sil says:

This is th emost thought provoking article I ahve read in a while.
Tell me what you think.
www.infendo.com/

Brief descirption.
Has the Wii been made an inferior console in terms of hardware and graphics capapbilities compared to PS3 and 360 and focused on a control system to "dupe" developers into making low budget games that utilise this control method as a selling point?

I think this might be true to a point but I don't think the Wii is as an inferior system as it is made out to be. It is a different style of gaming with dfferent content to the the other two 3rd gen consoles with a different audience.
Maybe as not a serious a style of gameplay but more fun.
I find too much technicality in the other consoles where as with the Wii I can turn it on play, still get a challenge but at teh end of the day there aren't as many errenous "pointless" tasks or items to unlock.

05/22/2007 Melbourne, Victoria

desi says:

Is the Wii a trojan horse for developers? Is it a way for developers to create, publish and distribute games at a low cost to a very large market? Was the Wii made for this purpose?

Of course it was. After the failure of the Gamecube due to lack of third-party support, Nintendo would naturally want to attract as many developers as possible.

Regarding the Wii's hardware being inferior to the 360 and PS3, it's pretty obvious that it is. It was never meant to be competitive in that respect.

The bottom line is literally the bottom line. Nintendo's objective is to sell units. Strong third-party support is requisite to selling units. Therefore Nintendo has made a cheap console, marketed it to a very large market with great success, and gave it just enough gimmick/innovation to attract the attention of developers.

05/22/2007 I'm in your profile, deleting your spams for Great Justice.

sil says:

You missed the point, it was saying is the Wiimote a trojan horse for developers, an easy focus for a game to take away attention from an under powered console.

05/22/2007 Melbourne, Victoria

Diabollus says:

I for one don't think it's an inferior machine. Yes in terms of graphics and grunt ok, but I feel it's superiority lies in the fact that it's a more universal machine. Anyone can pick it up and play it, anyone can find some value in the Wii and that's the beauty of it.

As far as graphics go. I find the Wii to be as good as you really need. if you're playing a decent game, you shouldn't be worried about how realisic the flowers look on the ground. You should be more worried about not getting killed or achieving your goal in the game.

Graphics don't make a game. Gameplay does.

I've seen some pretty games that aren't worth a second look. And many ugly ones that are playable over and over again.

I think it's better for developers to focus on the Wii in terms of spending more time and effort on playability without spending hours making perfectly rendered in game graphics.

05/22/2007 Ballarat, Victoria

desi says:

sil said: You missed the point, it was saying is the Wiimote a trojan horse for developers, an easy focus for a game to take away attention from an under powered console.

No, you missed the point. The issue is not that the console is underpowered, but that the Wiimote is not there to divert interest: it is what piques interest. What you are saying is akin to being given a beautiful silver fork at a restaurant to distract you from ill-presented food. You don't go to a restaurant for the forks.

What is a video game? Interactive entertainment software that relies almost exclusively on graphics to communicate to the player. Would Wii Sports be more accessible to everyone if it was given photo-realistic high-resolution textures with bump-mapping, High Dynamic Range lighting and anisotropic filtering? Would Eledees be more fun if it looked like Advanced Warfighter?

The graphical presentation you decide upon must be appropriate to the game you are building. Developers are aware of the capabilities of the Wii (which, I add, are greater than the Gamecube's, and the GC had some very pretty titles). If a developer wants to make hardware-intensive games for a console, then they will stick with the 360 or PS3. If a developer wants to make games that have broad appeal, or if they want to try out a new control system, then they will do it on the Wii. The two markets are a different thing, and cannot be compared.

05/22/2007 I'm in your profile, deleting your spams for Great Justice.

Omi says:

The Wiimote may be inticing more people to buy the Wii, but it really is nothing more than a controller if the games are no good, people aren't dumb, they know this. If a mass of people want to buy the Wii and developers find it easy and cheap to make games for this could only be a good thing. To me the article in it's simplist form says there will be better quality games in greater quantity....Yay!

But man am I sick of hearing the "Gamecube on steroids or Cube with a fancy controller" argument. In my opinion it isn't all that inferior, the games are the brain of the console, without them it's just a pretty face. Although we are lacking new ones at the moment, they will come and I have complete faith in Nintendo to deliver the finest.

05/22/2007 Tassie

sil says:

But don't you think that is the case atm. I mean how many titles have come out so far that you wouldn't think to look at twice like all the pixar movie titles the penguin ones and cars.
Please, these are just rushed garbage to make a profit of the movies.
Every time you look at the release date list how many games do you have to scroll through before you find one you know for sure you will buy. There are quite a few aren't there.
I just hope my expectations of some games are wrong and the expectations I have of the big titles are blown away.

05/22/2007 Melbourne, Victoria

smashbro says:

the graphics are best on the 360 and wii is kicking ps3's but!

05/22/2007 your house.

Omi says:

Yeah but Sil you'll find that on any console. Nintendo are a business and they need those crappy 'easy buy, easy play' games just like any other. Look at the ps2 vs cube - the ps2 beat nintendo with quantity of games but the cube (imo) beat them hands down on quality. Nintendo are the only true 'game' console makers. They don't have TVs or computers to back up their profits, they are purely about their consoles. Nintendo are smart and have a lot to offer be patient.

Here, I can't be bothered writing it up again but just take a look at this hint of Nintendo's ideas for online. It's things like this that keep my faith that Nintendo have more to offer than we know. ozgamelounge.com/

05/22/2007 Tassie

mywiisites says:

i got as far as the 3rd what if .
well what if they made an article worth reading .
what if we all beleived the what ifs.
what if i was god

05/22/2007 geelong

sil says:

Totally agree with ou Omi and as a sega gone PS now Nintendo convert I think I am aware of that more than others in that having palyed so many other titles from PS1 and 2 and now coming to Nintendo having a gamecube and Wii I have noticed a definate improvement on quality titles.
Before there were only common titles that I would go for when looking for a game but now I have confidence in just choosing a developer knwoing that their product is of a high standard, namely Nintendo.

With reference to your link I am unsure about online play especially when it comes to capacity. I have full confidence in Nintendo and their ability to pull out a trump card but one weakness if they do go the way of ahving external storage devices is that the Wii will lose its compact sleek design that makes it a strong point.
It would become the next sega genesis needing different attachments plugged in and on it to store games data etc... (oh god dont even go there)

With reference to online play please check out my other post Wii on Wi-fi I am interested in especially what you have to say about it...

05/22/2007 Melbourne, Victoria

Winnie says:

You'd think that, but with all the half-arsed ports...

05/22/2007 Melbourne

telljoolz says:  

I think the games that have come out so far havent used the full graphics abilities of the WIi.

I thought Wii was meant to be a bit better than Xbox? Obviously far inferior to 360 and Ps3 graphics grunt but so far the the visual quality leaves lots of room for improvement.

Hopefully its some sort of rushed effort to have a few more games early on and later the quality will come through? (fingers crossed)

Oh well I'm still having fun with DBZ.

05/23/2007 Brisbane QLD

GCMODCHIPS says:

Visit www.goldcoastrs-modchips.com

for all your wii modding needs

05/23/2007 oneill