Wii shovelware means “full steam ahead”
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:02am by Blake
In case you’ve forgotten about the piles of crap games for PS2 by it’s being the most popular system last-generation (edit - it’s easy to remember the great ones), Game|Life kindly reminds us that shovelware is a good thing.
A quick glance at the shelves at any game retailer will reveal a host of slapdash B-games, churned out by publishers you’ve never heard of to make a quick buck off Wii’s success. You of course should not buy any of these games. And you shouldn’t let your friends buy them, either, unless you hate your friends. But just because Nintendo allows these publishers to crank out garbage games for Wii doesn’t mean they’re bad people. In fact, it’s a very healthy attitude to take towards a maturing market, one that could reap dividends for gamers in the long run.
Indeed, the existence of shovelware and inferior quality games actually says: “This thing is thriving. Let’s throw everything we can at it, even the crap.” With said growth and popularity comes an influx of games, both good and bad. As Chris Kohler writes, the $2 DVD dump bin at Walgreens “doesn’t stop anybody from buying the films they really want to see.”
And you thought rank content was alarming. It’s normal.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Being fat is a sign of you having a somewhat high income and getting sick is normal but that doesn’t make it a good thing at all. That the occurrence of something is not extremely uncommon does not make them good in any way.
If I have a house and food that means I might get bothered with rats and other pests and this would be a normal thing since I’m thriving and benefits can be made from me. Letting rats in and not doing anything is foolish and will spoil my house and my food in the long run and kill me with disease. Even though rats wanting to come in is an indicator of success and is normal it does not mean that they are in any way good for me.
Everything comes at a price but we can do what we can to reduce it.
Having new and/or casual gamers turned off by games made only to make some money of the Wiis success is not a good thing.
The film industry and the gaming industry might have similarities but that does not mean they are the same and will react in the same to different influences.
Films are a lot cheaper then games and they are much more established in our society and the common mans every day life then games.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Excellent points, Myst. But I still believe a free market will properly guide itself as it will in this case. Vote with your wallet, as they say.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:05 am
^ analogies void, not comparable.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Yes and no. The PS2 had a large about of crap but it also had a large amount of quality games including a large amount of strong 3rd party titles, and I don’t remember 3rd parties being hesitent to “jump on board” with the PS2. So I don’t think the comparison is totally apples to apples.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Res, you’re right, but don’t forget those third parties were initially enticed to the PS2 by its predesscor, the PSOne. That’s why they weren’t perceived as hesitant, because the foundation and brand were already established.
Nintendo doesn’t have that with the Wii (thanks for nada, GameCube), so it will take longer, but even so similar trends are already present — and that’s without a precedent being set!
March 6th, 2008 at 10:38 am
So who supposed to determine what’s crap and what’s a great game? Often times a game that is made by a 3rd party, and seen to be nothing more than a crap game turns out to be a diamond in the rough, and a game that is supposed to be a great game, turns out to be crap. So are we supposed to tell all developers, don’t you dare make a game for the Wii, unless you can guarantee, that it will be a huge success?
Personally, I’m glad to see as many games as possible come out for the Wii, because it means that there is much more of a possibility of some great games that I might like.
As to the example of having rats and pets come in your home, that’s just ridiculous. You don’t choose to let rats come in your house, but you sure can choose which games you allow in. If you don’t like 9 out of 10 games, then don’t buy them, it’s not that difficult. But just because you don’t like the game, doesn’t mean that someone else won’t.
Plus, the Wii is a whole new experience, not just for gamers, but for developers. Demanding that they “get it right” the first time is just foolish. Sure there might be a lot of crap at first, but hopefully, as they get their feet wet, developers might learn how to make better and better games as they get more experience (through the crap games).
March 6th, 2008 at 11:29 am
DS.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I have two bones to pick with the situation on the Wii.
