Even though I own one, I'm pretty hard on the Wii. I'm even guilty of saying that I "loathe" it here on the blog. But let's be serious: It's not that I don't like the system; I don't like Nintendo's handling of the system. To me, the only difference between the Wii and the Gamecube is that the Wii became popular. A little too popular.
But the Gamecube was a good system. It didn't have motion controls, but in that sense, it was free from the pretentiousness of shallow gimmicks and dreaded "Wiimake"-style ports. Mario Sunshine, Zelda: Wind Walker, and Eternal Darkness were all incredible, innovative titles.
So please know that I have nothing against Nintendo as a company, nor do I have anything against their hardware. Nintendo has proven time and again that they are a smart company that makes tidy profits off of solid game ideas... even if they run some of their ideas into the ground at the expense of others.
Some folks--we on the Internets call them "fanboys"--dismiss the system entirely as a platform for "little girls and old people." I see it as a mismanaged property full of potential. Sure, it sells. But does it convey fresh ideas?
I have found the 360 and PS3 to be far more successful in terms of sponsoring fresh ideas and rennovations of old, solid ideas. For every World of Goo on the Wii, there are two or three Flowers, Pixeljunk Edens, Braids, and Castle Crashers on the 360. I think this is unfortunate, but Sega's recent Wii releases give me hope that off-kilter game development lives on.
None of these consoles can match the sheer ubiquity of the PC indie scene as a wellspring of fresh ideas, particularly in Europe and North America. But their handful of quality, creative software available readily on download services represents the latest iteration of what had been largely ignored, terrifically offbeat products in years past. There have been far too many console games I've been saddened to see fall by the wayside in past years. Among them: the Panzer Dragoon series' take on the rail-shooter genre, Jet Set Radio, the much-forlorned Psychonauts, Deathrow, Shenmue (talk about sandbox before sandbox was popular!), The Thing, and more recently, the brilliant Darkness.
Again, like the Wii's supposedly revolutionary motion controls, not all of the aforementioned "forgotten" titles represent the death of fresh ideas so much as the mismanagement of innovative potential. There was nothing inherently revolutionary about Panzer Dragoon Orta, but it brought fresh ideas and a unique aesthetic that spruced up tried-and-true gameplay mechanics with a new layer of pathos and poise.
It was elegant. Even the squalidity of Deathrow was elegant in a sense. It was brazenly unpretentious and came off as a breath of fresh air. The reviews for these games reflect this.
The sales do not. No one was willing to stand up for these games and the creativity they represented with the fervor generally reserved for the consoles themselves.
This is why I'm always puzzled when fanboys tear down one console in favor of another. Who cares which platform succeeds? We don't experience the plastic and circuitry when all is said and done; we experience the software. And when we gamers aren't showing off Wii Tennis to our partner in crime, we typically thrive off of fresh ideas and fresh takes on old ideas. I end up playing House of the Dead: Overkill and Madworld on my Wii more than I do the system's requisite party games. (Parties are great in concept... but no one has a party every day except Hugh Hefner.)
So for the clamoring hordes out there, I offer this: Enough about the companies and their hardware. Defend undersold games. Defend XBLA community software. Defend Wiiware and PSN originals.
Defend fresh ideas and their delivery mechanisms.
How does one do this? Through sophomoric trashtalk and flaming? Here are some ideas:
- I'm a firm believer that in order to look forward, one has to look back. So take a cue from some of the online gaming sites out there and start a classic game club. Get interested in the overlooked gems of the past.
- Tell your friends about a particularly unique game that they might not have heard about, but you have enjoyed. Ask them to share one with you.
- Write to the game developers in support of their mechanics. Tell them what works, and even what doesn't. More importantly, let them know that you're out there.








