The double-edged sword of Wii Sports
Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 4:51pm by Jack
Wii Sports changed gaming.
To some that might sound like an opinion, especially coming from someone like me, but it’s not. Wii Sports, for all intents and purposes, is selling the Wii right now. Software sales for the system are relatively OK, I know that, but Wii Sports is the game that gets people to buy the system. It’s what they see on CNN when grandma is bowling a perfect 300 in Wii Sports Bowling, and it’s what they see in their local paper when they read that Wii Tennis has cured a woman of breast cancer, and it’s what they hear about from neighbors and friends at school.
For now, Wii Sports creates an immense sense of momentum and a wave of success for Nintendo. However, I fear all this comes with a dark side; a double-edged sword if you will, that is responsible for a rampant wave of utter schlock on the system right now. That schlock? Mini-games. Too many of them, to be precise.
I say this because I was reading an MTV review of Mario Party 8. It was hardly flattering, and I can’t say I’m surprised. Personally, I think trilogies are about all that is necessary for any kind of medium. Movies, games, books. Whatever. Those “No That’s What I call Music” CD’s? A sin against humanity. But for the Wii, another mini-game compilation is doubly damning.
So how does Wii Sports play into this? To be honest, it was the first mini-game compilation for the Wii. Now, being a mini-game doesn’t automatically disqualify a game from the “best ever” category, but the fact that Wii Sports was such a success has, unfortunately, spawned a tidal wave of failure and lame copy-cats in its wake.
In Wii Sports, you had five games that would not have made much sense on their own, but together were an incredible demonstration of what the Wii was capable of. And they were damn fun games to boot. Copying something is the best form of flattery there is, I’ve heard, and the industry (and Nintendo; they are as guilty as anyone) has taken to that cliche in earnest. The danger of Wii Sport’s success is that it encouraged many developers to take the easy way out. At least at first.
So where does that leave us today? Well, it gives us stinkers like Mario Party 8 (which is a great “party game only” I’ve heard) and Wii Play, but it also allows developers to brainstorm a bit and think of new ideas. Where the rub comes in is which way the scale tips.
As for me, ever the optimist and Nintendo ass-kisser, I say it tips towards the side of innovation. That won’t mean the mini-games will go away, as there will always be a spate of crappy games on a successful system (PS2, for example), but they will no longer define or frame the system as they do right now. There’s still that danger however, but I’ll worry about that after I finish up this solid 260+ game I’m bowling right now.
Wii Sports: Too successful for its own good?
June 28th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I don’t consider Wii Sports a minigame fest, it’s a compilation more like it. The games are full-fledged sports games, just not as deep as say Top Spin or Tiger Woods. And if it did anything bad, it’s that it set the bar quite high. It was an excellent game and the only other minigame fest that came close to its excellence was the next game in the “Wii” series, Wii Play. Soon we will get Wii Health and Wii Music, both of which seem less like minigame fests and more like Wii software for the casual player. Who knows, Wii music might have a deep music-making program in it. Or, they could be lazy and make it more like Wii Sports. I guess we’ll wait and see.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Wii Play wasn’t a stinker. It wasn’t a fully-fledged game, but it was never meant to be. It doesn’t exactly what it was meant to, and that’s serve as a tutorial/tech demo for newbs to the remote. It’s still hanging around the game charts each week too.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Wii Sports = Wii / Wii = Wii Sports
Just wait six Years and you know what i mean.
June 28th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I want to see the article saying Wii sports tennis cured breast cancer in a lady…… Maybe its just me but I hardly play Wii sports im to busy shooting stuff over and over. But hey thats why I got a Wii.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I think maybe I was a bit too obtuse. Wii Sport = great game.
That said, what it spawned (and could spawn) = not so good, but room for growth.
And PS = The breast cancer thing is a previous post on Infendo. Search for it.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
I just told a guy the other night that he should buy a Wii just for Wii Sports if for nothing else. Sorry, Jack!
In all seriousness, Wii Sports is great .. Think we’ll see Wii Sports 2 any time soon?
June 29th, 2007 at 1:43 am
you know, the only people who i hear bashing those party games are those who dont have frequent parties. they do cater to particular people, but theyre damned fun for those people. i have a ton of folks over each week, to play rayman raving rabbids, wii play, wii sports, mario party, and wario ware. we’ve been partying off and on with tons of vodki, rum, and beer to go around, not to mention a ton of ganj, which is the perfect party atmosphere for a bunch of minigames. most of my friends work at starbucks, and they invite al of their coworkers, sometimes there are around 20 of us all taking turns at these minigames, with partying, dancing, and general fun going on in the background. these mini game fests may not be cool for a hardcore crowd, but thats not who theyre for! theyre for drunks, stoners, and small children. = )
June 29th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Mario Party has always been there. Wht do they bash that title, because it’s to late. Now people see it as another party game, while it’s THE party game. Wario also is there for a while now and great too. I currently only own MP8 as a minigame title, you don’t have to buy them all. The first batch of NDS games also got reviewed as techdemo, mini games, etc. But see where the NDS is now. Just hold your breath for a while
June 29th, 2007 at 4:07 am
People like it becuase its good, clean fun.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:05 am
First, I’ll say I don’t see wii-sports as mini-games.
