The video game industry is an exciting, constantly changing, and sometimes tumultuous place to be. For every concept that some gamers love, twice as many people probably hate it. Having an opinion is fine, but there seem to be so many haters in the industry attacking any and all aspects of gaming. I thought I’d take a look at some often-criticized parts of the industry from another angle and focus on more positive things.

With the recent success of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the impending awesomeness of Mario Kart, I decided to take a look at the Wii. Although Nintendo’s newest system has been almost impossible to get a hold of since in launched in November 2006, a lot of gamers have turned against the Wii in the last few months, stating that the motion controls are a novelty, the graphics are the same as the Gamecube’s, the so-called online play is a joke, and the games just suck. What happened to all the praise this system garnered when it first came out?



I’m not saying all of these complaints are without merit. Even though I’ve been a Wii owner since launch day, I can’t deny that there has been an overabundance of mediocre third-party games for the system. Nitrobike? Code Lyoko? Manhunt 2? Those are just a few crappy Wii titles from the last few months, and that’s not even touching upon the endless stream of minigame compilations that are released for the system.

However, let’s not forget that there are also some truly great Wii games out there. Twilight Princess, Zack and Wiki, No More Heroes, Super Mario Galaxy, and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles are just a few excellent and exclusive Wii titles. What the Wii needs are more games like this, games that are not only a lot of fun to play, but that make good use of the Wii’s motion-sensing controls instead of just tacking them on or ignoring them completely. Those games are out there, and there are more on the way. I wish they weren’t so few and far between, but until Nintendo decides to do something about the glut of third-party crap, that’s unfortunately the way it will be.

While the Wii obviously isn’t as graphically powerful as the Xbox 360 or PS3, it is capable of graphics superior to all of last generation’s systems. The problem is that a lot of game developers haven’t been utilizing this. Just look at Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, or Smash Bros. Brawl—those games all look great. Of course, it’s hard to take notice when other games released on the system look like they belong on the Nintendo 64.



Also, I would like to point out that graphics are not everything. Sure, I have no problem looking at pretty games like Uncharted or Lost Odyssey, but what comes first and foremost to me is a good gameplay experience. That means a solid story, intuitive and useful controls, and something that makes it a little different than every other game on the market. That’s something you can easily find on the Wii; you just have to know where to look.

As for online play, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s crippled. In my opinion, nothing even comes close to comparing to Xbox Live, but that’s $50 a year, while Nintendo’s online service is free. Hey, you get what you pay for. Friend codes are annoying, and the lack of voice chat (or even real text chat) in some online titles just seems absurd. However, Nintendo is obviously trying. They started out behind in the online race and are still trying to catch up, but they’re getting there, even if they are going extremely slowly. Super Smash Bros. Brawl showed that Nintendo could provide a fun and functional online experience, and hopefully Mario Kart and other future games will build on that.

The Wii’s motion controls are hard to defend, because I don’t think every game needs them. Some games benefited tremendously from the Wii-mote and nunchuk configuration, and that’s great. Twilight Princess sold me on the concept (I had serious doubts before that), and a lot of other Wii games have managed to incorporate motion-sensitivity in a productive way. However, once again, there are some real stinkers that just manage to do everything wrong on the Wii, and motion controls seem to be pretty easy to mess up. In my opinion, if you can’t figure out how to make motion-sensitivity work, don’t use it. If the game is good, I’ll still play it.



Let’s forget about the Wii’s flaws for a minute and focus on the positives. What I love about the Wii is that it has the potential to deliver a completely unique experience. With games like Wii Sports and the upcoming Wii Fit, this system somehow makes me look forward to getting some exercise and playing sports. Nintendo’s first-party exclusives are almost always phenomenal, and the Virtual Console lets you download rare old-school games for only a few bucks. I know the PSN and XBLA have similar downloadable content, but it’s thanks to the Wii that I am able to play a lot of SNES and Genesis titles I missed out on the first time around due to not having either of those systems as a child.

The Wii is obviously not a perfect system. But look at it fairly: no console is. The PS3 suffers from a similar lack of quality games and stumbled out of the gate after launch, and Sony didn’t exactly win people over with the new Sixaxis. The Xbox 360 has a ridiculously high fail rate that should be considered inexcusable. The Wii may not focus on a killer online experience or the most lifelike graphics known to man, but that doesn’t make it a bad console. There are still some great games on the Wii, and odds are you haven’t played them all yet. It’s not for everyone, I know that, but it’s a good little system that deserves another chance.

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