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I voted yes, even though I don't own a Wii yet. Just a GC, will pick up a Wii in June.
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"What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned our government must be strong. It's always right and never wrong,.....that's what I learned in school."
--- Tom Paxton song ('63) -
Face it, not many people have a cool grand to drop on a game machine.Originally posted by ZargonX
Wii is doing very well (as is the DS), and the 360 is still selling quite nicely. Now, the PS3 on the other hand,
got outsold by the GBA. Whoops!
Heck, I bought an entire PC and 8800 GTS 320 for less than a PS3. (NFS:Carbon is like a totally different game).
Tom P.Comment
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Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
I finally got hold of a Wii today, just in time for my daughters birthday on Tuesday. It has been sold out whenever I have looked in the store, until now.
Happy Birthday to her.
Mine was Monday.
Tom P.Comment
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Sounds like I'm pretty good at predicting the future.
New Wii Games Have Control Issues
Are you a pro at Wii Sports bowling? Polish off Legend of Zelda last weekend? Need some new games for your Wii?
2007 has brought us a few more titles for Nintendo's hot new game system, and some of them have a little fun buried deep within them. Unfortunately, to get to it, you've got to dig through layer upon layer of clumsy, awkward use of the system's motion-sensing controls.
Is it worth the struggle? That depends on how badly you need to be entertained.
Sonic and the Secret Rings:
You remember Sonic the Hedgehog from his days as the Sega Genesis' wisecracking mascot-with-attitude, right? The little blue rodent hasn't been relevant since Pogs were in style, but he's still soldiering on. Sonic and the Secret Rings plays a lot like a racing game -- you control Sonic from behind as he zips along a narrow, lengthy course filled with obstacles and enemies.
Tilting the Wiimote from side to side makes Sonic move left and right on the track. It's a decent control mechanism, although it's a bit of a gimmick -- the game would play identically if you were just moving Sonic around with a joystick. Ditto Sonic's attack move: you jump in the air, then thrust the entire controller forward to send Sonic careening into the nearest bad guy. Why not just press a button?
Still, Sonic is fun for a while, but mostly because it so deftly captures what made the old games fun in the first place -- the sense of blazing speed you get as you barrel down a course, jumping around, killing enemies and breaking stuff.
The end result is intense, but unpolished. Rather than take you smoothly from level to level, you're constantly dumped back out to a poorly designed menu system with obnoxious theme music. And the level designs start off decent but can become awful, especially when they try anything that doesn't involve running in a straight line. -- Chris Kohler
Wired Lovely graphics, decent design concept that sometimes works.
Tired Utter lack of polish, inconsistent level design, grating music.
SSX Blur:
If it weren't for the Wii, the snowboarding game SSX Blur would have no reason to exist. Most of the content is cobbled together from previous games in the series, and the new cartoony approach looks good but not amazing. But this is the Wii, and everything old is brand spanking new again because of that funky controller.
Sadly, the controls in SSX Blur are all over the damn place. The steering, an interesting mix of the analog stick and the nunchuk, feels good. The tricks are a little unintuitive, but you get to wave your arms around like a maniac. The problem comes with the ubertricks, which are essential for progressing past the first third of the game.
Each ubertrick requires you to draw a shape in the air. When it works, you rack up the points, but it probably won't work reliably for at least the first couple hours of trying. The tutorial is useless; you can easily spend a half hour in it without landing one ubertrick. There's also a practice mode, in which you stare at the shape on the screen and it gives you a red or green light depending on whether you drew it correctly. It's somewhat more helpful, but boring, and even after you get it right, you're still going to have to work to integrate it with the game.
Once you've paid your shape-drawing dues and you're landing ubertricks most of the time, the handling becomes tolerable: waving the controls doesn't feel any more intuitive than pressing buttons on a gamepad, but it's different and fun. But with the lack of fresh content and the boring practice required, it's probably not worth getting there. --Lore Sjöberg
Wired Feels pretty good once you get used to it, builds your biceps.
