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122 Comments
- Itazura, on 10/12/2007, -9/+641. Learn to resize
2. Scrap the friend codes system
3.Give us some online games
4. Make Virtual Console games playable online
5. Give us original downloadable content
Sounds like you should have bought a 360 or PS3. - SkippyDoorknob, on 10/12/2007, -7/+59Super Paper Mario will be out in 6 days (April 10). Wario Ware has been out for over a month.
(at least in North America - if you are elsewhere then I have no idea) - Yukos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41Wario Ware has been out of more than a month.....
- aahpandasrun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31Still, there's only been around 2 or 3 new first rate games released since the launch titles.
- terminalpariah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31I think they will keep Brawl under wraps until Halo 3, MGS4, etc. are released to move some systems during the rush.
Besides, it'd be 1000x worse for them to release an IMPERFECT Brawl. - Zero2aHero, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31You can't be serious... are you actually defending Nintendo in regards to these points?
For being a top 10 list on digg, this one is well written. - MrSidnet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29Who needs duggmirror when it's only a text article?
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It’s been nearly five months since the Wii hit store shelves and the frenzy died down - more than enough time for the dust to settle. The reaction to the console has been - for the most part - glowing. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few problems here and there. As such, in no particular order, here are ten things I’d like to see Nintendo do to make the Wii the machine we think it should be.
1. Learn to resize: If you happen to be one of the lucky ducklings such as myself who happens to own a TV that displays in 16:9 and you own a Wii, then you already know my pain. The fact that all games aren’t required to have a 16:9 option is bad enough — but for some reason Nintendo seems to think it’s no big deal to have to manually switch the picture size on your TV every time you play a game. Luckily, there are fewer 4:3 games than 16:9 (although, those that are 4:3 are some of the best — Trauma Center, WarioWare, and Rayman included), so this shouldn’t be too big of a hassle then, right? Well hold on a second there buckaroos - you know what else comes in 4:3? Old games — like the kind you’ll find on your Virtual console. Having to switch to 4:3 manually every time I want to play Bomberman ‘93 or Super Castlevania IV isn’t a big deal, but it’s just enough of a pain in the ass that it makes me curse Nintendo a little every time. If the 360 is smart enough to resize on its own, why isn’t the Wii?
2. Scrap the friend codes system: If you want to put another player on your friends list on Xbox Live, you need a very special code that nobody else will have — IT’S CALLED THEIR NAME. If Nintendo doesn’t want you to make friends with strangers online, fine. It’s a pain in the ass, but if they think it protects kids or some *****, who am I to judge? But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to pick our own friend code. Nor should my friend need to know mine just so I can put them on my list. They’ve made it such a pain in the ass that it’s literally easier to drive across country and play in your friends living room. Not cool, Nintendo. Not cool at all. Get on the ball and get this service retooled, asap. You’re reinventing the wheel here, and it doesn’t need it. I know you don’t want to be a copycat or anything, but please, just this once, look at what Microsoft is doing and learn from it. And while we’re on the subject of online whatnot…
3. Give us some online games: Five months, forty plus games, and zero online playability. It’s an embarrassment, plain and simple. Nintendo swore up and down that this time around was going to be different. Clearly, they lied. Will the next Pokemon be online? Absolutely. Can you name another title that will be? Probably not. Ok — I think the next Super Mario Strikers game will be, but asides from that? In this day and age, the list of games with online play should be drastically longer than the list without. How WiiSports didn’t have online play is absolutely beyond me. And again, as long as we’re on the subject of online play…
4. Make Virtual Console games playable online: The original excuse for keeping VC games locally-playable only was that Nintendo wanted to preserve these games exactly as they once were. Funny how things change when the shoe is on the other foot. Adding things in is tampering too much, but taking things out? As anyone who’s tried to use some of the classic passwords in Kid Icarus or tried to save some ghost data in Mario Kart 64 knows, Nintendo is willing to tamper away when it comes to stripping these games of their features. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I’m tired of my wife kicking my ass at Bomberman ‘93. I won’t stand for it anymore, and since the only people worse than me are 6 year olds (and I’m not allowed near a pre-school after that thing with the stuff) I need to get online dammit!
