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Nintendo Wii: Wii Bit of Worry

By: David Light - Published November 25, 2006 at 3:12 AM EST - Writer Archive
Nintendo just successfully launched its most ambitious system in years, so why is our department head left moping around? Before you call the men in white, check out David Light's latest thoughts on the troubled path we might be headed.

It's only been a little over ninety hours since "Wii Day," and already my mind is turning a somber shade of blue. With a stellar system launch that is only looking up, you would think a Nintendo department head would be dancing in his pegasus boots; hailing his unofficially crafted paper mache miniatures. As sad as it sounds though, that's not entirely the case. I mean, don't get me wrong - there's much more excitement than gloom. But to pretend there's not a little bit of concern behind these eager eyes would be malignantly misleading at worst.

"It's all innovation," at least that's what I hear. It's a great thing to say; the double N's roll nicely off the tongue. But people seem to forget all too quickly that innovation doesn't necessarily lead to virtuous and spectacular things. Now, I wont sit here and try to compare the wonked out Power Glove or critically isolating Virtual Boy to what Nintendo is introducing with its Wii remote. I don't doubt for a second that the motion sensing concept will work, effectively taking already mega popular games like Madden and breathing in new life. So to make it clear right away, my problem isn't with Nintendo; it's with developers.

We all know the big game plan for the Wii is to appeal to a broader audience. Doing so will be great for developers, publishers and the video game market value in general. But with a much larger fan base being attracted, and a remote that does much of the selling for you, what's to stop developers from taking advantage of the booming community? With so many non-casual and previously non-existing gamers becoming more and more of a factor, how long will it take for greedy companies to realize they won't have to put out the same quality of games as before to earn their dough? With so many virgin gamers (so to speak) entering the market, is it really so far fetched to think we might start seeing the games we adore turned into nerfed, public-pleasing pieces of software? This can be paralleled on a debatably lower scale with the visual splendors brought on by next-gen systems like the 360 and PS3.

As for Nintendo's new console, the graphics have seemingly been put on hold, with the hope that developers concentrate more on the actual mechanics of a game than the aesthetic appeal. That's a great direction to want your system to go, but competitive gamers will no doubt understand what I'm getting at more than anyone when I say more casual players can do a load of damage. In a community where professional Electronic-Sports players are pseudo-celebrities, it's all tooNintendo's familiar a scene of anger when developers start making easier, less skill rewarding games in attempt to appeal to the higher populated casual player. Now, with developers lining up in droves to design for Nintendo's newest cash-cow, where will third-party games be in two or three years? Will our market be overrun by developers that know these "baby gamers" entering our world don't know any better? Or will they become inspired and use their flourishing profit to invest in bigger, better titles? I don't know about you, but I don't want to see a world where first-party selection is a true gamer's only sanction.

Just as easily as a developer can expand the innovation of the WIi remote, they can abuse its novelty, or "gimmick" factor, if you will. Think about that for a second, long and hard. How many crap-tacular titles do you already see on the shelves making money off of the ignorant masses? Throw in a hot-as-fire remote that excites the world at the mere idea and we could be seeing the most paltry of games becoming the influential fixtures of our soon-to-be bubblegum society. Where will our long-criticized game makers draw the line between profit and innovation? Ethics mean a lot to many people, including myself. Though, if the opportunity presented itself to make just as much money putting in only half the effort, well, I wouldn't exactly scoff at the idea. I mean I, too, have a life to sustain.

If you've read any of my past articles you'd know that I'm a disgustingly optimistic human being, prosing faux-intellectualism faster than people can get annoyed. My deep-rooted faith in a human's innate itch to do the right thing prevents me, for the most part, from really looking on the down side of things. I like to think growing up along side Nintendo has a lot to do with my outlook, and subsequently I can't help but believe if our community was to meet a morally defining split in the road, it would always choose right. But make no mistake, money is a powerful thing mate, and certainly cause for just a Wii Bit of Worry.

So, do you think our games will take a turn for the worst?
I'm not quite sure...
Sadly, it's definitely a possibility.
I think we'll be fine.
I've got my own opinion, and I think I'll share it.

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