Tired Repurposed content, Homework: The Video Game
Wii Play:
Wii owners know the system sends you a little e-mail every day, showing you what games you played and how long you spent playing them. I cleared Wii Play's nine mini-games in a single sitting. The letter said it took me 34 minutes. I did not feel like playing it again.
Wii Play is a collection of mini-games that all use the Wiimote as a pointer -- you move an on onscreen cursor or another object by pointing at the screen. Wii Play is to the controller's point-and-click functionality what Wii Sports was for crazy gestures -- it teaches you how to use the controller precisely. But because you're sitting there moving a cursor instead of standing up and swinging for the fences, it's not as engaging.
The games are, by design, pared down to very basic goals. Shooting targets, playing pool. You can try for high scores and such, but if you just want to run through each game until you're bored of it, it won't take longer than an hour. However, as a training tool for people who have never, ever played a videogame before, it's great. Wii Play gently walks new players through each game, one at a time, with lots of instruction and a gentle learning curve.
That said, if you need a second Wii controller, you might as well buy Wii Play, because it includes one. And with the Wiimote priced at $40, the $50 Wii Play combo pack isn't that bad a deal. --Chris Kohler
Wired If your mom has never played video games, this will teach her how; some games, like pool, aren't bad.
Tired After a couple of plays, I got really bored with pretty much everything else."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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I didn't see any "issues" in that with Sonic or Wii Play, and the only problem with SSX was that the developers were stupid.Comment
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I think Blur is fantastic, the controls reinvigorate the series for me. I didn't play the last ssx, so I don't care if maps are reused.
And you don't need to pull off an ubertrick to make it to peak 2, I don't know what that guy is talking about.
Wiiplay is a 10 dollar game.Comment
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I bought a Wii classic controller and Wii points today, so now I'm happily playing old classics as Donkey Kong Country and Turtles!
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.-Isaiah 41:10
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalms 139.14a
Also active on WePlayCiv.Comment
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The Xbox Live Arcade TMNT >>> the VC one."The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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It's true, look it up.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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Well, duh. Isn't the vc TMNT, the NES TMNT 1?
I owned that one, it wasnt' nearly the fun that the arcade one was. and it was hard as **** as well, and just one player.
so really, that's not saying much. at all.
I'm sure the vc will get the rest of the turtles games at some point.Comment
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"A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for.” Martin BuberComment
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Wii: Endorsed by 90-year old Bridge players.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "Comment
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Asher, you do understand that Nintendo is perfectly happy to sell a couple million extra units to "90-year old bridge players," right? There are only so many "hardcore" gamers out there, and if you think companies only care about their hArdc0rxness, you are sadly mistaken.Comment
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Lack of polish, level design, and music are not control issues. Where's the horrible control issues?Originally posted by Asher
Sounds like I'm pretty good at predicting the future.
New Wii Games Have Control Issues
Sonic and the Secret Rings:
Wired Lovely graphics, decent design concept that sometimes works.
Tired Utter lack of polish, inconsistent level design, grating music.
SSX Blur:
Wired Feels pretty good once you get used to it, builds your biceps.
Tired Repurposed content, Homework: The Video Game
Repurposed content, Homework: The Video Game
Again, not control issues. you said they had issues with the control not being sensitive or able to detect motion correctly. Where are the issues?
Wii Play:
Wired If your mom has never played video games, this will teach her how; some games, like pool, aren't bad.
Tired After a couple of plays, I got really bored with pretty much everything else.
Boring game play... again not a control issue.
I'm failing miserably here to see where the lack of ability to sense the motion control is becoming an issue.
That there are $10 that suck should come as no surprise to anyone.
That Sonic is tired and has yet to design a level worth playing all the way through is no real shock to my system.
That SSX has added nothing to their game that a port to a new system wouldn't justify speaks no less of it than Zelda.
I'm not seeing the horrible control issues you were tossing about so casually the other day.
Tom P.Comment
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