View Full Version : We're Sick of Wii Graphics - Article (good, even if you don't agree)
thezombiemessia
13-08-08, 10:11
Wiire Sick of Wii Graphics
Date Posted: 2008-08-12 07:47:57
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Brittany Vincent, GamePlasmas newest staff writer, expresses her views on the Wii and its lack of graphical prowess.
You can check the full article after the jump.
Wiire Sick of Wii Graphics
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - by Brittany Vincent, Staff Writer
The first time I sat in front of my Wii, I was excited beyond belief. It was simply unbelievable that I had procured one of the consoles, having been actively seeking it out for months past the November 2006 release. As one of the many followers of Nintendo since its debut stateside, I was enamored with the revolution that had been thrust forward into the gaming world. My favorite Nintendo IPs were to be shaped as I had never seen them before. Swordfighting as Link through usage of the Wii remote? Magnificent! What new opportunities would await the beloved Metroid series? I must admit, I was completely entranced.
Wii Sports was fun for the first two weeks, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess failed to impress. Week after week passed, and I spent my earnings on more deserving titles, for the Wii ceased to impress me. Weeks turned into months, and now here I am, having completed Super Mario Galaxy since. While thoroughly delighted with the latest Mario venture, I have spent most of my time with the Wii playing GameCube titles. In fact, I may as well be playing GameCube games. Theyre certainly cheaper, and involve much more intriguing gameplay with comparable graphics. It also has motion control! You know, when youre moving the controller and leaning in and out so that zombie doesnt take a plug out of your neck? That does tend to help.
Nintendo is fine with providing Wii titles akin to GameCube 1.5 creations. They are, after all, in the entertainment business to make money. With more senior citizens, housewives, and otherwise non-gamers getting in on the action, the cheaper and wiser course of action to take is to try to appease this new audience. What does this new audience want? Not a lot. Most will be content to stand in front of their TV and pretend that theyre throwing a real bowling ball. Doing so requires very few bells and whistles, graphics being one of them. Theyre not looking for an adventure like youd find in The Legend of Zelda. No, if they can burn a few minutes or an hour playing a few mini games while flailing their arms around, thats what matters. Not that theres anything wrong with that, but it does make for a very lazy Nintendo.
Charging upwards of $50 for each new collection of gimmicky minigames or poorly-crafted port of a popular game on another system (Dead Rising, anyone?) is just not my cup of tea.
http://img1.livegen.fr/00/00/07/31/0000073175.jpg
If Im going to put down a couple days work at minimum wage on the counter at my store, Im going to want to see something that looks like its worth it. I could spend far less on Oblivion, the original Dead Rising, or a number of better games for what is currently being asked for Carnival Games. Its a joke. Its laughable that Nintendo actually expects its core audience to be satiated by this pitiful display theyve had on show for two years now.
Downplaying graphics and gameplay is unwarranted. There is simply no excuse to skimp in those departments just because a few grandparents are going to be happy no matter whats showing up on their screen. The Wii is a member of the current-gen console club, and has a very important role to fill. Innovation alone will not win everyone over. Of course, it will win the casual gamer, and that is who Nintendo is now primarily catering to. I, for one, am not going to be hopping on this waggle-my-Wii-remote bandwagon. Having been a Nintendo fan since my inception as a gamer, I will be avoiding the shovelware that is rapidly flooding store shelves and sticking to gems like No More Heroes and Nights: Journey of Dreams. Of course, halfway through I might pick up my GameCube controller and attempt to fly NiGHTS. Its not like I would be reminded otherwise.
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LINK : http://www.n4g.com/ClickOut.aspx?ObjID=182940
Its a good article. I agree mostly with all of it.
Thought people here might be interested.
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 10:27
True. Now imagine that someone doesnt care about Mario games, Metroid and the recent Zeldas. Im one of them. There are a couple of SNES games, JRPGs mostly, that defined what I was - and partially am - looking for in video games. Even back then Zelda was a mere placeholder. From my point of view these games are completely outdated. The gameplay doesnt appeal to me and there is virtually no story in any of Nintendos games. The Wii stole Project Zero. Damn what couldve been with next gen graphics - and yes, the series (also) relies on visuals. Then theres Umbrella Chronicles - which Id give a low 7 out of 10.