First, while PS2 and PS1 had a plethora of shovelware appealing (and not appealing) to every conceivable market, they had a plethora of shovelware filling in the sea between the overflowing streams of decent and great games appealing to every conceivable market. This is not the case on Wii. There is crap shovelware, crap shovelware and more crap shovelware. The number of great games are few and far between, all made by Nintendo and Capcom, and currently have problems addressing anything other than the new Nintendo market, and survival horror fans. The difference is clearly discernable. For instance, name one mediocre Japanese type RPG already out. 1. ONE!! I can’t think of any. How about a crap RPG? Can’t think of that either. I say mediocre and crap, because the mark of true dominance is a flood of mediocrity, crap and excellence in ever single area. Right now all Wii receives is crap in one area and excellence in mostly the same area.
The second problem with this is that amongst the crap, very little of it is actually platform exclusive. When people bought into PSone and PS2 based on the size of their library’s (regardless of quality), it was also becasue they knew that those systems were the only ones getting those library’s. Most of the Wii shovelware is receiving a PS2 port (extending its own shovelware library), or even worse, a PSP port.
March 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
it doesn’t bother me personally. but most of these, eh-hem, ‘cas-core gamers’ aren’t nearly as educated to the options, or even their tastes. And games aren’t as cheap as movies. You get burned a couple times, you may stop playing.
what else does the wii have in common with the ps2? It’s the least powerful system of its gen. maybe we’re seeing this influx of crud games because of the combination of mkt share and what’s required to make a game on the system, not just mkt share.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
gamecube bashing Jack?
It helped you in your time of Nintendo need after the N64 and this is how you repay it. 
Yea, i get what Myst is saying and totally agree with it. While it’s normal or even accepted for something to happen, that doesn’t make it right. Crime’s always gonna be here, doesn”t make it right. there’s always going to be horrible games in the world, but that doesn’t make it right.
I wish when I said horrible games that it was only a matter of perception and opinion, but instead that’s the truth, their some outright horrible games on every system making up the bulk of its’ library.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I think elmer has it. The amount of shovelware is not important - it’s true that it’s a sign of a thriving console. It’s the lack of not-shovelware that’s the issue. Any way you slice it, the Wii does not have as big of a ratio of highly rated games. You can blame a “ratings bias” somewhat, but not entirely. Hopefully, as Jack alludes to, Nintendo’s continued massive success in the market will build a foundation for more third party confidence and Triple-A titles. But for now we have to wait.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I think we’ll see 3rd parties start taking a real interest in the Wii once its’ hardware sales are equal to the combined sales of the 360 and PS3. I mean making a game or one of those systems can make it easier to port it to the other or even to the pc.
I think if they see that they can be as successful by focusing on one system as would for 2 or 3 they would take Wii development much more serious and work on higher quality games. was really looking forward to Soul Calibur Legends, but they messed that game up big time.
March 6th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
DocOctorok-”The amount of shovelware is not important - it’s true that it’s a sign of a thriving console. It’s the lack of not-shovelware that’s the issue.”
EXACTLY.
The lack of non shovelware from 3rd party developers on the Wii is the issue here. Not how much crap there will be on the console because ” that’s just the way it is” or because ” the wii is sooo successful, thus it will have a lot of crap titles”. While both statements are true , this argument merely HIDES the fact that the Wii has few quality 3rd party games.
While the Wii will have its share of garbage titles, it should ALSO have a large share of great 3rd party titles. And it simply does not. One does not justify the LACK of the other.
Myst-”That the occurrence of something is not extremely uncommon does not make them good in any way.” Again, very true. But they DO make for good excuses for FanBoys concerning the garbage third party support on the Wii , don’t they?..?…. lol!
Once again. The over abundance of poor quality third party titles, although signifying a popular console, is not the issue. THE LACK of good quality 3rd party titles on the Wii is . And it can NOT be covered up by justifying all this garbage on the wii.
So the Shovelware is here.
Nothing we can do about it.
We get it.
But , WHERE is all the non shovelware 3rd party titles???
March 6th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
That’s the problem I have; not that the Wii has shovelware but that right now that it makes up the majority of the library. I can’t stand to even go to the Wii section of GameStop anymore because of the stench coming from it.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
You guys are unbelievable.
Comparing 15 months of the Wii’s library to basically a decade of PS1 and five years of PS2 games. Did the PS1 or PS2 have a well-rounded library so early into it’s second year? Did the slew of shovelware EVER stop on either system?
