is still really small, the percentages are going to fluctate a lot over the next few months/years. 10 more good titles out of the same number of game releases is a significant shift for the Wii; for something like the PS2 it’d be quite a bit less than a percentage point). And a lot of those games are of the “hard to classify” or “caters to the non-gamer” types, stuff like Big Brain Academy and Endless Ocean. Mario Party 8 is also on that list, because the ONLY reason it gets panned is because it’s the 8th game in the series, and it’s getting long in the tooth to the reviewers. But for the more than 2 million Wii owners in Japan alone that have never purchased another system before… it’s brand new, and from the viewpoint of those gamers, it’s *damn* good. Sales numbers support that.
There’s still a lot of shovelware of course, but it’s market leader, and it’s cheaper to develop for, so that should be *expected*.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
@Deepthought, I have never found *any* Bioware game to be a good standard for storytelling. Personally, I’ve never been able to connect with a single character in any of their games, they always seemed too be too full of awesome ideas that were realized in ways that make them seem fake. So, sorry, I don’t buy Mass Effect as being a pinnacle of storytelling in games. I realize I’m in the vast minority here, since people seem to eat up everything that Bioware puts out, but perhaps my standards are just higher; I think Dragonlance is pretty trash too. Honestly, I don’t think I can point at a single RPG that has a storyline that isn’t at best hackish compared to other media types. There are perhaps a handful of adventure games that managed to pull off something that actually elevated the writing above that (although not into the truly higher realms), but that’s been about it. And this is not to say that they’re bad games - although in Bioware’s case, coupled with combat mechanics that I’ve always found to be about as fun as watching paint dry (Mass Effect not withstanding on that point) there wasn’t much for me to love - merely that games as storytelling is still in it’s infancy and there’s very little worth pointing at and going “damn that was a GREAT story”. Most of the time it really, really, wasn’t, though it was often good enough that coupled with the gameplay mechanics, it was worth experiencing.
GTA IV doesn’t even remotely come close to Games as Art either. Pathologic, which was roughly panned by just about every reviewer, does however. It’s probably one of the only games I’ve seen or heard about that actually applies game mechanics to further the thematic points of the game. Which, sadly for the review scores, are exhaustion, desperation, and hopelessness. It’s not very entertaining to play because of it. But a game which is art is more likely to *not* be “fun” than it is to be an entertaining experience. Enriching, deep, fulfilling, sure. But not “fun”. You don’t watch stuff like Citizen Kane and Schindler’s List for the entertainment value or the escapism.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Er, that came across totally wrong. “A game that is art is more likely to be *not fun* than it is to be.”
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
@Joshdad
So what Wii Sports is pushing the envelope? Is this what the shovelware article is about? No, but still you seem to have made it into an argument, heck knows why. What Wii Sports did is obvious. But for one thing, it was 1.5 years ago, and for another, it still doesn’t change the fact I die a little inside when I see some of the shovelware Wii games. And Hannah Montana doesn’t even sound like it’s the worst of them by a long shot. The article’s main point is that maybe Nintendo should be a little stricter. And why not? Sure, I know: bling. But we’re all expecting more from Ninny, aren’t we?
Still, as far as pushing the envelope is concerned, I still think it’s less than Nintendo promised. As I said before, I honestly can’t believe we don’t have more innovative, clever Mii-based games in the spirit of Wii Sports after all this time. Believe it or not, but a large group of people–both complete non-gamers and “hardcore” gamers with little love for Nintendo goofiness–much prefer the “safe” style of Wii Sports to oddball formats like Warioware, Raving Rabbids or Mario Party. Why Nintendo doesn’t capitalize on that is beyond me.
@Eolirin
Wow, that’s some serious weight right there. Respect, sir. I see where you’re coming from and I can’t really disagree with you. The point is, sure, so the article is unscientific. So what? I don’t think it takes its use of statistics too seriously. Does it change the fact it comes to a sort of right conclusion? C’mon, the author is far from being a hateful hardcore PS3 fanboy. The way I see it he’s one of the good guys. The amount of slagging he got here really surprised me.