The Wii is alright, as long as it doesnt steal any resources from deep and complex (cinematic) games or hinder the evolution of the medium as an art form. It may do that, or it may actually be (indirectly) supporting this process (of evolution).
thezombiemessia
13-08-08, 10:32
Whilst i like the Zelda series (and thats about it to be honest), i was not impressed with Twilight Princess (even though it was a GC port).
I generally only bought the Wii for Zelda, Umbrella Chronicles and the possibility of other titles. Umbrella Chronicles was a poor game, which could have been handled better on the 360 or PS3.
Project Zero 4 could have been amazing on 360 or PS3, but has sadly been hindered by the Wii...both through graphical capabilities, and the fact that it has been nintendo-ised by dumbing down the gameplay, and having unlockable costumes such as Luigi and Zero Suit Samus.
I think the only thing im really interested in is the fact that i can play my GC games without the console overheating and crashing every 30 minutes (my GC does this regularly).
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 10:41
unlockable costumes such as Luigi and Zero Suit Samus.
You got to be kidding me.
I think the only thing im really interested in is the fact that i can play my GC games without the console overheating and crashing every 30 minutes (my GC does this regularly).
I intend to buy a black Wii (hopefully that ever comes out) for back up reasons (there are a couple of good Cube games, primarily Zero and RE, Id like to be able to safely play some time from now) and the aforementioned 2 games.
thezombiemessia
13-08-08, 10:50
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/71178_5.jpg
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/69318_1.jpg
http://www.aeropause.com/wordpress/archives/images/2008/08/69318_2.jpg
On the Elder Gamers Faction Forum at Gametrailers, somebody got sent them by a friend from Japan.
I honestly wish i had waited longer for a Wii, but i somehow thought that UC and TP would have been better.
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 11:00
Thanks. The Samus suit looks good, out of place, though.
Whilst I do agree that its difficult to find good, solid titles on the Wii that cater for the more hardcore gamers, the argument on the graphics side is weak...the Wii is not the 360 or the PS3, what people should expect is better mechanics and gameplay, but not the same level of visual quality as the big monsters.
A good read, remember that its just someone expressing her own views and opinions on the Wii and are not necessarily the views and opinions of the company that she works for.
A friend of mine queued up outside GAME one morning at 7:30am to get a Wii he had pre-ordered, there was some fun at first playing with Wii Sports, I only played Bowling with him and a few others, about 3 weeks after he bought it, it was in the corner of his room collecting dust, the novelty had worn off and before he got the Wii he also spent œ350 on a cheap HD Ready TV for it, just so he could play in 480p instead of 480i, which again turned out to be a waste of money.
About a month after that, he traded the Wii for an Apple Power Mac G5 and hasnt looked back since.
I dont like the Wii, it doesnt appeal to me, as Im into graphics and High Definition Video and Audio, the Wii satisfies neither of those, not to mention the fact that I have never and I mean NEVER liked Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime or any of the others for that matter, The Umbrella Chronicles alone is not enough for me to justify buying a Wii, which at the moment is still œ180 which eludes me, it should have dropped in price by now in my opinion as its a worthless piece of junk.
Just my opinion.
Ryuu's_Ghost
13-08-08, 13:06
Whilst I do agree that its difficult to find good, solid titles on the Wii that cater for the more hardcore gamers, the argument on the graphics side is weak...the Wii is not the 360 or the PS3, what people should expect is better mechanics and gameplay, but not the same level of visual quality as the big monsters.
QFT
If you need a reason to bash the Wii the dreadful mini game bundles are a bigger reason to do so.
Those who desperately need HD Graphics and digital sound should buy PCs IMO much cheaper in the long run.