5. Give us original downloadable content: A lot of people may have forgotten this little tidbit by now, but Telltale Games announced quite some time ago that they were working on porting their episodic series over to the Wii and making it available on the Virtual Console. I was in touch with Emily Morganti over at Telltale a few months ago, and she told me that things were still on track and that we would still be seeing it as a downloadable item, although it was no longer slated for release on the VC. If anyone out there has a big fat magic marker and a piece of paper, you can probably draw your own conclusions (mine looks like a sailboat.) Nintendo is clearly planning on rolling out another channel — this one devoted exclusively to original content. Think about what that means for a minute. Not just great series like Sam & Max, but what about some original Nintendo titles? How about a brand new 2.5D Mario, exclusive to the Wii download service? Or maybe some downloadable add-on’s for games? Can anyone say “new Smash Bros. characters”? The possibilities are endless, but the question still remains — when, if ever, will we see it?
6. Increase the scope of the Virtual Console: No, I don’t mean put out more releases faster than they have been (I think I’m one of the few people who has gotten used to this 3 or 4 a week system.) I mean increase the base from which you can pull your games. They can certainly do it - after all, they’ve added the MSX in Japan. Just think about all of the classic consoles, even in Nintendo’s own house, that aren’t being represented! Who wouldn’t want to download GBA classics like Advance Wars or the GBA Castlevania releases? And what about the arcade classics? Surely you’d rather pay for the original Donkey Kong instead of that stripped down NES port. There are a lot of options out there - from in house stuff like Gameboys to out house stuff like the Saturn - that people would line up to download. It would certainly be better than Urban Champion.
7. Start marketing rechargeable batteries: You don’t have to include them with the system or anything, just make them available to those of us who want them. I’m getting tired of having to swap out rechargable AA’s every couple of days when I could just as easily stick my Wiimotes on a base or in a USB socket and keep things charged up. Third parties are starting to come out with these (Dan had a good experience with one set, I had a bad experience with another) - so why doesn’t Nintendo? Lord knows most of us would be far more trusting of a product with a big N on the both.
8. Include component cables with every system: It’s a little late to do something about this now, but maybe in a year or two when the first price drops hit, Nintendo will do the right thing and start including a cable similar to the 360 pack in that will do both composite and component. It wouldn’t even be backpeddling - they can argue that in the few years that had passed enough people switch to HD to make it worth their while. Having been stuck for a couple of days after launch with the composite that shipped, let me just say this - if you own an HDTV you’re committed to spending the extra coin on components. The Wii looks like trash on a good TV with bad cables. With that being the case, is it really asking so much to see them packed in?
9. Improve Wiimote reception: I’m not really sure who to blame this on. As anyone who’s played a handful of Wii titles knows, some games mimic your movements perfectly, while others make it look as though you have Parkinson’s. Either the developers who are getting it right need to share the secrets with those who are getting it wrong, or Nintendo needs to step in and give everyone a refresher course. Either way, something needs to be done here.
10. Give us more games: Is it early in the system’s cycle? Yes. Is it too early to complain about a lack of available games? Probably. But I’m going to complain anyway, and here’s why: since development for the Wii is pretty much identical to the GameCube, why in the hell are there so few games out there? Granted, yes - there are more titles out now than would be for any other system this early in it’s life. But that’s the least we should have expected in a console using technology that developers have been working with for 5+ years. And more than half the games out there are simply Disney-style cash-ins that really have no right to call themselves games in the first place — The Ant Bully, Open Season, Cars, Ice Age — the list goes on and on. So if development for the Wii is so cheap and so simple, where the hell are all the games?
/end rant - pistonhonda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25It doesn't really surprise me, but I was expecting Brawl to be out by now. As it stands, there hasn't even been a new video since launch weekend. I'll die if I have to wait for '08.
- tange1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24"Give us more games" Thats the only one I strongly agree with. The other ones would be nice but I would be very happy just to have some of the games that are supposed to be out in 2007 now.
- TheWorm, on 10/12/2007, -6/+30I'm tired of all the stupid kiddie games for the Wii. Nintendo shouldn't corner themselves into that market again.
- xerus, on 10/12/2007, -11/+34What drought? My Wii library is already 8 games big and has been increasing steadily. Howabout you try some third party games, rather than complain that Nintendo cant make a new game every day.
- NetPhantom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21if you hold the a and b button down together, you can drag them around! I learned quite by accident
- neokyotodragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21@ miggz06
The Wii is not perfect. There is always room for improvement, as there is with all 3 of the consoles. What is wrong with making suggestions to improve a system that is already pretty good? Wouldn't you want Nintendo to make their system better? - afeitarse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19@mrkite
"The console is sitting in more homes than both the PS3 and 360."
Well, not to be an ass, but, in the interests of accuracy, the 360 is in many more homes than the Wii:
http://nexgenwars.com/ - asurroca, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17It's about time something about the problems with the Wii hits the Digg front page. I think if half the people Digging up every Wii article actually owned a Wii, they would be inclined to agree with these ten points (and more).