Oh, and while on the subject on deepthought’s comments about Nintendo’s originality or lack thereof. Come on guys, we’re all big on Nintendo notalgia and all that… But shouldn’t we agree Nintendo *has* been milking that nostalgia for a really long time now? To the point that I–a Mario fan–can’t get myself to thinking about buying Mario Kart Wii anytime soon, good as it might be, because I just can’t stomach the thought of getting yet another Mario game. With all due respect to all the creative, insanely original stuff Nintendo does (I truly can’t remember when had been the last time my gaming experience had been so special and magical as the first time or second time I played Galaxy), aren’t they among the most conservative companies in the business at the same time, self-contradictory as it might sound? Sure, a lot of it has to do with the fact their most devoted fanbase cries out in outrage every time they try to tweak with the beloved, tired-and-true IPs… but still.
Wow, I ranted so much I don’t even know if all that went anywhere. All in all, I just think that the whole topic isn’ t really something to argue over, but still emotions are flying way too high
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Not argue??? Now what fun would that be?
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
It’s the responses that people think out and write up like the ones for this article that make me love all of our readers! Passionate discussion for the win!
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
i GUESS YOU KNOW WE COULD TALK MORE ABOUT THE GOOD GAMES Negrin. O0ps sorry Why even talk about the crap? It’s there and we all know it talking about it isn’t going to make it go away is it? Are you buying any of those games so why does it matter? People talking about how much crap XP was but not they swear by it and hate vista which actually runs pretty well if you know what your doing.
Seriously if you spend more time talking about the games you are having fun with then you are effectively reducing the damage of crap. Keep posting all of these articles about crap and more publish my give it a try. Example the PS2 had almost nothing worth playing for the 1st year and a half even though every one had one. Yet as soon as one good game came out every one was acting like jesus just came back! I mean really what good is talking about the Wii’s crap games doing for you? Oh I forget it’s the last weapon you can use since the fad thing is not working huh? Oh your not a fanboy ok. So what is talking about the crap going to do for you? The crap is only interesting to talk about if you actually don’t like what is out.Then it a great source for you to talk junk about some thing lots of people are having fun with. Then again you read so many I play Wii sports and I’m hardcore post that most of you with out a Wii don’t even know whats good on it, due to the low scores that some of the games get even though people actually like these games. I mean really maybe we need a divide here. The Wii is a console and it should be treated like one. Even thought the Game boy was out when the SNES was it was still able to get good reviews that where far and honest. The whole promotion of the Wii has so much crap does what for any one but bash? Ok they can enforce a seal and suddenly that gets used against them also.
We can be mad at who every we want to but the only way things are going to change is to actually buy good games. If you like the Wii and you feel like there is nothing on it then maybe you should look a little harder for good games. It would seem some thing is happening in the industry and it is related to a certain age bracket(23-36) yet these are the same guys that are making your games. After being beat down for years by the hardcore and trying to please them at the same time things are getting even harder. Just notice how one game sales ok across all of the systems rather than a lot. GTA4 is great and fascinating but what happens when that wears off? It’s crazy but people said the same about the Wii right? Now what happen when a game does not deliver a world like this from now on yet it’s a better game? Will it be marked down because of this?
Also alot of you should know most of those games got high scores because of the graphics mostly. It’s expected for the next 2 to 3 years. Give it time and people will loose interest just look at UT3 and crysis on the PC. O yeah yeah those are the only games on the radar for the PC yet no one has more shovel ware than those guys and you guys should also know that the casuals are actually really picky and it is even harder to make it as a POP CAP game. Just like how the hardcore love there version of the latest FPS spin the POP games people love clones too yet only the ones that cater to them.