Sky_Dragon
13-08-08, 13:10
What I dont understand is why Nintendo have not entered the graphics battle. As I honestly think that if the Wiis graphics where on par with the 360 or PS3 there wouldnt even be a question about with console was dominant. And I personally feel that with a better graphics engine they would be drawing in bigger and better titles. Instead on re-doing the same Mario titles over and over.
seth ranson
13-08-08, 13:39
I agree with that article too. Apart from that the graphics are too bad though. There are few Wii games I really like (No More Heroes for example, or Geometry Wars Galaxies), which makes me play a lot of Virtual Console games and Gamecube games. Like just a few minutes ago for example. The SNES controller works really cool with Capcom vs SNK 2 by the way.
I think that one of the problems may be the motion censored controls themselves, and if thats the case the problem rests with the developers currently producing games for the machines. They simpily dont know how to get the best out of the control system, resulting in a lot of the games being fairly similar (in this case mini games). If a third party publisher can make a game where theyve implimented the contols like no other Wii game before surley they are onto a good thing.
Ill agree that the Wii dose feel like a bit of a gimmick, I think that Ive played the one in the house twice and Ive yet to be impressed.:|
seth ranson
13-08-08, 14:01
It s not all the developer s fault when controls are bad. Nintendo will release an add on (probably like the Nunchuk, but it s not sure yet, maybe it will be built in for new Remotes) called Motion plus which is supposed to be making the sensors work more precisely. That means the old ones weren t good enough, Nintendo practically admitted that by announcing Motion plus. Actually I hope that the (new) games will improve a lot by this enhancement.
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 14:15
It s not all the developer s fault when controls are bad. Nintendo will release an add on (probably like the Nunchuk, but it s not sure yet, maybe it will be built in for new Remotes) called Motion plus which is supposed to be making the sensors work more precisely. That means the old ones weren t good enough, Nintendo practically admitted that by announcing Motion plus.
I dont think so. As far as I know the add-on will allow for the recognition of different types of movement and - on top of that - increase the remotes precision. Youd also have to wait some time. Developers apparently learned about the add-on when it was officially announced.
What I dont understand is why Nintendo have not entered the graphics battle. As I honestly think that if the Wiis graphics where on par with the 360 or PS3 there wouldnt even be a question about with console was dominant. And I personally feel that with a better graphics engine they would be drawing in bigger and better titles. Instead on re-doing the same Mario titles over and over.
But the on the other hand its selling better than the 360 and ps3 so does it need to be on par with graphics the others?
Even with the Wii underpowerd it is the domminant console of current gen machines with sals alone.
This time last year my console preference was due to games choice 360,Wii,PS3
But now its 360,PS3,Wii
Sky_Dragon
13-08-08, 15:04
At first because of its innovative style it didnt need to be. But its obviously not going to stay top on sales. And as you tell from the recent string of topics peoples confidence/love of the Wii is dropping. Top class graphics and better game depth and it would be solid.
yes sales have dropped but still out selleing 360 and ps3.
Sales go up and down all the time so realy you cant take few months sales seriously you need to evaluate sales over a larger time frame then you can see the bigger picture.
I agree with that article too. Apart from that the graphics are too bad though. There are few Wii games I really like (No More Heroes for example, or Geometry Wars Galaxies), which makes me play a lot of Virtual Console games and Gamecube games. Like just a few minutes ago for example. The SNES controller works really cool with Capcom vs SNK 2 by the way.
There are already 2 major players in the high-end graphics battle, why would anyone want to enter in such a pricey (consider not only the development but also the marketing spend involved) competition? :) On the other hand, there was room for a more family friendly, lower price range console, with no existing rivals. They focussed on the potential originality of the game mechanics and game play, making it an attractive addition for core gamers. I wouldnt say they got their strategy wrong at all ;)
seth ranson
13-08-08, 15:36
Um, did I say that I want better graphics? If so I made some mistake I guess.
(would be kinda stupid to buy a Wii and complain about graphics then, it was obvious that Wii graphics aren t going to be that good)
I think you re right, but unfortunately there are only few games that really have original game mechanics. The potential alone isn t of very much use.
I m still waiting for a cool sword game (Red Steel wasn t that good after all). Hopefully someone will create a good one...
@777: That means the old system was not precise enough right? Or was it something else that you disagreed with?