Not all of what 3rd parties are bringing to the table is Chicken Shoot, and very little of Nintendo’s offerings fall into that category (DK Barrel Blast? Wtf?).
Look at Zak & Wiki, Guitar Hero 3 (audio problems aside), No More Heroes, Umbrella Chronicles, RE4, Lego Star Wars, MOHH2, Banana Blitz, Trauma Center, Mercury Meltdown, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Madden 08…I could go on, really.
And of course you can’t go into Gamestop without wading through the crap, people are BUYING UP all the good stuff, and Gamestop doesn’t restock it fast enough.
This is more of a problem with the retailers ordering the same number copies of Jenga World Tour as they do Metroid Prime 3.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
““This thing is thriving. Let’s throw everything we can at it, even the crap.””
I’ll be much happier when I read something more like this:
“This thing is thriving. Let’s throw everything we can at it, even SOME OF OUR MAJOR AAA PROJECTS”
March 6th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
@ mykie: Actually you can just compare the first year of launch titles from the three current consoles. Here’s an excerpt from a topic in the forums:
“Well, now I went and did my own research on the subject, and it’s fairly interesting… in the first year of launch, titles that received a 90% or higher on Metacritic: 4 for the Wii, 3 for the 360, and 2 for the PS3. Above 80, though, there is quite a difference: 10 for the Wii, 32 for the 360, and 30 for the PS3. Though I would note the large amount of high scoring annual sports games on those platforms.”
March 7th, 2008 at 12:30 am
“Well, now I went and did my own research on the subject, and it’s fairly interesting… in the first year of launch, titles that received a 90% or higher on Metacritic: 4 for the Wii, 3 for the 360, and 2 for the PS3. Above 80, though, there is quite a difference: 10 for the Wii, 32 for the 360, and 30 for the PS3. Though I would note the large amount of high scoring annual sports games on those platforms.”
I’m sure many of those 90% or higher games are nintendo titles…And the 80% are normal titles…However, there’s one thing that a normal game doesn’t have on the Wii, and thats graphical power…
I guess what I’m trying to say is that, many titles that get released on Ps3, or 360 usually get default higher scores than on the Wii, because of graphics. There a lot of titles on the Wii that your really NEED to PLAY to make an accurate decision and understand. As reviewers are short on time reviewing a whole slew of games…I’m sure many tend to judge on graphics, and since a majority of ps3,360 games easily look better, they tend to get better average ratings…Whereas they look at a crappy looking Wii game and just kick it, saying developers were lazy, etc. etc.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I think everybody understands that every system gets its fair share of shovelware.
The problem I see is sheer amount that is being released.
That to me is the problem because as more and more shovelware comes out, they start taking shelf space and pushing the lesser known quality games out of the way.
If people can’t find games like Trauma Center at their local stores, it’s because shovelware has pushed those types of titles out of the way.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Using review scores are skewed because lots of those games are getting high scores because of graphics. Believe me most of that stuff is about on par with UT2004 game play wise or the last sports game that came out.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. These companies are trying too hard to compete with nintendo. Nintendo has raised the quailty of their own shovel like ware games to a point that even the new comers will not buy much of this stuff unless it’s for a very small child. They need to fill in the space thats left. Plenty of 360 and PS3 owners have a Wii. These guys need to be making new efforts on the Wii and try out new Ips on it. Shovel ware is ok because yet they will actualy have to spend more money promoting it because most shovel ware will not be seen by new comers and the hardcore don’t buy shovel ware unless they are extremely bored. I mean come on if GTA won’t come to the Wii then why can’t some one bring another sand box game to the Wii that evolves car jacking and gang activity?
It may just be a case of having the correct tools to produce these games and one of those tools is funding.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Another thing is Wiiware may solve your self space problem and it may even stop pubs from thinking they can just flood it. To go to the Wiiware channel is a very hardcore like thing to do. Then to actually buy a game is even more out of the ordinary. I’m thinking the quality will spring from Wiiware and nintendo’s current lne up. Another thing is the shovel ware should be ignored by the media. People know more about ninja bread man than zak it seems.
This is not a problem because none of the real shovel ware is taking sales away from the hardcore games.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Anyone interested in following up this discussion tonight? I won’t do it tomorrow since I’m going to be sober