Also, with regard to Mario Party 8, its a blast. I have people begging me to have more Wii parties once I introduced it at my most recent.
Also, mini/party games are just that, PARTY games. These are NOT single player affairs. Why do people bitch that they are not good for single player? Do you go buy trivial pursuit, or scrabble for single player? Hell no. Just so you know, Trivial pursuit is not that great a game for single players. What? No way!
If you are reviewing a game like Mario party in anything but a party atmosphere you are not doing it justice. It really shines at partiies.
And Wii-play is great at get togethers too. Even I was surprised when the people at my last party were clamoring to play Charge!. Yeah, thats right, the cow racing game. It was hilarious and fun. Single player? Not so much.
I mean, can you imagine people bitching that zelda didn’t have enough multiplayer party modes? Its the same thing. Zelda is a single player game so thats how it’s judged. mario party is NOT build for the single player.
Also, WTF is a mini game to begin with? Casual gamers don’t know that mini-games are “bad”. They are just another type of game. A game that lots of casuals like. The 360 has like a million shooters, but guess what? Thats great for shooter fans! Sucks balls for those of us not that into shooters, but I don’t bitch about it, because a lot of people like shooters. Well, in my experience, most of my friends and their friends they bring to my parties, LOVE my party and mini games.
So, as long as they are fun and interesting, I don’t care if there are tons of mini-games on the Wii. Only the hardcore think they are “bad” anyway.
June 30th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I’d prefer to think of them as “jump in, have a little fun and jump out” games. That’s why they are successful to the new generation of gamers like families. They don’t have the time to get into Zelda etc. A 10 minute game of tennis though is just fine and allows for social interraction. That’s GOT to be positive.
That’s why i like Wario and Raving Rabbids too.
July 1st, 2007 at 3:40 am
I think you’re missing the point Jack is making, he’s not saying that minigames are bad or that people sould stop making them, what I think he’s saying is that the success of Wii sports could encourage developers like EA to take the easy way out and only make minigame compilations for the Wii, rendering the whole good third party support argument useless for core gamers since all we’d be seeing from third parties would be Mario Party clones etc…
July 1st, 2007 at 8:22 am
“he’s not saying that minigames are bad or that people sould stop making them,”
If mini-games are not bad, then who cares if that’s what EA chooses to make? They are still going to put out there sports/racing titles every year so you’re not going to lose those. What incredibly compelling content from EA are you afraid to losing to the mini-game craze? I’m not sure if you were referring to me in your comment, but if you are, you missed MY point. If people like mini-games, why would it be bad if EA made them? Why would it be bad if ANYONE made them? The same goes for FPS on the xbox. People like them, people buy them, so devs make them. If you like FPS, this is a good thing. The only reason companies like EA would make lots of mini-games is if people buy them. I’m saying, if people buy them, then they SHOULD make them.
July 1st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
@Cisco, you missed the “only” part… Exactly the same thing that happened for the 360 last fall, almost every game that was released was a FPS…
July 1st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
The “only” is pure hyperbole. If you honestly fear that any major publishing/development company like EA will “only” make mini-games for the Wii, or FPS for 360, then you are not a rational person. They may use them as their “meat n potatoes” if they are selling exceptionally well, and why shouldn’t they. They need money to fund new IPs and gaming experiments. That’s just how it works. You trudge through the mass market dreck to get the jewels. Every gaming console I’ve ever owned has been that way. Hell, movies are that way too. I don’t see it changing any time soon.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:40 am
I have to say I agree, I’m in fear that the Wii is going to end up being only a “party” console. Wii Sports is fun, but I honestly don’t even consider it even a mini-game. It’s a demo. The games aren’t very deep and are extremely simplisitic. Yes they are fun (for a while at least), but not something I’m playing all the time. I pop it in maybe once a week.
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
“I have to say I agree, I’m in fear that the Wii is going to end up being only a “party” console.”
Do these games sound like “party” games?
Super Mario Galaxy
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
Battalion Wars Wii (The wait for this one is killing me)
Super Mario Strikers
Rygar
Dragon Blade
Soul Caliber Legends
Super Smash Bros.
Fire Emblem
Geometry Wars Galaxies
Guitar Hero III
Disaster: Day of Crisis
RE: UC
No More Heroes
Manhunt 2 (I Hope)
Sadness
Cruis’N
Opoona
Call for Heroes, pompolic wars? (or some shit, can’t remember)
Zak and Wiki
Tombraider: Anniversary
Ghost Squad
Beautiful Katamari
Force Unleashed (rumor?08?)
These are all upcoming games off the top of my head. Mostly 07 I think, but I’m sure some will get pushed to early 08. I’m pretty excited about a lot of them and none of them are really party games (well maybe GHIII). Anyway, the Wii may be a great party system but there is a lot to be excited about besides that. This is going to be a huge 2nd half of 07/early 08.