Also too Negrin you’ve made your point you don’t like nintendo because of the milking of mario. OK then fine you could have said that to begin with. I’ve been playing games for so long that it doesn’t matter who they put at the wheel of a mario kart game hell it could be bonk or astral form sega! At the end of the day it would come down to his speed weight and what not. I’m not mad at Disney for using mickey or at CBS for use that damn eye icon for so damn long! What you have there is a hang up there and technical it’s your problem and not nintendo’s. Mario is just like them using their own logo I mean dang man get a new logo! Red letters Pffffff, hell that so 70s! Face it man you grew out of nintendo and you where(meaning you are not now) a fan leave them and their fans be! Your acting like a stalker now they are not going to change into what you want because you hate them or dislike their use of IP they created and that you don’t own.
Listen to some of these guys is like some one hating them self because they played pokemon growing up yet are pissed they even did it! They could make milk mario all they want because it doesn’t matter to me. I got nothing against they IP or their milking it or any of there games because they are still quality and thats why I buy games. And no this isn’t some holly church of nintendo gaming we simply are not as fickle as you are. It’s not that hard to see you know. A good game is a good game even if I have to get a type-2 kit to play it! Yeap I’t getting SF4 the arcade kit! Hellz yeah! There is always some horrible reason why other people like some thing other don’t like.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
WOW just WOW playing at FPS and then posting on here is a very bad idea… Sorry about that. Any ways imagine if people kept talking about lair or the fact that every one bought Hal1-2-3 yet every one was playing COD4 but now they are playing GTA… who are you going to play online if every one has moved to the new game? Now imagine if people wrote stuff like that? Some of that isn’t even really true yet most people would push that by the good old logic gate.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm
@Negrin,
It’s not just that the article is unscientific, it’s also that it fails to examine the situation in any level of sophistication. The Wii is very much where you’d expect considering the factors surrounding it, and it’s not like there’s some horrible shortage of really fun games. As I said, I can easily find at least another ten games that I feel should fall into the 80%+ range, and that puts it close enough with the PS3 that it hardly matters - the Wii btw, already has waay more exclusive games in that range than the PS3 does; 15 to 9, not counting updated ports, and there are 0 games exclusive to the PS3 (though Uncharted comes close) with over a 90% rating too, the Wii has at least 4 or 5. I won’t examine the 360 because of the year head start; I’m not going to put in the effort to sort games by date released and any number that didn’t take the release window into account isn’t useful in the slighest - and the interesting thing is that for a good number of those 10 games, about a third to a half of the reviewers *did* put them in the 80%+ range, but the other 2 thirds or so were below, with some so far below that it really pulled the total average down. That’s the 10-20 point differentials (sometimes more, I saw at least one with all the way up to a 25 point difference, 90% and 65% depending on the review) I was talking about. So my problem is not that he was being a raging fanboy, it’s that he was saying something that made a non-issue into an issue. Every console out there has it’s share of truly shitty games though. The Wii is not unique in this, and you can’t “fix” it either. And the fact that the Wii has so much of it really is a sign that the console is thriving. We haven’t seen this much shit since the PS2!
What *is* an issue is that developers have yet to begin to fully take the thing seriously, but the shovelware is not the cause of that, it’s the result of it. Making the shovelware all go away won’t increase the number of good games, it’ll just decrease the number of games. The developers need to put in more effort before we see an increase in the good stuff. But they’ll learn in time; the hardware sell through will force them to. We saw this with the DS, we’ll see it again here.
Also, on the point of Nintendo franchises:
Yeah, Nintendo does tend to reuse a lot of *characters*, but there’s a key point in this that needs to be considered. Not a single game in any of their franchises has failed to alter the formula in some way. Everything, no matter how many iterations a series has gotten to, pushes something forward. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out as well as they’d hoped (Sunshine, for instance), and sometimes it works even better than anyone expected (Galaxy, and those expectations were high to begin with), but there’s always *something* that pushes the state of the game forward. So I don’t really fault them for reusing Mario, because they’ve never stopped pushing, and none of the characters really have sufficient personality or plot surrounding them that it makes the slightest difference that they’re the same. If it makes it easier to sell the gameplay tweaks, then so be it. It’s always been about the gameplay, and not about anything else. The skins they’re putting on things is irrelevant.