I'm really disappointed with it so far for most of the reasons the article touched on. Let's see, there's the fact that the web looks so ***** on my HDTV that I can't even read anything, and Nintendo expects me to actually pay for that feature! Then, there's the fact that some channels take nearly as long to load as it takes an operating system to boot up... the outrageously complicated and pointless friend code system... the lack of any real online gaming (trading pokemon does not count). And where's all that DS connectivity Nintendo promised? Oh, well, I can vote on stuff. And re-buy games I already owned when they were new (oh wait, I still have my NES hooked up, so there's no point). And there's the nifty money-saving feature, wherein the process of adding points to your account is so long and drawn out that you give up halfway through it, thereby saving your money.
These are the reasons I don't see the Wii winning long-term. Eventually those millions who have bought the Wii are going to realize its numerous short-comings. Naturally, Nintendo has a chance to re-gain the goodwill they've lost with me (and everyone who agrees with this article). All they have to do is fix these problems, and I'll put on my Nintendo fanboy hat again. - Hellmark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14System launched close to 5 months ago, and people are just wanting stuff that Nintendo led us to believe would be available at launch, especially when the competition had it 5 years ago. I love my Wii, I play the snot out of it, but zero online play sucks. Original downloadable content would be nice too.
- tange1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Mario party 8 is due out June 30, 2007
My copy of Paper Mario is supposed to arrive on the 18th or so (its out on the 10th, as poster above me said) - Exhaust, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Sales will die down if they don't fix at least some of the things on this list.
- someguy9, on 10/12/2007, -8/+19they really need to change this thing, I got mine in the holidays and extremely disappointed.
- TenMinuteParty, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12More options for Miis!!
- hockey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@realyst
Here is my lone point.
THAT is the Nintendo I remember from my childhood. I'm in my 30's now and I remember the original NES in it's heyday and I remember the SNES in all it's glory. Nintendo was hands down the undisputed top dog in the home console video game industry then. They fell from that perch for one simple reason.
They developed a "screw you we're Nintendo and we'll do whatever we want" attitude towards everyone both customers and developers. "Kiddie" games perception aside IMO this is the reason Nintendo fell from grace. - realyst, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15From Nintendo:
"Wii don't care. Wii're making money hand over fiist as it iis. Sii?" - coolguy2k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7did you just say "a rather comprehensive list of ten things"? Ten things doesn't sound very comprehensive to me. It actually sounds like a short list.
- TheXeno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@turpenine
True, I do see different games, but that wasn't my point, I'm referring specifically to first party titles. The slew of all those Mario/Mario world themed titles, churned out over and over again is something that's grown stale for me (in fact a long time ago). Name/brand recognition does sell, and they do truly try to innovate within each new churn, but I want to see a new world and new characters done with that world class first party software team. They've earned the trust by now, if they did something worlds apart from Mario land they might just spawn a whole new franchise with which they can redo every generation.
I think I'm just tired of all the sequel everything in the whole media industry. I'd love to see some more pioneering, something that the 80's had a whole bunch of. - pogfreak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8You are probably confusing the "zoom" or "stretch" feature on your TV with the game's native aspect ratio. Trauma Center is one of the (relatively few) games that does not support 16:9 mode. Its OK, my mother doesn't quite understand it either.
- attractivetb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's not quantity, but quality. Right now the Wii has great first party titles and great first party titles on the horizon...but most of the third party stuff is either kiddie games or ports from PSP and PS2....3rd party is not shaping up well.
- XStatic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Integration with DS (why not do the voting thing with the DS?)
Load games from the DS onto the Wii (like your own local virtual console)
Downloadable Demos for Wii and DS.
mp3, jpg, mpeg4 playback from PC
Sure all this allows use of the Wii outside of buying $50 games, but come on give us some toys to play with in exchange for the hefty price tage of the console and the games! - Exhaust, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10You're a blind Nintendo fanboy sympathizing spammer!
I enjoy my Wii too but I think this list is spot on.
Is it just me or are the Nintendo fanboys the most insecure. Can't even take a little list of improvements. The 360 and PS3 fanboy seem to admit their weakness at a little more often. Or have been beaten down enough. Every time you turn around its another article about how many have been sold. Longivity is the key to them winning. Fixing the issue in this list is the key to longivity. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Its nice to see someone speaking honestly about the Wii on Digg.
