Was Scot wrong about the Wii mini-games ?

[thatafricanguy]

Freeplay Friday, June 16th. Mayor Young , Scot Rubin and Von get into a heated debate about the future of the Nintendo Wii. The discussion goes from the (lack of) longevity of the Wii, to whether or not the Wii is innovative, and to the type of games that will be on the Wii. Scot and Von seem to be convinced that the majority of games that will be coming to the Wii will be mini-games compilations. I was half convinced of this myself, so I decided to have a look at the list of games that are coming to the Wii to see if this was the case. So I had a look at the next 25 games that are coming to the Wii (see list below or at IGN). I was surprised to find out that out of the next 25 games, only 2 were mini-games compilations. In fact, there are more sports games coming to the Wii than any other genre! Is the Wii is getting a bad rep, just because it launched with Wii Sports bundled in ?

Here's the list :

The Bigs Sports
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Adventure
Pokemon Battle Revolution Battle
Cosmic Family mini-games
Driver: Parallel Lines Action
Mercury Meltdown Revolution Puzzle Action
Ratatouille Action
Transformers: The Game Action
Line Rider Puzzle
Manhunt 2 Action
Mario Strikers Charged Sports
Alien Syndrome Action RPG
Boogie Music Action
High School Musical: Sing It! Music
Madden NFL 08 Sports
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Adventure
Carnival Games mini-games
Space Station Tycoon Simulation
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 Sports
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge Sports
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection Pinball
Dewy's Adventure Action Adventure
Brothers in Arms: Double Time Shooter
Battalion Wars 2 Action
FIFA Soccer 08 Sports

[m.j]

Another point I'd like to make. Minigames are good for the system at the start, especially with the new controller. Mix that with the sucess of the system (nearing the 360's install base, and a fraction of the cost to develop for.) and you'll have third parties looking at everything that has been done and can be done with the system. Over time, the process will be refined and we'll have a system with a PS2 like success backed with Nintendo's first party titles.
Now, if the controllers themselves are upgradable, that technology can easily evolve to refine the sensitivity and functuality as the technology itself grows.. costing gamers no more than the cost of a game in a couple years. In my mind, the Wii is looking to be a revolution. =)

[ShadowNextGen]

A couple of months ago I bought an HD t.v. mainly to enjoy while playing my XBox360 games. I love playing games like Oblivion and Gears Of War and things of that nature. However I also have a Wii and I am still having tons of fun with it. The people who tend to say that all Wii is good for is the mini game collections, well, they are being very short sighted. The fact of the matter is that the Wii does have some good games out right now and there are definitely some good games coming. Games are not made overnight and now that Nintendo has all of these companies wanting to make games for them it won't be long before the Wii has a steady library of games. Even this summer it is already beginning with a steady flow of games like Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Mario Party 8, Pokemon, Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. Those games are all coming out within weeks of each other, not months or years. For the people who say there is nothing on the Wii but minigames they really need to look at the lists that have been posted here as well as the fact that Zelda, Elebits, Sonic(the first good one in a long time), Trauma Center, Super Paper Mario, Godfather, Mortal Kombat, SSX Blur and many more are out for the Wii RIGHT NOW. I have personally been a gamer for approximately twenty years. I have an XBox360, PS2 and Wii all hooked up to my HDtv. The Wii doesn't do 360 or PS3 graphics but the fact of the matter is the graphics that we are currently seeing on the Wii are not bad. Anyone who says otherwise, in my opinion, is a graphics whore. People also must keep in mind that just like the 360 and PS3, the graphical capabilities of the Wii have not been reached yet. We are going to see amazing things from all three consoles in the years to come. For the Playstation 3 I am excited to see games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. For the 360 I am definitely excited about all of the rpg's coming out for it as well as the shooters and other things. As far as the Wii is concerned I am very excited for when developers get a firm grasp on the Wii's capabilities and then we will really see Wii's innovative control scheme shine.

[BuckFush187]

I think Scot Just needs to be patient. I believe that there will be innovation with the wii. We just have to wait on the developers to Innovate. The whole deal with innovation is seeing something we've never seen before. And I believe, in time, we will be seeing a lot of things we haven't seen before on any console.

[Strip Mahjong]

What everyone else thinks about the system(s) that you like should not matter. The only thing that matters is whether or not you yourself like it.

