The Wii Sucks and You Know It

Posted on 01 24, 2008 under Gaming by foodad |

wii_warning.JPGNintendo is an innovative company. When I was 16, I got my first Nintendo Entertainment System and it blew me away. You know what I am talking about. They packaged the thing with Super Mario Brothers, a game that was so ahead of its time, so intoxicating that anyone who picked up the controller –or as much as heard one of the tunes would fall instantly in love. But it did not stop there. Games like The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus and Castlevania took gaming to a whole new level and created a new wave of video gaming junkies. The followup Super Nintendo was also fun, although I thought that the Sega Genesis was better overall for sports games. With the Nintendo 64, they again innovated with the gun style controller, more buttons and platformers like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. They carried this into their excellent Gamecube platform and gave us Zelda Windwalker and Mario Sunshine in a compact system that you could even easily take with you.

The problem with Gamecube was that everyone was captivated by the Playstation 2 and Microsoft’s original XBOX. With PS2’s vast library of games and XBOX’s superior online strategy, this system was bound to be missed by anyone other than foodad and the kiddy set who probably were not ready for Final Fantasy, Return to Wolfenstein or Halo2. This article is not about history, it is about suckage of the Wii.

I own a Wii and I also own an XBOX 360. It is not even fair to compare the two because the Wii has one “Broadway” PowerPC processor where the XBOX has 3 3.2GHZ Power PC processors, but yet the Wii is out there as a competitor of PS3 and XBOX 360, but it’s more of a PS2 competitior. Incidentally, the PS2 is still going strong!

But foodad you say… the Wii is not about graphics or raw processing power, it’s about fun!

The first thing that irked me about Wii was that Wii-sports seems half baked. It’s definately a throw-in, training tool. If you are a noob, then this is a great game to allow you to cut your teeth. It is basically brainless. For example, Noodad has bowled 2 near perfect games! Tennis and Baseball do not even require the nunchuk. All movement is done by the AI and you are left to pitch the ball, swing the bat or the tennis racquet. Sure I found these mildly amusing, but if you don’t have anyone real to play against, this gets old fast. There is no online play for Wii sports. and the people who would really enjoy the Wii, my kids, are not allowed to play video games yet.

The online play that I experienced was extremely lacking. Nintendo has left it up to the game providers to provide the platform for online play. When I had major issues with playing Noodad in FIFA 08, I had to go to Electronic Arts for support (which was painful, but eventually fairly effective). Microsoft knows that in order to successfully establish an online community and have good-quality, online play, you need to have a vast network infrastructure. Who better to support that than Microsoft? I understand that even this has not been glitch free, but Microsoft typically has 10 million people playing online at a time. Can the Wii boast a fraction of that? The lag on FIFA is sometimes unbearable and inability to connect to another player results in an abrupt end to the game. You are also penalized by being given a loss if it was your side that caused the issue (I think, not 100% sure how they determine it).

I also find that I am spending way too much of my time looking at the warning screen. I should be able to skip that screen. I have seen it enough. Thank you to the Darwin awards candidates from www.wiihaveaproblem.com for making this senseless waste of time necessary. If I want to skip splashes with XBOX? A. I just push A or maybe B… whichever it is. I push a button and it goes away.

wii_warning.JPG

Given the lack of significant improvement over the graphics and gameplay, I feel that the Wii could have been a firmware upgrade and a controller ad-on for the Gamecube. Here are some Wii versus Gamecube graphics comparisons.

I find the sensor bar to be annoying and that the positioning of it radically affects my gaming experience.

I mentioned before that I bought FIFA 08 for both the Wii and for the XBOX360. I had a great time with FIFA on the Wii, but I had some issues such as:

  • The online gaming was laggy and the strategy for dealing with problems (total disconnect resulting in a loss) was unacceptable. Why couldn’t we just continue against the AI?
  • When I pass the ball to one of my teammates, they just stand there. With XBOX360, I can move them back to the ball.
  • The movement is a lot smoother and I feel like I can see more of the field with the Tele view.
  • Instead of stupid splash/loading screens, XBOX360 kicks me into a training area with Ronaldinho and a goalie. I can practice shooting and trick moves while I am waiting for the game to load. How awesome is that? 3 Processors!
  • The XBOX has a be-a-pro mode where you can play a whole season as a player you like. The Wii has some stupid foosball game.
  • The only thing that I found better about the Wii game was that Clive Tilsley was more enthusiastic and interesting than Martin Atkins. Atkins is awesome but I miss the way Tilsley says FABREEGAAAS!! The commentary on the XBOX360 is more robust and therefore less repetitive, but they are both pretty good. Both games have Andy Gray on color commentary.
  • You cannot talk to your opponent on the Wii and that is SO annoying. How are you supposed to tell them what a noob they are?

Maybe the Wii picked a bad time to come into my life. I do not have a lot of friends that can come over to play video games right now. I think that the Wii is a victim of the fact that I have a preemie baby at home and very little opportunity to game during the day or evening when it would be reasonable for a friend like Noodad or redh4wk to come over and play. I am also a little more demanding. I just cannot stand knowing that when I play Madden on the Wii, there is a better version out there on XBOX360 and PS3.