I bought the console for virtually two reasons: Zelda and Mario. So far, ive gotten a gamecube port and Galaxy, which was promised for launch is now "wait until Christmas". The motion control is novel, and i admit, people want to try it. But non-gamers try it and say 'meh' after a short while... the same "meh" most of the gaming communty says after a while.... Wii has burnt me big time. I promised myself I wouldnt get disappointed by Nintendo again -- and that in the end Mario and Zelda would be lots of fun, to "just relax, be patient".
But Im not made of money, I didnt drop $300 on promises. Read my lips: The Wii Drought is getting under my skin.
a Wii Mario title should have been *included* in the box with Wii -- not pushed back 12 months -- instead, we get Play and Sports which (imho) are development and demonstration exercises. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Super Paper Mario is an unreleased Gamecube port.
Nintendo also has a diddy-kong racing and kirby title for the gamecube that they are going to bring to Wii. When they do that, people will call it an exclusive -- I call it ***** on the Gamecube owners and cutting their earlier losses in a last-ditch effort to stem the drought.
The Wii drought is a replay of the GameCube drought, a replay of the N64 drought. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6$300 to play 'make a person?"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My big issues are rehashed games (Resident Evil, Prince of Persia, Godfather, etc), VC pricing and the drought of games.
I am sure one year from now there will be plenty of games. But, right now, the Wii isn't worth jumping into. Considering how in a year from now it should be $100 cheaper - which is what it should have been released as in the 1st place. - ggnictee, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10@ zero2ahero
Under normal circumstances I would call you a lier, defend Nintendo until the bitter end and then go cry in a corner becuase dangit you're right (sad face here) Nintendo desperately needs improvements. The worst part is how small and easy to implement they are and how much money I would give Nintendo for them. My own list after the jump:
1- Mouse and keyboard (come on Big N you already have bluetooth)
2- A Live service (go play xbox live, and then do that. I will stab my eye out with my stylus before is scratch another one of these.)
3- an Indi channel (People will make games. You sell games. Not only do you make money off each download but you significantly increase the value of your system to me)
4- USB hard drive support (the more room i have the more money i can spend on your downloadable content (and I will))
four simple things that could be implemented with very little infrastructure upgrade cost to you and i will throw money at you. literally. - Satertek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+611) Let me play my dang Zelda saved game.
I want to be able to play my Zelda save that is saved onto an SD card, but theres no practical way to do it. I don't trust myself enough not to make a mistake in backing up, deleting and restoring my roommate's saved game file, which is the only workaround.
The simplest solution would seem to be giving the SD slot load priority. When theres an SD card in, it will check it first for the saved game to load. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@attractivetb
"Right now the Wii has great first party titles "
What exactly are those? Zelda aside(GameCube port) - adhd123, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@rodbibeau
Wake up extremely early on Sunday. Get a newspaper and scan the ads for Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. One of them is bound to have an ad for the Wii and it will tell you how many they will have. Pick one and get there 30 min-1 hour early. I helped two people find one this past Sunday using that method, had to call and wake there ass up though. Some people are just lazy! - Hoov, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6$600+ to "decorate my Home"?
Sorry. - RAEP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The only thing I agree with him on are the online play things and the first party rechargeable battery packs. If the Wii could be given an online function like the Xbox I would be much more pleased.
- Thundercat1971, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I also don't have this problem with the component cables. I thought that was the whole selling point of those cables instead of using the in-box cables. Well, that and doing 480p.
I could be wrong but I don't think I have my tv set to zoom for the Wii. I do know that I've never once had to change the aspect ratio on my tv when switching to or playing the Wii. - OverG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Mr,
U have to understand that not all; people want to buy all three consolos like you , the US people,
in some countries UK for example buying all three is equal to buying small Car..
also games in some countries cost like 100$.
so ...
the solution I have online on Xbox ,1080P on PS, and motion on Wii doesn;t catch anywhere on the world. (except US) - tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3aahpandasrun: It has only been out 4 full months - 3 first-rate games in 4 months isn't bad I don't think. Plus, let's not forget you have the entire library of Gamecube games to choose from, and several really good VC games and tons of others.
If you can't find something really good to play on the Wii until the next brand-new AAA game, you aren't looking hard enough. I don't, however, disagree that it'd be nice to have another one of the first party games available by now. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wii control is terrible in SSX blur, cooking mama and Excite truck as well. That is why when you see a video, the pointer is jerky and goes around in odd-lines on the way to the target... because it is not exact.
Wii control isnt the virtual reality suit Wii-owners try to suggest... its pretty, um, imprecise and in exact (for lack of better description i guess) - Humm1977, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ psyonide
True, most people haven't got HDTV now, but this will change with time, as TV sets break down and people look to get replacements. Even if most people don't know what HDTV is (and I doubt that is the case) you would expect them to find out if they are buying a new telly, so this is not as big an issue as you think.