Also not very bright to tell the producers about it this late...
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 15:40
They focussed on the potential originality of the game mechanics and game play, making it an attractive addition for core gamers. I wouldnt say they got their strategy wrong at all
The (merely) potential originality doesnt make it an attractive addition for core gamers (yet). The consoles premise, marketing and consequentially sales actually point to a different direction. That, of course, doesnt mean their strategy is wrong; the profit they are making indicates otherwise.
P.S.:
That means the old system was not precise enough right?
Not necessarily. It (at least) means that increased precision is of advantage.
Um, did I say that I want better graphics? If so I made some mistake I guess.
I think you re right, but unfortunately there are only few games that really have original game mechanics. The potential alone isn t of very much use.
I m still waiting for a cool sword game (Red Steel wasn t that good after all). Hopefully someone will create a good one...
@777: That means the old system was not precise enough right? Or was it something else that you disagreed with?
Also not very bright to tell the producers about it this late...
A decent Starwars light saber game would be great.
seth ranson
13-08-08, 15:52
That s something everybody wants I guess. Unfortunately (in my opinion) there is already one being made (release sometime end of the year, looks like the new film and is a fighting game), so it won t be making use of Motion plus...
I agree with the article.
There are a few quality Wii titles, but unfortunately they are so sparse and short that its very hard to keep interest, I only ever plug in my Wii when a good title (or what I believe to be a good title) comes along, but most of the time I wonder, Why the hell bother with motion controls when the character on screen does a fixed motion that could easily be done with a button press?, So far, very few titles have managed to keep a degree of graphical quality whilst providing an excellent gameplay experience, its like the article said, the console is being downplayed to grasp a wider audience, most of which care little for graphics or gameplay, they see it as an oppourtunity to get fit.
I think I could consider myself a core gamer, and I dont care about graphics. The Wii may not have good graphics like the others, but it has good enough graphics for the other aspects of the games to be enjoyed.
The graphics arent so bad that they ruin the games.
I agree with the minigame statements though; way too many and way too crappy.
thezombiemessia
13-08-08, 17:36
I think the writer of the article decided to go in the wrong direction when it came to naming the article, etc.
Perhaps if the whole graphics argument had been scrapped, people woulod be seeing a clearer picture.
The writer is not stating that graphics make or break a game, or that the Wii is an incredibly poor console.
The writer is merely pointing out that what we have been getting on the Wii is the same quality as what we were getting on the Wii 2 years ago. There have been NO improvements.
As Dante (i think) pointed out, the innovative control system has only been used properly in first party games, and even then it is very limited to mostly actions that could have been done with a normal controller, or a sports/fitness game...
The Wii is currently relying on 2 things:
1. Potential to be better. This is for the core market...and the core market mostly understands that potential isnt worth buying, it is only realised potential that is worth œ180.
2. The casual market. The people that want to be in the mainstream crowd, own the latest piece of kit, etc, etc. The main market that Nintendo have been focusing on since the release of the Wii.
As an extra note, i feel it is also worthwhile to add that sales do not mean the console is popular. People are buying the Wii, sure...but how many of those people continue to use it? How many of those people have more than 3-5 games? How many of those people are core gamers that will continue to spend money even after the fashionable Wii becomes un-fashionable?
Triple Seven
13-08-08, 18:04
The Wii is relying on Nintendo fan(boy)s and casual gamers. Nintendos been making a lot of money with hardware sales. By the time people wont buy games for it theyll have amassed enough profit to make the endeavour worthwhile. Heck, they already have.
thezombiemessia
13-08-08, 18:06
An interesting video that is somewhat related to this discussion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9joAb4XMaUs
I reckon this is quite interesting as I predicted this to happen ever since the announcement of the specs. There is no denying that as far as hardware goes, its virtually almost the same as GC. I figured sooner or later people would start to questioning it, and now its finally happened.
On one hand, visuals arent everything, and at the end of the day its a successful console. At the other hand, some people might feel a bit disappointed as there is a lot more Nintendo could have done for it. I dont think theres no right or wrong here, really. I think by now you know what youll get when buying a Wii.