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Opinion and Debate: Wii are jerks
By Ryan Burns
Are you a Nintendo faithful? Did you grow up playing Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda, and stayed true to your roots? Did you wait in line for the midnight release of the Nintendo Wii, all too eager to hand over your $250? If so, I have some bad news. Nintendo has abandoned you.
At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo declared it would not be targeting “core gamers” anymore. Nintendo faithful, that means you. Casual gamers are the new trend.
With the Wii’s release, the Japanese powerhouse said it was pulling itself out of the console war. However, after games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. brawl, few believed it.
The shift to casual games has been happening most prevalently on the Wii, and most fans don’t see it as a bad thing. Any game that can bridge the generation gap between grandparents and gradeschoolers should be applauded, but when those games become the main focus of a major company like Nintendo, something is wrong. Casual games like Nintendogs, Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit all sport the Nintendo logo. With their releases, Nintendo has discovered a new, lucrative fan base.
Online casual games, for example, bring in about $2.25 billion annually. While online and console games differ, there is a large enough fan base to support Nintendo’s decision. With the cost of making games so high these days, spending less and profiting more makes economic sense. As a business choice, it is hard to condemn.
But gaming is more than a business to devoted fans. The Nintendo faithful believe in the object of their devotion. They were sure the DS’s touch screen would work, and applauded the innovation behind the Wii’s control scheme while other harbored doubts.
And why? Because video games have become a pastime of our generation, and they hold a special place in our hearts. Whenever the day was especially unkind, we could pop in our favorite title for some guaranteed fun. Sadly, the future is less promising than the past.
While the DS may continue releasing worthwhile titles, such as the upcoming Final Fantasy III port, what are the Wii fans to do? The closest hope on the Wii’s horizon is the passively mentioned Pikmin 2. Things are looking bleak, Nintendo faithful. The day may be fast approaching when fans must switch to casual or switch systems.
Originally Published: Issue 702 - August 27, 2008
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