Most people play old NES games mostly out of nostalgia. The people that do so are the ones most likely to have a NES at home, or the ones that are most likely to know where to look to get a freeware emulator and roms. And in Europe, where the NES effectively slipped under the gaming radar, it's not a big deal at all.
The real worry I have for the wii is a couple of years down the line, when HDTV does take off (see above) and the cost of the TVs and PS3 all begin to fall into the affordable category. The 360 by then will also be cheaper. Wii games will look especially poor on the new TVs.
Whatever happens, they need to ditch the friends codes proto, it cripples online play - it could end up being a mistake of mortal combat magnitude if they don't fix it soon - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Im about 30, plenty of disposable income. We are (you and I) can buy more than one if we want... not going to put you in the poorhouse. ok.
but, im a very frugal guy. i make a dollar, I save $0.70 kind of frugal (mostly motivated by ecological footprint (bug i digress))
What the fanboy wars boil down to is, which is "best" if you can buy ONLY one. "Best" is very subjective...sure. But for simple economics most people cant buy more than one console per generation...
in the end, do i regret buying a Wii? Yes, mostly I do. I'll maybe keep it until galaxy comes out, but I'll probably sell it while it still has some value... this time next year Im thinking the novelty will have worn off and the Wii Drougth will have withered all this early optimism.
I'll be buying an XBox 360 Elite shortly and hopefully recovering ~$150 from my mistaken Wii in 10 months or so.. - elev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@ knetworx
I'm not sure why you are being dugg down. I think your rebuttal contained just as good points as the original article. Actually, you pointed out some things that the author should have found in his research for the article (rechargeable battery). The Wii definitely has some shortcomings compared to the two powerhouse systems in the market now. It is very good that they are addressing most of the concerns of the author, without on-line play or good 3rd party support I doubt any system could be relevant for more than 2 years in the current gaming market. Looks like the Wii may be here to stay. - JaybeasCorpus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I haven't quite figured out the aspect issues on the Wii yet either. From what I can gather, when you set the Wii to "Widescreen Mode," it looks to be just adjusting the images in the 4:3 image, and just expects you to stretch out the image. When the Wii is in Widescreen Mode and my widescreen TV is set to "Regular," it's still in 4:3. I have to switch the aspect to "Full" for it to take up the whole screen. It's kind of annoying.
I didn't realize Trauma Center and Wario Ware weren't in 16:9 - probably because of the above issue, even if it's outputting in 4:3, I don't know any better because I have my TV stretching it, and it doesn't look bad.
I'm still figuring out the nuances of my new TV, so maybe I'm just totally going about it the wrong way. If anyone has any suggestions or corrections for what I'm doing (without a standard "you shouldn't have bought a TV if you don't know how to use it" snark), I'd love to hear 'em. - JackDoyle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wario Ware? I played that game in January.
- nevetando, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3it comes down to the 2 big hitters...
1) big time games. there are lots of fun and playable and enjoyable games... but nothing big time. where is the Wii's Halo is what I am saying. the dominate market changing game.
2) online capability. Nintendo has the right thing going on with the Wifi and the free and the whatnot... lets get it rolling. Metroid 3, multiplayer could be that Halo for the Wii. - rodbibeau, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7If i could find one to buy, I may agree.
but right now - I dont think they have to do a damn thing to make it better. If they sell out of every unit within minutes of them arriving at the store. it is the model of perfection. - wageslaven, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6@st0n3
Your not being honest.
There have been a myriad of people disappointed with the technical prorormance of the wii-mote. SSX Blur is virtually unplayable and cooking mama is the same.
There is a serious Wii drought. In 6 months, please tell me which Wii game -- a first party AAA title?
Nintendo choose the Wii mote for 1 reason: If they hadnt, if they had used a button-based controller, they would have been buried. They gambled *BIG TIME* this generation, and for now, it looks to be doing well.
What first-rate video game, exclusively developed to utilize the Wii? The console is 6 months old.
But unless the rubber starts to hit the road in a practical way, more people are going to get angry with the Wii Drought and realize that the novelty isnt worth not having any videogames to play.
I can smell people turning on Nintendo's Wii Drought, and I can think this just might be the last chance they get in the console business. They just cant keep up.
Mario Galaxy and Metroid - two of their in house 1st party games are going to be Christmas 2007 - a year late.
My nephew has been seriously disappointed in playing Wii Sports over and over. Yes, the novelty wears off. -
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