I think that the Wii is excellent for people who are not hardcore gamers. I think that it is great for social play (at parties). Basically, anytime noobs are around and you still want to do something that feels a little bit like gaming, that’s what the Wii is great for! I also think it would be fun to have it as a second system. For the record, I still love my Gamecube, but for now I do not need a Wii. I saved one Wii remote with all of my miis in case I change my mind in the future. My Wii is on ebay as I write this. Happy bidding.

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Viewing 13 Comments

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    If your a hardcore gamer, your points are valid I guess. But for casual gamers or people who see the Wii as a social device (a way to bring people together actually in person vs. wearing a headset to talk to your "friends"), it clearly does not suck. It gives the video game system a role it never had before...a Twister for the digital age.
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    First off, I bowled 2 nearly perfect games in bowling because I pwn at bowling :)

    But I agree with DonDeen. I've played the XBox 360 and the PS3 and my jaw drops with the level of detail and the graphics and sound. But I have never had more fun with a video game system like I do with my Wii. This is because of one thing: everyone feels like they could do it and it is essentially the gateway drug to video game addicts.
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    I guess I need something that requires a little more skill.
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    yeah i think it comes down to casual gamers vs. actual gamers. wii is garbage and for little kids. i have played it casually many times and i never once had any fun, actually got very angry many many times.
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    we have an xbox at work and i've seen madden being played and i've played forza on it. the graphics kick ass. the games are awesome. but there's no way i can sit down and play madden against my coworkers (who own the game) for fun.
    one day someone brought in the wii and we were all able to jump in and play games against each other with relatively equal success.
    in the end, it is about what population the systems are marketed for. i've never heard anyone recommend the wii to experienced gamers. it's for kids, casual/social gamers.
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    I own a 360, a PS2, and a Wii. And I play the Wii far more (and I never owned a Nintendo console before). I like NCAA Football and Mass Effect on the 360, but I have more bonafide fun with the Wii. And I consider myself something of a gamer.

    I've seen some pretty bad lag on the 360, and I find their interface pretty bad. But I enjoy it for different reasons. That doesn't mean it sucks. (The Red Ring of Death, on the other hand . . . .) But I bought the 360 mainly to play online football and a couple of other games with my brother who already has a 360. But I look at the 360 game list, and I see shooter after shooter after shooter. And I've been playing FPS games for so long, they bore me.

    Besides the frequently mentioned Zelda, there are some good, tough games for it, like Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem, No More Heroes, Resident Evil, Metroid Prime 3.

    Just because you don't care for it doesn't mean it sucks.
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    The last game system I owned prior to the Wii was the Atari 2600. Never got into gaming as a "grown up". I guess I'm just an old fart because even watching those shooting games gives me a headache. As one of those non-gaming people, I enjoy the Wii. I could see the sports games that come with it getting old, but it is fun for the kids. I get a big kick of watching my two-year-old pick up the remote and nunchuk and trying to box. Waiting for all the safety warnings is a pain in the ass, though.
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    Thanks to all the noobs who are making my point.
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    foodad- you do not own a wii. You own what is called a wii360. its the greatest video game system ever. Its just also very expensive.
    I personally think its cool that there are 2 systems worth having for very different reasons. Thats never really happened before. PS3 is the big loser in all this.
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    I have a Wii and I love it. At the end of the day when everyone is finally asleep I can access the web through the Wii. I can read Noodad articles on my big tv from the comfort of my recliner. With a big ass tv, once you have some favorites saved, surfing the net with a Wii remote with your feet propped up is self-indugent laziness at its finest.
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    I own all the systems and so far none are that amazing ,but the wii in last place beyond all. like that wahoodad person says it is for social means and children ,not for hard core gamers. 1 The graphics aren't great ,at all 2 its boring to play on your own 3 its inner systems are about the same as the gamecube 4 its simple 5 most the games last for about an afternoon or aren't that fun to continue it. It really is a gimick to get in the running of the systems, it is really a gamecube with a differant controller. It's a novilty like what ps2 did with that eye toy thing. The 360 is fun but does'nt show its power and it's cold (if you get me) , the ps3 is great but has almost no games to play on. I can't name one game for note on the wii, 360 has halo3 and ps3 ahs fall of man. This really is'nt based off of Opinion if you know what you are talking about. All have flaws just the wii has a few more.
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    foodad, your complaining because you only bought bad games. Try buying First Party Games like Super Mario Galaxy, or Twilight Princess, instead of Bellowing about how Sony and Microsoft are better because they have "Did4.32ddsjjkd Processors". Is it always about graphics?
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    I got my hands on a used wii last month for 100$. I have tried the Wii before and didn't enjoy it, but at that price i thought i could rent all the games that i could get into and see. I didn't find anything worth playing that came from 3rd parties, only from Nintendo, with the exception of No more heroes that everyone recommended. Maybe im too hardcore, but that game was boring as hell, the kind of half baked shovelware i would expect to see on X Box live. As for Nintendos holy trinity (AKA cash cows) Mario, Zelda and Metroid, i just didn't find them interesting. Overall the only game i played for over an hour was Galaxie, i think it was a good game in the wrong hands. I sold the system after a week.

    I don't know why it sells so well, didn't realise there were so many casual gamers left in the dark before. I wonder what they played for the last 15 years, Jenga?

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