[rob roberts]

i didn't hear the debate on the show, but petrelli is right on the money. i think sometimes as rabid gaming fans we have blinders on to the bigger picture of everyone who actually buys video games. people i talk to at work and out and about in my social life STILL talk about wii tennis! a lot of these people don't care about HD because they still don't own an HD set. the bells and whistles we apprecaite in a system like the 360 or PS3 is too intimidating to some folks. the wii is following a pattern that's crazy similar to the DS right now... and the ds has been very, very successful. just wait until christmas!

[GenoBaby]

I do think the mini-game stuff will die down though. I remember when the DS was launched practically all those games seemed gimmicky. Like Yoshi's Touch & Go, although it was fun, was practically a tech demo. Kirby's Canvas Curse was like that first full game that was worth playing and showed off why the DS is a good platform. After a year there are games on the DS that you really can't get anywhere else. I was surprised on how much fun I had playing Elite Beat Agents and there no way that game can be played on any other platform.

With the Wii having no 3rd party support at launch except for EA and Ubi Soft... 3rd party has probably started development now due to it's success and we'll see some Wii games that can only be played on the Wii in the next year or so.

[m.j]

Yes, Mr. Petrelli - there's nothing wrong with mini-games, when done right. And so far, most mini-game collections on the Wii (rayman, warioware, sports/play, mario party, and now brain age) have been well done. Another point I'd like to make is that these mini games could very well push developers to do something new. One of them may be playing Mario Party, and during a mini-game they may say "Hey, that was pretty cool, we should make a game that improves upon this certain control"

[GenoBaby]

... another things I should add... there's nothing wrong with mini-games. Some of them are tons of fun.

[GenoBaby]

We're forgetting the fact on who the main demographic of the wii is directed towards. Non gamers that may be around the age of 20 and up playing the 360 or PS3 maybe too overwhelming or if your a new gamer and a kid you really don't care about HD gaming... you just want to have fun. My 8 yr nephew has yet to put down the Wii-remote to tell me that the wii sucks cuz it's not in HD... also my 24 yr old girl now finally sees why I have a love for gaming.

I could understand if the Wii was the only console on the block... then yeah... gamers who have been gaming for 10+ years may be disappointed or don't see longevity but there's options out there. Arguing about this issue like the debate on Free Play Friday is pointless in my opinion.

One of the reasons I was a console gamer rather than a PC gamer was because playing games on the PC just cost too much money. A computer can run you $1000+... you may need a good size monitor or a graphics card that is also expensive. Consoles was just a little more reasonable for my parents to dig inside their pockets.

Now consoles are starting to behave more and more like PCs and they are costing a lot more. In AG chat I constantly see the argument about PS3 is 1080p but out of everyone i now none of them owns an HDTV and it's not that they don't want one it's just that they can't afford one at the moment. So really to enjoy these games you have to have a $400 - $600 console... and HDTV that may run you about $1000 - $4000... broadband internet connection... basically you have to have bank. I'm older now (28yrs) so i can actually afford this but I know if it was like 20 years ago when I was asking my parents to buy me a gaming console they were not going to get me all of that.

So gamers who has been gaming for 10+ years of course they would see that the wii doesn't have longevity but they always have to consider the fact on the demographic it's targeting and they also have to consider the fact that they are ppl out there that wants to play games but can't afford all that stuff.

I hate using car analogies but the xbox and the PS3 are like driving a BMW 760 or a Rols Royce Phantom with manual transmission... and that's all good... i'm not saying anything is wrong with that... but you still need those automatic Honda Civics as well.

It's funny cuz we call ourselves gamers so we should just enjoy games no matter if it's on a console or even on a cellphone... but most gamers are turning into these power hungry graphic whores nit-picking on graphics and things like that when we should be trying out new games and seeing if we like it not. The main thing is that it's suppose to be fun and the wii is definitely fun for a large amount of ppl. It may be for everyone but it's amazing when I see my family having fun for hours on end with the wii. I got the wii on launch day... the fun my family is having just doesn't seem to die down yet... and when i bring a new game home it's like the fun charges up even more. In my household I'm the only one enjoying the Xbox and the Playstation. So the Wii not having legs in the future... i don't see that happening anytime soon.

[Joseph Reyna]

These games may sound like full single player types of games, but some of them, like what was recently announced on IGN is that Fifa 08 will have special "mini-game features" with them. I find it hard for Nintendo to get away from the mini-games, they have done so well for them. Heres the link:
http://games.ign.com/articles/796/796679p1.html